Inaugural Northern Beaches Zone combined dinner meeting

We're excited about our upcoming Rotary Zone get together where our guest speaker will be The Hon Tony Abbott MHR Leader of the Opposition, Federal Member for Warringah.

It will be great to learn more about Mr Abbott; his life, growing up, his hobbies and more.

Patrick Moore - Dancing in the Rain

It was all going pretty well there for a while. I was an author, trainer and I had a law degree. I financed my studies by working in the movies as a stuntman - working alongside stars like Tom Berenger and Titanic's Billy Zane. My work week was a little unusual - hanging out of helicopters, falling off buildings and being set on fire.

I'd written a successful inspirational book, been interviewed on national TV and was about to launch overseas. I taught self defence to kids, had a black belt and won several titles in full contact martial arts. A real tough guy. But then I got hit with the hardest punch of all - the one you don't see coming - a complete mental and physical collapse. A stress induced melt down landed me in hospital battling depression and anxiety. I found out I wasn't so tough. It was a fight for my life.

From breakdown to breakthrough

They say the only way out is through. But my recovery took incredible support, an unlikely angel and a yearning to change. I searched for a simpler approach to work and life. I fired my facebook and squashed my Blackberry.

Then came the hardest, most rewarding part - re booting my mind with new ways of thinking. Negative thoughts are like toxic weeds. You've got to weed them out before they take over the garden. It's called awfulising - and I got really good at it. You invent worst case scenarios which are never going to happen - but it's as if you try to make them happen. Little do you realise it's the thoughts themselves that do the damage.

I learned that thoughts are the seeds which determine our feelings, which lead to our actions. And it's our actions (or inaction) which determine our results and our future. Good, bad or great, it all starts with a thought.

And it's why some people dance in the rain...and others just get wet.

Here are some 'dance lessons' for life and business that I learned, and now share in my talks:

Aim for the Gaps - A simple way to perceive every situation as an opportunity
From Can't to Can - You're stronger than you think
Dream Big - Get on the front foot and start now!
Fatness to Fitness - How I lost 14 kilos by following 3 simple "Golden Rules"

www.danceintherain.com.au

A children's hospital for Sierra Leone

Dr. Nuli Lemoh and P.P. Laurie Facer from the Turramurra Rotary Club told us about their exciting and ambitious plan to build a Children's Hospital in the town of Bo, Sierra Leone.

There is currently only one children's hospital in a country of 5.5 million people and the planned facility would focus on health promotion and help prevent many unnecessary deaths.

The infant mortality rate is horrendous. One in six babies dying at birth. The common causes of death in infancy and early childhood are malnutrition, diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory diseases. These are all preventable illnesses. A hospital that focused on health promotion would greatly reduce illness through preventive treatment.

Nuli and Laurie presented a lively and informative talk, introduced by bongo drum playing from Nuli, who also gave us an insight into his remarkable career as a paediatrician. We wish Turramurra Club every success in this worthwhile project.

Central Coast Festival of Arts

Our old friend, Bruce Martin was welcomed back and reported on his new club Northlakes - Toukley and their fund raising project the Central Coast Festival of Arts.

Now in its 34th year, this Festival has a turnover of $150,000 with many well-known artists contributing paintings and sculptures valued from $500 to $25,000. It has grown into the largest regional art exhibition of its kind in Australia. Together with the Festival Ball it raises $40,000 for Rotary projects including Rotary Health and Research.

Read more about the Central Coast Festival of Arts

Country with a Kick

Debra Kennedy-Holmes: Supporting the fight against cancer

The Northern Beaches Country Music Club will be presenting FREE concerts at the Balgowlah RSL Club on the second Sunday of each month from 1.30pm to 5.30pm.

Enjoy great music, line dancing and loads of fun!!! All proceeds will support Cancer Research. Interested? Contact the Northern Beaches Country Music Club.

Mind your mind

Mind Your Mind

Follow the Mind Your Mind sign posts was the message from Coralie Hicks from Alzheimer’s Australia this week at Dee Why Warringah

Alzheimers Australia now have good evidence from research that shows adopting a 'brain healthy’ lifestyle may reduce the risk of developing dementia. Alzheimer’s Australia’s Mind your Mind® program involves seven signposts to help keep your brain healthy and reduce your risk of developing dementia.

For more information contact: National Dementia Helpline 1800 100 500.
Or visit: www.alzheimers.org.au

Renee Offner - Rotaract Distict 9680

Our club has not had the benefit of interaction with a Rotaract Club for several years, so it was most interesting to hear Renee Offner present the current situation in our District 9680 and to tell us something of her life journey and her involvement with Rotaract. Renee, with the assistance of her friend, Jeremy Charles is attempting to form a new club on the Northern Beaches.

Are you between 18 and 25? Interested in making a difference in your community? Want to gain experience and to build new networks? Rotaract might be what you are looking for. If you're interested in joining or would like further information contact us.

We're looking forward to the emergence of an active and vibrant Rotaract movement on the Northen Beaches in the very near future! Don't miss out!

Gloria Ingham: The Cancer Council

Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Each year more than 1600 Australians die from this almost entirely preventable disease. Fortunately, being SunSmart is a simple and effective way to reduce your risk of developing skin cancer. Gloria demonstrated many of the simple and effective ways to be sun smart and how to recognise skin cancers. For more information visit the Cancer Council.

Carmen Bekker: Assisting youth on the northern beaches

Carmen shared with us her passion of working with kids whom have experienced hardship, the breakdown of family relationships and the supports that underpin their health, education, happiness and wellbeing.

The valuable services offered by Taldumande on the Northern Beaches focuses on providing stable short and longer term support and accommodation options, encouraging young people to remain within their local communities and achieve longer lasting successful outcomes for their personal goals.

PDG Pam Pritchard: The Rotary Foundation

Pam Prichard, from the Rotary Club of Turramurra was District 9680’s first female District Governor in 2006-07, and is well known to many members.

Pam spoke with knowledge and passion on the progress of The Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus campaign which began in 1985 to rid the world of the scourge of polio. The UN, the World Health Organization and many others said that it couldn’t be done but today, the annual rate of new polio cases has fallen from around 1,000 per day to about 1,000 per annum, a remarkable achievement. Today, polio remains in only 4 countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Type 2 Polio has already been totally eliminated with the others expected to also become extinct within 2 or 3 years.

Although this is an expensive program, it is far less expensive than to accept the current level of infections and to handle the new cases as they arise. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have donated $US100 million to the Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus project on condition that it be matched by Rotary Clubs. A donation of $US1,000 from each Rotary Club in the world for 3 years will see it matched. After the first year, we are on track to reach the goal.

Clubs are encouraged to donate, as are individual Rotarians. For an on-going $100 pa, Rotarians can become Centurions, and receive Paul Harris recognition when their accumulated donations pass the $US1,000 mark.

PDG Pam was thanked by Bob Manley, noting that Pam was the DG’s Zone Representative in 1999-2000 when Bob served an earlier term as Club President.

Want to donate to support the eradication of polio in the world?Contact Tony to complete your transaction. We'll Thankyou!

Wonders of the Universe

Glen spoke to us about the multitude of universes in the sky and the earth’s quest to find planets capable of supporting life.

He explained how earth telescopes are able to pick up large planets moving around stars and how from there an effort is being made to locate smaller planets the right size and distance from the star to allow life. To narrow this down they are looking at stars (sun’s) approx the size of earth’s sun. This narrowed the search down to 300 and from this they are concentrating on one particular star.
For ten years NASA and associated agencies have been developing a new telescope that detects the wabble of smaller planets. Planet Quest hopes to have this up and running by 2015 and it is hoped it will be the first telescope to detect habitable planets and is expected to monitor a couple of hundred stars over 15 years. There is also new breed of telescope that blocks out the sun and allows scientist to look at planets and objects closest to the sun.

Glen’s talk covered a great deal about the galaxy and the search for life on other planets and everyone enjoyed the evening.

Welcome DG Tony Castley

District Governor Tony Castley addressed the meeting on the 30th September and gave our guests a brief on what Rotary does and is.

Tony spoke of our many youth programs and gave a short explanation of them. He explained how over 1.2 million Rotarians around the world work to make a difference. He gave a brief on the high rate of children dying from preventable causes and what can be done and is being done to prevent this.

Tony also gave an overview of the Polio effort and explained that only four countries now have the disease and our efforts to eradicate it entirely. He also explained if we stopped now the disease would spread quickly and we would lose the battle.

Tony offered an overview of the Rotary Foundation and the Australian Rotary Health Research fund and advised us of the upcoming Foundation Dinner on possibly, Thursday 14 May, 2009. A magazine containing two pages on projects from each club will be produced and distributed to the likes of Doctors surgeries, Motels, etc. Clubs will be involved also, by purchasing magazines and distributing this coffee table addition in order to promote Rotary to the public.

Fiji Rotahome Project

For the past 23 year’s the Rotary Club of Lautoka, FIJI, has been behind a program building homes for those in desperate need. Instigator and director of the Rotahome project, Peter Drysdale, has overseen the building of 701 homes across Fiji’s Western Division. Assisting him was Saten, who still builds homes with the program assisted by hundreds of volunteers.

On top of this, in 2005 a 99 year lease was signed for 15 acres of land just outside Lautoka. 84 homes have been built there and Koroipita, Village of Peter, houses more than 350 people. The village also has a community hall/kindy, town clerk’s office, craft room, shop, bakery, store room, youth room and medical centre. With Koroipita finished, Peter, Saten and the more than 600 volunteers who have helped on the projects are poised for more.