Club changeover - part 1

On Tuesday 30 June, the Rotary Club of North Hobart was able to celebrate Changeover with a face to face meeting.  We held the event at the Black Buffalo and 39 members and guests were in attendance.  Thank you to Tanya Dargaville who acted as MC for the evening.

Official guests were District Governor Michael Cooke and his wife Corrina, Immediate Past District Governor Ross Carlyle. Past District Governor Peter Murfett and incoming Assistant Governor Paul Fernyhough.   

The first excitement was when Effie Flaskas was inducted as a new member.  A warm welcome to Effie! 

The District Governor presented the club one of three Significant Service certificates which he awarded at District Changeover.

The award was presented to all members of the Public Image committee, Peter O'Brien, Jenny Kerrison and Roslyn Teirney.  We were able to announce that incoming President Brian has invited us to organise a similar event next year, once again at Turnbull Funerals.

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Several individual Rotarians received Avenues of Service awards.  

As Secretary of the Rotary Club of North Hobart, arriving an hour early at every club meeting to talk with president, greet guests, set up equipment and hand out bulletins. Significant support, advice and insight for the president and members. Numerous members have described Chris Webster as "the backbone of the club." Diligently preparing and taking notes at board meetings. Efficiently managing responsibilities. Chris's witty speeches entertain and engage members and guests. He enjoys the respect of all members and the wider community.

Peter is being nominated for his contribution to International Service as a member of the Rotary Club of North Hobart. Peter joined the club last year. He is the manager of business premises very close to where the club meets and got to know Rotary through being a good neighbour. Serving on the Public Image committee, Peter brought in two major sponsorships for our major club awareness-raising event, enabling us to generate a significant donation for our club's new project to eradicate malaria in West Timor. While keeping other members of the committee updated, Peter operated independently, handling much of the stress of the event management in such a way as to support everyone in a beautiful and professional manner. Rotary is changing and regular attendance at club meetings is no longer the only way to be a great Rotarian. Thank you Peter for the exceptional contribution you made to Rotary by modelling the motto "He profits most who serves best" and the new one People of Action.

Jenny Kerrison is being nominated for the AVENUES OF SERVICE award for her service as Director of Public Image for the Rotary Club of North Hobart. Jenny manages the club website at https://www.rotaryclubnorthhobart.org.au/ which is one of the best designed and most compliant and user friendly websites in our district. She is the editor of the club bulletin and one of the administrators of the club's Facebook page. Jenny has promoted Rotary events on radio and in the print media and through relentless personal promotion of Rotary projects. Jenny is frequently invited to be a guest speaker at other Rotary clubs and many people know of her commitment to the wider work of Rotary International. But we in the Rotary Club of North Hobart know and appreciate what Jenny gives week in week out to her Rotary colleagues in her own club, quietly and reliably. Thank you, Jenny.

Rotarian David Clinch is being nominated to receive the AVENUES OF SERVICE award for his service as Director of Youth services. David has a thoroughly professional manner of leading and motivating members of our club to volunteer for all of our youth programs. David leads by example. He and his wife have hosted international exchange students, encouraged others to host, liaised with schools extremely effectively, welcomed visiting students and teachers to club meetings, reported back to the club about youth events, encouraged Science and Engineering supervisors, motivated people to be guides at RYDA and Creating our Careers and publicised NYSF, Rotary Adventures in Citizenship and RYPEN camps. He has a special fondness for the Windeward Bound Youth Leadership Challenge and his business in the past crafted the wheel on the ship. David has mentored the members of the Youth committee with great success and has been a most effective member of our club board. Thank you, David.

Jim Colley is being nominated for the AVENUES OF SERVICE award for this service as Director of Community Service at the Rotary Club of North Hobart. Jim is a highly organised and experienced manager of people and projects and an excellent communicator. He is efficient, relaxed and keeps Rotary simple for the volunteers on his committee. Jim has been a member of Rotary for many years and brings to our club the benefit of different ways of working. Jim easily persuades club members to take turns on rosters for regular and special events. He is a highly respected and warmly appreciated member of our club. Thank you for your reliability and dedication, Jim.

It was an honour for us to host the last event at which DG Michael and his wife Corrina were official guests in his year of leading the district.  Thank you Michael for representing RI President Mark Daniel Maloney and bringing his message of Rotary connecting the world in the spirit of peace and service.  Throughout the evening, guests were uplifted by speeches by a number of our members, some about Rotary and some about our members.  

PRID John Thorne proposed the toast to Rotary.

PAG Paul Fernyhough, of the Rotary Club of Claremont, read the acnowledgement of the original custodians of the land on which we met.  It was Paul who edited the DG News in 2019-20.

PAG Jill Savell became a Paul Harris Fellow.  Thank you to Jill for her wonderful service.  Jill, always a wonderful public speaker, responded warmly with inspirational stories of Rotary service and travel.

Next we had another celebration of Rotary service, this time when PDG Peter Murfett, District Director of The Rotary Foundation, announced that PRID John and Shirley Thorne had reached the milestone of Major Donors for their financial gifts to The Rotary Foundation over the years.  The mementos from Rotary International were presented by DG Michael Cooke and both Shirley and John reminisced about their Rotary journeys and what motivated them to give so much to Rotary and make Rotary their charity of choice.

Thank you both for your distinguished service. What a team you've made indeed.

As always at Changeover, there were moments to reflect on the year as a whole, a challenging and probably unforgettable year, but nevertheless one in which we achieved many goals.  The Public Image committee was very proud to have the District Governor present at the launch of our "Rotary Connects the World" two minute video clip.  This featured four spokespeople from the club, listing a number of our international projects from the past year.  The clip is available to view on our club's Facebook page.

We also presented our Annual Report, which will be used as a Public Image resource in the year ahead, as well as a record for members.  The report was designed and printed by our Pride of Workmanship awardees, A and J Printers.  Thanks to Margaret and Peter, who went above and beyond.