Stories

Film Screening: THE PLASTIC COUNTRY

Plastic: what does it mean for our bodies (not just the environment)?

Join us for a free community screening of the Australian documentary The Plastic Country (rated G), hosted by the LEAF Group and proudly supported by North Brighton Rotary.

Garden DesignFest 2026: Where Inspiration Blooms

Explore stunning gardens across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, meet the talented designers behind them, and leave with fresh ideas for your own outdoor sanctuary.
 

Sunday April 28th was the day our club went 'public'!

Sponsorship by Brighton Honda and Francesca Presents, enabled us to put on our first RCBN initiated public event.

The audience was highly entertained by 5 very capable school bands from Firbank Grammar College, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, St. Leonard's College (2) and Star of the Sea, plus the 'professional' Jazz Doctors and solo musician Marceau.

 

 

 

History of D9800 - Youth Sailing Program

The Festival of Sails was started in the 1840s by Royal Geelong YC and is the largest keel boat regatta with 400 yachts participating this year.

In 1998 discussions with Rotary began and in 2001 John Bertrand who was a patron of Audi Victoria Week and a Victorian, Australia Day committee member introduced the concept that became the Youth Sailing Program.

 One of the great traditions of the Rotary Club of Brighton North occurs at our Christmas Party.  Members of the club bring Christmas presents for children from disadvantaged backgrounds who come under the care of Family Life, one of the main local community organisations supported by the club.  The presents are then handed out by Santa Claus at the Keith Street Community Centre Christmas Party.  In many cases the presents provided by the members are the only gifts these children will receive at Christmas.

 

Don Cullen has just sent us a summary of his current activities in Tibet

 

Hi Everyone
Perhaps "Tashe dalek" is more to the point, as you would know by now,  it means "Greetings" in Tibetan. I have attached a report on the  project that the International Committee supported on behalf of the club.
We have been blessed with a lot of success this trip.

 Do your friends and co-workers know that you're a Rotarian? Do you tell acquaintances about your club's good works in the community or internationally?

Did you know that talking about your involvement in Rotary could significantly enhance the organisation's image and boost public awareness? It’s up to every Rotarian to tell the world what Rotary is and does.

 The Rotary Club of Brighton North celebrated Grand Finals in the usual tradition..

                                           Some dates for members and RCBN Friends to diary if you haven't already.    

Saturday 12 November:   Painting Working Bee – the final one if we get enough help.

Sunday 13 November:      City Fun Run Marshalling

Saturday 19 November:    Bay Street Traders' Fair

Wed 30 November:            Barefoot Bowling

Wed 30 November:            Variety Club Children's Party Set Up

Thursday 1 December:     Variety Club Children's Party

Wed 14 Becember:            RCBN Christmas Party

Wed 22 February:               Vocational Excellence Awards Dinner

9-12 March:                         District 9800 Conference in Melbourne

 Catch up witth what members and friends did to help out at Rochester.

 The  inaugural RCBN Fellowship of Golf tournament was held on the north-east coast  of Tasmania recently at the adjacent courses of Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm  with eight couples attending and thirteen golfers participating.

The Rotary Club of Brighton North has just made a donation of a trike to a lass with Hemiplegia to enable her to get to school. Read this heart warming story.

Rotary Club of Brighton North celebrated the inaugural Vocational Excellence Awards this week. Our congratulations go to Jan Brasch and Roy Bird. These two recipients of this new award set an extremely high standard for the future.

 

YOU are no doubt used to charities and businesses offering detailed analysis of their dealings, colourfully backed up with a zippy power point presentation and cool photos.
Tonight, you have just me and, in keeping with the St Patrick’s Day theme, a story. The Irish love a tale – tall or otherwise.
It’s a story of living in and leaving, Ireland, a story of St Patrick and a story about stories.

This whole adventure began with me Sean Orr (Navy) going for School Captain at my school Echuca College. Now normally I wouldn’t do this sort of thing but I had this urge to be the……… KING!!! So I thought I would give it a go. I’m actually a bit of a shy person and I’m not very good at talking to a big crowd; and I would have to make a speech and read it out to all my colleagues. We also had to have an interview with our school Principals, but despite all that, I did it.

 Our club again participated in the Audi Week sailing program in partnership with the Rotary Club of Essendon North .

Don Cullen (one of our Club Members) has provided a comprehensive update on the work he is doing with the Tibetan Village Project, Australia in Tibet.
He is heading back there shortly so we look forward to news, pictures & stories from the "Land of Snows" when he returns in February 2011.

The Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) is a week-long residential personal development program for young people aged 18 to 25, which focuses on yourself, leadership and community.

Go The Tan is an event for the Friedreich Ataxia Research Association (FARA), supporting research to find a cure for Friedreich Ataxia, a fatal degenerative, neurological disease.
All profits from GO THE TAN 2011 support FARA and continue to support Australia’s world leading research into a treatment and cure.

Brighton North Member Sue Jones was closing down her business prior to a well-earned retirement where she found disposing of a stand-on forklift was not so easy.

 Here are some of the activities that we covered at this week's meeting and a shot from the Rotary Institute in Perth.

 Family Violence Story Rocks Rotary Institute in Perth

 MS Australia says Thankyou

"My life has flipped upside-down. Nothing is real. We are middle-class people; this doesn't happen to us." The Age Saturday 4 September 2010

 

Our 25th was a great celebration and special thanks are due to so many who made it such a success. A very big THANK YOU from the Fellowship team.

If you know participants in the Jazz Jamboree you may want to forward this issue of RCBNews to them with these great photos courtesy of Russell Brewer.

RCBN will be meeting at 6.30 at the Brighton Sea Scouts' headquarters at 34 Wilson Street. Have you let Barbara Beed know you are attending?

Everyone present agreed this was a special meeting. For those who weren't there here's my "take" on it. For those who were there - some reminders about service projects...

A short note from Don showing some of what our Team did in Tibet.

Rotary International Convention will be held in Sydney on 01 to 04 June 2014

There is a lot of interest within our Club so catch up with the latest news by visiting the

Sydney Convention Web Site

The enclosed up-date provides some details on accommodation

Every April a day is designated Rotary at Work day. Along with thousands of other Rotarians around the globe Rotary Club of Brighton North (RCBN) members join in this annual event.

Can you guess who this person is whose birthday was in April?

Each month we provide a summary of Board reports and actions so all members know what is happening at this level of our Club. April's report follows...

There have been one or two additions and changes to next year's Board and Club Officers. Here is the updated list.

Wow! Quite a few celebrations for May...

Angela Dawson, one of our members, last night recited her own poem titled 'Apart' as a tribute to the men and women of our Armed Services. 

She has allowed us to share it with you today.

Pat Lardner sent a lovely newsy letter/email on St Patrick's Day to let us know what has been happening in his life back in Ireland. Well worth a read!

 Somehow one of our most important people got missed last week. My apologies to Jeff who should have been in the list of Club Officers for next year: Jeff is taking over the Programme reins.

As usual a great night! Photos, courtesy of Jeff and Mort follow, with a couple of interesting composite images from Mort.

 

What a different meeting - Milano's was the venue for a joint meeting of the Brighton Rotary clubs - Brighton Beach, Brighton North and Brighton.

It was one of those special meetings where we gave a Paul Harris Fellow award for an outstanding contribution to our Club and to our Community

Well done Garry Bradd

Remember we join with our local fellow clubs at Milano's on THURSDAY this week to hear the Choir of Hope and Inspiration.

Read Jeff's entertaining and informative report on the Festival of Sails this year.

Our Scribe has some important messages for you from Wednesday's meeting.

A lot of the meeting is covered elsewhere in this bulletin. Other morsels are included here... I have added in some notes about the health of a few members. Holidays seem fraught for some. Also there's an important request for anyone who can help with the Reading in School programme.

Festival of Sails is coming up. There will be 4 and possibly 6 youths requiring overnight accommodation Thursday January 24th. The plan is they arrive from the country midday Thursday 24th. lunch, then disperse to their hosts, group barbecue/meal, back to hosts for overnight, Yacht club 0830 Friday 25th. They return home from Geelong, Friday afternoon.

A gallery of photos from this annual event. Great decorations. Tasty food. Wonderful company.

Last Wednesday Jim reminded us of several important dates. Please make sure all the following RCBN events are in your 2013 diary.

ClubRunner has just announced a major overhaul of their WebSite software designed expressly for Rotary Clubs.  They have also announced a Partnership arrangement with MICROSOFT ensuring faster WebSite access and future scalability.  The new upgrade captures many of the improvements proffered by Rotary Clubs around the world and will incorporate greater flexibility in format, styles, templates and the like.  Looking forward to the new version.

December is a big month for Rotarians' birthdays. We also have four members who joined in December...

What a great start to Family Month -Sue Jones' project gathering shoe boxes of gifts...

This is a test story

We certainly had a full house on Wednesday, probably our best this year with Brighton Beach joining us.

The garden lovers of Melbourne (and WA, and NSW, and Qld. and New Zealand) were treated with 2 perfect days to view the 2012 Garden DesignFest.  With over 16,000 garden visits across the 26 beautifully designed gardens our enthusiastic gardening community were really spoilt with the diversity and size of the gardens designed by Melbourne's leading designers.

The official Fashion in the Field has nothing on RCBN members and partners. What a comely lot - except perhaps that rather portly bookie...

As Chairman Geoff pointed out, our Club is doing a great deal of service work in our community and abroad. While enjoying hearing about all that is going on your Scribe thought the reports would never end.So what was there of importance to all members and friends?

Apart from Polio Plus what do YOU know about the Rotary Foundation? Learn more.

Each week our esteemed scribes give a report on the last meeting. They always make for interesting reading and this week is no exception.

There are several actions and notifications this week for members.  Please can you try to find time in your busy schedules to read these and act upon them?

Our Scribe for last week's meeting was busy with other tasks during the meeting but still managed to come up with an interesting report for those of us who couldn't be there.

DG Dennis shared with us some special ideas for this Rotary year and in particular a "Rotarians at Work day" on Sunday 21 April 2013 being the anniversary of the day that Rotary commenced in Victoria with the chartering of the Rotary Club of Melbourne back in 1921.

In this Vocational Service Month it is especially worth recording the “Rotary Code of Conduct”

For the last 20 years, the Rotary Club of Brighton North has hosted the annual Firbank versus Brighton Grammar Schools' Debate. Debating is the art of persuasion and this year's teams both presented a dynamic argument with the moot: "That the individual has the right to publish any photograph they take".
For this and other matters from the meeting read on.

For Rotarians it all begins with Vocation - Membership in Rotary is based on a member’s vocation, with each club striving to create a microcosm of its community’s business and professional world. This unique feature provides the source for Rotary’s historic commitment to vocational service, the second of Rotary’s four Avenues of Service. A brief (1 1/2 minute) video about Vocational Service can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1K4OpqX3Qc

Recently the RCBN visited the Murdoch Children's Research Institute to see and hear first hand about the research undertaken to improve the lives of children with cancer, allergies, diabetes, premature birth, mental health problems, genetic conditions and more. Staff spoke passionately and informatively about their work.

Each month RCBN is highlighting projects illustrating the Rotary International theme. October is Vocational Service Month and each week in October we will publish a brief story about one of our Vocational Service projects.  Two years ago we introduced our Vocational Excellence Awards to honour people in our community who have given outstanding service in their workplace and wider.

Our Annual "Grand Final" meeting was extra special this year with Ross Smith sharing his long association with Australian Rules Football as a Premiership Player (1966), Club Champion (twice), Club Captain, Victorian Captain, Brownlow medalist (1967), Coach and more recently his involvement at the highest level in the AFL in the development and improvement of our Game.

This edition of the RCBNews heralds a number of changes. It is a cooperative effort by Phil Mortimer, Jeff Taylor and your usual editor. Thanks to Phil Rowell for the great story of last week's GSE focused meeting. Did you know there have been 70,000 GSE team members? As well as a list of last week's notices and meeting highlights please click the button below to find our how to get your notices and stories in the RCBNews from now on...

Brief Summary of the this month's Board Meeting for members who want to be informed about Board decisions.

It was great to see several members deputising for Directors while those people are away. We know that Hartmut is acting for International while Don is away and this month we also had Judith Hyde, Barb Beed and Phil Wheatley deputising at Board meeting.

Members of the Brighton North Rotary Club were privileged to have as our guests at last week's meeting the team leader and three members of the first GSE team from District 9800 (then D280) that travelled to Canada for ten weeks in 1966. The evening was a fascinating insight into the lasting benefits of the GSE experience and a wonderful introduction for our sponsored team member, Kirsten Brewer.

Summary of the Story or Report

Two members of Brighton North Rotary Club, Kate Strain and Kay Phillips, recently joined with members of Albert Park and Brighton clubs to establish a vegetable garden at Nganambala, one of the Top End group of schools in remote Northern Territory. The school had sufficient water for drinking but not for irrigation so the installation of a tank had to be part of the exercise. The focus was to promote better health through diet and knowledge.

The Rotary Club of Brighton North is involved in a wide range of projects across all avenues of service. Each one is described briefly below

The second Brighton North Fellowship of Golf Tournament has just concluded successfully at the Yarrawonga and Border Golf Club                                                   

At the Rotary Club of Brighton North Annual Dinner Dance a Melbourne identity, Professor Martin Delatycki, Director, Clinical Genetics, Austin Health, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, was made an Honorary Member of the Club.

Chartered in March 1985, the Rotary Club of Brighton North is a dynamic mixture of professional and business people and some (very active) retirees. Our Club has 51 members. The membership reflects the diversity of Australia, having members with affiliations to the UK, Germany, France, USA and New Zealand complementing the Australian members.

The football season is almost upon us again, 

Even though your team may not be at the top, you can still have lots of fun with the RCBN Footy Tipping Competition,

This year there is a different approach - pick your winners online each week and nominate a winning margin on a specified game.

To join log onto  http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Rotary_Club_of_Brighton_North

The first page asks you to Join Now.

When you hit the Join Now button you are faced with another page that says you are not logged in!

Immediately below the "you are not logged in" message is a "SIGN IN" option.

You need to SIGN IN and choose a username and password.

With your username and password you are able to LOG IN.and enjoy a season of footy fun.





 

Rotary Club of Brighton North aims to make a real difference to the quality of life for members of our local community. 

The Dance, Dine and Make a Difference on Friday 27th April is the Club's annual major fundraising event.   

Venue:        International of Brighton, Bay Street, Brighton
Timing:       7.00pm for 7.30pm
Dress         Lounge Suit
Costs         Food, Beverage and Entertainment package - $150.00 per head ($50.00 tax deductable) Receipts issued.  
                 If unable to attend join our virtual table - $50.00  per head (Tax deductable) Receipts issued.
                 

Greg Champion, well known singer, songwriter, entertainer and member of the Coodabeens will keep you enthralled.  An event not to be missed,

We rely on this event to enable the Club to continue its involvement in local community projects as well as international Rotary projects.  Major beneficiaries in 2012 include the
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the Bruce Lefroy Centre.

All profits are allocated directly to projects there are no administrative overheads as all members work voluntarily.  But we do need community support to enable Club members to continue to contribute to support our activities.

You can assist by:

• joining us for an evening of fun and friendship while helping others.
• if you cannot be present, join our virtual table
• provide an item for our silent auction or
• provide a prize to be auctioned on the night.

 For further details see Brochure

District 9800 is delighted to advice Clubs of a new initiative to complement the hightly successful Audi Victoria Rotary Youth Program.
6 young 15 to 17 old people from the metro. area, with no previous sailing experience, will participate as crew members in the race at Sandringham Yacht Club conducted by the Melbourne Sydney 38 Association

Despite the somewhat wet weekend we hosted over 1,700 gardeners at the 4 houses we opened for the Garden Fest on the 13th and 14th of November.
With some 30 Club Members and Friends volunteering for either the 9:30 am to 1:30pm morning shifts or the 1:30pm to 5:00pm afternoon shifts our Gate-keepers and Garden Guards did a fantastic job.

 November is Rotary Foundation Month. What do you know about RF, what it does and how you have already contributed to it?

Our club hosted its annual golf day at Victoria Golf Club on Friday 29 October in very warm and windy conditions.
Total funds raised in excess of $7,000 - congratulations to the Corporate Golf Team

 A grand night was had by all.

Have your say and make it count.

The Club has a fundraising proposal where members, friends and families can participate in paid market research focus groups.  Payment ranges from $60 to $100 cash per session which can be donated back to our Rotary Club.

In linguistics, the Rebus Principle means using existing symbols, such as pictograms, purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning, to represent new words. Often used in word puzzles and games.  Many ancient writing systems used the Rebus principle to represent abstract words, which otherwise would be hard to be represented by pictograms.  Some linguists believe that the Chinese developed their writing system according to the rebus principle, and Egyptian hieroglyphs sometimes used a similar system.
A rebus (Latin: "by things") is a kind of word puzzle that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.

In linguistics, the Rebus Principle means using existing symbols, such as pictograms, purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning, to represent new words. Often used in word puzzles and games.  Many ancient writing systems used the Rebus principle to represent abstract words, which otherwise would be hard to be represented by pictograms.  Some linguists believe that the Chinese developed their writing system according to the rebus principle, and Egyptian hieroglyphs sometimes used a similar system.
A rebus (Latin: "by things") is a kind of word puzzle that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.

Wendy and Rob Warren visited the Club on our Grand Final Dinner and updated us on the functions she looks after at Victoria Police.  Wendy is one of 20 senior sworn and un-sworn police officers selected by the Police Commissioner to participate in the Police Leadership Mentoring Program.  It is a special achievment to be selected and we will hear from Wendy later in the year about her experience with the program.

The Club's annual celebration of the AFL Grand Final was made even more memorable with the decorations and fine selection of "Footy Food" - well done to the Fellowship Committee.   Check out the photos and see the spirited St. Kilda supporters sing their theme song and the level of concentration shown by the the handball competitors.

This is the 4th year that Brighton North has provided mentoring support to Victoria Police as a contribution to their leadership strategy for assisting police leaders transition into more senior roles within their organisation.

The Australian Government expresses its gratitude to Virginia Turner for the valued contribution toward assisting countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.
Signed, Stephen Smith MP - Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Early in 2009 our Club had the pleasure of hosting the Swedish GSE Team.  Whilst they where only with us for a very short time we have still kept in touch and we are happy to advise that Helena was married on the 10Jul10 in Högsjö SE Sweden.

The kind generosity of Rotary and Vodafone has assisted our journey to "CHANGE THE COURSE OF MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE" through development of the Susie Harris Memorial Fund supported by the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Victoria.
Well, we now have an official launch date of the Fund on Saturday, November 13 at the Melbourne Cricket Club Members Dining Room at the MCG.

On Wednesday, 04 August 2010 the Club had the pleasure of honouring one of our long term and dedicated Members with a Paul Harris Fellow Recognition.  Chris Warner has been a Rotarian since 1988 and has contributed to our Club in most key positions including President, Treasurer and Sergeant.  Congratulations Chris.

Operation Newstart Victoria is a not for profit charitable institution that enlists the help and support of the Victoria Police and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

We are looking at the more traditional areas of Vocational Service - October is Vocational Service month.
A few projects previously dealt with under Vocation have been taken up by New Generations.
To enable the program to be delivered effectviely will require a few more committee members, please contact Russell.

We have included some photos that capture the MEGA Swim on the weekend
Special thanks to Russell Brewer and his trusty Nikon camera.  Please enjoy our MEGA Swim montage

For many years our Club has taken the opportunity at our Change-over nights to honour a Member (or Members) with a Paul Harris Recognition
On Friday night we continued that tradition.  Congratulations to Brian Turner & Barb Beed

The response for volunteers to "man" the 24hr MEGA Swim on 10 & 11 July has been excellent with strong support from the Rotary Club of Brighton Beach.  There are just a few gaps to fill and we will have a full house - have you thought of joining the Brighton North Swim Team to get "right amongst the action".
The Club is getting some excellent coverage from this event, catch up with the latest Press Release.
>>> 

In Memory of Robbie Mitchell, friends of Jim & Kate Mitchell, the Rotary Club of Brighton North and Jim & Kate Mitchell have each pledged $3,000 per year for 3 years to establish a Scholarship to provide financial support to candidates wanting to undertake a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Welfare at Melbourne Uni.
The scholarship, to be known as the Robbie Mitchell Scholarship, will have initial seed funding to the value of $27,000

The Tibetan Village Project Australia is a not for profit, non political, non government and non religeous organisation dedicated promoting sustainable development and preserving the rich cultural heritage of Tibet.  Become a Member of their Project and thereby contribute to their work for the people of Tibet.  Click for Membership Form

Rod Harris (CEO of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Victoria) and Sam Harris (Chairman of the Susie Harris Memorial Fund) were special guests of the Club on Wednesday 09June2010.  Our Club proudly donated $24,000 to the Susie Harris Memorial Fund.

The 200 Members and Guests at last Friday's Dinner Auction where treated with some great food, a great venue, enjoyable band and some Brighton North "Fun and Friendship"

Phil Rowell "frocked-up" with wig and black legal gown and steered the Members and Guests through some intricacies of the Law.

Sadly the announcement that was made a few weeks ago regarding the winding up of the Brighton Bay Probus Club has come to fruition.

Sue Hocking & Marilyn Ellis from Family Life gave us a talk on all that they do for the less fortunate in our community. It is staggering the various help services they provide and it is suggested you go on their website to see more of the work they do not just around Bayside but further down the Peninsula as well.  http://www.familylife.com.au/
Stephanie Werner also from Family Life would like you to read this little success story of the work they do...

Each year Siemens sponsor school students to attend Science labs at local Universities. This year Pat our Vocation Director in conjunction with two local schools located 8 students who were excited at the prospect of 'attending' science classes at a local University.

Students enjoy the new playground at St Leonard's College that was dedicated to the Memory of Susie Harris

See the lastest Photos from Tibet - Mr Cullen is looking younger every day!

Just a small update from mission control here in Chengdu!

The Rotary Club of Brighton North is supporting the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) to provide humanitarian support for Vanuatu.

Don Cullen has provided an up-date from Tibet, for further info click on the link below .....

Kay Phillips and Barry Henderson where inducted into the Club on Wednesday, 17 March 2010 - Please make them welcome

On Sat. 27Nov09 we tackled the painting of the Hall at St. Stephen's Anglican Church on the corner of North Rd. & Cochrane St., Brighton.  The work got under way at 8:00am and wrapped up at 12:30pm. Managed to get the first coat nearly finished and will have to go back in the New Year for the final coat, so get some practise over the Christmas break.  Well done to Gerry, SueJ, the Morts, PeterK, Ros and Murray.

All sold so soon!

Well done Brian for selling $5400 of cakes, puddings & biscuits.

The first photo gives clear recognition to Brian T & Ross (International Service over recent years) for their endeavors in supporting humanitarian projects in the Philippines. We have worked closely & jointly with the RC Greenmeadows in District 3780 to finance water pumping systems as well as personal donations to help cope with the recent huge & devastating typhoons and floods. Brian has visited RC Greenmeadows.
It is very good to receive thank you's from overseas projects in this way

Our new meeting place is the Royal Brighton Yacht Club (Olympic Room-ground floor), 253 Esplanade, Brighton
Meeting will be same start, same finish, same fun, same friendship, same format.

A group of Brighton North Rotarians travelled into the country on Sunday 9th August 2009 to plant trees on 3 farms under the guidance of Landcare

       

For many years, the Rotary Club of Brighton North has been actively involved with the Variety Club in raising funds to give bikes to disadvantaged kids of Victoria.

Last year we contributed some $10,000 that meant 50 bikes could go to kids that would otherwise never own a bike - we are looking to provide even more bikes this year.

Don Cullen is a member of our club who travels frequently to Tibetan villages that need help with setting up community orientated projects. These projects, in the main, build small enterprises, assist schools, health services and growing of food for self sufficiency.
Our club has raised funds for Don to spend directly with the villagers and local suppliers to bring these humanitarian projects to fruition.