BULLETIN District 9810 Week 37 March 9th, 2017

Transcription

1 The Healesville Rotary Club s Weekly BULLETIN District 9810 Week 37 March 9th, 2017 Research reveals YMCA a veteran Members listened with interest last week when researcher, John Bindon, gave details on the extent the YMCA provided cheer, accomodation, food, entertainment and hope for soldiers on many warfronts as far back as the Boer War, through WW1 and 2, Korea and Vietnam. Some roles and areas of assistance had changed through the period but the original Young Mens Christian Association dutifully served to provide comfort for fighting forces. Chairman Ray Jasper introduced our guest speaker and Bruce Thomas called the Vote of Thanks. The Rotary Club of Healesville Inc. meets Thursday nights 6pm at Sanctuary House Resort Motel, 326 Badger Creek Road, Healesville Apologies to: Don Fitzgerald Rotary Healesville is part of the Yarra Ranges-Cardinia cluster of Rotary Clubs in District District Governor Carol Lawton and Assistant Governor: Ann Wheeler

2 CLUB STRUCTURE President... Robert Chippindall Vice President... Barbara Dickson President Elect... Sam Halim Past President & Secretary... Lesley Plumpton Treasurer... Don Fitzgerald Director - Community Service... Ian Tinney Director - Youth Service... Terry Hill Director - International... Stuart McDonald Director Vocation... John Robinson Committee Chairpersons & other tasks Sgt at Arms... Ion Whykes Rotary Foundation... Wilma Best Attendance Officer, & Community Directory...Don Fitzgerald Child Protection... David Brown Membership... Lesley Plumpton... Don Macdonald Bulletin... Eckhard Wellner Bulletin Print... Derek Jones Public Relations... Don Macdonald Asset Register... Graeme Chester Programme Manager... Peter Henry... Stuart McDonald Golf Tournament... Peter Gebert Race Gates... Tony Jones ROMAC... Graeme Chester On to Conference... Doug Symons Overseas Operations... Wilma Best Meeting SetUp... Sam Halim Social Manager... Robert Chippindall Website Management... Graeme Chester Conference Ride... David Brown Page 2 Website: rotaryhealesville.org

3 From the President s Desk... Hi All, I hope everybody is gearing up for the Dogs Day Out on March 26th. We have been erecting banners and putting posters in shops but there is still plenty to do! Thanks must go to Ray for last meeting. I believe he will be a dynamic President in the future and will bring a lot of changes! Who would have thought that the YMCA was not just a song. John Brandon gave us a good history lesson on the real YMCA and its beginnings and background. It was very interesting and has such a long history. I think we should have a Club discussion on the HDDO tonight so that members are up to date with what will be happening and what is required. Cheers, President Chippy Week 37 9 th March 2017 Meet & Greet Don Macdonald Chairperson David Lau Sgt at Arms Ion Whykes Programme John Sanders, Traveling in Cuba Vote of Thanks? Week th March 2017 Meet & Greet Don Macdonald Chairperson Vinay Kumar Sgt at Arms Ion Whykes Programme TBA Vote of Thanks David Lau MEETINGS FORWARD Week 39 23rd March 2017 Meet & Greet Graeme Chester Chairperson Ray Jarvis Sgt at Arms Ion Whykes Programme Jim Valance - Working in Antarctica in the 70 s & 80 s Vote of Thanks? Coming up: March 20 th March 26 th Healesville Rotary Golf Charity Day Dog s Day Out Birthdays: 16 th March John Robinson 29th March Alex Richardson Page 3

4 Report from the 35 th Meeting on the 2 nd March 2017: President Robert Chippindall welcomed everyone, especially our guest speaker John Bindon, District Assistant Governor Ann Wheeler and incoming AG John. Bruce Thomas, welcome back from holidays. Secretary and Treasurer Don Fitzgerald: I am resuming the secretary s role, as Lesley Plumpton has tendered in her resignation from the Club. Lesley extends thanks to Terry Hill and Barbara Dickson for their commitment. Bank accounts are healthy. The income from the community directory was not as high as projected. Hopefully the upcoming Dog s Day Out event will generate a decent income. International: Graeme Chester: Fidelcia s operation got delayed by a chest infection, therefore has to be performed in an ICU. No ICU beds have been available so her operation could not be scheduled. On Wednesday night we were advised that it would not be before next week. I will contact the hospital on Sunday evening to learn if she has made the Monday 6th March theatre list. Whilst we wait, Fidelcia has been thriving in Koala Ward, eating everything put in front of her and slowly gaining weight and getting stronger. She is sitting up for longer periods, playing and interacting with visitors with smiles and high fives. She has had a steady stream of visitors from the Timorese community, our interpreters and from home host, Liz Olie. Community: Don Macdonald reports about the preparation of our Dog s Day Out event on the 26th March: Members shall be prepared to make it happen and commit to all the tasks which arise - we need all hands on deck! Helpers will be required from 8 am onward. John Robinson has set up 5 team leaders. John is looking after sponsorship - so far great, 12 traders and $ 9,000. I am looking after associated issues, Robert Chippindall and Graeme Chester are responsible for set-up and marshaling on the day. Bruce Thomas is the caterer on the day, we are providing BBQ food and soft drinks, other traders offer crepes, coffee and ice-cream. A program for the event is at the printer s. Youth - Terry Hill: I will check whether the 16th March is suitable to invite the sponsored students who attended Lord Somers Camp. The Film Night presenting a true Aussie movie from Ben Hall about a bush-ranger is still in the planning stage. Vocation - John Robinson: On the 6th April we have Page 4 the Ron Goding Award Night. Please nominate before the 20th March businesses or professionals who demonstrate excellence. Application forms have been sent out by . A vocational visit to the Glass Factory is planned for the 3rd May, more details are to follow. Reports from the Floor: Peter Henry - Regarding the Healesville Golf Charity Day on the 20th March: We are short of numbers, please ask everyone who plays golf to participate. First price in the handicap category is a $ 500 holiday voucher donated by the RACV. I pass the registration info around. David Brown: Collecting sponsorship for the Bike Ride to Conference is progressing, please list your sponsorship for Karen and myself if you have not already done so, all proceeds go to the Australian Rotary Health Fund. Graeme Chester: Our DG, Carol Lawton, is asking for collected used stamps. All proceeds from used stamps go to ROMAC. Please give your collected stamps to me and I will forward them to Carol. They must be left on paper and cut out leaving a border of paper measuring at least 4 mm. Together with other donations, we need $ 50,000 (between 43 Clubs) to save the lives of 2 children. I spoke to Norm Casey, he attended the Rotary Leadership Seminar and was happy to tell, that Michelle Shafran attended the same course. This is good news, so she will be well prepared for her upcoming role as secretary in our club. The invoices for the equipment we spent on the kindergartens will be claimed on the allocated District funds and the report will be sent also. Don Macdonald: Lesley and I looked after membership last year, we were not so successful for some reasons. Ray Jarvis is keen to take on the task of increasing our membership. I will provide him with as much information as possible. Ray Jarvis: I don t want to be rude, but our membership is top-heavy. We need new younger members, I will approach some people I know or who have been our guests. I also ask everyone of you to name people in the community from whom you believe they could be approached and invited.i am happy to follow up any leads which could result in future membership. It is very important that we make this a high priority to

5 enable the Healesville club to survive in future. AG Ann Wheeler: The Rotary Club of Lilydale provides a World Tour at the Lakeside University, formerly Swinburne Uni. You will be flying with Dodgey Tours and flights are organised through Chancey Airlines. It s a virtual tour in an auditorium with stopovers in Tokio, New Orleans and Paris. All your food and drinks are supplied and it will cost you only $ 60. It is on the 22nd April and the proceeds go to Aid in East Timor and to ROMAC. Please take forms to register. Fines: $ Raffle: $ Winner: John Robinson Attendance: 18 members, 3 guests John Bindon: History of the YMCA Our guest speaker John Bindon spoke on the 75 years YMCA aid in defence during war. John has done and is doing an amazing job with researching all YMCA personnel who served as welfare recreation officers in the various wars during this period. John found a total of 970 YMCA officers, starting with Martin Madden who was with the Imperial Queensland Bushmen in South Africa in the Boer War. In WW1 there were 394 YMCA representatives, with some serving at the London HQ. The YMCA hostel in Cairo serviced up to 10,000 letters and served 35,000 items of refreshment in a day. One service man declared that it was like An oasis in a sea of dirt. High praise indeed. The YMCA organised Christian burials and commenced the Red Poppy fund raising event. Fund raising in Australia financed those working in the WW1 theatres of war. John is the official historian for the YMCA and liaises with the Canberra War Memorial. He has been able to answer many queries from relatives of the YMCA war veterans. 436 personnel were involved in the WW2 with 3 killed, several wounded and 5 POWS. The YMCA provided entertainment in many Australian camps during the war. John was able to prove to the RSL that the YMCA personnel did serve close to the action, served food to Italian POWS and were taken as POWS. The 5 personnel who were POWS in Changi were able to be granted permission to continue serving the other troops as they did before capture. He spoke of a son of one of the Changi YMCA men finding his father s diary and as most of it had to be written with whatever medical supply liquid was available it was unreadable. So John asked the War Memorial if they could help and they deciphered over 130 extra pages of the father s experiences there which the son now has and also the War Memorial. The YMCA personnel also went to Korea and Vietnam where there were seven representatives and nearly eight as John was due to relieve one of them but the service was wound down before he could go. YMCA amenities were well used by all British servicemen, but also by Dominion troops, the Indian Army, Portuguese forces, and the Indian and Chinese Labour Corps. Music was a key part of the YMCA s wartime service at home and abroad. The YMCA Music Department provided sheet music, instruments and expert speakers. Musical competitions were held, and several orchestras and choirs were formed. In February 1915, the actress Lena Ashwell ( ) established concert party groups, giving over 50,000 concerts in the UK, on the Western and Eastern Fronts, and on troop ships in the Mediterranean. In 1917, the YMCA occupied Ciro s nightclub in London s Soho, providing a place of sober recreation for servicemen. YMCA cinemas showed films to an average of 35,000 men per night. The organisation ran twenty specially constructed cinema theatres in the principal base camps which were supplemented by portable cinemas for units in isolated areas. Athletics tournaments were organised and the YMCA formed its own football league at Boulogne. The YMCA provided the BEF with sports equipment, such as footballs, cricket and tennis sets, boxing gloves and hockey sticks, as well as around 600,000 books for YMCA libraries. From 1915 the YMCA provided accommodation for relatives of the gravely wounded near base hospitals, and by 1918 over 1,117,000 officers and men could be accommodated in YMCA hostels in London. Post-war Legacy: After the armistice the YMCA provided free meals and facilities for 70,000 prisoners of war, and the YMCA continued to work with the BEF in Germany, based in Cologne. The educational arm of the YMCA became the Army Education Corps in The YMCA s wartime expenditure was calculated at million, equivalent to 5.1 billion today, the majority raised by charitable subscriptions and donations. The organisation was widely credited for enhancing the health and fighting spirit of the troops. Vote of Thanks - Bruce Thomas thanked John for this very interesting talk. Most of us did not know much about the services of the YMCA to the defence forces during war times. Page 5

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