At our evening meeting last Tuesday, we heard from the Very Rev. Dr. John Shepherd AM, Interim Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See. Dr. Shepherd is also the President of the Rotary club of Perth. His talk was very interesting with pics of himself with the Pope, other Catholic Hierarchy and the Vatican buildings, much enjoyed by all. His suggestion to your editor was, "you should join our Heretics Anonymous group in Fremantle, I'm sure you'd find it interesting".   

Here's the latest from President Don:

Dear Big Boys Toys parkers

 

Thank you to you all for your support of the Big Boys Toys parking exercise.  We did well.  Although Friday was rather quiet, Saturday was very busy, with a  steady stream of great burbling monsters (and some more modest vehicles) arriving and leaving.  Alas, the feedback from the patrons was that the display itself was disappointing, but that did not reflect on people’s views of our efforts, which were well regarded by all except about by three vehicles who managed to slip past without paying …  Grr.

 

Notable performances were put in by …

• Greg Hunter who pulled out two bollards at the exit, while Robin, Jim and Don looked on in wonder …
• Maree, who after a short training course, is now a fully fledged Square operator, which she used while charming many of those leaving on Saturday afternoon.
• Xavier Taveira-Walker who did a great effort collecting cash on Saturday morning, while Ken and Don looked on from their chairs (except when card payments were required).
• Stuart Hemming (Maree’s son) who did an excellent job working with Allan at the entrance on Saturday afternoon.
• And everyone else did very well too!

 

I have counted up the money, and my best estimate is that after taking out costs for ice and water, we collected about $6,100, which after giving BBT 50% of the taking, will mean we will keep just over $3,000.  We also received $134.75 in donations which is very gratifying.  I will have final figures after I take the bag full of coins and notes to the bank tomorrow – and I will report to the meeting on Thursday. 

 

It is worth noting that card payments made up 24 per cent of total payments, which is about twice last year’s percentage.

 

So …. Definitely a worthwhile exercise and thank you everybody for helping out.  

 

Also from President Don:

 

Members:

West Australian’s affected by the fires ravaging thousands of hectares of Western Australia’s Southwest region and throughout the Wheatbelt, need our assistance urgently.  Firefighters continue to control the many emergency risk-level fires located throughout the State.  The State’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services has confirmed homes, as well as sheds, vehicles, fences, and equipment lost for so many. 

In the wake of the devastation, Rotary has announced a fund raiser through RAWCS and our WA Bushfire Relief Project Account.   Donations can be made to either:

1. Rotary International District 9455 Inc WA Bushfire Relief Project Account - BSB/Account number 036-310, 477044, or

2. Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd. (RAWCS) - https://donations.rawcs.com.au/45-2021-22.

 

The latter, Rotary Australia Benevolent Society (Managed by RAWCS) has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) registration and has been listed as a Charitable Fund so we can accept tax deductible donations from individuals or organisations.