THE WILLETTON CHRONICLES-EDITION 25 (Jan 23, 2018)

Rob Webster

As reported below, at the meeting on Monday night, our guest speakers, Trevor Griffiths and Duncan McGregor took us into the ether to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. They certainly generated a lot of interest amongst our members and also with our four guests from more recent generations, Chris Clarke, Jordon Lee, Ronald Li and Hayden Williams who came along especially. I think Cole would have enjoyed it too, but he was answering the call of the sea, surfing at City Beach. We look forward to hearing all about that next week.

Paul Daly has asked me to let everyone know that James Dow has just returned home safely from Spain and outgoing Aashka Bhavsar has arrived safely in Belgium. We look forward to hearing from both of them in due course.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be hearing from the students we sponsored to attend National Youth Science Forum (NYSF); and the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). Bianca Stevenson fresh from her Leeuwin Ocean Adventure will also come along. My thanks to Simon Cubitt for his pivotal role in all of this. He and his committee have ensured the Club continues to be very active in Youth Service.

Similarly, Ashley West and his committee have ensured our continued involvement with HANDICAMP which is a live-in camp for 18-35 year old people with a disability, who are teamed with a "buddy" for a week of fun and adventure. It's held in January and this year our "camper" was Sarah Morien from Murdoch. While there were only seven (7) campers, far fewer than usual, the camp was still a great success. This included a special feast (known as the Sloan Dinner) held on Tuesday 16 January which Ashley, Geoff Geary and Ric Davies all attended. They were especially impressed by one camper who spoke with great confidence and maturity.

The Zone final of the Four Way Test Speech competition will be held on 21 February at the Fremantle Sailing Club. Mihan De Silva from Willetton Senior High School (WSHS) will be competing and I'm sure, would appreciate any and all support Club members can give. If he is successful, the next step is to compete in the District final to be held at the District Conference over the weekend 16-18 March in Magaret River. It would be great if Mihan gets through and in any case, I encourage everyone who can to attend the conference to do so. To book Click Here

Our next Board meeting will be held at Secretary John's home on Wednesday 7 February; and in the meantime, the next Community Fair meeting will held at 7pm this Wednesday, 24 January at Simon Cubitt's home.

STUART DIGGINS TOASTS THE ROTARY CLUB OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT USA

Stuart has not visited the Rotary Club of Stamford in Connecticut, USA, but chose it for his toast because it is in the home city of his former employer, Pitney Bowes (1987 – 1996). He visited the Head Office of Pitney Bowes, near the shores of Long Island Sound, in 1990, in his role as Australian Business Manager of the Pitney Bowes International Shipping Systems Division. At the time he was a member of a small team developing software for new products for international markets, of which Australia was one.

The Pitney Bowes Foundation and the Rotary Club of Stamford have been co-sponsors, with a number of other organisations, of literacy projects in the Stamford area. The Club is in District 7980 and has fifty (50) members. It's led by President Christopher Farrugio and they meet at the Sheraton Hotel, 700 Main Street, Stamford on Wednesdays at 12.15pm.

From the limited information available on their website, the Club appears to focus on education, charity, science and literacy projects. They also have a Rotary Whale project which appears to be focussed on business promotion.