banner.jpgThe Rotary Club of Bellingen is a small club of around thirteen members, coming from Bellingen, Urunga and surrounding areas.

The Club has been established and meeting since 1952.

We are proud to have achieved in that time, among other things, various infrastructures in the community (Bellingen Lookout, Waterfall Way rest stops, Raleigh roundabouts), a strong focus on Youth (hosting and sponsoring of Rotary Youth Exchange Program participants, People to People Programs, RYAG programs), various health and community initiatives, and fundraising for local and international causes.

While dedicated to the goals and objectives of Rotary, we are also eager to make the Rotary experience worthwhile and enjoyable for ourselves and for family and friends.

At the time of publishing this page, Our Members are 12 in number.

The best way to tell the "about us" story is to look at the President’s Report from last year, and a synopsis from the previous year.

President’s Report 2009-10

 
Another very busy and successful year draws to a close for the Rotary Club of Bellingen. Another year of providing service and enjoying fellowship. Another year of accomplishment of which we can all be proud.
 
After holding a Vision Workshop at the beginning of the year, our focus has been twofold – our continuing emphasis on helping the “up and coming” new generation, and on “hands on” support and assistance to our local community.
 
Under the leadership of Marie Rowe, our New Generations Director, and the support of James and Diana Christian, our representatives on a District Committee, we enthusiastically participated in the Rotary international Youth Exchange Program. 
 
Bellingen Outbounders included Reyna Summerville (returned from France), Jessica Maher (departed to Switzerland) and now Sophie Sheather (to go to Belgium). Inbounders included Poi Punawan Chuchuai (returned to Thailand) and Vigga Laursen (with us from Denmark), and Kaja Dollman (on a club-to-club exchange from Germany). Lasse Hedeguard, a prior year inbounder from Denmark, returned with his family for a visit. All outstanding young people who we hope have an enriched understanding of the world through their YEP experience. 
 
We sponsored Megan Telford in attending the National Youth Science Forum;  Gabriel Miller and Sammii O’Rourke from Bellingen High School representing Denmark in a Rotary Model United Nations Assembly held in Woolgoolga; and four students attend Rotary Youth in Agriculture Beef and Equine programs.
 
Twice during the year we hosted accommodation for around 40 young Americans visiting Australia under an American People-to-People program, giving them the opportunity to live with Australian families for a few days, savour the beauty of our magnificent Shire, and have a go at playing cricket. Thank you to Andrew Summerville for organizing the latest visit.  
 
Most importantly, thank you to all those Rotary members and “Friends of Rotary” who acted as host families for the many young visitors to our town.
 
Under the leadership of Ken Lloyd, our Community Services Director, all members provided unstinting support and elbow grease to a large range of services provided to our local community.
 
We sold 400 Bowelscan kits for the early detection of bowel cancer. We ran a Mental Health Forum in Bellingen with the financial assistance of Australian Rotary Health and the Australian Govt. After helping two years back kickoff the Bellingen Energy Festival, we assisted once again for Festival this year. Helped set up a Men’s Shed in Bellingen, which has been incredibly fortunate to be provided with a work area by local resident John Tickle. Erected shade sails and play equipment provided free by Bunnings for Violet Hogbin, a young Kalang girl badly burnt from a scalding hot water spill. And we worked with the RTA to ensure the Marx Hill Lookout and memorial to Elioth Grunner remained a feature of the Waterfall Way drive in to Bellingen.  
 
Our weekly meetings and social events continued apace with the background organization of Ian Gilmore, our Club Services Director, and occasional assistance from Pete Bennett. Guest speakers ranged from Louise Rawson-Harris telling us the history of the Bellingen Memorial Hall – when we discovered that one of our members, Hall Hobson, attended the opening in 1920 – to Dr. Pat Brennan speaking on Skin Cancer, to Councillor Kerry Child on Youth Programs in Bellingen.
 
As a first for the Club, we hosted eight Rotary Armidale AM Club members for a weekend and had a very enjoyable time – they will reciprocate later this year.
 
On the financial side, we had another successful year raising over $1000 per member from fundraisers such as the People-to-People Program, an Easter Raffle, garbage duty at the Bellingen Markets, a Barbecue at Bunnings, and a barbecue for visiting Motor Cycling Rotarians. 
 
Major donations included $1,200 to the Rotary Worldwide Eradicate Polio Program, $800 for a Shelter Box, $500 for the New Energy Festival, $500 for the Westpak Rescue Helicopter, $500 for a Bellingen High School Scholarship and $2,700 for New Generation programs. The full list of donations is in the Programme.  
 
Finally, a big thank you to the outgoing Board and all members of the club for having such incredibly energy and taking the lead on so many fronts during the year – and best wishes to all for a successful year to come under our incoming President, Ian Gilmore.
 
John Conway
President 2009-2010
 

 

THE ROTARY YEAR 2008-09

Despite dropping down to a membership of only 13, the club was awarded a Presidential Citation which reads: "Awarded to the Rotary Club of Bellingen for its outstanding efforts to reduce child mortality and make dreams real for the world’s children." It bears the signature of Rotary International President D.K. Lee of  South Korea, whose theme for the year was ,"Make Dreams Real", a reference to his focus on saving the lives of children in Third World countries. This was in recognition of the club’s contribution, in this and previous years, to Foundation, Polio Plus, RAWCS, Children’s Hope in Action and the Salvation Army orphanage in Indonesia.

Apart from donating nearly $14,000 to local, national and international humanitarian projects the club made a significant physical contribution to the community. Two members, Ken Lloyd and Paul Nebauer were on the executive of the Renewable Energy Fair, while many members worked on the setup and takedown operations. The fair was a huge success and brought favourable publicity to the club, while of course raising awareness of sustainable living issues.

Work continued on the lookout and reserve at Marx Hill, though some of this was undone by the RTA realignment of Waterfall Way. The club again ran the local Clean Up Australia campaign and hosted two District sponsored events- a membership seminar and a YEP briefing.

Nearly 600 Bowelscan kits were sold, up by approximately 100 on the previous year. This excellent result was achieved through a good publicity campaign on television and in the local press, combined with a letterbox distribution of pamphlets and longer selling times.

An important administrative initiative was the adoption of a comprehensive financial tracking package. The expertise of new Rotarian from the previous year, Ian Gilmore, was instrumental in this. Christmas and Easter raffles and "Bunnings" BBQs contributed to the bottom line. The club welcomed new member Andrew Sommerville and wife Kate but regrettably lost Carole Young.

Bellingen Rotary has always been heavily involved with programs for youth. In 2009 the club welcomed exchange student Punyawan Chuchuai (Poi) from Thailand. In 2008 the outbound student was Clare Jenkins, who made history by being the first Australian exchange student to Russia, and that to Siberia of all places. She had visits to St Petersburg and Moscow. On her return Clare gave an interesting talk to the club on her experiences and spoke favourably about the everyday Russian people.

During 2008 the club sponsored three Bellingen High students , Maddison Tarrant, Billy Mills and Tess Marshall, on a matched exchange to New Zealand. Also in that year club members supported a mentoring program at the school conducted by Mr Tom Gynes.

The Changeover Dinner came to a conclusion with the award by outgoing President Pete Bennetts of Paul Harris Fellowships to Diana Christian for her work as Treasurer and Vice-President and her work with the District YEP Committee, and to Marie Rowe for her excellent job as Youth Director and her indefatigable energies with fund-raising.

 

Outgoing President 2008-09, Pete Bennetts, receives the Citation

from District Governor 2008-09, Ken Hall.

  Our Members