Go Green and Gold
Well what a night it turned out to be! The event was a sea of Green and Gold from the ridiculous to the sublime, but everyone made an effort to participate in the theme of the night.
President elect Kelly Gillen did a great job as MC and welcomed everyone with his usual aplomb!
DG Ineke Oliver and husband Geoff, Geoff Baker MLA, Greg Milner Mayor of South Perth, President elect John Cahill and wife Denise Rotary Club of Como and new members Dianna Goh, Lydia Wong, Peggy Leung and Garrick McCamey all got a mention in dispatches.
DG Ineke Oliver gave the Toast to Rotary International speaking of the wonders of Rotary and the difference that Rotarians make.
The Toast to partners was given by Rotarian
Joy Burnett, a beautiful emotional toast, remembering late partners
(and members) of the club. Joy spoke of how partners are the support of
Rotarians and how hard it would be for Rotarians to "do what they do"
without a partner beside them.
The response by Joy's partner Charlie Burnett, was indeed a fitting tribute to fellow partners with accolades to Rotarians who had welcomed him into the Club, as a Rotary partner 30 years ago!
President Veronica gave a brief snapshot of the year in review logging some pretty impressive and significant projects, activities and events that the club had been involved with over the last 12 months:
- The Sewing Sisters
- The Amerta Bhuaa WAter Project in Bali
- Sri Lanka eye camp
- BulldustNBack (now in its 6th year)
- Dial A Santa
- Rock N Roll night
- Ukraine Ambulance
- Guildford Gaol
- SKG visit
- The Pines Awards
- Fremantle Historical Walk
- Camp Opportunity
- Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN)
- National Youth Science Forum (NYSF)
- Four Way Speech Contest
- Kensington Secondary School Awards
- South Perth Primary Graduation
- 2nd Peace Pole, South Perth Primary
PHF Awardees 2023-2024
A Paul Harris award is not given lightly, it signifies a Rotarian’s commitment to their Club through a number of activities, events and projects. It reflects on their leadership skills such as mentoring new Rotarians in sharing their knowledge as well as mentoring Rotarians who are taking up new challenges within the Club. It’s about sharing experiences within and without Rotary and sometimes putting a hand up when time and resources are tight.
It’s about quality of service as well as quantity, the number of Directorships held, deputising on committees and upholding Rotary’s values and ethics.
Mill Point's 2023-2024 PHF awardees are great examples of all these things, and it was a humbling but very proud experience to recognise and award PHF awards to these Mill Point Rotarians.
Firstly (and in no particular order), a long standing Rotarian of 30 years. Formerly a charter member and past President of a Rotary Club in the wild, wild, west.
During which time was working full-time with young children of their own as well as being a Director in the family engineering business.
Some of the portfolios they’ve held include President, Secretary,Vice President, Club Director, International Director, and Past Assistant District Governor.
When the family moved to Perth, this person joined the Rotary Club of Mill Point. Within a month of joining this person was seeking out projects in which to participate.
At the time RCMP was a large Club with over 70 members and was very active in community activities.
No surprise then that when they joined Mill Point in 2012, this person held offices such as Secretary and Attendance Officer; Assistant District Governor for District 9465; named Rotarian of the Year 2017-2018; Camp Inspiration nurse 2023; BulldustNBack medic 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and Acuity Tester at Eyecare camps in Sri Lanka annually since 2018 (and ongoing).
Of course the last testimonies gave it away and it is none other than our own Florence Nightingale Raelene George now PHF+2.
Raelene is currently in Paris, really wearing the green and gold but we will present this to her when she returns to Perth
The second awardee joined Rotary in 1992, but has had 40 years in Rotary - now that must be a milestone to be reckoned with!
During this time, they have held important positions - and not just for one year - Club Treasurer from 2013 to 2018 and Club Secretary 1995 to 1996 then 2021 to 2024, as well serving on Vocational, Club Service, Membership, International, Bulletin editor, Community Committees and being the Finesmaster. They were also Rotarian of the year in 2015-2016
They are a font of knowledge on all-things-constitution and by-laws.
This person beavers away in the background, it's noticeable in the way in which they say little but take in a lot and always, always, can recall conversations and the details.
Some would say they are ‘old school’ and that’s OK, as we experience constant change it is always good to have the ‘roots’ of our club firmly planted.
Receiving their PHF+4 it's John O’Sullivan.
John could not attend due to recovering from a hip replacement and we wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to his return when he will be presented his award and welcome him back to the club – as good as new!
Lastly, 1993 was a very special year – it was the year in which mine and Jon's twins were born and probably the year I met this person for the first time, as it was in 1993 when they joined Mill Point.
They have been a Past President 2014-2015, and have held multiple Directorships - Membership, Youth, International, Community, Club Service, Fundraising, back to Membership and is currently a Director of our Charity Trust.
They are a negotiator, a calming presence, a softly spoken person who has supported this Club through thick and thin and always ready to jump in when a problem arises.
They can’t be with us tonight as duty calls elsewhere but I know members will recognise the efforts over this Rotarian's 31 years of service, Congratulations to Lew Thomas PHF+3.
Amongst many duties, Lew is on babysitting duty and unfortunately unable to receive his award, but now with a "trifector" in our hands we will ensure that Lew, Raelene and John receive the accolades they deserve at a future club meeting.
2023-2024 Rotarian of The Year
I’m very happy to say that our Rotarian of the Year is here tonight
But first of all I want to acknowledge Graham Rennie who created and donated this magnificent duplicate trophy to record all the Rotarians of the Year since the award was created in the Rotary year of 2012-2013.
It would also be very remiss of me not to mention the very first awardee of this trophy – Ken Pittman, who has set the standards for all future awardees. Well done Ken.
However, this year’s Rotarian of the Year joined Mill Point in 1996, they are a Past President of the Club, as well as taking on committee roles such as Membership, Youth, Club Service, Vocational, and Fundraising.
To date they have introduced quite a few new members – mostly females - which makes me think that retirement is quite out of the question as they are such a good source of new members.
Outgoing President Veronica then handed over to outgoing Board directors a small token of appreciation and thanked them for their support, encouragement, hard work and commitment to the Club.
Last but by no means least, President Veronica finally became Past President Veronica and thanked incoming President Kelly for his contribution, exclaiming, "Kelly it has been a real pleasure working with you over the last two years, developing ideas and sharing experiences and activities for the benefit of the Club and I know you are going to be a Magical President of Mill Point".
Veronica then presented Kelly with his new name badge and President's bar to attach to the President's collar, as well as the Presidential Theme Banner for 2024-2025 "The Magic Of Rotary"
Kelly introduced his 2024-2025 Board and thanked them for their volunteering for the new Rotary year.
In addition Kelly then presented the following Olympic Medals.
"Unfortunately the premier event of the evening - the 25m hurdles across fully laid dining tables - has had to be cancelled due to the race being deemed a liability issue by RPGC. This was reinforced by general concerns aout Ian Kremmer being seen in athletic leotards!
"Instead over the last year there have been many examples of the Olympic spirit demonstrated in our club activities often by people beavering away in the background. So, in keeping with the Olympic tradition and standards we have some awards to give out tonight. I would ask that recipients come forward to stand on the podium to receive their Medals.
"The Gold Medal for the highly competitive Easter Bunny Hop goes to Debbie Sills who has left all other bunnies flat footed and eggless. You do need to bunny hop to the podium Deb!
"In the long distance category the Gold Medal goes to our one and only cupcake Mike Collett. This has been a record breaking run for roster continuity and Mike is still well out in front as no one else can get up as early as him.
"The Gold Medal for consistent and irrelevant trivia came down to a closely fought contest between President Veronica and Wayne the Elder. In this instance, depth of experience and streetwise cunning gave Wayne the edge in this hard fought contest.
"Finally, we have the hotly contested Race to the Friday Breakfast Buffet. No Gold Medal has been awarded for this event however the 'winner' of the Bronze medal is Michael "coffee cup" Gottschalk, whose inconsistent attempts to curry favour with the incumbent President were clearly doomed from the start".
In closing President Kelly thanked everyone for attending and their support in making this changeover a resounding success and wished everyone a safe and happy year, and a safe drive home.
