Apologies for the lengthy delay in publishing an edition of Heirisson Happenings, but we will try and make up for it now ….  A lot has happened over the last few weeks and so please read on.

 

We are settling in well to our new venue for our twice monthly meetings – being the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  It is very suitable for our meetings.  The price is right, the parking is good, and we know how to work the A/V stuff!  And you never know, we might end up playing bowls or darts one evening!

 

Thanks to a lot of hard work by Ken Mullin and David Motta (RC of Osborne Park) and others, the Eye Contact Exhibition was displayed in Parliament House Canberra on 8 March.  It was a triumph!  The Exhibition was opened by Senator the Honourable Linda Reynolds and the Member for Perth Patrick Gorman.  Other speakers were David Pearson (CEO, Australian Alliance to end Homelessness), Tara Sherwood (Rotoractor) and Michael Sukkar, Shadow Minister for Homelessness.  The event was well attended with about 50 people, including 25 Members of Parliament.  The Exhibition got a 2-page spread in Rotary Down Under – see attached pages 11-12

 

 

So congratulations to all involved, especially Photographer Phil England and Ken Mullin, and special thanks to Judith Pinczuk, whose generous donation enabled the event to be held in Canberra.

 

Our entrepreneur extraordinaire – Justin Walker – has found us another way to earn money, and that is by working with his son Xavier on the Food Stall at the monthly CC&C shows held in the UWA car parks on the first Sunday of the month from about 7.00 am to 11.00 am. 

The food stall sells an array of pastries, savoury buns and mini-pizzas and the hungry car fiends are good consumers.  So far Don, Jacqueline and Jim have done duties, and in return for our assistance we receive a share of the profits.  It is going well.  Basically we need someone on the first Sunday of every month, and so if you can help out please let Rick Fletcher, who is keeping the roster know.

Jacqui should've picked a Lamborghini

 

A small posse of Heirisson worthies – being Jim, Maree, Warwick, Jacqueline, Don and Bev – turned up to Government House Gardens in the early morning darkness on Anzac Day ready to serve breakfasts to veterans and others who had come from the Dawn Service.  After the usual muddles of deciding what bit of equipment goes where, and who does what, and can someone find the gloves please etc etc, we got into action, helped by Perth Rotary stalwarts and students from Mercedes College.  We served about 1350 egg and bacon buns, while Perth Rotary members staffed the tea and coffee stand next door (see photos).  The only slip up was that Jim and Don thought two of the gas bottles had enough in them, but alas they did not - oops.  But, we soldiered on with the other four barbecues, and no one went without a feed.  A good event, and well worthwhile doing.

 

Jacqui and Mercedes Girls serving up breaky 

 

And then there was the Duck Derby, which was successfully run on 30 April.  Compared to previous years, we sold slightly less tickets, but our costs may be a bit less as well.  There was the usual nail-biting about slow ticket sales in the run-up to the last week, but as usual we sold a lot of in-line tickets in the last few days, and the hard copy sales on the day itself were huge!  Everybody was involved, and we had good support from our main beneficiaries, being 12 Buckets, Kids Cancer Support Group, Hillarys Rotary Club, and Shelterbox.  Mill Point RC members put in a big effort helping throughout.  Special thanks to all those who helped with de-stickering and then stickering ducks, and a big thanks to Jim Crossland who helped get the kit to and from Hillarys, and Jacqueline, who was an excellent MC.  After the event, we gratefully collapsed into Rick and Debbie’s nearby home, and had a number of de-stressing refreshments.  And … we think we have made some money.

 

The Finish Line

Happy winner of the 'E-Bikes' with John

Russell leading some duckies off to sell tickets

Much enjoyed drinks at Deb and Rick's place after the Derby

 

Ken, Warwick, Don and Bev joined a big gathering of Rotary members for the official opening of the ‘My Home facility’ in North Fremantle.  The well designed and well fitted out 18 small homes will provide accommodation for homeless women, and the facility will be managed by St Pat’s in Fremantle.  Heirisson has provided $4,500 towards the fit-out, and it was good to see how well all the requirements could be accommodated in such a small space.

 

Just a reminder to everyone to put the date of the Changeover Dinner, Gloucester Park, Saturday 8 July in your diary, and given that the theme is the 60s, start scouring your wardrobes and drawers for your best hippie and flower power gear!