On Friday, PP Mario Fairlie hosted a meeting at his house for the Pentecost Island Project. Mario has been doing a great deal of work with Dr Graham Sivyer and Neil Jones (Broadbeach Rotary), Greg Bowler (Gold Coast Rotary) and Harrison Howick, Chumani Brooks and Blake Foster (Rotaract Burleigh Heads). The meeting included updates on Project Finances, the Building, the sourcing of Medical Equipment, fundraising ideas, website development and ways to engage other local and international Rotary Clubs. In summary, there is a lot going on and we will look to arrange a day that Mario and Dr Sivyer can present at a club meeting in the near future. Remember this is a huge project and will be a major focus for Surfers Sunrise over the next 12 to 18 months.
Tonight, I have a Cluster 7 Zoom Meeting to discuss Surfers Sunrise’s participation in the 100 Years of Rotary in Australia Baton Relay – an event designed to connect all Rotary Clubs with their communities. I’ll update you with some dates and ideas on Wednesday morning.
As decided last week at the meeting, we will be presenting a number of Excellence in Workmanship Awards at the Chinese New Year Celebration Dinner on Wednesday 17th February (next Wednesday!). The Excellence in Workmanship Awards celebrate local business people that have provided excellent service. NOTE: we will still have our 'formal' meeting in the morning as well. Please book asap - maximum 50 people - Trybooking details in the bulletin below.
See you Wednesday morning for a social breakfast at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club.
This Wednesday 10th February, from 07:00 am, we'll have a social meeting at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club, downstairs Bistro, on the northern side. See you there!
Our guest speaker last Wednesday was astounding. If you ever have prepared to do a presentation yourself, you can appreciate the amount of time and energy Briana would have invested to deliver with perfection: fluently, clearly, precisely and with good diction. She made it look all so easy, she had her audience nailed! And quite uncommon for a teenager: not a single ‘Uhmmm’, ‘like’, ‘basically’, ‘ya know’ ...!
Our club sponsored her to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF). Normally held in Canberra, this year COVID-19 forced it to go on-line. Still, so Briana enthused, it was very worthwhile indeed! “I found NYSF’s most valuable resource to be their range of STEM experts” she said. Among these were Professor Barry Marshall, Dr Carola Vinuesa and Professor Brian P Schmidt. Both Professors Marshall and Schmidt are Nobel Prize Laureates, Dr. Vinuesa is the co-director of personalised medicine at ANU.
Briana made it clear that attending the NYSF is not just about pure science but about live values, such as the value of perseverance. A point in case is Prof Barry Marshall, whose discovery of a cure for duodenal ulcers earned him the Nobel Prize. “There were over 20 years between his original discovery and his receiving of a Nobel Prize”, she said, then cited the Professor: “If you have the facts, you don’t have to worry if nobody believes you.”
Question Time, as expected, was boisterous. What are your future plans? she was asked. “I changed my initial intentions of a career in computer science or biomedicals to go for medicine” she said. Other than Science, Briana is involved in the Duke of Edenborough program, studies Literature, High Level Maths, Classical Singing (she participates in the choir), helps in Student Prep and Debating.
Briana’s PowerPoint presentation and her corresponding speech is available from the Download Section on the right. You should run the two concurrently, the text shows when to change slides. Photo, from left: President Charles Thomasson, Briana's father Michael Dorrough and Briana Dorrough.
Andy Bell and President Charles Thomasson have organized for our club to have a social dinner night, celebrating the Chinese New Year of the Ox (well, it will be close to it anyway... ☺) It will be in the form of a sumptuous banquet, held on Wednesday 17th February 2021, from 6:00 pm at the
Highland Court Chinese Restaurant
Benowa Gardens Shopping Centre
203 Ashmore Rd,
Benowa QLD 4217
This year, we'll have the entire restaurant to ourselves! (Max 50 people). Howzat?? Same price as last year - $35.00 per head. BYO, wine only - no corkage! (wine only - all other drinks must be purchased at the venue). Of course, partners, friends and guests welcome! Click here for online bookings or navigate to https://www.trybooking.com/BONHDBookings close this coming Sunday evening 14th February.
UPDATE: It has been decided to include the presentation of the Excellence in Workmanship Awards which last year we were unable to run, due to COVID-19. Remember: Max 50 persons, so first come, first served!
Clarification: We will still have our normal 'formal' meeting in the morning - top Guest Speaker Tammy Richie - 'The Art of Living'.
Johnny Bueti was at the door (for Graeme Isaacson), Col Laurenson was Chairman and Andy Bell was Sergeant. We had apologies from Gerald East, Graeme Isaacson, Natasha Price, Adam Sheppard and Ian Mayberry.
President Charles Thomasson welcomed all members, visitors and guests, including David Baguley (RC of Gold Coast), Trent Belling (guest of Simon Brook), our former member Evan Mita (welcome back, Evan!), Daniel Wilson, Honorary Queenslander Ann O’Connor, KJ Jewson (Rotaract Club), prospective member Stah Nduku, and of course our Guest Speaker Briana Dorrough, accompanied by her father Michael Dorrough. Charles briefly talked about the Certificate of Appreciation Certificate presentations last Saturday (see last week’s bulletin), as well as the upcoming social dinner at the Highland Court Restaurant (see below). Meanwhile, this has been expanded to include the presentation of the Excellence in Workmanship Awards, which last year had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.
After the excellent presentation by Briana Dorrough on her participation in the National Youth Science Forum (see article above), David Baguley outlined the upcoming Gold Coast Ramble, to be staged on 31st March 2021, starting on Chevron Island (see article below). With a much more modern App, this year’s event only requires four check points to be manned. We need prizes! Can you assist? David also mentioned the upcoming Baton Relay, part of the 100 years Rotary in Australia.
Treasurer Doug Lipp advised that a very generous donation of $13,000 was made to the Wheelchair Trust, organised by Al Sirovs from the Edwards-Sirovs Family Trust. Thank you very much! Project Shed Chief Larry Murray elaborated on the happenings at the shed. We also seem to have a bit of a challenge to source new BMX style wheels locally. Paul Seymour briefly talked about Abbey Matthews, who recently attended our RYTS (Rotary Youth Transition Seminar). See separate article coming up in next week’s bulletin.
Finally, we experienced what has become an unusual event: Dept Sergeant Andy Bell presided over a very straight forward session: Outline your most embarrassing moment ever. Several members outlined their faux-pas. However, in view of this bulletin being widely read on the Internet, shall remain unpublished… (you should have been there! 😊).
Our club has been involved with the Gold Coast Ramble since its inception, regularly fielding teams. Are you up to it this year? Click on the picture to go directly to their website. At last week's meeting, David Baguley (RC of Gold Coast)the details of this event, to be staged on 21st March 2021, starting on Chevron Island (see article below). With a much more modern App, this year’s event only requires four check points to be manned. We need prizes! Can you assist?
We need another load or two of unwanted bicycles (any condition) to re-purpose them into 'Rough Terrain' Wheelchairs. Over 10,000 of them have been made by our volunteers over the past 23 years. Do you have any, or know of anyone who has some?
We can collect (Gold Coast region only). Please MESSAGE us. Share this too, thank you!
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change". Charles Darwin, 1809.
What's the difference between a Kleptomaniac and a Literalist?
The Literalist takes things literally. The Kleptomaniac takes things, literally.
[and there are still people out there who think one can do away with punctuation...! ☺ Ed.]
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. (attributed to Albert Einstein).
Everything that's supposedly caused by stress, I tell people there's a Nobel Prize there if you find out the real cause. Prof Barry Marshall, Nobel Prize Laureate for his discovery of a cure for duodenal ulcers
This Wednesday 10th February, from 07:00 am, we'll have a social meeting at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club, downstairs Bistro, on the northern side. See you there!
Our guest speaker last Wednesday was astounding. If you ever have prepared to do a presentation yourself, you can appreciate the amount of time and energy Briana would have invested to deliver with perfection: fluently, clearly, precisely and with good diction. She made it look all so easy, she had her audience nailed! And quite uncommon for a teenager: not a single ‘Uhmmm’, ‘like’, ‘basically’, ‘ya know’ ...!
Andy Bell and President Charles Thomasson have organized for our club to have a social dinner night, celebrating the Chinese New Year of the Ox (well, it will be close to it anyway... ☺) It will be in the form of a sumptuous banquet, held on Wednesday 17th February 2021, from 6:00 pm at the
