A great night last night at Club Marion for the Rotary Club of Glenelg change over dinner….the only downside being the our new President Tony Jennison wasn’t there…..or was he?!
No – Tony has COVID and unfortunately wasn’t able to come but his twin brother Tim was there and he was a good sport letting us ham up the night with us keeping some of the crowd guessing whether Tony was there or not until all was revealed later in the evening.
Great to catch up with so many people both from our club and other clubs particularly from Rotary Adelaide South & Fleurieu!
Our District Governor Elect Rajeev Kaminini was present to respond to the Toast to Rotary International that was made by Meridith Beaston and both he and our Community Group Leader Linda Sweeney assisted with the presentation of awards.
We recognised again David Binks on his 60 years of Service to the Rotary Club of Glenelg and congratulated him and his wife Pam on this achievement by presenting them with a Rotary clock.
Congratulations to Rosemary E and Meridith B on receiving Paul Harris Fellow recognition from the club particularly for their work with ROMAC and Youth respectively.
It was Rosemary’s first Paul Harris Fellow and Meridith’s second. They were both very worthy recipients.
My personal Paul Harris Fellow award went to Alison R, particularly for her work with Rotary Youth Exchange Students, but also for her leadership on Rotary’s Fit for Purpose initiative within the Rotary Club of Glenelg and her involvement with Rotary’s Regionalisation program. This was Alison’s 5th Paul Harris Fellow. An amazing achievement!!
Apart from that Alison has been my partner in crime working together with me on so many things over the course of the last year and she restored my enthusiasm and energy for Rotary with her infectious love for it and her constant mantra – what can we do to save the world today?
I presented Stephen Patterson MP, Local Member for Morphett with a Friend of Rotary badge for his support in a variety of ways including coming along to events, donating raffle prizes and supporting one of the students in our area with her application to Youth Parliament and contributing to help her attend. Rotary is a non-political organisation but regardless of party when people help us it’s right to acknowledge their support.
A huge thank you to Roz for organising the event and Alison for being MC and of course our wonderful secretary Wayne Sachs who organised the Paul Harris Awards amongst other things and who was also sponsor for Kenny our newest member – inducted last night!! A very exciting night for him!
Wayne also was kind enough to read Tony’s speech that he had prepared after we inducted Tony as president in his absence!
We also raised a bit of money from two impromptu auctions – one for two bottles of Parliamentary wine donated by Stephen Patterson MP local member for Morphett and the other being Urchick my purple Magic of Rotary themed bear! David B the highest bidder on both, and he very kindly presented me with the bear which will go to my Mum and join her collection!
Once again, a big thank you from me for the past year but now it’s over to Tony.
Tony, I wish you all the best for the role in the year ahead. It’s not your first rodeo and you will do a fantastic job and rest assured you will have my support and the support of all club members as we Unite for Good in 2025!