No.4 September ‘08
Governor’s Message
Dear Rotarians of District 9680,
Yesterday Sandra and I attended the PHF Luncheon at Miramare Gardens and congratulations to the Rotary Club of Brookvale for running this great annual event. If you weren’t there, you missed out on a very interesting address by PDG Les Whitcroft on the early days of the ARHRF and Polio Plus.
Congratulations again to Brookvale on their amazing Pub to Pub run they held last weekend, raising $150,000 for Rotary projects !!! Also many thanks and congratulations to the North Shore Clubs led by Chatswood Sunrise who ran another very successful ARHRF Metal Health Forum in Chatswood last week.
There has certainly been a lot of “Rotary Good Works “happening recently and very pleasingly we have been getting some very good press coverage of late, especially in the local papers. Kariong Somersby who held a very successful “ Great Walk “ at Penang Park in Somersby recently received very good PR coverage including a good segment on TV. A number of clubs have also held very successful art shows of late too. Well done !
Please note the Federal Government Volunteers grant is open, so don’t miss out on that – details below, and please start preparing your photos and stories for the District Magazine- again further details are in this E-news
But very sad news last week with the passing of PDG Ken Nicholls ( Grumpy ) of DIK. All those who have had anything to do with DIK will know how much we will miss Ken. All thoughts and prayers go to Bobbie and family.
Further sad news in that PDG Roy Panell passed away this past Saturday. Roy was District Governor of our district in 1979-80 and was a Charter member of the Rotary Club of Dee Why. Our condolences go to his wife Mel and the Parnell Family.
Also, PDG Don Durie has been in and out of hospital (for a stint) , PDG Danny Low is in Hospital having shoulder repairs, and PDG Nev Chambers is still in Hornsby hospital but out of intensive care now. Our best wishes go to them for a speedy recovery.
Yours in Rotary
Tony Castley
District Governor
DG Club Visits
The past two weeks Sandra and I have enjoyed great visits to Ku-ring-gai, Lindfield, Hunters Hill, Norwest Sunrise, Winston Hills, Carlingford, Toukley and Terrigal. All the photos taken at these visits are now available to view. See the photos
Don’t forget that my DG visit program and all the district dates are easily found on pages 14- 17 of the District Directory – and at this link on the District website.
Our Foundation
Congratulations! The incredible efforts of clubs and Rotarians racked up a few new records for our District in terms of Annual Giving and The Rotary Foundation program in 2007-08. Regretfully this year is going to be much more difficult with firstly a 20% drop in the value of the A$ and of course the crash of the stock market and Superannuation, so we are going to have to try ever harder to achieve our target this year. More information here
Also Terry Davies, the Manager of the Rotary Foundation in Parramatta has resigned, and for those like me who have known Terry and worked with him for many years, we are very sorry to see him leave this position he has held for so many years. A new TRF manager will be announced shortly.
New call for help from Rotary in areas devastated by floods
Nepal, Northern India and the Philippines have recently been devastated by flood and we have received calls for help from our Rotarian neighbours in these countries.
In Nepal and Northern India, millions of people have lost their homes and entire possessions and ShelterBox has already been called into action there. Latest ShelterBox News
In the Philippines we received a call for help from the District Governor of District 3860. Devastating floods in this district were followed by intense fighting between rebels and the Army. Civilians are suffering immensely and tens of thousands are internally displaced because of this war, dozens have been killed, hundreds of homes have been pillaged and razed, landmines have been utilised, shelters and rations are insufficient, children cannot go to school and sanitation is deplorable- accoding to the DG’s report. A call for financial help has been issued. Download this document for more information and the details for any donations.
Volunteer Grants
The Australian Government is pleased to announce funding opportunities are available under the Volunteer Grants Program 2008, which provides funds to eligible organisations whose volunteers are actively working in the community.
Eligible not-for-profit organisations are invited to apply for up to $5,000 to support the work of their volunteers. The funding will enable organisations to purchase small equipment and sporting items, and to contribute to their volunteer fuel costs. This grant has been successfully used by Rotary Clubs to purchase data projectors, screens, lap tops, amplifiers , etc etc. This may be an opportunity to purchase one of the data projectors offered through our special district arrangement with Electroboard. Electroboard data projector offer for clubs.
The Volunteer Grants Program 2008 Application Form and Application Guidelines are available at this link. Organisations are encouraged to read the Guidelines then complete and submit applications online. Further information is available at www.fahcsia.gov.au or by phoning the Volunteer Grants Program 2008 hotline on 1 800 183 374.
Online applications close Friday 17 October 2008 at 5PM AEST. Application submitted or post marked after the closing date will not be included in the selection process.
Latest News from ShelterBox
Here is the latest news about ShelterBox in Nepal, and Haiti. Latest News
John Cameron is preparing for 2009-10
The 2009-10 team is searching for some background briefing information from clubs, and probably the best place to begin will be with Club annual reports. Clubs are requested to send DGN John a copy of their most recent annual report if they have a spare. Please send copies to John Cameron, 28 Myra Street, Wahroonga NSW 2076. Electronic versions may be sent to dg2009@optusnet.com.au
District Conference
Conference Chairman, Bobby Clark and his committee are really zooming along with the preparations for the District Conference in Newcastle next March 12-15th. Last Saturday we all met at the Newcastle Entertainment and Exhibition Centre and again went over some of the plans for this great conference. There was an interesting Hot Rod show on at the time, and if you saw that photo- I swear I don’t know those girls ! See the photo here
It is also very pleasing to know that something like 600 rooms have already been booked and again if you haven’t already booked your accommodation, I strongly recommend that you do it now at info@huntertourist.com.au or phone 4998 6977. If you paid a deposit at the pre-registration in Bathurst, you do need to ungently advise Hunter Tourist what hotel you want this deposit to apply to.
District Conference Registration Form
And more good Conference News ! The Conference Registration Form is now at the printers and will be distributed to clubs over the next few weeks. If you are hanging out for an early registration, please email chairman Bobby Clark at bobbyclark3@gmail.com and he will organise a registration form to be sent to you. You will note that there is a separate form for Friends and Family and at very special prices ! Also please fill in the child minding section and book early if you require child minding as we need to know these numbers early on.
District Magazine
All Club PR directors, please start preparing your photos and short stories for our 150 page District Magazines to be printed early next year. Contributions should be sent to District editor George Richards (page 37 of your directory, and at this link) , and the closing date will be November 30th.
Clean Water Projects
There is a fantastic opportunity available for Rotary clean water projects working with SkyJuice and John Chapman who is Regional General Manager of Siemens and President of our Macquarie Park Rotary club. Read more about it
Newsletter Editor – Les Walsh - les@leswalsh.com.au