Tamworth Rotary News 2007

ROTARY CLUB OF TAMWORTH Inc.
DISTRICT 9650 - CLUB No. 17944
NEWS BULLETIN
VOL. 75 No. 29

26 February 2008

February is World Understanding Month

From the President - Peter Godden

Fellow Rotarians,
Welcome to Rotary tonight, for another Club assembly.
All Directors will be reporting on their Portfolios, and there will be the opportunity for you to raise any issue which you would like to raise.

Many thanks to Ken and Di Hall for their presentation on their trip for the International Assembly, and to Sue Rice and Dianne Drew for their input after the Annalisa Kerrigan concert.

On the door tonight there will be some items available for collection:-

RYLA information – please feel free to take one if you know anybody who could be an appropriate candidate.

Registration forms for District Conference.

A few copies of the January 2008 Newsletter for the School of St Jude.
Remember if you are doing something a little bit different, that might interest Vini, you can ask him whether he is interested in going with you.
Continue to enjoy your Rotary

Remember that February is World Understanding Month.

Peter.

Rotary Down Under may be contacted at www.rotarnet.com.au
Tamworth Club is now online at www.rotarnet.com.au/users/9/96531
Take the time to visit the new District 9650 web site at d9650.rotarnet.com.au

Last Week - DGE Ken and Di Hall; International Assembly - San Diego.
Tamworth Rotary Club Meeting 17th February 2008. Held at Restaurant 83 with President Peter Godden in the chair.
Guests: Dianne Drew and Sue Rice; soon-to-be member and visiting Rotarian John Dale, along with various members’ wives, too numerous to mention individually.

Announcements: Dianne Drew of AFAP, and Gemma Sisia’s mother, Sue Rice, were in attendance, representing Gemma and thanking the club for the donation of the proceeds from the Annalise Kerrigan concert. Dianne thanked Raymond McLaren and Terry Balla in particular for their sponsorship and then gave an update on Annalise’s whereabouts. She is currently playing in Hanoi and will be back in Tamworth in the middle of the year.
Sue Rice spoke at length about Gemma’s work in Tanzania. There will soon be another campus of the school opened, where the President of Tanzania himself will be officiating. And Gemma has plans for opening a teachers college in the future.

Paul Cole suggested a day trip to the Apsley Falls on 9th March. If there is enough interest, from members, partners and friends, then a bus will be organised. See Paul to register your interest.

Jeff Lee is promoting another musical expedition. This is for Monsieur Camembert, a cabaret style show featuring a group that won a “world’s best” ARIA award recently.

Sergeant Keith: For reasons that I can’t quite recall, Keith started out with a fine on all the Colonials. That is, anyone whose father was born in Australia. Then Ted Carter got a fine for getting his photo in the paper because of his and Mary’s 60th wedding anniversary last week. Ted protested that he’d already been fined for the anniversary but this was dismissed on the grounds that last week’s fine was for the anniversary and this week’s fine was for the photo, and so Ted reluctantly coughed up his second 50 cents for the same anniversary. Rest assured, there will be no cameras allowed at the 70th.
Paul Ying and Kevin Haycock were fined for Boy Scout’s 100 year celebration, and in recognition of the 65 year anniversary of the bombing of Darwin, anyone 65 or older was fined. John Budden was fined for turning up to Rotary unshaved(!), and Fred Edwards made quite a scene about a fine for Ted Heazlett, but in Ted’s absence found that the fine backfired on himself.

Raffle: was won by Wayne Woods.
Speaker: Ken Hall was introduced by Warren Newman. Ken and Di left Australia just after Christmas last year, on their way to the District Governor’s conference in San Diego, California. They took the opportunity to go on a round-the-world trip, starting with London, where they spent a week, including New Year’s Eve. From London they headed to New York for a few days. They stayed in a city called Rochester, where they enjoyed the hospitality of some fellow Rotarians, and some unusually warm winter weather. They went to Niagara Falls, where it was still cold, even if it was warmer than usual. They visited two schools, both with breakfast cafes, much to Ken’s satisfaction.
They travelled on to San Diego for some warmer weather and the conference. There were 23 District Governors representing the 23 districts of Australia, and they were very popular. It was at the conference that the President of Rotary International announced that next year’s theme would be “Make Dreams Real”. Ken and Di finished the conference, travelled up to San Francisco, and then headed home via Auckland, where they got acclimatised and readjusted to the longer, southern hemisphere days.
Attendance: Kevin Haycock announced that the official attendance was 79.9 something, but 80% would do.

Bowel Screening A Public Meeting to launch Bowelscan Week will be held in the Heritage Room Community Centre on the 28th February. Guest speakers will include a surgeon, dietician, cancer survivor and a representative of the Cancer Council. Come learn more about one of the most common cancers and how it can be cured if detected early. This is a free meeting and everyone is welcome. Morning tea will follow. Starting time is 9.30am and will finish at 11am. And still on Bowelscan Week, there are still a few vacant timeslots on our timetable. Please note, the number in brackets is the number of volunteers still required: Monday 3rd March 9-11am (1), 11am-1pm (1) Tuesday 4th March 9-11am (2), 1-3pm (2), 3-5pm (1) Wednesday 5th March 9-11am (1), 1-3pm (1), 3-5pm (1) Thursday 6th March 1-3pm (1), 3-5pm (1) Friday 7th March 9-11am (1), 11am-1pm (1) Saturday 8th March 8.30-10.30am (1), 10.30am-12.30pm (1) It is essential that these timeslots are filled. Please see Mal Soutar if you can help. The annual bowel screening program for this year will take place between 1st March and 8th March. The roster sheet will be passed around at the next few meetings. It is essential that all time slots are filled and the telephone numbers of each volunteer be included alongside their name. Spouses are very welcome to assist. If you have any questions please see Mal Soutar.
What a bang 2008 started out with! Gemma Sisia (Director) The School of St Jude. Fighting Poverty through Education Six weeks ago we opened the second primary school on that beautiful piece of land 20 kilometers outside Arusha that we told you about 18 months ago. Thanks to so many of you ‘purchasing your plots’, the land appeal was a great success and now you all should be so proud of your new campus! Running two schools has been an exciting challenge what with almost 1000 students and 130 teaching staff, not to mention all the new cooks, cleaners, drivers, security guards, groundsmen and fundis! I know many of you have been waiting to hear the results of the 2007 Std 4 exams … well, we can very proudly say that they ALL passed with flying colours! This year almost 150 students sat the exam (there were 27 in our first Std 4!) and 78% of the students (well over 100!) achieved 100% in at least one or more exam papers! And if they didn’t get 100% then certainly for the English paper they were only a few marks off – incredible for students who only a few years ago spoken not a word of English! Check out my January 2008 newsletter to enjoy over 30 photographs and all the latest news! HELP!! We are in desperate need of a passionate teacher librarian to help set up the library at Usa river campus – check out the photographs in the newsletter. We also need a good handyman/builder to oversee the maintenance and building at the three school sites – Moshono school, Moshono boarding, Usa River With the opening of the new school and boarding houses we have had to employ over 70 new teachers this year. Please help spread the word that we are wanting sponsors for teachers (or teacher/student packages). We would be so grateful as you can imagine the huge increase in our salaries bill! Two places have become available on our July tour. If you want to visit the school and explore our exotic environs then get in quickly and email me! It’s thanks to all of you that I can report so positively and continue the success story of The SCHOOLS of St Jude! Here’s to a great 2008 for all of us! Gemma
VISIT BY ROTARY DISTRICT 1010 SCOTLAND NORTHERN COUNTIES PROJECTED ITINERARY FRAMEWORK FOR CONSIDERATION Tuesday 1 April; Arr. 4:00 PM Tamworth. At home with hosts in evening or Tamworth RC meeting. Wednesday 2 April; Possible attendance Tamworth 1st Light in morning. Host clubs to showcase part of the Country & Western Capital until say 12:00 NOON. Free afternoon. Group dinners or at home with hosts in evening. Thursday 3 April; More good things in and around Tamworth until 4:00 PM. Possible combined Rotary function in evening. Friday 4 April; Depart 9.00AM Tamworth
4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO courtesy Alec Noble There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it: FIRST Emergency The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out. SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors. Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone! "I've tried it too, Alec! THIRD Hidden Battery Power Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys 3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time. FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?* To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

	February 2008	March 2008
DOOR TEAM:	Steve Simpfendorfer © Barry Smith Mal Soutar Grahan Stevens	Geoff Ward © Jim Wilson Wayne Woods Denis Woolaston
FELLOWSHIP:	Andrew Swane © Ren Tschirpig Wayne Turner Bill Warburton	Paul Ying © Cec Baker Terry Balla Guy Barnier

Celebrations:

INDUCTIONS	Nil	.
BIRTHDAYS	Nil	.
ANNIVERSARY	Steve & Vicki Beaton	26th February

Coming Events - 2008

*Date*	*Program*	*Guest Speaker*	*Support Rotarian*
Feb 26	Club Assembly	President Peter Godden	Director's reports
March 4	Footlight Follies	Bill Gleeson	Peter Godden
March 18	Easter Tuesday	Ren Tschirpig	.
April 8	The Black Dog Institute station	Robyn Nugent	.
April 15, 22, 29	Working Bees	Annual Booksale	Tamworth Homespace
May 1	My Home in Brazil	Vini Reis	Club counsellor Denis Woolaston
May 4	District Assembly	Walcha	DGE Ken Hall
May 4,5	Annual Booksale	Tamworth Homespace	.
May 11,12	Annual Booksale	Tamworth Homespace	.
May 27	Youth Encouragement Award	Charles Nott (organiser)	Tamworth TAFE
June 10	Myall Creek Massacre	Fr. Ron Perrett	Ladies welcome night
June 17	Annual reports - assembly	President Peter Godden	.
Jun 24	Annual Changeover	West's Diggers	.

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