Last weekend, a group of our club members attended the 2019 Rotary District 9630 Conference at the Royal International Convention Centre in Bowen Hills.

Past President Craig Clarke, the Conference Registrar, along with the other organising committee members, from many clubs in our district, spent 18 months putting the conference program together.

PP Craig is pictured here in the “Bunker” prior to the start of the conference with PDG Chris Wright and DG Jitendra Prasad.
Speakers at the conference included

Craig Challen SC, OAM who spoke to us regarding his involvment in the rescue of the young footballers and their coach from the flooded cave system in Thailand.

Mark Huddleston and Michael McQueen, seen here swapping their latest publications.

Evan Burrell who spoke on the use of social media to lift and enhance the profile of you Rotary (or any club).Evan tells us that not all hero’s wear a cape.
Mark (Seaford, SA), Michael (Crows Nest, NSW) and Evan (Tunnmarra, NSW) are all Rotarians, and more information about them can be be found on their websites. 

Winners are grinners, and the team from the Rotary Club of Brisbane Taylor Bridge were all smiles after winning the 2019 Western Cluster Challenge Cup at Club Oxley.

Left to right, Jill Divola, a friend of our club is pictured with two of our members, James Halliday and Georgina Gill and also the event convenor, Frank Sauter from the Rotary Club of Jindalee.

As the cycle of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program continues, we say farewell to Xavier Cichero. Xavier has departed this afternoon for his 12 month exchange in Austria.

Xavier, pictured here, is sponsored by Brisbane Taylor Bridge, ready to go, along with Josephine Stockdale who is sponsored by Greater Springfield..
33 students from several Rotary Districts boarded SQ236 to Singapore where they met another big bunch of students from Sydney and Melbourne.
In Singapore, the Rotary escort volunteers need to get them into their correct groups for their onward fights to European countries.
The concept of “Herding Cats” is quite similar.

Tonight, Roger Crawfoot, the Chair of D9630 Australian Rotary Health attended our meeting to collect a cheque for some of the proceeds from our 2018 Trivia Night.

Roger addressed the meeting on where to research funds are directed.

Debbie and I went to the International Airport to welcome home James Goss.

James has spent the last 12 months on the Rotary Youth Exchange Program in Sweden.
It was a noisy bunch at arrivals, four students from our district, as well as several from as far away as Gladstone landed on the same plane.
Greater Springfield also had a large presence as James’ father is a member there.