President’s Message

Last Friday I presented our Club’s Dr John McDonald Medical Scholarship to Madeline Burrell, a 6th year Medical student from the University of NSW who is at their Rural Clinic at the Base Hospital.  It was great that Margaret McDonald also came and spoke.   It was a great privilege to present Madeline with the scholarship on behalf of our club. She is a truly deserving recipient. She comes from Gilgandra where her family are farmers and have been in drought for a number of years. Madeline decided she wanted to be an obstetrician when she was 14 !! She did all her schooling at Gilgandra.  She is very keen to work in the regional areas and the scholarship funds will definitely help her in her studies.  There were about 30 medical students at the presentation and Margaret spoke to them about John and really engaged with them so they got a sense of who John was and how he spent the majority of his career in a regional area.  Madeline will come and speak to us at one of our meetings. Thanks again to Vicki and Roger S for organising the scholarship for 2016.

Community Service

Rotary Club if North Albury’s ‘End Polio Now’ fundraising evening went exceptionally well, with an audience attendance of 161 persons, and total takings for the evening were in excess of $4500 so with the Bill Gates contribution another $ 13500 plus,- as some private contributions yet to be received,-  has gone into the ‘End Polio Now’ kitty from Members within Albury – Wodonga.

Whilst on about Albury – Wodonga, the four Wodonga Rotary Clubs have combined to form a very active Fund Raising Committee for the Burrumbuttock Hay Run organisers, with another ‘ hay run’ being planned for another truck convoy to depart for another area of Central Queensland late in May.Apparently the ‘run’ they undertook a few weeks ago involved a convoy of 240 trucks, each truck carrying about 20 tonnes of hay.  As Clive Faul, a member of that Committee, advised us at our meeting last week, the auction they are holding at the SS&A Club on Saturday 28th May promises to be both well attended with some excellent goods/gifts being donated toward the cause. Our Club has reserved a table and so far six of us are attending. Tables are for ten persons so should anyone else like to come and book early please let me know asap. Cost is $20 per head, and does NOT include a meal. All monies for the evening go direct to the fundraising appeal.

Club Meeting 13 April 2016

Graeme SayerGuest Speaker, Graeme Sayer  explained that after many years as a senior partner in a Sydney accounting practice, he became frustrated with the traditional accountancy emphasis on taxation and being able to offer only partial solutions to clients seeking a range of business advice. He resigned and joined a Melbourne based business advisory firm and moved to full time consultancy. As the company was the Australian joint venture partner to Jay Abraham, one of the leading marketers to SME’s on the West Coast of the US, he had several trips to the US and gained hands on experience with Jay and several other leading international marketing and sales experts. This unique business opportunity has provided him with an unusual insight into the critical interrelationship of marketing and accounting. He has consulted to a wide and diverse range of businesses and has also presented at a number of national conferences.  He has been Chief Executive Officer since 2008 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA) and has been an active Rotarian for many years.

Club Meeting 30 March 2016

Sue ChamberlainGuest Speaker, Sue Chamberlain, is  from Wodonga, married to Chris and a daughter, Nikki, and I am 70 years young.  I feel that I inherited my sense of community from my Dad, Tom Jelbart, and much of my life has been volunteering for one thing or another or serving on committees. My journey with Nepal started in 2004 with a Scots School trek to Gokyo Valley and Everest Base Camp and my love of the country and its people has grown over the years.  In 2 weeks time I will be returning for my 14th visit to Nepal for the reopening of the new school in a remote community that was totally destroyed during the earthquake of 25 April 2015.  I have been fundraising over the past 10 months and am very excited to be there for the official opening on 17 April and to know that these very deserving children will be able to continue their education in a strong and safe environment.

April is Magazine Month

Magazine Month – April – Have you explored the rich world of Rotary Media information? April is magazine month and may be just the time to follow the link below to the RI News and Information Section. There you will find links to “The Rotarian”, “Rotary World” and details of the 27 regional magazines published for Rotarians all around the world.