Welcome all to the first edition of the co-presidents’ report for the 2023-24 Rotary year. Our year started off with a significant event, our changeover, held on Sunday at Camp Getaway. 

On behalf of the club, we would like to thank outgoing President Judy for all the time and effort she put in over the past year for being such an effective and dynamic president.

We all thank her too for representing our club on many occasions and for her personal participation in many worthwhile events and projects.  Judy will remain as a board member, continuing to contribute to the success of our club.  Many thanks again from all of us, Judy.

It’s now our turn to follow in her footsteps and continue her good work as co-presidents this time around. We would like to thank all those in attendance at the changeover for making it a memorable day for us two, and for club members generally.

Our thanks go to those hard workers who enabled the event to come together, and who kept it running smoothly on the day.

It’s always risky to single out individual members for their contributions, but here we go ….  Our particular thanks go to Club Service director, Cathie Miller, who did a power of work behind the scenes in the lead-up to Sunday, such as: registering and corresponding with attendees, arranging the running sheet, finalizing the wonderful food contributions, helping with table layouts and decorations, etc, etc.  Barbara Mitchell is also to be thanked for arranging, along with Glenda Bryson of Bendigo Rotary club, the slide show and informative talk about the history of the Camp and its current usage.  Chris Purton, as MC, did a great job of keeping us organized, well-behaved and on time.  Thank you very much, Chris.

We would also like to thank all other members and their partners who helped with the room set-up, the IT set-up, clearing the tables and washing the many dishes. 

It was unfortunate that some of these hard-working members missed out on the proceedings as a result, and we two apologize for that.  We didn’t realize just how much effort and time this was to occupy on the day. 

We enjoyed the company of several special guests on the day.  They were as follows: DG representative, Grant Hocking and his partner Melissa;  ADG Goldfields North, Alison Bacon;  the president of Kangaroo Flat RC, Ian Doak and his wife Verna; the president of Bendigo RC, Daniela Ionescu and her mother Victoria; the president of Bendigo South RC, Rod Spitty and his wife Gill; and the incoming president of Rochester RC, Heather Watson.

We also had two mayors in attendance, the Mayor of Greater Bendigo, Andrea Metcalf, and the Mayor of Robe District Council, Lisa Ruffell and her husband and club member Martin. We would also like to thank Lisa and Martin for their very generous donation of the major raffle prize, as well as their heavily discounted provision of our edible table decorations. The proceeds of the raffle amounted to $275 to be donated to Foodshare.

Congratulations to our two newest PHFs, Ted Gretgrix and Brian Hinneberg.  Both members have been huge contributors to our club over many years, as well as being involved in other very worthwhile community roles.  Thank you both, and we hope you both remain with the club for many years to come.

All members would have been pleased to see Rob and Carol Guley able to be present at our changeover.  Both Rob and Carol have unfortunately had health issues for some years now, limiting their ability to be hands-on contributors as they have always been in the past.  So, it is with great regret that the board has accepted Rob’s resignation as a member, due to current circumstances.  We hope to see them at any of our meetings and functions in future, as they are able to participate.

Just to recap, in his time as a club member of almost 23 years, Rob has variously served as Treasurer, Club Service director, chair of our markets, chair of our Business Excellence Awards, President in 2007-08, and was awarded a PHF in 2009.  We will miss Rob and Carol greatly, and hope the future is kind to them.

Just to remind you all that you can indicate your interest in which committee you wish to be part of to support club’s service activities during this 2023-24 Rotary year. No need to respond in case you are happy with your current allocation.

Also, we encourage you to consider this as an opportunity to indicate your interest in being president elect this year, perhaps sharing the role?

Please consider this since there is great expertise and support within the club. We both are grateful for your support during this current Rotary year and beyond, and look forward to working together for the health and wellbeing of others.