Last week, we warmly welcomed DG Bill Degnan and his wife, Judy, together with District Secretary, Don Ripper, and AG West Gippsland Cluster, Tim Wills, to our online club assembly meeting.

DG Bill addressed the meeting and spoke of his goals for District 9820. In summary, Bill urged us to do more through service in our community in the name of Rotary, to promote Rotary through correct branding, and to publicise stories that depict Rotarians as ‘People of Action.’ Bill reminded us of current RI President’s Shekhar Mehta’s desire to increase membership to 1.3 million by 1 July 2022 and his Each One, Bring One initiative, which asks every member to bring one person to join Rotary within the next 17 months.

DG Bill also promoted the District Conference, to be held Friday 25 February to Sunday 27 February 2022 in Traralgon at the new Gippsland Performing Arts Centre. The keynote speaker is Professor Fiona Wood. She is well-known for her leadership and management of victims who sustained burns in the Bali bombings back in 2002 and the invention of spray-on skin cells to reduce scarring. Bill encouraged members of our club to attend the local conference and to join the winery tour or golf tournament on the Friday.

Judy Degnan also addressed the club and spoke of her project which is simply to challenge us all to actively promote Rotary. Judy encouraged us to think of an ‘elevator pitch’ when asked why you joined Rotary. What will you say? Is it the fellowship and friendship? What about the opportunity to serve your local community? Do you enjoy helping young people develop leadership skills? Are you proud of the work Rotary has done over the last 35 years to eradicate polio through vaccination? Judy wants us to engage with people and promote Rotary. We need to talk to others about what we do as Rotarians.

During the online meeting, we wore a variety of hats to support Australian Rotary Health’s (ARH) initiative, ‘Lift the Lid on Mental Illness.’ Thank you to everyone who participated, and Sargent Barry will tally the fines for wearing headgear. Money raised from the activity will be forwarded to ARH.

Thank you also to our secretary, treasurer and chairs who presented reports to members. DG Bill was keen for us to hold our Club Assembly and gained insights into what we have been doing during the COVID pandemic.

During the past two weeks, Chair Robin Noakes, together with members of the Youth/Vocational committee, have been busy with presentations: firstly, to Karen Prestidge at Newborough East Primary school who received a Vocational Excellence Award, and secondly, online presentations with students from Newborough East PS (Wednesday) and Albert Street PS (Friday) as part of their Rotary Junior Community Award (RJCA). According to Robin, the presentations were amazing. Preparations are also underway for the Pride of Workmanship awards.

Monday, being the first Monday of the month, is set aside for ‘Fireside Committee’ meetings. Thank you to our Chairs, Alan, Robin and Diane, who have organised an agenda and meeting venue for committee members. I have offered to host the Community Committee meeting on Zoom and will send out the link on Sunday evening.

To members of the club administration committee, a Club Administration meeting, chaired by our President-Elect, Robin Noakes, will be held on Wednesday evening (hybrid meeting), commencing at 7.00pm.

Melbourne Cup: As mentioned last week, Rog Taylor is organising a draw of horse numbers for the Melbourne Cup, so please check what number you have drawn and remember all money raised will go to the ARH for mental health research. No big prize pool this year!

RSL update: We will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face at the RSL on the second Monday of the month (8 November), at 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start. Rebecca has confirmed the venue is now operating at 150 patrons indoors.

She has specifically asked that all members enter through the front entrance only, to wear masks inside the venue, and to use the QR code provided to check-in. RSL staff will be checking COVID vaccination status of patrons prior to entering the venue.

Lastly, how wonderful it was to be able to finally see loved ones who have been socially isolated in Melbourne for the past three months.

Stay safe everyone and I look forward to seeing members who are comfortable in returning to face-to-face meetings at the RSL on the 8 November.