Ange’s Chat
What a Year 2020 has been!
Last Thursday we had our Board meeting. Duck tickets are selling well with the community eager to witness once again the 1,000 ducks plunging en masse off the bridge. Race steward Charmaine White has determined the race time is now 10am with a race to the finish to Apex Park boat ramp.
The big Christmas market on Sunday 27 December was discussed and it will be all hands on deck for a great day.
Our Busking Championship has been deferred until May 2022. We will do some publicity in the New Year to let the public know.
We will have a social get-together for fish & chips at Quota Park Thursday 21 January, 6 for 6.30pm.
Our next formal meeting will be Thursday 28 January for our Youth Night when current and former tertiary scholarship winners from Narooma High will be invited by counsellors to come and speak about how they are going.
Our AGM got off to a great start and we are all elated and relieved to have all positions filled for the 2021/22 Board. Congratulations to President Elect Andrew Lawson, Vice President Ange Ulrichsen, Secretary John Rungen, Treasurer Mike Young, Public Officer Rod Walker and Directors Chris O’Brien, Laurelle Pacey, Lynn Hastings and Robyn Miller.
Andrew Lawson, recently inducted into our Club, gave a brief and inspiring talk to us. As a newcomer to Rotary, Andrew promises to be consultative, team orientated and is seeding some interesting ideas to light up our small but vital club again as we move forward with a spring in our step. One condition the DG has put on Andrew’s rapid promotion since induction is that he attend PETS (President Elect Training) which is at Temora on 20 – 21 February; Andrew is keen to attend with Mike Young also expressing interest. The year ends on a high note!
I wish you all a joyful and safe Christmas and New Year.
Hope to see you Thursday.
THIS WEEK: Thursday 17 December
We will have a great end of year party at The Inlet 6 for 6.30pm. The cost is $40pp and the menu promises to be as good as last year. Members are asked to bring a present to the value of $5 – $10 dollars and Santa will also be there with his helper for a fun night.
The Week that Was
We toast a kindred club
Last week we toasted the Rotary Club of Mariefred in Sweden as kindred spirits. You might recall in the Beacon a couple of weeks ago that the RI Council on Resolutions rejected a proposal to consider adding a fifth question to The Four-Way Test: ‘Will it be sustainable?’ That addition which resonates with what Frank Eden and the Renewable Energy Expo was all about , was proposed by the Rotary Club of Mariefred in Sweden and endorsed by their District 2370.
The Mariefred Club is currently not meeting, following the strict advice of the Swedish Public Health to try to contain the Corona 19 virus. They would normally meet on a Monday night at 7.30; current President is Lena Bruhn.
Rachel McInnes and team win State award
Wonderful to see the extraordinary efforts by the Mid-South Coast Branch of WIRES helping wildlife devastated by the recent bushfires has been recognised by winning the 2020 NSW Volunteer Team of the Year. They were joint winners with the NSW Foodbank Distribution Centre.
The Branch consists of 97 volunteers covering the area from Milton to Tilba, including our very own Rachel McInnes. The group rescued more than 2750 animals from early 2019 to early 2020, with a 60% increase over the bushfire period.
The NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards are an annual program run by The Centre for Volunteering to recognise the outstanding work of volunteers in every region across NSW.
Out and About
Moruya Rotary lights up
Vulcan Street in Moruya will be the focus of The Luminous Festival this Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights, thanks to Moruya Business Chamber, Moruya Rotary, River of Art and Southern Phone. Sounds like a treat!
The Business Chamber, led by Jude Manahan, has worked hard to produce an innovative project that aims to bring Moruya out of the Covid doldrums and capture the imaginations of locals as well as visitors currently in this area. Moruya Rotary has made a significant financial contribution towards its success.
It’s a new venture and Moruya Business Chamber hopes this will be an annual project that encourages the Christmas Spirit, lifts the main street to supplement the Christmas Decorations and . This year a magnificent effort has been put in by a number of people to reinvigorate the town. The facades of shopfronts and heritage buildings, including Moruya Courthouse and two murals created during the River of Art Festival, will be lit up with multi-coloured static lighting and textured lighting programmed on a changing loop
Thursday and Friday nights should feature food stalls and buskers. During these evenings, Vulcan Street will be a focal point for mini mural painting by local artists on temporary walls, live music performances and late-night shopping. Saturday night will be quieter.
Pre bonbon Christmas jokes
BTW: The Oxford English Dictionary records the use of cracker bonbons and the pulling of crackers from 1847.
How do the elves clean Santa’s sleigh on the day after Christmas? They use Santa-tizer.
Why are Christmas trees so fond of the past? Because the present’s beneath them.
What do you call cutting down a Christmas tree? Christmas chopping!
Why does Santa always enter through the chimney? Because it soots him.
How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? Nothing, it was on the house!
What goes “Oh, Oh, Oh”? Santa walking backwards!