Our Meeting

President James opened our meeting with a call to Rotary Grace followed by a welcome to all.

Secretary Phil followed with his report and and said he would put out a roster for Rotary Information.

 

David Post conducted the first Member Choice session in lieu of a Sergeants Session. He chose as his topic the current Ship Ever Given that is blocking the Suez Canal. Operated by a company called Evergreen, the ship is 400 metres long (Four Rugby Fields), weighs 224,000 tons and carries 20,000 forty foot containers. Crewed by 25 Indian nationals and owned by Japanese, the ship has blocked ships from passing through the major trade route from Europe to Asia, costing an estimated $400,000,000 per hour.

 

 

 

 

This topic was introduced by our IT expert Paul Murray. Essentially Rotary Club Central is a program designed to monitor Club goals. It summaries the work of Rotarians and provides a snapshot of Club activities for Club members, District and R.I. 

Some examples of the information that can be monitored include: Membership growth and engagement; Rotary Foundation giving; Service Projects e.g. Food and Wine, Gears and Beers; Man hours worked; income earned; Youth programs; Public Image; Web Page, Face Book, Media.

Paul said that the uploading of data to the program should not be too difficult and suggested this could be a job for the Secretary. He recommended that our Club take up the use of this program which is already used by 50% of clubs.

 

RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness)

This program is a combined Rotary Clubs program that will run from 10th May to 14th May. It aims to provide Driver information and practical driving demonstrations to year 11 students from all Wagga District High schools who choose to participate. The program has been run successfully each year for a number of years. It is hoped that the information provided to students from, Police, Insurers, Driving Instructors, Road trauma survivors,  and other experts will help to prevent teenage road accidents and trauma. Our club will be called on to provide volunteers for one of the days to guide students between classrooms and to cook a barbecue. This year a car is being provided for brakeing demonstration purposes by Scot Oehm Principal of Jason Nissan Wagga. The event will be held at the Wagga Showground.

I will be asking for volunteers closer to the date when I know which day of the week our club will be rostered on.

 

David Hodge reported on a golf challenge between our two rotary teams, Food and Wine and Navigate Wollundry, that took place yesterday at the Wagga Country Club. He proudly told us that his team had won by two points.  Not all team members participated but David, Croz, Pykie, D. Benn, D Byfield, D. Sutton, P. Ingram Fozzie, M Hillis had a good time, although for some the golf left a lot to be desired.

 

 

 

 

Today's guest speaker was Mayor Greg Conkey OAM, PP, PHF and current member of our club. In a comprehensive Q and A, Greg informed members of the state of Wagga City's finances and a raft of projects which are underway.

 

Wagga City Council has:

Projects under way include: A new taxi way at Wagga Airport; Riverside Precinct; Active Travel Plan; Pomingalarna Cycle Complex, Inter Modal Freight Centre, Renovated Museum; Pine Gully Road upgrade as well as upgrades to Lake Albert Rd and Dunns Rd. Storm Water drainage at Gobbagumlin; change rooms Bolton Park; new weigh bridge at Gregadoo waste disposal centre; pipeline for water to Lake Albert.

 

After delivering what he described as "trivia", Greg then fielded a number of questions and provided honest and open answers to:

 

Reserves not used to pay down debt; North Wagga Levy Bank; Gregadoo Rd repairs and upgrade; Wagga Airport; Solar Farms; grant funding; Lloyd Rd; City bypass; Inland Rail. Greg told us that City Council employs 700 staff of whom 8 work in Macquarie St Sydney.

 

Members showed their appreciation of Greg's comprehensive update by warm applause. 

 

David Benn, Phil Burgess, David Pyke all at District Confernce

 

Shane Carroll, David Benn, Andrew Crakanthorp, John Ferguson, John Ireland, John Mason, Tim McMullen, Robert Nicholson, Robert Pearson, Andrew Puckeridge, Darren Wallace, David Wishart.

John Gray, Phil McIntosh, Rick Priest, Phil Burgess, Wal Paton, and Gerry Gerlach

 

Craig Bromley