Welcome to Issue 15 of the weekly bulletin for the Rotary Club of Bendigo Sandhurst. Find out about our upcoming events, who our guest speakers are, what we covered during the last weekly meeting and more!
Weds Nov 9 9am Club visit to Huntly CFA instead of normal meeting
Fri Nov 11- Sun Nov 13 Catering Swap Meet Weekend
Wed 23 Nov Foundation dinner and AGM. No morning meeting
Wed 30 Joint industry visit with RC Bendigo South to Engineering and Technology Centre, LaTrobe University
December
Thu Dec 1: RYLA Rotary Club Dinner Night Camp Getaway.
Fri Dec 2: 9am BBQ Food Share Golf Day Belvoir Park Golf Course
Sat Dec 3: RYLA Final day catering BBQ lunch Camp Getaway
Fri Dec 9 evening. Time TBC. Catering Anglicare Christmas party for volunteer foster carers
Sun Dec 11 BBQ Christmas Party Race Day
Date TBA Club Christmas function
2023
February
Sat Feb 4 DG Event. Details TBC
March/April
Barham weekend Friday 31st March - Sunday 2nd April. 2023
Some onsite cabins available. Need to book early.
Contact Barham Caravan Park 5453 2553
Week
12-Oct
19-Oct
26-Oct
2-Nov
Speaker
Jo Ryan & Amy Gillet – Lightning Reef Primary
Bill Reid
Alma Doepel Restoration
NO MEETING
Kristen Wilson
Golden Square netballer
Meeting Location
Bendigo Tennis Centre
Bendigo Tennis Centre
Bendigo Cup
Bendigo Tennis Centre
Chair
Stan Hendy
Neville Sharpe
Barb Mitchell
Set-Up 6.45am
Rob Rosaia
Stewart Annan
Philip Britton
Welcome
Pat Sheehan
Maurice Woodburn
John Cannon
Raffle
Ned Upton
Karen Borserio
Toni Carrington
President's report
Welcome everyone to this weeks Bulletin.
Back to the continuation of the Floods trip. Coraki is situated where the Richmond and Wilson Rivers meet, hence the township had no escape from the floodwaters. We proceeded to the delivery point, the Coraki Hub. On arrival a banner greeted us above the doorway, it featured a large heart, and, on the back, it said from Bendigo. A nice welcome.
- They were extremely appreciative of all the donations and the vouchers we delivered.
Two storey houses and the local pub had been underwater to the roofline. One Rotarian said his family waited on the roof with their dog for 9 ½ hrs. to be rescued.
-Onto our next delivery, the Woodburn Hub. Woodburn sits in the Richmond Valley and was flooded by the Richmond River. Population is only 720, but the hub is supporting the surrounding region. Stew delivered his trailer of donations here. The management was well set up and have arranged for weekly dinners and social events for locals to share their stories. Many volunteers were helping and pleased to do so. They had lost almost everything and were so thankful to have the support of many people.
-Mostly sugar cane, cattle and canola as the main industry. Many paddocks were rotting.
The local café had 12’ ceilings and was water-marked up to 4” from the ceiling.
-Both the towns had temporary toilets and showers set up in the main areas. However, these were to be removed that week, leaving many people without facilities. Heavy rain continued and, on the return, West Wyalong ,Parkes and Forbes appeared to have more flooding.
This has been an extremely worthwhile project by Rochester Rotary, organized by Secretary Angela Beutal, bus drivers Bryan Griffiths and Tony Commadeur and President Heather Watson made for a great travelling team. Stewart Annan travelled separately with his own trailer full of supplies. PP Teresa Carlson from Echuca- Moama added a full van of necessary items also.
We were pleased to assist them with the driving, donations and voucher collections. Along with all the cluster clubs participating, it has shown what a team can do together.!!
Many thanks to you all again.
Geoff and Ray attended a working bee for the Timor Leste knitting project. Packing a total of 9 bales to be sent to Maubisse. Wonderful the knitters have continued through winter combining with cluster clubs.
A paper was presented last week to the board for consideration re a possible change in the meeting time. This will be discussed at the next Club Forum.
Please see reminders for upcoming events as the calendar is getting very full.
Have a great week, get outside and enjoy the beautiful gardens around Bendigo.
Last week, Ben Devanny from Bendigo City Council was our guest speaker.
Ben gave us a very informative insight into the past, present and future of the Airport Terminal Redevelopment Project, for which he is the development manager. Originally built in 1970 as a recreational facility, the airport came under council management in 1994. At that stage the airport had become unviable and a decision needed to be made whether to close it down or develop it further. In the council’s view the airport catered to a community need and thus the decision was made to develop.
The first Airport manager was appointed in 2009 and by 2017 a new modern, longer runway was constructed alongside the existing facility. The site caters to over 400 emergency flights annually, and beginning in 2019, Qantaslink commenced 8 flights per week to Sydney. There are currently 12,000 passengers per year using their 80 seat capacity planes and this is projected to rise to 100,000 in the future.
A new Terminal building with departure lounge, administration centre, bathrooms, waiting lounge, provision for security screening and car-parking will be built by end 2023, with funding from government and Council. It is hoped that this will encourage Qantas to increase their reach to other destinations. Simultaneously, a fully equipped Business Park with 21 Lots is being provided to cater to the maintenance and support for the airlines and associated industry.
We thank Ben for his illuminating presentation of an important part of Bendigo’s future.
A pink fundraiser for the Otis Foundation hosted by Evelyn Lehmann last Friday night was extremely well supported by Rotarians.
The Otis Foundation is a charity that provides retreat accommodation at no cost to anyone dealing with the challenges of breast cancer.
They currently have properties in every state in Australia.
Evelyn is delighted to report that the evening raised just over $1700 - the highest total to date!
Well done to Evelyn and a big thank-you to everyone who supported the event and donated. The main raffle prize - a pair of pink earrings kindly donated by Milton Long Contemporary Jewellery - was won by Linda Barrow.
