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Welcome to The Rotary Club of Northbridge
Northbridge
We meet Tuesdays at 6:00 PM
Northbridge Golf Club
Sailors Bay Road,
Northbridge, NSW 2063
Australia
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Please send apologies to Helen Gulson before 10:30am each Monday at helen.gulson@ozemail.com.au
Club Service Duty Roster
Club Service Duty Roster
Speakers
Sep 08, 2020
Club Committees Night
Sep 15, 2020
Charity Car Rally
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Upcoming Events
NORTHBRIDGE ROTARY COMMUNITY FOOD DRIVE
Sep 26, 2020
 
Golf for a Cause
Oct 03, 2020
 
View entire list
 
The Rotary Club of Northbridge gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsorship of Northbridge Plaza
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Garth Carter
September 8
 
Barry Anderson
September 16
 
Therese Stubbs
September 23
 
Spouse Birthdays
Shush Landers
September 14
 
Therese Stubbs
September 23
 
Join Date
Noel Phelan
September 6, 2011
9 years
 
Peter Antaw
September 13, 1988
32 years
 
Therese Stubbs
September 21, 2009
11 years
 
John Garrett
September 26, 2006
14 years
 
ClubRunner Mobile
Club Meeting News - 1 September 2020
 
Welcome
 
President Kevin welcomed members, guest Jane Lovett-Cameron and guest speaker Dr Penny Bishop.
 
Toast
 
Ian Burnet gave a toast to the most remote Rotary Club in Australia, the RC of Alice Springs. The club was chartered in 1958 by the RC of Mt Isa. The club provides tertiary and post graduate scholarships as well as holding regular fundraising activities.
 
Announcements
 
President Kevin read a speech made in Federal Parliament by Trent Zimmerman MP advising the significant news of the declaration by the WHO of the successful eradication of the wild polio virus in Africa, leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only two countries in the world still with polio, and acknowledging the contribution of Rotary International in achieving this result. Trent also noted the recent Rotary changeover of presidents of Rotary Clubs in his electorate, including our club.
 
The Kiah Pavilion’s official opening on 3 Sept will be attended remotely by President Kevin via Zoom. He will also send them a letter of congratulations.
 
Peter Russell and Eleanor Chevor spoke about the Rotary Food Drive on 26 September. Promotional flyers are available for members to collect for letterbox drops and numerous members volunteered to letterbox drop. Peter will send out an email later in the week with details of routes, etc.
 
President Kevin reminded members that next week’s meeting will be a Committees night and encouraged all members to attend to support their directors.
Guest Speaker - Dr Penny Bishop - Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes
 
Elizabeth Grey introduced Dr Penny Bishop to the Club. Dr Bishop is a biochemist and microbiologist who has a special interest in Alfred Nobel and the Nobel prizes.
 
Life and Career
Alfred Nobel was born on 21 October 1833 and was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman and philanthropist. His father was an engineer and industrialist who manufactured machine tools and explosives.
 
Alfred Nobel became interested in nitroglycerin after meeting its inventor, Ascanio Sobrero in Paris. More powerful than gunpowder but a very unstable product, Nobel became interested in finding a way to stabilise it for safe manufacture and use. He often experimented with it which in 1864 led to the death of one of his brothers in an explosion in the factory. In 1867 he invented dynamite which was more stable than nitroglycerin and was used in mining and the building of transport networks.
 
In 1875 Nobel invented gelignite, even more stable and powerful than dynamite and in 1887 patented Ballistite, a predecessor of cordite. He held 355 patents on many other inventions.
 
Nobel was a shy man who never married. He was a clever businessman, loved literature and wrote poetry and wanted to make a difference to world peace.
 
Penny’s interest in Nobel arose when she had the privilege of attending the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm in 1982 when Bergstrom and Samuelson received their prizes and she gave us some insight into the formal processes and the presentation ceremony.
 
Nobel's Will
Alfred lived most of his life in France and died on 10 December 1896 at the age of 63 in San Remo, Italy. He left an estate worth approximately $US200 million and his Will requested that his money be used for prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. The Nobel Foundation was thus set up and the first prizes awarded 5 years later.
 
Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901 and are awarded every year on 10 December, being the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel.
 
The prizes for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are awarded at formal prize ceremonies held in Stockholm. The Nobel Peace Prize is separately presented in Oslo. The prize moneys of approximately $US1 million for each category may not be shared by more than three people. The Peace Prize can be given to an organisation.
 
Winners
Since 1905 Nobel prizes have been awarded to 866 men, 53 women and 24 organisations. The Peace prize can be very political. The Nobel Prize cannot be awarded posthumously, hence the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Rosalind Franklin, an English chemist whose work on the discovery of the structure of DNA was largely recognised after her death, both missed out.
 
Australian Nobel winners
Patrick White - Literature
Howard Florey - penicillin
Brian Schmidt – supernova
John Eccles – nerve cells
Elizabeth Blackburn – DNA
 
Liz Grey thanked Penny for her interesting and informative talk.
Ros Virtue
 
DID YOU KNOW
In another attempt to raise money for the Charities Account the Club, for a number of years, conducted the sale of Boxed Trifectas on the Melbourne Cup. The Rotary Club of Crows Nest promoted the fundraising project by printing and selling the trifecta tickets. In a race with 24 starters such as the Melbourne Cup this meant that there were 12,144 possible combinations of the first three place-getters so there were exactly 12,144 tickets in a set. The tickets had to be sealed so that one did not know which three horses one was buying or the order in which they came. The tickets could be bought from Crows Nest Club folded and stapled or for a lesser amount, unfolded and unstapled. Our Club first undertook the project in 1991 and bought the unfolded and unstapled tickets which the members then had to fold and staple. This extra work killed the enthusiasm for the project so it was not revived until 2004. Thereafter it was conducted each ensuing year until 2012, after which the project was abandoned as it was becoming too difficult to sell all the tickets each year. However over the 10 years during which it was utilised, the Club raised $31,775.
YOU CAN READ MORE IN THE CLUB HISTORY https://tinyurl.com/rcnclubhistory
 
 
A little bit of Irish humour ....
 
                                                                  
 
If anyone has any jokes or funny stories, feel free to send them to me for the humour section of the Bulletin! We certainly need a little humour in our lives at the moment!!! Email them to helen.gulson@ozemail.com.au
 
Stories
Rotary and its GPEI Partners Celebrate Eradication of Wild Polio in Africa
 
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 August announced that transmission of the wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 countries of its African region. This is a historic and vital step toward global eradication of polio, which is Rotary’s top priority.
 
After decades of hard won gains in the region, Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) — WHO, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the vaccine alliance — are proclaiming the milestone an achievement in public health. They offer it as proof that strong commitment, coordination, and perseverance can rid the world of polio.
The certification that the African region is free of wild poliovirus comes after the independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) conducted thorough field verifications that confirmed no new cases and analyzed documentation of polio surveillance, immunization, and laboratory capacity by Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, and South Sudan. The commission had already accepted the documentation of the other 43 countries in the region.
The last cases of polio caused by the wild virus in the African region were recorded in Nigeria’s northern state of Borno in August 2016, after two years with no cases. Conflict, along with challenges in reaching mobile populations, had hampered efforts to immunize children there.
 
Now that the African region is free of wild poliovirus, five of WHO’s six regions, representing more than 90 percent of the world’s population, are now free of the disease. Polio caused by the wild virus is still endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region.
 
The African region’s wild polio-free certification was celebrated during a livestream event. Speakers included Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Bill Gates, Rotary International President Holger Knaack, Nigeria PolioPlus chair Dr. Tunji Funsho, and representatives of other GPEI partners. The celebration was followed by a press conference.
In the program, Knaack spoke about people needing good news during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “The challenges ahead are formidable,” Knaack said. “That’s why we must recognize this great achievement and commend all the people who played important roles in reaching this milestone. It took tremendous effort over many years.”
 
An achievement decades in the making
Not detecting any wild poliovirus in Africa is in stark contrast to the situation in 1996, when 75,000 children there were paralyzed by the disease. That year, at a meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Cameroon, African heads of state committed to eradicating the disease from the continent.
To bolster the effort, also in 1996, Rotary, its GPEI partners, and South African President Nelson Mandela launched the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign. Using soccer matches and celebrity endorsements, the campaign raised awareness of polio and helped more than 30 African countries to hold their first National Immunization Days. Mandela’s call to action helped mobilize leaders across the continent to increase their efforts to reach every child with polio vaccine.
 
 
Children in Cote d’Ivoire receive oral polio vaccines during an immunization campaign.
 
Since 1996, countless Rotary members from across Africa and around the world have raised funds, immunized children, and promoted vaccinations, enabling the GPEI to respond to and stop polio outbreaks. More than 9 billion doses of oral polio vaccine have been provided throughout the region, preventing an estimated 1.8 million cases of paralysis. Each year, about 2 million volunteers help vaccinate 220 million children against polio multiple times in the African region.
Rotary members have contributed nearly $890 million toward polio eradication efforts in the African region. The funds have allowed Rotary to issue PolioPlus grants to fund polio surveillance, transportation, awareness campaigns, and National Immunization Days.
Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria PolioPlus committee, noted Rotarians’ tremendous contributions to polio eradication efforts in Africa: “From raising funds and immunizing children, to providing ‘polio plusses,’ such as soap and health kits, Rotary members have shown resilience and steadfast dedication to our top priority of ending polio.”
Rotary members have helped build extensive polio infrastructure that has been used to respond to COVID-19 and, in 2014, the Ebola crisis, as well as to protect communities from yellow fever and bird flu.
Challenges still ahead
The GPEI’s challenge now is to eradicate wild poliovirus in the two countries where the disease has never been stopped: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Additionally, routine immunization in Africa must also be strengthened to keep the wild poliovirus from returning and to protect children against circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, which is rare but continues to infect people in parts of the African region.
To eradicate polio, multiple high-quality immunization campaigns must continue to be given priority. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s necessary to keep children vaccinated against polio while also protecting health workers from COVID-19 and making sure they don’t contribute to its transmission.
Global health officials and experts say that sustained fundraising and advocacy are still crucial, not only to protect gains in Africa, but to reach the ultimate goal of a world without polio. Rotary members still have a critical role to play in keeping the African region free of wild poliovirus and eliminating the virus in the two countries where polio remains endemic.
As Knaack said, “This is a big step in our journey to a polio-free world, but the fight is not over yet. We still need the support of our Rotary members, donors, and heroic effort of health care workers to finish the job.”
Visit endpolio.org to learn more and donate.
 
Published by Rotary International. 25-Aug-2020
Read more...
Northbridge Rotary Community Food Drive to Help the Needy & Homeless
Northbridge Rotary Provides Local and Overseas Disaster Assistance
Local and international humanitarian disasters have become the new norm and the Rotary Club of Northbridge has been involved in assisting wherever possible. Recently COVID-19 has received the bulk of media attention. Before that it was the eastern seaboard drought and bushfires. Then, in April, Cyclone Harold devastated parts of Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga.
 
COVID-19 has considerably reduced Northbridge Rotary’s 2020 fundraising capability, including cancellation of its major fundraiser, the annual fireworks. Prior to this, the Club had raised $29,580 to aid those areas in NSW affected by the bushfires and drought.
 
With some of its remaining funds, the Club has committed $22,500 towards building a Community Pavilion at Kiah on the NSW south coast and repairing gardens around the Boomerang Centre in severely fire-damaged Mogo near Batemans Bay.
 
The Kiah Pavilion was completed 25th July and an official opening is planned for 8 August and we hope some members of Northbridge will be able to attend.
There is a story on the Rotary Club of Merimbula website if you would like to take a look please click on the link below.
 
 
 
Internationally, the Club has been asked to assist in the fight against COVID-19 by the Rotary Club of Kathmandu in Nepal.
Covid-19 cases have increased significantly in Nepal since late May with tens of thousands of migrant workers returning home from India and Nepal commencing a phased reopening in mid-June. 
 
With the assistance of other local Rotary Clubs, Northbridge Rotary has been able to donate $10,000 to help with the purchase of PPE equipment for medical staff, installing hand washing stations in strategic locations and supplying food for orphanages and others in need, as the photo(s)on this page illustrate.
 
Peter Russell
Publicity Director
    
Read more...
Report on two Rotary Bushfire Appeal Projects
 
3 weeks ago Sally, Valda and I along with 2 friends took a 5 day road trip down the south coast to support local communities and at the same time checked out the two projects that our Rotary Club has supported, namely at Mogo and Kiah.
 
The Mogo project near Batemans Bay   Sally, Valda and I met with representatives from the Batemans Bay Rotary Club and visited the Boomerang Indigenous Centre where our Club had agreed to partially fund to the tune of $5,100 a landscaping project, which involved the tidying up of a landscaped area and replanting.
 
Mogo had been devastated by the fires with several buildings lost and it was interesting that the Batemans Bay RC were very involved with restoration by operating a Hub in Mogo, where counselling services are available as well as computers available for use by the local community.
 
The Kiah Pavillion project   Whilst our group was in Bega I drove south to Merimbula to meet up with representatives of the Merimbula RC who drove me south past Eden to the little village of Kiah to see the pavilion  project where our Club has contributed $22,500 in partnership with the Rotary Clubs of Bega, Merimbula and Pambula.
 
The concrete slab has now been poured and the structural steel is now being manufactured.
 
After the inspection I returned to Merimbula and participated in their face to face Changeover Dinner where our contribution to the Kiah project was gratefully acknowledged, knowing that Rotary Clubs working together can make a difference.
 
Thank you to everyone in our community who contributed generously towards our Northbridge Shopping Centre bucket appeals, BBQs' fund raising and other activities.
 
Peter McNair
Dine In for a Cause Raised Funds to help the Vulnerable in our Community
Our traditional Rotary Club fund raising activities have been halted in recent months by the social isolation restrictions to prevent the spread of the COVID19 virus.
Members of the club have come up with a few innovative ideas to raise funds to help the needy in our community.
 
On the 4th July the club ran “Dine-in for a Cause” fund raising event.
 
The Dine-in for a Cause event was attended by 32, mainly Rotarians, over 4 Host homes. It included a Quiz and a Silent Auction, raising $1,425 all up, with the funds going to Phoenix House, a charity located at Crows Nest over the last 30 years, providing early intervention and support services to the most vulnerable and challenged young people living in Northern Sydney.
 
In total $2,000 was raised from our recent Dine-in for a Cause fundraiser - to Phoenix House and has been gratefully received.
Northbridge Rotary Zooms on Through COVID19 Restrictions
During the COVID19 public and social gathering restrictions Northbridge Rotary Club continued meeting using Zoom remote online meeting tool.
 
The photo shows members participating at a meeting only a few weeks ago – at hopefully our last Zoom meeting. 
 
On Tuesday 14 July we transitioned back into our regular club meeting at the Northbridge Golf Club, with all the necessary social distancing rules being implemented.  We can only hope this is a time of renewal not just for ourselves but for everyone who has had to manage their life in social isolation in recent months.
 
THE 4 - WAY TEST of the things we say or do

1). Is it the TRUTH?

2). Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3). Will it build GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4). Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?