Rotary Club of Maleny Bulletin for 6th April 2016

"THE RANGE"  Vol. 57 No. 20
WEDNESDAY 6TH APRIL 2016

THIS WEEK'S MEETING
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Bruce McNaught on Membership Development Plan and Global Rewards plus Jane Millar on National Youth Science Forum.

APOLOGIES
Apologies to Bernice before noon on Tuesday 5th April.

DUTY ROSTERS
                           6th Apr             20th Apr          4th May                
Duty Officer       Jim A                Lionel T          Mike G                          
Assist DO          Chris B             Rick V             Sherryl G                  
Registration       Bill H                Ric T                Phillip S
Fellowship         Keith R            John W             Alan W
          
SAUSAGE SIZZLE ROSTER
9th April
Alan Wilson (Leader)  Jeff Cornfoot  Malcolm Baker

25th April
Chris Brooker (Leader)  Roly Neiper  John Whan

MEETING OF 16TH MARCH
Our speaker was Pia Boschetti on her adventures in the pearl trade.

Pia Boschetti is an exceptional women in that she seems to make no compromise with what she wanted to do and what she now does even though this means that at least twice a year she travels as far as London to Moscow to achieve her aims.

She has learnt how to encourage black pearls from Oyster shells that she has raised from the eggs of wild oysters on an island in Western Australia and then she has taught herself how to market these same pearls (and many other varieties of pearls) in the three shops she owns in Noosa, Montville and Geraldton.

An extract from her Latitude Gallery brochure neatly sums it up.
“While many young women only dream of wearing pearls, Pia Boschetti is happy farming them in the remote waters of the Abrolhos islands, off the coast of  Geraldton, Western Australia. Born into a lobster-fishing family, Pia’s affinity with the Abrolhos islands has been lifelong. She was the first baby baptised in the Island church, was married there and even her daughter was recently baptised there. Pia spends up to six months per year living in these remote waters and has worked in the pearling industry for the past 13 years.”

From the way Pia described her childhood and some of the hi jinks she got up to with boats and fishing it seemed an idyllic existence for a young girl, somewhere between Robinson Crusoe and Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons.

In response to some early questions she described her early life. Her father tried his hand at many sea ventures including tuna fishing and lobsters and teaching his children to love boats. The youngest of three siblings she first tried her hand at Real Estate for 4 years before going to Europe for the traditional year abroad which left her unimpressed. So she decided to try her hand at oyster farming. Alongside all of this she is a practised and qualified sailor holding a Master’s ticket at grade 4 and 5 levels. Sometimes she helps to deliver heavy cargoes from Fremantle to Dubai or the Yemen.

The island produces cultured pearls and Mabe pearls. Pia’s oyster farm is 5 nautical miles from where she lives. She has to take a boat to the Oyster beds and she grows black lipped oysters as well as Akoya and Penguin oysters. She concentrates on both black and white pearls.

She took us through the process from woe to go. She collects wild shells and breeds them in tanks filtering out the seeds. The seeds then spend 60 days in the Hatchery and a further 2 to 3 years growing into the shells we are familiar with. They are then seeded and she waits another 2 years for the pearls to mature. The whole process takes at least 5 years and many pearls fail to make the grade.

Seeding and harvesting is only a small part of the process –much time is spent cleaning the ‘fouling’ from the shells – grading the pearls and maintaining the long oyster lines. Pia showed us many pearl samples from rough design to the final product. She explained that baroque pearls that form around an oyster egg are not a good idea.

Pia then talked about how her shops developed into stylish jewellery shops such as her ‘Latitude Gallery’ where  ‘… her gallery has now evolved into an artist’s haven to encourage and promote their works… the love and passion for her work is obvious in every unique piece of jewellery designed. As a means of promoting and displaying the beautiful pearls she produces herself, she combines her design skills with input from jeweller artists to create an amazing collection of uniquely designed jewellery.’

A really excellent talk from someone who has defined and created an unusual, artistic and exciting life for herself.

ALAN WILSON IN PNG

Alan reports that he was able to address a Joint Meeting of both Boroko and Port Moresby Rotary Clubs.  He then presented them with a sample of our new shopping bag - (now available from the Maleny Newsagency at $5.99.)

He thanked them for their work with the books and computers.  The good news is that he was able to contact a friend at TNT PNG and they have agreed to ship the goods to Popondetta Senior National High School in Popondetta.

He also told them that he would be bringing another proposal back to our club for a water project for  consideration.

FUTURE MEETINGS & EVENTS
4th April
Farewell to Trevor and Robyn Taylor at the Beerwah Hotel at 6:30pm.

13th April
Board Meeting at the Masonic Hall.

20th April
Maleny Hotel at 6:30 for 7:00pm with Guest Speaker Bryan Mason on Romac.

27th April
Masonic Hall at 5:50 for 6:00pm Project Meeting with cheese and biscuits.

29th April
District Conference starts at Maroochydore.

30th April to 2nd May
Maleny Wood Expo - parking duties

11th May
Joint Clubs Meeting at USC.

27th & 28th May
Maleny Show

BIRTHDAYS FOR APRIL
1st Nancy Baker  4th Phillip Stark  12th Chris Brooker  23rd John McLennan  27th Chris Ross Smith & John Whan

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES FOR APRIL
13th Jeff & Jan Cornfoot  26th Bill & Marlene Hankinson

NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT
A GEOGRAPHICAL BREAKTHROUGH

I  found it...

And you thought there was no such place.....