About eleven members from the Club,  including partners and also Phyllis  attended the SS and A Club where the Burrumbuttock Hay Run Auction was being held, along with some local Cabaret artists who were giving of their services on a pro-bono basis. Except for some audience members who were quite noisily talking when the artists were performing, so it was sometimes hard for them to be heard, it was a very enjoyable evening. About 300 guests attended, including the Mayor of Albury and  the District Chair of Community and Emergency Services ‘elect’, with his wife Ann, who also came up from Melbourne and attended …  he advised that he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The evening Auction and other collections raised approximately $68,000 for the Hay Runners fund, which included a $50.000 donation from BP Australia of $500  BP fuel vouchers for the next visit or partial reimbursement for the recently completed trip. The gifts donated and auctioned went for very good prices. I think a cricket bat donated by BP Australia and signed by the ex Australian Cricket Captain, Michael Clark fetched $1400, and some high quality footy memorabilia of shirts and signed autographs etc fetched anything between a top offer $1000 to $600. No Rod, I don’t recall any Collingwood shirts on offer, hence the high prices.  Some of the Hay Runners gave accounts of their experiences of both the trip and their findings of the various Queensland farming communities when receiving the hay. It is quite obvious these conditions will last for at least a couple of years  even if rainfall fell incessantly for months to come. Some photos shown of the various cattle dying of malnutrition were very sad to see. Without doubt the farmers and their families are certainly doing it tough up there.

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.

Focus for Rotary was the old Lavington library. Dan, Vicki, Darrin with Gabi & Carla, Tabitha with Xavier & Seamus, Gordon Miller, myself and a couple of other volunteers were there to help. The library area was cleaned up very quickly with some stubborn rubbish hard to remove. Dan, Vicki, Darrin then moved to paint a fence opposite “The Good Guys” in Albury. Gordon, Tabitha and the other volunteers removed some graffiti from the Masonic Lodge in Lavington. Meanwhile 10 youths from the Albury Youth Council tackled graffiti in Dean Street. Pity those who do the vandalism aren’t good youths like these are.  I had hoped and we had more work to do. I would like next year to be better and will push for more help from the Council and will also re-invite all the other Albury/Lavington Rotary clubs to help. A least the local media was more co-operative this year ……………..  Terry Simmonds

THANK YOU

On behalf of the Management, Staff, Volunteers and Clients of Albury Meals on Wheels, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your club for the generosity shown during the Easter period to make available and also deliver hampers to some of our Meals on Wheels recipients. The pleasure that was given to those who received the hampers certainly brightened up their Easter. We had many phone calls of delight and thanks. Thank you again for supporting Albury Meals On Wheels Inc. Yours Sincerely Karen & Kim Coordinators