I start this week with some sad news.
I heard Monday morning, that Past District Governor Jeff Binder has passed away. His funeral was last Friday, with only 10 people present due to COVID Restrictions.
Jeff was a member and Past President of our club and was District Governor while a member of Torquay.
He was a great mentor and support to me, to a lot of members in our club - and to many in Rotary!
It is quite ironic, coincidental – or scary? That David Carlyle sent me this photograph last Friday (the day of Jeff’s funeral) from 1999, at my Changeover – coming in as president. Jeff was my secretary.
Although maybe a little hard to recognise … here is Alison and I, Jeff and Beryl Binder, both at the front, along with Charlie Matthews and his wife.
Thank you to Rotary Club of Corio Bay …. As mentioned in their Bulletin ….
VALE – PDG Jeff Binder—formerly a member of the Rotary Club of Torquay, passed away after a long battle with cancer. His funeral service was held last Friday, and unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, was only able to be attended by 10 people. The service was live streamed and the recording remains on the website of the Funeral firm—William Sheahan for a few days more. Jeff was our DG when the International Convention was held in Melbourne in 1993. He was amongst many other things a past Mayor of the City of South Barwon, a renowned Primary School Educator for several decades, a JP, a collector of veteran tractors including a Bull Dog which he fully restored, and on ‘retiring’ from the Education Depart-ment, turned his hand to become a Builder.
Well folks, that’s probably more than half my allocated space in this bulletin –
Anyhow, I move on ……
This week, we didn’t have to make any drastic changes to our meeting, as we were scheduled to have our monthly online meeting.
Looks like it is going to be a ‘week by week’ call to our Monday Meetings, beginning with next Monday when we have had to abandon our "Christmas in July" Dinner at the Torquay Hotel. This will now be another Zoom Meeting and I urge you all to log on as I will lead a discussion regarding possible change of venue for where we hold our Meetings and your valuable input will be needed.
Please keep a close eye on our bulletins, emails, and communications – as I’m sure our plans will have to change from time to time.
It is frustrating, as a lot of time and energy goes into planning our meetings and programs, but we do need to continue to comply with the rules, regulations, and government directives.
Our first online meeting went well Monday evening.
It was good to see so many people ‘Zoom in’, and some very relaxed people enjoying a nice beverage.
I do need to apologise; I didn’t realise we had gone to a second screen!
It was a shame Neil Henderson had poor internet reception, it would have been good to have an update on he and Mary’s (and Coco!) experiences in the outback.
We were joined by Lucy Loco, and had a terrific update on Papa New Guinea, the school building project and the involvement with Donations In Kind (DIK).
Isn’t it great how the Rotary Network operates - Lucy was talking about tools, and the need for them in the PNG village she is involved with, to aid in the construction of the school buildings.
With that said, Kelly said she would keep an eye out as residents move to Kithbrooke Park and ‘Downsize’. And Lucy was given the name and number of the manager of the large DIK depot in Footscray.
There is a detailed summary of Lucy and her talk later in this edition.
We had our first Board Meeting on Monday.
There was a lot of ideas and discussion about potential projects we can do, or be involved in.
I know there is already action in some of our portfolios, and other portfolio Chairs are looking at meetings with their team in the near future.
The minutes form the board meeting will be available for you all to read once they are completed. They will be available on ClubRunner.
We have members in the club who, yet again, had plans, flights, bookings, and family commitments they have had to once again either cancel or postpone.
My thoughts are with you, and hope you are able to unite with your family, physically, soon.
A Very Important date for your diary folks -
Monday 16th August 2021.
This is the official visit of our District Governor John Clue and his wife Heather.
John will give a brief address, but is a lot more interested in us – the members – our thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. Yes …. a Q & A with DG John!
So, please give some thought to this – it could be a great opportunity for us all to learn something.
Look forward to seeing you all virtually next Monday.
Cheers
President Michael
