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THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE
Sunrise Newsletter
Page 1 of 5 March Edition
WHO'S WHO IN OUR CLUB
President - Graham Streeter
Vice President - Vic Lewis
Past President - Pam Dean-Jones
Treasurer - Barry Parkes
Secretary - Sue Stimson
Assistant Secretary - Anne Anderson
Community/Club Service Director - Jeff
Jansson
Vocational Service Director - Malcolm Gow
International Service Director - Annette Trotter
Rotary Foundation Director/PR - Graeme
Hooper
Membership/Youth Director - Paul Blakemore
Sergeant at Arms - Geoff Hurt
All members of our club are welcome to assist any
committees, and, there will be times when it is ‘all
hands on deck ‘!
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FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
'Be a gift to the world'
International Convention Seoul 28th May
to 1st June 2016
Be great to get a group of us to go to Seoul and maybe drop by Cambodia to visit the BraveHearts project. Any interested members please contact Graeme Hooper.
Important deadlines
15 December 2015: Early-registration discount ends. 31 March 2016: Preregistration discount ends. 30 April 2016: Registration/ticket cancellation deadline. 1 June 2016: Online registration ends; deadline for cancellations due to visa denial. The website is: http://www.riconvention.org/
2016/17 President R C
Toronto Sunrise
An excellent opportunity to guide
a supportive team of volunteers into the
Club’s 21st
year of operation.
Training provided. No income.
Must have strong voice to quieten the
rabble!
Please contact President Graham
for an interview!
Graham Streeter - President 2015-2016
FUN, FELLOWSHIP AND FRIENDSHIP
THROUGH ROTARY.
Happy Birthday to those
celebrating in March!!
Dan Grant March 13
Vic Lewis March 18
Anne Anderson March 27
THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE
Sunrise Newsletter
Page 2 of 5 March Edition
WHAT'S ON AND
WHEN!!
March 15 - Guest speaker - Jenny
Barrie - Hunter Life Education.
March 22 - Guest speaker - Mikaela
Bell – Nat. Youth Science Forum.
April 03 - Jazz on the Lines.
April 05 - Westpac Rescue
Helicopter visit 6p.m. NO MORNING
MEETING!!
April 12 - Guest speaker - Fennell
Bay School Deputy Principal.
May 28-June1 – Rotary International
Convention - Seoul.
June 19 - Changeover at Dollina’s
Farm, Dora Creek.
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02/02/2016 - BREAKFAST IN CLASSIC
BOATSHED
Members of the Classic Boatshed, Lake
Macquarie did a fantastic job cooking and
presenting breakfast for our club in Workshop 1
on the shores of the lake at Rathmines.
It made quite a contrast from the usual
dining room setting as we sat surrounded by
wooden boats in various stages of construction.
We learnt about the ‘quick & stitch’ method and
the slower older craft of boat making. Workshop
1 is the ’lightweight shed’ as far as boat building
goes. Workshop 2 – the old substation is for bigger
projects – has 3 phase power and bigger
machinery but at this stage needs a new floor and
wiring. As with many organisations, funding is an
issue, but with the capable assistance of their
member (& ours) Jeff Jansson, they have been
successful in gaining some government grants.
This classic boatshed group of 40 men &
women is a member of AMSA (Aust’n Men’s
Shed Assoc.) which operates with a Federal Govt.
grant – but this shed in Rathmines is not a ‘men’s
shed’ it’s a ‘boat shed’. It was obviously a place
of great community spirit and fellowship where
the rules are that ‘no one tells anyone what to do’
and ‘if you have an idea it is yours to do’. They
meet on Tuesdays & Thursdays starting with a
coffee!
One plan on the drawing board is to build
a 22-foot rowing skiff which will take 500 man
hours and be a first for Newcastle.
The visit ended with Jeff Jansson showing
us some old shipwright tools and talking about his
Norwegian grandfather who would have used
such tools as a young lad in 1890’s on his way to
Australia.
This story evoked memories for Capt.
Turner as Jeff showed us the ‘oakham’ which was
used for caulking. The phase ‘oakham, workem
and smokem’! Tim’s eyes lit up at the memories
of smoking hemp!
We were left with several pictures in mind
– Jeff and his Viking ancestry and a young Tim
smoking hemp and most of all, a very pleasant
interesting visit to Rathmines boatshed.
Many thanks to Jeff for organising it and
to the men of the Classic Boatshed for a splendid
breakfast.
Photos cont. over…..
THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE
Sunrise Newsletter
Page 3 of 5 March Edition
BREAKFAST IN CLASSIC BOATSHED
(CONT.)
09/02/2016 - GUEST SPEAKER - CHRIS
BARTLETT – AUST’N ROTARY HEALTH
Chris presented a video on the work of
Australian Rotary Health as a health promotion
charity. Since 2000 mental health has been its
prime focus. 100% of the money raised goes to the
charity and large amounts are dedicated to
research. $3.3m has been allocated for 2016
mainly in mental health area –this is the largest
amount of funding outside the Federal
government allocations.
Chris gave examples of the types of research
undertaken:
– Suicide prevention & the copycat
phenomenon
– Mental health training – first aid guidelines to
help those developing mental illness. These
guidelines were adopted by 21 countries.
– Aboriginal foot health
ARH also funds programs for Indigenous
Health + Rural Medical & Nursing Scholarships.
Currently there are 6 scholarships at Newcastle
University focused on the area of drugs.
Clubs in Rotary District 9670 have
donated $47,000 which places it 10th on list of
contributions made to ARH. Clubs can nominate
an area of interest that they wish their funds to
benefit.
Jeff Jansson presented Chris with a
cheque for $1,000 for ARH on behalf of the club.
Chris noted that in the future Bob Aitken will be
the contact person for ARH.
Jeff & Chris Bartlett
THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE
Sunrise Newsletter
Page 4 of 5 March Edition
16/02/2016 - GUEST SPEAKER – DANIEL
REYNAUD
Author and historian Daniel spoke to us
about the subject of his latest book – William
McKenzie.
In research into the Anzacs & religion,
Daniel stumbled onto William McKenzie who he
entitles ‘The Man the Anzacs Revered’. This is a
man that few have heard of, even most
Salvationists don’t know of him and he was a
Salvation Army chaplain.
Born in Scotland he came to Australia
with his family as a 14yr old and lived in
Bundaberg on a cane farm. He was attracted to the
Salvation Army, being a contrast to his strict
Presbyterian upbringing and at 19 yrs began his
training for the Ministry.
Daniel painted a picture of a giant of a
man 188cms tall and weighing 110kgs with a
charismatic personality to match.
Despite a poor reception from the soldiers
in his first service as army chaplain, he persevered
and soon his services were to a packed house and
the concerts he organised provided much needed
light relief.
As a chaplain Mackenzie was exempt
from the route marches but he insisted on
participating in everything the soldiers had to do.
This philosophy extended to the battlefields at
Gallipoli, Lone Pine and France where he worked
in the trenches or delivering supplies. Much of his
work was alongside the doctor and burying the
dead. His bravery was outstanding and his
personality so engaging that he became a legend
with the troops. On return from the war his fame
persisted and he was mobbed wherever he went –
7,000 attended his talk at the Melbourne
Exhibition Centre and there were similar crowds
in Sydney.
It was a fascinating account of someone
who in his time made an enormous impact on
others and yet strangely few people know about
him today. Thanks to Daniel some of us are the
better for hearing about this amazing man.
Daniel Reynaud
Daniel Reynaud’s latest book
THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE
Sunrise Newsletter
Page 5 of 5 March Edition
MARCH IS LITERACY MONTH IN ROTARY
Rotary International believes that in order
to address the world’s most critical and
widespread needs, and maximise the impact of the
assistance, it is important to focus efforts in 6 main
areas. Basic Education & Literacy is the 5th area
of focus, and is seen as an essential tool for
reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging
community & economic development, and
promoting peace.
It is a fact that:
- Worldwide, if all women completed primary
education, maternal deaths would be reduced
by 66%.
- a child born to a mother who can read is 50%
more likely to survive past 5 yrs of age.
- if all students in low income countries left
school with basic reading skills, 171m people
could be lifted out of poverty.
(Unesco Global Monitoring report 2013/14)
Progress is being made but still:
- 58m children are not in school.
- 250m children cannot read or write even after
4 yrs of primary schooling.
- 781m adults are illiterate.
In Australia, Rotary Districts and clubs
contribute in a variety of ways:
- donating funds to assist with literacy
programs overseas e.g. children without a
classroom in Cambodia, reading in Thailand,
sending library books to PNG and teacher
housing in Tanzania.
- There are many opportunities to help – see
RAWCS projects website.
On a local level in Australia, there are
many clubs in Districts in Queensland, Victoria
and Tasmania providing assistance with literacy
programs. Sometimes it is ‘hands on’ as in reading
volunteers in local schools which is especially
important where children are from migrant
families and their parents are not fluent in English.
One club in Victoria provides good
dictionaries to Grade 3 students and a club in
Brisbane has a program called ‘Tales from a Dilly
Bag’ which assists young indigenous students. It
sounds a bit like a shelterbox, with picture books
for 55 students, teacher folder, DVD, activity
sheets, craft and a digital camera.
Another form of assistance by a club in Victoria
was to purchase a highly engaging literacy
program for an interactive whiteboard in a
disadvantaged Primary school. Some clubs,
notably in the Illawarra & Victoria, have formed
an alliance with United Way to deliver Dolly
Parton’s Imagination Library which targets
children 0-5 in the most disadvantaged groups
who start school without the basic skills they need
to learn to read and write.
Maybe when we are searching for projects
at a local level we can get some inspiration from
these examples?
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