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President's Message
Gaynor Schols
Report No 16
Monday 16 October 2017
Thanks to David Mitchell, in his capacity as a practicing solicitor, gave us an interesting and informative insight into estate planning and wills.
On Friday 13th six of our club members attended the dinner auction held by the Rotary Club of Grovedale Waurn Ponds. Another six of us supplied a BBQ dinner for the Peace of Mind Foundation womens' brain cancer retreat.
If anyone wishes to attend the Highton Meeting on 26th October to hear Gary Newton speak on Polio or Patrick Kea from Umoja Orphanage, Kenya at eastern Hub on Wed, 25th Oct with RC Lara, please let Gaynor know immediately.
If you are interested in helping to set up a new Probus Club please contact Gerard McNamara.
Feedback from the Board Meeting
We will make Mary Elliott an Honorary Life Member of the Rotary Club of Torquay.
Our updated club rules have been lodged with Consumer Affairs Victoria so if members want to put forward ideas for change, now is the time to do it.
Lesley will arrange the EFTPOS machine for our club in November
Feedback from the Group 9&10 Presidents' Meeting
Volunteers for Ride the Bellarine on Sun 15 April required from all clubs
Most other clubs have completed their tree planting. We need to plan our date asap.
RC Highton & RC Geelong help with "Learner to Probation Driver Program", a fantastic program to help disadvantaged youths get 120 hours experience for their licences. They need clubs to donate towards cost of another car at $7000 per year (e.g. 7 clubs @$1000 each)
RC Geelong organising the Bald Archy's (14 Oct-11 Nov) and the Archibalds (28 Oct - 3 Nov) in Geelong
Geelong show 19-22 Oct - support the Rotary stand please.
District needs to know that every Rotarian has signed the child protection policy and has a Working with Children Card.
Monday 23 October
Dr Jessie Harman will facilitate us in Strategic Planning. It's imperative that all members attend please. (Refer to the email I sent to you this morning)
Note the earlier start time of 5:30 for a 6:00pm start
Our very own practising solicitor, David Mitchell, gave us a very interesting insight into the challenging subject of wills and estate planning which included:
Examples of weird and whacky wills
Some Historical handwritten Legal documents
Medical versus financial power of attorney
Capital gains tax, which replaced estate duty in the 1980s
Some of the pitfalls of dying intestate
The importance of being specific, especially when blended families are involved
As usual our Club filled a table at the Grovedale/Waurn Ponds Dinner Auction last Friday Night.
A great time was had by all despite the usual excessive spending of money purchasing items which were not exactly necessary. Well done Jan Emmett who took home 1st Prize in the Raffle of a trip for 2 to Tasmania.
This year the event was held at a new venue with new entertainment and proved just as successful as always raising in excess of $16,000 for the Club.
Wednesday was Foundation night at Kardinia Rotary club at which a PHF presentation was made to Gaye Lamont in recognition of her partners' project during Stephen's year as District Governor. PHF sapphire recognitions were made to both PDG Stephen Lamont and PDG Chris Sims for their tireless efforts and commitment to Rotary.
On Thursday October 26, to celebrate World Polio Day, we have a very special guest speaker at Highton Rotary. His name is Gary Newton, who is a polio survivor and board member of Polio Australia. He will be talking about his life living with the effects of Polio and will bring a human face to surviving polio.
I would like to invite Torquay members to join us for this meeting, to listen to Gary tell his story and also to have an opportunity to network with Highton members and guests.
We meet at Deakin Lakehouse, on the Deakin Waurn Ponds Campus, at 6.00 for a 6.30 start. The dinner cost is $32 per person. We would need to have numbers in by Monday October 23 to Ross Lamont, bandrlamont@bigpond.com together with any dietary requirements.
I do hope that you will be able to join us.
Kind regards
Pauline Stewart
President 2017 – 2018
Highton Rotary
IF ANY MEMBERS WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND, PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE 23rd OCTOBER AND I WILL BOOK A TORQUAY TABLE
Unfortunately no one from our club was able to make it to Strathewen for their School Open Day last Sunday. Gail Chrisfield still getting back up to speed following her hip replacement, Greg Plumridge also recuperating and Alan Anderson still away.
It was touching to receive a pic of the "Torquay Beach Day" display board from the Open Day and is a great reminder to us of just how meaningful the annual day in Torquay that we provide is to the School Community.
Recently we were given an insight to the tough conditions many farmers and rural communities face, which can often be for many consecutive years. Leanne Welsh is one of these who lives at East Loddon just north of Bendigo and is the current President of the East Loddon Food Share Program. You will recall that Leanne informed us of the work performed by The East Loddon Food Share Program (ELFS Program)
The Program provides emergency food, personal toiletries and basic household items to families and individuals who are suffering as a result of extreme circumstances.
Extreme circumstances can strike anyone at any time. Natural disasters, such as drought or bushfire, have an enormous impact on
the day-to-day lives of people living within the effected zone. Similarly, illness or an unexpected loss of income, can place people
in a sudden and very difficult situation.
The Board discussed just how our club could offer support to the ELFS Program taking into consideration that
We are only just entering the BBQ fundraising seasons so our fundraising account is rather lean.
Until we conclude our Motor Show and Book Fair which are our two greatest fundraisers
.....we are not really in apposition to offer financial support to the ELFSP . However one way we can help is to collect personal toiletries for both men and women which we can pack into "Shoe Boxes" for the families to be distributed by the ELFSP.
Richard and Sharon Mierzejewski have offered their business LET Surf Coast at Shop 5/15 Bell St Torquay to be the collection point for donated products. Please spread the word amongst your friends and family. We will also be seeking some publicity of the project in the Surf Coast Times.
NOTE THIS WILL BE THE LAST WEEK FOR ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS
You will have now received a completed 2017-18 BBQ Roster Spreadsheet via email. The Roster is also saved in Clubrunner Club Documents or Click this link BBQ ROSTER
The next BBQ will be at Bunnings which is a fundraiser for our Club followed by the next Cowrie Market on 15th October.
Thanks to the following members who have volunteered as follows.
If you cannot meet one of your assigned duties, Please contact Bruce Smith to advise.
The duty team should arrive no later than 6:00 p.m. Besides the below duties, the assigned team is responsible for Room Setup, Greeting Members and Guests, and Room Tidy at the end of our meeting - see checklist in storeroom or click here .
Notifying someone about changes to your meeting attendance is your responsibility!
Our meetings have catered dinners, so if you are unable to attend a meeting, or if your partner is unable
to attend a designated Partner's Night, YOU MUST ADVISE us of your or your partner’s absence.
This also applies if you are attending the meeting but not dining.
There are two ways to do this, either record the information in advance in the "Apology Book"
that is available at the check in table at each meeting or telephone 03-5222-2022.
An answering service operates out of hours.
All apologies must be made no later than 9.00AM on the Monday of the meeting (unless other arrangements
were addressed in the Bulletin).
If no apology is recorded by that time, the absentee member will be issued with an invoice to pay the Club the
usual dinner fee of $25 for your non-attendance, and/or that of your partner if it is an official Partner's Night.
On "Partners Nights" it is a different arrangement as it will be assumed that your partner WILL BE attending unless you apologise for them!
Remember if you are bringing guests or your partner (to a non-partner night) you need to notify us of the extra number of persons who will be attending.
Absence when away on travel is not an excuse. It is your reasonability to lodge your apology and it is recommended that this
be recorded beforehand in the “Apology Book” to save you remembering each week whilst you are away.