Liz Palmer reminded members that the Christmas Party was scheduled for Sunday 8 December at Heathcote, and to please invite guests along as we need a minimum of 40 people to attend.
Kenn Williams led a series of short reports from key leaders at the upcoming Rotary Jacaranda Festival, and no doubt we’ll hear more after the event, but retired civil engineer and newest Rotarian Cecil Aaron was in awe of the anticipated military precision of the bump-in expected from 6am Saturday.
Ian Fairnie advised that our RYE Connor Ovens is off to Willich (pronounced Vilich), in Germany. He will be hosted by the Rotary Club of Willich, which was founded on March 30, 2005. Paul Neuhäuser took up his presidency of the Rotary Club of Willich on July 1, 2019.
The Rotary Club of Willich website translation indicated the Club is currently involved in the following projects:
- Various youth exchanges and support programmes
- Christmas gifts for Willich families
- Support for the school libraries of various Willich schools
- Support of the Willich Child Protection Association
- Rotary Jazz Fellowship
- Support of the Working Group Strangers in the City of Willich e.V.
- Donation for the Roberta-AG of the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium
- Polio Level Bar Party in favor of Rotarian Projects
- Project WASH: Drinking water treatment in Kambotscha
- Project LLLL: "Learning to read - learning to live"
- RBI Rotary Job Information Talks
- Supporting Rotary International's Polio Plus Action
- Project "Light for Africa"
- Drug donation to Peru in cooperation with RC Bladel
- Participation in the vocational information exchange of the Willi-Graf Realschule
- Donation for children from the red light environment Calcuttas
- Support of the "pro St. Katharina" association for the preservation of the Willich Church
- Drug collection and donation for the South of the Dominican Republic in collaboration with members of the local Rotary Club
- Participation in the RFPD project "Improvement of Maternal Health" in Nigeria
- Aid for earthquake victims in Pakistan
Willich is a town in the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the city of Düsseldorf, about 30 kilometres from the border with the Netherlands. Many international companies, especially from the Far East, have their European or German headquarters in the town.
Willich was founded in 1970 out of the formerly independent villages of Willich, Anrath, Schiefbahn and Neersen, although the villages are much older. Anrath was mentioned for the first time in 1010, Willich in 1245, Neersen in 1262 and Schiefbahn in 1420.
The villages belonged to the Electorate of Cologne until the French Revolutionary Wars when they were occupied and annexed by France in 1794. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 the villages fell to the Kingdom of Prussia.
In 1908 Stahlwerk Becker (a steel mill) was built and up to its closing in 1932 was one of the largest employers in Willich. Under a new owner, the mill was reopened in 1934 and was used to manufacture military supplies. The factory was finally closed in 1945 and the grounds were converted to a military base for the British Armed Forces.
The British Army had two units of soldiers stationed in Willich for more than 40 years, both belonged to the Royal Engineers. In 1992 the camp was closed and the group disbanded, but a reunion in 2012 saw 200 joining in the complete weekend.