Past and present Rotary Club of Hall members, friends and guests enjoyed a special celebration last Tuesday evening sharing the 30th anniversary of our little club. It would appear that everyone had a good time and left with a full belly, a story to tell and some with our famous fellowship port!
It was a privilege for us to recognise the efforts of RC Hall members over the intervening years from our Charter members, many of whom celebrated with us on Tuesday, to our current team of 28, which includes 3 of those Charter members – Peter, Kings and Ken.
It is not until you attempt to put 30 years of people, projects and memories together that you realise just what a difference, not only the Rotary Club of Hall makes, but how service clubs around the globe contribute so much to their communities and society.
We are a small club and a young club by comparison with many, and to be joined by Their Excellencies, the Governor-General and Mrs Hurley, the Ambassadors from Timor-Leste and Slovenia and their wives, Former Senator Margaret Reid, DG Peter Ford, too many Past District Governors to name, and so many other volunteers from Rotary clubs and other organisations, has been a humbling experience for all of us.
There are some special people we would like to recognise for their contributions in making the evening such a success.
- Our MC, Anton Pemmer – didn’t he do so well, telling stories, finding out our little secrets (and keeping them!), and keeping us all to time.
- PDG Bob Greeney for expanding on the process of Chartering the Rotary Club of Hall – we believe we have a special and somewhat unique story to tell, it’s lovely to hear it’s true from those who were there at the beginning.
- Past RC Hall member Andrew Svenson, who made the beautiful celebratory cake and dessert cakes. Here’s a little secret – Andrew, who lives in Sydney now, went into hospital on Sunday for emergency surgery and still brought the cakes to Canberra on the train on Tuesday. Andrew – an enormous thank you for going above and beyond for us. It is so very much appreciated.
- Rotarian John Scarano who spent the night taking photos you see on this article.
- Rotaractors Taylor, Stephanie, Andrew and Brendan for their help in guiding us all to the drinks station, our tables and the port! We have a wonderful relationship with the Rotaract Club of UC and love it when they can join us.
- Andy and the team at The Abbey, who always go way above and beyond with the support they provide for any events we host – we highly recommend them to anyone looking for a venue.
- Rachel from ACT PA hire, who not only provided the PA system which meant H.E. Mrs Hurley, President Fiona and the YouTube band were able to lead us all in the best rendition of the National Anthem that has ever come from the Rotary Club of Hall, but she also came back to the event early to make sure the levels were right so that we all sounded the best we could!!
To the members of Hall, thank you for your ongoing commitment to the Canberra and broader community with the Capital Region Farmers’ Market and the voluntary work you contribute every week to the extensive range of projects on the boil.
The celebrations are done – now back to the business of doing what Rotarians do best… See you at Hall for the launch of the Bee-Friendly Hall Village project on Sunday 17 November.
Here’s to another successful 30 years and then some!
