A free community newspaper circulating in Portarlington, Indented Head and St. Leonards, Victoria, Australia
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CLUB NEWS |
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The Portarlington Probus Club has recently celebrated its 15th Birthday and we ,look forward to expanding our membership.
We would welcome new members to join us at our monthly meetings - with guest speakers; day trips; extended tours to places of interest and occasionally trips overseas (past trips have been to Norfolk Island and New Zealand). All are welcome to come along and join in for some good fin and fellowship.
Probus meets at the Church By The Bay, Portarlington, on the second Monday of each month and commencing at 1000am to noon. Costs involved are an annual subscription of $20. each plus a monthly meeting fee of $4 (includes morning tea) which covers venue rental costs. For more information please contact President Dolores on 5251 1886 or Secretary Len on 5259 2426. Hope to see you there.”
WHY DID I JOIN ROTARY
My first ever employment was in a Boutique Curtain Shop in Highton.
My boss was a family man who happened to be a very active member of the Highton Rotary Club, back in the time when women were not really allowed to be members. His involvement was mainly in the Exchange area of students from overseas.
During the course of my employment he hosted students from Japan, Germany & Brazil.
Being exposed to the different cultures gave me a taste to get involved with Exchange when I was married with children of my own.
I have been living in Drysdale for a long time now and am employed by CJ Keane & Co at the Drysdale office. Earlier this year I became a member of the Drysdale Rotary Club.
Why did I join Rotary?
I was very impressed by this International organization that had been going for many years. It has been actively involved in many and varied community based programs with funding coming from the Miniature Railway near Portarlington and the Annual Art Show at Easter each year.
Also, internationally, it has been instrumental in fundraising to eradicate the disease Polio which it has nearly done.
What have I gained in the short time of being a member?
Since becoming a member I have assisted at our Miniature Railway, volunteered to help at the Geelong Show and also sold Egg and Bacon Rolls at the Drysdale Market BBQ Stall.
At the same time I have met some really amazing, motivated committed people who have been very welcoming and supportive.
The Rotary organization is in need of new members to continue on the great work that it does in our local community as well as overseas.
We need the members now so that the existing members can pass on their knowledge.
In our local Drysdale Rotary group I am pleased to say that we are seeing an increase in women.
But we also need younger people that are involved in local business to consider becoming actively involved our group.
Our meetings are held each Monday at the Clifton Springs Golf Club feel free to call Brian Gray on 5253 2979 to arrange a visit to see if you can also commit to your local community and make a difference.
It is not all work - we have a lot of laughter and fun at our meetings and our activities.
WOOFERS AND WALKERS DOG OWNERS GROUP
Meeting News & Upcoming Events:
Education Creation for Paws: At our meeting we discussed a possible slogan to support responsible dog ownership in relation to dog waste. Here it is: Port Pride Please Pick-up your Pooches Poo, the 6 P’s of happiness for everyone. With the advent of visitors and their dogs over the holiday period it is even more important that we all pick up after our dogs. On behalf of our business community Woofers & Walkers make a special request to ask all dog owners to keep Newcombe and adjacent streets ‘dog poo free zones.’ We ask all Woofers & Walkers to use this slogan to encourage all dog owners to pick up and dispose of dog waste thoughtfully and responsibly. Please let us know what you think of the slogan.
Animal Access in the draft Northern Bellarine Foreshore Plan. A small project team has formed to develop further Woofers & Walkers views about responsible dog access along our foreshore. We see this as another step in the process of working collaboratively with Bellarine Bayside and CoGG to harmonise policies and regulations governing animal access to the foreshore.
Community Group Walk/Socialising. Due to the festive season the January walk will not take place. Our community group walk will resume on Saturday February 4th meeting at 11.00 am at Parks Hall.
Safety Alert: The festive season fireworks is a time when extra care needs to be taken to ensure that dogs are kept inside and safely secured at night. The holiday period can also be a time when dogs are found lost and wandering the streets in unfamiliar territory. If you find a lost dog the first step is to contact CoGG Animal Welfare Services, Bruno Preiato
5272 4504 or 0409 336 173. Please stay alert for snakes and curious dogs that go exploring in long grass over the Summer.
Highlights for 2011
Woofers & Walkers outing at the Annual Bellarine Agricultural Show in March was a great event and we are delighted to have been invited back. So look out for Woofers & Walkers Training Group at the show next year!
Training Report: We would like to thank our wonderful trainer Joan Vlahovic for her leadership, guidance and patience. Training 2011 has been lots of fun and learning for both our dogs and owners. A few special mentions are Fergus, our fun loving Springer Spaniel, whom we would like to congratulate for his improvement in 2011. However, he is still half trained!Kaye Hennessey receives a special award for crawling through the tunnel to encourage and help Tiley her dog to go through this agility activity for the first time.
Our monthly Community Group Walk has become an enjoyable, relaxed time for new and regular folk to meet and greet.
Our Meeting Group continues to be a lively forum for ideas and action. This year we became members of Portarlington Neighbourhood House which is terrific. One of the highlights planned was our special meeting in June with guest speakers. Twenty four attended this meeting and the feedback was that folk found our guests Bruno Preiato, Senior Animal & Information Service Officer CoGG, and Dr.Amanda Hulands-Nave of Bellarine Veterinary Practice very informative.
Events for 2012
Interest and numbers for another training group warrant this item to be on our meeting agenda early in the next year.
Barking dogs was raised as an education issue that it would be good to address.
A special meeting will be planned with guest speakers to talk about a popular topic. Our Education for Paws Project will be working on a number of initiatives next year. Initially we will be following up the work started to improve the disposal of dog waste in our community.
Interest was expressed for a social event perhaps around May to mark our 3rd Year Anniversary or to celebrate Xmas in during the Winter months.
If you have any ideas, concerns or events to plan in 2012 please let us know.
Thought for the Month or New Year: (Another piece of canine philosophy, source unknown) “My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.”
Thanks to Joan Kelly and Graeme Stevenson for providing some of our canine philosophy during the year.
Thanks also to all the terrific Woofers & Walkers who keep putting in to make our group lively, active and great fun.
Happy Woofer & Walking over the festive season!
Woofers & Walkers meet on the 4th Saturday of every month at Portarlington Neighbourhood House (28 Brown Street). Our next meeting and first one for 2012 will be February 25th at the regular time of 11.00 am. All dog owners are welcome.
Contact Details for Woofers & Walkers: 5259 3138 (Julie/Phil) or pcam3122@bigpond.net.au
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