Castello's Cucina, 123 Fisher Street, Fullarton SA
President Ken Haines
NEXT WEEK WE ARE INTO A HISTORY OF FLINDERS MEDICAL
Last Meeting
Venue: Castello's Cucina, Living Choice
Guest Speaker: Sandro Iuliano
Guests: Ross Burton, Assunta Corsini, Salvatore Focarelli, Olivia Iuliano, Silvio Iuliano, Daria Konopatska, Kate Porter, Luka Rinaldi, Garry Taylor
Attendance: 29 Members 10 Guests (Wow!)
Introduction
Chris Davis opened proceedings and President Ken welcomed our many guests. Mitre 10 last weekend worked well, the new RSPCA op-shop nearby is quite different to ours, and there will be a short Board meeting following.
Guest Speaker: Sandro Iuliano - Developing a Unique Gardening System
Chris introduced Sandro who worked as a mechanical engineer for a range of firms. With a down-turn in the car industry he turned his hand to spending more time at home with his family and doing the gardening. That's when he decided that growing plants and vegetables in the traditional fashion was back-breaking and inefficient.
Getting rid of the weeding, tilling of the soil, creating raised garden beds, and incessant watering were on top of his eradication list. He established Focus Planting Australia with its GrowWell products. The most efficient way to water is via the creation of small wells around each plant but it is very time consuming and requires renewal. With GrowWell, the soil is prepared and the device placed on top to a limited depth, the plant is inserted and water applied to the well, with as little as 3 litres per week being used. It can remain in that spot for years. The benefit is multifold - less water, no need to keep tilling the soil, very few weeds and ability to grow plants and vegetables throughout the year. Plants can be fertilised readily with weak solutions. A mouth-watering array of tomatoes, strawberries, corn, cabbages, zucchinis, cauliflowers, corn and beans are on his household production line.
The product, produced at a factory in Salisbury, is UV resistant, can be recycled and comes with a 5 year guarantee. A pack of 4 retails for $70 and $240 for a 20 pack....specials currently apply.
Perhaps it is time for a club competition to glorify the Unley member who can grow the biggest melon using GrowWell!
Sandro was applauded for his presentation. Great to have his family with us.
Spots
Rajat Nagpal explained that ticket purchase for the Multiple Births Festival, which is being held on 23 March at the Goodwood Orphanage, is now open on-line with a 50% discount for early bookings. To date 65 tickets have been sold and a crowd of 1200 - 1500 is expected. Unley members are being asked to volunteer for the BBQ, ice-cream stall, alcoholic beverages stand, sale of food and drink coupons and raffle tickets, and checking of tickets at the gate.
Trevor McGuirk announced that Unley High School had ordered a Rotary Peace Pole. A Peace Pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, bearing the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four sides. Each school chooses which languages it wishes displayed, It is intended to present the pole to the school at its assembly 10am on 22 February. Members welcome to attend. See >>>>>>>>
Rhonda Hoare exhorted members to join the Unley table at the Women in Rotary Breakfast on 8 March. Bookings are on-line but can be purchased directly from Rhonda. See details after Finale.
Jerry Casburn announced that on 21 March our meeting will be held at the District Shed at Brighton. Shane Chamings, the manager of Goodwood Bendigo Bank, will present a galvanised caged trailer to our club and a BBQ will follow.
NOW the announcement Jerry meant to mention (but forgot because he was still thinking through how to grow strawberries in his bathtub) was An Evening Under the Stars,being held next Saturday night. It is a free fun-filled annual event organised by the Unley Road Association at the Unley Soldiers Memorial Gardens, commencing 6pm. Our club is providing the BBQ, with proceeds to the Sammy D Foundation.
Finale
Chris Davis won the raffle but had a redraw to allow Wendy to win the big bucks.
Please bring your business cards for a door prize. There will be raffle
tickets available for purchase, at $5 per ticket, with excellent prizes.
If you are unable to access the website, bring your $45 to the next meeting and Rhonda will book you in.
Rotary International News
Rotary projects around the globe
February 2023
By Brad Webber
United States
Members of the Rotary Club of Twin Cities (Centralia-Chehalis), Washington, took to the stage to perform an interactive play, Game of Murder: A Sword and Sorcery Murder Mystery Lunch. A tradition over the past decade, every year’s show features a different production with a different cast. The latest show in April sold out and raised $3,400 for charitable causes, including ramps for disabled access, scholarships for Centralia College, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. “We’ve generally had between 100 and 140 people attend each year,” says Catherine Cleveland, who co-wrote the script and was one of six Rotarian thespians who starred in the performance.
Bolivia
Since 2016, the Rotaract Club of Chuquiago Marka has sponsored community events to fund its signature project, providing ocular prosthetics for young eye cancer patients. In November, the club organized a food festival that drew some 4,000 people to Plaza Abaroa in La Paz, the capital. The star attraction was a traditional type of empanada called the salteña. “It is delicious, and people love it,” says Pamela Tapia Salazar, the club’s president. The event raised $700 for the vision program and gave a boost to the salteñas companies, still recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
United Kingdom
To foster connection among older adults who may have felt isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rotary Club of Kings Lynn Priory worked with a local cinema to offer discounted screenings through a Silver Mondays Cinema Club. Nearly 60 moviegoers turned out in November to watch Matilda the Musical. Club members served as greeters, ticket takers, and ushers, says Phil Davies, the club’s immediate past president and main organizer of the screenings. “The benefit to the cinemagoers is probably 70 percent the opportunity to socialize and 30 percent the film itself,” Davies says.
Spain
Members of the Rotary Club of Punta Prima International, in Torrevieja, sponsored and helped stage the Golf Tour Las Ramblas, a series of fundraisers begun in 2019 near the Mediterranean city. Sponsorships, start fees, and party and dinner tickets from the 2022 competitions brought in more than $1,500. Rotarians directed some of the funds to a church charity that assists women and children who have fled Ukraine, says Gunnel Thunström, a club member and tournament organizer. She says the partnership is mutually enriching, even if only a handful of the club’s members are avid golfers.
Malaysia
While Malaysia’s citizens are among the most proficient English speakers in Asia, a gap persists between people in urban and rural areas. The country has pushed in recent years to increase English literacy because of its role in the global economy. Shortly after it was chartered in 2015, the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu Pearl began working to reduce the disparity, says Noni Said, a club past president who inaugurated Project REAL. By 2020, the club’s initiative operated in 16 rural schools in Sabah state, benefiting some 4,000 students by providing teacher training, books, and equipment. A committee including Rotarians visits schools and meets quarterly with education leaders to monitor progress. Project REAL attracted early financial support from philanthropic organizations and the Australian Embassy. New partnerships with Rotary members in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and in Taiwan have enabled the club to expand the project to an additional 18 schools.
Coffee Chat at Impressa, Unley Shopping Centre
10.30 am on the first Friday of the month is good for a chat with Rotary friends and a caffeine fix! Next one is Friday 3 March 2023
Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday 14 February 2023 6 for 6.30pm Castello's Cucina, Living Choice
Guest Speaker: Professor David Wattchow A Twig is Bent
Attendance and welcome: Rhonda Hoare and Brenton Judge
Tuesday 21 February 2023 6 for 6.30pm Castello's Cucina, Living Choice
Guest Speaker: Miriam Cocking Multiculturalism
Attendance and welcome: Brendan Kenny and Leonie Kewen
Apologies and Meeting Enquiries to: Secretary Greg McLeod on 0417 811 838 or email to secretary@unleyrotary.org.au
Venue Set-up Enquiries to: Bulletin Editor Stephen Baker on 0403 687 015
Saturday Thrift Shop Roster
Early Shift: 10.00am to 1.00pm Late Shift: 1.00pm to 4.00pm
Early: Jerry Casburn (Greg Mcleod) & Wendy Andrews | Late: Virginia Cossid & Vera-Ann Stacy
Week 3: 18 February 2023
Early: David Middleton & Nathan White | Late: Vera Holt & Rhonda Hoare
Week 4: 25 February 2023
Early: Stephen Baker & Judi Corcoran | Late: Jason Booth & Vera-Ann Stacy
Week 5:
Early: Bob Mullins & Wendy Andrews | Late: Virginia Cossid & Paul Duke
Rotarians, who are unable to attend as rostered, please arrange a swap or as a very last resort contact: Vivienne Wood 0408 819 630; e-mail: vwood@ozemail.com.au
Mitre 10 and Bunnings Barbeques
The Mitre 10 BBQs are the first and third Saturdays of each month. Morning shift 8.30am - 12 noon; afternoon shift 12.00 - 3.30pm, then clean-up.....next one is Saturday 18 February 2023
ALL the Bunnings Mile End Barbeque shifts are from 8am to 5pm