April 2013 April is Magazine Month Sandy s Message Greetings to all in District 9640, Today is the 1 st April and I cannot believe how the year is just flying, it certainly has been a very busy start. We have been busy with Conference planning, developing the District website, Leadership meetings, MUNA (which unfortunately I did not get too due to bad health), GSE District 3450 arriving, Ethics meeting and of course the excitement of the progress of our relationship with the The Suns Horizon programme. Every District 9640 Rotarian, Partner and Friends are invited to attend our biggest event on the calendar for the year, our District Conference on the 12 th -14 th April 2013. The Conference is held for you to bring us together to enjoy fellowship and celebrate the wonderful work achieved in the current Rotary year. There will be some very special Rotary moments over the weekend, wonderful Guest Speakers and entertainment, with the Official Opening, Flag Ceremony and Memorial being held on the Friday night around the beautiful pool at Royal Pines. We have worked hard to enable us to offer you the most affordable package for $160. Imagine a sumptuous BBQ around the pool on Friday evening, all day Saturday sessions including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Our Saturday night Gala Dinner and Sunday sessions including morning tea and lunch. This incredible value weekend has been made possible due to the generosity of sponsors support. If you have not registered yet, we are fast approaching the deadline of 8 th April for catering numbers to be given to the venue. Please register now, to avoid any disappointment. Have a great month and I look forwarding to seeing you all at our Conference. Warm regards. Sandy PETS what a wonderful turn-out for the 2013-2014 Presidents in Stanthorpe. Even DGE Tony and Diane had smiles on their faces
Sam s Saviour Sandy and I started 2013 the same way we finished 2012, with me experiencing visits to hospital and in recovery. My last visit was in February and Sandy has said NO MORE. I am happy to report I feel so much better now, thank you for all the warm wishes from so many in our District urging me to get better. We did manage to complete our visit to the Clubs we had to cancel at the end of the year and have now completed the 56 Club visits. I wish to thank most sincerely the Clubs who have supported my Operation Cleft Project for the year. I will be announcing how many young children we can help to change their lives at our Conference. Yours in Rotary Sam Welcome to our GSE Team Sam and I, together with DGN Wendy and Charles had the great pleasure of greeting our GSE Team from Hong Kong to our District. I look forward to introducing them to you officially at our upcoming District Conference. With Host Families Function hosted by RC Ashmore
A month in the life of our littlest hero GC Benji PHF MS Swimathon with RC Hope Island s Jim, Wanda and YEP student Geraldine. SES Fundraiser Bulls on the Beach Hard at work for the SES In Melbourne fundraising Easter at Rosemary House GC Amputees support group YoungCare Gold Coast Benji PHF continues to spread his charm and skills in raising awareness and much needed funds for so many worthy Rotary and non-rotary charities, locally and overseas.
An Insight into the Rotary Club of Murwillumbah Under the leadership of President Ian Batten, the Rotary Club of Murwillumbah is prospering heading into the Club s 75 th year. Membership has increase by one to 32, with the induction of two new Members and the loss of one. Regular meetings feature guest speakers primarily focussed on keeping Members abreast of what is new and what is happening in our area. To the end of February there have been 17 meetings with guest speakers, varying from the newly appointed Tweed Shire General Manager to growing vanilla on the Tweed. Saturday 8 th December last was a special date, being 75 years since the first official meeting of the then provisional Rotary Club of Murwillumbah. It was celebrated with a combined Xmas party of the three Rotary Clubs, Murwillumbah, Murwillumbah Central and Mt Warning AM. Open Garden fundraiser Saturday 18 th May is the next milestone in the Club s 75th year recognition when a celebration Dinner is planned, to which everyone is welcome, being 75 years precisely since the Club was presented with its charter. The three Murwillumbah Clubs again combined on Saturday 23 Feb to participate in the Rotary Global Swimathon, raising $5000 for End Polio Now. Murwillumbah Club had 12 Members swim in the 1 hour relay and together with 2 related juniors, completed 76 laps of the Murwillumbah Olympic pool, winning bragging rights as the Best Service Club Team. This year has been our most successful year to date with the National Youth Science Forum having three candidates accepted, while two candidates to RYLA were also supported. The year has again seen fishing parties to Fraser Island, over two weeks in August 2012, a project run by the Club for many years, and again a great success, possibly more successful financially than fish wise, but greatly enjoyed by all attending, guaranteeing it will again be held in August 2013. The Murwillumbah Festival of performing Arts was once again supported with a $750 scholarship for dance, as was the Tweed Banana Festival with a Queen nominee and a float in the parade The demise of the Festival of Speed on Tweed, a huge and very successful undertaking for the Club from 2002 to 2010 has necessitated the Club refocusing its efforts and September saw our first efforts in organising an Open Garden weekend to show to all the beautiful gardens on the property of Rotarian Brian Donaghy and Club member Doug Jardine and President Ian Batten displaying the Club's boasting rights, the trophy for the best Service Club performance in the Murwillumbah Rotary Global Swimathon.
Marie. A successful weekend in all ways and a great fellowship weekend for all the Rotarians and wives involved. The Club is now heavily involved, with local Medicos, in the planning, fundraising and future construction of a Health Clinic for Namuga in the Solomon Islands, that has been listed with RAWCS. This will comprise the Construction of a Clinic building to include Men s and Women s wards, Maternity ward, Birthing room, Operating theatre, special purpose rooms, associated storage, Doctors and waiting facilities. This project involves the Provincial and National Governments in the Solomon s with contributions from the New Zealand Government, hopefully the Australian Government, private suppliers and Canadian funding. MUNA On Saturday March 16, the annual District 9640 Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) was held at the Tweed Civic Centre. 23 teams of 3 students from high schools as far away as South Grafton and Glen Innes debated a particular country s policy on a number of UN Resolutions which included a Treaty banning production of fissile material, Agricultural Development and Security, the situation in Afghanistan and Global Partnerships. The teams are expected to be sponsored by Rotary Clubs at a cost of only $250. Regrettably, some schools are unable to send a team because of lack of funds. It was noted that Southport Rotary Club did not sponsor any teams even though there were 2 teams from St Hilda s which had to be funded by the school. The winning team, representing China was one of three teams from A.B. Patterson College. They were awarded the Margaret Hayes trophy donated by PDG Margaret who has been very supportive of this Rotary programme for a number of years. One of their male students and a female student from Lindisfarne College were selected as our District Representatives to the National MUNA in Canberra in August. Last year s two representatives from our District won the National MUNA and we came second the previous year.
RCs Ashmore and Southport North merge The newly chartered Rotary Club of Ashmore (incorporating the merged clubs of Ashmore and Southport North) has received its new Charter. Our photo shows President Denise Payne and Vice-President Kay Nichol (ex-president of Rotary Club of Southport North) proudly displaying the new Charter to the Club. The new Rotary Club of Ashmore has 54 members and is about to induct some new members. It is a vibrant, exciting club and the merger has helped to make it an even better club for all. Inbound and Outbound GSE Teams On Sunday March 24, the Lismore Rotary Club hosted the launch of this year s GSE team going from our district to Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia in District 3450. Team leader is Terry Brown, past President of the Rotary Club of Lismore, and team members include: Simone Millar, bank teller from Tweed Heads South, Rebecca Crisp, pharmacist from Stanthorpe, Renee Mason, librarian from Boonah and Mitch Lowe, tourism co-ordinator from Lismore. The team will make a short presentation at District Conference and then leave the day after District Conference on April 15. The GSE team from district 3450 arrived on March 15 and is visiting clubs throughout the district. Their team leader is Helen Or - management consulting, Bolor-Erdene Tumurchudur - contract management in Mongolia, Franco Chan - actor, Edwina Chung, public relations, Matthew Cheung, IT market research and consulting. This team will be presenting at District Conference so be sure to come to hear and meet them also.
It s official Newly inducted member of the Southport Club Marion Jones at last has made it official. Congratulations Marion, great things will be expected of you now with all the experience you have had in your many roles in Rotary. Rotary International Peace Forums Rotary Global Peace Forums have been held in this Rotary year in Berlin in November 2012, in Honolulu in January 2013 and will be held in Hiroshima May 17-18, 2013. These three sites were selected by RI President Sakuji Tanaka because each was heavily affected by World War 2 and now represent the healing power of sustainable peace between nations. Working for peace is a lifelong task for Tanaka and is reflected in his theme of Peace Through Service. Troy Lawlor, the District Rotaract Chair and first President of the Southport Rotaract Club has been selected by our District to attend the Peace Forum in Hiroshima in May. It is hoped that our Rotary Peace Fellow Jacob Kahmele who is studying at the Christian University in Tokyo will also be attending. Our district is planning a Peace Forum with Districts 9630 and 9600 to be held at Logan in early June. More details to follow.
10 Year Birthday celebrations RC Hope Island A GREAT night at the InterContinental in Sanctuary Cove thank you Ingrid Jewson for the memories and to our special guests who joined us.