Rod’s Ramble
Off to Canberra again this week – President in absentia again. Laurelle will be in the chair. I hope though to be around for the rest of April’s meeting.
I thought last week’s meeting had a really good vibe with a wonderful number of guests, mainly thanks to Ange’s efforts. Dr Denis Muller was certainly an interesting guest speaker.
We also had a visiting Rotarian, Colin Lyle from the Rotary Club of Sète. Sète is a major port in the southeast French region of Occitanie. It’s bordered by the Étang de Thau, a biodiverse saltwater lagoon and across a narrow isthmus, Sète’s Mediterranean coast which is lined with sandy beaches. The top of Mont St Clair offers views of the city, known as “Venice of the Languedoc” for its canal network. The Musée Paul Valéry has displays on the history of Sète, plus an art collection.
We have plenty of action coming up.
OUT AND ABOUT
Last Week
Last Thursday we had 32 members and guests at our meeting. We were delighted to have Colin Lyle with us from the Rotary Club of Sete as well as our guest speaker, Dr Denis Muller.
Colin Lyle is in Australia to visit family and decided that Narooma was a good place to stop over on his way to Melbourne. Like Narooma Rotary, the Rotary Club of Sete is finding it difficult to attract new members, the average age of members is over 70. The Club has two dinner meetings as well as two informal meetings a month.
Denis Muller spoke on Fake news and the decline in credibility of the media. Denis is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. Denis believes that the main reasons for the loss of public trust in the media include political partisanship, the perverse effects of competition, the culture of competitiveness and individualism, and the lack of accountability.
Denis believes that although ‘Fake News’ is not new (he provided numerous examples of fake news from well before the Internet and social media) the rise of the Internet makes it all the more prevalent with many journalists, social media companies and media organisations failing to check the facts before a story is published.
RYDA
This Thursday, Sandra, Ange and Geoff will tell us all about their experiences at this year’s Rotary Youth Driver Awareness (RYDA). They will have accompanied Narooma High’s Year 11 students around the various stops on Tuesday. RYDA targets pre-learner drivers from Eurobodalla Shire’s five high-schools. It is run by Batemans Bay Rotary in conjunction with Moruya and Narooma Clubs. Our Club pays for the bus to get Narooma students there.
District 9710 Changeover
Incoming District Governor, Peter Ford has advised that the District Changeover is on Sunday 30 June 2019 at Gold Creek Station, Victoria Street, HALL ACT. 12 noon for 12.30pm start. Details re cost and registration still to come.
NEXT WEEK: Pride of Workmanship Awards
Next Thursday is the club’s annual Pride of Workmanship Awards, one of our most prestigious nights of the year. It will be wonderful to have a few of our partners along.
We look like making about eight awards. Each person receiving an award has been nominated by their employer because of their outstanding qualities in terms of approach, attitude, dedication and commitment to their job. This Rotary program aims to encourage pride of workmanship in the community by publicly recognising the value of a pride in personal performance in the workplace, hence the scheme’s motto ‘Do it once, do it well.’ Another way of saying that might be, ‘Good enough is just not good enough’.
It’s normal time – 6 for 6.30pm. Cost is $35 for a two-course meal (choice of two dishes each course; please let Bob know numbers and any special dietary requirements). Hope to see you there.
On a lighter note
- Every time you clean something, you make something else dirty.
- Many animals probably need glasses, but nobody knows it.