President's Report March
There is a lot to report on recent and coming events.
Our next meeting on Thursday April 6th will be preceded by a Western Region Aged Care Meeting at 6:00pm. The purpose of this special meeting is to vote on a name change for WRAC. All Footscray Rotary members are also members of WRAC.
Two names have been proposed:
“Footscray Rotary Aged and Community Services Fund Incorporated”
“Footscray Rotary and Western Region Fund Incorporated”
Please come along to this meeting and have your say on which name you think best represents our club in the local community.
I would like to extend the congratulations of our club to Peter Shepheard who has been appointed as District Governor Nominee for 2025/26. Many people will know Peter from the conferences where he has been involved in the stage management for many years.
The Early Bird price for attend the Rotary International Convention (RICON) here in Melbourne has been extended until the end of March. It’s not too late to book. Full details further in Bulletin.
RICON Cluster Event - An Evening with Silvia Paladino. Come along and help make sure that our visiting Rotarians have an enjoyable experience and leave Australia with a favorable impression of Melbournians as being warm and friendly.
Thanks to Margaret Atley we have a post-script to the “Blackbird” presentation from Peter Somerville in February. Reading about Peter’s presentation brought back memories for Margaret of her experience with the Blackbird.
Our Speakers in March were excellent.
Catriona Robinson-Nguyen is well known to many of our members as the daughter of PP Jamie Robertson and Suong Nguyen and have watched her grow up. Catrione’s first official connection with Rotary was when our club sponsored her to the National Youth Science Forum around 10 years ago. So began her career in Science which has been outstanding and extensive. During her presentation she treated us to a song that she composed during COVID to illustrate how she uses music to help engage the interest of young people.
Ours second speaker for March was Tommy Quick who visited our club as guest speaker just before he set off (pre-COVID) on a 3000km bike ride raising funds for childhood stroke. Tommy was well on his way when he was hit by a car and almost died. Tommy is about to head off on the road again after a near fatal accident interrupted his first attempt. Further details including information about donation to his cause are included in a separate article.
Stony Creek Music Festival
We need volunteers to help with our BBQ at the Stony Creek Music Festival on Saturday 1st April from 3:00pm to around 7:30pm. It will be a good revenue raiser for the club and ensures that families are able to attend this free event and feed the family on the night for a very reasonable price. Come along and enjoy the festival and If you can help out on the night please let me know.
I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Maria