A day for the Rotary Club of Torquay to be proud of!! With 34 Torquay members, 7 Grovedale members and 34 “friends of Rotary” joining together to produce another very successful event. We certainly could not even consider taking on a project of this size without knowing we have the support of these volunteers.

The weather seemed to be in our favour as we approached the weekend with very promising forecasts, however as the weekend got closer it seemed like Sunday could get a little too warm for motoring enthusiast. Numbers of participants joining in on the Saturday Cruise were still good with the temperature sitting in the mid 20’s. Now a regular feature of the “Motor Show Weekend”, this year’s cruise took drivers and their passengers on a scenic route commencing in Birregurra, travelling through Deans Marsh to Lorne then heading up the Great Ocean Road to Torquay. On arriving at Elephant Walk, the drivers were welcome by a nicely grassed area where the vehicles were placed on display and participants could either relax and have a chat or wander across to the main street for a relaxing coffee or cold drink.

Sunday would see predicted temperatures of mid to high 30’s which, although better than having rain, would see a slight drop in vehicle numbers with our total falling just short of usual figures. Spectator numbers however were still high with volunteers on the gates kept very busy processing over 4500 spectators across the three entry points. The quality and variety of vehicles on display was one of the best to date, ensuring our spectators had lots to appreciate. Add to that the range of food vendors, merchandise and attractions such as the Mobile Zoo we were guaranteed to have happy visitors.

David Abbey will be our guest on Monday March 4 and will speak to us about the Royce and Jean Abbey Scholarships. The scholarships provide for practical training and experience in Australia in at least one area consistent with the Rotary Foundation.

 

The Rotary Club of Torquay is leading an extensive program of work to assist in the education of children in the village of Lese Oalai in PNG. As part of this program Ms Mary Pao, Head Mistress of the Lese Oalai Village School, has applied for a Royce and Jean Abbey Scholarship and has notionally been offered a ‘visiting scholars’ position with Deakin University.

Rotarian John Oswald and I recently met via zoom with the Professor Damian Blake, Head of the School of Education, and Associate Professor Wanty Widjaja, Associate Head of School International Partnerships, to discuss the possibility and the logistics of offering a three-month Continual Professional Development (CPD) Program to Mary Pao.

Please note this list is the same as last week’s bulletin, Richard is on holidays and I didn’t want disrupt his “serenity”. If you have contacted Richard already to volunteer for any of these dates thank you and the roster will be updated prior to the next bulletin.