THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE

Sunrise Newsletter

Page 1 of 5 March Edition

WHO'S WHO IN OUR CLUB

President - Graham Streeter

Vice President - Vic Lewis

Past President - Pam Dean-Jones

Treasurer - Barry Parkes

Secretary - Sue Stimson

Assistant Secretary - Anne Anderson

Community/Club Service Director - Jeff

Jansson

Vocational Service Director - Malcolm Gow

International Service Director - Annette Trotter

Rotary Foundation Director/PR - Graeme

Hooper

Membership/Youth Director - Paul Blakemore

Sergeant at Arms - Geoff Hurt

All members of our club are welcome to assist any

committees, and, there will be times when it is ‘all

hands on deck ‘!

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FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

'Be a gift to the world'

International Convention Seoul 28th May

to 1st June 2016

Be great to get a group of us to go to Seoul and maybe drop by Cambodia to visit the BraveHearts project. Any interested members please contact Graeme Hooper.

Important deadlines

15 December 2015: Early-registration discount ends. 31 March 2016: Preregistration discount ends. 30 April 2016: Registration/ticket cancellation deadline. 1 June 2016: Online registration ends; deadline for cancellations due to visa denial. The website is: http://www.riconvention.org/

2016/17 President R C

Toronto Sunrise

An excellent opportunity to guide

a supportive team of volunteers into the

Club’s 21st

year of operation.

Training provided. No income.

Must have strong voice to quieten the

rabble!

Please contact President Graham

for an interview!

Graham Streeter - President 2015-2016

FUN, FELLOWSHIP AND FRIENDSHIP

THROUGH ROTARY.

Happy Birthday to those

celebrating in March!!

Dan Grant March 13

Vic Lewis March 18

Anne Anderson March 27

THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE

Sunrise Newsletter

Page 2 of 5 March Edition

WHAT'S ON AND

WHEN!!

March 15 - Guest speaker - Jenny

Barrie - Hunter Life Education.

March 22 - Guest speaker - Mikaela

Bell – Nat. Youth Science Forum.

April 03 - Jazz on the Lines.

April 05 - Westpac Rescue

Helicopter visit 6p.m. NO MORNING

MEETING!!

April 12 - Guest speaker - Fennell

Bay School Deputy Principal.

May 28-June1 – Rotary International

Convention - Seoul.

June 19 - Changeover at Dollina’s

Farm, Dora Creek.

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02/02/2016 - BREAKFAST IN CLASSIC

BOATSHED

Members of the Classic Boatshed, Lake

Macquarie did a fantastic job cooking and

presenting breakfast for our club in Workshop 1

on the shores of the lake at Rathmines.

It made quite a contrast from the usual

dining room setting as we sat surrounded by

wooden boats in various stages of construction.

We learnt about the ‘quick & stitch’ method and

the slower older craft of boat making. Workshop

1 is the ’lightweight shed’ as far as boat building

goes. Workshop 2 – the old substation is for bigger

projects – has 3 phase power and bigger

machinery but at this stage needs a new floor and

wiring. As with many organisations, funding is an

issue, but with the capable assistance of their

member (& ours) Jeff Jansson, they have been

successful in gaining some government grants.

This classic boatshed group of 40 men &

women is a member of AMSA (Aust’n Men’s

Shed Assoc.) which operates with a Federal Govt.

grant – but this shed in Rathmines is not a ‘men’s

shed’ it’s a ‘boat shed’. It was obviously a place

of great community spirit and fellowship where

the rules are that ‘no one tells anyone what to do’

and ‘if you have an idea it is yours to do’. They

meet on Tuesdays & Thursdays starting with a

coffee!

One plan on the drawing board is to build

a 22-foot rowing skiff which will take 500 man

hours and be a first for Newcastle.

The visit ended with Jeff Jansson showing

us some old shipwright tools and talking about his

Norwegian grandfather who would have used

such tools as a young lad in 1890’s on his way to

Australia.

This story evoked memories for Capt.

Turner as Jeff showed us the ‘oakham’ which was

used for caulking. The phase ‘oakham, workem

and smokem’! Tim’s eyes lit up at the memories

of smoking hemp!

We were left with several pictures in mind

– Jeff and his Viking ancestry and a young Tim

smoking hemp and most of all, a very pleasant

interesting visit to Rathmines boatshed.

Many thanks to Jeff for organising it and

to the men of the Classic Boatshed for a splendid

breakfast.

Photos cont. over…..

THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE

Sunrise Newsletter

Page 3 of 5 March Edition

BREAKFAST IN CLASSIC BOATSHED

(CONT.)

09/02/2016 - GUEST SPEAKER - CHRIS

BARTLETT – AUST’N ROTARY HEALTH

Chris presented a video on the work of

Australian Rotary Health as a health promotion

charity. Since 2000 mental health has been its

prime focus. 100% of the money raised goes to the

charity and large amounts are dedicated to

research. $3.3m has been allocated for 2016

mainly in mental health area –this is the largest

amount of funding outside the Federal

government allocations.

Chris gave examples of the types of research

undertaken:

– Suicide prevention & the copycat

phenomenon

– Mental health training – first aid guidelines to

help those developing mental illness. These

guidelines were adopted by 21 countries.

– Aboriginal foot health

ARH also funds programs for Indigenous

Health + Rural Medical & Nursing Scholarships.

Currently there are 6 scholarships at Newcastle

University focused on the area of drugs.

Clubs in Rotary District 9670 have

donated $47,000 which places it 10th on list of

contributions made to ARH. Clubs can nominate

an area of interest that they wish their funds to

benefit.

Jeff Jansson presented Chris with a

cheque for $1,000 for ARH on behalf of the club.

Chris noted that in the future Bob Aitken will be

the contact person for ARH.

Jeff & Chris Bartlett

THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE

Sunrise Newsletter

Page 4 of 5 March Edition

16/02/2016 - GUEST SPEAKER – DANIEL

REYNAUD

Author and historian Daniel spoke to us

about the subject of his latest book – William

McKenzie.

In research into the Anzacs & religion,

Daniel stumbled onto William McKenzie who he

entitles ‘The Man the Anzacs Revered’. This is a

man that few have heard of, even most

Salvationists don’t know of him and he was a

Salvation Army chaplain.

Born in Scotland he came to Australia

with his family as a 14yr old and lived in

Bundaberg on a cane farm. He was attracted to the

Salvation Army, being a contrast to his strict

Presbyterian upbringing and at 19 yrs began his

training for the Ministry.

Daniel painted a picture of a giant of a

man 188cms tall and weighing 110kgs with a

charismatic personality to match.

Despite a poor reception from the soldiers

in his first service as army chaplain, he persevered

and soon his services were to a packed house and

the concerts he organised provided much needed

light relief.

As a chaplain Mackenzie was exempt

from the route marches but he insisted on

participating in everything the soldiers had to do.

This philosophy extended to the battlefields at

Gallipoli, Lone Pine and France where he worked

in the trenches or delivering supplies. Much of his

work was alongside the doctor and burying the

dead. His bravery was outstanding and his

personality so engaging that he became a legend

with the troops. On return from the war his fame

persisted and he was mobbed wherever he went –

7,000 attended his talk at the Melbourne

Exhibition Centre and there were similar crowds

in Sydney.

It was a fascinating account of someone

who in his time made an enormous impact on

others and yet strangely few people know about

him today. Thanks to Daniel some of us are the

better for hearing about this amazing man.

Daniel Reynaud

Daniel Reynaud’s latest book

THE ROTARY CLUB OF TORONTO SUNRISE

Sunrise Newsletter

Page 5 of 5 March Edition

MARCH IS LITERACY MONTH IN ROTARY

Rotary International believes that in order

to address the world’s most critical and

widespread needs, and maximise the impact of the

assistance, it is important to focus efforts in 6 main

areas. Basic Education & Literacy is the 5th area

of focus, and is seen as an essential tool for

reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging

community & economic development, and

promoting peace.

It is a fact that:

- Worldwide, if all women completed primary

education, maternal deaths would be reduced

by 66%.

- a child born to a mother who can read is 50%

more likely to survive past 5 yrs of age.

- if all students in low income countries left

school with basic reading skills, 171m people

could be lifted out of poverty.

(Unesco Global Monitoring report 2013/14)

Progress is being made but still:

- 58m children are not in school.

- 250m children cannot read or write even after

4 yrs of primary schooling.

- 781m adults are illiterate.

In Australia, Rotary Districts and clubs

contribute in a variety of ways:

- donating funds to assist with literacy

programs overseas e.g. children without a

classroom in Cambodia, reading in Thailand,

sending library books to PNG and teacher

housing in Tanzania.

- There are many opportunities to help – see

RAWCS projects website.

On a local level in Australia, there are

many clubs in Districts in Queensland, Victoria

and Tasmania providing assistance with literacy

programs. Sometimes it is ‘hands on’ as in reading

volunteers in local schools which is especially

important where children are from migrant

families and their parents are not fluent in English.

One club in Victoria provides good

dictionaries to Grade 3 students and a club in

Brisbane has a program called ‘Tales from a Dilly

Bag’ which assists young indigenous students. It

sounds a bit like a shelterbox, with picture books

for 55 students, teacher folder, DVD, activity

sheets, craft and a digital camera.

Another form of assistance by a club in Victoria

was to purchase a highly engaging literacy

program for an interactive whiteboard in a

disadvantaged Primary school. Some clubs,

notably in the Illawarra & Victoria, have formed

an alliance with United Way to deliver Dolly

Parton’s Imagination Library which targets

children 0-5 in the most disadvantaged groups

who start school without the basic skills they need

to learn to read and write.

Maybe when we are searching for projects

at a local level we can get some inspiration from

these examples?

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