Speak up, I can't hear you! We haven't had a Club Assembly for quite some time; they are just as important as having entertaining guest speakers. So here is your chance to express your views, your suggestions for improvement! With a bit of luck, President Andy's pain from his broken ribs will have abated and he will be able to lead our team in this important event. -
Club Assembly
Surfers Paradise SLSCOct 16, 2024
7:00 am – 8:30 am -
Surfers Sunrise Golf Day
Surfers Paradise Golf ClubOct 28, 2024
11:00 am – 4:00 pm -
Kal Glanznig - Surfers for Climate organisation
Surfers Paradise SLSCOct 30, 2024
7:00 am – 8:30 am -
Kieser Vocational on-site visit - TBC
KieserNov 13, 2024
7:00 am – 8:30 am -
Paul Seymour - Rotary Friendship Exchange
Surfers Paradise SLSCNov 27, 2024
7:00 am – 8:30 am
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Welcome to Surfers Sunrise Rotary!
A great way to start the day
We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 7:15 am
Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club
Esplanade (Cnr Hanlan Street)
Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217
Australia
Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217
Australia
Speak up, I can't hear you! We haven't had a Club Assembly for quite some time; they are just as important as having entertaining guest speakers. So here is your chance to express your views, your suggestions for improvement! With a bit of luck, President Andy's pain from his broken ribs will have abated and he will be able to lead our team in this important event. 
Geoff Croad, our Wheelchair Trust chairman, has negotiated an arrangement with RARE (Rotary Australia Repurposing Equipment) to dispose hospital beds, medical equipment etc that occasionally ends up at our project shed. Recently, a load of hospital beds, mattresses and some 500 bedsheets, destined for Timor Leste, was picked up. In the same consignment, there were 18 new or almost new "normal" wheelchairs (going to Bougainville), and three boxed 'Rough Terrain' wheelchairs to be shipped to where RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) deems there is a need. Amazing, what some effective communication can achieve! Well done, Geoff.Photo: Hospital beds and mattresses, ready to be loaded. From left: Geoff Croad, Bryan Tuesley, Iain Campbell. Check our Facebook pages for heaps more photos: www.facebook.com/rcsurferssunrise and www.facebook.com/wheelchairtrust
"That's what happens when you attend a RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) camp - you get to race V8 Supercars" would be a slight exaggeration... Organised by our resident car racing enthusiast, Ian Mayberry, Jesse Dixon might be the only RYLA attendee ever who had raced at the Bathurst 1000 - before attending the camp (he started racing GoKarts at 6 years of age). Still, he left no doubt that this experience had a profound impact on his future career. Jesse recounted moments when, every morning, the wake-up call "Goooood morning, Vietnam" (from 1987 film, starring Robin Williams) came. Team work exercises (yes, you guessed it: Jesse was unanimously elected Team Leader), singing in front of an audience, building rafts. But more than anything, Jesse remembers the sharing of 'stories of your darkest moments'. "I lost my dad of cancer at a young age" he recalls. "We learned how important it is to truly think first before you judge somebody" he said.In the photo, Jesse holds the first ever GoKart steering wheel, when a very supportive mum encouraged him to take racing seriously. Meanwhile, he runs the Dixon Racing Academy, with "the singular mission to be the ultimate driver academy for racers at all levels" His facilities include a simulator, so tuition can occur in a safe (and far less costly if you crash) environment. Jesse indicated that he would be happy to host a vocational visit - we'll organise this for sometimes in February/March 2025. Watch this spot.
One final must watch item: click on this link to view a video where he demonstrates a 'Hot Lap' to a lady who has never been in a race car. Sound is useful, but not essential - just watch her expressions. It went viral, and no wonder! There is also a copy of his PowerPoint presentation (in PDF format) in the Dowload Files section on the right.
With great sadness, we have to inform you that Past President Keith Leaver has passed away on 22nd September, aged 91. Keith, a proverbial "salt of the earth' man, was our club's 4th President (1989/90). Our thoughts and condolences go to his wife Norma and the Leaver family.
He might not be the longest-serving Associate Member at our project shed (he joined our team in 2021), but certainly Rick is one of our most active ones. But what a distinguished “pre-wheelchairs” career! “I joined the Navy Reserve in 1967 as a Radar Plotter (yes, the same guys they use in recruiting advertisements), and retired 51 years later, in 2018”, he said. Why the Navy Reserve? Well, his father was a Navy officer, his brother was a Navy diver… “By joining the Reserve, I could doanything the full-time guys can, but I can also do the civilian thing” he replied. His varied deployments included a total of 5 years full-time service. He was tested as a Navy Diver (where he busted his ear drums) so had to change to a Gunnery Sailor up to the rank of Petty Officer. Then he was commissioned as an officer, retiring as a Lieutenant-Commander (equivalent to Major in the Army). Rick served in various deployments including the United Nations, the Australian Navy, The US Navy, and other coalition forces.
In “civilian” life he worked with the Department of the Navy for 5 years, then moved to the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) and ultimately… the Australian Taxation Office, helping businesses to get on top of the newly introduced GST at the turn of the Century. He was then snatched up by the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to do the same thing over there.
Personal life? Believe it: yes, he does have one! He married Sharon in 1996, and together they travel, both locally (caravanning) and internationally. For some extra excitement: hunting and fishing when time allows, and perhaps reading the occasional Lee Childs novel, spy books, or watch a Wolverine movie.
I keep being astounded when I see the wide range of professional backgrounds of our volunteers!
Paul Seymour is currently participating in a Rotary Friendship Exchange with District 7430 in Pennsylvania, USA. He sent us some photos. See Photo Album on the right. (More on his Facebook page)
On rare occasions, we allow a speaker to exceed the max 30 minutes time allocation. Well, last Wednesday we had such a justification, when our newest member, Iain Campbell, gave us a brief insight into his life to date. Holey Moley!Born just a few years after the war and raised in Holland Park (Brisbane), he was an Airforce Cadet for some 5 years. Leaving school, he worked for the Commonwealth Bank. But banking was not for him, so he joined the Airforce to train as a Navigator. Within 12 months he graduated as a commissioned officer and was posted to Townsville to fly patrols in search for illegal fishing vessels, submarines and flying Search & Rescue missions. Keep in mind, aircraft were not pressurised and it was bitterly cold up there!
There followed postings to Butterworth (Malaysia), running Transport Support operations to Changi (Singapore), Indonesia and Thailand. Next he advanced to train Navigators, but soon it was back to patrols, based at the RAAF Base in Edinburg (South Australia).
Then "they wanted me to fly a desk”… Instead, Iain resigned his commission and moved to the Gold Coast, where his friend Geoff Croad organised a blind date, named Suzie… Result: he married her ☺.
A trip to Airlie Beach made them decide to go into the recreational diving business; Expo 88 generated a lot of international visitors. This followed them travelling the USA “like back packers”, all over, including on a 33 foot sailboat, ending that journey in Seattle, working as a diving instructor on cruise ships. The next stage: a pub in Edinburgh, doing an inventory of the place’s 300 different brands of rare Scotch Whisky [hmmm… I think we all would have been interested in that! ☺ Ed.] In 1996, they ended in Arizona, attaining US citizenship in 2000. Suzie started a company representing Inbound Tourism operators, whilst Iain entered the new frontier of Point of Sale (POS) systems.
But, ultimately, they called Australia home, and returned to the Gold Coast to retire. What a life journey! Welcome to Surfers Sunrise, Iain!
Photo (by Iain Campbell): With wife Suzie, on one of their cruise ship Diving Instructor engagements.
Surfers Sunrise Rotary keeps coming up with "firsts": So last Sunday, we enjoyed an outing to Stanley's Barn Restaurant, followed by a visit the Gold Coast Motor Museum right next to it. 16 adults, plus Ashleigh Symes' child Ruby (now a toddler) in attendance. Wholeheartedly recommended; the food is very good, and the motor museum doesn't just feature cars one would associate with "museum" from the early 1900's, but also the type of cars your editor drooled over when a teenager (such as a Lamborghini Espada...). Thank you, Adrian Crowe for organising it. Hugely enjoyable; a Rotary fellowship meeting with a difference.
This week, the board of the Surfers Sunrise Wheelchair Trust decided to proceed with an agreement between RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service), respectively its subsidiary RARE (Rotary Australia Repurposing Equipment). What it is all about? It results in the solution of one of our biggest problems, the cost of overseas shipment of our 'rough terrain' wheelchairs and other donated equipment, such as hospital beds, walkers etc. Frequently, we are faced with a need in a developing country being very much apparent, but funds cannot be raised by the receiving party to ship the goods there. Often, RARE may have considerable spare space in a container, which can be utilised. This is also beneficial where only a relatively small number of wheelchairs are required, and filling an entire container would not be feasible.
Great result! Congratulations to Wheelchair Trust Chairman Geoff Croad, who negotiated the agreement with RARE.
OK, get your golf clubs polished! One of our major annual fundraisers, the Surfers Sunrise Golf Day, will be in just 3 weeks' time. Usual place, the beautiful Surfers Paradise Golf Club.What? You don't play Golf (like me...)? You may have friends, business colleagues who do. It's open to all comers. Click on this link to book: https://www.trybooking.com/CVFRP or scan the QR Code. Want to forward a flyer to a friend? Download it (see Downloads section on the right)
We'll need plenty of helpers on the day, so if you can, please ask the organisers, Doug Lipp or Charles Thomasson, to put you on the roster. And we need Raffle Prizes! (Yes, you have had that bottle of Grange Hermitage in your cellar for thirty years. You might as well donate it! ☺)
This week's meeting was one of our special events of the year, the presentation of the Lutzy Award. The recipient, selected by the Surfers Paradise Life Saving Club, is not necessarily the top surfer, but is an emerging leader of the Life Saving organisation. According to David Orchard, one of the senior people in the Surfers SLSC, Louis' name came up easily. He is also the youngest ever awardee in the 9 year history of this award, presented in honour of our former member Keith Lutz.
Should you wonder "what defines an emerging leader?", check the list of Louis' record:
- 2023/2024 Nipper Club Captain
- 2023/2024 U14 Male Club Champion
- Obtained his Surf Rescue Certificate in November 2023
- Completed First Aid Certificate
- Completed 263.25 patrol hours and 14 water safety hours
- 2023/2024 Point Danger Branch & South Coast Branch Top Patrol Hours Winner at the Youth Gala Ball
- 2023/2024 Top Patrol Hours Runner Up
- 2023/2024 U14 Junior Life Saver of the Year @ Club and Branch Level
So, if ever there was proof that "you've got to be in it to win it", see above. The logical follow-on question then would be "what do you do in your spare time?" Yes, he is also learning to play the violin...
Photo, from left: David 'Orchy' Orchard, Jan Lutz, Louis van Drunen, Past President Doug Lipp (on behalf of President Andy), Louis with his mum, Sophie van Drunen. More photos on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/rcsurferssunrise
Wheelchair Shed veteran Terry Donovan brought his grandson Carter (picture right) and two of his mates, Lachlan and George, to the shed, and straight away got them to work, helping in the production of wheelchairs from discarded bikes, sanding down plywood etc, and earn their morning tea (including some cake and biscuits,, but don't tell mum!) Good on ya, Terry, Carter, Lachlan and George!
At the last meeting, our freshly baked President Andy emphasised that he wanted to put the Four-Way Test back into the forefront of our consciousness. So, I did a bit of digging into old records, and here is what I dug up out of the archives of 1997-98 from one of my (then) President's Messages. Today, 27 years later, it's still as relevant as ever:“Rotary is a miniature model of a world at peace, one which might advantageously be studied by nations. Rotarians believe that the universal application of tolerance and friendliness would bring about the international peace so earnestly desired by everyone. “ Words spoken over 50 years ago, on the 36th anniversary of Rotary, by its founder Paul Harris. Words still as relevant today as they were in 1941: Imagine, just for a moment, the effect of all world leaders truly applying the Four Way Test, at ALL TIMES…
Whilst this may seem to be highly desirable, this might be just as impossible to achieve as Karl Marx’s model of communism or Ayn Rand’s ideal of capitalism, outlined in her work ‘Atlas Shrugged’. Both models (and numerous others in between the two spectrums) work on the concept of everyone wanting to participate in the same ideal. Yet, some people want always to be influencing and leading, some people want just to be left alone, and some will always perceive the world to owe them a living.
When you joined Rotary, your welcome kit should have included a certificate of The Four Way Test, to display above your desk. Just make sure that it faces YOU.
At last Sunday's District Changeover, Surfers Sunrise, together with the two other participating Rotary clubs of Broadbeach and Gold Coast, were jointly declared winners of the most prestigious District Award, the Significant Achievement Award. The three clubs that were instrumental in the implementation of an X-Ray Unit at Mauna Health Centre on Pentecost Island, Vanuatu.
This project started in 2019, but then COVID caused serious disruption, ultimately completed towards the end of last year. More details to follow shortly. Meanwhile, you can download our club's Changeover Report (in the Download Section on the right), where you will find an excellent report of this project, written by Mario Fairlie.
Photo (by Andy Bell): Immediate Past President Doug Lipp (centre), accepting the award on behalf of our club.
Congratulation, Geoff Croad, on winning (yet once again) our club's top award! Well done, and well deserved. (For those of you who are not familiar with our system: This award is voted on via a silent ballot by all members of the club. Geoff won it this year with a clear majority).We had again an excellent Changeover Luncheon at Braeside Estate on Sunday 16th June, well organised by Graeme Isaacson. President Doug Lipp officially handed his collar to President Elect Andy Bell (Doug still has another two weeks to go though...☺). The speeches were short and to the point (as Surfers Sunrise events are well known for). As a very pleasant, unexpected surprise, Angie Bell MP, the local member for Moncrieff, joined us as well and gave a brief address. Angie is a great friend of our club, having been instrumental in helping us numerous times, including to obtain a grant which allowed us to purchase a ute for the project shed. Did you know that she was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Denmark?
In addition to Geoff's Rotarian of the Year award, Doug also presented the other awards
- Franz Huber - Quiet Achiever Award
- Charles Thomasson - Doug Waller Trophy
- Rock O'Keefe - Fellowship Cup
- John Groves and Matt Hayward both were bestowed a Paul Harris Fellowship (the second one for Matt), in recognition of the enormous amount both have done with the Pentecost Island X-Ray Unit project. John was the registered builder, Matt not only was active in the building phase but also is instrumental of making the electronics work. He'll go up again, now power has been re-established.
In the Photo Album section on the right you'll find a swag of pictures, mostly taken by our new member Dr Elizabeth Celi. Check it out!
(from left): Matt Hayward, Kristen 'KJ' Jewson, John Groves (the master builder), Mitch Brown, Ava Pearson, Hudson Sirovs, Al Sirovs and (front) Dan Snart.
Not your average meeting last Wednesday: Not only did we welcome a new member (see separate article above), but the team that went to Pentecost Island, Vanuatu to erect the X-Ray Unit at Mauna Health Centre fronted the club.
This wasn’t a simple task by any means: Master Builder John Groves eloquently outlined the enormous task of getting the X-Ray and Pathology Lab Unit built. After a two day trip, by Air to Port Vila, then by ‘Rock Hopper’ plane to Lonorore and a three-hour boat trip to the Mauna Health Centre, the task was to unpack the “flat pack” building which was shipped in two containers from our project shed in Arundel in February this year. There isn't much flat space there! To get it up the hill and re-erect it was a massive task. “Without the huge work of locals, it would never have happened”, John said.
Hard work it might have been, but the team was unanimous in declaring the exercise as a “once in a lifetime experience”. Twelve days of basic accommodation in a guest house, no electrical power (except in the Medical Centre), locally cooked
Last week, the project shed sent off the 11,015th wheelchair. Just on 3 years since we celebrated the 10,000th wheelchair in September 2013. The Photo on the right is our regular project shed worker Al Sirovs pointing out the number on the world map. The photo above shows some of the regulars, taken this morning. The wheelchair displayed is not exactly the 11,000th (that one is already on the way), but nobody needs to know... Third from left is Des La Rance OAM, who invented the concept and delivered the first 10 to Fiji in August 1997, 20 years ago! - See report in the Download Section on the right.As per President Mitch's message above, these photos were sent to to Bryan Tuesley, our wheelchair "foreman", from PNG, where they were deployed by Del Cole ('Someone Who Cares' Gold Coast based charity). Good to see that our work is doing good. Give yourselves a pat on the back!
"We were woken up at 4.30 am to the sound of our camp leaders screaming various commands, including to rush outside and do a wall sit... in our pyjamas! It then went on to challenge both our physical and mental strength for the next TWO HOURS." Uttered by a teenager, you might think that sounds like a complaint... You are sooo wrong!Chelsea and Zahra had only 5 minutes before having to rush off to school, but they certainly made good use of the time to relate their experiences of attending the recent RYTS (Rotary Youth Transition Seminar) camp, sponsored by our club. This is the very essence of Rotary Youth Service. The girls have given me permission to upload their speech to our website - see Download Files on the right.
Wow! Two ROSE (Recognition Of Significant Effort) awards were presented to our club at the District Conference. This is a new award designed (I assume) by District Governor Karen Thomas, presented this morning. I admit I wasn't even aware of the awards, not to mention their presentation.One is for the monumental joint effort with the Rotary Clubs of Broadbeach and Gold Coast in building the Mauna Health Centre (recently packed up and on the way to Vanuatu), the other for 'Improving the Club Public Image' by frequent posts to our website and Facebook pages.
Well, fellow members, associates, Rotaractors and helpers and the project shed: give yourself a pat on the back! You are permitted an extra biscuit or piece of cake next Wednesday morning! 
In view of the Wheelchair Trust Deed's fairly strict limitations (money donated can only be spent on materials for wheelchairs and nothing else, not even for the shipment to their destination), we have registered an alternative account for Containers for Change. If you deposit your empties directly, and wish to donate the proceeds to the Surfers Sunrise Rotary Club - General Account, please use this account code:
C10262571
(The account for the Wheelchair Trust is also still active: use C10199443 instead).
So, keep your soft drink bottles, stubby bottles, aluminium cans, milk cartons etc. As a general rule, most drink containers between 150ml and 3L can be returned for a refund under Queensland's container deposit scheme. Containers should be empty, unbroken, the lid removed and display a 10-cent refund marking on the label. Something like the image (right), but many others are simply marked as suitable for recycling. Note: they must NOT be crushed. See image above what is and what is not accepted. For details of what can / cannot be returned for cash, and where the locations are, click on this link. 
In the olden days, for a new member to join a Rotary club the unofficial rule was, expressed in simple terms, he should be "somebody who is in a position to hire and fire". Yes, 'he'. Thankfully, around 1987, the 'he' was expanded to also include the fairer sex. There were lots of other rules too, for example, weekly attendance at our meetings was considered to be just about essential. These days, the rules are very simple and straightforward. Here is an extract from the Membership section of our Club Consitution of 2019 (1):
Section 1 — General Qualifications.
This club shall be composed of adult persons who demonstrate good character, integrity, and leadership; possess a good reputation within their business, profession, and/or community; and are willing to serve in their community and/or around the world.
That should be simple enough. In other words, the majority of people in your circle of friends, in business, your suppliers, your customers qualify. Rotary is absolutely non-denominational, absolutely gender-neutral. All we ask for is of good character, has integrity, and a good reputation. Start making a list and invite them to come to one of our meetings.
(1) Members can download the Club Constitution from our website: (you need to login to the Member Area, top right of home page), then select Organisation, Documents and search for Constitution.
What a superb morning last Saturday at our Project Shed, where we celebrated the 10,000th Wheelchair manufactured. For any of our readers who are not familiar with the concept: parts from recycled bicycles, marine plywood, solid rubber BMX wheels and... LOTS OF VOLUNTEER HOURS equal a wheelchair which can be manufactured for $100! Give yourself a pat on the back, but particular recognition must go to the principal movers and shakers who started and carried this project through: Des La Rance, Daryl Sanderson and the late Keith Lutz and Bob Harrison. Jan Lutz was there, but regrettably, Gloria Harrison was unable to join us, but for a good reason: her grandson debuted on that same day, playing Grade 1 Cricket in the Queensland Premier League. Howzat! Bob would be proud on both accounts. We had the bulk of our members and volunteers present from an early hour, setting up the various marquees, putting the last touch to the refurbished bikes we had for sale, setting up the stage, the videos... The Rotaractors from Burleigh Heads were there in force, the Rotary Club of Parkwood ran a sausage sizzle and the Rotary Club of Broadbeach ran a raffle, our soon to be inducted new corporate members Adam and Tash from Invincable had a stand and so did the Pimpama State School with their version of the wheelchair design. We were honoured by visits from District Governor Andy Rajapakse, State MPs Rob Molhoek and Sam O'Connor (he has done a nice write up on his Facebook page too) as well as Councillors Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden and Brooke Patterson.
President Charles Thomasson opened the formal part of the celebrations welcoming our dignitaries, which was followed by a brief address by DG Andy Rajapakse, in which he referred to his own efforts of taking well over 500 wheelchairs for distribution in his country of origin, Sri Lanka. Following our DG, the inventor of the wheelchairs from bicycles, Des La Rance, outlined the project from early times in the mid 1990's, the breakthrough when Ray Martin's A Current Affair broadcast the delivery of the first 10 wheelchairs to Fiji in 1997, the building of schools for the tsunami affected regions of Thailand and Samoa, the House of Hope in Apia, leading to the current project of the X-Ray Unit for Vanuatu.
But of course, the culmination of the morning was the presentation of a commemorative collage to Des La Rance (see picture). This was designed and made by Neil Thurlow and his graphic wizards of Accent Print and Copy.
Photo shows (from left) Jan La Rance, Daryl Sanderson, Des La Rance, Jan Lutz. More photos are in the Photo Album, videos coming up shortly.
Our super generous printer, Neil Thurlow and his very talented design artists at Accent Print & Copy have created a new flyer for our wheelchairs project. He has also provided some 2000 printed copies, which will be sent out by Apple Marketing to their mailing list of previous donors. It is uploaded to our Download Section (see right side), where you can download it and send it on to anyone whom you consider could be interested.
Thank you, Neil and your team!
I've uploaded a video which beautifully outlines what Rotary is all about. Go on, have a look at it. It's only a bit over 2 minutes, but very well done. Go to this link to view it:
President
Immediate Past President
President Elect
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Executive Secretary
Director - Club Administration
Director - Fundraising
Director - Service Projects
Chair - Wheelchairs Trust
Public Relations
Director - Membership
Director, Youth Services
Director -The Rotary Foundation
Coordinator Golf Day
Fellowship and Social Program
Liaison - Wheelchair Trust
Program Manager-Guest Speakers
Webmaster & Bulletin Ed