What an incredible start to the week. Albury City Council recommended us for a BBQ in support of veterans to be held out at Bandiana. The team of ten Rotarians led by Rod were fantastic. Rod tells me they worked their butts off, but had loads of fun at the same time and that it was a real honour to provide lunch for the RSL veterans. They also received help from some of the RSL State committee and Bandiana Army. There was some leftover food which was donated to Uniting Care and St Matthews.

Special mention goes to Deidre who coordinated Music in The Gardens and then helped Rod with the RSL BBQ. Also to Graham Fuller who did trailer duty Saturday (Paying it Forward BBQ), Sunday (Music in the Gardens) and for Monday’s BBQ. 450 Veterans were feed and it raised nearly $3,800 for the Club.

On Sunday 12 of us braved the cool conditions and headed out to Holbrook to enjoy a lovely lunch at the Ten Mile Cafe. It started with a rundown of Ron’s upcoming trip to London and Dublin – which he swears is not a pleasure trip. Sounds like a pretty pleasurable trip to me mate – have fun. A big thank you goes to Meredith for organising the day, even though she pulled out of the lunch at the last minute. I think it is a compulsory fine to not attend a function you organised especially as one of the sergeants was there – you have been warned Meredith. The food was spectacular so if travelling near Holbrook I would recommend stopping in.

As I look back over my year I realise that there have been a lot of highlights, from the 40^th Anniversary Dinner to the reflection area at Brown’s Lagoon. From the Paying it Forward project to standing with Barry at the River of Stories presentation. The absolute thrill I got when I hit the button that donated $50 from each of you to Foundation. But none of those compare the thrill of giving out Paul Harris Fellow awards – and I’ve been lucky enough to have done that three times in my year. The first was to Ron Haberfield at the 40^th Anniversary dinner. The second and third I had the privilege of presenting at this week’s meeting. Both the recipients are people that I hold in the highest regards and that I consider mentors, both to me and to the Club in general. But Julie, myself and the Board wanted our new Paul Harris Fellows to be surprised, so we have been sneaking around to arrange everything, co-ordinating them attending a meeting together, arranging for their partners to be there without them knowing –  we got there!!! The First award went to Vicki Gray, whilst Vicki is not currently a member the work that she did when she was a member has changed the way we see ourselves as a club and our ability to earn big dollars. Outside of the Club Vicki is extremely committed to our local community and the work she has done for suicide prevention is exemplary. It even got her a nomination for Albury Citizen of the year last year. The second award went to Past President Dennis recognising the high level of commitment to the Club for a very long time including supporting two new youth projects during his presidency, Paying in Forward and Justa and Gunk. He also started the whole process for the reflection area at Brown’s Lagoon. His work in the local community includes with the Uniting Church’s food bank and a lifetime commitment to the promotion of Hockey in this community. A commitment that will soon see him in Barcelona representing Australia. I think we can all agree that our club is a better club because of the efforts of both Vicki & Dennis and I’m proud to have them both as my friends

Seven Club members headed down to Benalla for the District Assembly and training day for the new board members. Our next leader (this time he was happy with the coffee freshly brewed by Rod) myself and Rod in one car with Justin Gill and Meredith in another (Steve is always there well before us). It is always great to catch with other clubs, met up with old friends and find a few new ones. I attended the Foundation & Grants workshop. Turned around to shake the hand on the gent next to me to see it was a man I worked on an organising committee for a Bushwalking Victoria event back in 2006. Small world! It is always great to hear about the great work of The Rotary Foundation. The question was posed how many people in the room give to charity each year, every hand went up. Then we were asked how many people use Foundation as your charity of choice. Nearly every hand went down. But why would you not choose Foundation we were asked when 100% of the money donated ends up with the people that need it. Not one cent is spent on wages, on office tower accommodation or on fancy cars. It got me thinking that we really need to get Every Rotarian Every Year going within our Club – something I will raise with the board. $100 a year each is not a big ask.