Tim Lynch was our chairperson for this morning's club meeting at Gilberts. Guests included Gary Ramage, and our guest speaker, Benjamin Cowen
CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Neville reminded club members of Rotary's 4 way test.
He put out a call for nominations for the DIK (Donations in Kind), who are having their AGM soon, and seeking DIK members to fill board positions. BMC has membership status, and qualifies to nominate for the board.
The next BMC board meeting will be held on Monday 7 September at 7:30pm in Neville's office in Ormond.
GUEST SPEAKER - Benjamin Cowen.
We learned Benjamin has had fingers in lots of pies during his colourful working life, and not one to stay still in one location for long before moving onto another role and passion. He grew up in Tasmania and studied set design for the arts at university.and initially worked on local film and tv productions eventually moving to special effects. Recent productions include creating special effects for - War Machine, The Family Next Door, and Clickbait. He displayed slides and videos of special effects in action, and let us in on an industry secret of one scene in War Machine being filmed from 4 different locations. In an industry with chequered work opportunities, he has also run restaurants (another passion) and was awarded a Good Food Award - Local Hero. Whilst working in film production or the restaurant industry, he also feeds another passion for buying old cars and restoring them to their former glory. He runs a large garage in Moorabbin that he shares with his son, and has a collection of WV beetles, with his first VW Beetle purchased at 16, and a personal favourite - a 1972 Valiant Charger which he purchased for his 50th birthday. Passion is what drives him - including running car swap meets - and also men's health workshops in Chesterville Road, adding most men do not open up about personal issues affecting them, but providing the right casual environment is conducive and helpful. It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of these sessions, but he receives positive feedback for having done so. The film and tv industry has changed drastically since he first started, adding where he was a jack of all trades covering many aspects of set design and special effects, these roles are now split up with people in the trade specialising in one aspect. Future plans include moving to a property in St Arnauds. He embraces change with vigour as opportunities to do what he enjoys. Thank you Benjamin - a wonderful presentation.
MEETING CLOSE
President Neville announced the rosters before closing the meeting with this year's theme - Create Lasting Impact.
