We are back! It feels like a lifetime ago since I last wrote a report and we had an official meeting. I must firstly congratulate all of you who volunteered and contributed to the success of arguably the best Commonwealth Games ever. It is very interesting to hear the tales from those who worked as ‘house-keepers’ at the Games Village. From all accounts a never to be forgotten experience.
A couple of instances that warrant mention and were not so good however. The first was the totally unacceptable behaviour of the professional unwashed protesters who disrupted the Queens Baton Relay on the Spit, just when our Darrell Brown was about to embark on his leg of the relay. The second was the attitude of some of the supervisory staff at the Games Village, who tried to make life unpleasant for some of our volunteers. However, I have it on very good authority that a couple of them pushed their luck a bit too far and our Mr Nice Guy, Geoff Croad, put one of them firmly in their place.
Robby and I hosted a Rotarian couple from Scotland. They are members of Troon Rotary Club, but they now live in NZ. When asked if they have joined a club in NZ they commented that their local club is far too formal and old fashioned for them, so they haven't joined but maintained their membership in Troon. I don't think we could ever be accused of falling into that category.
Our Change-over lunch is fast approaching, only about 6 weeks away on Sunday 17 June at the newly refurbished Kurawa Surf Club.
This Wednesday we have a VIP all the way from Latvia: Dr Dainis Sirovs (yes, he is Al Sirov's nephew) will present on the change in his native Latvia from the Russian occupation after World War II to today. In his professional life, Dr Sirovs is a specialist in Traumatology. A must not miss event.
OK, time to allow our fingernails to start re-growing! After over a year of pre-preparations, dozens of committee meetings and hundreds, nay, thousands of email exchanges (just my small department of organizing the Registrations had well over 500 incoming mails outside the 580 registrations themselves!), we concluded the conference with a 'Paella in the Park' event. Regrettably, the weather was anything other than what one would visualize to go with Flamenco and Salsa dancers, but, hey! we still had a marvellous time out there. The wheelchair boys with help from all over erected the marquees, Graeme Isaacson was in several places at once, organizing the Paella chefs, the ice cream van and the Flamenco Guitar player...
We had so many remarkable events, outrageously funny and inspiring keynote speakers, award presentations and good old fashioned Rotary Fellowship. So, why would I pick for this bulletin the only event that was truly affected by the rainy and blustery weather and where no grand speeches were held? Well, because there is no way I can report on the happenings of a three day conference in the space allowed in a club bulletin! Wearing my other hat as the DG's Newsletter Editor, I'll make a genuine effort to put together a reportage for the upcoming April edition of 'NINE Six FOUR Oh!' - it will be in your mailbox on or about 29th March. To Jo Gorman, her organizing committee and all the helpers and volunteers: you did a superb job! Thank you.
Photo: Kate Kimmorley (RC of Gold Coast, who was an "inner cabinet" member of the committee), Tony Winwood (Jo's fiancee) is smiling - he might even again get to spend a few moments with his wife to be, District Conference Chairman Jo Gorman! And Des La Rance expresses what everyone thought about how successful the conference was! Bonza!
If by chance, you missed DG Darrell Brown’s District Conference on the weekend just gone, you missed a Biggy. Though the overall concept was far greater than the few words following, I would like to mention a small part.
You missed seeing speakers, whom you as members have supported and who are fabulous ambassadors of Surfers Sunrise. Honestly, you had to be there! To mention a couple that are directly associated with Surfers Sunrise:
our RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program for Enrichment) attendees Jessica Webber and Lucy Thorburn spoke in the Youth segment about their experiences at RYPEN. Both are recipients of the “Lutzy” Award Surfers Sunrise presents to awardees suggested by the Surfers Paradise Surf Lifesaving Club. Great presentation, girls!
Surfers Sunrise sponsored a Rotary Peace Fellow,Jackie Kauli, who gave an emotive and passionate presentation of how she was tackling domestic violence aspects of life in Papual New Guinea. She does this through drama sessions to the villagers.
It was great to see a successful outcome, to what our Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise programs and support can achieve. Speaking of achievement, I’d like to extend my personal thanks to all my fellow Conference volunteers, as in working as a team, the best and most successful Conference (in my opinion), was achieved, and I was proud to be a small cog in that Rotary wheel. [Ray, among lots of other jobs, was in charge of program planning and execution. Just visualize: the Run Sheet, which details to the minute what will happen, exactly at what time, done by whom: 17 pages of spreadsheet, in small print with no big blank spaces! That is why the conference ran like clockwork. Ed.]
Fred Hamblen was at the door, Peter Morgan was Chairman and Tania Laird was Sergeant.
We had apologies from Gerald East, Simon Brook, Mario Fairlie, Des La Rance, Mark Twyford, Rosie Rocco, Richard Smith and Jim Blackburn.
President Andy Bell welcomed all members present - there were no guests since the meeting primarily was to discuss last minute items in relation to the upcoming District Conference. He briefly elaborated on the Survey taken in relation to the club's banner, however, detailed discussion will need to be postponed to a future date.
Wheelchair Trust Chairman Daryl Sanderson related the trouble Palen Creek Correctional Centre had to get through to our shed with some wheelchairs - big flooding made this just a bit complicated... Daryl also advised that they are rapidly running out of materials at the shed, with almost no cartons and only material for about 40 wheelchairs.
Graeme Isaacson presented a cheque for $230, being the proceeds of the sale of 19 'Gold Coast Entertainment' voucher books. Well done, Graeme!
President Elect Jo Gorman then proceeded to go through the "small print" of organizing our team for the upcoming District Conference.
Tania started off with one of the great philosophical question: Where do we come from? She got her DNA testing kit results back: 48% Polynesian – coconut, 16% Eastern European, 13% Western European, 17% low confidence regions - whatever that means ? [that makes 94% so far. What about the rest? Ed.] President Andy Bell – his comment on FB following my DNA post above saying “with a name like Laird the 17% must be Scottish” - not sure you can have a Scottish coconut... Tania also paid $10 - $1.00 per week for every week your editor waits for 33 questions... Doug Lipp – Not sharing his racing tips. "In his Stride" won the 1000m race and paid $9.50... Peter Morgan – forgetting to put his name as the reference in his dues remittance... Jo Gorman – seriously, who buys their wedding dress 2 sizes too small so she is forced to diet – whilst future hubby Tony buys his suit 1 size larger just in case!! Charles Thomasson – where is your new badge? Bob Harrison – still wearing the old badge ... Ray Higgs – picking up my support role to Kate Kimmorley re sponsorship/booths at conference... Fred Hamblen, what a bright shirt! Mitch Brown, nice hair cut!
If you were naive, it was perhaps in dreaming that... ... the world of politics ought to obey the same aristocratic rules as the world of science, in which the fiercest struggles allow no other weapons than arguments and still constitute friendship and respect. When a cause is defended only by violence, lies, and calumny... ... it admits its own weakness.
And whilst we are on literature: (see picture above)...
Did you know that dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish?
If by chance, you missed DG Darrell Brown’s District Conference on the weekend just gone, you missed a Biggy. Though the overall concept was far greater than the few words following, I would like to mention a small part..JPG)
Tania started off with one of the great philosophical question: Where do we come from? She got her DNA testing kit results back: 48% Polynesian – coconut, 16% Eastern European, 13% Western European, 17% low confidence regions - whatever that means ? [that makes 94% so far. What about the rest? Ed.] President Andy Bell – his comment on FB following my DNA post above saying “with a name like Laird the 17% must be Scottish” - not sure you can have a Scottish coconut... Tania also paid $10 - $1.00 per week for every week your editor waits for 33 questions... Doug Lipp – Not sharing his racing tips. "In his Stride" won the 1000m race and paid $9.50... Peter Morgan – forgetting to put his name as the reference in his dues remittance... Jo Gorman – seriously, who buys their wedding dress 2 sizes too small so she is forced to diet – whilst future hubby Tony buys his suit 1 size larger just in case!! Charles Thomasson – where is your new badge? Bob Harrison – still wearing the old badge ... Ray Higgs – picking up my support role to Kate Kimmorley re sponsorship/booths at conference... Fred Hamblen, what a bright shirt! Mitch Brown, nice hair cut!
