As I’m sitting down to write this I find myself a little weary having just completed my last job for the weekend as the photographer for the Border Relay-for-Life. An amazing event again this year saw 2,500 participants make over $400,000 to fight cancer with a lot of that money staying in the local area for such things as transport vehicles. It made me think of not only the great things we do as a club, but also as individuals the things we do for other community groups. Generally speaking I think Rotarians are very giving people in their nature. My stats for Relay-for-Life are 35,000 steps, a little over 26kms and over 500 photos posted on Facebook of the event. A big well done to Deidre and her team for Twilight and Music in the Gardens last week – over $2,000 was made over the two events – a very worthwhile effort. I also want to mention the effort by Gordon & Leanne with their open garden last weekend. Whilst not a Club project it is a fine example of the giving nature mentioned above. Gordon says they had over 400 people there on the day and raised $4,000 for the charity they are supporting. I know Gordon & Leanne were extremely grateful to all the Club members that assisted them. Another example of giving nature is Stephen’s show this weekend, which Stephen is using as a way to make some money for Foundation. Hopefully lots of Rotarians will support this show from lots of clubs. See it now before it goes international and ticket prices sky rocket ! I want to also briefly mention out Danish visitors … what a great group they are. The meeting on Wednesday was so much fun and laughter.
River of Stories
Thanks to all the members who supported our project now in its 14th year. A record crowd of parents, students, teachers, sponsors and media attended. 35 prizes were presented to Prize winning students and schools. Pres David excelled presenting the prizes as did Peter Merk filming all the winners. The Commercial Club already a major sponsor donated a dinner for two parents to the Red Room restaurant to the value of $200. ………………… Barry Young
Club Meeting 4 October 2017
Guest Speaker Paul Childs, is the Senior Environmental Water Management Officer with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and is based in Albury. He is part of a small team that helps plan and coordinate the delivery of environmental water in the Murray and Lower Darling valleys. Paul has worked in Natural Resource Management for the past 20 years, as a trained forester with the NSW Forestry Commission, with the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, and now with the OEH. OEH works with a range of stakeholders (including farmers, irrigation corporations, Aboriginal groups, Commonwealth and state government agencies, river operators, recreational fishers, non-government organisations, etc) to develop and implement environmental watering strategies across NSW. OEH is also responsible for developing Long Term Environmental Watering Plans for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in NSW.
The Murray Darling Basin Plan provides a rare opportunity to achieve balanced social, cultural, economic and environmental outcomes for our connected river systems.Native fish populations across the Murray Darling Basin are in decline due to a number of impacts including regulation, changed flow patterns, reduced habitat, barriers to movement and water quality issues. The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) is looking at opportunities of how environmental water management can help address some of these impacts and focus on improving flow, habitat and connectivity requirements for native fish. This presentation outlines some of the opportunities that are available to improve native fish populations and how through collaboration and partnerships positive outcomes can be achieved at a Basin scale.
President’s Message 20 September 2017
Barry tells me that the Hume Bank has committed to the River of Stories this week. They are providing $1800.00 all up – $1200.00 in direct sponsorship and 6 x $100.00 start up accounts. Great news. In conjunction with the $2000.00 from the Commercial Club, $500.00 from Dymocks and the administration support from the Albury City Library Museum (including web-site assistance) the event this year is looking very positive. The awards will be handed out on the 14 October and it would be great to see many Rotarians there to support this major program of the club.
Another project Barry has under his wing is work for the Homeless in our region. Barry is now after summer clothing; shorts, tee-shirts, caps etc. Marlene Carty has also approached me in regards to a project in conjunction with Albury City in lines with the Halve Waste program. Very early days at this point but some of the ideas include a car boot sale for clothing no longer needed. Strikes me there could be some synergies between these two projects – watch this space.
Club Meeting 13 September 2017
Guest Speaker, Jenny Black …… More than ten years ago Chris Thomas watched the uplifting movie ‘Calendar Girls’ and immediately believed that Albury Wodonga could produce its own calendar and in the process raise money to provide extra services and resources for cancer patients in our local region. She invited a talented professional photographer – Suzy Watson and a then Regional Breast Cancer Nurse, Jenny Black, to come on board and live her dream. The overwhelming success of this amazing calendar –‘ Brave Hearts Faces of Love Courage and Support’ saw the birth of Brave Hearts on the Murray Inc. and the beginning of a rewarding journey that has witnessed so many special projects involving an inspiring group of women and men who have been touched by a cancer diagnosis and who very aptly stand by their name – Brave Hearts.
The mission of Brave hearts is …
To provide support to people of our local region who have been touched by a cancer diagnosis
To provide awareness to our community about prevention, early detection, treatment, palliative assistance and research concerning all cancers
To provide assistance with the health, welfare and well-being of individuals and their families affected by cancer in our local region
To provide equipment, facilities, tuition and an overall opportunity for cancer survivors, families and friends to participate in the sport of dragon boating ensuring all aspects of injury prevention strategies and enhancement of physical & mental health are endorsed and emphasised
To achieve the goals and promote the purposes of the group
Jenny Black was a recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship from Albury Hume a few years ago.