Member Announcements

For ten years, Rodney has been instrumental in supporting a number of community-based organizations that focus on giving back to the Maribyrnong community.

As President of the Footscray Hockey Club since 2014, Rodney has been at the forefront of creating a culture of inclusion and gender equity. He has worked tirelessly to promote a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment that embraces and supports everyone to play the game they love.

https://www.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au/Community/Community-and-Cultural-celebrations/Civic-Awards/2022-Civic-Awards

After lockdown delays prevented us from holding our Golf Day last October, or indeed the past two years, it was finally held on Friday, 25 March at Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club. I don’t have the financial outcome to hand but the day itself was a great success and plaudits and laurel wreaths go to Ron Hunt, Elia Andriotis and Rodney Johnstone for its planning, coordination and promotion. On the day they were supported by Julie Carroll, the raffle ticket enforcer, and Graeme Thompson, photographer at large (no doubt you’ll see his efforts elsewhere in the bulletin). Of course, or is that off-course, we had club golfers to swell the ranks and invite friends. It was a self-evidently enjoyable day and was a good foundation on which to work for future annual golf days.

As I write, the month of June and winter are imminent and both indicate that my time is nearly up. Nevertheless, there’s still a lot to do. June is usually a busy month in Rotary with meetings and events galore while incoming executives are primed and full of ideas.

The same could be said about the Australian political scene with an incoming executive of a different persuasion who want to put their ideas into practice but they are conscious of an articulate and vociferous collection of cross benchers who can claim almost as large a mandate. Happily, incoming Rotary presidents don’t have that non-silent Greek chorus to deal with.

On hearing of the passing of Allan, the common response from fellow Rotarians was that he was a “gentleman” and by one member as “one of the most generous and kind people that I have met”.

Allan passed away on 17^th May aged 96.

He joined the Rotary Club of Footscray in June 1980 and continued that association until his death. His contribution to the club was highlighted by his appointment as President in 1999-2000 and recognition as the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow with Sapphire in 2001.

During his year as President Allan promoted closer bonds with the community by presenting Honorary memberships to The Mayor of Maribyrnong, the Chancellor of Victoria University and the President of the Western Bulldogs. The major project for his presidential year was to form a link with the Royal Children’s Hospital in supporting a “Liver Cell Bank” – a project that was launched at a special dinner held at Moonee Valley Racecourse.

Entertainment at the Changeover Dinner will be provided by the Choir of Opportunity a fun,un-auditioned community choir based in Yarraville. Originally formed in 2015 as Victoria University's first Centenary Choir, it is now operating independently under the Play It Forward Choir Program.

My Rotary Life

I have been a member of the Rotary Club of Footscray since October 2004. That makes it 18 years this coming October. It doesn’t feel that long and if asked I would have said maybe 12 or 13 years. During this time I have held a number of roles within the club – Treasurer, Chair of the Youth Committee and President. Carol Castano encouraged me to become a member of the club and I thank her for this.

Rotary has provided me with many opportunities. As a member of the District Youth Exchange Committee I accompanied the incoming Youth Exchange Students on their Safari to Central Australia and beyond. In the role of a chaperone with the aim of keeping the students safe and well I was kept on my toes during the three weeks but it was a wonderful experience and I saw some parts of Australia that I may never have had the chance to visit.  I have also been given the opportunity of taking part in a Teacher Education Trip to Cambodia, where I worked as part of a team with Australian and Cambodian teachers. We were able to share with the Cambodian teachers some of the most recent research and learning and teaching strategies from the Victorian Education System. We worked with The Cambodian teachers to see how these could be adapted to fit into their day to day teaching and to extend their understanding of the way student’s learn. A further two visits to Cambodia with Teachers across Borders followed.

Booking for the Changeover Dinner is online via Trybooking:  https://www.trybooking.com/CAHOP

A very big thank you to Graeme and Joy for opening up their home in Fryerstown - our first social gathering in quite a while.

The setting was picture perfect and the garden was absolutely beautiful with all the rain we have had recently. Saturday 12^th November was a perfect day for an outdoor event with warmth and sun shine and no rain. It was a relaxing day with everyone able to sit back and enjoy being with friends and being outside.

A collection of photos from the day can be viewed in Gallery section of our website.

Thank you also to Ron and Kevin for organising our social functions for the year. We look forward to our next event.

Members of the Rotary Club of Footscray were deeply saddened early in April to learn of the death of long-standing member, John Frederick Lauchlan Wright, affectionately known to all as Lauchie. Inducted into the Club in November, 1953 he continued to attend meetings almost up to the end of 2019, a truly remarkable effort of sixty-seven years.