Rotary Connects the World

Chair Anthony opened meeting 3205 and welcomed members to the meeting

Apologies Anthea John, Brian Burt, Colin Bazeley, John Lyons, Leanne Clinch, Mike Williams, Shawn Lock, Wayne Murphy.

PE Anthony then invited members who had information to share to come forward.

After Dinner Anthony introduced PP Barry Stewart to present his sergeants session.

Wheel winners were

PP Barry then presented is entertaining FB funnies and fines session before PE/ Chair Anthony introduced the guest speaker for the evening fellow Gawler Rotarian Kyle Smith to present his autobiography.

 

Kyle was born in June 1990 at the Hutchinson Hospital in Gawler to parents Meredith and Pete and has 2 older sisters. Kyle is very proud to be given the middle name Charles as this is a middle name on both sides of his family and he has given his son the same honour.

Kyle lived in Gawler East until he was 3 when the family moved to Bathurst. The move was necessitated when his father took on a role at a Harness Racing Club as General Manager. At the same time his mum began working for Telecom. Kyle started school when he was four and half at Bathurst Primary school and was very nervous on his first day. Kyle got over this pretty quickly when he saw a boy twice his size crying hysterically and refusing to leave his mothers side! Kyle spent most afternoons with free reign at the racing club and made friends with the groundsman’s children. They all spent time around the stables. Kyle knew when his did had forgotten to pick them up when his secretary collected them. This usually resulted in a trip through Macca’s drive through to get an ice cream to make up for it.

Although Kyle and the family drove around Mt Panorama several times in the family Torago he never actually got to the Race.

School Holidays were spent back in Gawler. Kyles mum and dad driving the children to Balranald where they would be collected by their grandparents to be driven the rest of the way. Kyle has fond memories of these times with swimming lessons at the Gawler pool; trips to Grandpa Bruce (Eastick) Gawler office, the post office and the playground; He spent time playing on the Smith side of the family property at Gawler Belt. One of his favourite memories was calling his Grandma Dawn when he was 5 because he thought he had been left alone at the property only for Dawn to discover that in actual fact his grandpa was just training horses in the paddock! Everyone was impressed he could remember the phone number and that he had thought to call his other set of grandparents for help.

In 1999 the family moved back to Gawler area and lived at the Smith farm while their house in Theile Cres, Evanston Park was being built and his dad took on a management role at Gawler Jockey club. Kyle started at Trinity College North Campus in year 4 and this is where he met Nathan Pengelly (whom he recently introduced to Rotary).

At school Kyle played football and cricket however he struggled to make friends in the teams and turned to tennis instead. He played the Saxophone until year 11 and enjoyed being part of the school bands. Whilst Kyle was smart and switched on, he did not enjoy studying but because he wanted to study engineering when he completed school he had to take academic subjects -physics, English, maths studies and specialist maths. His favourite subject however was Drama-he always was a performer!

From the age of 14, Kyle had a part time job, starting with a catering company before moving onto KFC where he stayed for two and half years, then to Fabulous Baker Boys and finally on to Tandy at Munno Para.  Kyle found it difficult to work, concentrate on study and play the Sax while in year 11 so he decided to give up the saxophone -a decision which he has regretted since.

Much to his father’s surprise Kyle achieved an 80+ TER score and SACE certificate and enrolled in an Electrical Engineering Degree and the Uni of Adelaide. His first lecture was Physics 101 and the lecturer announced this would be the hardest course he would do at Uni so he was scared and intimidated from the start. Kyle found himself skipping lectures due to his inability to drive himself and not having teachers to push him. When Kyle was offered a job Tandy Ingle Farm, he took it and realised he had a flair and a passion for retail sales. He soon became a manager at Golden Grove and then 3IC at Elizabeth where it was believed he would gain more experience in management and have the opportunity for progression. This however was not as it turned out so in 2011 Kyle applied to P&R electrical Gawler as Internal Salesman. His aim was to start at the bottom and become a sales rep in 5 years. After 2.5 years Kyle was offered a role as sales rep and although he was unsure if he was ready for it he quickly flourished. After 9 years he took over as branch manager and quickly saw growth and success including his branch being recognised in the top 4 in the company. Kyle enjoys a close working relationship with the company directors and takes pride in working for a South Australian owned company.  

It was while working at Tandy part time that Kyle met Amy who was also working there while completing her Teaching Degree. They married in May 2013 and have 2 children Layla and Harrison. The family enjoys getting away camping and have seen lots of South Australia. Besides camping his interests are:

a very eclectic taste in music- he describes it as ‘complicated’.

Sport- Adelaide United member; Staunch Liverpool supporter; cricket, soccer, golf etc

Volunteering- beside Rotary Kyle has volunteered for 4 years with the Gawler Eagles Soccer Club.

 

After a short Q&A session PE Anthony presented Kyle with his certificate indicating a donation had been made to End Polio to vaccinate 45 children on his behalf.

 

PE Anthony then closed meeting 3205 with the four-way test.