Rotary Club Bulletin (May 13, 2026)

13th May 2026

Hi All,

This week’s meeting, we were joined by Malcolm Armstrong, Jan Spencely and our Guest Speaker Jenny Trewartha.

Apologies for this week where, Gary Frank, GP, Lynne Cooper, Ben Hill, Mary Preston and Lindsay Walkington, Lindsay seems to be having a great time in Scotland even though it looks a tad cold.

The Carlton United Quiz No winner this week as we couldn’t find a clear winner.

Thursday we did a sausage sizzle at the Salvation Army launch of there Red Shield Appeal for this year. Thanks go to Carmel and Brian Fitzpatrick, Alison Bacon, Ron Payne and Eric Smith for helping on the day and to Karen Armstrong who organised the food.

Football Gates last weekend a big thanks goes to Lynne Cooper, Karen Armstrong and Geoff Gallagher for manning the gates, we now have a 3 week break before the next one.

Jenny Trewartha was our guest speaker telling us about the proposed project to erect a statue in the grounds of the Bendigo Hospital to honour and acknowledge the contribution of the Bendigo Base Hospital School of Nursing over the last 100 years.

This is some of the point Jenny was telling us about.

HONOURING BENDIGO'S NURSING HERITAGE

The Bendigo Base Hospital Trained Nurses League (BBHTNL) was founded in 1928 at the instigation of Matron Esler.

For nearly a century, the League has been an active organisation, designing the hospital nurses' badge and funding equipment.

The League achieved a Hospital Honour Roll commemorating the 71 Bendigo nurses who served in World War One and World War Two.

As it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2028, the League is winding up due to its aging membership.

The BBHTNL is determined to leave one final, lasting legacy for the thousands of named and nameless nurses who trained at Bendigo Hospital across 106 years.

Below is the Artist’s impression of the finished statue and the estimated cost is $60,000 and so far they have raised $12,000 towards the project

Mick Costello Co-President

Club Leadership Learning Seminar

Our President Elect, Lindsay, has received additional information regarding the Club Leadership Learning Seminar - for those who haven't booked yet, here are the details. Car pooling would be a great idea.

CLLS (Club leadership Learning Seminar)  Agenda is attached.
All Board members and all interested members are encouraged to attend. There is no charge for this event.
Date: Sunday 24th May 2026
Venue: Camberwell High School –
Time: 9.00am to 1.00pm
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - Book now at https://www.trybooking.com/DLNGZ
This isn’t just another training session. This is a chance to for all Rotarians (seasoned and new Rotarians);
Recharge your passion for Rotary
Connect with like-minded leaders
Share ideas that work
Discover new ways to grow your club and expand your impact
The day will cover:
Format / Message RIPE President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola vision/ DGE Graeme Hope Message
Keynote speaker - Past RI Director Jessie Harman “10 Tips for Delivering an Exceptional Member Experience”
Membership success stories in the District - e.g. Rotaract, Satellite clubs- how to establish
Legal/ Insurance – understand your obligations / Insurance-Vicki Hale has handouts –important new information
Public Image / Environment – How Cheryl Pisterman and Pam Dittmer can assist you and your Club
Break- out Sessions – everything you want to know – Treasurer / Secretary / Foundation / Avenues of Service- how they can assist your Club (Please note -the breakout sessions will be run simultaneously so you can only register for one).
Look forward to seeing you and your Board members on Sun 24 May at 9.00 am
Yours in Rotary service
Graeme
IF YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAVE ALREADY REGISTERED - THANK YOU
DGE Graeme Hope
Rotary Camberwell
M: 0409 967 390
E:   graeme.hope@rotary9800.org

Rotary Learning and Development

There is a 'Minimising Risk' subject provided in Rotary's Learning Centre. The course only takes about 10 minutes to complete and is a vital reminder of our obligations as Rotarians and as a club as to what we can do to protect ourselves, our clubs, districts and the Rotary Brand. It is highly recommended you spend some time working through this exercise. In fact, have a look at the other areas that are provided too - this is a fantastic learning tool for us as Rotarians!

Club Bonfire Night

And another save the date - Saturday 4th July.

The club's annual bonfire night is on again - Gary and Lola are again hosting the night and this will be a fun filled night as it always is.

D9800 Changeover

Save the Date

Our club changeover function is scheduled for Friday 26th June and will be held at the Mechanics. Whilst this has been in the club diary for a while now, we thought it was a good idea to remind everyone and ensure that it is prioritised in your diaries.

President Elect Lindsay may be away at the moment, but he has already put in place the plans for the night, and your invitations will arrive shortly. There will not be a cashier on the night of the function, so you will need to pay in advance, at either our regular dinner meetings or through the direct deposit details that will be included on the invitations.

DG Peter Shepheard - Redistricting

A recent communication from our District Governor, Peter Shepheard -

Some of you may be aware that RI have requested that our current Zone 8 (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands) undertake a review of the current districts to look at district realignment to create less districts but with a base of at least 2700 members per district. The task was to take the current 19 districts down to 9 ideally, by merging existing districts using a detailed set of criteria.

A task force was set up that provided initial feedback that was then reviewed by all current Governor Trains and in the case of Victoria and Tasmania it was deemed that we could take the 5 existing districts (4 in Vic and 1 in Tas) to create 2 districts covering Vic/Tas. This will be achieved as follows:

Current Districts 9780, 9790 & 9800 will merge into 1, referred to as Northwest Vic, that will have on current numbers 155 clubs and 3888 members
To balance the number of clubs and members 12 clubs currently in 9790/9800 that border 9815 have been shifted into the new 9815/9830 merged District
For us in D9800 that means 5 Clubs – Brighton, Brighton North, Chadstone/East Malvern, Malvern & Toorak will be transferred
Current Districts 9815 & 9830 will merge into 1 known as Vic/Tas. That will have based on current numbers 129 clubs and 3060 members

I appreciate that the transfer of five of our clubs will be cause for different emotions and seen by some as unreasonable. From a purely logistical perspective it makes sense and the clubs are not exiled just under a different group. My personal hope is that we not only embrace the 2-district concept but also look beyond that and encourage whole of Vic/Tas mentality in regards to collaboration.

In regards the rest of the Zone please note the following:

While less than the 2700 ideal due to its size Western Australia will remain a single district
South Australia will join with the Northern Territory and Timor Leste to become a single district
Queensland, Papua New Guinea and some other pacific islands will become 1 district
New Zealand and their associated Pacific Islands will become 2 districts
NSW will become 2 districts

And so, under this plan that now needs RI approval, the zone will go from 19 districts to 9 as requested. This mean that along with a Governor there will also be 2-3 deputy Governors who will then work with Community Leaders. As with all change you our members will have different reactions to this information and I also appreciate plenty of questions. The proposal needs to be approved by the RI Board and if that is the case we can then start working through the various impacts.

I personally believe this is an opportunity to bring together talent currently split over current district lines and reinforces the importance of collaboration. I am also mindful that part of this needs to be about making savings to cut costs that can passed on to decrease membership fees bit from RI and at District level. Once confirmed we will have just over 2 years to work through all the mechanics of a merger and thanks to the recent merger of districts 9810 & 9820 a template exists in how to successfully bring districts together.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me in the interim. peter.shepheard@rotary9800.org

Regards

DG Peter

Castlemaine Rotary Art Show

Grange Plus Raffle

Yes, our amazing raffle is back!

Three times as good with a triple treat of Penfolds prizes

Please jump onto our clubs facebook page and like and share the post -

all hands on deck to make sure this information gets to as many people as possible.

We don't want to hear 'oh I would have bought a ticket if I'd known about it'.

https://www.raffletix.com.au/?ref=6mxmh

May - Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Month

DV Safe Phones have collection points in Bendigo - this is a great, worthwhile program and is yet another way for us to address Rotary's focus on the environment - keep them out of landfill by giving them to someone who desperately needs a hand.

To co-incide with Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Month we will be collecting phones for donating to DV Safe Phone - at the end of May we will then deliver them to one of the local collection points. Here is some information provided by DV Safe Phones that will help you understand what they do and how your privacy is protected. Our members are encouraged to participate by dropping your old phones into the collection tub that will be at the clubrooms. Members of the public may also participate - simply contact us to make arrangements for drop off.