Monday 31 August 2020 was special for a number of reasons. The first being the visit our District Governor (DG) Colin Burns supported by his Assistant Governor (AG) Ian Pittaway; the second was the visit of the District Insurance Officer, David Honey who lives in Esperance and is a member of the Rotary Club Of EWA; and the third was the induction of Frank Murgia accompanied by his wife, Gillian. (pictured below with me on the left, and DG Colin and Frank's sponsor, Vic Camp, on the right) Frank has been appointed to the Youth Service committee headed by Club Director, Noel Galopin.  He is a very welcome addition to our Club and to learn more about his life and times please Click here.

It then fell to Past District Governor (PDG) Pushpa Pushpalingam to introduce DG Colin Burns (pictured below), our District 9465 leader for 2020/2021 who has the task of overseeing and encouraging all our Clubs to do “Good in the World”.

Colin  is a Victorian by birth and a metallurgist by profession serving the mining industry ever since he graduated . He is married to his charming wife Sandra and  they have two children. He had also been a Rotarian for some thirty (30) years with the Rotary Club of Bendigo before emigrating to WA and joining the Rotary Club of Como on 1 February 2013. 

Pushpa had the greatest pleasure meeting Colin when he (Pushpa) organised the Million Dollar Foundation Dinner in July 2015. At that first encounter, Colin made it clear that he was keen to promote The Rotary Foundation (TRF), which as a champion of that cause, was music to Pushpa's ears. Colin made good on his commitment signing up as major donor, subsequently joining TRF 's Bequest Society and thereby setting a fine example for us all to follow.  

DG Colin reminded us of the Rotary International's Vision:-TOGETHER, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves;  and  RI President Holger Knack's theme for 2020/2021 -Rotary Opens Opportunities (the logo for which is at the top of the right hand column); and his priorities to encourage a five year strategic approach; grow membership with the right people; capitalise on the new normal (don’t just go back); and most importantly, HAVE FUN.

Aside from the critical task of strategic planning, Colin's priorities were to develop partnerships with business, government and community groups; to communicate Club activities to the widest possible audience; and to revive existing projects and renew our drive for new and exciting opportunities. Just as exciting was the announcement that the next District Conference will be held in conjunction with District 9455 on 5-7 March 2021 at our magnificent Optus Stadium and with the theme of  "Opportunities To Kick Goals" The District Conference is always an important event in the Rotary calendar and even more so this time because we will be celebrating 100 Years of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand and (hopefully) the end of COVID 19. 

For all the details of DG Colin's presentation Click here

Speaking of Kicking Goals, (and getting down and dirty! Ed), last Saturday Noel Galopin, and Simon Cubitt joined students from WSHS Interact Club (pictured at right) and South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare (SERCUL)  in a revegetation/ tree planting project, This was a great opportunity for students to volunteer and be involved in restoration of a natural habitat quite close to the school. The students also sold hot chocolate before and snacks (curry puffs etc) after the session, as a fundraiser. Noel reported that the curry puffs were "yummy".

Now I want to thank Greg Hamilton for his untiring efforts to win the Club a fortune through Greg's Lucky Lotto and while we haven't "kicked a lot of goals", there was nevertheless the tidy sum of $8,824 to deposit into Club's Good Works account and I thank everyone who agreed for this to be done. It will make a big difference in these "lean" times and in particular, will allow us to continue in a limited way with the various District Youth programs including the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) the next round of which will be held on Saturday 19 September 2020. Simon Cubitt is the District Chair and needs help to conduct interviews with around twenty four (24) applicants. I'm hoping enough of us will step up to lend a hand. If you can, please contact Simon on M: 0407 383 324‬ or via  nysf@rotary9465.org.au.  

For our Club Jokers' Jokes delivered in style by Stuart Diggins and Greg Vines over two meetings Click here.