Dear Rotarians and friends of Rotary,

Last week we had the pleasure of a visit from Cr Karen Pensabene, the Mayor of Strathfield and Michael Mamo, Strathfield Council General Manager who gave us their perspective into the workings, plans, achievements and (ahem...) finances of the Council. Given a perfect storm of numerous members' travel commitments, we were a little short on numbers, which probably didn't really do justice to the speakers. Those who did attend were treated to an insightful presentation covering issues of direct importance to us local residents. Over dinner I was also able to get to know Karen and Michael a bit better. One of my priorities this year is to raise the profile of the Club in the community and, with this in mind, to continue to develop our relation with the Council - I look forward to sitting down with Karen and Michael later this week for a more formal discussion on how we might cooperate on local projects.

Rotary is avowedly not a political organisation. As a Club we do not support any particular political party and we avoid political discussions at our meetings. That's as it should be. Whilst our membership boasts a diversity of outlooks, I like to think that our members share the strong principles of Rotary, of service through fellowship. At an international, national and local level, Rotary's aims are to a great extent focused on helping those in need, wherever they may be, promoting peace, protecting the environment, supporting education and various other social causes. We may assign different priorities to these aims, and we may have different ideas as how best to achieve them, but I hope we share a desire to better humanity in some way.

With this in mind, I welcome the involvement in our Club of those who are involved in politics in some way, as activists, councillors, members of Parliament or otherwise. I like to think that our members who are involved, outside Rotary, in the often brutal modern political battleground, can take a step back from confrontation, and work together within our Club under Rotary's shared principles. Our pollie members have all chosen a path of public service in one way or another, and their aspiration to work towards a better world has much to offer our Club, contributing ideas, connections and inspiration.

This week we will have a decidedly non-political visit from current DG Tonia Barnes who will tell us about what is happening in District 9675. Tonia will be accompanied by Bharathi Rengarajan, AG for the Western Harbour Clubs, who is keen to develop cooperation with our neighbour clubs. We are also inviting along a number of guests representing different 'generations' of the broader local Rotary family (particularly Interact and Probus) as well as those we hope will be more involved in the future as members or project partners. A personal visit to our Club by the District Governor is an important date in the diary I hope to see as many of you as possible, together with your partners, to show our enthusiasm.

Nick Hamilton-Kane
President
4 September 2023