|
Last week’s
speaker
Well, the quality of our guests speakers each week continues to
impress! We were lucky enough to have two very inspirational and
entertaining speakers join our Club this last week.
Firstly we had Shahi Uddin from Homebush Boys High School report on
his RYPEN experience, following on from the Meriden girls
presentation the week before. Again, the RYPEN attendees never fail
to express what a life-changing experience that camp is for them,
and how it always exceeds their expectations. It was also fun to
hear Shahi discuss his conversations with other RYPEN boys about
their ‘romantic’ pursuits. I don’t know I’ve heard too many teenage
boys discuss this topic in terms of ‘romance’ before!
Then we had another fascinating, well-travelled and (you would
think) slightly over-educated speaker (did I hear her say she had 17
university degrees!) – Dr Jill McRae. As we know, Dr J (as I like
to call her) is a cousin of our own Peter Smith. There were some
rather uncharitable comments at the end of the night about the
possible uneven distribution of intellect in the family Peter and
Jill belong to! Oh, why are they so unkind, Peter? Anyway, please
see the Speaker Report prepared by Secretary Rod McDougall for a
complete summary of Jill’s speech to us.
Board updates
There were a few updates I gave in my President’s Report last week
that I’d like to ensure all members are across:
1. Membership Development. Just
before the Board Meeting there was a Membership Development
meeting held, chaired by Committee Chair, Gulian Vaccari. At
this meeting we agreed several tactics to continue to attract
the right members to our Club, including: reconnecting with our
‘lapsed’ members (recently resigned); holding Membership
Development nights (like the Rotary Means Business evening held
back in May this year); and progressing the membership of those
visitors that we believe will make good members. In that vein,
I’m pleased to advise that we are proposing four new members at
the moment. They are all being presented to the Club Membership
for consideration, before we move on to induction ceremonies in
the coming weeks. Great news.
2. Club Health Check. Many of you
will remember that at the beginning of this Rotary year, one of
the actions I suggested we should undertake is a self-assessment
of our Club’s condition using the Rotary Club Health Check
Tool. Well, we finally did this as a Board during the meeting,
responding to the many questions as we believed the situation to
be at 1 July 2017 (i.e. the beginning of the Rotary year). We
scored 60 out of a possible 100. 60 is considered to be ‘good’,
so we should all be proud! Our goal is to be ‘great’, however,
and that will need a score of around 90. We now have clarity
regarding what we need to do to achieve this outcome (not just a
score on a spreadsheet, but a tangible improvement in Club
performance). We’ll make some plans, share them, and see if we
can move the needle in the next 9 months. We’ll do this Health
Check again in June next year and I’ll report our result at the
Changeover presentation.
3. Child Protection. We have a new
Child Protection Officer – Ed Dunlop. Peter van der Sleesen has
held this role for the past few years, however Peter is quite
busy away from Rotary at the moment and unable to give this role
the time it needs. We wanted to ensure we didn’t drop the ball
with this important activity, and so whilst Peter will remain
involved, Ed will take the lead. Thanks to both Ed and Peter
for their work in the critical role in our Club.
Vale Gerry Whalan
It has come to our attention via past member Peter Foss that another
past member of this club – Gerry Whalan –passed away last Thursday,
21 September 2017. When Gerry left our Club he relocated to the
Central Coast of NSW. Gerry’s funeral will be held this Friday, 29
September 2017, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church,
Terrigal at 2.00pm.
This week
And so here we are, at one of the most important evenings on our
calendar – the Rotary Club of Strathfield Police Officer of the Year
Awards. I can’t wait to hear the citations and stories of the work
of our wonderful police officers, from the Burwood and Flemington
Local Area Commands. This promises to be another fabulous evening;
one where we can all show appreciation for our women and men in
uniform, protecting people and property in our local communities. I
still can’t figure out why I wasn’t allowed to be MC again this
year? Anyway, enjoy the night!
Rick
|