Hello Club Members

 

We had last year a fine meal supplied by Volunteers at Annies Place, a facility to give a hot lunch to those not able to provide for themselves. Run as a registered Charity for many years. Respond to Eric’s email invitation in the normal way. You can bring your own wine/beer and the meeting will end at 7.00pm as the Volunteers need to get home at a decent time.

 

See you all there to support a great Charity.

 

The Majura Primary School International Day of Peace Ceremony has been postponed due to renovations around the Peace Pole.

 

Bill has come up with 3 ideas to increase the Club Membership. Bill has obtained permission to have a desk outside the JB HiFi store in Woden and he is calling on Members to staff the desk to attract more members. More information will be given at future Meetings.

 

Bill has the Festival Taiyaki Tent organised and hopefully we have hot summer weather to promote sales of drinks and Taiyaki Pancakes.

 

Stephen, Russell and Monica met with Peter McDermott and Allan McCulloch from the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise on Thursday morning. Peter has been informed by Ross Power of the Murrumbidgee Club that they are not ready for a merger as they have over 30 Members and have already gone through the Merger process in recent times.

 

The general theme discussed was that Sunrise hand back their Charter and their Members be welcomed to the Burley Griffin Club. To facilitate this, it was agreed we should have two joint Meetings in November. The first one on Thursday the 7^th November by joining the Sunrise Club for their Breakfast Meeting at the Mercure at 7.30am. The speaker is Air Commodore Dr Mark Lax who is a Military Historian speaking on the topic of Military History relevant to Armistice day on the 11^th of November.

 

The second Merged Meeting would be with the Burley Griffin Club at the Royal Canberra Golf Club on the 14^th November. The Speaker to be advised but anyone interested can contact me. 

 

The Sunrise Club would bring a number of ongoing Projects with bank accounts to finance them. These are the Model of the United Nations Assembly (MUNA) at Old Parliament House and the Dream Cricket day at the Boys Grammar School oval to get Disabled Children involved in a day of Cricket. Other finances could be merged with Burley Griffin after approval from the District Board.

 

To book, go through the following link: clubservice@rotarytugg.info.

 

Yours in Rotary

 

Last Thursday, Dr Joe Johnson (CSC, OAM, AAM), presented interesting professional and personal insights into his time working in Antarctica over two decades (1981 – 2002).

 

In late 2022 as a recipient of the Phillip Law Medal, he has been recognised for his outstanding contribution to Antarctic affairs and the wider Antarctic community, particularly for his station and voyage leadership; as Antarctic Names & Medal Committee Chairman; work in relation to the Antarctic Air link and service to the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) Club.

 

Joe’s presentation focussed on his two periods of service with ANARE, as a station leader at Casey in 1981 and at Davis in 1998. He reminded us of how special and different Antarctica is.

 

He contrasted his two stints in Antarctica and the different challenges he faced in each.

 

In each station there were operational and leadership challenges. These included:

 

Having enough food and fuel especially when the unexpected happened. E.g. a supply ship got stuck in the ice; extra staff needed to stay at the base because the ship couldn’t pick them up;

 

Managing health and safety on the bases – medical emergencies, unexpected emergencies (fire on board the supply ship), aviation incidents and issues (long distance flights, lack of light for landings), mechanical issues, ever present dangers such as ice crevasses and wild animals (leopard seals); and

 

Leadership challenges – maintaining impartiality, managing geographic and group isolation and how these affected different individuals, dealing with aggressive and at times violent individuals, keeping up morale when things didn’t go as planned.

 

In all, a fascinating insight into working on the world’s icy continent.

 

Take a few minutes to listen to the announcement of the recipients of the 2024 Noble Peace Prize, via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/5UNqMEquEPk?si=LIbC_C-DH6hC1Fzr.

 

We join with the recipients Nihon Hidankyo, the organisation representing the survivors of the Atomic Bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in calling on the nine countries who have nuclear weapons to find a way to agree to the complete elimination of these weapons.

 

May Peace Prevail on Earth

 

On Thursday, 24 October, we meet at the St Benedict’s Community Centre, corner of Anne and Brigalow Streets, Queanbeyan. The time is 5:30 for a 6 pm sit-down meal, finishing at 7 pm. Cost is $21 per person, of which $20 will be donated to St Benedict’s. BYO alcohol is welcome.

 

This is an opportunity to hear about support with food and housing for disadvantaged people living across the border in Queanbeyan and surrounds. Here’s a map with the location and guidance on getting there: