Tim Moran was today’s chairperson for our first club meeting for 2024 at The Deck in Brighton. The meeting was well attended and everyone enjoyed a lovely casual breakfast prepared by staff at The Deck. DG Ian and Helen P joined the meeting via Zoom. Guests included partners – Ken, Gary and Asia. Attendance apologies were received from Geoff Gledhill, Paul F, Kelly C, Vishal M, Samantha L, Julie R, Barry O, and Roy K.
BOARD MOTIONS FOR CLUB APPROVAL
Ron B put forward the following three board approved motions for club donations for club member approval.
- Donation of $10,000 to the Rotary Foundation
Moved: Peter O’Brien. Seconded Tim Moran. Motion carried - Donation of $5,000 for Polio Plus
Moved: Neville Kruss. Seconded: Linda O’Brien. Motion carried - Donation of $5,000 to Australian Rotary Health for an Indigenous Scholarship
Motion was deferred pending further investigation by the board for allocation of the funds
CLUB MEMBER RECOGNITION
Ron had the very pleasant duty of presenting a club Certificate of Appreciation to club member Charles Rener, upon achieving his 50th Rotary anniversary being celebrated today where Charles was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Bentleigh that chartered on 17th January 1974. Ron provided a brief outline of the club’s history and commended the members who had the good foresight to commence a Rotary market for fund raising that has been a mainstay and the club’s primary source for fund raising ever since. The original location of the Bentleigh Market was in the Bentleigh Library car park, before relocating to its current location to the Council car park in Bent Street, Bentleigh. The Rotary Club of Moorabbin Central merged with the Rotary Club of Bentleigh on 1 July 1995 to become the Rotary Club of Bentleigh Moorabbin Central Inc. Charles was the first president for the newly merged clubs, followed by Ron as president in the following year. Coincidentally, Charles also celebrated his 90th birthday on 27 December 2023. Happy Birthday and Congratulations Charles.
Tnaks Sue L for pic.
CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS
DISTRICT CONFERENCE Friday 22 March – Sunday 24 March 2024 – Linda O’B
Linda provided an update for this year’s district conference. For reasons explained, the venue for Saturday night dinner has changed to the function room at Warrnambool Racecourse and promises to be a better option than the original planned venue. Similarly, the venue for Pre Conference drinks and nibbles on late Friday afternoon has also changed, and will be held at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village where guests will also receive a Free Pass to the Flagstaff Hill Museum that can be utilized anytime during the weekend. The Friday night club dinner has been booked in the bistro at the locally popular Whalers Hotel which has an extensive menu catering for all tastes and pricing. The theme for the Saturday night dinner is Masquerade, and Linda and her helpers, Marilyn B and Karin S, are busily making up suitable headgear and costumes for club members to wear - these promise to be very colourful and a sight “not to be missed” . Our club has rooms reserved at Comfort Inn Western, Warrnambool for accommodation and is walking distance to the Starlight Theatre (conference venue for plenary sessions), Flagstaff Hill (Friday pre-conference drinks), and the Whalers Hotel (Friday night club dinner). Buses will be available to bus guests to/from Starlight Theatre and Warrnambool Racecourse on Saturday night so all that will be required is to wander down to the Starlight Theatre to board the bus. The speaker program for the conference is currently being finalised with details of confirmed guest speakers available on the District website.
Accommodation at Comfort Inn Western, Warrnambool – 16 rooms are currently reserved for our club – 11 of which have been taken up by club members. Comfort Inn will need our final numbers within the first two weeks of February, following which, any remaining rooms not taken up will be released from our club’s reservation. So if planning to attend the conference and needing accommodation – register for the conference on the District Website, and email Karin S (karinsoster@bigpond.com) to reserve a room at Comfort Inn Western.
ROMAC – John M
John reminded everyone of the host patient from East Timor who came to Melbourne for medical treatment through ROMAC 10 years ago, and who was hosted by John and Margaret at the time. Our ROMAC patient is now a young woman of 20, and has returned to Melbourne – she will stay with John and Margaret again for a few days and will visit our club on Wednesday 31 January.
ROSTERS – were announced
President Ron closed the meeting with Go forth and Create Hope in the World.