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As part of its program to support community programs, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy (RCPF) has teamed with other Warrnambool-based Rotary clubs to sponsor students' attendance at the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) to be held in January 2025. This will be the second time the club has joined this collaborative program.
 
 
It is with a degree of sadness that the Rotary Club of Port Fairy acknowledges the passing of former Club President, Gordon Harman.
 
Gordon joined the Rotary Club in 2000 and served until June 2012. He took over the role of President in 2004 at a very challenging time when the Club membership was at an all-time low of some 9 members. He passed on the role in 2004/5 to Alan Rasmussen and between them they gradually restored the membership back towards the long term average membership of around 20.
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy recently distributed $13,336 back into community projects from monies it accrued from its 23/24 fundraising efforts.
 
Rotary clubs are obliged to distribute all fundraising monies raised back into community projects and the $13,336 was covered by the $15,302 raised from fundraising in 23/24.
 
The remaining balance of $1,996, at 30th June 2024, will be carried over into the next Rotary year to support secondary students attending the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) to be held in Canberra in January 2025.
 
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its annual Changeover Dinner for 2024 where, traditionally, the Club Presidency changes hands.  However, moving into Rotary year 2024-25, the club will be led by the same joint-presidents that were elected for 23-24. 
 
In this regard, apart for a few minor changes to other Board members, joint Presidents - Jed Macartney and Andrew Long remain at the helm -  meaning there was little change going into the new Rotary year.  Nevertheless, it was an opportunity for Club members to gather in what was a fairly low key event.
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its annual Winter Trivia Quiz as part of the 2024 Port Fairy Winter Weekends Festival on Saturday 8th June 2024.
 
The event was held at the Port Fairy Senior Citizen's Rooms. Fifty competitors, making up eight teams, enjoyed a fun few hours testing their mettle over 6 rounds of 10 questions that were set by Rotary's "Quiz Master", Michael Crowe.
 
A ninth team, comprising the fantastic people working in the kitchen preparing the scrumptious afternoon tea, which was served at the mid-way point, formed an add-on 9th team. The winning team could only be separated by a "quick-fire" tie-breaker round of 5 questions.
 
The Rotary Club Fashion Parade 2024 was held on 19th April the Port Fairy Presbyterian Church hall.
 
The event was a  good fundraiser for the Club with approx $1000 raised towards Rotary's community projects.
 
Many thanks to Decked Out on Bank for their involvement and sponsorship of this event, and to the public that attended the Fashion Parade and the Rotarians and others that doubled as models on the day!
At its meeting on 8th April 2024 the Rotary Club of Port Fairy hosted guest speaker, Tommy Quick, who told us of his life's challenges since suffering a stroke at age 12.
 
Tommy's talk highlighted his inspirational journey's to raise monies for the Australian Stroke Foundation and his 4-points challenge - a 9000 Km ride to visit all four of the extreme points of Australia.
 
At its meeting on 27th November 2023, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy welcomed guests - Seif Sakata and Martin Dunstan from the Bandari project.
 
In introducing Martin, Seif recognised the long-standing relationship between Bandari and the Rotary club as it was Rotary that first helped Seif get started on providing support to the children in his home town of Mto Wambu in Tanzania.
 
In those early days, the Club helped send the first batch of support equipment to Tanzania and also had some of our Club's members pioneer visits to MtoWambu to start the first building project.
 
 
Rotary Club of Port Fairy Open Gardens Expo - a great success!
 
On Sunday 12th November 2023, the Rotary Club held its annual Open Gardens Expo and 2023 was rated as the "best ever".
 
Around 325 paying guests enjoyed four magnificent gardens located in Port Fairy, Rosebrook and Illowa - all uniquely different but a credit to their owners.
 
The Club is grateful for the generosity of all of the garden owners who willingly opened up their properties on the day and particularly to Rosebrook Manor which also doubled as the place where refreshments were served.
At its dinner meeting on 13th November, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy hosted Ian McKay, District Governor for Rotary District 9780.
 
Ian now lives in Mount Gambier but was formerly a Principal at Kings College in Warrnambool.
 
The meeting was essentially a social event with a chance for Ian to meet members and also deliver a short speech covering his goals and vision for Rotary year 2023/24. He was accompanied by Assistant Governor, Janey Preston, from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool Daybreak.
 
 
Rotary Club of Port Fairy supports the Great South Coast Science & Engineering Challenge 2023.
 
The Port Fairy Rotary Club, along with other volunteers from other Rotary clubs in Warrnambool, assisted at the Great South Coast Science & Engineering Challenge 2023, which was held at Deakin University in August.
 
The Challenge is organised annually by the University of Newcastle. South West coordinator, Brooke Jensen, from the Rotary Club of Warrnambool, organised the Great South Coast region's event this year. The Challenge involved students from years 9 and 10 representing six local secondary schools.
 
On Challenge day, the students from Kings College, Warrnambool, were the eventual winners. Their winning score was also the highest score recorded from all the other regions in Victoria in 2023 and this earned them the right to represent their state at the national titles to be held in Sydney in October.
 
Local postie - Stephen Dwyer - was awarded a "Pride of Workmanship" award by the Rotary Club of Port Fairy at its meeting on 17th July 2023.
 
 The award recognises Stephen's exceptional vocational service in delivering mail in Port Fairy and surrounds for many years.
 
 Pride of Workmanship awards have occasionally been bestowed on local identities by the Rotary Club but only around five have been awarded in the past twenty five years.
 
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy held its 2023 Changeover Dinner on Monday 26th June at The Sentinel Restaurant in Port Fairy.
 
Rotarians, partners and special guests made up the 48 people attending the dinner which honoured the out-going President, Graeme Cox, who passes on the reins to the new - and joint Presidents - Jed Macartney and Andrew Long.
Rotary Wants YouThe Rotary Club of Port Fairy is seeking interested students from Years 9, 10 and 11.
 
The Rotary Youth Exchange Programme seeks students who are interested in paricipating in a live and study abroad opportunity.
 
As part of this programme, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy has, in recent years, sponsored two students on an out-bound Youth Exchange programme and is now looking for potential, new particpants in Rotary year 23/24.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy is seeking to sponsor young people in the age bracket 18 to 25 years for RYLA. The next RYLA seminar is scheduled for 16th-21st April 2023 (see details below).
 
The Rotary Club's Guest Speaker at its meeting on 20th March was Joan Hose from Moyne Health Services (MHS).
 
Joan recently took over the administration of the Meals on Wheels (MOWs) program and gave an insight into the  program and the valuable work that all volunteers undertake for MHS.
 
Rotarian are regularly rostered onto the MOWs calendar taking a week-ling booking every second month.
At its meeting on 6th March 2023 the Rotary Club of Port Fairy was excited to induct two new members - greatly enhancing the ranks of the Club.
 
Apart from the induction of Ashley King as a Corporate Member (see separate story) it was a pleasure to formally induct Tony Murray who has transferred from the Rotary Club of Doncaster to our club when he retired to Port Fairy in 2022.
 
Tony is an experienced Rotarian and has already proven to be a great benefit to our club by engaging with numerous volunteering activities in cluding our summer raffle at the market,selling Car Raffle tickets in Sackville Street, manning gates at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, catering at the Port Fairy Marathon and registering to be a regular volunteer for Meals on Wheels.
The Rotary Club meeting held on 6th March 2023 was a milestone event in the life of the Club when it inducted its first ever Corporate Member.
 
Recognising the growing importance that Australian businesses place on corporate social responsibility, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy has created a Corporate Membership option, to provide businesses with the opportunity to participate in Rotary's established community service projects.  Employees of local businesses that partner with Rotary in Corporate Membership are invited to participate in all Rotary activities without committing personally to the obligations expected of regular individual members. Additionally, participation in Rotary provides employees with personal development opportunities potentially through project leadership and public speaking.
 
After creating the Corporate Membership class, the Rotary Club of Port Fairy then engaged with the Community Bank of Port Fairy & District to take up the corporate membership option.  
 
Ashley King, as the Bank's Company Secretary, was chosen to represent the Bank and be inducted as a Corporate member into the Rotary Club with a short ceremony conducted by Club President, Graeme Cox.
 
Around a dozen Rotarians held a "marathon" cooking event when they catered for spectators at the 2023 Port Fairy Marathon on 19th February.
 
The setup crew worked in the early morning dark -starting around 6:15am - to setup the gazebo and BBQ before cooking got underway around 7am.
 
All up, over 120 egg and bacon rolls were cooked and sold out by 11am.
 
It was a great community event, the second time the Marathon has been run in Port Fairy, with over 1300 entrants running over various distances from the full 42km marathon race to shorter distances for school children and supporting parents.
 
It is with a sad note that we report the passing of Rotarian Geoff Coxall. Geoff was a long-standing member of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy.  
 
In recent years Geoff has fought bravely to recover firstly from a stroke and then a debillitating illness to which he finally succumbed.
 
His presence at Rotary has been greatly missing of late and it is sad news that he lost his fight for life this week.  He will be fondly remembered within the Club.
Members of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy spent an hour or so helping fellow Rotarian, Barb Eldridge and her husband, Ken, by cleaning up and weeding their garden in Campbell Street, Port Fairy today.
 
Local business development has received a boost with the establishment of Commerce Moyne.  Speaking at a recent Port Fairy Rotary meeting, Ashley King outlined progress on the establishment of the organisation which has been kicked off by the Community Bank and the Moyne Shire. 
Commerce Moyne will be a co-ordinating point for local businesses and an advocate for grants and projects. 
The first initiative has been to create a paid Program Director for the Moyneyana Festival which should ensure a bigger and better event over the up-coming holiday season.
 
 
The rain held off and Port Fairy Rotary's annual Open Gardens day took place on Sunday 30 October with five great gardens on display.  The event was a fundraiser for Australians 4 Women's Health, this being President Graeme Cox's major charity for 2022/23.  Nearly six thousand dollars was raised for this cause by ticket sales on the day and by the associated raffle.  The Club would like to thank the owners who made their gardens available and put in the work to have them in tip-top condition for the day.
Special thanks also go to main organiser Jill Gleeson and her assistants, including the Friends of Rotary.  Thanks also to Maureen Beatty and her helpers who organised the morning and afternoon teas and served them on the day.
 
 
 
Local identity Nicole Dwyer was the guest speaker at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy.  Nicole has established Belfast Volunteering, a new not-for-profit group aimed at connecting volunteers with groups and clubs in Port Fairy and the surrounding district.  This is a most welcomed initiative given the difficulty faced by all groups in recruiting volunteers and the importance of voluntary work in our community.
If you are an individual looking for volunteering opportunities or a group looking for volunteers, you can register with Belfast Volunteering by emailing info@belfastvolunteering.com
 
 
 
Port Fairy Rotary has released a guide to all things recycling, re-homing and re-using for Port Fairy and district.  The Guide was put together by local resident Fiona Phillips and covers 39 categories of household goods with everything from bicycles to garden tools to video games. The Guide also provides detailed information on what you can put into the familiar yellow, purple, green and red bins collected by Moyne Shire each week.
You can download a copy of the Guide from the Home Page.
 
 
Port Fairy Rotary's tribute to the Centenary of the operation of Rotary in Australia has been unveiled.  On a recent sunny morning District Governor Kathy Rivett cut the ribbon on our Centenary project, a 300 tree plantation on the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail.   DG Kathy cut the ribbon on a sign and a seat that mark the location and significance of the project.
The trees for the project were purchased with the aid of a grant from the Moyne Shire Community Carbon Offset Program.  Port Fairy Rotary is grateful to the Rail Trail Committee on Management for providing access to the site and to the Rail Trail volunteers who assisted with site preparation and the tree planting.  Rotarian Tony Bawden was the driving force behind behind the project, showing great persistence through the tribulations of COVID. Thanks to all.
 
 
 
Salvation Army member Barry Clarke was a recent guest speaker at the Port Fairy Rotary.  Barry is the Southwest Team Leader, Homelessness and heads up a team who deliver the Homelessness Program.  The program assists an average of 45 people per month and over past 12 months there have been 518 households  present for assistance.
 
 
Barry Clarke with President Graeme Cox
  A small, but intrepid group of Rotarians spent an hour or so this morning on the Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail Bicycle path.
 
  This was to help the Rail Trail committee volunteers plant over 200 trees along the stretch of the trail near Sun Pharma on the Princes Highway.
In trying conditions the weed team, Port Fairy Rotarians Bill Moore and Michael Crowe, set to work weeding the Barclay Street garden beds.  Two big bags of weeds later the job was done.
With the blessing of the Moyne Shire Port Fairy Rotary has volunteered to keep the weeds at bay at this prominent site.  These garden beds were established by the Shire as part of the recent upgrade of the church end of Barclay Street.
 
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy was keen to promote a battery disposal facility in Port Fairy and, as part of its research, we discovered that a company called EcoBatt, were already in the process of installing disposal centres in various IGAs and Home Hardware shops in south west Victoria.
 
The Rotary Club is therefore pleased that our town's first recycling box has now been installed in Brookes Hardware store in Sackville Street.
In recognition of the Centenary of Rotary in Australia and the Port Fairy Rotary Club's 60th anniversary, a new drinking fountain has been installed in Rotary Park (Charles Mills Reserve) on the eastern bank of the Moyne River. The Club appreciates Moyne Shire Council's support on this project. Later this year the Council will construct a new path along the river bank, adjacent to the fountain. 
 
Rotarian Tony Bawden was the driving force behind the drinking fountain project, with Milee Cox contributing the artwork for the fountain signage.
 
The Rotary Club of Port Fairy recently undertook a cleanup of the back yard of the Port Fairy Sea Scout's hall in Bank Street.  The first job was to remove the old ute that has been parked in the yard for a number of years.  On 5 December the team of Adrian, Graeme, Milee, Jill, Peter, Bill, Reg and Michael moved in with brush cutters to tackle the long grass and remove some large items of rubbish.  The job was finished off the following week with the removal of some rocks and other small items so that the grass can be safely mowed in future.
Welcome to the Rotary Club of  Port Fairy
Port Fairy
We meet In Person
Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Star of the West Hotel
76 Sackville Street
Port Fairy, VIC 3284
Australia
First and Third Monday of the month
 
Mini Calendar
December 2024
S M T W T F S
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01
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Speakers
Past Speakers
District Governor - Kathy Rivett
Oct 17, 2022 6:30 PM
An introduction to the DG's plans for 2022-23
Mark Powell (Operations Manager - WRAD)
Oct 03, 2022 6:30 PM
An overview of WRAD services
Barry Clarke
Sep 05, 2022 6:30 PM
Role of Salvation Army in SW Victoria
Nina Fitzsimmons (NYSF candidate)
Jun 06, 2022
My experience at the National Youth Science Forum - January 2022
Club Directors
President-1
President-2
President Elect
Immediate Past President
Secretary
Treasurer
Rotary Foundation
International Service
Membership
Public Image
Club Service
Environment
Youth Service