Happy New Year everyone,
 
Our Rotary Christmas recess has finished and we're back into the swing of things.
 
A fantastic number of Members attended our first Breakfast of the year.  It was also pleasing to see the number of guests present.
 
Honorary Member, Alf Mueller - who is well known to us all - decided to pay us a visit.  It is always great to see you, Alf.  You must be doing something right in retirement.  Please feel free to come along more often.
 
 
Our Guest Speaker for the morning was Jess Keenan (daughter of PP Julianna).  Jess is embarking on a Rotary Exchange to France.  Never far away from Jess is her French Tutor, Christine, who also attended our breakfast.
 
Christine has been madly teaching Jess all the French she can.  So much so that Jess was able to provide us with a bi-lingual version of her speech.  First was the French version, followed by the English.
 
Bon voyage, Jess. We wish you well and stay safe.
 
Merv's better half, Anne dined with us, wanting to hear more from Jess.  While our Northern Territorian Rotarian, Jan, was also in attendance, giving our Gerry a surprise visit.
 
 
We were even fortunate enough to have a substitute photographer.  Roger's grandson River had so much fun at our Christmas Party, he decided to come along to our Breakfast.  Thanks for the photos, River.
 
Our guest Holly Humphrey was also present.  We hope Holly enjoyed her first snippet of Rotary and decides to come along again.
 
A big welcome to one of our newest Members, Megyn, who was also present.  There were also lots of apologies.  Thank you for those who sent apologies, it's always nice to hear from you to know that you are still maintaining your interest in the Club.
 
Our OAM, Alan thought it'd be a good idea to head somewhere cold for our International Toast, to give us a break from the extreme heat we've been experiencing.  He took us to Rotary District 9980, the South Island of New Zealand and the Rotary Club of Invercargill Sunrise.  Visit Invercargill
 
Gleeful Gordon gave us an update on the fast approaching St Patrick's Day Charity Golf Day.  Already, 11 holes have been sponsored at $1,000 each, but Gordon will become very Grumpy if we don't sell them all.  As it's getting towards the business end of proceedings, it's time to book a team to play and sell more holes.  The Golf Committee do a fantastic job with our major fundraiser for the year.  Please get behind them and help out wherever you can.
 
 
Gerry reported on the huge success of the Bunning's BBQ held on 27 December.  Our next BBQ is Wed 24 January.  At this stage, Gerry is still requiring more help.  Please, if you can assist, let Gerry know - or register here.  A big part of being a Rotarian is playing an active role in Club Service.  Bunning's BBQs are a great way to serve our community.  There is a Roster, meaning the day is broken into manageable shifts.  It's an opportunity to meet your fellow club members on a more informal basis and a chance to spread the word of Rotary in the Community.
 
The Rotary Club of Kokopo in PNG is facing financial difficulties and have let their Rotary membership lapse.  Us Clubs on mainland Australia need the PNG Clubs to survive, as they need equipment that we can supply via Donations in Kind.  In order for this to be rectified, the Board is considering payment of dues for the Kokopo Club.  There will be more information posted about this issue soon.
 
Special mention was made to two very special ladies.  Both Ann R and Helen have celebrated Big Birthdays over the Christmas break, both ending in zero's.  Happy birthday Ann and Helen, we all hope you had a fantastic celebration and we wish you many happy and healthy years to come.
 
Next week we will be doing something different.  We will be having a Mobile Meeting.  All members are encouraged to attend the meetings of other clubs in our Cluster.  This is a useful experiment.  Some clubs may have ideas that we could use to improve aspects of our Club.  Have a great week and enjoy attending another Club next week. Click here for details