Introduction

The Rotary Club of Canterbury has been serving our local & international communities since 1987. We have an active social and project program. Our members love being part of our Club and enjoy participating in all our activities. You are invited to come along to:

join in with our many volunteering opportunities,
make new friends and
learn new things.

Once you get to know us, you might like to become a Rotary Friend or even to join the 1.2 million Rotarians as a club member. We will make you feel very welcome.

Rotary Safe Families

Dorothy Gilmour at a Club meeting recently discussed a grim issue - abuse. Whilst it is a dire situation for many Dorothy did not want us to be linger on this and she offered us hope that we can do something about it. Dorothy was keen to point out that abuse is not limited to a specific demographic and happens to all kinds of people in different environments. Abuse represents an exercise of power over a targeted victim making the person feel insecure and can be physical, mental, subliminal etc.

Rotary Safe Families was established 3 years ago by Dorothy Gilmour, a member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, with the aim of the primary prevention of abuse.

The strategy adopted is the simplified by the identification of the three R's:

1. Recognise the signs of abuse

2. Raise concerns safely with the victim

3. Refer the victim to the appropriate support

She passionately emphasised the view that being a passive bystander is not an option. She also asked some interesting questions of the members of The Rotary Club of Canterbury:-

1. When have you last discussed abuse?

2. Why is abuse such a taboo subject?

What Rotary Safe Families advocates for is not money simply to seek champions amongst Rotary clubs across Australia who will spread the word and support others.

Dorothy posed the question to the members whether they were aware of two signs that someone is being abused

The first one is visible and involves a hand signal which indicates a cry for help – you place your thumb across your palm and close your fingers over it

The second one is and may involve situations where someone in a bar is feeling threatened, they can approach the bartender and ask " Is Angela here?" Bartenders are taught this as a sign of distress

The organisation maintains an up-to-date website which provides ample resource materials including videos about issues of abuse. There is a link to a you tube video below

https://youtu.be/JrhmJi_3v54.

The website for Rotary Safe Families is :

www.rotarysafefamilies.org.au.

It goes without saying that Rotary does not condone abuse.

R100 Yarra Park Playground

FAMILY DAY EVENT AT YARRA BANK RESERVE - SUNDAY 21 November 2021

Rotary 100

Construction of the new Yarra Bank Reserve Playground is well underway with the installation of the unique Rotary Interactive Play Sculpture which will be the centrepiece of the new playground.

The playground will be officially opened by the Mayor of Boroondara Garry Thompson and Rotary District 9800 Governor 2021-2022 Dale Hoy at a Family Fun Day on Sunday 21 November 2021, commencing at midday. Keep your eye out for more information and be sure to spread the news and save the date.

Change-over 2021

On Monday 28 June, the Rotary Club of Canterbury had their changeover.

District Governor of 9800, Phillip Archer, and AG Casey Tan accompanied by Carolyn Tan were in attendance. The event, held at the Amora Hotel in Richmond, was a joyous affair with great food, fun and a fabulous DJ, David Williamson. Several cluster Presidents were in attendance including Murray and Lyndy Anderson, Greg and Jenny Cribbes, Tim Reynolds, Maurie and Kris Walters and Anne and Peter Frueh. Phillip Archer opened proceedings with the Rotary grace and a toast to Rotary International and spoke about the successful year that has just passed.

Several awards were given. Doug Hawley, Val Cunniffe and Kevin Xiao, received Paul Harris Fellows for their wonderful work on the FORaMEAL project. Last year, the project distributed over 180 000 meals in the Greater Melbourne area and in the Bendigo region. Well done to the team. Anne Josefsberg was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow for her role in youth projects over many years, first at the Boroondara Club and then at Canterbury. She was also commended on her long term service as a presenter on Rotary Radio.

Lili-Ann Kriegler received the Ralph Hartnett trophy for Rotarian of the Year for involvement in a variety of projects across the year. Everyone who received prizes indicated that no-one at Rotary ever works alone. It is always a team effort, and we never stop learning!

Well done to all the awardees.

We congratulated and thanked outgoing President Tony Laycock on his great work over the past 12 months, many of which were in lock-down.

And it was a delight to welcome in our new President Cathie Macmillan who was resplendent in her Carlton footy jumper to go with the sporting theme for the night.

Many thanks to the organising committee for a wonderful event!

Your Garden - Our Future Webinar

The Your Garden - Our Future webinar was held on Thursday 26 November.

The event raised $1172 from donations. Thank you to those who contributed to assist the Rotarians for Bees sponsorship of the Nursery & Garden Industry of Victoria (NGIV) Schools Pollination Education Program.

Special shout out to the Speakers, sponsors Beechworth Honey and Seasol and also all the Supporters including the team Backyard Honey who help support existing and aspiring Beekeepers.

The edited Webinar Recording is now live on the Rotarians for Bees website:

https://rotariansforbees.org/your-garden-our-future/

or directly at https://vimeo.com/484621295

Let's Stay Connected Project

The "Let's Stay Connected" project came about as a need within the Aged Care sector was identified for some stimulating material to be made available to residents, while in isolation.

Several members and friends of the Rotary Club of Canterbury have written books, some of personal experiences, some researched, for this purpose.

The books are available in several formats and can be given to individuals to read or the Power Point version can be used in a group presentation.

Please follow this link to the page with the book titles page/let-s-stay-connected-project

New FORaMEAl Website

While the Club has not been able to hold FORaMEAL packaging events, lots still has been happening in the FORaMEAl space.

Pallets and smaller parcels of FORAMEAL packs are currently being distributed to those in the community impacted by the Covid restrictions.

There has been an amazing take-up with many partner organisations joining with the Club to facilitate the distribution process.

To enable the concepts about the FORaMEAL project to be easily understood, a team which has been led by Club member Kevin Xiao has very quickly established a new FORaMEAL website at www.FORaMEAL.org

There is a very clear objective stated on the website about the FORaMEAl project - "this year, the Rotary Club of Canterbury decided to redirect part of our FORaMEAL effect to help the most vulnerable in the Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne. Our aim simple – to provide 100,000 nutritious meals to Melbournians who are at risk of hunger".

Please take a moment to visit the website and see the details about the great work being undertaken with the FORaMEAL project and how you (or organisations which you are affiliated with) may assist by becoming a partner and/or making a tax deductible donation.

Philippines Mission 2019

The Club had a wonderful presentation by four former LaTrobe University orthoptic students at a recent Club meeting who spoke about their experiences as members of the Philippines eye and ear mission in October 2019. We were also joined on the night by several other volunteers who were part of the mission team.

Damon Goddard, Bradley Lai, Stinoj Shaju and Rachel Wishart spoke about their typical day, with very early mornings, up to two hours travel, then conducting the eye tests and also assisting/observing the cataract operations followed by some leisure time, bed and then up to do it all over again the next day. But while the days were long, the experiences were fantastic.

They observed that they came across clinical issues they were very unlikely to encounter in Australia.

They also spoke about the happiness of the children and the culture which Doug Hawley also noted led to a reluctance by some Philippine residents, who were diagnosed with cataracts, but who were hesitant to undergo surgery.

The group then showed the terrific video below which highlighted the experiences from the trip.

In conclusion they thanked the Club for giving them the opportunity to be part of the eye and ear mission to the Philippines.

Rotarians for Bees What the Buzz About Bees Event Video

The "What the Buzz About Bees" was first main Rotarians for Bees Event - it was held at Greenacres Golf Club on 12 November 2019 with three guest speakers and 200 attendees to learn more about protecting our Bees and other Pollinators.

Thanks to Andrew McCaskill for taking and editing the video of the night which captures the highlights of the evening. There is a terrific sound track accompanying the video so please ensure that the sound is switched on on the video.

Paul Harris Fellow Posthumously Awarded to Ralph Hartnett

Helen Hartnett, who was joined by family members and several former Club members, provided us with background history on her husband Ralph who was awarded a posthumous Paul Harris Fellow award at the Club Meeting on 28 October 2019.

Ralph was the second President of our club after its charter in 1987. At that time Rotary was a men's club and the members had young families which lead to family friendly activities with BBQs, picnics and cricket matches. Other activities included fund raising with cake stalls, fashion parades (using wives as models) and 2nd hand bookstall sales.

Community involvement included working bees to assist the elderly with gardening, maintenance and painting. Meetings at the time were a little more formal with an elevated head table and monthly ladies nights with "appropriate speakers".

International service saw the first of many exchange students, Bettina Laursen from Denmark, who were hosted by the Club.

Helen thanked the Club for giving them the opportunity to serve and also for the support they received in return.

Rotary for Bees

The Club over the past months has been working with other Rotary Clubs and a group called Rotary for Bees (R4B's) has been established. This new group is working with the Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group (ESRAG), an international rotary body, to do all they can to ensure the sustainability of bees.

Please follow this link page/rotarians-for-bees on our website to see more details about the group and also links to many useful references and websites. Please find the Rotarian for Bees Website at https://rotariansforbees.org and you can also find more details on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/395777217740428