President David Fox Secretary Keith Avent Immed. Past President: Ray Newcombe President Elect : Shukry Sahhar Treasurer: Noel Hart Club Service: Peter Evans Community Service: Neale Emanuel International Service: Bernadette Cappello Vocational Service: Shukry Sahhar Youth Service: Val Bland
Office holders
Bulletin Editors John Gray & Bruce Wyatt Sergeant: Ian Excell
Program Manager Neale Emanuel Historian/ Archivist Keith Avent Webmaster: Robin Cromer
Club address: PO Box 637 Woden ACT 2606 Secretary Keith Avent,
http://rotarnet.com.au/canberrawoden
Board Members 2007-08
Copies of previous issues of the Raven can be found at
<http://www.rotarnet.com.au/canberrawoden> Click on ‘Club bulletins’
Rosters
Apologies to: Phil Ibbotson 62813415 <[email protected]>
4
The Raven
The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Canberra-Woden Inc.
No 44 Vol 40 Wednesday 7 May 2008
Attendance
THIS WEEK - 7 May NEXT WEEK – Wed 14 May
Postscript
11 May Bruce Wyatt – Jeff Ibbotson 18 May David Fox – Norma Donaldson 25 May Noel Hart – Robin Cromer 1 June Neale Emanuel – Bish Mukerjee Program
Introduction Appreciation Fellowship Raven Recorder Birthdays Anniversaries
Guest Speaker: Chief Justice Terence Higgins (Open Family) Homorary Member: Frank Macklin
Visiting Rotarians: Nil
Other Absences: Ian Excell (hospitalized)
Make-ups: Val Bland (Canberra South), Bernadette Cappello (Anzac Day Parking), Jim Grainger (Palm Beach)
Members present: 22 Percentage: 75.7%
May is PLANNING month
Member talks Bish Mukerjee Robin Cromer Neale Emanuel Juliet Badu-Tiwaa Rex Hunt
C. Newcombe, A. Philip, 17 May Des & Nell Pain 12 May Colonel Jim Bancroft (Rtd)
Australia’s peace-keeping role in East Timor Bernadette Cappello
Ken Goard Val Bland Alex Philip Robin Cromer
R Newcombe, J Gray, H. Harvie, 5, 7, 10 May Nil
TRASH & TREASURE Our speaker tonight .
We welcome Jim Bancroft, a former Colonel in the Australian Army. He will discuss his time as Brigade Commander, Australian Peace-Keeping Force, East Timor.
In the District Calendar for this Rotary year, the month of May has been designated as a month for planning ahead. This is a gentle reminder that the new Rotary year is fast approaching under the banner Make Dreams Real.
Incoming President Shukry Sahhar has indicated that he wish- es to pursue more social functions as an aid to improved fellow- ship in the club. President David’s Rotary Western Desert Project in the Northern Territory will continue to be carried out by the club with one, if not two, visits to pursue the Blue House refurbishment at Kintore. The Rotary Adventure in Citizenship, and the Rotary Scenic Cycle Tour of Canberra will continue. The club will pursue our commitment to car parking both at the Canberra Show and also at the Thoroughbred Park racecourse as a means of raising funds for projects, while the Trash and Treasure clean-up will be discontinued from 1 July 2008.
President Elect Shukry is calling incoming board members to a planning meeting over lunch at his home on Saturday 17 May at 1:00pm. If any club member has an issue they wish to be consid- ered by the incoming board please contact Shukry before that date.
STOP PRESS
President David reports that he has just re- ceived the floor and elevation plans for the Blue House refurbishment. This is a great step forward!
The plans are very large. However he will briing paper copies to the meeting for perusal by mem- bers.
MUFFIN TOP & AFFLUENZA (nouns)
A recent report from the Macquarie Dictionary, based at the University of Sydney, reveals that the Word of the Year 2006 was ‘muffin top’. The dictionary defines muf- fin top as the colloquial for the fold of fat around the midriff which, on an overweight woman, spills out over the top of tight-fitting pants or skirts. The description appears to be an Australian creation, popularised by the ABC TV comedy series, Kath and Kim.
The Word of the Year Committee gave honourable mention to the word ‘affluenza’, defined as the dissatisfaction that accompanies consumerism as a path to happiness.
Source: University of Sydney Alumni Magazine
2 3 Club News
I’m having the time of my life in Denmark. Especially now that we are moving into spring. The weather is getting a lot warmer, the days are about 3 or 4 hours longer and everything is getting greener and more lively by the day.
As for me, I’ve just been trying to live a normal day, though there have been some major events that I got to experience.
First off, about a month ago I got to go to England for the weekend to see some football (soccer), the Chelsea vs Arsenal match. My host dad Arne and my brothers Troels and Anders (who are 24 and 28 respectively I think), took me down to see the fantastic match and for a quick tour around London. It was absolutely amazing.
Along with that, my host parents have taken me to see an ABBA play, which was stunning. My drama class and I went to see a play called Fyrsten (The Lord), a Dan- ish one that was choc-full of sexual innuendo and a few...questionable scenes. All in all, it was a wonderful performance but not one reccommended to children under the age of 18.
Two weeks ago I went to a huge Rotary get-together in Roskilde (A city not that far from Copenhagen), where every Rotary exchange student came for a weekend of Viking activities and just general fun. There were 100+ or so at least, and on Saturday we went to a Viking museum where we got to spend the whole day throwing axes and making ropes and coins, and a whole lot of other fun Viking things. Later that night, there was a feast followed by a party with a live band. It was incredibly fun and a good weekend to catch up with all the other exchange students.
Along with that, I’ve been to a few confirmations, almost all my Rotary meetings and met up with a lot of my host parents friends. My school is going pretty well now and I have a close-knit group of friends though I am trying to involve myself more with everybody else so that I get as much out of the year as possible.
That’s not to mention, that in about 3 weeks I go on my Eurotour! I can hardly wait for that. Anyways, I best be off and it was good writing to you (I’ve been reading the Raven when I get it) as well as some Australian newspapers. It’s good to appreciate a little bit of home now and then.
Many thanks to the Rotary Club of Canberra-Woden for the year in Denmark.
Anzac Day parking: Anzac Day Race Parking went smoothly if with smaller numbers than anticipated. Gary emphasized that we are to be paid on an hourly/
person rate - i.e. for the time spent and the number of Rotarians on the ground for the time, therefore no sneaking off when things get a bit thin. Plan to be available for Melbourne Cup Day in November.
Rotary Scenic Cycle Tour: Publicity is proceeding. John Widdup’s visit to a joint meeting of three Goulburn clubs last month was enthusiastically received by the 50 members present. Further discussion on the route for the family ride for the 21 Sep- tember Canberra tour continues.
Somchai: Piers reports that his plaster has been removed retaining a back-slab and now walking and re-education commences.
RAIC: Planning for moves ahead. Ros Osbourne tells us of an encouraging dona- tion of $1500 from the NCA.
Last week
Report from Denmark – Youth Exchangee Alastair Hare Thanks to Raven Reporter Ken Goard
The meeting was opened by the sergeant Neale and President David proceeded with business matters. The news reports are above.
Neale Emanuel introduced the Guest speaker Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court Terence Hig- gins, Chair of the ACT Development Board of Open Family which had its origin in St Kilda, Melbourne in 1988 under the inspiration of the parish priest Father McGuire. This was followed with the appointment soon after of Nathan Stirling to direct the Canberra branch, others being in Sydney and rural Victoria.
Our Club took an active part in 1990, on the one hand by Director Keith Avent organizing an administrative package for management and training and on the other Community Service Director Ken Goard gathering together members to make repairs and paint the shelter home “Cana” at Narrabundah over several week-ends. The Club donated about $30,000 at this time and PP Ron Russell the paint etc.
Open Family aims to draw into conversation young people in the age group 12 – 25 years who are homeless i.e .”street kids”, those with poor self-worth attitudes, drug problems, alienation from their home and community. Workers are available all day and night, a most demanding task; some have a social worker background. And it is anticipated that they will work for 5 years on average through full-time stressing availability.
Open Family aims to restore to these people a sense of worth, and to return them to the community and to employment, often through a broken sequence of contacts over years. Hopefully they may be welcomed back to their fractured homes; hence the use of the name “Open Family”. Relapses are common, period in jail aggravating.
This is the contrast between conflicting community ideas of punishment and rehabili-
tation.
Prevention? Education? Family Relationships?
Risks in Drug Taking? Drug Trafficking?
Homelessness is estimated at something like 100,000 on any night throughout Australia and one third are young people. “Abusive par- enting is bad news for any kid but, for some it’s catastrophic”(New Scientist 12.4.09)
President David handed over a $3,000 cheque to continue our support for Open Family and was supported by a vote of thanks from Peter Evans on behalf of the members.
