Apart from some directors’ reports to update members, our last club meeting focused on preparing for Australia Day and its many activities, including the operation of the market.
The Big Day. Linda Barrow was the MC, and as usual, did a great job in running the official part of the proceedings and introducing the various performers throughout the day. All done with style and a smile in her voice. Thank you very much Linda, for doing this important job so well again.
Our club congratulates the Bendigo Citizen of the Year, Glenda Serpell, and the Young Citizen of the Year, Pollyanna Smith, on their well-deserved acknowledgement by the City as outstanding contributors to the betterment of our society.
Glenda is the founder and a director of Sunshine Bendigo, a community-based volunteer group, established in 2016, which aims to provide practical support to families in need of a helping hand. Sunshine collects, sorts and redistributes essential new and pre-loved baby goods and nursery equipment to families in need in the central Victoria region.
Pollyanna is a very accomplished and high-achieving member of the Guides. As well, she is a younger person who gets enormous pleasure and satisfaction from volunteering in other areas. She spoke passionately about the enrichment of her life through volunteering, and encouraged all those present to consider also volunteering somewhere as part of their lives.
Our club received a generous thankyou from Mayor Andrea, on behalf of the City, for the effort we always put in to make the Australia Day celebrations a most enjoyable and successful day for our community. She also acknowledged the great contribution made by the many other volunteers who help to make the day possible.
After the official proceedings, we walked with the mayor, Andrea Metcalf, across to the motorbike display to pick three favourites; Mayor’s choice; RCOBS co-presidents choice; and the oldest machine. Unbeknown to Andrea, she picked one of John Cannon’s bikes, and who, in contrast with his colleagues, was ecstatic about his third-time win. (Spoiler alert – he may very well not win next year …). Thanks, John, for all the work you done to put this very popular display on for the past 3 years.
The weather was very kind to us and the feedback of the market stall holders was very positive. Several stallholders enjoyed exceptional sales, but fair to say, most not quite as well as this. Each year we put the market on, we draw big crowds, and hope the stallholders do very well. At the bump-out, many stallholders remarked on how our market is always so very well run, and how good our members are in assisting them with any problems that may arise on the day. The great majority said they were looking forward to our Easter markets, and also intended to return next Australia Day. Congratulations to market coordinator Colleen, and to Ted and the other members of the Market Team, for their hard work and success again this year.
Thanks also to every other club member and our much-appreciated volunteers, who were able to help make the big day successful, with their work prior to the day, and on the day. There’s a lot to do in areas other than the market, in order to make the day as successful as it has become.
At the end of the day, it is always very pleasurable to have a rest, socialise and enjoy some refreshments in the shade of the trees after the event. There’s always a few stories to be told of what happened during the day, usually interesting and amusing. Thanks to Pat Sheehan, for providing us with some drinks, as he does each year, and it was a suitable time to thank Peter Rainey, our Australia Day coordinator, who has done this vital job for 16 years.
We find it hard to adequately thank Peter for the time and effort he has put in over the years to get the event to the level it has now reached. It’s the clubs’ signature event, and is a great advertisement of what our club in particular, and Rotary in general, can achieve, in adding to the civic life of Bendigo. Thank you very, very much, Peter, for all you have done in enabling this event to be so important in Bendigo.
Just a reminder about the Camp Getaway working bee this coming weekend. Please look further in the bulletin for more details and let us know if you can make it. Morning tea and lunch will be provided.
As mentioned in the last bulletin, the Bendigo Rotary Club has arranged for a Special Speaker’s Evening get-together at the Bendigo Club, Park St, Strathdale, for Tuesday, 11
th February, at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. The guest speaker is to be Associate Professor Janelle Brennan, a local urological surgeon. Janelle will be speaking on the capabilities and importance to our region of the da Vinci Xi Robot, a machine which will eventually be installed at the St John of God Hospital here in Bendigo. All members of the Bendigo and regional Rotary clubs are invited to be present on the night. RSVP by 5
th February to
Dianne Petrie, email
Pinjarra@internode.on.net or
0439 431 256. As a consequence, we have now moved our first board meeting for the year to the 4
th February.
Finally, we have included this years’ Australia Day speech that Ray delivered to the audience on behalf of RCOBS members. We thought it would be of interest to members, as most of us are flat-out working on the day, and never get to hear the clubs’ official speech to the audience. We hope you approve of it.
Co-presidents Ray and Adrian