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President’s Report 2019 - 2020

It has been a great privilege to be the President of the Rotary Club of Corowa for the past twelve months and I thank the members for this opportunity and their support during the year.

There is no denying that it has been an interesting year. The Club’s past Rotary year began, as in previous years, with the arrival of our most recent youth exchange student Jasper Holst, from Schwarzenbek in northern Germany. Jasper’s confidence with the English language, together with his engaging smile and demeanour, endeared him to his host families and all members of the club and I thank his Counsellor, Stephen Apps, for his role in Jasper’s care.

Jasper willingly participated in club activities and was an excellent ambassador for his Country, his Rotary Club and his family. He grew in stature (literally gaining 5cm in height) and also in maturity. We wish him every success for the future and hope that he will fondly remember his time in Corowa & in Australia.

In January we farewelled outbound student Jack King to Nordenay, a German Island in the North Sea, and

welcomed home Debra Everingham from her year in Brazil. Debra enjoyed her year, despite some challenges,

and was another great ambassador for our club.

The drought conditions during the latter half of 2019 provided an opportunity for the club to bring the theatre production “Marooned” to Corowa. This was a play about suicide prevention and was the first staging outside metropolitan Melbourne. Its success over two nights in Corowa led to further performances in other towns sponsored by their local Rotary Club.

Our club has enjoyed great fellowship despite the weather not always being kind to our monthly markets, and the prolonged forced absence from Bangerang Park due to the construction of the new playground. As president, I commend the efforts of Market Director Graeme Campbell and thank the members for their dedication and persistence in supporting the market during these trying times.

Just as we returned to the park and the weather improved, Australia was subject to devastating bushfires that affected so many people around the country, including a large number within our own District 9790. This saw the cancellation of our New Year Eve Fireworks, as well those planned for the Federation Festival. The silver lining being that one of our major sponsors for the fireworks, donated their sponsorship funds to the D9790 Bushfire recovery effort.

Despite all this, our Federation Festival was another outstanding success and once again highlighted the role that our Rotary club plays in our community. The Federation Dinner, with the Tim Fischer oration being delivered by

former member for Indi Cathy McGowan was another success, and a very poignant evening, following the passing of Tim the previous year.

The B&S Ball continued its run of successes thanks, as always, to the hard work of Festival Director Gary Poidevin OAM and his band of willing helpers. It provided us with the opportunity to contribute $23,500 directly back to local community and sporting groups, reinforcing our support to our community.

The Parade on the Sunday morning, despite clashing with many Australia day activities, ran very smoothly and it was very satisfying to see a packed Federation market following the parade itself.

March saw our annual KVE catering event that involved all our available members. As always, it is an intense period of cooking, serving, and fellowship and once again I am indebted to all the members for their hard work and camaraderie.

This year's Fred Taylor Scholarship received three outstanding applications and was awarded to one our former exchange students, Sarah Hughes, by a very slim margin. I must convey my thanks to my fellow panel members, Stephen Apps & Helen Reynoldson, for a difficult job well done.

During the year we once again manned many race gates and supported the IGA Christmas giving tree. Rotarian Neil Davis continued our club’s involvement in the Ride to Conference, that went ahead despite Covid-19 restrictions, by providing the critical support vehicle that the riders rely upon.

We continued our tradition of supporting ShelterBox as an international project, however this year we also partnered with the Rotary Club of Wodonga-West to fund a Bio-Gas project in Nepal following a presentation from their PP

Matt Flaherty and we look forward to the completion of this project and the benefits it will provide to a Nepalese community.

Rotary, like many service organizations, has faced membership challenges. Our efforts to add three new members to our club, should therefore be suitably applauded, and kudos given to our membership chair Deb Rowe. It has been the highlight of my year to welcome Ian Kerr, Rosemary Ferguson and Kerrie Crawford to our family of rotary. We trust that they will experience the same fellowship and satisfaction from serving their community that we all do.

The strength of our club continues to be the manner in which it shares the load of service both to the community and within the club itself. My thanks must go to Wally Cann for a varied and interesting program throughout the year. Our Sergeant at Arms, David Talbot, expertly extracted our money each week that allowed us to once again provide bursaries to our local schools that was well coordinated by our Youth chair, Graham Brown.

Our weekly bulletin is a large undertaking as members rely on it each week for valuable information and some humour. My appreciation goes to Howard Scheetz (and his secretary Jeanette) for their efforts during the year.

It is impossible not to reflect on the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on our Club, our Community, our society, our country and our world. Not only in the context of Rotary, but across our workplaces, recreations and families. The Rotary Club of Corowa was prevented from meeting face to face for the first time in its 80year history, which has highlighted to us just how much we all individually value the regular fellowship of likeminded people as we serve our community. It has impacted community service projects during the Easter period and halted our Federation markets for the time-being. On the positive side, we have all remained safe and healthy and we have experienced the way in which technology has provided communication to our members and the ability to engage

current and past exchange students.

I am immensely proud of the way that our club has responded these restrictions, with the members accepting the challenge of meeting via the Zoom platform, tackling the technology, and remaining in contact, if only by screen.

Finally, I must give heartfelt thanks to my board – Vice President Bill Bott AM, Secretary Margaret Brown, Treasurer David Potts, President Elect Norm O’Flaherty, Publicity Officer Stephen Apps, Membership Chair Deb Rowe, and Rotary Foundation Director Neil Davis for all their support during such an interesting year. Collectively they have substituted in various roles to keep the club running smoothly. Their commitment to their portfolios and their sage advice has produced robust discussion and sound decisions.

I wish incoming President, Norm O’Flaherty, every success for the coming year and know that the club will offer him the same level of support as Rotary continues to connect the world.

Paul Miegel

President 2019- 2020

Rotary Club of Corowa

As the fireworks were cancelled due to the Bush Fires this year, the next events were on Sunday, Australia Day. Over 25 floats made up the Federation Parade which captured the appreciation of the big crowd along Sanger Street leading into Bangerang Park, where the Federation Market was well underway. 

Float winners were St. Mary's Primary School, Corowa Historical Society, Corowa Rutherglen Relay for Life and the Corowa Lions Club. Wangaratta Pipe Band, Albury Wodonga Drums and Pipes and the Albury Scots School Pipe Band were all  marvelous and continued to entertain visitors at the Federation Market in Bangerang Park until the early afternoon. The large number of market stalls were well patronised by locals and visitors and the children particularly enjoyed the free face painting, Apex miniature steam train, jumping castle and the new playground in Bangerang Park. 

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