Club News

Exactly fifty years ago next Tuesday night, President Bill Stacey inducted a young Eastwood dentist, Ashley Peake, into the Rotary Club of Ryde.  Ashley’s desire to involve himself fully in Rotary saw him accept directorships in three different services before the Club appointed him as President for the 1967-68 year.

During his presidential year, Ryde sponsored the Rotary Club of Eastwood and ran the District Conference at Macquarie University.  Such was the great organisation and diligence of Ryde Rotarians that the success of the Conference brought generous praise from DG Gordon Harman and all District Clubs.

Of the many local projects undertaken that year, one stood out.  That was the Child Accident Survey, run successfully in conjunction with the Health Department and Ryde Council. Volunteers conducted a survey of accidents to children in the District, and gathered much valuable information.  This was publicised widely and created great interest.  The main international project, arranged through Community Aid Abroad, provided a water supply and irrigation for the village of Mohanpur, 120 miles from Calcutta.  Funds for this were raised from an Art Show.

In the years following, PP Ashley showed continued leadership skills in diverse areas, particularly Programs, Classification and Membership Development.  The early eighties saw him appointed as an Unattached Director because his contributions were so highly regarded.  The Board in February 1988, recognised him as a Paul Harris Fellow.

Let me use a quotation from our longest-serving Charter Member PP Ron Pacey. Ron wrote “The Rotary Club of Ryde over the years has been blessed with many fine Rotarians, but only two of them ever earned the title of ‘Mr Rotary’ because of their intimate knowledge of the ideals of Rotary, and because of their thorough understanding of the Constitution and By-Laws of Rotary International, of the Club Constitution and By-Laws, and of the ‘Bible’ of Rotary – the Manual of Procedure. The first was Eric Allars and the second Ashley Peake”.  This quotation sums up PP Ashley’s ongoing Ryde Rotary involvement.  In June 2001, the Board awarded Ashley a Sapphire Pin.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to attend our Club’s 66th Birthday Celebration recently, were privileged to hear PP Ashley propose the toast to our Club.  Every word underlined what has been already said. PP Ashley’s intimate knowledge of our Club and its history was clearly and definitely expressed.  How many of us are aware that those wise words were spoken so ably by a Rotarian in his ninety-second year?  For such long and meritorious service to the Rotary Club of Ryde, our Board wishes to honour PP Ashley Peake with a second Sapphire Pin.

PP Doug Thompson

C2S EndPolio is a group of young professionals training to compete in the City to Surf 2012

With only 4 1/2 months from our April 1st launch until the race, it’s going to be a hard slog for these incredibly unfit “Nannas” to train up and raise as much money for End Polio Now as possible.

Poliomyelitis is an acute, viral, infectious disease affecting children. It is spread from person to person, affecting the central nervous system. Polio causes paralysis, pain, fever, seizures and spastic paralysis, and leads to lifelong deformity, paralysis and pain. There is no cure.

While the current vaccine was invented in 1955 and the developed world is largely Polio-free today, Polio was still endemic in the developing world due to limited access, funding, administration and regional conflicts.

In 1988, Rotary World President Royce Abbey (Melbourne, Australia) announced a global effort in conjunction with the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to eradicate Polio. Already the program has overcome obstacles of distance, access, co-ordination, religion, politics and booming populations to eradicate Polio in the Americas, Europe and the West Pacific. The number of annual diagnosed cases have been reduced by 99%; from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to around 1,000 per year now.

After 3 years with no new cases, a country can be officially declared Polio-free. This means the vaccination and follow up boosters of all children under the age of 10. With a global birthrate of 252 children per minute, this is an exponentially challenging administrative and volunteer effort to maintain. Despite being certified Polio-free in 2001, an outbreak was confirmed in China in September 2011 involving a strain of Poliomyelitis prevalent in neighbouring Pakistan.

The push to finally eradicate Polio must be amplified. The last 3 countries with a total 650 new cases of Polio every year are Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. With increasing travel and globalisation, if Polio is not eradicated now, the virus will become globally endemic again within our lifetimes.

C2S EndPolio is a Rotary Foundation project of Ryde Rotary Club.

The first round of the 7th Annual Ryde Rotary Junior School Public Speaking Competition was held last Wednesday night at Eastwood Heights Public School. Allen Horrell, the convenor of this year's event, welcomed Parents, Teachers and most importantly, the children for attending the competition.

 Mr Lawrence Van Ryn, Principal of Eastwood Heights Public School was thanked for hosting the event again this year. Eastwood Heights has hosted this event for the last 5 years, saving Ryde Rotary from having to charge an entry fee for the competition venue.  

Ryde Rotary runs this competition to give junior school students from the Ryde District the opportunity to demonstrate their speaking skills in a public forum. It also allows local schools to showcase the hidden talent that is within our schools in the Ryde District. 

 27 Students gave 3 minute speeches on a variety of topics ranging from "Living in my Suburb" to "Dear Madam Prime Minister", but the most popular was "Turn Off that TV!" to the discomfort of Channel 10 employee, Rtn David Johnston. He brightened up when one child not only changed the speech to "Turn On that TV!", but also gave Master Chef a plug!

The adjudicators who volunteered their time on the night, Donna Fernandez, Vanessa Thorp and Michele Hilder, had a tough job to select the three finalists to go forward to the final competition to be held at the Ryde Rotary meeting on Tuesday 27th March, but they were up to the challenge. The finalist schools, students and topics are:

Hunters Hill Public School – Conan O'Connell – Reach for the Stars

St Kevins Primary School – Joanna Crawford – Our Country

St Michaels Primary School – Natalia Reale-Bryant – Turn Off that TV!

The Rotary Club of Ryde thanks the main sponsor, the Ryde-Eastwood Leagues club for sponsoring all prizes for the contestants, the finalists and their schools. 

Other sponsors were Woolworths West Ryde, Fondue2you, Stylesetter International and Channel 10.
Allen thanked the committee who had worked so hard to put this event together, Rotarians Maureen Mulheron, Kalma McLellan, Geoff Nix, Erdem Toner, Jan Cutler and David Johnson, and photographer Duncan Taylor. 

The annual Ryde Rotary Charity Golf Day this year will benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. From each registration the Rotary Club of Ryde will donate $50 and this will be tax deductible for you.

There are three levels of participation:

1. Corporate Sponsor
2. Hole Sponsor 
3. Individual Player 

So gather your team of eight, four or just you and register today. This event is always popular and bookings fill fast. You can download a Registration/Entry Form, print it and send it off today. Payment can be made by direct credit (EFT) or by cheque. 

Sponsorship & Registration 

1. Corporate Sponsor $2500 – Signage priority in the clubhouse and on course, two minute talk on your company, presentation of prizes, breakfast and lunch for 8, four golf carts and golf for 8 players. 
2. Hole Sponsor – $700 Advertising at the hole, banner (if supplied) setup near the clubhouse, golf for 4 players, breakfast and lunch. 
3. Individual Player – $130 Includes breakfast, lunch and 18 holes of golf

Rotary Club of Ryde offers the community an Art Appraisal Day on Sunday 20 November 2011 from 11:00am to 2:00pm at Addington House, 813 Victoria Road, Ryde.

Look through your house and select an item or more to be appraised by fine art experts Mr. David Hulme and Ms. Brigitte Banziger of Banziger Hulme Fine Art Consultants.

David and Brigitte are offering their services for the Rotary Club of Ryde to raise funds for the ongoing projects that the Club supports, such as Eradication of Polio, Tree of Joy and Borjegai School in Afghanistan, just to name a few.

The artworks to bring in for appraisal can be sculptures, paintings, watercolours, photos and prints such as lithographs, etchings and screen prints.  If the artwork is large, you can take several photos and bring those in for appraisal.  You will also receive advice on how to care for the artwork.

The cost is $5.00 per work of art.

Rotary Club of Ryde greatly appreciates Friends of Addington House for making the venue available on Sunday 20 November2011.

For any enquiries please contact Rtn. Nora Etmekdjian on nora@summitconsultants.com.au or 0417 699 955.

For more details about Ryde Rotary projects visit www.ryderotary.org.au

Hope you can join us and have fun watching some of the artworks that people will bring in for appraisal.

Light refreshments will be served by the volunteers of the Friends of Addington House.

Ryde Rotary 2010–11 President Allen Horrell attended the recent District Awards dinner, where Ryde Rotary picked up a total of 5 District awards:

1. The Presidential Citation with Distinction for the Club signed by Ray Klinginsmith
2. The 2009–10 Rotary Foundation Certificate for being in the top 10 Clubs in our district on a per-capita giving basis, presented to retired Rotarian and PDG Alex Sawyer the previous Friday
3. The International Service Award, awarded for Outstanding and Comprehensive International Service through involvement in District programs and Club initiatives that may also include an outstanding special International program or project (in our case the Borjegai School), usually awarded to the International Chair, but with his agreement awarded to Projects Director Rob Mitchell, for his central involvement in this project
4. The Vocational Service Award, awarded for Outstanding and Comprehensive Vocational Service through involvement in District programs and Club initiatives that may also include an outstanding special Vocational program or project.  This year The Rotary Club of Ryde introduced a four-minute rostered talk by members where they speak about their Vocation or The Four-Way Test, or failing that, they have the option of just reciting The Four-Way Test.  In this way we as a Club get to hear more about our members’ vocations or to hear more about The Four-Way Test, the RI Ethical guide to behaviour in our vocations and in our daily lives.  Once again Ryde ran the District Four-Way Test Public Speaking competition, with the finals held at our Club meeting 15/02/2011, as reported in our Hub, and we ran our Annual Apprentice of the Year Awards 16/11/2010, and our finalist went on to win the District Award too.  Vocational Chair Jan Cutler did a great job organising another polished performance of this long-running and worthy event, the brainchild of PDG Les Whitcroft, who coined the phrase "Do it once, do it well!"  Pride Of Workmanship was ably organised by PP Graham Rushforth, sadly deceased the next day, and run on the night by PP Geoff Brennan.  We also had Vocational talks from all our new members, and two Vocational visits, so the Award was earned, I believe, by comprehensive excellence across the breadth of the Vocational portfolio.  Since the District Vocational Chair was our Bob Kaye-Smith, he took no part in the award process, the judgement being made by the other District Chairs.  The Award was presented to Vocational Chair PP Jan Cutler.
5. The Norm Roach Website Memorial Award:  Norm Roach was Alex Sawyer’s Aide in his District Governor’s year, and according to Alex, one of the finest Rotarians he has ever met.  It is a great honour to have this award presented to the Club for our new Website, during its very first year since launching.

At the Rotary District 9680 Changeover dinner last night, Ryde Rotary picked up another two awards.  We won the ARHRF Award for being the highest donor Club this year and the District Governor's Shield for the Best Rotary Club in the district.

Immediate Past President Allen Horrell, who attended the event, noted that there was a big connection to one of our most esteemed members, Past District Governor, Les Whitcroft.  The first award – ARHRF Biggest Donor Award – was due to his incredible generosity and the second award of Best Club in the District was an award initiated by Les Whitcroft himself back in 1976–77, when he was District Governor.

To put the icing on the cake, it is Les Whitcroft's 91st birthday today!  Happy Birthday, Les, and congratulations on being such a fabulous Rotarian and contributor to so many aspects of Club life.

The Rotary Club of Ryde was very proud to have received the Norm Roach Memorial Shield for Best Website in the Rotary District of 9680 for 2010–11.

The district awards were held recently, with Ryde Rotary President, Allen Horrell collecting the award on behalf of the Club.  It was a big night for Ryde, as the Club scooped 5 district awards all up.  President Allen kept the secret of all the awards until the Club’s changeover dinner.

Ryde Rotary PR Director, Stefan Sojka was pleasantly surprised to be the subject of one of President Allen’s presentations of a Certificate and the Norm Roach Perpetual Trophy.

The Norm Roach Best Website Award is chosen on the following criteria:

• Overall design
• Presentation and content – does it inform members?
• What impression does it make on a prospective member?
• Visual appeal, legibility, ease of navigation
• Links to Rotary District and Rotary International Websites
• Does the Website have a Password protected area for members’ information?

In his acceptance speech, Stefan passed the credit for winning the award on to Cyrius Media Group Managing Director Lata Sojka, whose drive, enthusiasm and attention to detail ensured the Website was produced to the right standard to do the Club justice and help raise the profile of Rotary through the Club’s activities.

Congratulations to the entire Club for supporting this important project.

The 6th Annual Rotary Club of Ryde Primary School Public Speaking Competition this year will be held on Tuesday, 5 April 2011.

Prior to the competition, there will be a workshop run by Michelle Dodd on Thursday, 10 March 2011 at the Eastwood Womens' Rest Centre, Eastwood.  The students should arrive at 5:00pm.  The workshop starts at 5:15pm and finishes at 6:45pm.  Attendance at this workshop is not obligatory.

The preliminaries will be held on Thursday, 24 March 2011 at Eastwood Heights Public School.  Children should arrive in their school uniforms at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start – parents and teachers are most welcome to attend.  Light refreshments will be served during the evening.

The three finalists from this preliminary competition will be asked to repeat the same speech at a Rotary Club of Ryde meeting which will be held on Tuesday, 5 April 2011 at the Next Generation Club, 2nd Floor, 504 Victoria Road , Ryde (next to the Ryde Aquatic Centre) commencing at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start.

After a brief interval, the finalists will be given ten minutes in which to prepare a one minute, impromptu speech.  The 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed winners will be announced by the adjudicators and prizes will be awarded to the winners and a perpetual trophy is presented to the winning school.

During the evening, dinner will be served which will be complimentary for the three finalists and provided at a cost of $30 per person for their family, friends and teachers.  There will also be available a cash bar for drinks.  For catering purposes, please advise your child’s public speaking teacher the numbers attending at least one week prior to the event.

If you would like any further information or have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Nora Etmekdjian, the co-ordinator of the competition for this year, on either 0417 699 955, norartin@hotmail.com or nora@summitconsultants.com.au

Our recent opening of the new school in Borjegai, Afghanistan, generated a bit of media attention, and continues to, as people learn of the project and its significance.

Recently, the Northern District Times found the story so compelling, that they made it a major front page new item and gave it a further half a page inside.

Check out these two links to see the story:

Northern District Times Front Page Story (PDF)

Northern District Times Inside Story (PDF)