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President Richard opened our meeting with Rotary Grace and the loyal toast. He then proceeded to introduce our two guests, Dawn Georgiou and Christine Kompos. Dawn was visiting in lieu of her son Nicholas who unfortunately wasn't able to join us. He then asked Paul Murray to run a video which outlined the Wagga adventure of our old friend Michael. The video was very enlightening and told of Michael's journey to Australia as a nine year old, coming to Australia with no English at all. ( In fact he found school impossible, but scooped the class each time with his mathematical ability...left them all for dead he used to tell me!) Michael passed away about this time three years ago, but he left a lasting legacy of community involvement, both in the Greek community but especially in civil life. An outstanding Australian.  Jonty Shuter in Members Choice told us of the adventures of his father. His Dad joined the RAAF at age 18, just as the war was ending. He trained as a pilot, firstly on Tiger Moths and then graduated to fighters. His job was to ferry repaired aircraft to Papua New Guinea, but perhaps more dangerously to fly shot up planes back to Australia for repair. The family chose to be soldier settlers at the end of the war, and took up rice farming block at Wakool. Eventually he took on the job of crop spraying , using a modified Tiger Moth..tank in the front and pilot to the rear. Jonty fondly remembers flying in that tank with his Dad at the controls. After a near fatal crash, Dad took up a hobby of boat building which culminated in him buying an ocean going yacht, after he sold his all metal ketch that he built himself. As a result of the earlier crash his Dad wore a brace that he built for himself out of sheep pen grating. But the drama continued. He wrecked the new boat in 2005 off Gabo Island, when he was 80 yrs old. The yacht ran aground twice on that occasion and was eventually scrapped. Before that he was rescued by Water Police after a storm forced him to anchor off South Head in Sydney. So back to flying..this time in gliders. His life would make a great movie!!  Chris Kelly gave us Rotary Information, highlighting why he was so keen to rejoin the Club. His father was a charter member, and his sister Maryanne was President of the Wagga Wagga club, so he had a family history. He likened us to his beloved Kangaroos Football Club, where he said the members got in and did things for the community. The same way he said that Wollundry was the leader in the wider Wagga Community. It was the opportunity to roll up his sleeves and dig in. By way of interest, he researched what clubs were doing in Russia and found them highly involved in inutero research on unborn children. The Ukraine club he found was assisting homelessness in the Dominican Republic. David Byfield distributed Roster lists for the Gears and Beers which is coming up rapidly. Expect to find a copy of this in your inbox shortly. Please fill it in and get it back to him as soon as you can.  Phil McIntosh also gave an update of his and the committee's progress. A power of work has gone into this event. Well done. Paul Murray also requested the loan of laptops. If you can help he would be grateful. (totally rejected my offer of a MacBook Pro!!!!) The Members Draw went to Stuart Heriot. VISITORS, APOLOGIES AND MAKEUPS Apologies today were received from Phil Burgess, Ken Cook, Andrew Crackenthorp, Peter Crozier, Colin Duff, Robert Hennessy-Hawks, David Hodge, John Ireland, Michael Knight, John Mason, Tim McMullen, Wal Paton, John Smith, Doug Sutton and Darren Wallace. Makeups were claimed by David Pyke, and James Ross. Our Guests today were Dawn Georgiou and Christine Kompos DISTRICT CONFERENCE TEMORA   |   | Gerry Gerlach asked us to consider coming to Temora for the District Conference from the 18th to 20th March 2022. The venue is at Temora so it will be easy to go over, even for the one day. Its a great way to get together with old friends and hopefully meet some new people. The Air Museum is well worth the visit alone! You can register online at Rotary9705.org.au Pictured are some of the displays at the Temora Aviation Museum. Most of the aircraft are flown on Warbirds display days and are a sight to behold. With exceptional speakers, entertainment and Rotary Fellowship this should be a fantastic conference. If you would like to know more before deciding check out the website and/or talk to Gerry. |
ROTARY INFORMATION What is ROMAC? Rotary Oceania Medical Aid to Children. ROMAC provides surgical treatment for children in Australia and New Zealand from developing countries from
our Pacific Region in the form of Life Giving and/or dignity restoring surgery not accessible to them in
their home country. First and foremost, ROMAC is quite a rare not-for-profit humanitarian organisation being run entirely with volunteers – no paid staff, no leased offices and so, it has minimal fixed costs. We can proudly state that every dollar donated goes to Giving Life and our small expenses are recovered from our investments. ROMAC comprises a five-member Board, plus an Operations committee of eight, which includes the six Regional Chairs across Australia and New Zealand. The Regional committee then coordinates through District Chairs and their committees, which align and work closely with local Rotary Clubs. Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to run this Rotary project that encompasses all the Districts of Australia and New Zealand.Assisted by many eminent Australian and New Zealand surgeons who generously donate their time for the treatment of our patients, this humanitarian program has provided life-giving surgery to over 500 children from more than 20 developing countries, with urgent medical treatment that was not available to them in their own country. The core of our organisation is life-giving surgery and our process begins with a referral of a child from overseas (or visiting Australia/New Zealand doctors) directly into the ROMAC database. From this single form, the Medical and Operation’s Directors evaluate, in collaboration with specialist Regional Medical Consultants, whether the referred child meets the ROMAC guidelines and what Region may be able to provide the necessary surgery. All in all, our team in Australia and New Zealand is nearing 200 totally voluntary individuals plus Rotarians and medical personnel who support ROMAC in the nations we serve. These are people who help with passport and visa applications, finding and communicating with our potential patients, organising medical checks and ensuring they are on time to board their plane. |
Today was another very busy meeting. The board met last night. As many programmes are still in limbo there has not been a lot to report. The Food and Wine festival was a great success with a front page article on it in the Daily Advertiser, that curiously did not mention us at all ! As it was financially a success it will enable more programmes in our club needing funding to be resurrected. Many thanks to all involved in the event.