Rotary Club of Maleny Bulletin for 18th January 2017

"THE RANGE"  Vol. 58 No.13
WEDNESDAY 18TH JANUARY 2017

THIS WEEK'S MEETING
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Des Harms on Onsite Sewerage.

APOLOGIES
Apologies to Bernice before noon on Tuesday.

DUTY ROSTERS
                       
                               18th Jan       1st Feb            15th Feb                
Duty Officer            Ric T            Keith R             Rick V                     
Assist DO               Alan W         Lionel T            Phillip S                      
Registration            Andy S         Malcolm B       Bernice McL
Fellowship              John W         Jim A               David F

SAUSAGE SIZZLE ROSTER
14th January
Ric Townsend (Leader)  Chris Ross-Smith  John Whan

28th January
Rick Vickers  (Leader)  Michael and Sherryl Gregory

11th February
Chris Brooker  (Leader)  Phillip Stark  Jim Atkinson

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
President Jeff opened the meeting with a welcome to our outgoing Youth Exchange Student, Mollie Beckmann, her mum Michelle and a hosted exchange student, Nicole, from Italy (no, not Rotary).

After the usual preamble, Jeff gave a short (5 minutes ??), very interesting and informative talk on Rotary Foundation with reference to a book he has on it. Luckily he was only up to page 25 or the talk could have been longer.

Our sergeant gave his usual brief and bull fine session. Even had a modicum of truth in a couple.

After the coffee break, Mollie gave a short introductory talk (copy attached) and was then subjected to a Q and A. Mollie spoke with knowledge of the program and a good grasp of the fundamentals. She has recently returned from the Sunshine Safari whereby both inbound and outbound students are taken on a bus trip to local areas and obtained a lot of information from interacting with the other students.

Mollie was also the past President of Maleny Interact Club.  She leaves late January for Spain for 12 months. We wish her all the best for an enjoyable and interesting exchange.

"Hi everyone and thank you for having me tonight.
I wasn't too sure what exactly I was expected to say tonight so I hope you don't mind that I have prepared a short introduction about myself, where I am going and what I am hoping out of this experience. So for those I haven't had a chance to meet yet, my name is Mollie Beckmann and, as of today, I will arrive in district 2242 in Spain in exactly a month. About 5 months ago Chris Brooker approached our Maleny High School lnteract club presenting the opportunity of spending one year in a foreign country. My family has had international students- not through Rotary- since my mum was in primary school and so I have always wanted to do an exchange but didn't know about the possibility of doing it through Rotary. I am so grateful to all of you for giving me this opportunity.

District 9600 has never sent or received a student from Spain before, so myself and a girl Mia from Noosa will be the first. About 2 months ago I was sent the first email from my host family. Before this, the only information I knew was that I was going to Spain, nothing else. ln this email my host mum Anna explained that I will be staying with them for 6 months, giving me only two host families. Whilst I am with her, I will have three younger brothers- which is not too far from what I have here and will attend a school about 5 minutes from my home.

My house is in a small town called Valls about 10 minutes north of Tarragona by the beach. This means that I will be about 40 minutes from Barcelona. Most people I have spoken to were not particularly au fait with the geography of Spain, myself included, so I have a map to show you where I will be. ln Spain, there are three multidistrict's, 2201, 2203 and mine; 2242. My district covers the north east section of Spain which means it covers the entirety of the Catalunya region.

 ln Catalunya they are actually a bilingual community, meaning I will need to learn both Catalan and Spanish. From this exchange I hope to learn about myself. I will be welcomed into a new country, a new school, a Rotary club, a town and a family. I will learn from their culture and their ways of doing things. I will be open-minded and come home more adaptable and flexible than I have ever been. I will leave with not just my family here but with two other families that I love just as much. They are many things I hope to gain from this exchange, but what I hope for most is to not leave after having a great year vacation to come home, but be leaving a second home after making friends and having family that live up to the ones I have here.
Thank you for having me here tonight, and even more, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will always be grateful."

FUTURE MEETINGS & EVENTS
25th January
Club Assembly at the Masonic Centre - no meal.

26th January
Australia Day at Maleny Showgrounds.

1st February
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Max Lindegger on Ecological Solutions.

8th February
Board Meeting at the Masonic Hall.

15th February
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker TBC

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY FOR JANUARY
1st Malcolm and Nancy

BIRTHDAYS FOR JANUARY
1st Jan Cornfoot & Kay Wilkinson  21st Michael Gregory

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT
A POSSIBLE GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

1981 & 2005 - TWO INTERESTING YEARS
  
Interesting Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married.
2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe .
3. Australia lost the Ashes.
4. The Pope died.

 
Interesting Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married.
2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe .
3. Australia lost the Ashes.
4. The Pope died.

 
Lesson to be learned:

The next time Prince Charles gets married, someone should warn the Pope - and Cricket Australia.