WYNSPEAK, a youth public speaking competition for secondary school students in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, was established to provide students with an opportunity to practice and test their public speaking skills in front of a live audience. Through this comprehensive program students develop a skill for life. Since the inauguration of Wynspeak, over 1000 students have participated.
Our club will be hosting Heat 8 of this competition which will be conducted on Tuesday 27th of May at the Altona Civic Centre
Brian Goodwin the Coordinator for this heat is looking for the following volunteers
For the Diary. Please note that the Club Changeover will be held on Sunday the 22nd of June at the Kooringal Golf Course. It will be a dinner with changeover of our current president Lenore to incoming president Bronwyn. Details below RSVP 18/6/25
Our guest speaker at our last meeting was Loretta Cormack. Loretta was a member of our Rotary Club in the past.
Loretta was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 1975 and appointed as a Bail Justice in 1st September 1990 (ret) and also did some work as an independent third person.
A life member of the Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices she is also the coordinator of Hobson Bay Westgate RVAHJ Roster group.
In all she has over 50 years of service to the community. Loretta gave us a wonderful insight into her work as a Justice of the Peace, a Bail Justice, Independent Third Person and many more interactions with police, the judiciary and community in general.
She told us of the joy and pleasure she has had volunteering and making a difference in people's lives.
We were very proud to honour her acheivements at the meeting by presenting her with Paul Harris Fellow Recognition, badge and certificate.
Well done Loretta and your continuing community work.
If you'd like to know more about the Honorary Justice System click here
Loretta Cormack JP BJ (Ret) Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices receiving the Paul Harris Fellow from club president Lenore Thornton
Atop the 100 Steps of Federation at Truganina Park, watched over by the “Time Beacon” artwork by Cameron Robbins, Rotary Altona City’s Hobsons Bay Millennium Time Capsule lay buried for 25 years, safely holding the messages from over 12,000 people.
During the last 18 months, a team from Rotary Altona City and the Hobsons Bay Council worked collaboratively to open the capsule and re-connect with the 30 Schools and message contributors involved 25 years ago.
Rotary Altona City staged two Public Time Capsule Exhibitions, the first on Australia Day 2025 where over 3000 people visited at a local shopping centre, and the second as a signature event over the 4-week Hobsons Bay Heritage Festival.
Following keynote talks by Club President Lenore Thornton, and Victorian Government Minister Melissa Horne, the Hobsons Bay Mayor Cr Daria Kellander presented Hobsons Bay Schools with their mini-capsules on 2 May.
There are a few things that the board are working on at the moment and some important information for you to be aware of.
Membership Fee Rise
Club fees will go up from $340 to $350 for the next Rotary year. This is a very minor rise which doesn't even reach the current CPI level. Fees can be paid yearly, quarterly, monthly etc. Please contact our Treasurer Jan if you need to make any special arrangements.
Upcoming Guest Speaker
Joan Roose from Jacobs Well will be our Guest Speaker on June 3 meeting.
Lions / Rotary Cherry Lake Market Collaboration
Discussions are underway that would see Rotary assisting the Altona Lions Club at the Cherry Lake Market Monthly. More details to follow.
Our club members were again helping out with the ANZAC Day Appeal at a local shopping centre and helping to raise thousands of dollars for servicemen and women. Well done to Lenore and Anne on their efforts.
The Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment (RYPEN) is a weekend camp, for young people who are between 15 and 17 and are in years 9, 10, and 11, where participants develop their potential through a mixture of lecture-style sessions and adventure-based learning.
It is designed for those students who just need a bit of a push and a confidence boost to start achieving their full potential. During the weekend students are encouraged to: learn to understand themselves and others and manage their relationships, lives, work, and learning more effectively.
RYPEN provides an experience of ideas, problems, and social experiences which will assist them in forming their own values and moral standards and allow them to broaden their horizons culturally, socially and academically. Challenge by choice is an important aspect of the program experience.
Our club recently sponsored two youths, Blaire Hurley from Laverton P-12 and Shayla Laube from Altona College to attend the camp. From all accounts they had a great time.
We look forward to them coming along to a club meeting and telling us about their experiences.
Despite the poor weather there were 80 registrations with riders braving the conditions to ride for mental health and the Black Dog Foundation.
We supported the event by providing a sausage sizzle and good cheer to the soaked riders. Congratulations to club member TJ for organising the event and raising much needed funds to combat mental health issues.
WERN is a non-profit Incorporated Association that comprises of interested Rotary Clubs and designed to supply good quality second hand furniture, electronic and whitegoods, to people in need without charge. WERN is located at 23 Westwood Dve., Ravenhall Victoria 3023.
They are currently looking for volunteers to help out on Wednesdays. If you can spare some time please click the link below and go to contact page.
Long time club stalwarts Jan and Barry Douglas are soon moving to a retirement village and so a few of their duties will need to be picked up by club members. The role we require asap is:
Assistant Treasurer
These are vital roles within the club which in themselves are not onerous. Contact Jan to assist in these roles.
Hong had been thinking for a long time whether to join rotary through connections he had made over the years. Hong is a microbiologist who's interest to join was sparked at a recent Clean Up Australia Day that the club were involved in. Hong was joined by his wife Hongli where Rotarian Graham Roper installed him into the club as our newest member. We wish Hong and his wife a great rotary experience that is rewarding and satisfying. We know they will be great assets to the club.
The crew from Altona City again did their bit to clean up Australia in March this year. Ably led by Barry Hanson, rubbish was collected in Truganina Park and disposed of. Great job people.
Mini-capsules from the Hobsons Bay Millennium Time Capsule will be presented to Hobsons Bay school representatives by the Mayor, Cr. Daria Kellander, on Friday 2nd May 2025.
Note that as part of the upcoming Hobsons Bay Heritage Festival, there will be a display of Time Capsule exhibits at the Hobsons Bay Civic Centre Display Wall, between April 7 and 2 May 2025. This display will include the mini-capsules to be presented on 2 May.
We are looking for volunteers to help at council offices for the following dates and times:
Saturday 12 April and Saturday 26 April between 10am to 2pm.
If you can spare a couple of hours to help and reunite people with their capsules that would be most helpful.
Morgan and Heath Hurley were our guest speakers at a recent meeting. With our club’s assistance they were both able to attend a Defying the Drift 3 Day residential program organised by Rotary District 9780. This program is designed to empower young people to identify and explore agriculture and agribusiness career opportunities. Both students spoke extremely well of all aspects of their learnings from this program. We wish them the best of luck in all future studies.
It is with deep regret we advise that club member Mandy Dayal passed away on the 16th of December last year suddenly after a cardiac arrest. True to her devotion to community service, two days prior she had been helping at one of our sausage sizzles when she complained of tiredness.
Mandy had in total 12 years of service to rotary with six of those with Brimbank and the remainder with Altona City. Our thought are with her children and extended family at this time. She will be missed by the club.
DISTRICT GOVERNOR MICHAEL LAPINa - OFFICIAL club VISIT
Michael Lapina the District Governor paid us an official visit at our last meeting where he outlined his vision and the International President's Stephanie Urchick's vision for Rotary going forward under our current Theme : The Magic of Rotary.
The presentation was very well accepted and informative and Michael took the opportunity to present President Lenore and the club with official recognition of our clubs commitment to The Rotary Foundation.
Our club was the Third Highest Contributor to the Rotary Foundation. Given that there are over 60 clubs in the District, thats a mightly effort for a club that often punches well above its own weight.
Well done to all club members.
Thanks Michael and son Alex for your informative visit.
In now its 7th year, the Hobsons Bay Education Awards were held on Tuesday the 15th of October at the Kooringal Golf Course. In all, four schools were represented in three different categories.
There was a total of 20 nominations with the profiles of the winners read out. It was absolutely amazing to hear the work and dedication shown by these educators who are making a difference and enhancing our children's and loved ones education.
The key note speaker was Lucienne Heyworth who spoke of her passion in providing educational opportunties for children in war torn and troubled areas of the world.
She was truly inspirational and easily held the room with her passion and inspiration.
The awards are the brain child of Past District Governor Julie Mason who also handed out awards on the night. The categories were:
An Encouragement award for early career stage teachers.
An Achievement award for more experienced teachers.
Rhett Dadswell (Altona P-12)
Greta Aranha (Emmanuel College- Notre Dame Campus)
Marc Nicols (Emmanuel College- St Paul’s Campus)
A Team Award where a group of Teachers or Education Support Staff have collaborated effectively to address an important challenge or new development for a school.
Bayside College: Sam Levy, Suzanne Towe, Darren Sutcliffe, Angela North, Camilla Bishop
Emmanuel College: Keenan Gatens, Sian O’Neale, Michael Green
Williamstown HS: Alice Reid, Soula Sapounakis, Marnie Van Luinen.
It was a great night and congratulations to award winners and the organising committee, particularly Bryan Goodwin for pulling this event together.
WERN UPDATE
Saturday 5 October, saw 7 volunteers from our Club help out at the Western Emergency Relief Network at Ravenhall.
We spent the time creating crockery and cutlery packs for 4, sorting donated goods, and restacking shelves of kitchenware and other useful items.
It was a rewarding experience and enjoyable as well. I hope we can do more volunteering there in the future. The need is enormous and the volunteers hard to find.
Our Lift the Lid event was a great success and very well attended. Rotarians, families and friends all got together wearing silly and colourful hats on the night and raffles and blind auctions helping raise money for the Australian Rotary Health Foundation.
Guest speaker Dr Lachlan Kent from Prevention United gave an informative and interesting presentation on mental health and ways we can assist ourselves and others in tackling this issue.
Prizes were awarded for the most colourful and interesting hats. President Lenore wishes to thank all those who attended and contributed to this important fundraising event.
Members from local clubs were in attendance and an intrepid crew from Preston Rotary also joined us making the night a speical one.
