The Rotary Club of Northbridge gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsorship of Northbridge Plaza
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Ranald Stewart
April 8
Joanne Coleman
April 17
Joe Campisi
April 17
Bob Farrar
April 19
Bob Edwards
April 29
Mike Cocks
April 29
Spouse Birthdays
Jan Duggin
April 3
Anniversaries
Peter Grinter
Di Grinter
April 25
Bob Farrar
Christine Altmeier
April 28
Join Date
Peter Russell
April 9, 2019
3 years
Peter Grinter
April 19, 1988
34 years
David Perabo
April 20, 2009
13 years
Jon Gidney
April 26, 2016
6 years
Club Meeting News 5 April 2022
Welcome
President Nominee Luke Keighery, in President Jon's absence, welcomed guest speak Noel Phelan, and guests Vanessa Dudley, Richard McDonald, Christian Santella, Michelle Barry, and Anjana & Nash Karki.
Toast
Peter Russell proposed a toast to the RC of Warsaw Wilanow. The only English speaking club in Warsaw, it was chartered in 1995 and its members are mainly from the international business and diplomatic communities. Recently they have been organizing medical supplies from Germany to be delivered to Lviv, Ukraine. The club holds charity balls to raise funds and its other activities include End Polio Now.
Announcements
Peter Russell gave an update on the Fireworks planning. Flyers are to be distributed to surrounding suburbs and he asked members to ask their favourite local shops and cafes if they will put one in their windows.
David Perabo asked members to reach out to friends and businesses for sponsorship opportunities. Please let him know if you have any suggestions.
Bob Farrar reminded members of the Rotary Golf Day scheduled for 9 April, weather permitting.
Kim Wilkins is seeking volunteers for the Bookstall on Easter Sunday, 17 April. Please let Kim know if you are available.
Ian Burnet spoke about the Nusa Tenggara Indonesian Dinner on May 9. The venue of the dinner has been changed to Lane Cove Golf Club at Northwood. To date 14 club members will be attending the dinner. Please let Ian know if you would like to come along (cost is $50).
Please remember to bring cash to the meeting next week so you can purchase some raffle tickets.
Ranald Stewart, on behalf of Alan Hession who is ill with Covid, asked members to put their names down on the roster to help with the Fireworks Raffle Ticket sales at the Plaza. Alan has sent out a notice to all members to please follow up and let Alan know when you are available.
Bob Edwards updated the members on the Ukraine situation. We will be sending $3000 to Rotary Exchange Student Vicki Eriksson in Sweden for her to use to purchase necessary supplies she can take to Poland to go into Ukraine. Bob suggested Vicki could Zoom into our meeting on May 10 when our guest speaker is the Honorary Consul for the Ukraine.
Induction of New Member
President Nominee Luke Keighery inducted Richard McDonald as a member of the Rotary Club of Northbridge. Richard was presented with a certificate, his badges, T-shirt, hat and Rotary Apron and was warmly received as a member of our club by those present.
Guest Speaker - Noel Phelan - Women Sailors
Sally O’Neill introduced our guest speaker, Noel Phelan, who really needs no introduction as he is a member of our club and has spoken to us on many occasions on various topics. Noel’s topic this evening is “Women Sailors”.
Noel first spoke about the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame. In 2017 there were 17 men and 4 women inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 2018 there were 5 men and no women and in 2019 there were 4 men and 1 woman. In the USA there are 78 men and 4 women in their Sailing Hall of Fame. Currently only 10% of the sailing fraternity are women and the aim is to raise it to 50%.
Noel spoke about the difficulties of sailing and of all the things that can go wrong – being dismasted, broken equipment and equipment lost overboard, injury, loneliness, and he showed us some slides of what can and does go wrong on the seas.
Many women have completed successful circumnavigations of the world, competed in classic yacht races and won golf at the Olympics and Paralympics. Kay Cottee in 1988 became the first woman to sail solo round the world non-stop. She had a support team of 16, and was challenged during her 189 day journey with rollovers, being knocked overboard, icebergs, equipment breakages, fear of pirates, health and emotional issues to name a few.
Age No Barrier
Age has not been a barrier. Jeanne Socrates completed two solo circumnavigations at age 70 and 77. Laura Dekker attempted to do the same aged 14 in 2009 but was stopped by the Dutch authorities. She went on to do the voyage once she turned 16.
In 2009, Jessica Watson, aged 16, was the youngest person to circumnavigate the southern hemisphere and was just short of the required nautical miles to claim circumnavigation of the globe.
Other women sailors Noel mentioned included Dame Naomi Jones (NZ) who took 272 days to circumnavigate the world but had to stop for repairs on the journey, and Lisa Blair who in 2017 was the first woman to sail solo round Antarctica. He also mentioned Vanessa Dudley, a former Female Sailor of the Year, who has sailed in over 20 Sydney to Hobart races, helps out at Sailability and who is a guest at Rotary this evening.
Noel also spoke about the critical success factors which enabled these sailors to succeed – dreams, determination, problem solving skills, fitness and stamina to name just a few.
Sally thanked Noel for his fantastic presentation, and for telling us about the history of Women Sailors.
Helen Gulson
A little bit of humour ....
If anyone has any jokes or funny stories, feel free to send them to me for the humour section of the Bulletin!
Saturday 7th May 2022 will mark the 35th year of Northbridge’s landmark annual night of Fireworks on Northbridge Oval, Sailors Bay Road, organised by the Rotary Club of Northbridge.
This year also marks the 30th year of partnership between the Rotary Club of Northbridge and Northbridge Plaza, which is again the major sponsor of this spectacular evening of entertainment.
Together, Northbridge Plaza and The Rotary Club of Northbridge have hosted monthly bookstalls, food drives, bucket appeals, Christmas raffles, the Tree of Joy at Christmas as well as the annual community fireworks. These events are critical in allowing Rotary to support a diverse range of causes locally and beyond.
In recent times, community attendance at the event has grown to over 4,000 and funds raised for local charities have been close to $50,000.
Gates will open at 4 PM and the FIREWORKS display will start at approximately 7 PM.
Entry: Families with an adult: $40 Adults: $15 Children: $5
Credit card facilities will be available at the entry gate on Sailors Bay Road, at the food area and at the entertainment/rides area.
This year there are exciting new refreshment options being provided by a number of food vans as well as rides and other entertainment for the children. These include the traditional Rural Fire Service display, live music by local schools, face painting donated by Forsyth Real Estate, a raffle with multiple prizes and more.
Families and friends from the length and breadth of Sydney are invited to join us on the day to support those who are in need. We guarantee you will have a ball! Bring a rug and buy a pizza, paella, satay, hot chips, coffee or gelato from our food vans then relax and soak up the community atmosphere.
Thanks to Northbridge Plaza management, the Northbridge Rotary Club bookstall continues at Northbridge Plaza on the third Sunday of every month from 9am to 5pm.
Our next bookstall is on Sunday 24th April 2022
The Club is selling a range of adult fiction at $4 each plus childrens’ books at $2 each; all in mint condition and sales continue grow each month.
Books can be purchased with cash or via credit card. As always, all of the money raised from these sales goes to a range of worthy causes.
Thank you to all shoppers who donated to the Northbridge Rotary Club a bucket appeal on the weekend of 5/6 February, at Northbridge Shopping Plaza, raising funds for those in Tonga who have lost their homes, possessions and in some case family members to the recent volcano and tsunami.
Special thanks to 2 school boys Will Hyde & his friend Alex (pictured) who helped with our appeal. Both Wil and Alex have spent time in Tonga as part of a post school volunteer program, but unfortunately were pulled back early due to COVID, hence their interest. They have been in contact with the school principal in Tonga to let them know what is being done here to support them.
