Co-Presidents' Message

Dear Members and Friends,

This is a different look to our Club Newsletter as we are trialing a new application. Please tell us what you like and dislike about it.

This week we also are relying on a stand-in editor, Anthony, as Graham, our temporary editor is unavailable. So, please excuse any errors or omissions.

We have had another busy week with the Good Vibrations Disco on Saturday. Thanks to Luke Bastian, Sohrab Bhopti, Barry Halpern, John and Marilyn Bennie, David Rosenwax and Stella Yee for managing another successful event. The great news is that the next on 1 November will be the inaugural Mayoral Good Vibrations Disco at the Manningham Function Centre and hosted in collaboration with Manningham City Council. Watch the newsletter for more information.

Tony Monley OAM spoke to us about plans for the 2025 Manningham Family Festival and was awarded the Royce Abbey Award by PDG Colin Byron.

During the week club members Kathy Monley OAM and Leon Moore were honoured at the Manningham Civic Awards. We are thrilled to see members (and by implication the club) receiving this recognition for their contributions. On behalf of the club, we offer our congratulations to Kathy and Leon.

Next week we will meet at the Manningham Club to hear from Rotary Scholar, Neuroscientist Ethan Newnham who is now a PhD student at Oxford.

See you all next Wednesday.

Have a great week in Rotary.

Esther and Anthony

Saturdays 9:30am - 1:30pm

Saturday 20 September: Luke Bastian, Keith Anderson

Saturday 17 September: Jan Roberts, Sandra Illingworth

If you are unable to make your shift, please arrange for another club member to take your place.

At our meeting on Wednesday at the Manningham Club, Tony Monley not only chaired the meeting but gave us an outline of the plans for the 2026 Manningham Family Festival. As you know this will be a reset of the festival with a move to Ruffey Lake and a renewed community engagement. The team hopes to walk over the site in the next few weeks to start thinking about logistics.

The Walk for Youth Mental Health will again be run as a separate ancillary event. The plan is to have strong collaboration with partners, including those involved in Youth Mental Health to increase the impact of the event for the local community. 

While early in the planning, Tony has outlined a vision to take this outstanding event to new heights.

In what was Tony's night we were also honoured to welcome PDG Colin Byron who presented Tony with the prestigious Royce Abbey award. More information about this award is included in a separate story.

We also welcomed: Kevin Hall (Rotary Club of Warrandyte Donvale) and Keith Anderson's Daughter Jennifer.

Last Wednesday was truly Tony Monley OAM's night as we had the pleasure of a visit from PDG Colin Byron, to present an award in memory of past RI President Royce Abbey (1922-2014). The award recognises Tony's long history of Rotary  service which truly meets the criteria of “a Rotarian who has demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment, consistent with Royce Abbey’s Presidential Theme of 1988/89: ‘Put Life into Rotary, Your Life’ and contributed AUD$1,000 to support the Royce and Jean Abbey Vocational Scholarship”. The award acknowledges Royce Abbey's contribution to Rotary and the local and international community.

More information about the award: Royce Abbey Award

Congratulations to Leon Moore and Kathy Monley OAM who were honoured in Manningham City's Community Awards on Tuesday 16 September.

Kathy Monley OAM was the only individual finalist for the Manningham Community Health and Wellbeing Award. The award recognises an individual or group who has enhanced health, wellbeing or resilience in the community, whether through advocacy, program development or direct service delivery. The other finalists were CareNet and the winner, Men's Shed at the Veneto Club.

Leon Moore was awarded the Doreen Stoves Excellence in Volunteering Award. This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to volunteerism. Leon established the Laughing All Abilities Really Friendly Singers (LAARFS). The choir, which meets weekly, has more than 70 members, who live with chronic conditions such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and dementia. The other finalists were Brenda Humphreys and Sandrajane Vincent-Corey.

Leon was also named as Manningham Citizen of the Year, selected by the judges from the eligible category winners for their outstanding contribution to the Manningham community in the past 12 months.

The club can be proud to see our members recognised and honoured again this year.

More information about the awards can be found on the Manningham City's Community Awards page.

Doncare has advertised its Gala Function to which all members are invited. If you are interested in the evening, please let one of our Co-Presidents know as we may be able to make up a table of ten.

If you would like to consider a donation, please also let us know.

If you have roster changes, please contact Luke Bastian or John Bennie ASAP.