Rotarians and friends of Rotary,
I have
now been President for a couple of weeks. In that time there has been the
Changeover, a Board meeting and a Club Assembly. A fair amount of time at
each of the events was listening to me waffling on about plans for the year
so I'm sure everyone welcomed the breather this week for the last State of
Origin match, which finally went the right way!
A few months ago, when I was contemplating the year ahead, one of my
concerns was whether we would be able to identify new events and projects in
which the Club could be meaningfully involved. In fact, I now realise that
the issue is not the lack of potential programmes but the sheer number of
ideas which Board and Club members (as well as the District) are approaching
me with in all avenues of service. The challenge will be to choose events
and projects which are realistic, and particularly those in which Club
members are interested and will become engaged. Of course, some ideas can be
put into effect relatively quickly. Others are inevitably slow burners, the
benefits of which may take longer to put into practice. Anyway, I am very
grateful for the enthusiasm showed by our members.
I
attended a get together of the Western Harbour Clubs last night, organized
by our AG Bharathi. The photograph shows me in the centre with AG Bharathi
and Presidents or representatives of Western Harbour Rotary Clubs: Burwood,
Concord, Five Dock, Granville , Iron Cove and of course Strathfield. It is interesting that each of these Clubs faces similar
challenges to ourselves, often even more acutely. In line with what I said
at the Club Assembly, there is a hope that we can achieve a measure of
cooperation in identifying a couple of projects/events to work together on.
As I mentioned at the Club Assembly, I have proposed setting up a number of
committees:
-
an
Innovation and Technology Committee to
look at the technical innovations the Club might introduce into its
meetings and communications. Alexey has already put together (and
researched) a number of ideas to discuss with the Committee and the
Board;
-
a
Women's Committee to look specifically
at events and projects focused on women and which might attract more
women to participate in the activities of the Club;
-
a
Membership Committee to focus on
recruiting new members and, most importantly, to help ensure new members
are properly integrated and engaged in the Club's activities;
-
a
Finance Committee to support the
Treasurer; and
-
a
Brand and Publicity Committee to
spearhead our efforts to raise the profile of the Club and its
activities.
Of
course, these overlap to some extent, so it is important for these teams to
work together.
You
will recall that the Rotary International theme for the year is 'Create Hope
in the World'. In the latest
Rotary
Leader (click), Gordon McInally highlights a number of his ideas:
prioritising mental health; peace building through virtual exchanges; and
empowering girls. To some extent these priorities reflect some of the ideas
and approaches we are looking at in the Club this year.
A few
events which I would like to highlight:
-
The
next meeting will be on Wednesday 19th July
and we will have an excellent speaker: Dr Joanneke Maitz from the
Concord Hospital Burns Unit. As I mentioned at the Club Assembly last
week, it would be great if we could reach out to some of Strathfield's
many medical practitioners to invite them along as guests of the Club.
If you think your doctor (or any medical acquaintance in the area) would
be interested in coming along, please let Secretary Steven have their
email so we can invite them, or feel free to invite them yourself. I
really would like to leverage on the area's huge medical community.
-
On
23rd July, our local MP (and member of the Club) Jason Yat-sen Li
will be holding a
community event (click), a Wellbeing Walk and Talk to help improve
physical, mental and social wellbeing, in the morning, at Wangal Park
Croydon. Strathfield Rotary will be doing a BBQ and we intend to use
this opportunity to raise awareness of the Club in the area.
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the meeting this
week.
Best wishes to all.
Nick Hamilton-Kane
President
14 July 2023
