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Group 3 President Report for North Hobart

May I start by asking all members of the RCNH to stand and have a stretch.

Rotarians of Group 3, I give you the North Hobart peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, workers and ideas people!
 
At the Rotary Convention in Hamburg, which three members from our club attended, Rotarians were described as ambassadors of peace, love and care.

If you can judge the health of an organisation from the amount of laughter you hear when business is conducted, then North Hobart is surely a healthy club.  Thank you to our 25 active members and three honorary members. I’ve felt greatly supported as your president.   We are slightly down in membership but the good news is we held an Open Night recently and we look forward to inducting a new member soon.

The club has an effective committee system and committee meetings are held during regular Rotary meeting time.  Every member in our club is a doer.  Members really know each other and care for each other.
 
We are fortunate to be rooted in a vibrant community and we can tap into the energy and community pride here.  This year we sponsored the Hot August Jazz festival which led to some good PR for Rotary in their programs, on the ads at the State Cinema and even on the big canvas sign outside the Republic.  Thank you to the Hobart Jazz Club for the collaboration.

We have two new projects, one started and one still to come, that have been adopted as a result of requests from the community. 

You may have heard of the Music for Dementia project.  Following publicity about a Rotary project in Geraldton WA, we were approached by a musician volunteering at a local residential facility and that led to the provision of headsets for identified patients so that staff and volunteers can give them individualised programs of music, which it is hoped will lessen the need for drug therapy.  Thanks to the Roy Fagan Centre for their enthusiastic support.

We also had an approach from the New Town Community Association to join the R C Moonah is providing a BBQ stall at the Carols by Candlelight.  We look forward to good weather.

Talking about collaboration, we recently acquitted a major Compassionate Grant for the Baric family.  Thank you to all clubs that contributed to that, including the Rotaractors.  The manager of that program was Jenny Kerrison and we thank her too.
 
Jenny is well known for her service, in and outside the club.  She is not only national chair of Rotarians Against Malaria, with all that involves including editing their newsletter and organising their national conference, but also a member of the Board of Rotary Australia World Community Service.  She regularly speaks at other clubs and she is the project leader of the signature project of our club, the Mosquito nets in Timor Leste to save the lives of mothers and babies otherwise at risk of malaria. 

Recently Jenny was working in Bangladesh and she saw at first hand the gratitude of the staff at the Kumudini Hospital where Claremont and North Hobart did the physical work to get 250 second hand beds from to Bangladesh in a container.
 
We thank and congratulate Howie Oh who has recently stepped up as national treasurer of RAM.
 
Thank you to the Rotary Foundation for the $2000 grant from District Funds to investigate extension of the Mosquito nets project to West Timor and to Lillian Smith of Claremont club who will be leading a quiz night next year in support of this.
 
In her day job, Lillian is a teacher and North Hobart had the good fortune to sponsor the team Lillian coached which represented Ogilvie High School at Model United Nations Association.  The girls went on to represent Tasmania at the national finals in Canberra.
 
Our club has supported a number of Youth programs so far this year.  Besides MUNA, we had volunteers who participated in Rotary Youth Driver Awareness, Creating My Career and the Southern Youth Forum.  We also invited in the Head of Science at our aligned school during Science Week and were reassured that the school is grateful for the programs Rotary runs that extend their students.
 
I would like to refer to two projects we are working on that have yet to come to fruition:  Food Plant Solutions, which we wish to apply both locally and internationally and a dinner to celebrate International Women’s Day on 7 March next year.  Come and join us again that night.
 
In closing may we thank all members of our club and the members of Moonah club and Sullivan’s Cove who came along to the Afternoon Tea at our member Tanya’s home recently, which raised funds for the Book and Toy appeal being promoted by our neighbour Turnbull’s Funeral.
 
For many years, Turnbull’s has supported our club by providing storage for our barbecue equipment and archives.  We are very grateful for their support and congratulate them on their redevelopment and new policy to connect with community.
 
We also express our appreciation to the manager and staff of the Black Buffalo, who really look after us.  Thanks to Adam, Rachel and all the staff. 

Thanks to all present for the great support of each other, of AG Biddy, of DG Michael and of End Polio Now tonight.

World Polio Day is 24 October.  On Tuesday 22 October, Rotary Club of North Hobart is hosting six neighbouring clubs to the Rotary Tasmania Group 3 Forum.  On that evening we will welcome Tasmania's District 9830 End Polio Now Chair Marion Cooper and will present her with the donation of $1000 from our club and the other money we raise on the evening.  

We recently joined with other Tasmanian Rotarians to raise funds for End Polio Now at a movie night.  Thank you to the members of our club who came along in support.

We also look forward to polio survivor Merv Reed sharing his polio story on Tuesday 5 November. 

Ending polio is one of our core goals and for every dollar we raise the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $2 to the cause.

​Rotary International President Mark Daniel Maloney has called on all clubs to do their part to end polio.   https://endpol.io/regevent

Eradicating polio is a huge Rotary achievement and I am proud that Rotary Club of North Hobart is making the End Polio Now campaign a priority. 
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Who can resist the smell of sausages and onions sizzling on the barbecue?  Not many people, we hope, as sausage sizzling is one of our regular fundraisers and we are very grateful to our business partner Bunnings for the opportunity to provide sausage services.

Working a shift with a few Rotary colleagues is a very positive experience and it is highly recommended that all available club members take the opportunity to enjoy serving in a small team like this.  Most of our barbecues are on the third Thursday of the month.  

Bunnings provides clear expectations and reminders about safety and agreed procedures.   

Spruiking sausages is a fun part of Rotary service.  Thanks to Bunnings for the partnership.

Last Sunday our club enjoyed wonderful fellowship at the home of Tanya and Peter Dargaville.  Fifty people were present - members and family members of our club, invited guests and also guests from the Rotary Club of Sullivan's Cove and the Rotary Club of Moonah.  We were raising funds for the Smith Family's Toy and Book Appeal for Christmas.

The Dargavilles' home is like an art gallery.  Inwardly it is an artistic triumph and looking out at Mt Wellington is breathtaking.  It was a real honour to be invited into such a special space.

A lot of work goes into such an event.  Big thanks to all the members of our club who came along and contributed to the success of the day.  $1169 was raised for our club's local community service, which is a wonderful result.

The members of our club are indebted to the Dargavilles.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  

Past District Governor Una Hobday describes herself as a proud Rotarian. She is married and has four grown children.  Una was a Registered Nurse and also held a Graduate Diploma in Health Education and a  Graduate Diploma in Professional Management.  She worked in Victoria, WA and Tasmania and retired as the Manager of Adoption Services in Tasmania. 

My Rotary Life

Why did I join Rotary International?

I had been a speaker on the changes to Aged Care to many Rotary Clubs in Perth WA, and I had heard about all the projects clubs were involved in, such as Polio Eradication, the Bali Eye Clinic, pre-school education and wheel chairs for the handicapped.  I decided that If I was asked, I would be privileged to join such a dynamic organisation.
 
A Rotary Club in Perth wanted to charter an all-woman Rotary club.   They approached me and asked if I could help them charter a club of 25 women.  After some work, the Rotary Club of Hollywood began in May 1990.

I was the first woman President in that district.  From there to Charter another Rotary Club in a town I had moved to for a job.

I was the First Woman Assistant Governor, District 9450.

I was the first female District Governor in Australasia - one of 21 women out of 540 Governors internationally, that year 1999- 2000

But why stay in Rotary?

Bali Eye Clinic
A DG came back from a holiday in Bali, being really concerned about the numbers of people that had cataracts in the poorer areas of Bali. He put a proposition to his Rotary Club that they look to providing a mobile van for the purpose of cataract surgery.  The Rotary Foundation assisted with this;

• first a Discovery Grant where a group went to Bali to look at all the political issues and community issues surrounding the idea.
• Then an application for a 4 Heath Grant- Health Hunger and Humanity Grant, which was approved. They bought a Mazda van from a school and the people in the club worked with and engineer in that club to build the inner parts of the van to enable eye surgery to take place.
• They worked with Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital and eye surgeons travelled with the van to educate Balinese surgeons in Cataract surgery. The van parked by a Puscas mas ( heath service) and worked from there.

 Communities were educated, and people came from miles around.
I was a member of that Committee as my first district Committee and helped with the training of nurses in sterilising instruments.
How could you not be moved by seeing an old lady brought by her granddaughter to the clinic and the smile on the old ladies face when she came out of the van and could see her granddaughter for the first time.
Now it is a community owned project. They have a Hospital which now does corneal transplants etc and it was the first hospital that took badly injured Australians in the Bali Bombing. - the power of 1 person to make a difference.

Polio Eradication

• We conducted Polio immunization in Mumbai, protecting 1.5 million children in one day

The Rotary Foundation

• I have an addiction to the Rotary Foundation and all the possibilities there are to assist people in the world.

I am now the International Chair of Food Plant Solutions Rotarian Action Group.  Daily, I think about this . . .3000 children died from malnutrition or malnutrition-related disease while I was asleep last night.  We can change that statistic!  You can hear more about that group when you attend the Rotary Conference this year in Hobart.

During my 29 years in Rotary, I have had an amazing opportunity to do more with my life than I had dreamed possible.  This is a quote from Clem Renoir, a past world president of Rotary International.
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And I would like to finish with a quote from Winston Churchill;
What is the use of living if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?

Another full and fulfilling meeting.  We had time for a lot of fellowship, which is always appreciated, we had three tables of Rotarians in attendance and two substantial reports as well as our guest speaker.  Plus it was Book List and we shared our list of what we've been reading lately.  Our speaker Jo Matthews is a music therapy volunteer for the Roy Fagan Centre.  Jo spoke eloquently and passionately about the value of music to unlock memories and assist in calming patients who are suffering from dementia.  Chair for the night Jim Colley heads our Community Service committee.  Jim delegated the management of the Dementia project to a subcommittee made up of Murray, Jill and Jenny, who each have professional experience and expertise to offer.

Jo was in a sense preaching to the converted as Rotarians elsewhere have been paving the way to show the value of music to assist in the treatment of dementia.  The Music for Dementia project was pioneered by the Rotary Club of Geraldton-Greenough in Western Australia, which gained national publicity for the cause.  As you can see on the banner in the above picture, they brought Jaycar on board as a sponsor, enabling us to immediately benefit from their good work.

The headsets purchased by our club have now been delivered to the Roy Fagan Centre.  Staff there are enthusiastic and keen to see how this project goes.  We can but wish them luck.

Rotary values education so in National Science Week, Rotary Club of North Hobart took the opportunity to make the purpose of our meeting this week to celebrate Science.  We were delighted that in such a busy week, two highly distinguished educators were willing to make time to come to our meeting.

Deborah has for many years used Science Week to celebrate science as a whole school effort and recounted how in her Cosgrove High days her top students included members of the Claridge family.  At Elizabeth College, Science Week now has fifty different workshops in the program so many that the "week" has had to be extended.  In his introduction and vote of thanks, Chairman Ian Geard affirmed what an honour it was to have Deb come and visit us to share her passion and enthusiasm for science.  

Diana came to teaching from a background of science advocacy and management, where she had had previous exposure to Rotary's programs that extend and motivate science students. 

Thank you to both of these inspiring guests for identifying worthy and promising students for Rotary to support through the Science Experience, The Science and Engineering Challenge and the National Youth Science Forum.  We believe that the meeting this week has strengthened the bonds of professional support and mutual respect between our club and "our" schools.

... but for Rotary Club of North Hobart, there was more ... 

Wednesday saw us back to the Black Buffalo for a family friendly bonus Rotary event, a Brain Break Morning Tea, ninety minutes of Science demonstrations and "blowing the cobwebs" off our conceptual grasp of a few interesting Science topics.  This was a success thanks to demonstrator Ralph Teirney's preparation and the support of some club members, notably the two Ians, and a dozen guests.  

Rotary International President Mark Maloney has called for Rotary events to be family friendly so for the Brain Break we included some activities simple enough to engage a toddler.  Thank you to attendees for allowing family members to join in.  

One-off events like the Brain Break give an opportunity for us to invite people who may later join Rotary or tell people about our programs.  Two of our non-Rotary guests on Wednesday had reasons to feel connected to the Rotary Club of North Hobart.  We had sponsored a family member of Lynne to NYSF and Chris was the sister of Past President Ruth.  

The Brain Break quizzes and answers are available if you would like to have a copy.  Youth brochures can also be downloaded from the Rotary Tasmania website.  

Thanks to all attendees, Black Buffalo staff, our sponsor George Kalis of Island Chai and especially to Ralph for a most enjoyable change of routine on Wednesday.

​The raffle yielded $24 for Youth Projects.

At Rotary this week, we didn't linger over our delicious Black Buffalo meals, as it was down to the business of deciding which projects would be supported this year and sorting out budget requests and practical plans.  This week it was Committees and Board meetings - in other words, the directors working with their committees then the board listening to all the ideas and discussing priorities and actions.

Traditionally, Rotary Club of North Hobart committees have been structured around the five avenues of service in Rotary - Club Service, Community Service, Youth Service, Vocational Service and International Service.

This year we have had to restructure, to be compliant with Rotary International's instruction to have a director of Membership and a Director of Public Image and committees to support those directors.  We now have our 27 members spread over six committees rather than four, but we are trialling a "paired" set-up, to take account of the freedom members need to come and go from meetings.  

So we now have Club Service (chaired by Immediate Past President David Emmett) paired with Membership (led by President Elect Brian Claridge, who is also our club's Treasurer).  Youth and Vocational Service (led by Past President David Clinch) is working alongside Community Service (with Tony Thompson as director).  Then our Public Image committee (led by Past President Jenny Kerrison) is paired with International and The Rotary Foundation (which has Past President Howie Oh as director).  Although the link between these two may not be so obvious as the other two, given the major projects our leads overseas, it makes sense that the people publicising the work of our club are well informed on those.

sA big thanks to our members for all their contributions and deliberations this week.  Read the board minutes in the Members Only section of the website.  

As president, I just "floated" during the committee meetings, doing my best not to interrupt, but going home, it was more like "floating on air" to know the club is in such great hands with this team.

A request has come in to list all members of all committees in each club bulletin, so we get used to knowing who is on which team this year.  Any more suggestions to improve club systems are most welcome. 

Finally, a note that our Director of Public Image, Jenny Kerrison, is missing in the above photo as she was in Melbourne.  She's pictured elsewhere on this site, in the About Us section.  Jenny is very busy as National Chair of RAM (Rotarians Against Malaria).  Their national conference is in only a few weeks.    

Our Official Visit by District 9830's Governor Michael Cooke took place tonight and as requested by Michael and Corrina we enjoyed a Partner's Night.  With Assistant Governor Biddy Fisk and District Photographer Michael Quinn from Rotary Club of Glenorchy also present, it was wonderful to have eight guests in total.  We did miss our members who were busy or enjoying warmer climes.  Also, we were sad to hear that Corrina was unwell today, but Michael has promised we'll see her later in the year, when we host the Group Forum in October.

We really enjoyed welcoming Michael to our meeting room at the Black Buffalo.  Even though he has worked with RCNH in the past when the Claremont club supported our RAM project in Kumudini, Bangladesh, he had not visited a normal meeting before tonight.

Michael brought us the RI President's priorities for 2019-20 but rather than reflect on the theme Rotary Connects the World, he talked to us about his intentions for the clubs of Tasmania to get together more, to enjoy our Rotary friends and to share our Rotary stories proudly.  Of course he was true to the Rotary International Strategic Plan and explained that in a down to earth manner, but he spent most of the time talking about his own projects for District 9830.

Michael and Corrina are passionately committed to the Purple House and the service provided by manager Sarah Brown whom they met when they attended the Australia-New Zealand Zone Conference in Darwin in 2017.  Sarah will be attending our District Conference next year.

Our club was pleased to give a donation of $250 towards Corrina's project.  PRID John Thorne reported that he has begun planning for our Veterans Tribute Night in honour of Armistice Day, as the DG has requested all clubs to do.  He encouraged us to think about engaging members so that everyone is welcome, respected and valued and he wants to make this year one of Family-Friendship-Fulfilment and Fun.  Our club has heard and next week when our committees and board meet properly we'll see what we come up with in response to the challenges Michael has set us.  

In closing, may I say what a pleasure it was to welcome Angela Urosevic, Shirley Thorne, Denise Thompson and Ralph Teirney to the meeting tonight.  We look forward to celebrating as a whole family of the Rotary Club of North Hobart as frequently as possible this year.  

Last week, our guest speakers were Kaye Payne and Christine Bailey, two divas of the world of entertainment in Hobart, who came to promote the Hot August Jazz festival.  A North Hobart fixture for fifteen years, the day of jazz is coming up on Sunday August 25. Free entertainment in venues right along the North Hobart strip. Christine penned new words to a Cole Porter classic to celebrate our sponsorship this year.

ROTARY PRESENTATION
 
It’s been so nice to be with you
It’s been great to be here tonight
So nice to dine
And enjoy a wine
The Jazz future’s sure lookin’ bright
 
 
It’s been so nice to be with you
We’re glad you’re joining the team
Your support’s a boon
And we’ll see you soon
In North Hobart, you’re part of the scene.
 

Kaye Payne, President of the Hobart Jazz Club, spoke about the jazz movement in Tasmania and Christine Bailey, Convenor of the Hot August Jazz festival, spoke about that event.  Our Club is supporting the festival with a donation. Kaye told us that Jazz had started in Hobart in the 1940s as the Hobart Jazz Club. The aim of the association is to promote Australian Jazz and Jazz in Australia. Projects include: Researching Jazz in Tasmania; a Monthly Jazz Concert; Monthly Jazz Jams; An Annual Jazz Fest; Annual Hot August Jazz event; Various scholarships; and International Jazz Day.
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Christine spoke about the Hot August Jazz event,which is a free one day event in the North Hobart area. There will be 250 musicians playing in 400 performances at 10 venues. The Rotary Club of North Hobart  is (for the first time) an official sponsor of this event.

The State Cinema is putting on a jazz-blues film, the biopic of Paul Butterfield, which will be shown on Thursday 22 August at the usual prices.  If you are free on that evening, why not socialise with the Jazz set and connect with our community?