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Upcoming Events
First Lunch Meeting of 2019 - Club Assembly
The Brisbane Club
Jan 21, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting Cancelled - Public Holiday
The Brisbane Club
Jan 28, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting Cancelled - Cocktail Meeting Friday
The Brisbane Club
Feb 04, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Cocktail Meeting - United Service Club
United Service Club
Feb 08, 2019
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
 
Lunch Meeting - Brisbane Club
The Brisbane Club
Feb 11, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting - Brisbane Club
The Brisbane Club
Feb 18, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting - Brisbane Club
The Brisbane Club
Feb 25, 2019
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
2019 Rotary International Women's Day Breakfast
United Service Club
Mar 06, 2019
7:00 AM – 8:45 AM
 
District 9600 Annual Conference
Grand Chancellor Hotel & Events Centre
Mar 22, 2019 – Mar 24, 2019
 
UQ Peace Centre Peace Symposium
The University of Queensland
Apr 13, 2019
9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
 
President's Message
President’s Report 19 December, 2018
 
Dear Fellow Rotarians and Friends of the Club,
 
The last meeting of 2018, on 17 December, included our AGM with reports from the Committee Chairs showing the Club to be continuing to work very well and to be in excellent financial shape. All the essential Club management positions have been filled, and I was delighted to be advised that Dan Adler has agreed to be President Elect for 2020/2021. We were, however, very sorry to receive advice from Robyn Burridge that she is leaving Australia and consequently has resigned from the Club. Robyn has been very generous with her time, enthusiasm and donations and we will miss her.
 
Like the Federal Coalition we would love to correct our gender imbalance, and I hope everyone is on the lookout for potential women members. By the time this report is published, we will know if the members of Tattersall’s Club are like- minded.
 
On 5 December we received formal notification that our application for a District Grant, to assist with the village chicken breeding program being developed by the Kyeema Foundation in PNG, has been successful. The application for the grant required considerable time and effort by Daniel Vankov and the CEO of Kyeema, Celia Grenning, and my congratulations to both. If anyone is interested in the work that Kyeema is doing in Africa, I recommend viewing the episode of “The Good Cooks” on Tanzania, which is currently available on SBS on demand.
 
As well as our assistance to Kyeema and Haus Pikinini, our Club has provided substantial donations to “Donations in Kind” and the Western QLD Drought Appeal in the last six months, and I am quite sure that our major donation to “Red Frogs”, just prior to the presidential changeover, would have been greatly beneficial in ensuring this year’s “Schoolies” on the Gold Coast was such a success.
 
The Board meeting on 17 December also agreed to donations of $1000 each to the following:
  1. The Surfers Sunrise Rotary Club Wheelchair Trust to assist with the construction of wheelchairs, made largely from discarded bicycle parts, for disabled children in third world countries.
  2. The University of Queensland and Professor Bernard Degnan for research on the Crown of Thorns starfish plague currently affecting the Great Barrier Reef.
  3. The University of Queensland and Professor Alex Haslam for research on the benefits to wellbeing and longevity of belonging to social groups like Rotary.
 
Both Professors Degnan and Haslam have agreed to speak to our Club in 2019. Professor Degnan will speak at a Club meeting and Professor Haslam at a major dinner at the United Services Club. With respect to Professor Haslam’s research, please read the article in the December/January “Rotary Down Under” magazine titled “Friendship: The most simple gift we can give” (p.14).
The board also confirmed the following fee structure for 2019:-
  • Annual membership $600 ($300 per half year)
  • Members lunch charge $35
  • Visitors lunch charge $45
 
The annual membership charge has not increased for many years and it is hoped that the reduced lunch charge will make meetings more attractive and increase attendance. The Board also hope to have a “coffee only” fee and are negotiating with the Brisbane Club on this.
 
We also agreed to continue the “social meeting” on Friday evening at the U.S. Club instead of the Brisbane Club meeting on the first Monday of every month. Consequently, there will be no meeting on Monday 4 February but a “social meeting” at the U.S. Club at 5.30pm on Friday 8 February, followed by dinner at the club with any who wish to stay on. A reminder that any males staying for dinner must wear a coat and tie once you enter the club dining room. Female attendees can dress to be comfortable.
 
Please remember the International Women’s Day breakfast at the U.S. Club on 6 March and book a table as soon as possible. Professor Margaret Sheil is very impressive and always gives interesting and entertaining presentations. Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner will be a very worthy second act talking on the experience of the Brisbane City Council achieving diversity amongst its employees.
 
A number of our Club members will travel to Taipei for the 35th Anniversary celebrations of our sister Rotary Club of Taipei Taitung and Dymphna and I are hoping to go but have yet to make a definite decision. I have no doubt that all who go will be very pleased that they did and “the more the merrier.”
 
My most sincere thanks to all our Club members and especially to those who have contributed their time, talents, and money outside of the regular meetings and who have supported me personally with their advice and friendship. In this regard I must also mention Dymphna, without whom anything requiring a computer would not happen at my end of the internet.
 
Best wishes to everyone for a Happy Christmas and a 2019 where most of your exciting events are good ones. I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Monday 21st January.
 
Yours in Rotary,
Chris Muir

RCoB Board Appointment

At the Board meeting of December 17th, President Chris appointed Rtn Jillanne Myers as Chair of the RCoB administrative committee.
 
Subsequent to this, the board of directors confirmed Jillanne's appointment as a director and board member for the remainder of the 2018/9 Rotary year under its power to fill casual vacancies.
 
Jillanne will of course then start her elected term as director and board member at the beginning of the 2019/20 Rotary year.

Vol. 96 No. 17
15 January, 2019

Upcoming Speakers
Mar 06, 2019
Achieving diversity, the experience of the Queensland University of Technology

Professor Margaret Sheil AO will be one of the two distinguished guest speakers at the 2019 Rotary International Women's Day Breakfast. She will introduce the experience of the Queensland University of Technology in achieving diversity amongst its empolyees. 

Professor Margaret Sheil AO was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President of QUT in February 2018, having previously been Provost at The University of Melbourne since 2012.

Professor Sheil has been an academic in chemistry and held a number of senior roles at the University of Wollongong. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), and was inaugural Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (ANZSM). 

Professor Sheil is a Director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and a member of the Advisory Council of the CSIRO Science Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF).   She was Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council (2007-2012) and has previously been a member of the Advisory Board for Coursera; she has also been a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Engineering Council, the National Research Infrastructure Council and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee. 

In June 2017 Professor Sheil was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her distinguished service to science and higher education as an academic and administrator, through significant contributions to the national research landscape, and to performance standards. Professor Sheil holds a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from The University of New South Wales, and was presented with the Science and Technology Alumni Award from UNSW in 2016.

 

Mar 06, 2019
Achieving diversity, the experience of the Brisbane City Council

Councilor Adrian Schrinner will be one of the two distinguished guest speakers at the 2019 Rotary International Women's Day Breakfast. He will introduce the experience of the Brisbane City Council in achieving diversity amongst its empolyees. 

Adrian Schrinner has served as the Councillor for Chandler Ward since 2005 and Deputy Mayor since 2011.

Adrian has been a member of Civic Cabinet since 2008 and is currently the Chairman of the Public & Active Transport Committee. In this role, he has special responsibility for the development of the Brisbane Metro project.

Former roles include Chairman of the Finance and Economic Development Committee (2008-2012) and Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee (2012-16).

In previous positions he has overseen many major projects including the $1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel and the New Farm Riverwalk.
Adrian is passionate about Brisbane and his local area and is working hard to help make sure our city and its suburbs are even better in the future. He and his wife Nina live in Carindale and have four young children, Octavia, Wolfgang, Monash and Petra.

 

View entire list
Meeting Responsibilities
21 January 2019 - Meeting
 
Chairperson
KUNG, Terry
 
Minutes Secretary
SHEPHERD, Clive
 
11 February 2019 - Meeting
 
Chairperson
LITTLE, Philip
 
Minutes Secretary
DE LACY, Jaqui
 
18 February 2019 - Meeting
 
Chairperson
MARSHALL, Luke
 
Minutes Secretary
WILLIAMS, Mark
 
25 February 2019 - Meeting
 
Chairperson
Muir, Dymphna
 
Minutes Secretary
SHEPHERD, Clive
 
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ClubRunner
Stories
Club Assembly - Council of Legislation 2019
Our first meeting of the year on January 21 is a club assembly. The focus topic for this assembly is the Rotary International Council of Legislation 2019 proposed legislation. PP Keith Watts will lead the assembly discussions and from this discussion we will be drafting our input to the legislative process which has to be submitted by February 14th.
 
You can get a copy of the proposed legislation HERE.
 
Members' attention is drawn to proposed enactments 19-67 and 19-68, the passage of either of which would result in the demise of Rotary print publications such as The Rotarian and Rotary Down Under.
 
You can get a copy of some discussion with respect to the impact on the Rotary Down Under Magazine HERE.
 
Meeting Notes 17th December 2019
Chair for the day was Rick Tamaschke who opened the meeting with grace and toasts before inviting President Chris to the podium to address the meeting.
 
Chris welcomed Celia Grenning to the club and delivered a report on our Chicken breeding project with the Kyeema foundation. More details on this and other things can be found in the president's report above.
 
After the president's address, it was time for spots:
 
  • PP Daniel Vankov reported on progress for the Rotary International Women's Day Breakfast to be held at the United Service Club on the 6th March 2019. At this stage, we have signed a gold sponsor and already 2 tables and several individual tickets have been sold, meaning 30 of the potential 80 seats are already sold.
 
There being no sergeant-at-arms, members were asked to contribute $5 to the bowls for the forgiveness of sins. John Smerdon drew the winning raffle ticket, but it was not lucky enough to grant him the joker.
 
At this point, the regular Rotary meeting was suspended and we opened the Annual General Meeting with President Chris taking the chair.
 
The items on the agenda were:
  1. The consideration of the annual financial report, directors’ reports and auditor’s report;
  2. The election and confirmation of Office Bearers (the Board of Directors) selected in accordance with the Constitution for the next Rotary Year;
  3. The appointment of the auditor; 
  4. Approval/Ratification of the 2017/18 Accounts; and
  5. Any valid matter which a Member gave prior notice.
  6. General Business.
 
The following officers and directors were duly elected/confirmed for the year beginning 1st July, 2019:
 
President                                    Michael STEPHENS (already elected last year)
President Nominee                  Dan ADLER (Becomes President Elect on July 1 2019)
Immediate Past President     Chris MUIR
Secretary                                    Mark WILLIAMS (continues 3-year term until June 30, 2021)
Treasurer                                   Warren WALKER (until June 30, 2021)
Service/Projects  (director)    Jaqui DE LACY (until June 30, 2021)
Public Relations  (director)    Denise SCHELLBACH (until June 30, 2021)
Rotary Foundation                  Ryan MULLER (continues 2-year term until June 30, 2020)
Public Ancillary Fund (Trust)  John SMERDON (continues 2-year term until June 30, 2020)
Membership  (director)          Keith WATTS (until June 30, 2021)
Director                                       Jillanne MYERS (until June 30, 2021)
Sergeant-at-Arms                    Tony PILKINGTON (until June 30, 2021)
Vice President                          This is an optional position and no nominations received
 
Treasurer Warren Walker presented the audited accounts for a very successful 2017/8 Rotary year in which the club achieved an operating surplus of more than $13,000 and contributed almost $40,000 to charitable causes, not including the significant contributions to good in the world made by our foundation, otherwise known as the Public Ancillary Fund.
 
Public Ancillary Fund chair John Smerdon presented the audited accounts for the 2017/8 financial year for the Rotary Club of Brisbane Ancillary Fund. During the year, the PAF contributed approximately $53,000 to charities chosen by the club and still managed to increase its funding base by about $5,000 in its first year of operation as a Public Ancillary Fund.
 
President Chris closed the Annual General Meeting and the regular meeting with best wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, a reminder that our next meeting and first meeting of the new year would be Monday 21st January, and the singing of the national anthem at 1:55pm.
Dan Adler Elected President for 2020-21
An important principle of the governance of Rotary is an orderly and planned succession of Presidents. Being president of a Rotary club is a demanding and at times nearly full-time commitment. Secretaries and treasurers may serve for several years in a row, but it is not fair to expect presidents to do the same. At some point they need to step back to repair their social and professional lives. In addition to this, it is generally considered a good thing within Rotary to have a new club president each year if at all possible. On the other hand, a 1-year term is a short time for a President to bring their visions and plans to fruition through the operation of the club. They need to hit the ground running. Rotary governance provides for this through the succession of presidents. A President is ideally elected about 18 months before taking office, at which point they become President Nominee. One year before taking office they become President Elect, an officer and director of the club. At the end of their term of President, they become Immediate Past President and remain an officer and director of the club. This ensures that Presidents have adequate time as officers of the club to plan for their term of presidency and that the club can benefit from their experience and knowledge for some time after their term ends.
 
In Chinese culture it is considered particularly auspicious to have 5 generations of a family under one roof. In a Rotary club it is considered wonderful to have an elected President Nominee, a President Elect, a President, an Immediate Past President and one or more other past presidents all as active members of the club. With the election of Dan Adler as President Nominee at the December AGM, The Rotary Club of Brisbane once again finds itself in this fortunate position. 
 
Dan will now serve as President Nominee until 1 July 2019 and then serve as President-elect and an officer of the club for 2019-20 prior to serving as president in 2020-21, succeeding Michael Stephens, our current President Elect.  Dan was nominated by PP Keith watts and is Head Honcho at Next Thursday, a Brisbane-based advertising company.  Dan’s election was announced on FaceBook and already one of his clients wants to come and look us over.  Dan looks forward to his year with great enthusiasm.  Here’s what he said on being told the election results:
 
“I am thrilled. Thanks Keith. I will serve you, the fellow Rotarians and Rotary International and make everyone proud of our achievements during my time as President. That is my promise.”
 
Continuing officers and directors for 2019-20 are President PE Michael Stephens, Secretary Mark Williams, Ryan Muller and John Smerdon.  New officers and directors elected are Treasurer Warren Walker, directors PP Keith Watts, Jaqueline de Lacy, Denise Schellbach and Jillanne Myers and Sergeant-at-arms Tony Pilkington.
Eddie's Van 2019
 
For the 18th year in a row, Brisbane Rotarian Denise Schellbach is operating Eddie's Van on weekdays during January. Eddie's Van is a project of St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace ( Eddies' Van - 17 years and still going strong ) and during the long school holidays Denise gives staff and students a break by operating the van with the help of members of the Rotary Club of Brisbane and other friends. 
Who knew attempting a world record could transform your club?

By Joanna Chrzanowska, president, Rotary Club of Marabella-Guadalmina, Spain

The event planning team from the Rotary Club of Marbella-Guadalmina, Spain, was awed by the first sight of the hall they had to fill. We have drawn 80 people to our walks or events before, but aircraft hangar might be the best description for the room we were looking at. It had been generously donated free of charge by Marbella Town Hall, who have been very supportive of the expatriate community. The space was also free of tables, chairs, a sound system, a stage and several other necessities for putting on a large public event.

Founded in 2010, our club is English-speaking with members from a number of different nationalities, including many new Rotarians. We have been effective at fundraising for local and international charities, but why did we suddenly take this on?

More than 300 participants fill Palacio Hall for the Beetle game world record attempt.

Why we did it

We’d love to tell you it was part of a master plan for growth and community engagement. But the truth is it was more like a ball that started rolling and didn’t stop. A member suggested that we could aim for a Guinness World Record in a competitive game called Beetle, which involves throwing a die and drawing parts of a beetle according to the numbers that fall.  Sounded easy. Get lots of people together for a couple of hours. Give them a paper, pencil and die. And film the record attempt.

Several months later we were still working out logistics, how best to sell tickets, what else we would have to offer, how to promote the event, how to get tables and chairs to the venue, and so on.

There were some dark days, doubts and debates, a mountain of emails, and uncertainty until the very last that we would have enough people in the hall to even make the record attempt valid.  A warning for severe rain on the day of the event didn’t help.

Team dynamics like never before

Just before the event, the team working on it pulled out all the stops; united by a strong determination to do the very best they could for the club. Our Events teams are used to working hard, but this was exceptional. Everyone worked effectively, and somehow managed to not fall over from exhaustion, driven by a unity of spirit that arranged furniture, audio, display stands, crowd control, refreshments, publicity, etc.

And yes, despite the weather, well over 300 people came to enjoy the displays, the entertainment, and to take part in the game, hoping to win the beautifully crafted Golden Beetle.

Reach for the moon. Even if you fail, you will be among the stars.

Things weren’t perfect that day. Yet the atmosphere was positive and we built a great connection with the local community.  Sponsorship had already raised money for a charity for Alzheimer’s no matter what happened. The record attempt has still to be ratified by Guinness World Records, but people left the hall feeling it was a success.

The club has been a different place since this accomplishment. There is a feel-good vibe. Our horizons have expanded and our confidence has increased. We are prepared to be less insular, more organised, more dynamic. There won’t be another Beetle event for sure. But the Marbella Town Hall has said we can have the Palacio again next year. What will we do with it?

Source: Rotary Voices

New Rotaract club creates community in Ohio

By Evelyn Aaron, Communication Director, Rotaract Club of Canal Fulton, Ohio, USA

If you ask any one of the members of the Canal Fulton Rotary Club why they joined, they will tell you it’s the sense of community that binds us all together. Many of us have spent significant portions of our lives in the greater Canal Fulton area, and we want to provide our children and our town with the same helping hands that we have been offered our entire lives.

Members of the Rotaract Club of Canal Fulton, Ohio, USA, clean and pack potatoes at a regional food bank.

Canal Fulton’s Rotary Club is tirelessly active in our community. The annual Mother of All Races event, held on Mother’s Day weekend, is a huge hit. And they are currently one of the driving forces behind our town’s forthcoming YMCA (just to name a few projects). In the last two years, the Interact Club they sponsor at Northwest High School has grown from 25 to over 60 student members, taking on countless projects every year. While these are strong clubs and major forces in our community, there was a gap to be filled. There was no Rotary-sponsored club for young adults to stay active in the community.

Our Rotaract Club quickly grew from the one person who started the group to the five people she contacted and met with in just days, to the 15 friends that came to our first meeting. That base of people has encouraged new people to join as members or simply take part in our service projects.

We all serve to the greatest capacities we can manage, and that is what makes our Rotaract club special. We are busy young adults balancing school, careers, and families, as well as the sports leagues and service initiatives we committed to prior to joining this group. And yet we are making this club a huge success by keeping in contact with one another over our Facebook page and in a group chat, constantly throwing out new ideas, and frequently coming together over pot-luck dinners.

Since our first meeting in June, we have volunteered our time at a baseball tournament for the physically and mentally disabled; at the local high school’s Alumni Football Game; at a volleyball tournament to raise money for a child with cancer; at a service day to clean up the facility and property where we and our Rotary club both meet; at a regional food bank where we spend two hours in the early morning cleaning and packing potatoes; and at our local community cupboard. All of this has been possible through a grant we received when we started this group and with the help of our Rotary club, who with their years of service advise us on projects.

In the future, we plan to purchase gifts for a family for Christmas, cook meals at a local soup kitchen next summer, and lend a hand at Canton’s Total Living Center.

By doing these activities as a Rotaract Club, we are creating that sense of community that we all enjoyed as children. We are excited to see all of the help we can offer and the smiles we can create.

Learn more about Rotaract

Source: Rotary Voices

Club Officers

President                   Chris Muir
Vice President           Keith Watts
Secretary                   Mark Williams
Treasurer                   Warren Walker
Imm. Past President  Daniel Vankov
President Elect           Michael Stephens
Sergeant-at-arms       Luke Marshall
The Rotary Club of Brisbane Inc.
ABN 75 152 438 499
GPO BOX 2909 Brisbane Qld 4001
District               9600
Club Number   17787

Brisbane City Cluster Assistant Governor

Lisa Bateson

District Governor

Wendy Protheroe

Rotary International President

Barry Rassin