The President's Report

I have to say that last week's zoom meeting was disappointing considering that our guest speaker ANJA MEWES was up at 2.30 am to talk to us and it was a very interesting and important subject. We only had 10 club members join the meeting.  We were fortunate that we had a large number of visitors, both National and International join us otherwise we would have given a very poor impression to our guest speaker.

We have also had to postpone our proposed "Bare Foot Bowling Night" due to lack of interest, an evening I thought would have been a lot of fun and an excellent social get together.

I intend to investigate if the TAFE still have a restaurant open to the public and try to arrange an evening get together for our members.  Watch this space.

Next week our guest speaker is Kersji Eesmaa the ESTONIAN AMBASSADOR and I am asking all members to please try to attend and show the respect this person deserves.

President Eric

 

                 Duty Roster for March, 2021

	Thursday 4th	Thursday 11th	Thursday 18th	Thursday 25th
	CC	CC	CC	ZOOM
Door:	Ross Brown                Ross Brown			Ross Brown     N/A
Toast:	Michael Rabey	Olek Gancarz	Liz Scrivener	Greg Gibbs
Sergeant:	Andrea Conti	Tony Brickwood	Ron Rabey	Ross Brown
True/False:	Bill Andrews	George Wilson	Sharon Green	Michael Rabey
Notes:	Graeme Howieson	Warwick Howieson	Olek Gancarz	Robert Laine

                      IF UNABLE TO ATTEND ON A DAY YOU ARE ROSTERED, PLEASE

                     ORGANISE A REPLACEMENT.    

 

                 Peace Bell

   Thanks to all those that have registered to assist with the Aussie Peace Walk set for the 27th and 28th March. This is shaping up as a great event and we have the key starting role and handling of the Peace Bell activities. Talk to Greg for more information.

Michael Rabey

Last Week's Speaker

Last Thursday we were treated to an excellent presentation by ANJA and BERNDT MEWES assisted in translation by REINAR BROWN who are residents of Berlin, Germany. All 3 represented the Berlin World Peace Bell Society which was formed in October 1999, a little while after the construction of the World Peace Bell in that city on the 50^th Anniversary of the start of World War 2. The Society worked closely with the similar organization in Warzaw Poland who they acknowledged suffered greatly in the War .

Their goal is simple – to seek the eradication of Nuclear weapons in the world, and work with children and like minded groups to push for climate change action .

They focus their work in schools – both Kindergarten and through to Primary and secondary school by a variety of Peace orientated experiences in class. These include art competition, classroom presentations and we noticed and very effective logo on T shirts worn by all participants. They had even arranged bicycle rides and street marches for their particular programmes. Presentations to children at the peace Bell focused on world peace and they felt these had been very effective.

We learned there are nuclear arms stored in a village near their homes and they are active in putting political pressure through their programme to try and have these removed although they acknowledged Germany was very much dependent on the “nuclear Umbrella “ so called protection by the US.

Peace Poles (called Peace Stakes in Germany) are an important part of their programme . They are well received and popular. They are often in the local languages of their migrant population (there are 7million Turkish immigrants!) and an ancient German language of Zoll.

They have some innovative programmes, such as “Mayors for Peace” , a Peace Flag Day, and Peace towns, much of which we could follow here.

It was a fascinating presentation and slide show, watched by 34 Rotary members and guests, including Craig Wellston from Ohio USA. A memorable day!

Bill Andrews

Upcoming Events

• Rotary Aussie Peace March (26-28 March)

• STOMP 2021 (probably in July)

• Marwonga Indigenous project as a result of successful fundraising in December

• Hay War Memorial High School indigenous students visit (later this year)

Interesting Bits of History (or Fake News?)

• Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in “straight laced.”

   “Strait-laced” does derive from the tying of corsets, but the proposed etymology given in the article has it backwards: The term’s origin has to do with the tightness of the lacing and the consequent constriction of such garments, as opposed to the moral character of the persons wearing these underpinnings. (One needs to remember that a multitude of men and women, from the wholly proper and dignified right down to the entirely disreputable, wore corsets.)

   “Strait” came into the English language from the Latin verb “stringere,” which means “to strain; draw tight.” Other “strait” words we’re familiar with, such as Straits of Gibraltar and strait-jacket, likewise employ its narrowing or restraining elements. “Strait-laced” was first spotted in 1430, and while at that time it did have to do with the tightness of corsets, by the 1540s the term had expanded to encompass things that were narrow in range or scope or people that were uncommunicative (i.e., kept a great deal of themselves in). By the 1550s, it was used to describe folks who were excessively rigid or scrupulous in matters of conduct.

• Common entertainment [in England has]included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the “ace of spades.” To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 card instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t “playing with a full deck.”

   Taxes were levied on playing cards in England at various times in its history, with the earliest instance occurring in 1588. However, when this tax was in force, the basic duty was applied to each deck, not just a specific card within it. Once the tax had been paid, one card from the now-taxed deck was stamped with a special seal to show that the duty had been properly rendered. Over time, that card came to be the ace of spades (most likely because it’s the one on the end of the deck).

   “Not playing with a full deck” is simply one of countless sayings of the same ilk as “two bricks shy of a load” or “a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal”; a phrase indicating that the person referred to lacks ordinary intellectual capacity.