Rotarians and friends of Rotary,,

Hasn't it been a great winter of sport! After the excitement of the Ashes, I hope you're all enjoying the Women's soccer (or as those of us from the Northern hemisphere say, football) World Cup - the Matildas are going along nicely and drawing huge crowds into the stadiums. Let's also not forget the Diamonds winning the Netball World Cup and, to cap it all, our own local West's Tigers spectacularly winning the coveted NRL Wooden Spoon.

Last week we had the pleasure of presenting Michelle Davies and Natalie Anagnostopoulos with a cheque for about $20,000 towards a speech pathologist for Chalmers Road School. We're always full of admiration for the Chalmers Road School team for the work they do in very difficult circumstances - our own Jan Barrett is herself in the thick of it and able to give first hand accounts of the challenges faced by the staff and students on a daily basis

The meeting would not have had the same impact without the presence of PP Rick Vosila whose initiative it was to run a personal marathon to raise the money and who, although travelling on business, was nevertheless able to join us virtually from Wagga (or wherever). Despite Rick looming over the meeting slightly ominously from the screen like Big Brother, the technology for the evening really worked well - we had a good connection, the sound worked well and we were able to engage in good banter with our tracksuit-clad superman at the end of the line.

The question is, can we roll this approach out successfully on a more regular basis. Personally, I am sceptical as to whether hybrid meetings are really the way forward for Club meetings on a weekly basis. Of course, during Covid, the Club did manage to make on-line Zoom meetings work quite well for the year or so when we could not practically meet face to face. It kept the Club going in difficult circumstances and in fact resulted in regular attendance by members who we hadn't seen for a while. On the other hand, I think most agreed that the meetings just weren't quite the same and the decision was rightly made to revert to the usual meetings in person. However, we have to recognise that there are quite a few members who cannot attend on a regular basis and who are highly valued and hybrid meetings may be a way in which these members can attend virtually. Whilst this may result in improved engagement with more of our members, the danger is that our attendance in person drops off as members prioritise the 'feet up on the sofa' approach to the "let's get out and have a drink with other Rotarians". Nevertheless, over the coming months, I would like to try out the hybrid approach on an occasional basis to see how it works in practice. Let's keep an open mind!

This week we will have an exciting speaker - Rowanne O'Mullane from Strathfield Private Hospital. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and once again, we'd especially welcome anyone from the local medical community who may be interested. Another heads-up is that on 23 August we are planning a social evening out at a local restaurant, which will be a relaxed evening of pure fellowship. We have identified a location and we will keep you informed.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening.

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick Hamilton-Kane
President
8 August 2023