With summertime upon us again, it’s time for swimming lessons. This week our club made a donation of 120 pairs of new swimming goggles to The Milpera  State High School in Graceville so their stuents don’t have to share this year.”Milpera State High School”  is a special purpose state high school which teaches English language across curriculum areas. It also provides settlement services to newly arrived immigrant and refugee background young people to prepare them for living and studying in Australia. The average number of students at any one time is about 200 but, as there are continuous enrolments and exits, approximately 500 students will attend Milpera during the course of one year.

This picture shows President Steve Bennett, President Elect Mary-Ellen Nielsen along with Franz Sauter from our club presenting the goggles to staff and some of the students at MSHS.
A huge thanks to Peter McMahon from McMahon’s Swim Centres for his assistance in sourcing the googles.

Tonight was the running of our Trivia Night, in support of Australian Rotary Health (ARH) and other community projects. ARH has a focus on funding research into mental health.

The venue was our meeting place in Corinda.

Past Presidents Ted Crowe and Margaret Willis where into the theme of the evening which was “Cluedo”, a board game from deep in my past.

Also very much in character were our President Elect, Mary-Ellen Nielsen (Miss Scarlett) and Fernanda (Mrs White).
Thanks must go to our naming sponsors “The Clue Detective Puzzle Agency” and everyone who contributed goods, services and time to make the event a huge success.

The round winning teams were treated to a wonderful basket of goodies, along with overall prizes for the top three teams.There were the usual raffle draws and the 

“LUCKY DOOR PRIZE”

The eventual winning team on the night, representing The Rotary Club of Brisbane Centenary, captained by their President, Craig Carson.

August has been an extremely busy month for us at the Rotary Club of Brisbane Taylor Bridge. We have introduced another new member, been on a dinner visit and a great guest speaker.

We welcomed Frank Sauter to our roster. Frank, who is originally from Lucerne in Switzerland,  was previously with the Rotary Club of Rocks Riverside before it was RC Oxley and eventually closed.

Later in the month we had dinner at the Danish Club in Newstead. Pictured in the foreground of this picture with our Danish YEP student, Nicolai isanother Inbound YEP student, Carla. Carla is hosted by the Rotary Club of Paddington in D9600. She is on exchange from Greenland, which is a Danish colony.

Last night Kat Bhathena from Group 61 spoke to us about their work on recruiting Companions to spend regular time with our isolated and lonely friends. Kat was thanked by Rosemary Brady on behalf of the club.

Last night we welcomed our newest member, Lachlan Clarke, who has transferred to us from the Rotary Club of Greater Springfield.

Lachlan was welcomed into our club by President Steve Bennett.
Last night’s guest speaker was Frank Sauter, previously with the Rotary Club of Oxley, who spoke to us about his recent journey as a member of a Rotary Donations In Kind team, delivering donated goods to schools and medical practices in Timor-Leste.

Frank spoke with passion about the trip, the island and the gratitude of the people when receiving the 40 foot shipping container full of much needed supplies such as desks, chairs, computers and microscopes, to name a few, for the schools as well as beds and linen etc, for the medical teams.

To round off a very busy meeting, President Steve Bennett presented our Rotary Exchange Student, Nicolai Borup his club shirt. Next week, on August 6th, Nicolai will be our guest speaker and will share a little of his life in Denmark.

Tonight we were fortunate to have Tracey Tucker, co-founder of “Pushing Barriers” speak to our club. “Pushing Barriers” was set up to support migrant students and assist them to start their participation in structured sport within the local communities.

Rotarian Robert Hartley presents Tracey with a Certificate of Thanks for her time to address us tonight. You can find more information on “Pushing Barriers” at www.pushingbarriers.org 

This afternoon we greeted Nicolai Borup, our new Inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student. Nicolai arrived from Sydney with three other students bound for Paddington in 9600, Marochydore in 9600 and Townsville in 9550. These students were a part of the Danish team for Australia.

The Danish YEP team prior to departing Copenhagen for Sydney.

Nicolai says goodbye to mum, Charlotte and younger brother, Tobias.

After a long flight via Dubai and an overnight stay in Sydney, Nicolai is met by his first host parents, Craig and Debbie Clarke.

With our 2018/2019 Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Veronika Musilova, having departed our shores, and safely arrived home in the Czech Republic our attention moves to welcoming our 2019/2020 Inbound Student, Nicolai Borup from Denmark, who will arrive in Brisbane on Sunday July 21st at about 2.00pm. Right now Nicolai will be saying his goodbyes to family and friends before he departs Copenhagen, and flies via Dubai and into Sydney on Saturday. After an overnight stay he will fly up to Brisbane where we will meet him. The members of the club will be able to get acquainted with Nic at our meeting on Tuesday evening.

All good things must come to an end. Last evening we said goodbye to our 2018 -2019 Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Veronika Musilova from the Czech Republic. Veronika was jointly hosted by the Rotary Club of Greater Springfield.

Veronika, pictured here, was wished Bon Voyage by her two sets of host parents, PP Craig Clarke and Debbie, President Steve Bennett and Chris as well as PP Stephen Ganko and a large contingent from Greater Springfield.

This morning the Rotary Club of Brisbane Taylor Bridge held its Annual Changeover Function. This year President Elect Steve Bennett decided on a breakfast meeting, held at the Brisbane Golf Club, Yeerongpilly. PP Margaret Willis did a sterling job as the MC for the function which was attended by the majority of our members. We were also joined by family and friends, and members from neighbouring Rotary Clubs. Special guests were our Immediate Past District Governor, Jitendra Prasad and his wife Nim, and our Assistant Governor, Wendy McIntosh. Prior to the Induction of the New President, the outgoing Presidential Team recognised some of the members for their contributions during the 2018/2019 Rotary Year.

Past President Stephen Ganko applauds a stunned Past President Ted Crowe when he is recognised with an additional Sapphire for his Paul Harris Fellow for his outstanding contributions throughout the year.

Past District Governor Jitendra presents Ted with his new PHF.

A member of the Presidential Team, Debra Calder (L) presents Mary-Ellen Nielsen with the Community Service Award for her work with Milperra School, Australian Rotary Health (ARH) and Rotary Overseas Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC).

2018/2019 President Jamie Knowlman present Steve Bennett with the Rotarian of the Year Award for being in almost everything, as well as keeping the books in good order.

Following the award presentations, Jamie inducted Steve as the President for 2019/2020. Steve then shared his vision for the coming Rotary Year, and introduced his board for the year.

Congratulations to all of the award recipients, and to Steve and his wife Chris, for putting together a great function.Photographs courtesy of Lachlan Clarke.

This afternoon, Debbie and I attended the D9630 Changeover luncheon at Picnic Point, in Toowoomba. The event was attended by more than 100 Rotarians and “Friends of Rotary”. The guests heard addresses from DG Jitendra, DGE Ros Kelly and several others, all kept to a disciplined timetable by the MC, PDG Elwyn Hodges.

Outgoing District Governor, Jitendra Prasad, gave a spirited and emotional closing address which earned him a standing ovation from the guests.

Past District Governor, Nick Curry was presenting President Nim a 3rd Sapphire for her PHF, an award she will probably never wear, because at the same time he presented both Jitendra and Nim diamond pins for reaching the level of Major Donors to the Rotary Foundation. 
Our Past President, Stephen Ganko was on hand to receive his 2019  -2020 Assistant Governors badge. Congratulations Stephen, on you selection for another year.
I aopolgise for the picture quality. It was a difficult venue with a lot of backlight.