Rotary International Convention

Posted by Gordon Cheyne
After imagining the future of Rotary in Melbourne, Australia, members and speakers at the 2023 Rotary International Convention looked ahead to next year's gathering in Singapore and being able to share hope with the world by focusing on mental health and well-being.

 

If you missed the Convention, you can watch the major speeches and reports here:

 

We Support the Rotary Foundation

There was good feeling in The House of Friendship,  as President Andrew gave  Rotary Foundation Trustee PRIP “Ravi” Ravindran  a $4,300 Cheque for the Rotary Foundation.

“Ooooh, that’s a big one!” you may say, but when you add in our members’ individual contributions to the Foundation, especially as Paul Harris Society Members, (who annually donate US$1000) it adds up to quite a bit more.  

Well done, Rotary Hawthorn. 

Photo: Charlotte England, President Andrew Crockett, PRIP “Ravi” Ravindran, PDG Dennis Shore, Katrina Flinn, Noel Halford and Doug McLean with the big cheque.

 

 

The Closer

The entertainment at the Closing Ceremony was certainly impressive: we had a good group to enjoy it. Doug, Katrina, Lawrence, President Andrew, Vincent, Charlotte, myself, Noel and Anne. David and Cheryl were in the row in font with Glenferrie Rotary.

“The Greatest Show” performed some amazing music and gymnastic dancing which was really hard to catch on camera from our elevated vantage point. Our pictures can only give you an impression. 

“The Best of the Bee Gees Show”, music we all knew,  kept us waving and pointing.

      

We heard speakers on The Rotary Foundation, End Polio Now, and programmes for the Advancement of Indigenous people in  Canada, and RI President Jennifer Jones with Sylvia Whitlock gave an award to Chin-Mei Lu for the Advancement of Women’s programmes. 

In her closing remarks, Rotary International President Jennifer Jones, who made history as the organization's first female president, made the connection between imagining Rotary — the idea of her presidential theme — and hope, an element of McInally’s.

"We don't imagine yesterday — and we also don't look for hope in past actions," Jones said. "'Hope' and 'imagine' are words for tomorrow — words that propel us forward. They build upon each other and offer a path forward. A path of continuity."

The last word? Jennifer Scott, chair of the 2024 International Convention Committee, spoke about next year’s event.

So don’t forget to book for incoming RI President Gordon McInally’s  Convention in Singapore, next May!

 

Vocational Service Footnote

The music at the closing ceremony brought to mind that the Federated Liquor & Allied Industries Employees Union of Australia and the Musicians Union of Australia encourage their members to have audiograms performed, so they will have a baseline reading if they later develop deafness due to noise in their workplace. 

Some musicians may try to compensate for a lack of quality with an abundance of volume, but as Jelly Roll Morton once said, it should be “soft, sweet, and plenty hot”.