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Club Information
Welcome to The Rotary Club of Northbridge
Northbridge
Service Above Self
We meet Tuesdays at 6:00 PM
Northbridge Golf Club
Sailors Bay Road,
Northbridge, NSW  2063
Australia
DistrictSiteIcon District Site
VenueMap Venue Map
Upcoming Events
Board Meeting
McNair Residence
Mar 21, 2019
 
Rotary District Conference 2019
Mar 29, 2019 – Mar 31, 2019
 
Northbridge Pride of Workmanship Awards
Apr 09, 2019
6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
 
RCN Visit to Northbridge Freemasons
Apr 10, 2019
 
Please send apologies to Helen Gulson before 10:30am each Monday at helen.gulson@ozemail.com.au
Next Meeting – 5 March 2019
Attendance desk:
John Bolton & Kevin Tattrie (Reserves: John Turner & John Bolton)
 
Set up & pack up:
Angie Fernandes & Fay Petrou (Reserves: Sally O'Neill & Bob Farrar)
 
Speakers & topic:
Tony Jones - Job Ready
 

 
Rotary Club Meeting 26 February 2019
Welcome
 
President Ranald welcomed members and guests including 4 students, 2 teachers and 3 parents from Willoughby Girls High School, our guest speaker Gabrielle McDonnell, honorary member Ross Piccard, Rae Assender, Carole Johnston and Peter Russell.
 
Toast
 
Sally O’Neill gave a toast to the RC of Oslo, Norway the first and largest Rotary club in Scandinavia. Established in 1921, it has 220 members, including past and present members of the Norwegian royal family. The club's activities include supporting local hospitals and various rotary projects.
 
Announcements
 
Bob Farrar reported on the 10th Annual Rotary Golf Day held at NGC last Saturday. There were 118 starters and the event raised $1835, with Paul Sullivan adding $165 to bring it to a total of $2000. Ian Burnet displayed Shelterbox Disaster relief kits and the funds raised will go towards the purchase of more such kits. Bob thanked the members who helped to make the day such a success, despite the rain that fell during the course of the event.
 
Sally O’Neill reported that last Sunday’s Bunnings BBQ raised $1133, and thanked all those who volunteered on the day.
 
Luke Keighery & Ross Piccard spoke about the Rotary Rugby Tipping Competition which has started with 16 players, only half of which are Rotarians. Ross thanked all those who have participated in the past for their support over the years, and encouraged more members to take part in the fun of the competition. Currently Ranald Stewart is top of the ladder, followed by Helen Gulson, who has never been in a tipping comp before, knows nothing about football and is currently 2nd on the ladder! So everyone definitely has a chance to win! 
To join the competition, click on https://www.footytips.com.au/competitions/?ff=settings&competitionId=515110  to register and start tipping. The cost for the season is only $50. For all enquiries, contact Luke Keighery.
 
Bob Edwards spoke about Comedy for a Cause to be held on May 30. Please book early at comedyforacause.net/NRC – don’t leave it to the last minute.
 
Bob also spoke about The Bobbin Head Cycle Classic http://www.bobbinheadcycleclassic.org.au/?_ga=2.159521277.1791863663.1551233709-530978707.1551233709. The Bobbo cycle ride, to be held 24 March, is now in its 8th year and is a huge community bike ride created and managed by the Rotary clubs of Kuring-gai, St Ives, Turramurra & Wahroonga. They have a fundraising target of $200k and need more riders and more donors willing to sponsor. They also need 500 volunteers on the day. So if you are willing to help in any aspect of this, please contact Bob for more information or email ian.stuart@optusnet.com.au .
 
Kevin Tattrie introduced the teachers, parents and girls from Willoughby Girls High School and spoke about 3 programs sponsored by RCN.
Susie Agudera & Zoe Lepre reported on the Conoco Phillips Science Experience they attended at USyd - a 3 day Forensic Science course which they both found fascinating. They learned about DNA and fingerprinting and other crime scene technology. They said it was a remarkable experience and were very appreciative of being able to take part in it.
Lana Timms & Phoenix Warner attended the summer RYPEN – Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment. Both in year 10, the girls gained leadership skills, self growth and learned other collaborative skills, as well as making new friends, over a weekend of games and activities. They too thanked RCN for sponsoring them to attend this very worthwhile program.
 
Sergeant's Session
 
Malcolm Lye concluded his month as the Sergeant and again conducted a very profitable Session. We await the ingenuity of the new Sergeant to fill the coffers for the month of March!
 
Guest Speaker - Gabrielle McDonnell - Growing up in Communist East Europe
 
Michael Bartok introduced guest speaker Gabrielle McDonnell, who was born in Cluj, Romania just after WW2.
Gabrielle started by saying she has reached an age where reflection is common and because of the current world situation with much extremism and fundamentalism, she has started to reflect on the early years of her life. She grew up in the communist era of extreme left ideals which made for a very harsh life. She gave a brief history of Romania under various regimes, and told us of the background of her Jewish family. She said she grew up feeling much loved and cared for by her mother, father and grandmother.
In the 1990s Gabrielle’s mother became part of the Shoah Project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_foundation) set up by Steven Spielberg to record the testimony of some 52,000 Holocaust survivors, and it was by listening to her mother’s story that Gabrielle found out about all that her parents and their families had endured during the Nazi era and afterwards. Her parents were separated for 3½ years after their marriage when her father was imprisoned in Russia. On his return after the war her father wanted to remain in Cluj, to try and change the life as it was, but under communism this became impossible as it was dangerous to be different and to say anything against the regime. Their house was nationalised and was divided to house 3 or families. Her grandmother came to live with them when her house was nationalised.
Gabrielle learnt very early on who could be trusted and who could not, and life inside her home was very different to being outside. Despite this, she said the arts – theatre, music and art – flourished and she experienced all of that.
In about 1960 Gabrielle’s parents decided to leave Romania and follow her uncle to Australia. At that time, once you applied for a visa to exit the country you lost all your rights to work, attend school, to have a home. Their application was first rejected and they were in limbo with her father unable to work and Gabrielle unable to go to school, amongst other difficulties. After six weeks the family eventually gained a visa and left for Australia when Gabrielle was 14, knowing they would never miss their life in Romania. Once her family arrived in Australia, they never looked back. Like many other migrants, the sight of sailing into Sydney Harbour was imprinted in her memory. To see people smile when walking down the street, and not walking with fear with heads down was so different to the life they had left.
 
Denise Woodward thanked Gabrielle for her most interesting talk, and the glimpse into what life was like under a communist regime.
Stories
End Polio - Getting Closer
Rotary International and its partners have made enormous progress in the past 30 years, don't you think? We can and we will #endpolio
 
  
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