Our President writes...

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends of Rotary,
 
This week we were thrilled to welcome Rotary Ambassador Evan Burrell to join our meeting and what a breath of fresh air he was. His enthusiasm for evolving what I sometimes call 'Rotary v2.0' was as engaging as it was refreshing. Evan's key message was 'Let’s have fun in Rotary' and he has been walking this talk for years now. He presented an image of a new Rotary, one that's a lighter and more engaging Rotary. He said we really do need to embrace and develop the fun and humorous side to our organisation. Metaphorically he believes clubs need to throw away the slippers and replace them with joggers. With numbers dropping off around the world and some even questioning the relevance of Rotary in 2020, Evan thinks we seriously need to all build a better mousetrap; otherwise he said, "...in the years to come there's a real risk of Rotary going the way of the dinosaurs".

Being a reasonably new member to Rotary myself, I too have been troubled with many of the concerns he raised and how there appears to be very little desire to evolve by parts of the organisation. My main take from Evan's talk was that we now have a great opportunity to take advantage of the Covid-19 situation and come out of this having reinvented and revitalised ourselves. We should no longer need to feel constrained by how things may have been done in the past – those days are gone.  

Evan is the current President and member of the Rotary Club of The Ponds.

Stephen Miller
President 2019/20, Lane Cove Rotary Club

Next week's meeting

Next week's meeting promises to be quite simply... magical – quite literally. We are being joined by magician Tony Finch who I'm sure will have a few nice 'illusions' up his sleeve. Dabbling in magic myself I'm careful to not to call them 'tricks' as no-one likes to be tricked. It's been suggested we encourage our partners to attend and to really enter into the swing of the evening, by also dressing up in something fun. No bikinis or mankinis though, please.

Everyone is welcome to attend and to receive a non-member invite please click here.

Salvos digital door knock appeal

Usually, at this time of year, you’ll see Rotarians throughout local shopping centres and the like rattling buckets, waving banners, EFT machines in hand raising much-needed funds for The Salvation Army on their Red Shield Appeal Weekend. This year, due to restrictions forced upon us by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to do that. The Lane Cove Rotary Club however, is working hand-in-hand with the Salvos to provide an online digital door-knock appeal!
 
To donate and find out more, please click here

The Global Fund and RAWCS-RAM join hands to eliminate malaria in the Oceania region

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Global Fund and RAWCS-RAM to raise USD$12m over a five-year period for the fight against malaria in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vanuatu. 

Global progress on malaria elimination has stalled. Malaria continues to inflict unnecessary human and economic losses, mostly in developing countries. Pregnant women and children under five are disproportionately affected by the disease. 

Within this context, the Global Fund and Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd-Rotarians Against Malaria (RAWCS-RAM) have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate malaria elimination and end the unnecessary heavy toll on humanity. 

This partnership aims to raise US$12 million over a five-year period to increase funding for malaria elimination programs in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, and to prevent the re-establishment of the disease in Timor Leste. 

Funds raised by the campaign will go towards scaling up critical malaria elimination activities including procurement and delivery of long-lasting insecticidal nets ("LLINs"), rapid diagnostic tests, treatments and care. 

Congratulations

Well done to our President Stephen whose photo of a Kookaburra was one of the 10 lucky winners of the recent Lane Cove Council Wild About Lane Cove photo challenge. Participants were asked to explore their gardens or take a walk in the Lane Cove local government area and to photograph any flora and fauna that inspired them. After uploading the image or images to their Instagram account they had to tag @lanecovecouncil and #WildAboutLaneCove. Stephen (aka @musingdad) submitted five bird images taken on his apartment terrace. To see Stephen's other images and all the tagged entries click here.

PP Hazel MacNamara

Are you recycling correctly?

Australians are enthusiastic recyclers, with 91% saying separating their garbage and recycling at home is a worthwhile task, according to research by the environmental advocacy group, Planet Ark. Australia has had kerbside recycling available through local councils for three decades. Today, about 51% of our national household waste is recycled, which is well above the average 42% for European countries, according to Planet Ark's 'From Waste War to Recycling Reboot' report published in November 2018

A reminder of what you CAN put in your recycling bins

• All plastic, metal and carton containers (no need to remove labels)
• Empty aluminium steel cans, including food tins and aerosols such as deodorants and air fresheners
• Aluminium foil (scrunch into a ball) and trays
• Aluminium pots, pans, foil (scrunched is best) and trays
• Cutlery
• Yoghurt, ice cream, milk and juice cartons
• Plastic meat trays, fruit punnets and take away containers (scrape out food residue)
• Empty water bottles (without lids)
• Glass bottles and jars
• Clean paper (scrunched is best), cardboard, glossy magazines, newspapers and shredded paper
• Phone books and books with hard covers removed
• Junk mail and envelopes with clear plastic windows
• Leaves, small branches, dead flowers and grass cuttings

• Plastic bags (you can deposit bags in REDcycle bins at Coles and Woolworths instead)
• Other soft plastics, such as food wrappers, cling wrap and bubble wrap
• Plastic bottle tops and steel twist tops
• Soiled paper, glass and containers
• Napkins, tissues and paper towel
• Waxed cardboard and paper
• Flat glass or broken drinking glasses, windows or mirrors
• CDs, DVDs and videotapes
• Nappies
• Light globes
• Clothing, shoes, sheets and blankets
• Batteries
• Building materials
• Ceramics and crockery
• Tree stumps, logs, trunks, soil, bricks, plant pots, tiles, stones and concrete

and finally...

Probably the best television I've seen for decades is the BBC adaption of Sally Rooney's novel Normal People. If you haven't seen this you absolutely must do so. Currently, it is only available in Australia on the streaming service Stan, but will I'm sure it will be eventually shown on the ABC. If you are easily offended by nudity and intimacy it may not be for you, but that is what makes this tale of young love, complete with all the trials and tribulations, so believable and utterly compelling. The chemistry and connection the two lead actors Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal who play Marianne and Connell (pictured above) is amazing. So much so, that when they appeared recently on the James Corden Show he challenges them to recreate the kind of electric chemistry they have on the show reading dialogue from random clips from other tv shows he plays to them.
 
To watch that interview and relive again (or get a taste of) said chemistry click here