Gawler Rotary held its first meeting for the year on January 17th after the Christmas break and the first scheduled meeting was cancelled due to new Covid restrictions. Meeting 3100 was officially opened by the President and Chair for the evening Mark Smeaton. The toast was given by Bob Hinderwell and grace by Kim Potger.
In his opening Mark welcomed everyone back and reported that the board wanted Rotary meetings to run as normal as possible but to do this we need to be vigilant with Covid safe protocols. He acknowledged that some members are quite vulnerable, and we encourage them to do what is right for them and we will support them in any way we can. Our Secretary Michael Jacob is in isolation due to a positive result.
We have 2 new members to be inducted in the coming weeks. Anthea John and Ian Nys. Both have been long time active supporters of the club and it will be lovely to have them as official members.
Mark drew members attention to some upcoming events that required support.
- Both the Bunnings barbecue and the Australia Day breakfast held at the Gawler Rec centre need volunteers.
- The postponed Bowls meeting is to be held on Monday 21st February if there will be enough members to attend. A show of hands indicated it will be supported enough to go ahead.
- the outside of the shed is looking very untidy and we need to organise a time to have a short working bee. It was suggested that it be done a couple of hours before our regular Monday meeting. A date will be confirmed.
- RYLA is on again from the 18th -25th April for 18–25-year-olds. Please let Dino know if you can suggest someone.
- A gentle reminder to return any Polio Ute raffle books.
- A certificate of appreciation was received from Major Darren from the salvation Army for the donation of Christmas gifts we were able to support 46 families.
- A reminder to all members to let Kathy know if you have suggestions for guest speakers. We have some great ones coming up but we always need more.
Almoner Mike Williams reported It was with sadness that the club was notified of Peter Dibben’s passing over the break. He was a long-time member of the Gawler Rotary and held the position of Sergeant as well as being the club photographer and Bunyip Liaison officer.
Mike also reported that over the break Maggie Murphy had had a fall at home and broke her hip. She is now home and recovering well. Not to be outdone Deb Williams had a fall on Christmas day and required stitches to her elbow and President Mark had a run-in with an angle grinder and required stitches to his wrist!
After dinner and fellowship, sergeant Barry announced the barrel winners as mark Forgie and Alan Harris. This caused much amusement because Mark donated one of the prizes. Fines for this week to go to End Polio.
Members congratulated Mike Williams on 28 years’ service, Brian Burt 20 years, and Juie Tekell 15 years. In her absence, Patsy’s birthday was acknowledged.
Barry did a short Bunyip roundup and distributed the photo’s before circulating the microphone among members and guests to share their news. President Mark announced he and Julie became first time grandparents to a beautiful grandson. Julie Tekell announced that she and David are excited to become grandparents at Easter and Helen Bourne reported that her daughter in England has been sending fabulous photos of her new grandchild. Members were all excited for them and gave a hearty congratulations.
Colin managed to visit his daughter in Victoria and after making sure they had all the requirements satisfied to re enter south Australia they got to the border and there was no one there! They received a text message the next day to check if they re-entered the state.
Dave had a family Christmas organised interstate but it was cancelled at the last minute so they held their Christmas on the 2nd January.
Kathy’s daughter Lauren had her very first day as a fully registered nurse today in the theatre at Central Districts hospital.
Kim Potger had to quarantine due to being a close contact over Christmas, but the plus side was he got to watch the Boxing Day test match uninterrupted. he did do a big basket of ironing though!! Since quarantine, he has been busy filling in for pharmacists who are off due to Covid.
There was no guest speaker this evening, but Committees were held after the meeting.
President Mark closed the meeting with the Four-way test.
