Member Announcements

In 1987 as the club celebrated its 50^th anniversary, in association  with the council, the Doug Mills Reserve was created, to commemorate a tireless worker for Rotary and the community.

Doug joined the Rotary Club of Footscray in 1970 and was President 1975-76 and District Governor 1981-82.

Apart from his work with Rotary, Doug demonstrated a strong commitment to the community, in particular education, sporting clubs and health.

Jama Farah was recently honoured with one of Rotary International’s highest awards in recognition of service, when his precvious Paul Harris Award was upgraded to Paul Harris Recognition with Sapphire.

John Granger prepared these words for the presentation:

One might say that in recent times, opportunities for service of any kind have been limited. Nevertheless, it has been possible even if some unorthodox methods have been adopted. Service to the community starts within the club and spreads in ever widening circles to the local, national and international communities. All are worthy of effort and recognition for that.

We are already two months into the Rotary Year and I’m very pleased to report that we have three projects well underway.

Two projects were started last year, and had the groundwork laid ready to take action now.

The Gaskin Gardens Project where we are partnering with Co-health to rejuvenate and install raised garden beds for the elderly occupants. We’ve begun with an art class teaching the residents how to do mosaics. The aim was to help the group to connect with each other to help help in the beautification of the area. This project will continue throughout this year and most likely into next year as well. Congratulations to Nada for her efforts in getting this project underway.

The next project that goes into action is the tree planting at the Doug Mills Reserve. This will happen at 9:30am on Friday September 2^nd  from 9:30 until around 11:00am..  We are partnering with students from Footscray City Secondary College and Maribyrnong Council to revitalise this area of Footscray Park.  If you would like to join the students and fellow Rotarians in planting trees, please contact Fred. You do not need to bring any tools.

Vale PDG Lawrence Atley AOM (8^th December 1938 – 21 September 2022)

The passing of Lawrence Atley is another sad milestone for our club. Lawrence was a dedicated and passionate Rotarian who enjoyed and valued his time in Rotary and the friends he made there.

Lawrence died on Wednesday 21^st September around 8:00pm with Margaret at his side.

The following are tributes to Lawrence from Club members John Granger, Carol Castano and Frank Brown.

The Rotary Club of Footscray spans 85 years. In that time, there have been events and achievements that have allowed our Club to contribute to the local, wider and international communities. Our Club has been a forum for Rotarians of vision, courage and compassion. And, in those eight and a half decades, no-one embraced Rotary’s ‘Service Above Self’ ethic more than Lawrence Atley. Last week Lawrence passed and we are mourning our loss.

In remembering Lawrence, I have chosen not to cite his many wonderful achievements in Rotary and beyond – this will be done in in ceremony and writings over this next week . 

Rather, I would like to touch on my memories, over a 50 year period, of someone who was inspiring, courageous, creative, innovative and very funny.

Son, husband, father, architect, raconteur, Rotarian and friend – Lawrence was someone who seemed to be ‘across everything’ and, if you were co-partnering a project, it was ‘hang on, this will be quite a ride’. Lawrence’s drive and enthusiasm was infectious.

All club members are invited to a a picnic and fellowship on November 12th at 71 High St Fryerstown from 11.30 .

Bring your own food and drinks. A gas BBQ, tea/coffee and cake will be provided. Consider car pooling or taking the train to Castlemaine where a pick-up can be arranged. RSVP to Graeme and Joy gajethom@iinet.net.au

Our speakers this month were Dr Denise Clarke and Graham Richardson from the Yarraville Tennis Club and our own Darcy Brennan. There a detailed reports as separate items.

At the meeting on 6^th October we acknowledged Ted Logan’s 90^th birthday on 3^rd  October. True to form he had written a poem for the occasion and then he sang it to the tune of sang it to the tune of Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty. The words are included later in the Bulletin.

Advance notice.

The Social Committee are planning a night of musical theatre in May 2023.

Date and booking arrangements will be available in coming months.

At the time of his 50 year Rotary Anniversary PDG John Davis summaried the Rotary Life of Lawrence.

Lawrence was born in Footscray and joined the RC of Footscray in April 1972.

He commenced his architectural practice in Footscray in 1970 and maintained a broad cross section of architectural appointments involving many education, municipal and institutional projects.

Lawrence has had a very distinguished Rotary career both at Club, District and the International level. Lawrence during his Footscray membership has had his hand in all the major projects of the Rotary club of Footscray, which have included The House of Friendship and The Society for the Aged. His community work has also extended past his Rotary involvement, with his Life Governorship  of the Western General Hospital after 15 years of service, including 3 years as President and his active participation in the YMCA as a Board Member.

A note of appreciation from Sika.

"Dear Madame President

This is a heartfelt thank you letter to all the wonderful Footscrav Rotarians and partners, who have showered me with cards, letters, flowers and telephone calls, on the sudden death of my beloved son George, my rock and my anchor.

Thank you all so much. I enclose a photograph which was still in George’s camera, and my granddaughter printed out. I thought the club might like it for your archives.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to be a “Rotary wife” and a “Rotary mother” for so many years, thank you to all.

With my best wishes for your continued success.

Sika"

Ted Logan, pictured with wife Mary, celebrated his 90th birthday on the 3^rd of October and at our meeting on the 6^th October he treated us to a sonnet he had written for the occasion.

At last I've reached the age of ninety

An age I've never wanted to be.

Put me anywhere, in Federation Square,

Brisbane, Broome or Bendigo,

Well I don’t care.

I’d like to clink a glass with old pals

Before the Grim Grey Reaper snatches me.

Oh. Hoity, toity torty,

Long time since I was forty, Ninety is the age to be.

The Western Region Aged Care Fund allocated $250,000 to local charities in April this year. Elizabeth has asked all members to provide ideas for a small infrastructure program that would benefit elderly citizens in the local community. Our club could apply for funding for this project an example could be “A seat”. A plaque would be attached so that the community was aware that Footscray Rotary Club funded the project.

Dr Jamie Robertson AM, began the Vietnam Dental Project in 1992. He visited Vietnam earlier this year to organise the visit for 2023. A team from Australia visits Vietnam with the goals of providing:

1. Primary dental care and disease prevention for Primary school children in rural areas of Vietnam,
2. Continuing specialist education for staff of the National Hospital of OdontoStomatology in HCMC,
3. Interdisciplinary treatment planning and surgical management with surgical staff of NHOS, HCMC, for adolescent children who have cleft palates.

A great initiative from one of our members.

The Rotary Leadership Institute Program presents a wonderful opportunity for Rotarians, new and old to find out more about Rotary.

District 9800 will conduct its next course in March:

Part 1 and 2 Saturday 4 March at 10am for 90 minutes

Part 3 Saturday 18 March at 10am for one hour

Part 4 Saturday 25 March at 10am for one hour

See details on attached flyer.

The contributing individual and the worldwide community …                                  

It is that persistent story that has forged Rotary International - our organisation of men and women who, individually and together, seek to improve the quality of lives locally, nationally and on the world’s stage. It is inspiring, involving and selfless. No-one epitomizes the essence of that Rotary creed more than our own Lawrence Atley.

Let’s cast our minds back a year. We came out of Lockdown 4 on June 10, 2021. This gave us just enough time to have a joint, face-to-face Board meeting on June 24 and a real Changeover here on Friday, July 2. Lockdown 5 lasted from July 16 until July 27, then another brief reprieve before Lockdown 6 closed us from August 4 until October 22. The lockdowns which had played havoc with Jama’s year looked set to do the same to mine.

At the June 24 Board meeting, I was a bit like the rabbit caught in car headlights. The task for an incoming president looked daunting because of minimal income due to lack of projects coupled with minimal distribution from the Community trust due to share market crashes. The singular success of the Horn of Africa project, in which we sent three containers of goods to Berbera for onward distribution, was largely due to innovative crowd-funding.

For a few months, Rotary consisted only of small regular meetings and monthly Board meetings on Zoom. These were supplemented by DG Dale Hoy’s Saturday morning teas, also on Zoom. Alas, our charity Golf Day kept being postponed as lockdown 6 refused to come to an end.

It was exactly ten years ago that I took over as President of the Rotary Club of Footscray. I remember ending my speech with two projects that we could  look forward to in the future. One was the Evan Phillips award to help support a young apprentice during his/her training. We made that award to a young man earlier this year. The other project was the Footscray Art Prize. We had no idea what format it was going to take but Victoria University and The Rotary Club of Footscray would be partners in the project that would commemorate Victoria University’s Centenary. It is now a well-established event that includes Maribyrnong City Council and Footscray Community Arts Centre being partners. There is a first prize of $10 000, a street art prize of $5000 was included in previous years as well as a prize for a local Footscray artist. We provide the prize for the primary and secondary school categories. The Art Prize Dinner has become a significant fund raiser for our club and I ask everyone to mark the date in their calendars for August 2023. This is a great community project that is changing and becoming better each time it’s held.  I’m very happy to announce that Phillip Caruso has agreed to head this project and will work with Suzanne to ensure we have a very successful night.

By the fantastic Graeme Thompson

On 21st October, the guest speaker at the Club’s zoom meeting was PDG Greg Ross and he spoke about the excellent work by the Australian Rotary Health (ARH) as well as the Lift the Lid initiative. Greg gave a brief about the history of ARH which began in 1981 under the leadership of Royce Abbey. One of the early projects funded by ARH concerned Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) which identified that sleeping face down was a significant risk factor for babies dying, transforming the understanding of SIDS. In 2000 funding research into mental health became a focus of ARH. Later in 2009 an Indigenous Health school program was funded.

By the fantastic Graeme Thompson

On 21st October, the guest speaker at the Club’s zoom meeting was PDG Greg Ross and he spoke about the excellent work by the Australian Rotary Health (ARH) as well as the Lift the Lid initiative. Greg gave a brief about the history of ARH which began in 1981 under the leadership of Royce Abbey. One of the early projects funded by ARH concerned Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) which identified that sleeping face down was a significant risk factor for babies dying, transforming the understanding of SIDS. In 2000 funding research into mental health became a focus of ARH. Later in 2009 an Indigenous Health school program was funded.

By the fantastic Graeme Thompson

On 21st October, the guest speaker at the Club’s zoom meeting was PDG Greg Ross and he spoke about the excellent work by the Australian Rotary Health (ARH) as well as the Lift the Lid initiative. Greg gave a brief about the history of ARH which began in 1981 under the leadership of Royce Abbey. One of the early projects funded by ARH concerned Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) which identified that sleeping face down was a significant risk factor for babies dying, transforming the understanding of SIDS. In 2000 funding research into mental health became a focus of ARH. Later in 2009 an Indigenous Health school program was funded.

Happy Birthday, Philip!

12^th -  Phillip Caruso

Happy Birthday, Wilson!

31st - Wilson Leung  

It seems scarcely credible that almost half the Rotary year is gone and for much of that time we’ve been cloistered in our Zoom rooms for meetings or have chosen to remain a face-to-face member. I must say, some of our Zoomier members appear to live in exotic locations with great sunsets. Whichever you are, welcome to this column.

It’s been a great relief that we didn’t lose any members due to lockdowns, either from COVID itself or disconnectedness. In fact, in our few F2F meetings there has been the heart-warming and delightful sound of animated conversations around the tables. As an analogy with the economy, the enforced pent-up savings are being joyously spent when given a chance. But fellowship is only one aspect of Rotary; we have a deeper purpose to volunteer our brain, brawn, or funds in the service of humanity and we haven’t achieved much of that to date.

January and February have slipped by,

“Like the snow falls in the river,

A moment white, then melts forever.”

This Rotary year also seems to be melting away. Further, the Covid-enforced lockdowns have robbed us of many activities, perhaps to the relief of the program director and some committees. But now we have a short sprint to the end.

Recent meetings have been well-attended and lively. A 70% attendance is much healthier than a 30% attendance. I am in awe of members like Kevin Field who come from long distances to contribute to fellowship. To share in lively chatter is to inhale the dynamism of our club.

Happy Birthday!

20th Feb - Pragya Kapil

24th Feb - Kevin Field 

19th March - Jamie Robertson