NORMAL MORNING MEETING THIS WEEK
Meeting This Week - we are at Cilantro 7am for 7.10am start
For full location details, please refer here.
The meeting will also be available on Zoom - details here
Edition 206
Monday, 17th March 2025
Message from our President - Tim's Tattles .
Linda spoke to us about her trip to Sri Lanka which sounded like a great trip. The animals, countryside,forest and people all sounded great. I wouldn't mind going myself.On Monday 17 th of March we have our board meeting where some new ideas will be discussed which I expect will be reviewed with you afterwards.
We showed our appreciation of our ladies on International Womens Day with a round of applause on Wednesday which was very gratifying.
Yours in Rotary ‘The Magic of Rotary’
President Tim Lynch
Roster for the next 2 weeks
Note Market start time is 6.15am
Click on See all Rosters at right for future weeks. Members click here to see your own roster.
Next week - joint meeting with St Marylebone Rotary - details here
Please check the upcoming events on the Club website here
REGISTRATION FOR MEETINGS All meetings will now utilise the Registration facility. asking members to register their attendance, or non-attendance, at Club meetings. Note that it is equally important that guests are registered as well.
Members can either register as soon as the event appears in the calendar or respond to the invitation(s) via email to members in the week prior to the meeting. This email will contain a direct link to the event registration page. Here, we ask that you either accept or decline the invitation. You will also have the opportunity to add any guests. Once registered for the event, you will no longer receive an email for that event.
If you choose not to register either your intention to attend or not, it will be assumed you are not attending.
A reminder that instructions for Registration are here.
Ian Ballantine
Please forward any events you want promoted to the Editor.
Chairperson this morning was Peter O'Brien. Guests this morning included Jules Gaddie and Denise from Holmsglen. (some of the longer serving members will remember Denise when she looked after us in the dining area in the front building).
Our speaker at today's meeting was fellow member, Linda O'Brien who spoke about the trip she and Peter recently took to Sri Lanka.
Linda gave us a great summary of the history of the island and it's varied peoples. there seemed to be so many different interesting aspects of their trip to cover. The weather, the wildlife, the amazing ruins of a rich past, and of course the impact of the 2004 tsunami.
Special highlights of her address were the amazing Lion Rock and the varied wildlife including the elephants and a leopard.
They visited Galle which was hit hard by the tsunami. In total, it is estimated some 45 - 60 thousand people lossed their lives on Sri Lanka. Something few of us were aware of was how Shane Warne was instrumental in re-building the famous Galle cricket ground.
Everyone, I'm sure enjoyed Linda's address this morning and would welcome a return session as I'm sure she has much more to tell. Thank you Linda for a fascinating address.
Bert d'Unienville presented Sue, Margie and Fay with a Mahjong set I believe belonged to his father - see pic.
This Turkish Rotarian has promoted women’s financial literacy, funded scholarships for girls, and provided relief to earthquake victims. The 2025 recipient of Rotary’s Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award combines a longstanding commitment to empowering women with a talent for teaching and mentorship. Ayda Özeren, a member of the Rotary Club of Izmir-Gündogdu, Izmir, Turkey, is an author, mediator, and professional speaker whose work has touched the lives of as many as 11,000 women and girls.
This was a special evening meeting at Cilantro attended by some 33 members and guests.
Our special guest speaker was George Petrou (OAM). George is a graphic artist by profession but obviously also an accomplished artist. He also has a special interest in history and Australians who have played significant roles in our history. George gave a great address focusing on his latest book entitled "The Art of Humanity". This book features some 40 prominent, but little known, Australians. The book features a painting of the individual accompanied by a brief story about them, contributed by a range of people all having a connection with the person featured.
His talk was fascinating and I am sure was enjoyed by all.
To abtain a copy of this, and/or his previous book, The Art of Sacrifice, click here.
Please click Read More for some more pics.
For a larger collection of images from the evening I have created an Album here.
Taken from the Rotary International Site here. I have included in this story a short extract from the entire article in which three participants were asked to reflect on their experience. which I encourage members to read. -Ian B
The first Rotaract UN Days brought about 200 young people to the United Nations Office at Geneva for four days of inspiring discussions about human rights, health, economic development, peace, and science — and of course some fun (they’re Rotaractors, after all).
Justine Coleman leads the Southside Welcome Crew - part of CRISP (Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Project).
Justine explained how the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Project works. Simply put a team of about 5 people, all volunteers come together to form a support team for one refugee family arriving into Australia. The family remains under the "care" of the team for 12 months during which time they will be assisted to find schools, Centerlink support, work, housing etc etc.
Since the Program's formation in 2022 about 130 families have been supported. It has involved the contribution of over 1000 volunteers. The families have come from a variety of some 15 countries. Until recently, the program was still in a pilot phase but has now been classified by the Department of Multicultural Affairs as a permanent program.
This story is taken directly from the RI website here.
Rotary’s response to the U.S.’s plan to withdraw from the WHO, USAID funding freeze By Rotary International — 6 February 2025
Rotary notes the recent announcement that the United States intends to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), a partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). We remain resolute in our mission to eradicate polio. As a founding partner of the GPEI, Rotary has for decades worked closely with all the GPEI partners, the U.S. government, and other governments to end polio worldwide. This effort has reduced the number of children paralyzed by polio by 99.9% since 1988. The global effort to eradicate polio has innovated many times over the years to come close to protecting every last child.
This article is intended to help members register themselves and/or a guest to a Club event. Note, your can also register your intention NOT to attend.
If an event is inviting members to register there will be a button with the word: "Members" below "Online Registration". refer image at left.
Note that you need to be already logged in as a member. If you are not a member, this page will not be of any help. It may still be possible to register for an event as a non member if the event is open to the public.
From the Calendar page here you can subscribe to the Club's event calendar.
This will result in the Club's calendar being added to your existing calendar subscriptions, thus ensuring that as an event is added (or modified) to the Club's calendar, it will appear on your phone, tablet etc. Calendars supported are Outlook, Google and Apple.
Take the link, Subscribe to Calendar, from the Calendar Page.
Team members:Grant, Karin, Terry. Assisted by Lyn and Intha from Moorabbin Other helpers and visitors: Larry Green, Ian Ballantine, Billy and Bob and Heather from Rowville Lysterfield RC
Waiting in queue: 0. O Night parkers : 3 Pedestrian count Not worth counting Market Report: Rain, rain and more rain. By about 10:00 there were only adozen stalls. Most of the stall holders did not even turn up
Leader, Grant Perry
Note from the Editor re Images and Events
A point regarding the submission of images for the Bulletin and Website: Members are reminded that images have to meet a minimum size requirement, as has been specified for some time in the section at the bottom of this Bulletin. 820 pixels is the minimum size required with larger being better as this allows for cropping. The submission of images via MMS is NOT preferred as they are too small and of inferior quality. Email or Whatsapp is far superior.
Would any member like to take responsibility for the updating of the Club's Event Calendar? I have created a page of instructions here so it is very easy to take over.
Thank you, Ian Ballantine
I remind members that you are responsible for the information contained in the Club's database. This includes, birthdays, phone numbers, addresses etc etc. Even your own photo. You maintain this via this link.
Additionally, member's birthdays and anniversaries will no longer be listed in the Club Bulletin. This is to protect the privacy of members. This information is still available to members here.
Ian Ballantine
A reminder to members to keep checking the calendar of upcoming events for evening and perhaps, one day, daytime events.
Thank you for being a subscriber to our Weekly Club Bulletin. I try to have it published each week by Tuesday morning.
If you would like to have something included please contact me at editor@rotarybmc.org.au and attach, as separate files, the words and any images (jpg files are fine, minimum width 820 pixels). Please DO NOT send information as pdf files.
Ian Ballantine, Editor.
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This week's speaker / event
REGISTRATION FOR MEETINGS
Rotary honors a teacher and mentor with the 2025 Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award
Taken from the Rotary International Site 
