Dear Fellow Rotarians,

 

 

A HUGE thank you to John Ternel for bringing it all together. We had a wonderful Committee working in conjunction with John, spending months and tireless hours in preparation for the event.

Thanks to John's wife Selina for her support, commitment and all her work yesterday.

I'd also like to thank Catherine English for all the work she did, particularly with helping Selina sort the trophies.

 

John Peck, as always was very willing to take time out of his busy day to help out with printing, creating signs and getting a team together to help assemble the trophies, amongst other things.

Phillip Thurgood also never hesitates to put aside his business activities to spend time, much of it in the background helping to get things organised and to Colin Byron for the endless hours he spent on the sorting and documenting of entries, creating spreadsheets and recording the event trophy winners. 

 

Hans Van Dyk did a fantastic job taking photo's and video's of the event, then posting them immediately on FB, which is greatly appreciated.

 

The FACEBOOK feedback has been extremely positive and people are keen to return next year. 

 

To each and everyone of our Volunteers on the day who climbed out of bed very early in the morning to get to Greaves Reserve and spend many hours assisting with a large variety of jobs from working on the gates, directing cars, parking, selling raffle tickets & cleaning the toilets.

Your time was valued and you all contributed to the success of the event, so THANK YOU to all.

 

We are fortunate to have had a large percentage of our members working prior to and at the event, it's always great to see everyone come together and work as a 'TEAM'.

A special thanks goes to Christine Pow for coming along with Kam and doing a great job,  also to the Rotarians from Belgrave, Berwick and Casey.   

 

My apologies for not listing all names of our volunteers, I'd hate to miss someone.  You all know who you are, so please know how much your time and effort is valued and your hard work has been noticed.

 

Last Tuesday night we had great pleasure recognising Con Meehan and his lovely wife Cheryl for their valued contributions to Rotary over the years.  Con has been a dedicated and loyal Rotarian for 30 years, what a fantastic achievement.

I'm pleased to say that we will still be seeing Con and Cheryl on occasions as 'Friends of Rotary', so it's not Farewell, we will certainly look forward to seeing you both at any of our meetings or functions you may choose to attend.

 

On Wednesday 8th March which was International Women's Day, Cherie & I organised and prepared Morning Tea for disadvantaged women in the Community at St. James Church Hall in Dandenong.

I would like to thank Graeme Peters for helping us out with the set up and pack up of tables and chairs.

 

We were very lucky to have Christine Pow come along to chat to the women and tell us about her very inspirational book about women leaving the security of their home countries and families to make the huge move to settle in Australia. 

Christine has copies of her book available for purchase if anyone is interested in buying one.

 

Margo Hartley also attended and spoke about Brand New Day.  We handed out flyers for classes which are available for these women, the seemed very keen to attend.

 

We were very pleased with the outcome, the women who came along are usually very quiet, often lonely and timid.  They were keen to tell their stories and left feeling cared for and uplifted.  Our intention is to continue with these women's group morning teas, where we can provide support, companionship and empowerment.

 

Howard De Zylva has done a great job with commencing the James Cook Primary School bench seats and sand pit project, along with the Endeavour Hill's Men's Shed.  

The project was completed on Friday10th March, many thanks to Howard, Ken Tam and E/Hills Men's Shed volunteers.  It's so colourful and looks fantastic, I'm sure there will be great excitement when the children return to school tomorrow.

 

On behalf of all of us, I wish Peter and Tina Buck all the very best, they have been caring for Peter's Mum after recent surgery and skin grafts.  Hopefully Peter's Mum has a speedy recovery.

On a good new's note, Peter is the proud Grandfather of a beautiful baby girl, Lily Rose.

CONGRATUALTIONS to all!

Peter & Tina will be going to Thailand in the at the end of the week, wishing them a well deserved rest and safe travels. We look forward to seeing them sometime in April when they return.

 

I heard today that Geoff and Jan Brown have been unwell during this Rotary year and would like to send them our very best wishes, (they have both had treatment in hospital). 

I emailed Geoff expressing my apologies for not making contact with him and have received a reply.

Jan is doing well at present and Geoff will be going back into hospital for another procedure after Easter.  I hope that Jan continues to do well and that Geoff is much better after his hospital visit.  

 

Lilani has been caring for her mother who has been very ill, so I'd like to extend our very best wishes to the family and hope that all goes well.

 

Babar has been in Pakistan, also caring for his Mum.  I will make contact with him tonight to check on how things are going.

 

Margaret Gunton has had some health issues over the past months which I hope she gets on top of very soon.

 

If any Rotarians are aware at any time of the reason that others have not been attending our meetings, please bring it to my attention asap. 

 

It is so important that each and every one of our members knows that we care about them.

 

Val and Neil Bennett are currently enjoying a relaxing holiday in Queensland.

 

I'd like to welcome Ken & Margaret McDonald home after cruising the 'high seas'.

 

REGISTRATIONS for tomorrow night are open on ClubRunner, please RSVP your intent to attend or your apologies by 10am tomorrow morning.

 

I hope you've all enjoyed this long weekend and hope to see many of you tomorrow night.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Leanne