Chairman Stan welcomed everyone, in particular our guest speakers Jaime Cail, Dawn Holland and Brooke Cameron from the Greater City of Bendigo, who are going to provide us with an update on the planning for Australia Day. Honorary Rotarian Patti Cotton was also made welcome.

 

It was great to see Wayne and Linda at the meeting. Wayne gave a heartfelt thankyou to the club and members for the fellowship and camaraderie, shown to him and Linda over the years. In response Doug Lougoon expressed from all of the family of the club, Rotary and the community of Bendigo our love and prayers for Wayne, Linda and their families during this difficult time.

 

Adrian  and Graeme represented the club respectively at the annual awards nights of Marist College and Weeroona College. The Rotary Club of Bendigo Sandhurst provides vocational scholarships for Year 11 /12 at Marist and vocational scholarships and Dux awards for the Year 10 students at Weeroona. Thanks to George and Cathie for the strengthening of the relationship between the club and the schools.

 

Secretary Geoff gave an update on the Foodshare program. Collection tin #611 raised $204.55 which increased our “raffle” donations to $1,694.90 for this calendar year.  Congratulations to everyone who puts in their $2.00 each week.

Mark Weragoda has placed the “powered by Bendigo Sandhurst Rotary Club” sticker on the Foodshare van. Our club funds the fuel costs for one van for the year. This is on top of our raffle prizes donation.

Ray Carrington kindly brought along the “smarties jar” as provided by DG Bronwyn. The idea is to replace the smarties with gold coins to aid the “End Polio Now” campaign.

St George Bank

Acct Name: The Australia Rotary Foundation Trust

Acct No: 551038195    BSB No: 332 084

Include your member ID followed by PP (Contribution to PolioPlus)

 

St George Bank

Acct Name: The Rotary Foundation

Acct No: 100345225   BSB No: 332 084

Include Club No (25446) followed by PP (Contribution to PolioPlus)

 

NB: I have 3 jars left.

 

Copies of the bank receipts are to be sent to:

risppo@rotary.org  and  to  secretary@rotarydistrict9800.org.au

 

 

Many thanks to Cathie, Liz, Nick,

and Merrin for their organisation for the party last Sunday. The weather although inclement and raining at times did not dampen the fellowship enjoyed by all. Also thanks to those who

provided nibbles, salads and desserts and Maurice for his assistance to pack up on Monday.

Left property; I have a number of bowls, glasses and cutlery, for which a home must be found!

 

 

Peter Rainey introduced our guest speakers, Jaime, Dawn and Brooke. Peter, now in his 12^th year of organising the Australia Day program for our club gave a quick update on some of the changes which will occur during the day’s events.

Brooke, now in her 6^th week with Council is responsible for Community Events and on the day will be in charge of logistics, risk management and bins.

Jaime, in the same role as last year will facilitate the Civic components of the day, including the stage events, flag management, and guest speaker and looking after the ambassador.

Dawn is in charge of Tourism and Major Events and as such will work with Jaime and Brooke as a team to ensure that the Day as planned is successful.

 

The major changes to the planning phases of the Australia Day program is the legislation as prescribed by the Federal Government (updated in 2018) in protecting people in crowded spaces. This policy is supported by the Victoria Police, Counter Terrorism Strategy 2018-21

Where there are more than 300 people congregated, it is categorised as a major event, and as seen in Bendigo for the Easter Parade and White Night, concrete bollards were placed strategically to minimise the risk from rogue or airborne vehicles. Another identified risk is the “lone or suspicious backpack” and at White Night, those of us on the bbq witnessed the very quick response by VicPol in attending a situation not more than metres from us. The “gas bottle” as used on all of our bbq’s can be used as a blowtorch, another risk which needs to be identified.

The major changes we will see will be the blocking off of Nolan St with concrete bollards from the corner of Nolan and Napier St down to the first car park.

Thank you Peter, Jaime, Brooke and Dawn for providing those members present with the latest updates and a very clear explanation of the processes influencing these new directions.

Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook Collection: Handbook 1: Crowded Places Checklist.

Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook Collection: Handbook 15: Safe and Healthy Crowded Places.

Victoria Police: Counter Terrorism Strategy 2018-2021