Rotary Club of Bendigo/Sandhurst Bulletin 27 (Feb 04, 2015)

A good attendance for Club Forum today.
Australia Day – well done to Peter Rainey and the committee for all the hard work in organising another successful Australia Day. It’s a big day for everyone involved. The new position for the markets was generally well received.
DG Murray Verso sent a letter of congratulations on the day. He attended the International Expo and was impressed with the day. The Expo had a good response from the public.
We received a thank you from the City of Greater Bendigo for providing some sponsorship for the Portsea Camp last month.
Lindsay has been in East Timor. He reported that the kitchen is working well and has been well received by the community. He presented a hand woven shawl from the community to say thanks for the support they have received in building the kitchen.
Paul Kirkpatrick reported on the progress of the new kitchen at Camp Getaway. There has been god numbers helping in getting the foundations laid.
Ray Carrington advised everyone about the tickets for Ross Noble when the Friendship Exchange is here in April. If you want tickets, see Ray.

There was some discussion regarding the BBEA ceasing. The sponsors, judges, suppliers and last year’s winners have all been individually contacted.
There was also some discussion regarding the process that was applied.
As a club we have an opportunity to have a say in how we move forward with the strategic plan review next week. The current Board and the incoming Board are meeting next Thursday to review the current plan and the feedback from the members.
Unfortunately there has been a poor response to the letter circulated. To have your ideas/suggestions considered, we need responses by this Friday so that Geoff can circulate them to the Board members prior to the meeting.
If you want to read the current plan, it is on Club Runner in View Club Documents folder, then Administrative Documents folder. It is the last document in this folder.

Reports:
Community – the market committee are working hard getting ready for Easter. This year the market has been moved back to Bridge Street.
Judy is still looking for some more people for our table at the Valentine Day Ball. She has raffle tickets if you cannot attend. As of last week over 100 tickets had been sold. This is a cluster event raising money for the oncology unit, so if you would like to join the club table, see Judy.
International – Cath thanked Patti and her team for helping out with the flooding of the storage shed recently. They worked very hard to rescue the knitting items stored there.
Club – Conor raised the issue of getting new members into the club. He encouraged people to talk to him about any ideas they might have. The concept of corporate membership was raised as well as a pilot project from RI looking at ways to foster new membership.
The risk assessment for community activities was recently reviewed and updated.
The guest speaker program is healthy at present – thanks Phil. With Phil taking on a new role, we need some-one else to manage the guest speakers for the meetings. See Phil or Conor if you are interested in having a go at this role or want to find out more about it.
A fellowship event is being planned for March – Judy will have more details when she has recovered from the Ball. Thanks Judy for the work you are putting into this event. Martin and Rob have also been helping out on this committee.
The social gatherings are still happening fortnightly at The Rising Sun (Pat’s place) – the next one being next Tuesday.
Thanks Directors for your reports. Cathie