Author: RCOB

Dates & names are just the building blocks you start with.

As they say: it’s about the dash between the birth & death dates.

Pauleen Cass is a family historian with a passion for discovering and recording the stories of her ancestors’ lives. It must be a passion because she’s been researching for 36 years!  She is a Queenslander with family roots that go back to the 1850s. Her immigrant ancestors came from Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and Bavaria. She has published the story of her Kunkel-O’Brien family and also records her discoveries in her blog, Family History Across the Seas.

We were honored to have Pauline conduct a very interesting presentation at our club meeting today. A fascinating insight into the family research phenomenon which has besotted so many people with a passion to delve into, & record, the history of their ancestors.

Pauline told us some wonderful stories about her own research, & also how to start researching & the plethora of information resources currently available.

Thankyou Pauline! A fascinating presentation.

Sue Ferguson, the Director of Clinical Services at Sunny Street in Maroochydore, came along to our meeting on Friday to tell us a little more about the services offered by Sunny Street to those in our community experiencing homelessness & vulnerability, & have barriers accessing health care.

Through supportive conversation, Sunny Street staff provide non-judgmental holistic support, aiming to break down the barriers to accessing healthcare & empower individuals to make their own informed choices about their health & wellbeing.

These are just some of the service offered by Sunny Street:

• Conversations & empowerment
• Listening & advice
• General health assessments
• Mental health plans
• Chronic disease management
• Wound care
• Immunizations
• Cervical screening
• Health education & promotion
• Treatments for sexually transmitted infections
• Referral to services
• Social prescriptions & more…

Thankyou, Sue, for taking the time to tell us more about Sunny Street. A fantastic group of dedicated professionals providing a much-needed service to the vulnerable in our community.

It’s traditional for new members to our club to take on the role of Guest Speaker at a meeting shortly after they join, to tell us a little about themselves & help members get to know them better. And although Errol is well known to many of our members through either his involvement with Rotary, at all levels, or his involvement in our local Buderim community, our knowledge of his past was scant.

Errol has had a varied & interesting past, with much of it spent in the mining industry. His insight into how mining practices have changed over the years was fascinating.

Errol was a member of Manchester Unity for many years, & was instrumental in setting up the Manchester Unity Health Fund many years ago.

Nowadays he is very much involved in our local community including being the President of the BWMCA and, of course, a very welcome member of the Rotary Club of Buderim.

Rick Beasley Talks Foot & Mouth

We are very privileged to have a member whose extensive qualifications & experience in agriculture would be hard to surpass. Rick Beasley presented us with a fascinating presentation on the current Foot & Mouth Disease outbreak in Indonesia, and the potential devastating effect this could have on our own agricultural industry should it spread to Australia.

Rick touched on how the disease spreads, how it effects livestock, past outbreaks & the potential threat to Australia.

Thankyou, Rick, for a very interesting presentation.

In our quest for more information about the James Webb Telescope, our club was lucky enough to have Astronomer Qwen Benedick from Wappa Falls Observatory conduct a presentation at our meeting on Friday. We are very grateful to Owen, as with only one day’s notice, he braved the stormy conditions & presented us with a fascinating insight into, not only the James Webb telescope, but how it compares to previous telescopes.

The attention of the audience and the questions asked, gave testament to how interesting we found the talk. I’m sure many members will be heading to Yandina next clear night to take advantage of the myriad of telescopes at the observatory, & more of Owen’s fascinating facts & figures.

IMP Graham & President Lynne lending a helping hand at RYDA in Nambour

The Rotary Club of Buderim has supported youth driver training on the Sunshine Coast for many years. The RYDA workshop focusses on teenagers about to get their license, and highlights driving skills & the dangers of various scenarios with workshops & practical demonstrations.

The club is proud to be a part of this program which falls under the banner of Youth focus.

After the hard work of the Book & Puzzle Sale, the Buderim Rotary ladies were looking forward to their monthly dining out.

This month we enjoyed a wonderful night at Thai Frenzy Buderim. The food was great, the wine good, & judging by the laughter, a great night was had by all.

One of the very important benefits of Rotary membership is the friendships formed. Like-minded people who share the desire to make a difference in their community & the world. It’s a walk-up start for very enjoyable companionship & lots of great times.

We were honored to have Mark Ellis from Maroochydore Neighborhood Centre as our guest speaker at this week’s meeting. We ‘re all aware of the increasing severity of the homeless situation, however, Mark’s harrowing stories and statistics were shocking.

We were proud to be able to present Mark with the proceeds from our recent Book & Puzzle Sale. These funds will go towards the centre’s emergency accommodation program, which, in conjunction with the Maroochy Sleepbus, enables those suffering homelessness to access clean, warm, safe sleep. Mark emphasized that lack of sleep is one of the biggest contributing factors to the mental health of the homeless.

Today’s meeting was one with a difference as we headed off to The Sunshine Brewery to get an insight into the art of making delicious craft beers. Why is it not surprising that we had a very good turn-out for the day? Even the die-hard red wine connoisseurs were tempted by the array of local beverages.

Thankyou to The Waterfront Hotel, where we headed after our educational tour, for catering to us at short notice. Good food, good company and a wonderful afternoon was had by all.