Job welcomed all our guests; Margaret Westlake, Andrea Collins, Caron Stewart, Pauline Stuart, Ineke Thissen and Lisette Hulme and of course DG Ross Pinkham. This was to be an auspicious night and not just for the attendance of our Club's youngest member Ava accompanied by mum Alice (President 2022/23) and dad Ashley.
President Presents...
This day in history
World Scout Day
1857 this was in honour of the birthdate of Lord Baden-Powell founder of the Scout Movement. Along with sister Agnes he also founded Girl Guides.
1881 The official ceremony was held to celebrate the erection of Cleopatra's Needle, one of three in the world. The 200-ton granite obelisk was moved in June 1880 by a modified steamship, followed by some amazing feats till it finally came to it's final resting place. The stone had stood in the clear dry Egyptian desert air for nearly 3,000 years and had undergone little weathering. In a little more than a century in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain have heavily pitted its surfaces and the hieroglyphs are now barely decipherable. A time capsule buried beneath the obelisk has an 1870 U.S. census, a Bible, a Webster's Dictionary, the complete works of William Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt and a copy of the USA Declaration of Independence.
1997 The world's most famous sheep Dolly's existence was announced to the public on this day. On Dolly's name, it was said "Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn't think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton's.
2011 At 12.51 p.m. a magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused severe damage in Christchurch and Lyttelton killing 185 people
Famous births...
1732 George Washington
1918 world's verified tallest man Robert Wadlow was born. Measuring 8ft11, 272cm he showed no signs he had stopped growing at his untimely death at age 22. It took 20 people to carry the coffin as he weighed 199kg and the coffin was 3.28m long.
1928 Bruce Forsyth
1950 Julie Walters
1959 Robert's sister Margaret was born on the same day as his father's aunt Lizzie who died aged 106, she lived in three centuries.
1962 Steve Irwin
Members update:
Kevin Sing advised update on Christmas trees: 210 sold netting a profit of approx. $5000, a very good effort indeed. This lead into the real reason he was standing at the podium. Kevin had the distinct pleasure of announcing the recipient of tonight's PHF award (Paul Harris Fellow) Owen Westlake. Owen has been a Rotarian since joining Winton club back in 2004, he has had many roles over this time. He was selected due to his unfailing enthusiasm for every task, and continual involvement in our activities. Our Club is the better for having him there!
