(Established July 2023 from the merger of Rotary Clubs Manningham and Templestowe and has since welcomed former members from the Rotary Club of Doncaster.)
Co-Presidents 2025-26 Esther Murray (L) Anthony Callinan (R)
Dear Members and Friends,
This week we attended the Doncaster East RSL Memorial Service and placed a wreath at their Shrine. Barry Halpern, Brian Tyedin and David Rosenwax joined me as we listened to and engaged in appreciation for the men and women who have served and sacrificed for our Country.
Led by RSL Secretary Kym Clarke, along with the many service men and women, veterans and cadets, it was a memorable day. Doncaster Secondary College students played lovely music and sang. Present also was Gabriel Ng, Federal Member for Menzies, Nicole Werner, State Member for Warrandyte and recently appointed Mayor of Manningham Cr. Jim Grivas, plus many more.
We held our AGM this week with all nominees successfully elected to the Board for 2026-2027. More info further on.
Our meeting at the Templestowe Bowls Club was a huge success with a presentation on their road safety program by the EarlyAct students from Beverly Hills Primary School, more info further on.
Next week we will meet at the Manningham Hotel where Kellie Wishart CEO of CareNet will update on what they are doing to support those in need during this Christmas period.
Important to take note of our Saturday Op shop roster for next few weeks. Please ensure you pick up your shift as rostered. Thank you to Rod Simkiss and Zubair Nasser on 15/11 and Glen Vincent and Daryl Brown on 22/11.
We had a successful and very quick AGM on Wednesday night with 26 members in attendance and 3 proxies. All motions were passed unanimously regarding the Annual Report, the Yearly Accounts and the Board for 2026-27 which includes the following members.
Co-Presidents: Esther Murray and Brian Negus
Immediate Past President/Secretary: Anthony Callinan
Treasurer: Ian Goldsmith
Directors:
David Alexander,
Luke Bastian,
Sohrab Bhopti,
Barry Halpern,
Tania Marinaccio,
Brian Tyedin
President Nominee 2027-28: Anthony Callinan
Congratulations to everyone, and a special thanks to Tania for stepping into a leadership role.
Beverley Hill Earlyact with their teacher Rachel Wallace (C) and members Kathy Monley (L) and Co-President Esther Murray (R)
Following our AGM, we were introduced to visiting members from Beverley Hills Primary School’s Earlyact Club.
Interact is for Primary School students currently in Grades 5 and 6.
The Earlyact Club structure comprises four groups, analogous to Rotary’s ‘Avenues of Service.’ These groups are:
Community – which works for and with the school’s local community,
International – which works toward benefitting international children, their environment and life,
Intra School – which focusses on its own school’s issues, and
Environment – which works on environmental issues.
The Club President (usually from Grade 6) has an oversight of all areas and the club’s operations.
The leaders from each of these areas spoke to us about their current activities and projects.
Of great interest was the club’s project to develop the school’s ‘Drop-Off Protocol.’ This is concerned with developing safe practices for students and their family drivers upon arrival and pick-up of children from the school. It has been a very necessary project because of serious local traffic congestion encountered at each end of the school day.
Some of the students, with help, have produced a video for training of students and their parents in the protocol, which has also been documented in English, Chinese and Farsi to ensure most families in the area understand what is required for safety.
The students’ talks, and this project in particular, gave rise to many good questions from members and much interest in their work.
Teacher, Rachel Wallace, who accompanied the children’s visit, was congratulated and thanked for her interest and dedication to develop such a vibrant and relevant Earlyact Club.
The Hon Shaun Leane MP, Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan Region and President of the Legislative Council has written to the club to advise that we have once again been successful in our application for a Victoria Remembers Grant. This grant goes towards the cost of organising the Schools Anzac Day Service at the Templestowe Memorial Park.
We thank the Victoria. Government for their support of this great project. Thanks to members Rod Simkiss and Brian Negus for preparing the grant application again this year
Our regular newsletter editor, Janis Mcfarland is recovering from a health issue and is unable to continue in that role.
The newsletter is our most important channel to communicate with members and our friends in the broader community. We need an organised person with a few hours to spare each week who is confident using a computer to help with this.
The role of the editor is to compile the newsletter. We use a template on the ClubRunner platform so most of the work is copy and paste and adding photos to stories. The editor should be a confident writer and attentive to detail; however, we don’t expect perfection!
Our acting editor, Anthony, can provide training and ongoing support. The editor may occasionally write stories but we mostly rely on other members to provide stories and photos.
