PDG Ian was our chairperson for today's club meeting at Cilantro. Charles joined the meeting via Zoom, and guests included Mark Davies, Gary Ramage, and Bruno Santi.CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS - President Grant and others:
Monday 8 December - BMC Board meeting will be held in the boardroom of Neville's office. Board reports required by Secretary Karin by Friday 5/12 - please.
Wednesday 10 December - will be our last club meeting for this year at Cilantro
Saturday 13 December - club End of Year celebration at Sandringham Yacht Club. Could members planning to attend please register on the club website - if numbers are small the event may need to be cancelled.
Wednesday 21 January 2026 - will be our first club meeting for 2026. As Cilantro will still be closed, the venue is yet to be confirmed.
GESAC on Wednesday 3 December - A group of club members have volunteered to look after the BBQ at GESAC for today's event to support International Day of People with Disability.
R.C. Mordialloc and Mentone - are running a raffle as a fundraiser. with first prize being $2,500, and other monetary amounts for secondary prizes. Tickets were available today for purchase at $10 per ticket, and will be available again for purchase at next week's club meeting on 10 Dec. (cash please).
Donations in Kind - Linda, Peter, Grant and Ian collected pellets of Lego from Donations in Kind in Footscray yesterday. Geoff purchased a pellet for the Scouts, Nicky purchased a pellet for distribution within the Vietnamese community, and a pellet has been purchased for the club's Community Committee for distribution to disadvantaged people.
District 9815 Conference 2026 13-15 March - Members planning to attend next year's conference need to register on the District website. A reminder the Early Bird special rate $295 ends 31 December 2025 before the rate increases to $340 p.p.
Bentleigh Market - Santa will visit the market on Sunday 7 December at 10:30am to entertain the children and young at heart adults.
OH&S - Unfortunately, a syringe was located within the market last week - Ron has purchased Sharp containers for depositing any syringes found at the market.
GUEST SPEAKER - Club member Geoff Gartly
Geoff spoke about Scouts Australia - an organisation he has been involved in for nearly all his life, having come from a 'Scouts' family with both parents involved, and now joined by his children Aidan and Kaila.
Geoff outlined the history of the Scouts movement in Australia that commenced in 1908, shortly after the movement was commenced by Baden Powell in Kensington, UK. The Scouts heyday was in the 1960's-1970's when the movement was huge. A little known fact is the Scouts played a part during World War 11 when it provided tents for the troops. Scouts has evolved and developed over the years, initially starting out as Boy Scouts, then the Scouts Association, and now Scouts Australia. Girls were introduced in 1990. Membership is currently 70,000 with Victoria representing 38%, NSW 31% and other states/territories 31%. Victorian numbers are 15,425 youth and 7,823 adults. Scouts Australia continues to develop to reflect current times. In 2020 - a new program called One Program, One Journey was introduced, and is a process that encapsulates a journey scouts take from start to the end. It uses the Scout Method to provide a seamless pathway for personal development through new challenges and adventures. Geoff briefly touched on his own Scouts journey adding he has been a group leader, he was the first Victorian Sea Scouts group leader, and he established the St Kilda Scout Group. In November last year, he took on the role of the Scouts District Commissioner in Glen Eira, which has 13 groups, 780 scouts, 120 leaders, and 13 halls within the vicinity. Other scout activities include a Scouts Jamboree every three years, the observance and adherence to Child Safe Scouts Australia policies and processes, the utilisation and maintenance of several scout campsites, and they have raised more than $1.5 million through the Victorian CDS (container deposit scheme). Geoff finished his talk thanking Rotary for its support, and concluded by saying Scouts is a great movement for young people to develop practical and social skills, provides good grounding for personal development, leadership training, and confidence building as well as creating a great network of like minded people.
Thank you Geoff for your wonderful presentation - we all learnt a lot more about the Scouts movement in Australia.
LIVIN - Gabriela commented on the fantastic evening that was enjoyed by all who attended last night's Ladies Christmas Ball at the Brighton Yacht Club to fundraise for the LIVIN charitable organisation. The event included 2 fashion parades, auctions, and raffles, in addition to a lovely 2 course meal.. Gabriela thanked our club for its support with a table of 10, and will advise the amount that was raised during the night once all the figures are sorted.
ROSTERS - rosters for the next market and next week's club meeting were announced.
President Grant closed the meeting with this year's theme - Unite for Good.
