Four new regional myeloma support groups established

The ROMP Committee of the Rotary Club of Camberwell is delighted to report that four new myeloma support groups have recently been created in regional Victoria – in Horsham, Bairnsdale, Warrnambool and Mildura - for the benefit of their local communities.

There’s something about Rotary and acronyms. We love them and they are all around us, representing great Rotary service initiatives. Now RYLA, RYPEN, ROMAC and many more have been quietly joined by “ROMP”. The Rotary Outreach Myeloma Program is a major on-going program of the Rotary Club of Camberwell (with the support of many regional Rotary clubs) in collaboration with Myeloma Australia, the only myeloma specific charity in Australia.

Since 2019, Rotary clubs in regional Victoria have been joining the monthly ROMP Forum, promoting knowledge of myeloma – a type of blood cancer that has no cure – and supporting members of their own communities that are living with the myeloma disease.

By Rowan McClean

Following are some tips to consider when re-engaging your Club’s members post lockdown:

• Allocate missing members to individuals for contact
• Hold a special club dinner or event outside the normal venue to celebrate the Centenary of Rotary in Australia (21^st April)
• Offer a free “return dinner/lunch/breakfast”
• Set up a special club review event to plan the way ahead
• Arrange blockbuster speakers and invite partners
• Set up special sub groups for coffee, golf, bowls, days for girls sewing, or book reading
• Conduct excursions (e.g. winery or nursery visits, a Maribyrnong or Yarra boat trip, dinner at the Parliament dining room, State Library visit, a film night) 
• Negotiate better arrangements with your venue and seek their ideas for jazzing up meetings 
• Offer attendance cost relief in some form 
• Run a trivia night
• Hold a club dinner at Donations In Kind
• Organise a debate with a local high school
• Conduct a consultation night to plan improvements 
• Conduct some “sign-up Fridays” - perhaps coffee with prospective members and two existing members.

By Rowan McClean

Anne Peace was teaching at a small country school in Victoria when she was invited to join Rotary 30 years ago. She has since been an incredible contributor and, in AFL parlance, she uses effective teamwork and has been a dominant force “all over the ground”.

A networker and mentor, Anne is well-known to many Rotarians in different clubs.  She stresses her personal return from Rotary has far outweighing the input of effort.  Anne says: “Rotary presents opportunities to use your personal skills and, combined with the competencies of others, that is a powerful force.”

A past Assistant Governor and President of Echuca-Moama Club in 1999-2000, Anne is now a member of Rotary Bendigo South. She is quick to acknowledge the achievements of other clubs with which she has collaborated.

By John Granger

When Arwon won the 1978 Melbourne Cup, ‘interest’ stories filtered through. Arwon is Nowra spelt backwards. So, Nowra, famous for its blowhole on the NSW south coast and for producing Archer, the first Melbourne Cup winner in 1861 (and 1862), had struck again … a mere 116 years later! Archer’s sire was owned in the Nowra district by the forbears of Chris Soper.

Recently inducted into the Rotary Club of Daylesford, Chris advises that the family still lives in the Nowra district. It’s been a long journey for Chris – primary school in Nowra and then secondary school in leafy Bowral. He then moved to Sydney and lived in historical Drummoyne – then and now, a trendy, near-CBD suburb – and commenced work as a hospital orderly at Concord West Hospital.

Many Networker readers have seen her dashing about for a better camera angle at one of the conferences, district assemblies or other events over the past decade, but how many know Bronwyn Fanning?

With parents who were teachers, and her dad a Rotarian, Bronwyn had a head start in the world of Rotary. After participating in a Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly (RYLA) in 1994, Bronwyn became aware of a new Rotaract club being formed in Altona City. Her interest led to her becoming a charter member and then on to holding almost every possible position in the club, including being President twice and District Rotaract Representative – the “DG of Rotaract”.

By John Granger

It started with Franco Cozzo and ‘Foot-es-cray’, but today ‘Braahton’ has a solid claim as our most intentionally mispronounced suburb name. Is it fair? Certainly not! But, there’s always humour and history – such as, the cringing ‘Social Pages’ photo ops of yester-year and the Prue and Trude parodies in the ‘Kath & Kim’ series. However, the cloaked slings and arrows mask a bigger picture and Brighton rises above it all.

By Helena Wimpole

The Rotary Heritage and History International Fellowship commenced in 1988 at the Rotary International Convention in Philadelphia, USA. The main objective of this Fellowship is to advocate and promote the collection of Rotary heritage and history, including physical artefacts and records.

The RHHIF, as it is known, is keen to keep alive the earliest memories of the mutual friendships created by Paul Harris, who practiced law in Chicago, and with three close friends established Rotary in 1905. Today, the Rotary Club of Chicago is known as Rotary/One.