One in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime. But stroke can be prevented. The presentation covers;

Nikki is a volunteer for the National Stroke Foundation. Nikki has volunteered in the Strokesafe Education team as an ambassador since April 2012. Nikki successfully runs her own business and is a stroke survivor.

 

Last year District 9800 Rotarians and their friends donated over 1200 new books to the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation by participating in our first District 9800 Basic Education and Literacy Project.  This was an amazing effort that was greatly appreciated by all those children and parents who benefited from our generosity and thoughtfulness.

 

This year we will be conducting a District 9800 Supporting Education Project at District Assembly on the 18th May.  You can participate by collecting new writing materials and resources including pencils, pens, textas, crayons, erasers, sharpeners, pencil cases etc. and packets of loose leaf paper, copy paper, exercise books, Sketch Pads, Scrap Books etc. and bringing them along to Tabcorp Park on Sunday the 18^th. All of your donations will go directly to DIK and then onto a broad range of settings to teach “writing”.  

Dear all,

In early April I appealled for any volunteers to assist the RC Echuca-Moama with their major fundraising event, the Steam Rally, on Saturday 7 June and/or Sunday 8 June 2014. Billeting with local RC members is available , however, they will require some notice. If you need further information, please email me or call on 0418 573 803.

Many thanks to those people who have responded, however, the response from members/friends, whether available or not, either verbally or in writing, has been minimal. I will need to send a response to the organisers at the RC Echuca-Moama by 23 May 2014.

Cheers, 
Allan DRIVER
Rotary Club of Central Melbourne-Sunrise

 

Editor Comments: The Steam Rally is not a chore but a delightful weekend absorbing the enthralling atmosphere of half a thousand steam engines puffing away and the hustle and bustle of the largest steam rally in the nation. See next story for background -- and we are currently told by Rotary Down Under that  this story is likely to be their Cover Story, June 2014 issue. Editor will be overseas in June otherwise he and his missus would be in like Flynn as  Echuca helpers. The RC there is full of kind, friendly and enthusiastic fellow Rotarians.

Steam rally a giant task for small club

 

It’s an annual Rotary project involving upfront costs of $100,000; 190 volunteer workers, 600 exhibitors and about 10,000 visitors paying $45 per family. And it’s all organised and managed by a club of merely 22 members.

Welcome to the Echuca Steam Rally, run by Echuca-Moama Rotary. Scheduled this year for the June 7-8 long weekend, it’s the biggest and most popular steam rally in Australia.

 

“Last year was our 50^th annual rally,” says club president Chrissy Weller.   “The weather was perfect and we raised $90,000 for local charities from the 13,500 people who came.” Chrissy is  also wife of the district’s State member,  mother of four, and milker of 400 cows at their Lockington farm each day.

“We’ve had perfect weather for the past four rallies,” Weller says. “Just as well because rain drives the crowds away, and we’re lucky to break even.”

 

 Big commitments include TV advertising, typically $20,000 a year,and managing insurance, Worksafe and traffic.    .

 

Four years ago, with the club ageing and shrunk to 16 people, the intent was to scale down the event, says rally director Alan Whitten. But local people demanded it continue “full steam ahead” and the club rejuvenated as  members increased to 22.

The huge vintage steam engines are the stars of the show, valued at  about $500,000 each. Owners sleep under the warm boilers at night. As dawn breaks, they join hundreds of other machinery buffs firing up their steam engines and wreathing the oval in smoke.

 

Apart from the grand parades, the highlight of the show is the “Burning of the Dunny”. An old style country outhouse is set alight and the fire brigade’s job is to save the dunny by use of a horse-drawn, steam-powered pumper, loaned for the occasion by the Fire Museum of Victoria. “We’ve got a good supply of country dunnies. We did a special trip round the district collecting them,” says   Whitten.

 

A drawcard for kids is Thomas the Tank Engine, converted from a one-time Queensland sugar-railway loco. The Tank Engine is borrowed from the Bellarine Railway, Queenscliffe, and hauled via tracks onto a low loader for Echuca.  All school kids in the district are offered free entry (normally $5) if they bring an adult along ($15-20).

 

 

The rally is held on land – about 4 hectares – owned by the small Rotary club. The first of the club’s steam rallies a half-century ago had to move each year from place to place, and a sympathetic landowner sold the club a block on easy terms  - now valuable real estate. The government also agreed on a 99 year lease to the club of adjacent Crown land of about equal area. This lease is now being renegotiated to become perpetual.

The Rotary-owned block boasts large sheds, toilets (including traditional ‘long drops’), kitchens and club facilities, with a resident caretaker. The club hosts   horse and truck shows, machinery clubs, a miniature railway and a vintage car club.

 

The club’s strategy is to increase the community’s input. The rally is already supported by three organisations involving children and adults with special needs. About  fifteen local groups and two other Rotary clubs provide volunteers.  Just cleaning up the grounds on Monday and returning borrowed gear takes 40 people working a 10 hour day.  

“Our aim is for   turnover to be recycled within our district,” president Weller says.

Last year a big beneficiary from the 50^th rally was the new Echuca Hospital. The club has put in $50,000 over three years towards the $2.4m community target for hospital equipment. 

 

 

Six years ago the club handed the catering to local contractors, as the task became unmanageably large.  . Says rally director Alan Whitten, “It removed a big workload and we just take a fee.”

 

The local fire brigade, a rally beneficiary, is providing   shuttle bus drivers from decentralised car parks, and wood and water supply.  Other beneficiaries have included local aged care homes and police. # 

Letter to the Editor

 

I think our fund-raising worries are over. In Perth there is a multi-millionnaire lady who raises $100,000 a year for charity. But she is having a lot of difficulty distributing the money to good causes and is seeking help for this task. Moreover, she is particularly impressed by Rotary clubs as an efficient distributor of charity money.

She is Ms Mary-Anne Kenworthy  (left). She writes in the current Autumn edition of the Perth glossy, “Scoop”, p70:

“I prefer not to donate the grassroots way; it can be very difficult and it’s hard to have accountability. But it’s a matter of necessity because stigma is preventing this money from being used accountably, through registered organisations.

 I would prefer that a charity like Rotary pick it up and do it properly. Rotary are wonderful because they get 95 cents from the dollar direct to the charitable cause. Meanwhile I have to work very hard to check for accountability with the people I work with overseas, and I have to really just trust people along the way.”

Mary 57, became a sex worker at 27. Her business projects include media interests such as TV and internet. She owns Langtrees 181 Kalgoorlie, which she completely rebuilt as a multi-million dollar Goldfields theme bordello. It is the only functioning tourist bordello in the world. Other brothels she owns are Langrees Perth, Langtrees Canberra, and Langtrees Sydney. She is a member of the Adult Industry Hall of Fame.  

She has a tip box  at her  Kalgoorlie brothel and her girls and their clients put in at least $1000 a week. She doesn’t have a liquor licence but if people in the brothel make a donation, she will find a free champagne or beer somewhere as a ‘thank you’. She then matches the week’s donations with her own $1000.

Regular charities don’t want any of this $100,000pa so she has found ways to support directly cases such as children of sex workers in Manila who live under a bridge. She has found a local woman there who uses the donations to provide schooling and temporary housing for 10 kids, and 60 kids get fed daily. She also provides meals for sex workers there, enabling them to have less pressure and more ability to mother their kids.

“It’s important to me that I support industry mothers and their children; it’s my industry and you should support your industry first,” she says.

I detect here a great opportunity for our club. Yours in Rotary, Tony Thomas

 

The Editor replies:

Mary-Anne clearly has a heart of gold, notwithstanding that this is somewhat of a cliche. We should at least consider her as an eminent speaker breakfast drawcard. Her quest for a financial intermediary should make for a lively discussion at our board?

Chair: Anne King

Reporter: Kevin Walklate

 

GUEST

Rob Lawson

 

GUEST SPEAKER

Zelman Ainsworth

 

COMMITTEE REPORT – YOUTH SERVICE – GEORGE MACKEY

George advised that he had no acceptances for RYPEN or MUNA and believes we need to work closer with our feeder school principals to encourage participation. He is currently interviewing candidates for the National Youth Science Forum, the applications for which close at the end of May.

 

PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENT

The President advised that the District Assembly is on May 18 and encouraged attendance of all members in particular those assuming a leadership role next year. Please let Roy know if you are planning to attend so he can complete the registration formalities.

 

SERGEANT SESSION

Our Sergeant advised that it was RAM (Rotarians Against Malaria) Awareness Day and all of today’s collection would go to this project.

 

He also advised that filming started of the recital of the epic poem and this week’s contribution by new member Rob Hines has Darcy join the Club.

 

Would I Lie To You had Kevin Walklate write-off a 56 Chevy Corvette at Mt Eliza. On the question of had he been “drinking” he assured us that he had never had a drink in his life. Had he not been so adamant and said he gave up after the accident some may have believed him as the story was not true. Equally not true was John Ilott’s phobia about Rats. I think John is confusing the rats with cars interrupting his bike sojourns.

 

GUEST SPEAKER – Zelman Ainsworth (pic below)

Retailing in Melbourne’s CBD

 

Zelman is Retail Leasing Director at CBRE and specialises in Melbourne CBD retail leasing.

 

Zelman advised that Retailing has generally been difficult over the last 24 months due to the competition from online retail and the newly adapted saving habits people are becoming accustomed to, however sales in high end stores, particularly at the Paris end of Melbourne, were strongly supported by overseas visitors mainly from Asia.

 

Although the Melbourne CBD retail market has proven to be resilient when compared to the suburban retail markets, this can be accredited to the limited retail vacancies in the Melbourne CBD and the success CBD retailers have been experiencing due to the large increase in CBD residents, office workers and visitors over the last five years.

 

He suggests that there is still a strong level of demand from international retailers for quality CBD retail shops and the pop-up store concept, which is relatively new to Melbourne retailing, was expanding. This concept is often used for product testing and worked well in fitted out vacant premises on a short-term basis.

 

He further indicated that major international retailers were drawn to Melbourne because:

 

Zelman was very passionate and confident about Melbourne’s ability to survive any downward trend in retailing and resilient enough to reinvent itself as the situation demands.

 

Other pics below: Michael Bromby with our newest member Rob  Hines; Anne King wows an invisible audience.