Andrew’s Thoughts
Well it has been a strange and almost conflicting week in some respects. First up, because of the Covid-19 threat, we cancelled our breakfast meeting. This was a very hard decision indeed. It was gratifying that our intended speaker Cath Peachy of Oyster Festival fame agreed that we’d made the “right call”.
At the same time we decided to cancel this month’s market. That was an easier call what with the restrictions on Regional NSW and concerns of possible visits by ‘delinquent Sydneysiders’.
This Thursday we were due to have Dr Michael Holland speak about the new Moruya Hospital. But due to his work schedule he is unable to come, so we shall have a club night dinner. Feature speaker will be our very own Gero Mitchell on ‘This is My Life’. I might also be first up for a three minute talk on experiencing English pop stars!
Among all the bad news was our Board’s great decision to approve the prostate cancer initiative. On Saturday Ange and I sold whale watching raffle tickets at The Plaza. The response from the public was simply wonderful with great expressions of support, voluntary donations, and some heart breaking tales stories.
So very strange times mes amis! Let’s hope we clear this Covid hurdle soon and we can resume our normal schedule.
THIS WEEK
Dinner meeting at Narooma Golf Club 6 for 6.30pm. Our guest speaker is one of our newest members Gero Mitchell. Her talk is ‘This is My Life’.
Coming soon hopefully, will be a similar talk by Julie Hartley who was inducted at the same time as Gero.
The Week that Was
From Moruya Rotary
Moruya Rotarians had their Club Assembly last week.President Chis Manahan listed four areas in which he particularly sought members’ ideas – Membership, Youth, International and Community projects. Chris saw Membership as the most important. Last week’s Moruya bulletin showed a table of ages in the Moruya Club which Chris identified the need to recruit younger members.
At the Assembly last week, they split into groups, each working on one of these four areas; the outcomes presumably will be incorporated into the Club’s plan for the year. A summary is in their bulletin this week.
While Moruya’s Membership plans are similar to our own, it was interesting to have them summarised so well.
Moruya’s Membership Report:
Leaflet and Publicity: Perhaps Estate Agents should be approached to give a copy of the leaflet produced by Pauline Gleeson to new arrivals.
Retain Members by making meetings attractive: e.g. good speakers, Trivia nights etc.
Bring a Friend: Encourage Members to bring a friend and ensure follow up.
Corporate Memberships: Approach businesses to sponsor employees to attend meetings.
Friends of Rotary: Some people might like to join us in activities especially those requiring physical efforts (given our aging membership!) or the Kiosk
President Chris also reported attending a meeting at Mollymook to discuss the initiative of Rotary International to make ‘Supporting the Environment’ a priority. Present were PDG and Chair David Brawn, AG Adam de Totth and Ulladulla Rotarian Peter Hodge. Each club in District 9705 has been asked to submit a list of projects that would come under the title of Environment.
NEXT WEEK
We had scheduled to hold the Greek Dinner at the Men’s Shed but that has been postponed because of Covid-19 restrictions.
So our next scheduled meeting is the Blaze Aid dinner at Cobargo on Thursday 5 August. Members are being encouraged to attend, Covid-19 restrictions allowing.