Week 24 : 15 December 2023

Ho, ho, ho...

Bells jingled, crackers cracked and laughter was heard all around as RCMP got into the Christmas spirit (hic!) to celebrate the last meeting of the year!

The few 'bloopers' by President Veronica, Brian J, Graham R and Lew T are bound to attract Santa's eye (He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been good or bad - so be good for goodness sake!) Nope they definitely get bags of coal!

However, a round of applause for all the Santa's, Elves and Mrs Claus' who are working tirelessly over the next couple of weeks in bringing joy to the many clubs, kindies, schools, parties and office gatherings leading up to Christmas. It's hard work in those hot costumes so a VERY BIG thank you to all our Dial A Santa helpers.

Here are some Christmas facts to digest with your Christmas turkey...

• You can thank Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria of England, for your Christmas tree. He bought his wife a tree and she decorated it - and thus the Christmas tree tradition was born in 1848.
• Rudolph first appeared in 1939 as a Christmas story for the Montgomery Ward department store, and in 1949 Gene Autry recorded the song ‘Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’ NOT Bing Crosby.
• Mistletoe is an aphrodisiac - an ancient symbol of fertility and virility however the Germanic translation of mistletoe means ‘dung on a twig’ so you may want to think twice from now on before you pucker up.
• We all know them as Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen; but their original names were Flossie, Glossie, Racer, Pacer, Scratcher, Feckless, Ready, Steady and Fireball!

I wonder why they changed them?

Guest speaker - Milly Formby

Our Guest Speaker, Milly Formby, is originally from Gippslandin Victoria and is an Artist and Zoologist. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Zoology) and a Master of Science (Zoology), both from The University of Melbourne; along with a  Bachelor of Visual Arts Monash University.

Her fascination with shorebirds began while she was studying at the University of Melbourne.  In 2015 Milly moved to Perth to take a job at the University of WA.She had never flown a plane before and had no childhood dreams of becoming a pilot. Nor is there any history of aviation in her family. So one day she thought “I could learn to fly a Microlight and follow the shorebirds on migration to Siberia”. From that, her epic “Wing Threads” circumnavigation of Australia was born.

As background, Milly introduced us to the mighty little shorebirds. They fly over 25,000 Km from their breeding grounds in Siberia to their non-breeding grounds in Australia. What makes it so amazing is, they don’t glide or land on water. So their epic migration is done in one non-stop journey over about eight days, where they flap continuously the entire way! Before leaving, they fatten themselves up then use up all this body fat on the way. They also leave their chicks behind. By a miracle of nature, those chicks mature and make their own way to Australia!

Milly decided the first step to pursuing this big dream

would be to test her wings by flying around Australia. In 2016 she began training with flight instructor, Gordon Marshall at Sky Sports Flying School in York, about 200 kms east of Perth. But she didn’t have a plane, so Milly ran a crowdfunding campaign in 2017. At the start of 2018, she was sponsored by Microlight manufactures Airborne Australia who offered to their aircraft for her to build up her hours. Along the way, as she learnt to fly, Milly was awarded the Amelia Earhart Fly Now Scholarship 2016 (Women in Aviation International) and the PanAir Flight Training Scholarship 2019 (The 99s International Organization of Women Pilots)

 After further fundraising, having her own Microlightbuilt and forming a support team, she was ready. Her circumnavigation of Australia, “Wing Threads” was supposed to take six months. One year and 20,000 Km later, her adventure was completed in September 2023.

Along the way she visited 105 schools, talking to 6,550 students about shorebirds and her journey. Milly has written and illustrated a children’s book A Shorebird Flying Adventure, which is available through CSIRO Publishing.

You can also watch the Wing Threads documentary on ABC iView. https://iview.abc.net.au/show/wing-threads.

 

Special Event

Graham Rennie was presented with a Certificate of Excellence for the many years he has upheld RCMP's I.T., website, domain names and all things technological. Including weekly projections and fixing it up when things went pear-shaped! 

 He was fined last week for appearing centrefold in the City of South Perth Peninsula (sans staple in the belly button) thus being labelled as  “Hunk of the Week” by our fines master Jenny - but we know that no one could have brought Technology to Mill Point as well as Graham. Many thanks for all that you do and have done!

 

 

Announcements and Director Reports:

Graham R - Manning's men shed looking for volunteers to help build chicken coops for local schools. Contact Graham directly.

Brian J - Ukraine merchandise on sale after the meeting.

Gerry McG - received $700 cash from a 'mate' after he saw photos of the Bushfires in Oz - a picture paints a thousand words!

Raelene G - BIG thanks to Marg Hyatt for taking over as attendance officer whilst Raelene swanned around Oz for 3 months!

Kelly G - Club photo on the lawn after meeting: Donations of non-perishable goods for Southcare hampers to Veronica please.

Gorby - This weeks donation of bread, buns, pies, cream buns etc., would probably retail at about $500 - all collected and delivered to needy causes by RCMP - thanks Brumby's!

Our thoughts and good wishes to Scott D who is in hospital undergoing surgery, and Roger D still undergoing treatment.

Attendance this week:

71 attendees in all, comprising - 41 members; 30 guests including Geoff Baker MLA, Mayor Greg Milner; Friends of Rotary Vaughan and Julie Emery; Honorary members Peter KK, and Sid Jessup; visiting Rotarians Alan Ramsay and Kim Larson RC of Como; and Hannah Nimmo-Lawrance (photographer).