Dear Club Members and Friends,
This bulletin comes to you a little later than planned. with all the pre-Christmas activities it has been difficult to find the time to put it all together. The Club has had an amazing week with the Tree of Joy, Coxs Road Mall BBQ and the Carols on the Common. We were very fortunate with the weather on both days resulting in three very successful events.
Before the weekend began, Garry and I assisted Pat Perrin and Annette Billington distribute some of the gifts from The Tree of Joy to residents at New Horizons Aged Care in North Ryde. This was a very moving experience for us and Garry enjoyed his very special role of playing Santa!
Saturday morning started early with the BBQ at Coxs Road. A huge 'Thank You' to everyone who came along to help including Rob Wilkinson, Mandy Van, David Martin, Sandeep Rathi, Binoe Verghese, Pam Bennett and Garry Maloney. We greatly appreciated the generosity of Ahmed from Richies IGA who donated all the bread; Raj from Cox Road Fruit and Vegetable Market who supplied the onions at a discount; Dave from Dave's larder who supplied the sausages at a discount and Seb from Cafe Incontro who helped us with many bits and pieces we needed throughout the day. We raised $520 from the sales.
The Tree of Joy was once again a very successful venture this year. Well over 8000 gifts were received from the generous North Ryde Community. Thanks to the incredible dedication from Pat Perrin, Annette Billington, Steve Perrin and Allan McNally, many gifts were collected, stored then distributed to the Smith Family, North Ryde Community Aid, St Vincent De Paul, Macquarie Hospital and New Horizons prior to Saturday's official presentation. The drawing of the giant raffle for Cox Road Mall added to the atmosphere!
Sunday also began early with the setting up for the Carols on the Common. Many hands were needed throughout the day and fortunately we had a fabulous team of helpers. Thank you to everyone from North Ryde and Macquarie Park Rotary Clubs who helped in the planning of the Carols. There were quite a few challenges this year that committee leaders Roseanna Gallo and Victoria Crawford had to navigate with Ryde Council and their hard work and persistence is greatly appreciated.
Thank you also to everyone who helped prior to, on the day and afterwards, it was a huge effort to put on a very successful community event:
Roseanna Gallo, Victoria Crawford, Ross Rocca, Paul Williamson, Garry Maloney, Rob Wilkinson, Shayne Dumbrell, Leo Driessen, Matt Driessen, Louis Jacquot, Barry McDonald, Adam Smallhorn, David Martin, Lydia Scuglia, Trina Phillips, Craig Blissett, Ian Crawford, Mandy Van, Brian Powell, Binoe Verghese, Sandeep Rathi, Pam Bennett, Mak Khalil, Terrie McConnell, Stephen Sim, Rex Honey, Jen Nowiczewski, Helmiina Salila, Abigail Balin, Julie Thorpe and many others whose names I don't have at present.
I have included
photos of these events in the bulletin separately. Thanks to
Mandy Van for some fabulous photography! You can also see more photos on the
Rotary Club of North Ryde Facebook page and the
Carols on the Common Facebook page.
This is the last bulletin for aa few weeks, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and safe festive season. I hope you all enjoy special time with family and friends and best wishes for the New Year. Our next get together will be a social breakfast on Friday 18 January at Cafe Incontro, Cox Road Mall commencing at 7.15a.m. Hope to see you there.
Kind regards
Pam Wood
President 2018-19
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