Environmental Projects Report

Our Club has a long history of involvement with environmental issues, and this year was no different.

Our native beehives have suffered severely with bad weather, and we have lost a number of hives. Fortunately, Ray Lee has managed to keep his hive thriving. In October he attended a very helpful morning at Green Connect Farm, where he was shown how to split the hive. This was achieved successfully and Ray then arranged for the second hive to be installed at Lake Heights Primary School.

We have been involved with Green Connect Farm, a major community group in Wollongong for many years. We have contributed one native beehive doing very well there as well as many non-native bee hives which are happily producing significant quantities of honey. It is a local not-for-profit chemically free urban farm, which focuses on fair food, helping people experiencing barriers to employment become work ready and engaging with the local community. One of their volunteers – Kerrie Spicer - regularly assists at our monthly Bunnings BBQ’s.

We continue to maintain Throsby Drive Rotary Park, affectionately known as Arthur’s Park, with the main organiser being Bob Armessen OAM.  Clean up mornings are very enjoyable, culminating in morning tea which includes Rita Giampieri’s delicious coffee and lemon cake. Sadly, this year the severe rain has caused the cancellation of several of the required working bees.

We have had some members join Corrimal Rotary Club on their Rise and Shine program to clean up our city. Hopefully, next year we will be running our own program to help the Wollongong Council’s longest running environmental program.

So, in closing I would like to thank our Club members for their support during the year for these worthy projects. As a club we believe in environmental change, and this drives the club’s commitment to hands-on projects that support sustainability, biodiversity and community partnerships.

MARILYN PHILLIPS
Director - Environmental Projects 2025-2026