Welcome to December and the festive season!
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Our AGM will be held on Monday night, and I hope you will all be in attendance to discuss the future of our club. If you are thinking of joining our Board of Directors, please let either myself or our Secretary, Peter Moore, know before Monday. The AGM will commence at 7:15 pm after dinner. I have organized a speaker for the first half of the evening. Alan Lawrenson, who has spent 30 years selling and marketing scientific and medical products, will be speaking. He has written three best-selling books on Prostate Cancer and has now written the best-selling “Australia’s Looming Energy Crisis”
85th Anniversary and Christmas Party
On Saturday, 2nd December 1939, the presentation of the Charter of The Rotary Club of Burwood by Past District Governor Fox Martin took place at the Masonic Hall Burwood. This Monday marks our 85th Anniversary. As you all know, we were to celebrate this momentous occasion on Sunday, 1st December, but it was not to be! However, we will have a celebration at our Christmas party on Monday, 16th December. Don’t forget your Secret Santa gift. Please let Patricia know by 9th December if you can attend. Email: patriciaabraham91@gmail.com
St Paul’s Pantry
Members are asked to donate non-perishable food items for St Paul’s and bring them on Monday night.
President’s Meeting
On Thursday, 28th November, I attended the District AGM and President’s meeting. It is always good to catch up with fellow Rotarians and learn what other clubs are doing. It seems we all have the same issues, mainly membership and getting the message of what Rotary is and what Rotary does out to the public. It was suggested that we invest some funds in developing a marketing program to promote Rotary. We looked at all the Community Groups in our District and heard what projects they are doing. Every group is looking at creating awareness and taking action to end gender-based Family and Domestic Violence. As previously advised, our group, partnering with the City of Parramatta and NSW Police, has organized a walk and rally in support of “Together we say No to Domestic and Family Violence”. This event will take place on Wednesday, 4th December. We will assemble at 11 am at Mays Hill Oval (Pitt Street) Parramatta. PDG Barry Antees, from the Rotary Club of Environment and Habitat, has organized the rally and has some amazing speakers. It will be a very interesting but I suspect emotional day.
At the President’s meeting, we also discussed the progress of Regionalisation. The pilot is going very well, and I am sure we will all see the benefits over the next year. We have had a number of Zoom meetings over the last month to discuss the pilot and our Community Groups with the Growth Plans. In early November, Zone 8 held a conference in Queenstown, New Zealand. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as we had PRISCA, but apparently, it was fabulous. The good news is that next year the conference will be held on the Gold Coast in late October, and as we are not having a District Conference, perhaps we could all attend?
Cambodian Student
Monday, 16th December, will be your last chance to donate school supplies or provide a gift for Chhengky. Please feel free to add a personal note and maybe a photo. School supplies can be exercise books, journals, colouring pencils, post-it stickers, glue sticks, and sticky tape. I will be leaving for Cambodia on 11th January.
Fees
A friendly reminder that our Semi-Annual fees of $210, being for January to June 2025, are due on 31st December. Electronic payment via bank transfer to the general account is preferred. Please reference with your last name.
Account: The Rotary Club of Burwood
BSB: 112-879 Account: 111453926
Meeting Apologies
Please remember to send your apologies to Past President Sergeant Irene if you are unable to attend a club meeting. Email: cigiardino@gmail.com
Spoke Submissions
If you have any articles you would like to see in Spoke, please send them to me at denniseh100@gmail.com Spoke is produced the week before each meeting, and the deadline for the Monday issue is 5 pm the Thursday before.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday night! Have a great weekend.
My favourite quote for the week…
“You may say I‘m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.” – John Lennon
President Dennise
