(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
President's Message 13 December 2025
Kelly Binyon
President’s Message
Happy New Year to all 🎊
Welcome to 2026 and our Club’s major fundraising season! I hope everyone had a festive & restive time and are ready and rearing to go 👊
Members will have been receiving emails from Community Service Director Linda regarding BBQ rosters. Thanks to all who worked the Danger 1000 event which saw us take over $3900+ before costs taken out. An amazing outcome 👏 Please check rosters below and note we have a Cowrie Market same Sunday as Book Fair!
Book Fair Coordinator Neil Henderson has emailed out rosters so double check your time slot. Can I also ask members to continue to LIKE & SHARE the daily countdown posts on the Club facebook page to keep the algorithm happy 🙏
Other things to keep in mind:
•Cadel Evans Cycling Event - members and others representing RCOT who have volunteered need to monitor your emails & collect gear
•Torquay Rotary Motor Show volunteer roster is being finalised so keep an eye for emails
For older members who knew Bill Abbott - we were advised of his wife Margaret’s passing at Christmas and send our condolences to Bill and family. No other details have been provided.
Finishing off with some memories of our Christmas Break Up at Torquay Taphouse (photos) - a fun night and a big thank you to Neil for organising it! The night was extra special as we were able to induct Chris Moxey as our newest member…welcome Chris 👏👏
The past few days have made me reflect on community volunteers and how important and relevant organisations like Rotary are when disaster strikes. Thanking all those who have and are still dealing with the fires across our state. Timely reminder to have a Fire Plan, clean up around the house and check on others.
Our Annual Book Fair will run from Friday 16 th January to Sunday 18 th January.
Location is once again at Surf Coast Secondary College, Hillside Parade, Torquay North.
The trading hours will be 9.00am – 4pm.
This year our price will be $2 per book with no further discounts - although some childrens books may be tied into small parcels for value. For the benefit of our new members and volunteers, we set up the Fair from Mon to Thurs. “Bump In” is the term we give to moving in all our books from our storage container at Bellbrae.
Much of this stock is already sorted by genre and author and the boxes labelled accordingly.
Bump in start Sunday 13 January. From Monday morning 14 January we need helpers to unpack and display the books.
We have a lot of new stock this year that needs to be sorted into non fiction categories, or by author in the fiction area, which takes about 2 days.
Bump Out will be Mon 19 Jan.
After the books are all gone we need to dismantle our tables, vacuum the floor, do any necessary cleaning and restore any educational items to the original locations which is normally completed by lunchtime.
Kind Regards Neil Henderson Book Fair Coordinator Ph: 0411 753885
Our Torquay Rotary Motor Show perpetual trophies are now on permanent display at the Torquay library, thanks to the efforts of Trevor Hall, Motor show committee chair and Gary Grant.
Gary, a friend of the late Greg Plumridge, donated the trophy that now records the winners commencing in 2012.
Of course, this year’s show is on Sunday 8 February. Stay tuned for updates.
Thank you to all those who worked, and worked hard, at the Danger 1000.
We did amazingly well and took over $3900. That was a fantastic effort and made up a little for our rather poor days that we have had at the Cowrie Market – no fault of ours – just the weather gods weren’t smiling favourably on us
I will look at the rosters again for next year and try to make next years Danger 1000 more efficient and effective. Thank you all once again
Recently Trevor Hall and Gerard Hogan visited the premises of Jason Cichcki who runs Surf Coast Wildlife Rescue, to present hiem with fuel vouchers to assist in his wildlife rescue operations. Rotary has supported Jason over the past few years as the demands for his services continue to grow.
On the day we met, he had already attended to an injured kangaroo and later was going to retrieve a wedge tail eagle with a damaged wing. Jason is very appreciative of the recognition and grateful for the financial assistance.
Garth and I had the pleasure of attending the Anglesea Primary School Year 6 Graduation.
I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience. The students gave individual speeches about their primary school experiences and how they will remember these precious years. They had nothing but praise, respect and love for their families (and pets), the teachers and their fellow students. They did talk about their futures heading into secondary school.
Our world will be a better place knowing that these students will be part of it as they head into secondary school then adulthood. The teachers and parents must be so proud of the students and the Graduation Ceremony.
Our congratulations go Millie Edwards for receiving the Rotary Club Community Service Award. She was a deserving recipient of the award.
Just a huge thank you to all members participating in the Strathmore Men’s Shed Domestic Violence raffle raising a ripper $10,294-exceeding their $10,000 goal.
RCTorquay members Howard Randall & Bruce Smith successfully picking up 4th and 9th prizes being a $100 Bunnings voucher and a lovely hard wood serving board.
On behalf of Strathmore Men’s Shed, thank you for your support.
