We opened our meeting by observing a minutes silence for reflection on the death of Hilda Bragg. She was the widow of charter member and Past President Ron Bragg.
Guests were introduced, with a good roll up of different faces.
Paul reported that we had 12 representatives at the District Conference, and we don't know why he was on the defensive, but he claimed that "what happens at conference stays at conference", but Paul was there with Margo - not much scope for playing up!!!!
District awards to Paul Murray and Doug Sutton were announced to the members, and recognised with enthusiastic applause. A presentation on Gears and Beers put together by Paul Murray was provided to the conference, and well received. The Conference next year will be in Griffith, in the year of DGE John Glassford.
The trip away to Jindabyne is getting closer, Mark Hillis and Rob Nicholson need commitment and final numbers.
Our tree planting exercise is now on Sunday June 24, but the venue has changed. New will now plant 1100 trees at the travelling stock reserve at Wallacetown, and after some rain, the ground will be softer and survival of our plantings more likely.
There is positive news on participation in Youth Exchange for 2018/19. We have four host families and await information on the student that we will host. The host families is only the first step - Rotary members that get involved by arranging activities like trips to cities, cultural or sporting activities and holidays spread the load. Congratulations to Darren Wallace for getting the project over the line.
Rick Priest wore the Rotary Information hat, and developed the theme along Rotary Experiences. He related his stories, then threw the tag line to John Gray - a great anecdote about former member Bill Zacharia getting a make up in Athens. Tim Barter had more to add, before Rick warned about makeups at Oxford UK.
Peter Clucas, as Sergeant was on early. He inspected dress standards of John Gray, and found them wanting. Those with Ties paid, and Richard Rossiter was fined for having removed his for the occasion. Doug Conkey came to the Sergeants notice - very slow to balance the Food & Wine Festival books. Richmond supporters paid, especially David Hodge.
Peter is travelling soon, needed travel insurance, and took out a policy that he had only recently become qualified - with Australian Seniors Insurance.
There was a cryptic reference to "how many bottles of wine between Milde and Mozart?" no further reference followed, so we await eagerly for a punchline.
Paul told us that there was an announcement pending about "dinners at Lillier Lodge". If we're cooking, I want to do some curries.