President Doug presents highlights from today’s Vocational Tour at Moorabbin Airport, and updates on other club events.

Today’s Club visit to Moorabbin airport was a very informative experience and included a barbeque lunch and tour of the museum; well done to Vincent and Noel for organising as part of the Vocational Service program for the year. 

Our guest speaker was Paul Ferguson, Manager of Moorabbin Airport Services and a Rotarian. Paul provided us with a very good background on why the airport is so important to the training of the next generation of pilots and the local economy.  The adjacent airport land is also important as it is leased to major companies like DFO and Costco plus a number of freight and logistic operations.

Moorabbin Airport is classified as a nationally significant airport operation and has a high degree of government regulation but is operated by the Goodman Property Group under a 99-year lease agreement.

Rochester Flood Victims Support Project

The Rochester Mitre 10 has received the order for fire blankets, fire extinguishers and LED sensor lights, which will be transferred to the Rochester Recovery Centre for distribution to residents in the next few days. 

We are working with the Rochester Rotary Club to explore additional projects to use the balance of the funds in a beneficial way for their community, which has a long road to recovery. I will keep you posted on the progress of this project.

Upcoming Events

·      Rotary Hawthorn 70^th Anniversary Dinner. The Club’s 70^th Anniversary Dinner will be held on Thursday 24^th August, the anniversary of the actual date on which Rotary Hawthorn received its charter. Bookings can be made online at www.trybooking.com/CJETL.  Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate all that has been achieved by our Club over 70 years. The Social Committee has planned an evening of fun, historical tributes and fellowship.

·      Rotary Club of Nhill weekend 25^th & 26^th November. Save these dates in your diary as we are planning a Club visit and the Nhill Club will organise a special dinner with the local Myanmar community.  Noel Halford has organised a group booking at the Zero Inn Nhill, you can contact them on 03 5391 1622 to confirm your accommodation.

·      Rotary District Conference 2024.  The District Conference will be held in Bendigo on 12-14 April and David Pisterman has agreed to act as our Club’s “On to Conference” organiser.  I am sure David will keep us updated on the plans for the weekend and accommodation options.

I will be chairing my first Club Board meeting tonight and I will provide members with an update at next week’s meeting at Kooyong.

The next Club meeting at Kooyong is on Tuesday 18^th July when the guest speaker will be Tamara Cannon talking about her work with Little Fro in India. It would be appreciated if members could book early to ensure adequate seating and meals at Kooyong.

Doug McLean

President 2023-24