Welcome to Rotary Armadale! Great to have you drop by.
Three year 10 students from local high schools were this week each presented with a $500 scholarship by the Rotary Club of Armadale to assist with their year 11 educational expenses.
The Phil Phillips Incentive Awards have been a tradition of the Rotary Club of Armadale for many years. They were made possible through a bequest by the late Mr Phil Phillips, a long-standing Primary School Principal who was a former President of the club and a highly respected member of the Armadale community.
We congratulate this year’s worthy recipients.
L to R: President Peter Warren, Keira-Jayne Logue (Cecil Andrews College), Antonia Dobson (Kelmscott Senior High School) and Asyari Mustofa (Armadale Senior High School)
Photos: Jack & Jan Collier and a typical iron lung
Born in Kenya in 1941, Former Rotarian, Jack Collier, contracted Poliomyelitis at the age of 13 whilst at boarding school in Nairobi Then began a long and painful journey to recovery. The disease caused Jack to experience complete paralysis and extreme difficulty breathing. He was unable to walk, to breathe unaided, or to use his hands. He spent nine months in an iron lung which enabled him to keep breathing.
GEOFF & GRAHAM DEFT HANDS WITH SAUSAGE SIZZLE AT PIARA WATERS PRIMARY SCHOOL BREAKFAST FOR DADS.Our Youth Director, Past President (Assistant Governor) Graham Sampson and our Treasurer, Past President Geoff Woodard, were delighted to provide our club barbecue trailer and and their cooking skills this week to assist Chaplain John Ryder and the P&C Association volunteers to provide a hearty breakfast for around 300 dads and some mums as well.
Members of the Rotary Club of Armadale put on high-viz vests last Sunday as they acted as marshals for the City of Armadale’s Harmony Day Festival at Heron Park in Harrisdale.
LOCAL EMPLOYEES TO BE RECOGNISED FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO
EXCELLENCE
(Nominations close 30 March 2021)
The Rotary Club of Armadale was pleased to host an official visit from District Governor, Colin Burns this week, as members and guests met for the last meeting of 2020 and celebrated the Christmas season.
There are plenty of reasons to be proud of the progress that has been made in sustainable agriculture at the Mukti Mission farm in Pune District of Maharashtra, India. Abbey Scholarship recipient, Ishwar Dass has kept us up-to-date with what's been happening there since his return to India.
Members of the Rotary Clubs of Armadale, Gosnells & Kenwick came together this month for a “Hat Party” to raise awareness of mental health issues and to raise funds for Australian Rotary Health’s Mental Health Research projects. Special guest speaker, Annette Chivers from the local branch of Headspace, gave a challenging presentation about youth mental health issues.
The “Hat Party” was held at the Champion Centre in Seville Grove, with the wearing of a hat being “mandatory”. There was a prize for the best hat. The sum of $310 was raised from the event.
CHANGEOVER NIGHT:
President Laurie to preside for another year.
Past District Governor, Terry Barritt OAM was just as surprised as his beloved Joan when, at our club meeting of 03 March, President Laurie presented him with a special award from the Royce Abbey Award Committee.
Lily Lee and Tng Chin Kok, from Calvary Victory Autistic Centre in Malaysia are the latest recipients of the Royce & Jean Abby Scholarship. They have just arrived in Perth to begin one month of additional specialised training in the care and empowerment of autistic children. They were special guests this week at the Rotary Club of Armadale.
Lily & her husband Chin Kok (CK to his friends) have been working with autistic children and young adults at Calvary Victory Autistic School in Malaysia since 1998. During that time, the late Rotarian Irvin Phillips visited the school many times, conducting specialised training for teachers, volunteers and parents. His wife Margaret, joined Irvin on a number of the visits. Lily spoke of how Irvin’s dedicated commitment to best practise in this difficult field was a great inspiration to everyone involved with the school. Although Irvin & Margaret undertook this project as part of the International project portfolio of the Rotary Club of Armadale, reporting regularly to the club, they did so at their own expense.
Past President Gail Sampson has worked hard behind the scenes, liaising with Past District Governor Terry Barritt, to secure this latest Abby Scholarship and bring our guests to Perth. The scholarship programme was set up by District Governors across Australia who served under the leadership of Rotary International President 1988-89, Royce Abbey, who was an Australian Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Essendon, Victoria. Terry Barritt was one of those serving District Governors and has remained on the scholarship committee ever since.
Sausage sizzles are a Rotary speciality anywhere in Australia—and this week’s celebration at the Champion Centre was no exception.
Guest speaker, Karen Kerlin from Starick, told members and partners present at our August 13 meeting that nearly 300,000 people in Western Australia have, at some time, experienced some form of violence from their partner. She said “Across Australia, one women per week is murdered by a current or former partner. One in three children under 15 have experienced physical violence.”
SAVE THE CHILDREN SAVING BIKES AND SAVING KIDS FROM TROUBLE
LOCAL STUDENTS WORTHY AWARD RECIPIENTS
The Manse Restaurant was buzzing with the exuberance of youth at our meeting of the Rotary Club of Armadale on 14 November, as three local high school students received their Phil Phillips Incentive Scholarships, one of last year’s awardees received her alumni certificate and another student was announced as the recipient of the Rotary National Youth Science Forum study grant. Each of the worthy recipients had family members present to share their moment of glory and hear them give a short speech about themselves and their dreams. The Phil Phillips Scholarships are made available from a trust fund set up by a former President of the Rotary Club of Armadale. His son, Rotarian Irvin Phillips, also a Past Club President, was delighted to assist in making the presentations.
The Phil Phillips Incentive Scholarships
Students are selected from three local high schools, based on various criteria that includes aptitude and attitude. Past President Joe Kalajzich, who is a former local high school Principal, assisted the schools with the selection process. The award is in the form of a grant of $500, which is to be used exclusively for educational needs. Each student is then invited to attend a dinner meeting of the Rotary Club of Armadale, along with family members, and give a brief talk about themselves and their aspirations.
WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER
Rotarian Maryanne Gleeson recently moved from the land of the unpredictable weather (Victoria) to the “Sunshine Capital of Australia”*
After attending as a guest of the Rotary Club of Armadale for several weeks, Maryanne, who now makes her home in Mount Nasura, was officially welcomed this week as a member of our club. A registered nurse, Maryanne transferred her membership from the Rotary Club of Milawa Oxley in rural Victoria. That club is only 6 years old, but enthusiastically works together to make a difference to their local communities and the world community. The group meets on Tuesday nights at the St Paul’s Church Hall in Milawa on the first Tuesday of the month, and the rest of the Tuesdays at the Wangaratta Club
Maryanne says she feels very much at home at the Rotary Club of Armadale. She has been asked to serve on the youth committee.
*A recent Sunday Times article reported that Perth is now the nation’s “Sunshine Capital ”, with a long-term annual average of 8.8 hours of sunshine per day. (Ahead of Darwin (8.5) and Brisbane (8.2). Melbourne has only 6.5.
The Rotary Club of Armadale welcomes enquiries from prospective new members, whether transferring from another club or completely new to the Rotary scene. We're a bunch of leaders who love making a positive difference in the world. Why not come and check us out on a Tuesday evening? 6:00pm for 6:30 start at the Armadale Bowling Club in Millman Way. Contact us first though, to make sure we're not meeting somewhere different as we occasionally do. And we need to know numbers for catering.
Could you become our newest member?
They're back and celebrating!
President Craig Alford and the intrepid Ride to the Other Side team have recently returned home after completing the latest leg of their amazing sponsored ride around Australia on a Hustler Super Z ride-on lawnmower. And it's all to raise funds funds for various charities supported by the Rotary Club of Armadale, Western Australia.
At the club meeting on Tuesday 26 July, PP Craig gave a most interesting illustrated talk about the Ride with most of his team members also in attendance. District Governor 9465, Linda McLerie and Assistant Governor, Ric Davies, also attended the meeting and congratulated Craig and the team on their amazing efforts.
This latest leg of the journey saw Craig riding his lawnmower, along with his support crew, all the way from Katherine in the Northern Territory, across the top to the Kimberley, back down through the Pilbarra and the North West, arriving at Elizabeth Quay in Perth, where they they were met by the Premier and other dignatories, before riding the last 30kms home to Armadale.
Up in the Kimberley, the crew experienced some pretty wild weather and Craig had to wear a snorkling mask to combat the extremely heavy rain!
The idea for Ride to the Other Side was born while Craig Alford – (Rotary District 9465 Assistant Governor at the time) – was touring Hustler’s US mower plant. (He sells the machines at his Armadale business.) Riding a mower around Australia was certainly a novel way to draw attention to some important causes and raise some money – the goal was $1 million. But it was a pretty serious undertaking.
It was clear the adventure would need to be attempted in stages, and it was decided to make the first a reasonably short one to give the machinery and the crew a try-out. So, in March 2012, the Ride set off from Armadale in Perth’s eastern suburbs to Kalgoorlie. Since then, further legs completed were: Kalgoorlie to Adelaide (2013); Adelaide to Sydney, via Melbourne and Tasmania (2014); Sydney to Katherine, NT (2015) and then Katherine to Perth (2016). Over the full journey, more than $350,000 has been raised for various charities, including the EJ Whitton Foundation, Rotary Health, End Polio Now, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Rotary Foundation
And the mower travelled all that way on one set of tyres until they got a blow-out about 200kms from Perth on the home stretch!. The mower averaged 24 k.p.h with a top speed being reached of 39.1 k.p.h.
It's a tremendous achievement that Craig's fellow Rotarians agree is worthy of the strongest accolades.
CRAIG HONOURED FOR SERVICE ABOVE SELF
Past President, Craig Alford was taken by surprise at last weekend’s District 9456 Conference in Bunbury when he was presented with the Rotary International Service Above Self award by RI President’s Representative Garry Browne and District Governor, Melodie Kevan. There are only 100 such awards presented globally each year.
Craig was recognised for the huge contribution he has made to the Rotary Foundation and several charities through his fundraising efforts riding his Hustler Super Z lawnmower around Australia. Craig quickly acknowledged that he couldn’t have done it without the huge backing of his dedicated support team. Over $300, 000 has so far been raised through the Ride.
Craig, supported by several of his team members, rode the ride-on mower up onto the stage at Bunbury Recreation Centre, the Conference venue. He had just ridden the mower from Armadale to Bunbury in support of bushfire victims in the Waroona/Yarloop/Harvey area. He had planned the grand entry as a surprise for conference attendees but received a bigger surprise himself when presented with the Service Above Self Award.
en by surprise at last weekend’s District 9456 Conference in Bunbury when he was presented with the Rotary International Service Above Self award by RI President’s Representative Garry Browne and District Governor, Melodie Kevan. There are only 100 such awards presented globally each year.
Melodie loves her role as District Governor
When Melodie Kevan first enquired about joining Rotary there were very few clubs that had female members and applying to join was quite a long-winded process of proving one’s eligibility. Some twenty-two years later she is the Governor of District 9465 and there’s hardly a day goes by that she’s not visiting a Rotary Club within the district, attending a Rotary function somewhere in the world or answering numerous phone calls and email messages. She’s also an avid Facebook user, promoting Rotary’s many avenues of service. Never a dull moment for Melodie.
This week, DG Melodie was the special guest of the Rotary Club of Armadale and enjoyed a chat-style interview with Past President Peter Warren, as she shared various aspects of her Rotary journey and what it’s like to take on the role of District Governor. Melodie is a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Applecross, where she has held many leadership responsibilities, including, of course, Club President. Throughout her journey through the stages of District Governor-Nominee, then District Governor-Elect and now District Governor, Melodie has been accompanied and greatly encouraged by her husband, Past District Governor, John Kevan. Together, they travel some amazing distances across the metropolitan area, across Western Australia and sometimes interstate and overseas. Although there are certain monetary allowances afforded to a District Governor, Melodie typically covers the shortfall from her own resources.
Despite their extremely busy schedule, Melodie and John still enjoy some quality time with their grandchildren and they often host visiting Rotarians from around the world. They have made very many quality friendships through Rotary and enjoyed staying with fellow Rotarians when visiting other countries When asked who her favourite hero was, Melodie suggested her own grandmother would qualify for that accolade. The District Governor is keen to see clubs going the extra mile to recruit new members and would especially love to see more women joining Rotary, as they have so much to contribute. She encouraged the club to send a good representation to the Rotary in WA Membership Forum at Alfred Cove on Sunday 01 November (see notice on page 3). Melodie also loves to see younger generations getting involved through Rotaract, Interact and programmes such as Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment (RYPEN) and Youth Science Awards.
Following the armchair interview, DG Melodie spent some time reviewing the club’s annual checklist of activities and congratulating President Gail and members on the wide range of community and humanitarian projects that the Rotary Club of Armadale is involved in. She was delighted that we had recently admitted two new members and that we have a strong public presence through various events and online.
Melodie made special mention of the great work done by Past President Jeff Cairns and Rotarian Eileen Alford in coordinating the BowelScan programme that has had a huge impact across the district and probably saved many lives. She also made special mention of Past President Craig and his Ride to the Other Side team, which has generated great publicity and raised significant funds for Rotary and other worthy charities.Members enjoyed the opportunity to ask questions of Melodie and give some feedback.
Service Above Self
Seville Grove, WA 6112
Australia