(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
President's Message 26th October 2024
Bruce Turner
President’s Message
Greetings and welcome. Thank you for joining our online news and updates.
We were treated to a fantastic presentation by our guest speaker Darcy Dunstan at the Club Meeting on Monday night. Darcy’s talk, although titled “Life in the SAS” covered much more. We heard how he had spent some time as a youngster in the Northern Territory before settling in Breamlea with his family and his training as a “Chippy” prior to starting on his career with the defence forces, which lead to his training for and serving with the SAS. Darcy’s explanation of the training process left each and every one of us in the room in awe of his achievement to be one of only 9 (out of an initial 2500 candidates) to make it through the training. The account of his service and life since returning to civilian life was fascinating and demonstrated what it is possible to achieve when you have a focus and desire to achieve your goals.
More Photos of Darcy Dunstan's Presentation - please click here.
Club Meetings:
Please remember that the meetings are open to guests and with the quality of speakers, I’m sure that guests would enjoy their visit. It is great way to introduce community members to our club.
To relieve the pressure on those who are busy on meeting nights, we would like to have more members comfortable with setting up our presentation room. Please let me know if you would like to learn how to set up the meeting room equipment (computer, camera and TV). A training session on the equipment will be arranged at a time that best suits those interested.
BBQs:
We have the BBQ trailer in use at a couple of extra events in the coming weeks. Geoff and Karen Dawson have their garden open for visitors as part of the Open Gardens Program and will have the BBQ operating to help raise funds for Ocean Mind along with a charity which was started by themselves to assist a nurse undertaking studies at Deakin. Open Gardens is on Saturday 26th October and Martin has arranged for the trailer to be provided for use at the HeartKids Walk on Sunday 27th October (Two Feet and a Heartbeat is the charity organising the event). Please contact Geoff or Martin directly if you would like to help out with either of these events.
Hat Donations for PNG:
Thank you to the members who donated more hats to John Oswald’s collection for PNG - you bring more donations to the next meeting if you have spare hats or caps.
Trivia Night Friday 22nd November:
You will notice a flyer advertising the Bayside Rotary Club’s Trivia Night, Friday 22nd November. Myself and Erika will be attending and I am happy to coordinate a table (or two) if there are enough people interested. If you would like to attend this event, let me know.
Rotary Walk With Us Team:
Please support the “Rotary Walk With Us” team Lesley has launched and throw the club’s weight behind World Polio Day.
Ryans IGA Community Rewards Program:
The Rotary Club of Torquay has been selected to participate in Ryan’s IGA Community Rewards program. Our group will appear at Torquay for September and October. If you think your next visit to the supermarket will result in a spend of over $20, it is worthwhile making that trip to IGA – still a few days to help our Club’s fund raising.
Join the Community Walk to Honour Our Veterans on Remembrance Day
Dear Rotary Members and Friends of Rotary,
We are excited to share a wonderful community initiative taking place as part of the Remembrance Day commemorations.
The Torquay RSL is hosting a FREE community walk to honour and remember the sacrifices made by our Veterans, past and present.
This meaningful event will culminate in a Remembrance Day Service at 11 AM at Point Danger, Torquay, and offers walking routes for all fitness levels, making it a fantastic opportunity to bring family, friends, and other community members together for a shared purpose.
Event Details:
Date: Monday, 11th November
Remembrance Day Service: 11 AM at Point Danger, Torquay
Pick-Up Location: Point Danger Car Park, Torquay (for bus to walk starting points)
Join us for the Rotary Club of Bayside Annual Trivia Challenge - A fund raiser for mental health. Let's get a Torquay Rotary team together and challenge RC Geelong East. President Bruce is organising our team(s).
When - Friday 22 November 2024 at 7:00pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
Where - The Christ Church Hall corner of Little Myers & Moorabool Street Geelong
An Awareness Walk in Torquay will be held on Tuesday 26th November at 0930.
We would like as many people as possible to attend this, hopefully for an hour, and we can follow that up with coffee if you would like.
If you do not have a purple T-shirt, please wear purple or orange. Orange is the colour Zonta wears on their walks to raise awareness of this dreadful gender abuse.
I will have posters to place in the coffee shop/café toilets prior to the 16 days of Activision to increase awareness.
This is a serious issue within our communities, and we need to increase awareness.
Do you still have any spare hats or caps? If so, please bring them along to Monday night’s meeting or you could drop them off to John Oswald.
These are being collected to send across to residents of Lese Oalai where, as John describes it “there is an over-abundance of sun”. The collection has been kicked off with donations of hats from the “Lift the Lid” night at our last meeting and more were collected at the meeting last Monday night.
Hon Member Vernon D'Souza makes October his own - his birthday is the 16th, Wife Cha has her birthday on the 13th and he joined Rotary 52 years ago on his birthday - the 16th.
