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President's Message 09 November 2024
Bruce Turner
President’s Message
Greetings and welcome. Thank you for joining our online news and updates.
It seems I missed out on a couple of excellent club events while Erika and I were away.
Thank you to Neil Henderson for taking charge of and providing a report on last week’s Kieser presentation, and you will find another of his reports covering the fun from the club's Melbourne Cup Evening later in the bulletin. Congratulations if you were lucky enough to have drawn a winner in the Cup Sweep, most of you had horses that came in ahead of mine.
I would also like to express my appreciation to all the recent volunteers who staffed our BBQ events, I’m looking forward to getting back into the BBQ role at our next couple of BBQs.
Congratulations to Team Rotary Torquay on raising $815 in this year's Rotary Walk With Us as part of the End Polio Now campaign.
Updates for members:
Planning for our District Conference is well and truly underway; bookings are open, so make sure you get your booking sorted, as approximately 1/3 of the tickets have already been sold.
The District AGM is taking place online on Sunday, 17th November, @ 4:00 pm. If you are interested in joining in, contact me and I can forward the necessary information.
You will notice a flyer advertising the Bayside Rotary Club’s Trivia Night, Friday 22nd November. There are several Torquay Rotary members attending, if you would like to join us you should follow the instructions on the flyer.
Those of you who have been members for a few years may have known Colin Berris, we received notification from David Carlyle that Colin passed away on the 30th of October. A service and afternoon tea will be held at 2 pm, Monday 11th November @ The Salvation Army South Barwon, 180 Francis Street Belmont.
Around 20 members enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Frontbeach Restaurant - excellent food and company. The venue wasn't suitable for racing games and video presentations, so this year we just concentrated on the Fashions at the Frontbeach. Whilst the womenfolk really relished this opportunity to dress up, the men did not all appear to encompass the concept - unless I've read the room wrong and the style "nearly Bogan" is making a comeback.
Components of the Lese Oalai School Program in PNG are finally in the implementation stage.
In particular, the construction of 22 composting toilets has now been completed.
An opening ceremony held on 2 November was attended by Lucy Loko, representatives from the Rotary Club of Boroko, the Catholic Education Department and the local government, as well as teachers, students and villagers of Lese Oalai. The waterless toilets include 10 for boys, 10 for girls, and 2 for teachers and special needs children.
This is the culmination of three years of effort by the Rotary Clubs of Torquay (D9780), Manly (D9685) and Boroko (D9620), assisted by the PNG NGO the Peter Nathan Loko Foundation.
Join the Community Walk to Honour Our Veterans on Remembrance Day
Dear Rotary Members and Friends of Rotary,
We are excited to share a wonderful community initiative taking place as part of the Remembrance Day commemorations.
The Torquay RSL is hosting a FREE community walk to honour and remember the sacrifices made by our Veterans, past and present.
This meaningful event will culminate in a Remembrance Day Service at 11 AM at Point Danger, Torquay, and offers walking routes for all fitness levels, making it a fantastic opportunity to bring family, friends, and other community members together for a shared purpose.
Event Details:
Date: Monday, 11th November
Remembrance Day Service: 11 AM at Point Danger, Torquay
Pick-Up Location: Point Danger Car Park, Torquay (for bus to walk starting points)
The Surf Coast Shire is planning activities prior to Christmas this year and has asked if we may have anyone interested in taking on the role of Santa.
The role will entail photos out in the community on Saturday, December 7, 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.
Santa will require a current Working With Children (WWC) certificate.
Join us for the Rotary Club of Bayside Annual Trivia Challenge - A fund raiser for mental health. Let's get a Torquay Rotary team together and challenge RC Geelong East. President Bruce is organising our team(s).
When - Friday 22 November 2024 at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
Where - The Christ Church Hall corner of Little Myers & Moorabool Street Geelong
An Awareness Walk in Torquay will be held on Tuesday 26th November at 0930.
We would like as many people as possible to attend this, hopefully for an hour, and we can follow that up with coffee if you would like.
If you do not have a purple T-shirt, please wear purple or orange. Orange is the colour Zonta wears on their walks to raise awareness of this dreadful gender abuse.
I will have posters to place in the coffee shop/café toilets prior to the 16 days of Activision to increase awareness.
This is a serious issue within our communities, and we need to increase awareness.
1. Free Living Well With Arthritis - Free Public Information Seminar Thursday 21st November 2024, 5 pm - 630pm from Torquay Rotarian Neil Henderson. Please click here for the flyer with information.
2. Email Request from Our Village to Torquay Rotarian Linda Neale for Christmas Donations for people across Victoria who are struggling to make ends meet. Many of the families relying on us, have faced violence, abuse and trauma.
