Graham mentioned the District Conference from 16 - 18 April and listed other up-coming Rotary events as provided in the DGs bulletin
Guest Speaker: Rob Grattan -Clean Seas
David Middleton introduced guest speaker Rob in rapid fire fashion. Clean Seas Seafood Ltd was formerly Clean Seas Tuna Ltd, and is involved in the propagation of Spencer Gulf Yellowtail Kingfish. Rob Grattan was appointed to his current role as CEO in October 2020, after being appointed CFO March 2019. He has over 20 years experience in Banking, Corporate Finance and Accounting roles in Australia, UK and USA. He was CFO and Company Secretary at Jurlique and kikki.K, and has also held senior positions at JP Morgan Investment Bank, London and New York, after starting his career at Westpac.
Clean Seas Seafood Ltd is an Australian seafood production company specialising in the sea-cage aquaculture of yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi). It was established by The Stehr Group in the year 2000, and became the first Australian company in the sector to be listed on the ASX (2005). The editor can well remember Hagan Stehr's passion and efforts to propagate blue fin tuna to create a sustainable industry, less reliant on wild catch. While it currently focuses on producing high quality kingfish it has the wherewithal to deliver tuna, mulloway, snapper and king george whiting through aquaculture.
A video was presented showing the hatchery at Arno Bay, the Spencer Gulf locations for the pens, and the pristine nature of the Spencer Gulf water with good tidal flow and ocean proximity. Best raw fish in the world! Currently they produce 3000 tons of kingfish per year. The protein conversion rate for their feed is high. A number of local awards have been won and more recently from Sydney. 50% is exported mainly to Europe, and there are emerging opportunities in US and Asia.....in Australia the average annual consumption of kingfish is 80gm while in Japan it is 1.2kg. 120 people are employed in Gulf towns and in the processing and cold storage plant in Adelaide.
Covid initially had a devastating effect on business with restaurants closed and aircraft grounded, preventing international exports. There was a need to diversify the customer base and this was through providing product to supermarkets. In the last 6 months the business has been consolidated in SA and a strategic partnership has been formed with Hofseth a Norwegian company supplying salmon to North America. The breeding from eggs to fingerlings to juveniles to restaurant fish takes 2.5 years.
Rob was roundly applauded.
Spots
Patsy Beckett announced that she had nailed the TAFE visit and was now working on the car trial in October........chair observed that spots would continue to flow for many weeks.
Jerry Casburn reminded that the Pride of Work presentations would be held at Barzaar in 2 weeks time. Refreshment and nibbles would be served free of charge, but do not expect dinner.
Finale
We were all happy that Reno is celebrating a birthday today.....there was some confusion as to whether he is 47, 57, or 67.....only looks 47. Fay was delighted that the container for the Solomos was now packed and sealed, as was Stephen who congratulated Fay, John (Peacham) and Trevor. Stephen and wife Beverley have lined up their covid jabs for next week. Geoff Hill won the big bucks and Wendy the chocolates. President Graham was miffed that the editor had recorded the winning of the chockies last week to Greg McLeod rather than him....only thinking of your waistline Graham.
Thank you Damien and staff for a marvelous 3 course meal featuring kingfish
Christina's volunteering with the Repat Foundation to assist veterans, her ancestry and the Rotary connection
Extract from Military and Emergency Services Health Australia, Edition 1 2021
Rotary Centenary Coins
Can be purchased from the Royal Australian Mint eShop
The $1 gold coin will cost $15 and the $5 silver coin $105
Shopping at Woolies takes on a whole new meaning. Maybe the replacement for bitcoin?!
By Rowland Kingsley Dappa, Rotaract Club of Port Harcourt Westfield, Nigeria
Rotaractors in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, came together to carry out a disease prevention project to fight the spread of COVID-19 and prevent a second wave of infections in our communities.
Together with Rotaractors in Port Harcourt Spring Gardens and our host Rotary club, we distributed essential cleaning supplies and COVID-19 protocol information to public health care centers in the communities of Ogumnabali and Okuru-ama.
As we conducted research, community service directors helped us determine the availability of medical supplies and COVID-19 precaution kits at different care centers. They were determined to cooperate with us in informing people about how to stay safe during the pandemic.
We also provided the staffs and medical officers with cleaning supplies and medical items for taking care of pregnant mothers and newborns. Many women from rural communities come to the centers for prenatal and postnatal exams. We also gave patients and staff a presentation on how the virus spreads.
We divided into groups to distribute essential supplies and met with medical officials to discuss how to assist the women, who come mostly from low-income families. These women received support and aid to help them in their pregnancies, and we were able to provide supplies to ensure that the staff were sanitized and aware of COVID-19 protocols.
I was encouraged with the level of support we received, and that we were able to help improve the lives of pregnant women in these communities. We feel that other Rotaract clubs can adopt a similar approach to build awareness in their communities, by engaging with their community health centers.
We all need to do our part in helping our governments fight this pandemic. And as members of Rotaract and Rotary, we have a role to play in ensuring our medical staff have what they need and to provide them the encouragement to keep doing the vital work that they do.
Coffee Chat at Impressa, Unley Shopping Centre
Twice monthly, 10.30 am on a Friday, is good for a chat with Rotary friends and a caffeine fix! Next one 26 March
Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday 23 March 2021 - 6 for 6.30pm Damien on Fisher
Early: David Middleton & Jason Booth (Nathan White) | Late: Pam Trimmer & Vera Holt
Week 4: 27 March 2021
Early: Stephen Baker & Judi Corcoran | Late: Rhonda Hoare & Jason Booth
Week 5:
Early: Bob Mullins & Wendy Andrews | Late: Jerry Casburn & Reno Elms
Rotarians, who are unable to attend as rostered, please arrange a swap or as a very last resort contact: Pam Trimmer (T) 8293 2612; (M) 0415 238 333; e-mail: pamela.trimmer@bigpond.com
Bunnings Mile End and Mitre 10 Barbeques
ALL the Bunnings Mile End Barbeque shifts are from 8am to 5pm
The Mitre 10 BBQs are first and third Saturdays of each month.....next one 20 March
The Tale End
A tale of desire, disaster and divorce.
Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up on that morning.
I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my husband would be pleasant and say, 'Happy Birthday!',
and possibly have a small present for me. As it turned out, He barely said good morning, let alone ' Happy Birthday.'
I thought...... well, that's marriage for you, but the kids.... they will remember. My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfasts and didn't say a word. So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent..
As I walked into my office, my handsome Boss Rick, said, 'Good Morning, lady, and by the way
Happy Birthday! ' It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.
I worked until one o'clock, when Rick knocked on my door and said, 'You know, it's such a beautiful day outside, and it is your birthday, what do you say we go out to lunch, just you and me.....' I said, 'Thanks, Rick, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go!'
We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. He chose instead a quiet bistro
with a private table. We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously. On the way back to the office, Rick said, 'You know, it's such a beautiful day...we don't need to go straight back to the office,
do we?' I responded, 'I guess not. What do you have in mind?' He said, 'Let's drop by my place, it's just around the corner.'
After arriving at his house, Rick turned to me and said, If you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for just a moment. I'll be right back.' 'Ok.' I nervously replied.
He went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, he came out carrying a huge birthday cake .....followed by my husband my kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing 'Happy Birthday'.
And I just sat there....
On the couch......
Naked.
Now for more positive news......about driving
Last Wednesday a passenger in a taxi heading for Salford station leaned over to ask the driver a question and gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the kerb and stopped just inches from a large plate window.
For a few moments everything was silent in the cab. Then the shaking driver said "Are you OK? I'm so sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me."
The badly shaken passenger apologized to the driver and said, "I didn't realise that a mere tap on the shoulder would startle someone so badly."
The driver replied, "No, no, I'm the one who is sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my very first day driving a cab. I've been driving a hearse for 25 years."