Yarra Bend Rotary Bulletin Page 1

Volume 15 Issue 16 3 November 2014

Rotary Year 2014 – 2015

President: Tony Boyd Vice

President: Bob Lambert

Secretary: David Shave

Treasurer: John Pocock President

Elect: Justin Wibrow

Rotary International President

Gary C.K. Huang

District Governor Murray Verso

Assistant Governor Gabe Hau

Club Avenues of Service

International: Isabel Armer

Community: Bob Lambert Club Service: Matt Pollard Foundation: Clint Sceney

Youth Service: Anne Brown Vocational: Justin Wibrow

Club Protection: John Orr

Bulletin: Matt Pollard

PLEASE REMEMBER

Apologies and guests to David Shave

by Tuesday on 0408 511 615

President’s Message

The Club’s inaugural Boroondara Emergency Services Awards night held last Wednesday

illustrated how fortunate we are to have people in our emergency services that are

committed to serving our community. Each of the four winners from the individual

services have gone out of their way to serve our community by providing “Service Above

Self” consistent with the ideal of Rotary.

We are pleased to be able to be able recognise and thank our individual winners:

David Smith from the SES

David Nicholson from the MFB

Claire Oliveri from Ambulance Victoria

Det Senior Sergeant Daryl Cullen from Victoria Police

With four outstanding candidates, the Club Committee had a very difficult taste in

selecting an overall winner. However, the overall 2014 Boroondara Emergency Services

Award winner was David Smith from the SES.

(continued over page)

Postal

Address:

P.O. Box 271 Kew East ,

3102, VIC, Australia

Meet Wednesdays

6:30p.m. for 7:00p.m. at

The Amora Hotel

649 Bridge Road

Richmond Victoria

Tel: 03 9246 1200

Website: www.yarrabendrotary.com.au

Email: yarrabend@rotarydistrict9800.org.au

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President’s Message continued

David has worked as a tireless volunteer since 1995 and has provided emergency assistance and specialist search and rescue leadership in

the local community and beyond for nearly 20 years. Our Committee considered David’s tireless service over such a long time indeed

exemplified the ideal of “Service Above Self” and that David is very worthy winner of this years perpetual trophy. The award has an

accompanying prize of $5,000 which David has indicated will be utilised for the purchase of much needed equipment at the SES Depot.

I congratulate David and the other winners on their awards.

On a sad note we note the passing of Bronwen (Faz) Farrawell, the daughter of Bob and Barbara Farrawell, died on Sunday 26 October

after succumbing to a prolonged illness. Bob was the Charter President and is an Honorary Member of our Club. On behalf of our

Members I extend our deepest sympathy to Bob, Barbara and their family. Bronwen was a much respected teacher at the Parkdale

Secondary College as was evident by the many tributes given at her funeral last Friday. We never know what life has in store for us. As

noted at her funeral:

Yesterday is history; Today is a gift; Tomorrow is a mystery.

I hope you all back a winner during the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Remember to spread the word to Light Up Rotary. Regards Tony

Boroondara Emergency Services Awards The inaugural Boroondara Emergency Services Awards were presented at a formal dinner meeting of Yarra Bend Rotary on 29 October 2014. The Mayor of the City of Boroondara Councillor Coral Ross made the presentations to four recipients. The meeting heard from the Mayor of her support for the event and on behalf of the citizens of Boroondara she expressed her appreciation for the members of the police, fire, ambulance and state emergency services and the families that support them. Their services make a major contribution to making the City of Boroondara such a safe and attractive place to live. District Governor Murray Verso gave the toasts to Australia and Rotary International. The meeting also heard a keynote address from Deputy Commissioner Joe Buffone of the newly formed umbrella body responsible for emergency services Emergency Management Victoria. Mr Buffone also paid tribute to the work of our local emergency service workers and explained what was intended to be achieved by the new management arrangements put in place with the formation of EMV. Mr Buffone also congratulated Yarra Bend Rotary on its initiative in establishing the awards which are founded on recognising Service Above Self. The winners of the category awards were: State Emergency Service – David Smith - in recognition of his tireless work as a volunteer since 1995 providing emergency assistance and specialist search and rescue leadership in the local community and beyond. Metropolitan Fire Brigade – David Nicholson - in recognition of his tireless work as a volunteer promoting fire safety to the most vulnerable people in the community to ensure they can live safely at home. Ambulance Victoria – Claire Oliveri - in recognition of her commitment not only to the development of excellence in paramedical performance through training and leadership of others, but also for her significant role facilitating participation in community health and fund raising programs. Victoria Police – Daryl Cullen - in recognition of your outstanding leadership and professionalism in managing the Criminal Investigation Unit at Boroondara and in providing exemplary service to the citizens of Boroondara in that role for a period in excess of 20 years. The overall award carrying a perpetual trophy and $5,000 prize was presented to David Smith of the SES. His nomination document appears below.

David Smith joined Whitehorse SES (formerly known as Nunawading SES) which covers 50% of Boroondara LGA in 1995. He quickly rose to a management position in

November 1996 as a unit section leader, and then again in 2008 was promoted to Deputy Controller. In mid-2009 David was promoted again to Controller by the Regional

Manager of Central Region. This involves the day to day running and management of the busy unit with over 70 volunteers, 4 vehicles and over 1000 requests for assistance

per year.

During David’s volunteer time with VICSES he has achieved numerous qualifications in not only everyday SES emergency activities but also Management positions in Incident

Control Centres along with Management roles out in the field such as Crew Leader and Divisional Commander to name a few.

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He is seen in the eyes of not only members in his SES Unit but throughout VICSES as a senior leader and not only his abilities but his knowledge and skills in SES activities to

be outstanding.

David has been involved in numerous large scale operational activities such as

Black Saturday fires- Crew Leader and strike team leader for over two weeks

Kinglake fires in a response capacity

Whittlesea relief centre

Searches in Boroondara area including missing persons in the Yarra River, along with bush and field based searches

Crimes scenes

2001 Micro burst in Camberwell and Kew

Hailstorm and significant wind events

2 x separate deployments to Sydney during their Hailstorm events

He has coordinated and responded to over 10,000 requests for assistance in his time with the unit which is an amazing statistic.

David’s specialist skills and qualifications include Alpine Search & Rescue, Divisional Commander, Boat coxswain. He is also a VICSES workplace trainer and assessor; all of

these qualifications have been gained in his volunteer time representing his SES unit. These skills and qualifications are utilised not only by Whitehorse SES but he has also

given up his spare time to assist neighbouring SES units.

Whitehorse SES instigated a yearly training challenge called the “Bush Navigation Day” this day enables VICSES volunteers from throughout the state to participate and

utilise their training and skills in navigating around a large scale course. David has been a big part of this challenge and without his support would not be made to occur.

David has also been involved in numerous VICSES taskforces such as-:

Internal Communications taskforce

Cultural pathways taskforce

LGA BCP table facilitator for collaboration

A worthy recipient of the inaugural Boroondara Emergency Service Award for 2014. David Smith further demonstrated Service Above Self

by indicating that the prize money should be directed to his SES unit for needed equipment.

The function was attended by 87 people from across the community and a number of Rotarians. The Editor of the Progress Leader also

attended and we hope for good coverage of the awards in the local paper. We were grateful for sponsorship from Folie `a Deux, Bendigo

Bank, The Well shopping centre and Sceney Family Pty Ltd. The brief videos summarizing each of the winning nominations was produced

and directed by Stephen Protuder of Folie `a Deux and we acknowledge his great support of the event. The staff of the Amora Hotel

looked after our guests well and we appreciate the great support the Hotel and its people provide to our Club. Thanks are also due to

District Governor Murray Verso and his wife Irene for attending the event signaling the support of D9800 leadership.

Member and VIP feedback has been very encouraging and the board will consider the future of the program at its next meeting.

David Smith receives the SES Award nominated by

Ray Jasper David Nicholson receives the MFB award nominated

by John Rampling Claire Oliveri receives the Victorian Ambulance award

nominated by Jon Byrne and Simon Thomson

Daryl Cullen receives the Victoria Police award

nominated by Steve Frost Overall award goes to David Smith an outstanding SES

volunteer Award recipients group photo

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Club News - Upcoming Events

Event: When and where: Contact: Oakes Eve Wednesday 5 November

6.30 for 7.00pm 19 Manniche Ave Mont Albert

Please advise David Shave the names of those attending

District Governor’s Official Visit Wednesday 26 November 6.30 for 7.00pm Amora Hotel Richmond

Members, their partners and guests are asked to advise David Shave of their attendance

Christmas Dinner Wednesday 17 December 6.30 for 7.00pm Amora Hotel Richmond

Diarise now!

Useful websites

Websites with information about: The Club’s Bright Future Project in Nepal (at Isabel

Armer’s blog); Rotary Foundation; Rotary partnering and resources.

Websites of other Rotary organisations: RC Yarra Bend;

District 9800; Rotary Downunder; RC Woodend (sister club of RC Kew on Yarra).

Other Rotary Events

Those attending need to book soon to get the “early bird’ rate

Members are asked to advise Matt Pollard if they are able to attend morning or afternoon shifts on 15 and 16 November as

Yarra Bend Rotary will assist managing garden access and collection of admission fees.

Camberwell Market Duty Roster - If you have arranged a swap please advise Bill Chow

Date Member Date Member

9 Nov Ed Brown 7 Dec Ken Maher

16 Nov Mark Miller 14 Dec Darren Grevis-James

23 Nov Irene Leung 28 Dec Jane Stott

30 Nov Bob Lambert

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Diary Notes

Upcoming Program Anniversaries

5 November Oakes Eve 5 December William and Kim Liew

12 November Antiques

Sheridan Brown

19 November Annual General Meeting Birthdays

26 November District Governor’s Visit 5 November Bob Lambert

3 December Kenya

Karli Williamson

16 November Julie Wibrow

Meeting Duty Roster

Meeting Date 5 Nov 12 Nov 19 Nov 26 Nov

Chairman Oakes Eve Ed Brown David Shave Tony Boyd

Thought & Gong Calcutta Mark Miller Justin Wibrow David Chivers

Member’s Moment*

Advise David Ken Maher Bob Lambert None

Set Up/Pack Up of numbers please Clinton Sceney Bill Chow Bob Lambert

Bulletin Notes David Shave David Chivers Clinton Sceney

Some photos from the BESA Dinner on 29 October 2014 – Thanks to Bill Chow and Gordon Cheyne

DG Murray Verso proposes the toast to RI President Tony Boyd announces the winner of the major award

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Guest keynote speaker Joe Buffone of EMV Mayor of Boroondara Cr Coral Ross

Matt Pollard explains the awards structure and thanks sponsors Bob , DG Murray and the fabulous MC Jonathon Shepherd

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Boroondara Emergency Services Awards 2014

With thanks to our sponsors

Yarra Bend Rotary Bulletin Page 7

Kew High School working bees