It is so wonderful to see the Rotary Youth Exchange program running again. Last weekend, at the camp there was lots of ‘bounding’ with the inbounds, the outbounds and the rebounds all together. We have 25 inbound students from 16 countries now in WA and spread out all over the state. If you don’t have one in your club, then reach out and invite one of these impressive young people to visit your club. In doing so, you play a part in their experience with us and again, enrich your club’s members’ time in Rotary.

 

In Rotary we need to be resilient, adapt to change and be flexible … this was tested this week when we discovered that despite numerous alternatives being considered, we are not able to hold the Rotary Expo in Forrest Place on 13th April 2024.

The City of Perth will be carrying out construction or maintenance, or there is another booking, at all possible venues – Forrest Place, Perth Cultural Centre, Elizabeth Quay and Yagan Square. Whilst in some places it has been said the building may be finished by April, but in this current climate, the risk is too great for us to expend money and volunteer hours only to have it cancelled at the last minute. The event idea is a very good one and hopefully one day in the future, we can re-visit it.

However, on Saturday 13th April 2024, we will still hold the charity walk, which will be an Australian Rotary Health Lift the Lid Walk and we are keen for it to be the biggest of all, with people coming from everywhere. Our plan is to represent all clubs and projects, in person if possible and provide a spectacle that will give us images to share far and wide. More information will be coming for this event.

Whilst we are not holding a formal District Conference in 2024, we do know that you enjoy meeting up together and being inspired. So, keep Saturday 13th April 2024 free, as we are also planning something for the evening, so watch this space!

The District website is now up and running, with the link further down in this newsletter. Thank you to Dave Taylor, David Honeychurch, Simone Collins, Darren Perera and Judy Dinnison for all your work here. It has been a mammoth task taking many hours.

Our District Technology Officer, Darren Perera, is someone to whom we all need to give a vote of thanks. He is that person we can go to with any silly question about technology and he patiently responds. We thank you and salute you Darren, we would be lost without your expertise. As we get further into the year hopefully those questions will be less frequent!

The 4 Way Speaking Contest heats have started, for both Year 6 and Year 10 students. Our future is in good hands, when we hear from these inspiring young people. This program is making such a difference to people’s lives, not just the students but their families, classmates and schools. They are introduced to the 4 Way Test, what an awesome way to share our strong principles with the next generation. Congratulations to all the clubs involved this year. Further in our newsletter you will see fliers for when the finals are held; I strongly recommend attending, you will certainly be impressed.

Our team of club developers (Assistant Governors) met in Rockingham for a weekend of networking, collaboration and learning about how we can best support our clubs to strengthen and grow. It was a rewarding experience with the collective wisdom in the room and we all came away inspired. Thank you to this team of people who are giving much of their time, energy and expertise to help us all increase our impact in communities near and far.

On behalf of Geoff and myself, thank you for making us welcome in your clubs and we look forward to more DG visits this coming month.

See you soon,
DG Ineke