Welcome to this fortnightly newsletter, which will be the last one for 2022. At the last Board meeting it was decided that we will move to a fortnightly newsletter. The cadence will be week one and week three of the month. As a Club, we take a break over the holiday season and the next newsletter will come out in early February.
We had a successful Bunnings BBQ on Saturday 3 December. Thank you to everyone who helped on the day – Rob, David, Peter, Bernie, Garry, Mandy, Gary (Patni), Poulomee and Brian. A special thank you to Garry Maloney who takes on the responsibility of organizing these every couple of months – coordinating all the volunteers, allocating tasks and responsibilities and then being there on the day from the start to the end. The BBQs have been an important fundraiser for our club.
On Saturday, 26 November, I attended District 9685’s AGM & Presidents Meeting which was held in person at St Joseph's Conference Centre in Norwest. It was great to meet Rotarians from other clubs in person. We heard that the Regionalisation Project has been approved by the RI Board and cost analysis is being prepared for submission to the RI Board during December.
District 9685 Clubs and Rotarian donors were recognised at the Canberra Zone 8 Conference for extraordinary generosity to The Rotary Foundation. In 2021-22, combined contributions of US$558,438 were donated to the Annual Fund, Polio, Global Grants, Disaster Response and Directed Gifts. This represents about AU$834,000 and the largest contribution of all 22 districts in Australia and New Zealand.
The club’s 2022 Christmas Party will be held at the North Ryde Golf Club (NRGC) on Friday 9 December 2022. The function will be held in the Gardenia Room of NRGC from 7:15pm, following the club's Annual General Meeting. All details are included in the email invitation from Garry. I look forward to seeing a number of you at the function.
2022 Rotary Carols on the Common event is only two weeks away and preparations are in full swing. We will be returning to the Common after two years and it will be great to have a community event which is enjoyed by everyone. We are hoping for good weather and a large crowd on Sunday 18 December 2022. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in planning and organizing until now and to those who will be helping on the day. A huge thank you to Victoria Crawford who has led the project for our Club alongside Macquarie Park.
It is appearing possible that our IT Tour for country students might go ahead next year. There has been good interest shown by several organisations. David Martin is getting in touch with country Rotary clubs to progress this very worthwhile project.
The Tree of Joy has been up at Cox’s Road Mall thanks to Pam Wood and her group of helpers. A huge number of gifts have already been collected and we are seeing a steady stream of gifts coming in. Special thanks to Bendigo Bank North Ryde who is a major supporter of this activity.
The Christmas Puddings have arrived – a big thank you to Bob Selinger for making personalised deliveries. As Bob keeps reminding us, I hope nothing goes to “waist”. This fundraiser is being run in conjunction with several other Rotary Clubs and has raised more than $2,200 for Books in Homes Project.
At the last Riverside Cluster Presidents meeting, my proposal to have a multi-club social event and/or meeting was received with a lot of enthusiasm. We hope to have an event organized in the new year.
The club will be having its traditional start of the year breakfast at Cafe SaBu, in Cox's Road Mall, on Saturday 21 January 2023 at 9am. Garry will be sending out an email at the beginning of January 2023 to ask if you will be attending. Please keep a note of the date in your diaries.
I thank everyone in the Club for their commitment, energy and contribution towards making a difference.
Wishing everyone a safe, relaxing and enjoyable holiday season.