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A number of the guys at the shed yesterday assisted in the loading of 18 beds and 18 mattress which Del Cole and her son Davin provided the truck to collect the beds. This morning they delivered them to Alexandra Hills to be loaded into the container for shipment to Fiji. Thank You Del & Davin. Also yesterday a number of our members assisted in loading our ute & trailer with the the remaining 3 pallets of 36 wheelchairs plus a number of white boards, being part of the shipment to Fiji. With the assistance of Bryan Tuesley, Rick Old and Rick Parry, the balance of 3 medical beds , 3 mattress and 64 'Rough Terrain' wheelchairs were loaded on to another truck this morning. Rick Old and myself delivered them to RAWCS/RARE at Alexandra Hills, to be loaded into the container with the 18 beds etc for shipment to a Hospital in Fiji.
This is a joint project with the Archerfield Rotary Club who provided the 40ft container organised by Ray Deen and also John Paskin Manager of RAWCS/RARE Alexander Hills who is organising the shipment of the Container, with 21 Hospital Beds & 21 Mattress plus 100 wheelchairs. I would also like to thank all the members of the Surfers Sunrise Rotary Wheelchair factory for their full support and dedication in the manufacture of these wheelchairs.
(Picture, by Geoff Croad: John Thompson, Brendan Aspery, Don Ferguson, Rick Parry. More pictures on our Facebook page)
The First Rotary Social Event of 2025! 
ROTARY Surfers Sunrise Christmas delivery of bicycles for disadvantaged children was organised and delivered by Santa Mario Fairlie with helpers Al Sirovs, Geoff Croad and Rick Parry (photo by Al Sirovs). Well done, and thank you all, including the team at the shed who worked hard to restore the bikes!
Just before Christmas, Al Sirov's sent in a selfie with (from left) Bryan Tuesley, President Andy Bell and Fundraising Director Ross Augustine: work in progress installing the new sawdust vac system at the project shed. It will be good to get rid of the masks. Good on ya, fellows!
Born in Sydney where he also met his wife, Damian and his wife moved to the Gold Coast in their thirties. All his three children were born here; one of his daughters is a Bio Scientist, his son is in Real Estate and the youngest daughter is in her prep year. Regrettably, they later decided to separate amicably. “I still have a very friendly relationship with my former wife” he said.
Last Wednesday, Paul Seymour (Photo right, with President Andy Bell) regaled us with a treasure trove of images and stories of his recent Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) to Pennsylvania. Together with the RC of Mermaid Beach, 
Our Foundation Chair, Dr Elizabeth Celi, together with her team at today's District 9640 Seminar on 
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 
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).
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 
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, 
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. 
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. 
