Greetings, fellow members, associate members and friends of Surfers Sunrise Rotary,
A big shout out this week goes to one of our honorary members, Barry Lee, who addressed our meeting on the history of the Wheelchair Shed, giving insight to the set up of the Wheelchair Shed, experiences and stories, refer below, ably assisted by other members with various stories of the shed's beginning. This was a great insight for all new members and a good reminder to older members of the Wheelchair Shed.
Key dates to remember this month
Change over this year will be at TRYP on the 5 July 2026, detail plus booking via Trybooking to follow
Our District changeover will be held on 28th June 2026 at 11.30am Currumbin RSL and encourage members to celebrate the day
We have another Bunnings BBQ on 27th June 2026. Ross will circulate a roster list
Surfers’ Sunrise Golf Day will be held this year on 26th October 2026 at Surfers Paradise Golf Club. Brochures are now available for download (see Download Section) for any member looking to promote the day, play individually or field a team, or supply sponsorship.
This coming Wednesday 13th May will be a social meeting at the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club. Come along for a cuppa and/or breakfast. If possible, the meeting will be in the upstairs venue, if the weather is nice, on the balcony (otherwise on the ground floor, at the northern end). Lots of good banter and laughter, and - believe it - sometimes there are more club related matters discussed and solutions determined than on a formal meeting!
Last Wednesday, our honorary member Barry Lea visited our club to reminisce about the early days of our 'Rough Terrain' wheelchairs, back in the mid-nineties. Barry hasn't changed a bit; he is still the same, relaxed, laid-back gentleman as he was 30 years ago. I can't even say that he has a bit less hair than he had then ☺...!
It was around 1995 when Des La Rance OAM, on a holiday to Fiji, became aware of severely disabled children who had no facilities for mobility of any sort. A lot of brain power, experimenting and drafting resulted in the concept of using the discarded bicycles and some plywood to manufacture a wheelchair for... (at that time) less than $100! Barry, before retirement a highly successful Insurance Broker, contacted some of his clients, obtained a very low-rent factory, and so the construction phase started in earnest. Then they suffered a fire. Another factory was found, this time in Ashmore, and - unbelievably - it also burned down (both overnight). Still, the team persisted, and eventually, the first prototypes were ready to show to the world.
At the Rotary District 9640 Conference in 1997, Ray Martin from Channel 9's 'A Current Affair' was one of the keynote speakers. Our member Ian Mayberry, who was also instrumental in these early development stages, managed to get Ray to view our prototype display, and he promptly promised to send a camera crew. And so he did, and ultimately, as the saying goes, the rest is history. There is a write-up of that delivery of the first 10 wheelchairs to Fiji in the Downloads section of our website, and there is also a Photo Album. In July last year, Channel 9 broadcast a follow-up- click here to view. So much material, so little space. Anyone wants to take up the challenge and write a book about it?
Photo: At Brisbane Airport, before departure to Fiji. (l-r) John Withers, Barry Lea, Franz Huber, Conrad Martens, Des La Rance (front), Ian Mayberry (rear with hat), Graeme Isaacson, John Appleton. Special mention: John Appleton's company Apple Marketing made the inflow of financial donations possible, by opening a 1800 number in his call centre with just two hours' notice!
If you were present at the meeting of 22. April with Councillor Darren Taylor, you will recall that the questions kept coming and we simply ran out of time. So we asked Darren to come back, and he has agreed to attend our meeting of 3rd June. To allow him to prepare and do advance research to ensure the questions actually get answered, he has invited us to send him questions on notice!
So, now is the time to submit your question(s). Of course, questions should relate to the policies and the governance of the Gold Coast City Council only, not State or Federal Government. Please be concise. We are looking for questions, NOT your personal opinions or statements. The convenor (that's me, your trusty bulletin editor) reserves the right to parse any unnecessary comments. You may pose a follow-up question, as in "if yes (or no), then XXXX".
Simply reply to the email of this bulletin, or if you got it off our website, send it to enquiries.surfers.sunrise@gmail.com before COB 27th May 2026. I'll compile them and forward them to Darren. Naturally, you'll be able to ask questions on the day, however, submitted questions will get preference.
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
Artificial Intelligence promised to make my life easier, and now I spend 45 minutes crafting the perfect prompt to avoid a task that would’ve taken me 10.
We need politics like we need sewerage, and like sewerage, we should want it to work properly and well, but not make too much of it, not create a fetish of it by glorifying it with daily celebrations and watching it incessantly on 24-hour TV. Richard Flanagan, ‘The Australian Disease’, 2011
"My wife found out that I've been cheating on her after she found all the letters I've been hiding. She was really mad!"
"Uh-oh! You're in trouble then, ey?"
"Yes, she said she'll never play scrabble with me again."
