Bill is away this week. Please send any input for next week’s Bulletin to me (sjmcmillan1974@live.com) by Sunday, 16 August.

 

Our meeting on Thursday, 6 August, saw the start of a series of conversations about our Rotary Club flourishing, not just surviving. Building off Robert Shore’s suggestions last week, we discussed the importance of continuous improvement in our club, and the impacts we can have and the opportunities that come from being a Rotary Club in this international network of like-minded people.

 

We agreed that our club has served our community for many years, and we've achieved a great deal together.  We should celebrate and honour the past, while ensuring that the club is still making that difference ten years from now.  Every Rotary Club evolves over time. The question isn't whether we change, but how we can build on everything that's made this club successful.

 

Most, if not all, of us have sat through countless "change initiatives". This isn’t about change just for the sake of change, or just about how do we find lots of new members. It’s about service, friendship, and legacy. Making the club even better and more satisfying, “flourishing”.

 

We structured the discussion around four questions:

 

1. Celebrate:
What are we doing well? What makes us proud? What do members value most?

Many responses, including:

 

2. Preserve:
     What must never change?

 

3. Strengthen:   Where could we become stronger?

 

4. Imagine:
What would our ideal Rotary club look like in five years?

"If someone visited our club in 2031 and said, 'What a vibrant Rotary club!' What would they be seeing?"

"How can OUR Rotary club become even more enjoyable, meaningful, and manageable for the members we already have?"

 

Clubs that create energy tend to attract people naturally. Clubs that focus only on numbers often exhaust themselves.

 

Our next meeting will be held at the Royal Canberra Golf Club on Thursday, 13 August. We will hear from Mary about the Good Omen Goodeze (GOG) Journey and Kids programs.

 

If you have not already done so, please respond to Eric’s invitation by 11 am on Tuesday, 11 August.

 

 

If you cannot perform your allocated duty, please arrange a replacement and advise the Acting President for that meeting (listed above). Please advise the Bulletin Editor of any planned absences to avoid being rostered on while away.

 

To see the program of future meetings, visit: Rotary activities Spreadsheet

 

 

A ceremony was held on Saturday, 8 August, at the Canberra Rotary Peace Bell to recognize the 81st anniversary since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 6th August and Nagasaki, 9th August 1945.

 

We heard from speakers Gary Davis from Rotary, Alastair Hill from the Medical Association for Prevention of War, Ludmilla Kwitko from the Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, and Tara Gutman from the International Campaign for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The final speaker was His Excellency Mr Kazuhiro Susuki, Japan’s Ambassador to Australia. His Excellency spoke of the utter damage to the two cities but also talked about the important 50th Anniversary of the Nara Treaty. This is a friendship treaty between Australia and Japan and demonstrates what can happen if enemies become friends.

 

The Sing Australia Choir sang “Imagine” by John Lennon as students from Mawson and Majura Primary Schools passed folded paper cranes to Rotaract members that hung the cranes from the Canberra Rotary Peace Bell Pavilion.

 

May Peace Prevail on Earth.

 

Join acclaimed Australian musician and friend of our Club, Fred Smith OAM, on Saturday, 15 August, for a reflective evening of music and storytelling, honouring service and sacrifice. Drawing on his experiences in Bougainville and Afghanistan, Fred brings to life the human stories of conflict, connection and memory through the power of live performance. 

 

For further details and to book tickets, go to:
https://www.awm.gov.au/events/songs-of-australians-at-war.

 

Please send items for inclusion in the next News Notes to Stephen McMillan (sjmcmillan1974@live.com) by Sunday, 16 August.