On Tuesday 26th June, members and guests attended a formal function to see Graham Roper become the 50th President of the club, taking over the reins from Ross Conley.

In his farewell speech, Ross highlighted some of the key successes during his year as President which supported the 2017-18 Rotary theme of Making a Difference. Some of these achievements included:

• Additional support for the Tamarind farm project in Uganda with a donation of a further $5,000 to build a chicken shed.

• The High Tea at Wyndham Central College raised $5,000.

• Providing scholarships to three Wyndham Central College students and apprenticeship awards for three Gordon TAFE students.

• The annual charity golf day raised a record sum of $30,000. This resulted in a donation of $20,000 to the Werribee Mercy Hospital as part of their Critical Care Unit appeal.

• Planting over 700 trees as part of RI President Ian Riseley's challenge for all Rotarians worldwide to make our world more sustainable.

• The breakfast program continued to support young school children.

• The mid-week Bunnings BBQ has been a great success. In total we have raised $12,000 for the year.

• Donation of $74,000 to various projects and community groups.

Ross expressed his gratitude to all for their support of him and the club's projects.

Graham thanked Ross for guiding the club for the past 12 months. He said it will be a challenging year ahead. Not only do we need to celebrate our 50th year in style, in order to acknowledge all past and present members of the club and the fine humanitarian work they have performed over the years, but we also have to build on the momentum of some of our current projects as well as introduce a few new concepts. Some of these include:

• Running a mental health forum.
• Placing strong emphasis on increasing our membership through a positive marketing campaign.
• Refocus on helping the homeless in our community.

In keeping with the new Rotary theme "Be An Inspiration", Graham believes we can all be inspirational to ourselves and to the wider community.

Click here to see some happy snaps of the evening.

Congratulations to Lyn Fava for being presented with a Paul Harris Fellow at the club's Changeover evening.

Lyn joined Rotary in 2008 and has been a very active member during her 10-year membership. She was President in 2012-13. Her strong commitment to supporting our community has seen her involved in various projects including providing shelter for the homeless, caring for the aged and promoting social inclusion. She plans to continue this theme.

Congratulations to the dedicated members of the club and friends of Rotary who, over a 9-year period, participated in five 200km charity walks around Victoria with the aim of raising $200,000 for the Royal Children's Hospital Palliative Care Unit.

A cheque for $202,732 was presented recently at a function hosted by the RCH Foundation to recognise this great achievement and the impact the project has had on the unit and the families they support. Rotarians Lyn, Lou and Mary attended and were, in turn, presented with a torch for our club symbolising the light and support this effort has given to the families caring for children with life-limiting conditions.

Pictured above is a group consisting of some of the walkers and support crew and senior staff of the RCH Palliative Care Unit at the cheque presentation.

Congratulations to all who participated in the walks. Your efforts were greatly appreciated.

The picture below shows club members Mary Macaulay, Ross Conley and Lyn Fava proudly displaying the cheque and the torch.

Planning is well advanced for the celebration of the club's 50th anniversary on Saturday 18th August.

This special function will be held at the Werribee Racecourse Function Centre. The guest speaker will be Ian Riseley who is just completing his year as RI President.

If you haven't already received an invitation, please click here.

Click here to register on-line.

Next year's District Conference promises to be much different and much bigger than anything before. It will be a Multi-District Conference consisting of four of the Districts in Victoria. It will be held on 16-17 February 2019 at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

Organisers are working hard to deliver a great conference. There will be many inspiring speakers and a large number of breakout sessions to enable delegates to choose sessions with specific Rotary content. There will aslo be a Youth Forum as well as an Interact/EarlyAct Forum.

Registrations will open on July 1st.

Click here to visit the conference website.

Click here to view a flyer of the event.

Click here to register online.

• It was great to see many guests at our Changeover night last Tuesday including:

  • Past President Ned Amezdroz. Unfortunately Audrey couldn't attend but we all wish her well.

  • Family and friends of President Graham.

  • Exchange student Andrea Fredskild.

  • District Governor Nominee Phillip Archer.

  • Outgoing Assistant Governor Nicole Lake.

  • Incoming Assistant Governor Julianne Bartels.

  • New President of the Rotary Club of Laverton Point Cook Catherine (Kitty) O'Connor.

  • Veronica Hepburn.

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