Last week we were thrilled to welcome several members back after recuperation following surgery (Alison Cooper), travelling parts of Oz (John Skinner, Mike Wetzler) or travelling abroad (Lou Bolzonello, Howard Turner, John O’Callaghan, Paul Kelly and Dennis Booth). There are lots of tales still to be told and the fines takings increased substantially!
We also took the opportunity to acknowledge two of our members for their amazing achievements: Denese Billings for her gold medal and world record performance at the Masters Games held a few weeks ago in Barcelona and Ian Toohill for running the Monty SC Interact Club for the last 20 years. Bravo and congratulations to you both! We’re mighty proud of your commitment and achievements.
A second round of Club Committee meetings was also held. This has been a trial to involve as many members as possible in doing Rotary work on a Thursday Rotary night. Meetings held included: Community, Youth, Aquabox, Membership, Festival Layout & Safety, and Nepal Project (for members who have missed previous presentations and discussions). The RCE Board will review the success or otherwise of these meetings at its November meeting. To help us make an informed decision, please let us know your thoughts … if you are a committee member, make sure your team leader knows what you think; if you are a non-committee member who attended one or both of these committee meeting nights, please send me an email and let me know how you used your time and which meeting/s you attended. Member feedback will help to inform the board when deciding about whether or not to schedule further committee meeting nights on a club night from Feb – June next year.
RCE’s First Quarterly Report has been emailed to all members. Please make sure you read this as it provides an impressive overview of the work of the Board and members in just the first 3 months of the Rotary year. We continue to be active across all committees, and there are plenty of things ‘on the go’ at the present time. Just around the corner of course is the upcoming Rotary Eltham Festival. The hard work of the Festival Committee is soon to come to fruition on Nov 10/11 and now is the time for all members, and as many partners as possible, to lend a hand over festival weekend. Paul Kelly is the roster coordinator so please make sure Paul is up to date with your availability.
Don’t forget to wear your fine spring carnival attire this week too, especially the hat part!
President Jill
Lower Eltham Park BBQ 9:30 am - 2:30 pm
You are responsible for finding a replacement if you are unable to do your rostered duty and to notify Lyn Truran ljtruran@bigpond.com
Rotarians are in for a rare history discussion and 3 minute video to cover what is only part of the long history of the Melbourne Cup and why it has always been such a big event.
Dr Andrew Lemon will speak about his experience as a Melbourne Cup Ambassador for the VCR these past twelve years.Part of a team that takes each year's trophy on its tour of Australia, New Zealand and overseas.Many wonderful stories to be heard from those tours.
Applying for a job for the first time can be daunting for most young people. St Helena S.C. works to prepare its students for this process of entry to the workforce by helping students to recognise their skills, develop a resume and prepare for interviews. Students are invited to choose and apply for one of several ‘advertised’ positions together with their resume. Students then undergo a mock job interview with volunteers from outside the school filling the role of the potential employer. The application, resume and the student’s presentation and performance at interview are reviewed and constructive feedback is provided to the students. This year’s mock interviews for Year 9 students commenced this week. Mike Englefield, Nick Ikonomou and Kevin Hadingham were among the volunteer employers at St Helena on Thursday. Conducting the mock interviews is a rewarding experience which gives an insight into the great quality of this emerging generation. Teachers take a bow!
Following an initiative by the Rotary Club of Central Melbourne 10 years ago, Victoria Police, Rotary and the Victorian business community established a successful partnership to deliver a mentoring program for police members who are considered high performing leaders within their field. All Victorian Rotary Districts participate in this program.
The Leaders’ Mentoring Program brings diverse perspectives and experiences from outside Victoria Police to benefit the capability of participants. It is delivered in two streams. Senior business executives are assigned as mentors to Superintendents and above (Stream 1), whilst experienced Rotarians are assigned as mentors to Senior Sergeants (Stream 2).It is because of Rotary’s commitment to community service that it is invited to provide mentors to Stream 2 mentees.
Entry to the Stream 2 program is very selective with just 15 participants in this year’s intake, drawn from over 780 Senior Sergeants state wide. Our club was approached recently to nominate a mentor for the 2018-19 program, and I was honoured to accept the role.
Through the Stream 2 mentoring program Victoria Police seeks to develop the understanding and capability of mentees in:
Developing leadership skills in a community service setting
Building community partnerships, managing stakeholder relationships and building networks
Community organisational approaches to addressing issues and needs
Applying business management approaches to community service planning and delivery
During the program, mentees are also expected to take the lead in identifying and developing a community engagement initiative which is a good fit with Victoria Police community engagement philosophy in support of Social Cohesion and Resilience. Depending on the scope of the initiative, this may involve Rotary in some way.
I attended the launch of the 2018-19 program at the Police Academy Glen Waverley last week where I met my mentee. He resides in Eltham North and he is very keen to gain a hands-on understanding of Eltham Rotary in action throughout this year. I look forward to introducing him to you at some club meetings and service opportunities in the near future.
On Sunday Oct 21st there was a happy gathering of over 100 people who came together to celebrate a marvellous milestone – 50 years of service to the community after chartering in 1968! The Rotary Club of Eltham’s journey commenced five years later when RC Greensborough became our sponsor club. Congratulations to both past and present members of RC Greensborough on 50 years of wonderful achievements and thank you for being our sponsor club.
After living in the remote countryside of Ireland all his life, an old Irishman decided it was time to visit Dublin.
In one of the stores, he picks up a mirror and looks into it. Not ever having seen a mirror before, he remarked at the image staring back at him.
'How 'bout that! he exclaims, 'Here's a picture of my Fadder ....'
He bought the mirror thinking it was a picture of his dad, but on the way home he remembered his wife didn't like his father, so he hung it in the shed, and every morning before leaving to go fishing, he would go there and look at it.
His wife began to get suspicious of his many trips to the shed. So, one day after her husband left, she went to the shed and found the mirror.
As she looked into the glass, she fumed, 'So that's the ugly cow he's running around with.'
Year 9 Mock Job Interviews St Helena S.C.
