Valda Andrews & John Bolton (Reserves: Liz Grey & John Turner)
Set up & pack up:
Peter Grinter & Brian Robson (Reserves: Jon Gidney)
Speakers & topic:
Noel Phelan - The Life of Ken Warby
Rotary Club Meeting 9 April 2019
Welcome
President Ranald welcomed club members and their partners, and guests Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Peter Russell, Jill Russell, Pride of Workmanship Award recipients and their partners.
Toast
Peter McNair gave a toast to the Rotary Club of Washington DC, a city he visited 2 years ago and where he noticed a bronze plaque in the footpath near the Lincoln Memorial commemorating Paul Harris, who founded the first Rotary club, in Chicago in 1905. The RC of Washington DC has some 140 members and its six main areas of focus are mental and child health; disease prevention and treatment; water and sanitation; basic education and literacy; economic and community development; and peace and conflict resolution/prevention. Last year alone the club sponsored a record 20 students for Youth Leadership Awards. They also sponsor global grant scholarships and a new Interact Club with over 40 members. Peter concluded his toast with a quote from Paul Harris – “whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves”.
New Member Induction
President Ranald formally inducted into the Rotary Club of Northbridge new member Peter Russell who was duly welcomed by all present.
Pride of Workmanship
Garth Carter introduced Premier Gladys Berejiklian and asked her to present the RC of Northbridge’s Pride of Workmanship and Community Service Awards.
Jon Gidney nominated Dr Chris Charlton, founder of the Castlecrag Chiropractic Clinic on Eastern Valley Way. Jon said that Chris has treated many hundreds of locals from newborns to 95 year olds. As well as treating patients, he extends his own knowledge to the next generation by teaching neurology and spinal adjusting skills to students at Macquarie University and regularly hosts final year students during their work experience. He also plays soccer for Northbridge Football Club and has been a coach of its junior teams. He hosts an annual “Willoughby’s Biggest Loser” contest in which his patients and their families are encouraged to get fit and lose weight, and in 2018 he headlined the Cancer Council’s Stars of the North dancing event, raising over $5,000 and winning the coveted best dancer prize.
Jon congratulated Chris in not only running a good business but in how he goes about it and what he and his wife Brooke contribute to our broader community.
Peter McNair & George Raffan nominated Sandra Chow for Pride of Workmanship. Sandra is the owner and operator of Inner Cravings, the coffee shop at the heart of Northbridge Plaza. Born in Rabaul, she came to Sydney aged 9 and on leaving school worked for an export trading firm. Sandra started in the hospitality industry after the birth of her first child, working for an auntie in her sandwich shop in Chatswood before eventually managing Schmooze in Sailors Bay Road for 3 years and then a coffee shop in Artarmon. Now a mother of two and grandmother of four, Sandra is always welcoming, cheerful and efficient, and is at Inner Cravings nearly every day. She has a tremendous work ethic and has taught her well trained and loyal staff to be the same. Her mission statement is to provide consistent good food and good customer relations. In addition, Sandra is a generous supporter of Rotary providing gift vouchers and assistance wherever she can.
Marillyn Stewart nominated Jackie and Berj Yardemian, the proprietors of Pizza Tutti’s for Pride of Workmanship. They have owned and operated their pizza shop for 17 years with help from their children, Lev and Carol. The atmosphere in the restaurant is always friendly and buzzing, and the food consistently good. The level of service is of the highest standard and the young staff employed there are efficient, polite and attentive. This is because they are well trained by both Jackie, who encourages them to use their initiative when waiting on tables, and Berj who leads the many enthusiastic chefs in the kitchen. The staff are mostly school and university students working whilst studying and Jackie teaches them the responsibility of working as part of a team, serving the public and to learn how a small, family business is run, and most importantly, provides a reference for their CV for the future. Countless staff have been trained over the 17 years with 15 workers on Friday nights alone. Jackie feels she is operating an unofficial training workplace as well as a pizza restaurant and she is justly proud of the experiences her staff receives.
Ian Forster and John Kelly were nominated by Peter Grinter for a Community Service Award. Ian and John have run the Bold & Beautiful Swim Squad, a community based social club for people with a swimming addiction! Members of the club, aged between 8 and 80, meet at Manly Surf Lifesaving Club at 7.00 am every morning, 365 days a year for a 1.5 km swim from South Steyne to Shelly Beach and back. The swim draws approximately 200 swimmers most week days, 400 on the weekend and up to 800 on public holidays such as Australia Day. The swimmers are easily recognisable by the bright pink swim caps which every swimmer must wear. The club commenced in 2008 with just two swimmers and has grown to a membership of over 20,000, making it the largest community swimming club in the world.
Ian and John run the club with the assistance of many helpers. One or both of them will arrive at the club at 5.30 am to set up the registration board and welcome new swimmers. Swimming conditions are assessed each day before the swim and if necessary an announcement is made by either Ian or John on how best to tackle the conditions. Ian and John swim at the back of the pack to ensure all swimmers safely reach Shelly Beach and are comfortable with the return swim. The club is technologically well advanced with an app enabling each swimmer to log their total distance. The club also conducts a variety of fundraising and social activities mostly based in and around Manly.
Ian and John, both residents of Northbridge for over 30 years, are to be commended for the enormous effort they put into running this club.
Alan Hession nominated Bill Papas, aka Bill the Barber, for a Community Service Award. Bill opened his barber shop business in Northbridge in 1983, two years ago moving to more spacious premises in Willoughby Road. He has cut the hair of countless Northbridge residents over the years but his award is for his dedication and service to the Northbridge Football Club over the past 45 years, not just as a player, but also as a coach and referee. He started at the club as a lad of 10 in the under 11 team before proceeding up the ladder to play for Sydney United 1st Grade and Sydney Olympic reserve grade, eventually returning to Northbridge Football Club. Bill has distinguished himself by having coached the girls under 15 representative team to its competition win. As a coach, his teams have won 11 competitions and he is currently coaching the women's under 20s team, as well as still playing himself. Bill’s commitment to the club has been unwavering and no doubt, with over 3,000 players, has contributed to the success of the largest amateur football club in Australia.
Those present congratulated all the recipients, each of whom made a short speech thanking the RC of Northbridge for their award. Premier Gladys also spoke, congratulating all the recipients and the club on its initiatives.
Saturday May 11 will celebrate the annual community fireworks event organised by the Rotary Club of Northbridge.
Over the past 32 years, community support and attendance at this event has grown to more than 4000 and funds raised will go toward helping local disadvantaged youth and people at risk.
Gates open at the Northbridge Oval, Sailors Bay Road, at 4pm with live music provided by Northbridge and Cammeray Public Schools and Willoughby Girls High School.
There will be rides and other entertainment for the children, including face-painting; hot food from the Rotary BBQ, ice creams, fairy floss, cold drinks and coffee will be available. The highlight of the evening will be a spectacular fireworks display at 7 pm.
MC for the occasion is voice over artiste Jake Downs whose father John Downs, a previous President of the Rotary Club, was the first MC 32 years ago!
We wish to extend an invitation to all families to come along; support a great cause, and enjoy a great night out! Bring a picnic basket and a rug and enjoy the fantastic community atmosphere.
Funds raised by Northbridge Rotary via a bucket appeal at Northbridge Plaza have been put to good use as reported below.
During Tropical Cyclone Debbie in 2017, the Sarina Range in Queensland experienced a massive landslide that effectively cut off 16 families (30 students) from the school campus. Education Queensland quickly established accommodation for the isolated students. However, suddenly and rather traumatically, the 30 students and their families had to adjust to changed life circumstances, grief and loss, separation from their previous school community and increased cost of living to travel extended distances to access shops, doctors, workplaces and other social supports such as scouts, sporting activities and dance.
This project, funded by the Northbridge Rotary Club totalling $3255, provided support for children’s skill development (swimming classes) and social interaction with peers at Inter school athletic activities. These monies paid for bus services to transport children between schools, then on to the swim classes and their athletics carnival. Without this grant the school, P&C and students would have been financially disadvantaged and unable to provide the access and learning opportunities that were offered to the students at the temporary accommodation.
Outcome measure evaluation: The project success was measured through the implementation of the project plan within the time frame below.
May 2018: 24 children and 8 parents affected attended that inter-school athletics event at Sarina State School. The children participated in all events and several children were successful in securing places in the district events.
December 2018: 30 students from the Range campus attended all school swim classes held at the Sarina Swimming Pool over a seven- week period. These children were transported by bus and participated in classes with other students as well as attending their swim classes through the day. All students passed the required water safety standard requirement for their age.
Full acquittal of funds occurred in January 2019 for the bus services that took students between their accommodation, school and swimming.
The Rotary Club of Sarina and the Swayneville State School students, parents, teachers and community are thankful to the Northbridge Rotary Club and Townsville District 9550 Disaster Management grants that facilitated the social, and emotional well-being of these school children, alleviated a potentially onerous financial burden on the P&C and parents who were already financially disadvantaged. Your financial and club support has provided joy, growth, opportunities, personal development, pride, skill and water safety in all the children of the Swayneville State School Campus. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
The Rotary Club of Northbridge is building on their long-standing support of youth with expanding support across 6 different youth specific, leadership and experience focus programs. The outcomes of these programs continue to motivate the club to build on these programs with increased support.
Among these programs are high school leadership, science, engineering and experience programs. One of these programs is RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment) aimed at year 9 & 10 who want to build their confidence and self-esteem. RYPEN provides young people the opportunity to build leadership potential, encourages them to explore their ideas in problem solving, team activities, and experiences that will assist them in forming their own values. RYPEN is about building confidence and developing skills to cope in a range of situations. The Rotary club of Northbridge has doubled it’s support of this amazing program from sponsoring 4 awardees each of the last 2 years to 8 awardees this 18/19 year. Follow this link https://rotarydistrict9685.org.au/page/rypen for more information about RYPEN.
Another program worthy of mention is the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). RYLA is a transformational leadership program designed for young adults aged 18-27. This intensive program over 7 days, enabling leadership to grow and develop to its full potential. RYLA combines amazing Australian speakers with activities and challenges in a supportive environment. Unlike other programs, RYLA has a focus on practical hands-on opportunities testing leadership in a controlled environment. The RYLA program is unique in linking outcomes to self-improvement with considered reflection; building a better leader with the necessary skills for improving their leadership as they move forward in life. RYLA is run annually, with close to 90 candidates in Elanora Heights, on Sydney's Northern beaches; the Rotary Club of Northbridge has sponsored 9 RYLA awardees over the last 3 years. Follow this link http://d9685ryla.org.au/ for more information about RYPEN.
The Rotary Club of Northbridge is also supporting the initiation of the North Sydney Rotaract Club; a new Rotaract Club which is a driven community of young professionals aged 20-30 who are committed to creating social change in their community whilst developing as leaders. The inaugural meeting is scheduled for February 20th and the following links are available for further information.
The life changing effects of these sponsored Youth programs continues to motivate our club and members support; the Rotary Club of Northbridge will continue a focus on our local Youth and our leaders of tomorrow as one of the most rewarding areas where we support our community.
