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PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE
I am sure all of our members who attended our luncheon
on Friday would agree with me Ted Elliott certainly has taken
on a lot to have two teenagers living with him after the circumstances
they have been subjected to in the last few months. I am sure all
the members that are able will help in any way they can.
 We
have set our date for our changeover for our club; it will be Sunday
July 11th.
Our guest speaker this week is Ms Cindy Bakewell.
Cindy is the Airport Manager for Continental Airlines here in Cairns
based at the airport.
On Friday February 27th, there will be no lunchtime
meeting at the Hilton. That week is the Paul Harris dinner on
Monday 23rd February at Brothers Leagues Club, and all the clubs
are cancelling their meetings to have a combined meeting at the
Paul Harris dinner.
We will also not be having a lunchtime meeting on
Friday April 2nd. The reason for this is we are having a joint meeting
with Cairns Earlville club. They meet at the Matson Plaza 6.15
for 6.30 pm on Monday 29th March.
Cairns Club has asked our Club if we will do a joint
Anzac Day breaky BBQ. Some of their members came to our dawn
service and then stayed for breakfast, and enjoyed themselves so
much they want to do it with us this year as a joint club activity.
Photo's from last weeks meeting are here.
President Robyn
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Rotary 4-Way Test
1.
Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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Child's
Play
Aalok Mehrotra, Rotarian, Mussoorie,
India
My hometown is a hill-station (tourist
resort) in the mighty Himalayas, North India. I spent my childhood
here and…during winter vacations, my schoolmates and I used to spend
most of the day trekking in the nearby hills. …
During this time I made friends with
a boy of my age named Jhumru from the nearby Jhalki Village. He
was an enthusiastic cricketer, had a perfect aim with a raw sling,
and could climb trees like a monkey. When I asked him, where he
studied, he said that they did not have a school in the village
and moreover he had to go five miles everyday to fetch water, so
he couldn't go to school. Hearing his story,
I spent some sleepless nights, but I could not do much.
Time passed and…I came in contact with
Interact in school, Rotaract in college, finally graduated in law,
and was inducted in Rotary. One day, an almost tattered man came
to meet me in my office. It took me two minutes before I could recognize
Jhumru. He was happy that I remembered him. He told me that he was
a casual labor earning daily wages.
He was accompanied by his son who
was about 6 years old, who also was as frail as he was. Jhumru said
that he wanted his child to study in school, but he couldn't afford
to send him to school due to the same old reasons. He was literally
in tears and wanted to educate his child so that his life story
would not be repeated. …
I resolved at that very moment to do
whatever I could through Rotary. I talked to the club, and all the
members seconded the idea. I became the president of Rotary Club
of Mussoorie in 1991-92, when the RI theme was "Look Beyond Yourself"
by RI President R.K. Saboo from our own District 3080.
I corresponded with governmental authorities
and convinced them to open a school in the village. We organized
a Drinking Water Project for the village and other nearby villages
and registered the same under the World Community Service program
of RI. Our project was approved and we got a matching partner from
the United States. The project was completed in record time and
dedicated to the villages, by none other than our own RI President
Raja Saboo.
Since then, the literacy rate in the
village has steeply increased because now no child has to walk miles
to get potable water... Jhumru often comes to meet me, accompanied
by his son, who is now studying in class VIII, and prays for the
prosperity of Rotary. Thanks to Rotary that has fulfilled the dreams
of the villagers and helped us to help change the lives of so many
people.
Our
Paul Harris Fellows
Rotarians
Sandy Astill, Max Bryant, Graham Cossins,
David Court, Jeff Crofts, Rupert Crossland, Herman Ehrlich, Bob
Fowler, Col Koppen, Bernie Mullins, Jim Watson, Denise Mitchell,
David Kirchner,
Honorary
Members
Ted Elliot OAM, Brian Fowler, Beres
McKeown, Bernie Mullins, Les Trevenan
Past Club
Members
Geoff Canton
Non
Rotarians
Christine FairbrotherMargaret Jarvis
Geoff GuestLou Piccone Lionel Williamson
A
Good Customer
A factory owner said to a store owner,
“Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your patronage. I wish I had twenty customers
like you.”
”Gosh, it’s nice to hear that, but
I’m kind of surprised,” admitted Smith. “You know that I argue every
bill and always pay late.”
The factory owner said, “I’d still
like twenty customers like you. The problem is, I have two hundred.”
Mahatma
Ghandi, as you know, walked barefoot
most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on
his feet. He also ate very little, which made him frail, and with
his odd diet he suffered from bad breath.
What did this make him? A super callused
fragile mystic plagued with halitosis! "
An organisation is like a tree
full of monkeys all on different limbs, at different levels, some
climbing up, and some coming down. The monkeys on top look down
and see a tree full of smiling faces. The monkeys on the bottom
look up and see nothing but arseholes."
"People often commend the good
luck of the early bird, but do not stop to consider the bad luck
of the early worm."
An eight-year-old girl handed
the following message to a flight attendant on a recent Qantas flight:
"dear Captain, my name is Nicola im 8 years old, this is my first
flight and im not scared, I like to watch the clouds go by. My mum
says the crew is nice. I think your plane is good. thanks for a
nice flight. don’t fuck up the landing."
Parrot
Killed For Calling Owner Names
A parrot owner in central China has
killed his pet because it kept calling him names, a news report
said yesterday.
Li Yong, from Zhengzhou, Henan province,
spent eight months trying to teach the bird to say "hello" and "goodbye"
but it refused to speak, according to the Hong Kong edition of the
China Daily.
He eventually lost his temper and
called the bird "idiot" and other names and the parrot then repaid
him by repeating the insults every time he passed, the newspaper
said.
Balagopal
Bhaskara
Rotarian, Cochin North, India In 1980,
I was just out of college and starting
a career in banking in my small hometown of North Parur, 40 kilometers
from Cochin.
The Rotary Club of Parur…invited me
to be the charter president of the Rotaract Club of Parur. Six years
of active Rotaract activities enabled me to know more about Rotary,
to…help the needy and also to develop my leadership qualities. In
1986, the Rotary Club of Parur sponsored me to join a Group Study
Exchange (GSE) team. On 4 April, I set out as a member of the five-member
GSE team that visited Denmark.
For someone like me, who had not even
traveled out of my home state of Kerala, Rotary was providing a
once in a lifetime opportunity to see the world. The 40 days I spent
in Denmark probably taught me much more than the 15 years of academic
studies I had previously undertaken. It helped me to build bridges
of friendship with a new country and a new culture, the very objective
of GSE program. …
After four more years of Rotaract work,
I was invited by the Rotary Club of Cochin North to become a member.
Although the club met 40 kilometers away from my home, and I only
had a scooter to commute, I never missed a Thursday meeting.
Rotary has become my obsession. Now
living in Cochin, I have helped my club form a Rotaract club and
involved myself with all the activities of the club. I have held
the posts of president, GGR and assistant district governor.
But even now I feel it is only a small
repayment of a huge debt that I owe to Rotary.
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