All Rotarians are familiar with the Rotary motto, adopted in 1911, “Service above self”. The reality following from this is that many Rotarians continue to lead busy lives even in retirement. A large proportion of our members are engaged in charitable or similar activities outside of Rotary. As this message will go out either during Easter or just after, it is a great time of year for members to take a breath, look around and appreciate the great things in their lives. There is a lot of talk about global uncertainty, but it was ever thus for one reason or another. Take time to reach out to friends and families and strengthen the connections that are important to you.
In this vein I was pleased to hear about solid numbers at our President’s lunch even though I could not attend. This lunch is all about fellowship and learning more about our fellow members and their partners in a slightly different environment from the normal Rotary meeting.
We will have just had our mid-month Farmers Market when this newsletter comes out. There has been a bit of chat about the market lately but at the risk of repetition
it should be said that the market is not just about attending and working the gate. It is another chance to come down and meet with fellow members, have a coffee in the sun and listen to some music. You can also buy produce such as eggs which have been in short supply elsewhere. As has also been said, we cannot expect the public to support our market if we don’t support it ourselves.
it should be said that the market is not just about attending and working the gate. It is another chance to come down and meet with fellow members, have a coffee in the sun and listen to some music. You can also buy produce such as eggs which have been in short supply elsewhere. As has also been said, we cannot expect the public to support our market if we don’t support it ourselves.The Regionalisation process continues. The most visible manifestation from our point of view is the Boroondara presidents meeting on a regular basis and the clubs starting to work together. A couple of projects that are only at planning stage are Balwyn’s proposal for a major replanting near Riversdale railway station and Kew’s proposal to replant a piece of waste ground near the Harp of Erin Hotel. Both of these projects will be labour intensive and require input from other clubs.
In a similar but slightly different vein, it is worth noting that Dorothy Gilmour, President of Rotary Hawthorn is the RI lead in Rotary Safe Families, a project dealing with domestic violence. Dorothy is hosting a global zoom meeting on Wednesday 14th May. If you are interested, click on this link for more information and to register: 
On another note, President Elizabeth Shepherd of the Rotary Club of Canterbury has asked me to pass on to you a request for volunteers to help an Honours student at Swinburne University, Michell Capstone, who is undertakimng some very interesting research. The details are in the message below. If you would like to help Michell with her very important work, please contact her diretly at the email address in the message.
Until next time.
