The Rotary Club of Hall has had another successful year supporting various causes in line with its priorities and Rotary’s avenues of services, operating the Capital Region Farmers Market, and strengthening the club. This report provides an overview of the activities undertaken this year although is not an exhaustive list.

Service

International Service and Rotary Foundation Committee

Chaired by Fiona Hamer, the International Service committee had a very successful year projects included:

  • Fiji Solar Schools ESRAG project
  • Baucau Hospital Mattresses (with the Rotary Club of Gungahlin)
  • Rotarians Against Malaria
  • Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children
  • Operation Cleft
  • Shelter Box
  • Mekong Organics
    • Helping Minh Dang Nguyen to study Permaculture Design in Australia
    • Supporting two high school students to come to Australia to learn English
    • Fiona Hamer was able to visit the program in Vietnam in January 2024 and report back on their very impressive operations.
  • Members Chris and Janine visited schools that the club had supported via Reach for Nepal. While inspecting the school buildings they delivered stationary, soccer balls and donated Rotary Peace Poles to the schools.

Environmental Service Committee

Chaired by Christine Stuart, the Environmental Service Committee is the newest committee in the Rotary Club of Hall and seeks to advance projects that protect the environment in line with the Rotary Foundation’s newest area of focus. The committee supported Majura Primary School to expand their school garden and enhance environmental education programs including preserving produce.

Community Service Committee

Chaired by Jonathon Palmer, the community committee continues to make an impact in the Hall region and beyond. Projects supported in 2023-24 include:

  • Caravan refurbished and delivered to Social Justice Advocates of the Sapphire Coast and occupied by a single mum and two children immediately upon delivery.
  • Alchemy Choir
  • ACT Rotary Emergency Services Community Awards
  • Hall Community Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day services
  • Karinya House Gift Cards
  • Raijieli Rorailagi Trust
  • Community Pantries
  • Lids for Kids Community Setup
  • Flicks Trailer Refurbishment
  • Gaza Refugee Family Support (with International Committee)
  • Marymead MULCH Program

Youth and Vocational Committee

A continued priority for the club has been our focus on supporting youth, particularly in our ‘Capital Region’. This has been done this year primarily through the provision of scholarships and sponsorships to attend Rotary programs.

  • Charles Sturt University Scholarships
  • Yanco Scholarships (Including 2 members attending annual celebration)
  • Galipoli Scholarship Fund (Including our scholar and 2 members attending the scholarship ceremony at Government House)
  • Sponsored 2 young people (Jonno and Jemma) to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
  • Sponsored 2 young people (Kayla and Artemis) to attend National Youth Science Forum

Major Projects 

Past Presidents Rob Woolley and Paul Tyrell shared the responsibility of chairing the Major Projects committee and ensuring its continuing impact. Several projects were continued with monitoring and evaluation and a few new projects were introduced as well. 

Continued Projects

  • Goods and O’Lachlan Foundation Scholarships (year 5 of 6-year partnership)
  • Abundant Water

New projects

  • Solomon Island Paediatric Surgical team lead by Professor David Croaker and including our very own Liz Hearn ($60,000 over 3 years)
  • Fred Hyde Schools ($40,000 over 2 years)
  • Gallipoli Scholarship Fund ($24,000 over 3 years, previously administered by the Youth and Vocational Committee)

In addition to the oversight of projects, the committee also spent considerable time reviewing and updating the governance and documents related to major projects. This included:

  • Template memorandum of agreement
  • Application form
  • Governance procedures and documents
  • Historic records updated to show full history of major project spending

Club Operations

Club Service

Managed by Melissa Reynolds, our club calendar was never short of interesting speakers and topics as well as several fellowship activities to bring members together.

Guest Speaker Highlights

  • David Croaker and Liz Hearn to report on their trips to the Solomon Islands
  • NYSF participants Amy Knowles and Kayla Travers
  • Investment team from Shaw and Partners
  • James Allen from Rotary Give Every Child a Future
  • Emma Holliday from Lids for Kids
  • Area Governor Leigh Robinson
  • RYLArians Jemma, Jonno and Anna
  • Gai Brodtmann from Fearless Women
  • Andrew Rich from Drive for Life

Fellowship Activities

  • Lunch at Capital Brewing and Tour of Jasper and Myrtle
  • Christmas Party
  • Progressive Lunch thanks to Nigel and Bernadette (and other that opened up their homes)

Thank you to Jonathon for managing meeting attendances and for the many witty AI generated poems and stories 

Capital Region Farmers Market

Lead by Yvonne Robson, the CRFM continued to be a force to be reckoned with providing an important service to both stallholders and customers. After three very busy years heading up the CRFM, Yvonne has decided to step down as Director and will be replaced by Leigh Crocker. I would like to thank Sarah and Nienke, the operational power-house duo, delivering an exceptional market week after week, dealing with countless issues from stallholders, customers, EPIC, Three Sides, and other events.  

Highlights from the CRFM this year were:

  • Continued strong position and growth over the course of the year 
  • Relocation to GIO stadium for Spilt Milk
  • 20th Birthday Celebrations in March
  • Increased shopper counts (thank you to all members who assisted with this important task)
  • The year was not without its challenges either as the CRFM contends with aging of stallholders, working with EPIC management, getting advertising cut-through, and conflicting major events. 

Finally, a huge thank you goes out to our colleagues in the Rotary Club of Jerrabomberra who man the information tent each and every week and help with all sorts of other tasks. 

General comments and acknowledgements

This year we were able to undertake considerable work on the Club management plan and strategic plan setting these up to build for the future and reflect the club.

Welcome to our two new members Liz Hearn and Michael Del Gigante, who were inducted during this Rotary year. 

Thank you to Craig and the team at Gold Creek Station for looking after us every fortnight with a good feed and a great location for our rural club to meet.

I would like to acknowledge the contributions and constant support of the 2023-24 board. The club can’t run without a dedicated board and I am so thankful to each one of them.

  • Vice-President – Roger Powell
  • Secretary – David Rendell
  • Treasurer – Steve Fielding
  • CRFM Director – Yvonne Robson
  • Immediate Past President – Paul Tyrrell
  • Immediate Past President – Rob Woolley
  • President Elect – John Kenworthy

Thank you to our 2023-24 Committee Chairs who oversee the delivery of our impact, carefully selecting and promoting projects that align with our club and seeing these come to life.

  • Community Committee – Jonathon Palmer
  • International Committee – Fiona Hamer
  • Environment Committee – Chris Stuart
  • Club Service – Melissa Reynolds

Closing remarks

Well I put my hand up for the role about 30 months ago and its safe to say things didn’t go exactly as I thought they would (I guess they never really go how you planned, and yes I was warned that would be the case). During the course of my presidency I have had significantly less time than I anticipated to commit to the role and the club having started studying again and also taking on a role on the University of Canberra Council. These drew my attention away from the club more than I would have liked and I want to issue a heartfelt thank you to everyone that has provided support and been patient with me during my term as president. Everything has gone so smoothly because of the amazing people that we have in this club who get in a get the job done.

I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead the club and wish John and the incoming board every success.