Rotary Club of
Broadwater Southport
 

BULLETIN
September 3, 2021

WHAT'S HAPPENING/DIRECTOR'S REPORTS
This Bulletin covers the meeting of 20th August & 3rd September, 2021.
 
20th August:
 
Chris was Chair for the day and Howard stood in for Rod who was an apology.
 
Kevin was also an apology.
 
Chris reminded us that on this day in 1619 the slave trade with the Americas started and Winston Churchill in 1940 made his iconic speech “ Never in the field of human conflict …….”
 
Howard told us the prior year accounts have been approved and will be made available soon. Money is still dripping in from Circus Quirkus.
 
Howard also predicts we will lose no more than $50 to 100/- on Rotary Kokoda Classic Refunds due to cancellation again this year.
 
Letitia reminded us of the visit to the Gold Coast Motor Museum which post fact was a lovely day and all who attended enjoyed reminiscing over the classic cars – shows our age!!
 
Letitia also gave a heads up for the Toowoomba Flower Show visit on 18th September – more later.
 
Dennis alerted us to a Board decision to charge members $10/- for attendance by ZOOM.
 
He also alerted us to an email he sent out selling raffle tickets in support of St Jude’s school organised by NDY. Tickets purchased by members and friends will be credited to the ongoing support of the Club for St Judes.
 
Jenny says there has been a slew of cancellations at the Chapel because of COVID uncertainty. She said the GC show is going ahead and will be asking members to man the chapel during the show. The second of the Biannual GC Bridal expos will also be on during the show weekend and the chapel will have a booth.
 
George and David have been talking “footy” with the Gold Coast Suns along the lines of what Hawthorne does in Melbourne in support / remembrance of Kokoda – watch this space for more.
 
3rd September.
 
David stood in for Rod who was a late apology.
 
Annette Sinclair from Main Beach Property Services was Ian’s guest for the day. A potential new member?
 
Kevin told us that the applications are now open for RYTES (transition leadership course for year 11 & 12 students) and also for RYLA the leadership course for 19-29 year olds. Recommendations from family and friends to be considered. Kevin has gone out to the six schools he is focussing on for the RYTES programme.
 
Howard says the Circus Quirkus money continues to trickle in and we have over $25k. He has reached out to both Tegan and Vicki as to how we can support the children’s wing at the GCUH and their suggestions will be circulated to Board Members.
 
Howard has only had to refund $250/- of the $800/- received in entry monies for the RKBC. Some people are saying keep it as a donation and others may be just slow. He will send out another email. We will either have some working capital for the 2022 event or alternatively people may ask next year “where’s my money, can I get a credit?”.
 
Letitia is trying to organise a bus to do the whole trip to the Toowoomba Flower show rather than meeting a bus in Toowoomba. More to follow.
 
Jenny said the GC Show presence was a success in terms of general awareness but no concrete bookings. The Bridal expo was a bit slower than prior editions probably because of COVID uncertainty and because of rescheduling it clashed with the GC Show which had great numbers.
 
EVENTS:
 
Toowoomba Flower Festival Getaway Tour – 18 September. Contact Kent on 0448994494 or admin@getawaytours.com.au
 
GUEST SPEAKER:
 
20th September:
 
Our guest speaker for the day was our very own member, Mike Gosling, who told us about the person behind the badge. The best way to start this is to start the way he finished. He has had a varied life living in different countries, has picked up 5 degrees along the way including a doctorate, he has had lots of jobs along the way varying from wharfie in Fiji, part time author and a tertiary academic in Singapore and at 72 he is about to start a new chapter focusing on a charitable foundation he has established to benefit the development of the people of Fiji.
 
Mikes Great Grandfather moved to Fiji in the late 1800’s and that was the start of the Wilbur Smith like saga. Mike’s father, born in 1920, was involved in shipping, served for Fiji in WW11 and had a lifelong passion for cricket and was manager of the Fiji cricket team before retiring to the Gold Coast. Mike was born in Fiji and attended school there. He started his working life as a labourer on the Suva wharves, security officer and shipping clerk. In the mid sixties he tried his hand for a while as a clerk for the Bank of NSW in Australia which only lasted about a year before he returned to Fiji. Again in 1968 he tried out Adelaide and worked in the abalone industry as a shucker and assisted to keep the aircraft going which flew out the abalone. He had the raw end of the deal getting 5c a pound for shucking while the divers got $2-00 a pound. He married, moved back to Fiji, returned in mid seventies to Adelaide where his first marriage failed and he met his current wife of 40 years and they have had 2 boys. Mike became an Aussie citizen in 1976.
 
Mike started picking up degrees part time including a theology degree and became a CPA focusing on insolvency and then transitioned to teaching financial accounting. In 1987 or 1997 (not sure) the family moved to Singapore where he took up a position with Nanyang University where he completed his PhD. His position folded with the Asian crisis a couple of years later and he and his wife started their own business engaged in executive coaching and marriage counselling. They stayed in Singapore for 10 or 20 years and wound up the business post the GFC in 2008. They returned to Adelaide, decided to move to the Gold Coast and opened a new business in Australia with executive coaching and counselling. His wife has a contract with the GCUH as a contract social worker.
 
Now the next chapter begins at 72.
 
3rd September:
 
Douglas Geekie gave us a timely update on the Global Rotary Foundation. I am not going to try and summarise the slides because I am doing this on a laptop in the car on the way to Brisbane and too hard to connect to his Google drive over the internet. For anyone who is interested contact Douglas and he will send you the link to the drive as I know Mike has.
 
A few things that struck me from the presentation were:
 
  • Douglas’s passion for the foundation for whom he served for a number of years. So much so that he told us that he has made a substantial bequest to the foundation in his will.
  • With the advent of a new Australian entity as part of the foundation, future contributions to the foundation will be tax deductible in Australia
  • As Dennis has proved with the SERES water project the extraordinary leverage one can get for a project with a modest contribution from the sponsoring club.
 
GUEST SPEAKER LIST:
DUTY ROSTER:
 
 
10 Sept
24 Sept
1 Oct
8 Oct
15 Oct
Chair
Maggie
Col
Dennis
Laurie
Peter J
Registration
Leon
Mike
Chris
Andrew
Kevin
4 Way Test
Kevin
Dianne
Howard
Leon
Ray
Sergeant
Ian
George
James
Ian
George
Weakly Joke
Ray
James
John W
Jenny
Douglas
VOT
Douglas
Jenny
Dave
Letitia
Maggie
 
 
CELEBRATIONS IN SEPTEMBER:
 
BIRTHDAYS:
 
Members:
 
Peter O’Brien
6th
Chris Lewis
20th
Judi Reid
24th
Lynne Walsh
24th
Steve Manchester
25th
 
Spouses and Partners
 
 
Belinda O’Brien
18th
Suzanne Westera
26th
 
 
ANNIVERSARIES:
 
Members / Spouses / Partners:
 
 
Judi Reid and Peter Rowe
34 years
 
 
Years in Rotary:
 
 
Letitia de Lima
15 yrs
Howard Manning
4 yrs
 

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