It's terrific to be heading into a new Rotary year as President of Applecross Rotary. We have a such a wonderful club with a rich history of community impact that I'm looking forward to continuing. Rotary Internationally faces a number of challenges with ever-increasing community and humanitarian causes, volunteering decline, and a new post-covid world to operate in. With so much to do in a fast-moving world, my key message for our next year is to Focus. Applecross Rotary can't be everything to everyone, and with key projects and segments of the community relying on us, we must maintain the capacity to deliver to the community and not over-burden ourselves. We must focus locally, ensuring that all the great work we do is coupled with deep connection to the groups we are serving to maintain long lasting and effective partnerships. Only through these partnerships will we gain traction and recognition within our community, build awareness of our work and opportunities, and grow membership.
I look forward to working with all club members to ensure you are getting the most out of your membership with Applecross Rotary and that you have the opportunity to contribute to the club and the community in the ways you wish. I will be overseas for the first 2 meetings of the year (school holidays, sorry!) but look forward to seeing everyone at the changeover cocktail dinner on June 15 at Applecross Tennis Club.
An historical event for the LAUNCH OF ROTARY WESTERN AUSTRALIA was held at Government House on Saturday July 1st. Applecross Rotary was well represented by Peta and Kenn Williams, Chris Whelan, Jan and Clive Pearson, Cran Collis, Lesley and Murray McKay, and Val and Ray Philp.
Click on the following link to view photos taken by Richard van Wyk of www.mediawa.com.au.
The following are some photos taken by members attending the event -
l-r Chris Whelan, Ray Philp, Shauna Kinney (now Subiaco Rotary), Cran Collis, Clive Pearson, Val Philp, Jan Pearson, Murray McKay (background)
Chris Whelan getting special attention from DG Ineke
Clive and Jan Pearson
Peta Williams having a chat with the MC for the evening Matt from the Kalamunda Rotaract Club.
Plenty happening at the end of another Rotary year!
With our own change-over on in under 2 weeks, it does end a busy period of events.
ROTARY Western Australia, now a reality, launched at Government House on Saturday evening, was a truly memorable Rotary event, with 300 attending from across WA. The two Rotary Districts of 9465 and 9455 are now combined into one Rotary District 9423… making it Rotary Western Australia! Many outstanding speakers supported the launch, with Ineke Oliver, our newly minted DG, shining the light on the future for us under the new District.
Great support from our AxR, with 9 of us enjoying the Cocktails event, and meeting up with many R friends from across the State. For mine a highlight was the Welcome to Country from one of our own, Barry from Kwinana Rotary Club …. Very inclusive and from the heart, and strong on the need to work together for better inclusive outcomes. I am hoping we will hear more from him when we have the joint DG meeting in early September.
DG 9465 Ric McDonald with Ineke Oliver and other dignitaries at the Western Australia Rotary Launch
Attadale changeover was held last Mondayevening at Royal Fremantle Golf Club and was a well attended and happy event. Bev Moffat will continue as President until later in the year Whilst it has been a quiet year for Attadale, spirits were high for the future. DG Elect 9423 Ineke Oliver attended.
President Bev Moffat and Ineke Oliver at the Attadale Changeover
On Tuesday evening Melville Rotary Club held their Changeover at Royal Perth Golf Club. Talk about a busy and successful year, with President Peter Smith covering off on their key activities. This included 3 visits to their Village Project in northern Thailand and giving to a wide variety of causes. Phil Draber is their new President and will certainly continue the strong leadership given by Peter that has helped to overcome some of the internal issues that they were facing. Ineke and her husband Geoff also attended this changeover.
Melville Changeover with Ineke, yours truly, new Pres Phil, outgoing Pres Peter and outgoing DG Ric.
And… great news in terms of a new and suitable storage for all of our club assets, our Club Sponsor Greg Brindle, who has a storage unit across the road from mine in McCoy St, has offered to accomodate our significant needs for at least the next 2 years at no cost to AxR. Work to be done on this, and then the move across the road. Please be ready to help when the time comes. A very big shout out to Greg for his ongoing support of AxR! Never ever take strong relationships for granted.. in times of need, they will always help deliver great outcomes.
Mike Smith provided an eloquent report on his experience attending the recent RI Convention in Melbourne. Mike and Chris Whelan were our two members attending the Convention, and Mike’s fiancee, Associate Member Erin Hegarty was also there. Mike and Chris saw very little of the Convention other than the House of Friendship, which consists of booths promoting Rotary projects to other Clubs attending. The venue was huge, but it needed to be as there were 17,000 Rotarians registered for the Convention. Apparently a total of 30,000 people attended at different times, as members of the general public were allowed entry for the last two days. Chris commented that after looking at most of the booths, he concluded that the underlying theme was fostering Peace. Very appropriate!
The Rod Laver Arena was used for most of the excellent presentations. (Note: that’s a bit bigger that the Dome annex where we meet every Tuesday morning!)
As well as Mama Respond, the project supporting schools with infrastructure facilitating disabled kids in Kenya, Applecross Rotary had its own booth in the House of Friendship. Erin is the CEO of Mama Responds so she was able to answer all the technical questions.
Mike reported that their corner location and photo frames encouraged a lot of people to stop by, and he and Chris could then engage other Clubs worldwide to become partners in this and future projects managed by Applecross Rotary. This is a critical element in qualifying for a Global Grant.
What’s next? Well Mike and Erin are off to Kenya soon and another one of our newer members, Cranston Collis will also be in Kenya at a workshop discussing the creation of spaces that support schoolchildren on the autism spectrum. This will directly relate to the sensory classroom Applecross Rotary is supporting at Kensington Special School.
And the next RI Convention will be in Singapore in 2024. If you have never attended one, this could be the closest one to Perth for many years to come. After the experience Helen and I had attending the RI Convention in Bangkok in 2012, I don’t believe you’ll ever regret it.
Graeme will give a talk covering the beginning of the Army Museum, the conflict getting it started, our goal to the General Public and what the Museum is able to show our visitors who attend the Museum. Also he will have a short PowerPoint presentation showing their gallery’s within Artillery Barracks.
