Apologies for the evening:
Tom Kelly. Julie Tekell, Gail Joyce, Wayne Murphy, John Lyons
Guest
Peter Nettlebck-
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This evenings Formalities:
Fines to: Rotary Mental Health
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Toast
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Grace
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Chair
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Sharine Allouche
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PP Colin Bezeley
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Angela Moore
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PP Barry Stewart introduced the chair for the evening- Angela who officially opened meeting 3193 and welcomed members and special guest before asking Members who wished to have a Rotary Spot to come forward.
PP Steve Barilla
- Brought the printer to assist members with copying documentation for NPC.
- Has quotes for a bus for travel to and from the 70th birthday celebrations. Please see Steve ASAP if you are interested so he can organise if required.
PP Kim Potger
- Shared the news that Sue and he have bought a new house and will be moving from the area. We will need to elect a new treasurer for the 24/25 rotary year. He will be around to help with the transition. Kim will join a club closer to home so will still be a member of Rotary. Members said while they will be sorry that the club will lose Kim they wished him well.
PP Brian Burt
- Brian gave an update on the Regionalisation project and pointed out that the Gawler Club has members who could take on the roles advertised.
Bob Hinderwell
- The Gawler hospital have invited us to tour the new ED on Tuesday 27th February.
A discussion was had whether we move our regular meeting to the Tuesday in lieu of the Monday meeting to save people travelling out 2 nights in a row. However, the majority voted to keep the regular meeting and have the tour on Tuesday evening as a bonus.
Chair Angela invited guests to enjoy some fellowship over dinner before inviting PP sergeant Barry to present his session for the evening.
Barry asked everyone to join him in singing Happy Birthday to Alan Harris who had a birthday this week. He then entertained us with his Facebook funnies and Bunyip roundup before handing back to Chair Angela.
Angela said tonight’s guest needed no introduction because it was our own PP Colin Bazeley.
Colin introduced his presentation by saying that the original presentation was about his recent 4 month holiday oversees. However, he had been asked to introduce himself to all our members who had joined since he did his autobiography and now he was actually saying goodbye a couple of moths earlier than planned.
Colin was born in Bristol England and had an older sister.
He was fortunate to win a scholarship to a boys school where most students were expected to attend university form there. However, Colin just wanted to join the workforce when he had finished and instead gained an apprenticeship in 1975. For 8 years he spent 1 day a week studying aerodynamics and engineering.
He also had an interest in steam locomotives and their restoration and in 1980 bought a share in a loco so he could ‘play’ when he wasn’t working.
In 1982 Colin finished his degree and Married Lisa. In 1984 he took a transfer to Johannesburg where they stayed until 1991. Colin and Lisa had their 2 daughters while there.
1993 they were given the opportunity to take up a position in Adelaide working on the Collins Class submarine. They came on a 2 year working visa which was extended to 4 years but they loved the place so much they gained permanent residency.
In 2013 Colin joined Ahrens and Bob introduced him to Rotary. One of the highlights of his time was becoming president in 2015 and hosting exchange student Adrien Leblanc.
Colins final project with Ahrens was in China and while it was not completed before his retirement, he has learned it is all finalised now and running well.
After his retirement in 2022 Colin and Lisa had their first of overseas cycling holiday through Spain and Portugal. This also marked their 40th wedding anniversary.
In 2023 they took off on a four-month trip. They visited Scotland, Ireland, then over to Europe travelling through Nth France and Belgium where they caught up with Adrien and his family. They continued through Amsterdam, Cologne, Mannheim (Heidelberg) and Munich -most of the travel was by train.
They then joined an ex pat coach tour through Eastern Europe where they visited Nuremburg, Prague, via Auschwitz-which was quite confronting but also unfortunately quite commercialised now. Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Ljubljana, Lake Bled and Salzburg. Colin said it was fabulous because they got to spend a couple of days in each place rather than just quickly passing through and only seeing the main sights.
After this they headed back to the UK and a quick trip to Lanzarote for a rest!
They then got ready for 2 cycling holidays they had arranged to do with friends from Australia, cycling through Croatia, the Greek Isles Naples, Paris then Home.
After his presentation PE Anthony Barilla presented Colin with the customary Certificate indicating that a donation had been made in his name to Vaccinate 45 children against Polio. Angela thanked Colin and said although she had been a member for 5 years, she had not heard the story of his life outside Rotary and found it very interesting. She also personally thanked Colin for his support both in general but particularly as a mentor and active member of her committee.
P.E Anthony then closed the meeting by asking members to recite the four-way test.
