Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988 Club Bulletin This week we had a joint meeng with the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay to raise money for Australian Rotary Health as party of Hat Day which aims to raise awareness, educaon and much needed money for mental health re- search in Australia. The guest speaker for the night Past District Governor Roy Armstrong gave a presentaon on Australian Rotary Health (ARH) which highlighted the important work they are doing in supporng research into mental health in Australia. ARH donates around 2 - 2.5 million dollars a year in a the form of mental health research grants, prevenon of mental health research grants and postdoctoral fellowships. Current grants for 2014 can be seen at hp://www.australianrotaryhealth.org.au/Research/Current- Research.aspx Roy congratulated our clubs on our generous support of ARH in recent years with our club donang around $32,000 and Holdfast Bay $53,000 for a combined support of $85,000 to 2014, a record which we are to be congratulated on and which I am certainly proud of. I also got up and gave a brief speech to explain that I was making a donaon in memory of my late sister-in-law Emma. Many in the club may not be aware that on the night of my first offi- cial aendance as club president to another club funcon in July, I ended up having to aend the scene of death of my wife's sister, who had taken her own life. It was a shocking and unex- pected experience, one that I will never forget and which drove home the message that men- tal health is a serious problem that affects 1 in 5 Australians. We must connue to spread awareness and educaon about mental health as it can affect anyone and so this is what I got up to say last night; "I wanted to say a few words tonight about mental health in honour of my late sister in law Emma. Emma suffered from bipolar disorder since she was a teen- ager which also led to substance and alcohol abuse, however most people who met her would have no idea of the challenges she faced. She was to most peo- ple who met and came to know her, a bright, happy and outgoing person who would light up a room. She worked in various creave jobs over the years, mar- ried and raised 2 children. President’s Paragraph 14th Oct 2014
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Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988
Club Bulletin
This week we had a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Holdfast Bay to raise money for Australian Rotary Health as party of Hat Day which aims to raise awareness, education and much needed money for mental health re-search in Australia. The guest speaker for the night Past District Governor Roy Armstrong gave a presentation on Australian Rotary Health (ARH) which highlighted the important work they are doing in supporting research into mental health in Australia. ARH donates around 2 - 2.5 million dollars a year in a the form of mental health research grants, prevention of mental health research grants and postdoctoral fellowships. Current grants for
2014 can be seen at http://www.australianrotaryhealth.org.au/Research/Current-Research.aspx Roy congratulated our clubs on our generous support of ARH in recent years with our club donating around $32,000 and Holdfast Bay $53,000 for a combined support of $85,000 to 2014, a record which we are to be congratulated on and which I am certainly proud of. I also got up and gave a brief speech to explain that I was making a donation in memory of my late sister-in-law Emma. Many in the club may not be aware that on the night of my first offi-cial attendance as club president to another club function in July, I ended up having to attend the scene of death of my wife's sister, who had taken her own life. It was a shocking and unex-pected experience, one that I will never forget and which drove home the message that men-tal health is a serious problem that affects 1 in 5 Australians. We must continue to spread awareness and education about mental health as it can affect anyone and so this is what I got up to say last night;
"I wanted to say a few words tonight about mental health in honour of my late sister in law Emma. Emma suffered from bipolar disorder since she was a teen-ager which also led to substance and alcohol abuse, however most people who met her would have no idea of the challenges she faced. She was to most peo-ple who met and came to know her, a bright, happy and outgoing person who would light up a room. She worked in various creative jobs over the years, mar-ried and raised 2 children.
2012, 2,535 Australians died by suicide among these some 212 South Australians, around twice the number of people that died on our roads. We can’t change the past, but we can change the future, raising awareness about mental health by cre-ating conversations, breaking down stig-mas and funding more mental health re-search though organisations such as Aus-tralian Rotary Health. That is why tonight I am donating $500 to Australian Rotary Health."
Motherhood was a challenge for Emma, suffering from what was diagnosed at the time as post-natal depression. She struggled on but succumbed to repeated episodes of alcohol abuse. This eventually led to the breakdown of her marriage and over several years going through the cycle of rehabilita-tion, returning to work, renting a house and then rebuilding her life. She would go through well periods often for 12 months and then it would fall apart as she got sick again. Eventually she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. My wife Tiffany and I, and our 2 girls, supported Emma through much of this, giving her a place to stay when she needed it. In past years when I have attended Hat day, despite all this, I didn’t really appreciate the importance of mental health awareness, due partly to the fact that Emma still seemed so normal when things were good. That all changed this year in July when Emma, at the age of 40 took her own life, leaving behind two traumatised young children and a devas-tated family. Not long after we saw on the news the tragedy of Robin Williams. The sub-sequent conversations and raising of aware-ness in the media make it hard sometimes to look back and now see the obvious signs that things were not all right in her last days. In
Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988
Club Bulletin
14th Oct 2014
From Pauline
Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988
Club Bulletin
18/19 Oct Harvey Norman BBQ
18/19 Oct Leadership Institute Training-Prospect
25 Oct Langmiel Wine Bottling
11 Nov Group 8 meeting at Edwardstown / Marion Hotel
15/16 Nov Harvey Norman BBQ
April 16—19, 2015. District Conference Ballarat
Club Diary Dates 2014
The Four Way Test
Of The Things We Think, Say or Do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all Concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and better FRIENDSHIPS?
Dear Rotarians, It has been three months since I left Australia and I miss being an exchange student every day ! I wish I could come back for our early meetings on Tuesday morn-ings and fortunately I keep updated thanks to the bulle-tin.
I have to admit that I was quite homesick for the first and a half month after being back home but I had great things to look forward to, such as Mana's visit in August. Mana is my Japanese host sister from when I lived with Linda and Gordon. We kept in touch and she came to Belgium for a week before going to Frankfurt and Paris. We first visited Paris together and then I took her to beautiful cities in Belgium such as Bruges, Brussels and Ypres. The week went by too quickly but we had a wonderful time together! It was also great for her to meet my family and discover all the Belgian specialities: hot chips, chocolate and beer! I went on holidays with my family in the south of France for two weeks. It was pretty relaxing and the history of the area was very interesting. We enjoyed the sun which we didn't see much in Belgium during summer.. In September, I worked during a week for my uncle who is in a wheelchair : I had to clean his house, pre-pare his lunch, iron the clothes and we also went for bike rides. I still work for him every Saturday, which is a great deal to earn some pocket money and spend time with my uncle.
A month ago, I started uni. I love it ! I'm studying Political Science and some of the subjects are Soci-ology, Modern History, Politics and English (which is very basic and easy for me!) It's very different from high school as I only have two sessions of ex-ams : one in January and one in June and not one test in-between. I'm sharing a flat with two lovely girls, Julie and Irene (who is Spanish) and a little dog ! I'm already in a routine of spending the week in Brussels and coming back home every weekend. I have a feeling the year is going to go by very quickly ! I hope you are all well and that the sun and warmth are bringing good vibes into your lives ! Keep in touch and take care, Pauline.
14th Oct 2014
Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988
Rotary Club of Somerton Park Inc. | Chartered 7 April 1988
Club Bulletin
During this Rotary year it’s been agreed by the Board that participation in manning our Barbecues at sites like Harvey Norman and Bunnings will be on a roster system to enable all members to be involved besides, it’s a good fellowship event. Roster system rules are simple: If you are rostered on but are unable to attend, it’s YOUR responsibility to find a re-placement (does not need to be a Rotarian) and inform ei-ther Bill Rawlins or Jim Parkins of your replacement on the Tuesday preceding the Barbecue. Below are the roster for the BBQ at Harvey Normans for the remaining weekends this year SATURDAY 18 OCT 08:30- 11:30 Brenley Milsom# (John Yard to drop off/pickup trailer) 09:00-11:30 , Frank White, Brenton Aird 11:30- 1:30pm Mark Thomas, Linda Sweeney, Duncan McFetridge 1:30 - 4:00, Jim Stevens#, Bronwyn Lambert, Rosalien Van Loon (Pls ensure trailer is left clean & tidy)
#To liaise with & assist John with Trailer SUNDAY 19 OCT 10:00- 1230 Bill Rawlins, # (John Yard to drop off/pickup trailer) 10:30- 12:30 , Pam & Barry Gardner 12:30-2:30pm Mike Garland, Phil Gamble, Barb Humphries 2:30 – 4:00 Bob Ramsey#, Rajni Lalsinghani , Peter Thomp-son (Pls ensure trailer is left clean & tidy)
#To liaise with & assist John with Trailer __________________________________________________ SATURDAY 15 NOV 08:30-11:30 Jim Parkins# (John Yard to drop off/pickup trail-er) 09:00-11:30 , Brenton Aird, Trevor Andrew 11:30- 1:30pm, Bea Siemionow, Duncan McFetridge, Bren-ley Milsom 1:30 - 4:00, Malcolm Axford #, Jim Stevens, Rosalien Van Loon (Pls ensure trailer is left clean & tidy)
#To liaise with & assist John with Trailer SUNDAY 16 NOV 10:00-12:30 Jim Parkins# (John Yard to drop off/pickup trail-er) 10:30- 12:30 Don Overall, Carol Lelliott 12:30-2:30pm Barb Humphries, Bronwyn Lambert , Linda Sweeney 2:30 – 4:00 Bill Rawlins# , Peter Ochota , Kevin Tumes (Pls ensure trailer is left clean & tidy)
#To liaise with & assist John with Trailer
For Somerton Park Rotarians, Please keep this page for future reference.