Sergeant Patrick opened the meeting and President Phil introduced all in the 39th meeting for the year.
Reflection from Janet Crakanthorp: Things in the past that happened on this day 22nd April:
Some major things were the start of chemical warfare on this day in 1915. The music for
the ballet Swan Lake was completed on this day in 1875.
Noel Watt introduced our speaker for the night, Penny, from Wollongong Council, speaking about recycling. Penny gave a huge insight into what you can and cannot recycle, the
problems and a very informative quiz on our knowledge of recycling. Noel Watt thanked our speaker and presented her with one of the beautiful pens made by Ken Potter.
President Phil
GreenConnect put a call out for persons interested in purchasing a weekly veggie box as
the number of people purchasing these has dropped dramatically. If you get onto the website
you can order the box and would greatly assist with funds to run the project.
BBQ on the 4th May 2026. We have nobody for the 10am to 12pm and only one person for
the 12pm to 2pm shifts. John E and Janet C volunteered for the 10 to 2pm shifts to assist.
Did everyone receive an email in relation to the proposal to change to the current 10 NSW Rotary Districts into 3 larger Districts?
All Districts are supposed to have between 1100 to 2700 members; presently our District
9675 only has 942. The proposal has been put forward to change the 10 New South Wales Districts to 3 Districts. NSW has 6,359 members and the proposed new boundaries put all the Illawarra clubs into the Southern NSW Region.
There are 11 members on the District board. This proposal has caused a number of unhappy board members. Tonia Barnes has called a meeting tomorrow evening. The new boundaries would mean that all Illawarra District meetings would be in Canberra; and electronic/zoom meetings have been suggested due to distances. Phil and others feel that meeting face to face is much nicer and more beneficial - networking with other members you can come up with great ideas.
Phil also feels that at the present time there are 5 District roles still to be filled, likely they will become more difficult to fill with this proposal - due to distances. Possibly dividing into two districts will be difficult to manage.
Phil shared a map of the Districts and boundaries.
There has been very little consultation - it seems that dividing Districts in this
manner is the easiest way to get even numbers. The new District boundaries will come into effect in July 2027. Will keep you all informed about the situation.
Fines collected.
Patrick told a joke, maintaining his usual standard.
