The year started with the Club considering the possibility of merging with the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise . We had joint Meetings and issues were considered of what activities we would continue. Over time it became apparent that our Clubs were too divergent in the activities we carried out plus the Merger did not address the main issue of how to attract new Members.

The other big issue was the relocation of our weekly lunch venue after the Commonwealth Club significantly increased their charges, making it impossible for us to continue our meetings in their dining rooms. The Mercure on Limestone Circuit was tried a couple of times but the food and meeting room were of average quality and did not allow members to order off their Bar Menu. The location of the Royal Canberra Golf club is not far from where we met at the Commonwealth Club was good for those on the Southside and the choice of food was better. Also, our Rotary club can make a larger profit on the food cost to subsidise the cost of Membership.

At the Candle Festival in October 2024 we sold the famous Taiyaki pancakes and beer, wine  and sake. Beer sales were down but a profit of over $2,300 was achieved. 

A small committee was established from Members in the District to administer and promote the activities of the Canberra Rotary Peace Bell. There were 4 to 5 ceremonies during the year that included the United Nations International Day of Peace, The Zonta Peace Ceremony for those women who had died in a Domestic Violence situation in the previous twelve months and the ACT Chief Ministers Rotary Peace prize on World Peace day in September.

I hosted  the Club Christmas Party at my home and the weather was better this time and I became more confident at setting up and organising the event.

I attended a District Growth Plan day at Narrabundah organised by Tara Pullen. The aim was to get ideas on increasing Membership for all clubs in the District to grow.

During the year I held a number of Seminars for other Clubs on various topics. Many Clubs struggle to get speakers on interesting topics. My topics included The Ukraine War, The Economics of Marriage, Baby Boomers the Lucky Generation and the impact of Autonomous cars.

I helped the Woden Sunrise Rotary Club with judging the Year 11 and 12 High School Students at the Model of United Nations Assembly held at Old Parliament house.

I attended the District Conference at Mittagong in October and the speakers and the venue was great. Unfortunately, they will not have one in 2025. 

We hosted 4 out of the 10 Peace Fellows who visited to Canberra from 21-24 June. This was the first time I had hosted a Rotary visitor and it was a good way to understand the problems and culture of another country which in this case was Columbia.

During the year we received invitations to join other Rotary Clubs for their Charity events. I attended the Tuggeranong Rotary Club Melbourne Cup Dinner on the Monday before the Melbourne Cup.

The Club continued supported the Majura Primary School with their Citizenship awards for two students every fortnight with $600.00 for the purchase of books. I attended the Majura Primary School end of year Award Ceremony to present two book prizes for Citizenship activity in School. Our association with Majura Primary School has grown significantly over the year as a result of the hard work and regular contact by our committee.

During the year we helped the helped the Murrumbidgee Club provide parking at the Canberra EPIC centre for the Black Opal races, Canberra Show and a Car Show. The sharing of profits from these activities formed the backbone of our fundraising for the year.

We continued to have interesting speakers at most Meetings who rovided presentations that were interesting and topical. Also, we had excursions to the Scrivener Dam and the ANU classics Museum.

The Website had not been updated for some time and John Little and his wife have now both updated the site and set up the website to inform of the coming Meetings and the speakers for the Meeting.

At 30 June 2025 we had 18 Members and 10 Honorary Members. We have a valuable new Member in Neil Byron who makes a strong contribution to meetings.  Richard Hardman has returned to Sydney. Membership has dropped from 32 Members in 2023 and the Club has put a focus on membership growth  with Letterbox drops at Retiree Villages and the creation of a Social Media advertisement. Michael Rabey and Stephen McMillan notified the Club they would take leave of absence for 6 months for Michael’s wife medical visits and Stephen would be travelling around remote parts of Australia. Stephen and Michael remain in close contact with our club’s activities and help when needed. 

The Club via Michael Raby put a motion to the general assembly of  Rotary International for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Unfortunately, this submission did not get  the required majority approval.

Warrick Howieson attended the Learning and Development Training day at Broulee in March to prepare him for taking on the role as incoming Club President.

I attended the Canberra Sundowners’ Trivia night to raise money for Birthing kits to be sent to Third World Countries.

Monica Garratt, Stephen McMillan and myself attended meetings with the Principal of the Radford Senior School which promoted the opportunities for students to attend the NYSF training in Canberra and also resulted in two Peace poles being erected for the Primary and Senior Schools. Laura Cox was our nominee for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and she spoke to our Club about her experience.

The Club again maintained our Indigenous Projects programme of awarding the payment of $2,000 in scholarships for 4 students to be assisted at the Hay War Memorial High School.

The Club achieved the planting of 5 new Peace Poles in the  Canberra Nara Peace Park near the Peace Bell pavilion.  Each pole has new languages to promote Peace.

The main achievements of the Club over the last twelve months apart from those previously mentioned have been:-

Maintaining the tours of the Nara Peace Park for year 5 and 6 year students visiting Canberra during their Democracy Tours,

Holding Peace Bell ringing for Walkers on the Aussie Peace Walk,

Holding a successful Changeover dinner at the Mercure Hotel.

Thanks to our Board for their hard work and dedication:

Treasurer Ross Brown

Secretary john Little

Peace Bell Co-ordinator Michael Rabey

Past President and Board member  Warrick Howieson

 

During 2024-25, the Club has built on the momentum generated in recent years in terms of donations by our members to The Rotary Foundation.  This had culminated in the Club being recognised as the No. 1 Club in the District for per capita Annual Fund giving in 2023-2024.

In 2024-25, donations by members to The Rotary Foundation through the Centurions program have continued, with virtually every member now contributing.

Several donations have exceeded the $100 required to become a Centurion.  Two members have donated more than the $US1,000 required for Paul Harris Fellow recognition, and at least one other member continues donating that amount on a yearly basis, as a member of the Paul Harris Society.

Our members support the work of the Foundation, in recognition of its unique role in empowering Rotary members world-wide to continue spreading good will, and Doing Good in the World.

Our efforts will continue in 2025-26, with the District Rotary Foundation Chair, PDG Phil Armstrong, invited to be guest speaker during November, Foundation month in the Rotary calendar.

Thank you to all our members, and special thanks to Treasurer, Ross Brown, who regularly passes on members’ donations to the Rotary International Office in Sydney for processing.

 

 

 

A major focus of the Club in the first half of the Rotary year 2024-25 was on a possible merger with the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise (RCCS), following an approach from that Club.

Our Club was responsive to the approach, given our ageing and diminishing membership (similar to RCCS).  RCCS was represented in discussions by its then President, Peter McDermott and member, Alan McCulloch, and our Club was represented by our then President, Russell Dew, and Michael Rabey (in the first instance) and Monica Garrett.

The Clubs had two joint meetings to determine whether there was sufficient common ground to go forward.  Both Clubs subsequently agreed to continue further discussions on a possible merger.

Following that decision, a meeting was held in December involving Peter McDermott and another member from RCCS, along with Gary Davis, Rotary Community Leader, Capital Region North, plus a representative of Rotary International with expertise in generating membership.  Our Club was represented at the meeting by President Russell.

During those discussions, the RI representative emphasised that community involvement in Club activities was essential to bring in younger members and grow the Club.  Both RCCS and our Club had not managed to attract new members, despite their involvement with MUNA and Dream Cricket (RCCS) and activities with the Peace Bell and the Majura Park School on the part of our Club.

Merger discussions formally ceased in January this year when it became apparent that a merger would not address the main issue of how to attract new members.  

 

Our members felt that the time spent on the inter-actions with RCCS had been beneficial in terms of focusing our attention on key issues that need to be addressed in any future merger discussions.  We thank RCCS for their approach to our Club, and wish that Club success in the future.

The Club remains open to the possibility of a merger with a like-minded Club.  In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to recruit new members to the Club through our activities in the community.

 

 

Our club has continued its programme of providing scholarships for young indigenous students who want to continue their secondary studies to Year 12 and beyond at Hay War Memorial High School. This programme has been operating for over 8 years and has maintained a high success rate for retention of students, thanks to the hard work of the co-ordinating teachers. This year, 4 students have been selected, and their scholarship funds are being administered by the teachers and Burser of the school.

In addition, we maintain 2 registered Charitable trusts for Indigenous projects: one for education, and the other for environmental projects. These charities are popular with members and friends alike who want to get involved in indigenous pprojects and also have tax deductibility for their donations. 

Bill Andrews