It was almost standing room only at our Breakfast this week on Tuesday morning.
Taking the money from us at the door, was Noel.
There were guests aplenty, the word is getting around, after all, our's is the Club that people want to join, right?
Poor Alan B was left holding the lectern as we all filed in, taking our seats with full breakfast plates and plenty of banter.
It was going to be a rowdy Meeting, Alan was ready. He gave the nod to our fearful Sergeant at Arms, Deb, and with a tinkle of her glass, silence engulfed the room.
A gasp of relief came from Alan B as he winked at Deb. That woman, how does she command such respect, thought Alan B.
Without further ado, it was standing for Grace and the Toast to our great Country. Then, as usual at this time of a Tuesday morning, all eyes and ears were fixed on our latest Royce Abbey Awarded PDG, OAM, Mr Alan S. Where would he be taking us this morning with his International Toast ?
Sure enough, Alan didn't let us down. We were off to another hotspot of the world. This time Rotary District 2452, and the Rotary Club of Beirut, none other than the capital of Lebanon. Once again, Alan's repertoire of statistics stunned the crowd into silence yet again.
It was now time to get the busy morning underway. Firstly, the introduction of the lengthy guest list. Gerry proudly introduced his Tai Chi Instructor and potential Member, Megyn. Gordon brought with him, Gary King, being the lucky winner of the Club's Melbourne Cup Trifecta Ticket.
A big thank you goes to Gary, who was not only present to collect his winnings of $1,000, but to donate $100 back to our Club. Thank you Gary for your generosity. Qualities like that maketh a good Rotarian.
Our Guest Speaker for the morning was Brian Springer, our District's Representative for Shelter Box. Thank you Brian for your informative presentation about this unique Rotary Humanitarian Project.
[There was a second cheque presentation of $1,350 to the Mental Illness Fellowship Queensland (MIFQ) from our Melbourne Cup lunch, the amount having been made available by Pelican Waters Tavern. The ;picture shows President Peter receiving the cheque on behalf of MIFQ.]
It was interesting to note the re-emergence of some of our Members who've been absent for some time. Welcome back Gordon, from ill health. Great to see Julianna, getting a short break from her Pharmacy Empire and associated Projects and of course our resident Legal Eagle, Trevor. It's a rare occurrence that Trevor is with us and not sailing the high seas. Watch out for those Pirates, Trev !
The first important item on the agenda was all about our Locality and the suggestion from Rotary International to modernise the description in readiness for our updated Constitution and By Laws.
Previously, our Locality was this huge mouthful:
“East, the shoreline of, the Pacific Ocean: South the boundary line dividing the City of Caloundra and the Shire of Caboolture; West, the Bruce Highway: North, that part of the northern boundary of the City of Caloundra from the Bruce Highway to the confluence of Sippy Creek and Mooloolah River then a line East to the North bank of Currimundi Creek and following this bank of Currimundi Creek to the Pacific Ocean.”
Try memorising that. Me thinks Trevor may have had a hand in that mouthful. Changed to the now simple version:
Caloundra, Queensland and the surrounding area.
The motion for the change was put to a vote, and the result was an even more resounding YES than the result of the same-sex-marriage vote. See the separate article later in this edition of The Reel
Next was the induction of the newest Member to our Club. Chris Rees, a retired Engineer from the UK, now happily residing in our lucky country and on the Sunshine Coast. Chris fits the mould perfectly for a Rotarian. He has devoted forty years of his life to work and is now at the stage where he wants to give back to society and he sees the value and merit in doing just that, through Rotary.
Already, Chris has been actively involved in the service aspect of our Club, and also the Social side. Chris, it's refreshing to witness how quickly and easily you've made friends and got involved with various activities. I know you will be a valuable Member of our Club and we all look forward to many years of Service together.
Lyn Roberts' marble finally came home and what's more it was a double. Lyn not only introduced the Guest Speaker, he thought that might excuse him from delivering his three minutes about Lyn! Chair Alan does not forget (he had good notes!) and re-invited Lyn to the stage. And it was worth the wait - from ES&A banker (including a stint on Bribie Island where he joined Rotary in 1988), to Surf Life Saving and football he has led a full life. He joined this club in 1993 after moving to the area. Thank you Lyn!
Don't forget our Monthly Social Event is on this Saturday Night. Arnaldo and Trish are hosting a Portuguese Night at their home in Sunset Drive. Both are great entertainers and love the opportunity to display the food and wine from their country of origin. It's sure to be a special night. Thank you to Arnaldo and Trish for opening their home to us and for being such wonderful hosts.After our Breakfast, a substantial number of Members stayed on for ClubRunner Training. It's great to see so many of us wanting to learn more. ClubRunner is such a useful tool the way it integrates so many areas of our Club. As most of you would be aware by now, it's a lot more than an Email Centre. It's a service that costs the Club money, but if we all learn how to operate it, it's money well spent.
Enjoy the rest of your week and the Portuguese night on Saturday. I look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday at Breakfast.
Photos
See all the photos from our meeting here or go to the link in the right column of this week's bulletin, The Reel.
Important reminder
The roster for next week is displayed in the right column of this week's bulletin, The Reel. Check it out or visit this page.