This message is coming from Ward 11, Gold Coast Private Hospital. I know you are thinking knee problem, sadly not. Last Tuesday morning I had a sudden dizzy spell and fell on the sharp wooden edge of a footstool, bruising my lower ribs. The dizziness didn’t pass so Robby called for an ambulance and here I am. A pacemaker has been fitted and a multitude of tests are being carried out. Word is I will survive. Twechar boys are tough. [For those of you who are not intimate with the geography of Scotland: it's the village our President was born, north-east of Glasgow. Ed.]
Reports from last week’s meeting are that we have a new star in our club, Iain Campbell, who gave us his 'Rotarian behind the Badge‘ presentation. I hear he was brilliant. How honoured are we to have people of the calibre of Iain as members of Rotary.
I’m doing this message on my phone so I’ll leave it there. Take care, hopefully se you Wednesday morning.
This coming Wednesday 25th September, is just social: meet on the ground floor at the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club bistro, and join us for a chinwag, solving the world's problems, discuss footy results and why the red forest ant has a higher than average reproduction cycle. Even politics are permitted, but no heavy arguments please!
Then on Thursday late afternoon (from 4:30 pm onwards), some members gather for pre-dinner drinks at the Benowa Tavern. Everyone welcome!
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.
OK, get your golf clubs polished! One of our major annual fundraisers, the Surfers Sunrise Golf Day, will be on the last Monday of October. 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! ☺)
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
She said she is missing me. That normally would be good, but she is reloading.
Our public life is now dense with people desperate to man the barricades long after the revolution is over […] In each case a demonstration of virtue demands an overstating of the problem which then causes an amplification of the problem. Douglas Murray, ‘The Madness of the Crowds’
Common sense is like deodorant. The people who need it never use it.
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!
OK, get your golf clubs polished! One of our major annual fundraisers, the Surfers Sunrise Golf Day, will be on the last Monday of October. Usual place, the beautiful Surfers Paradise Golf Club.
