Posted by Keith Millington on Jul 01, 2019

The Annual Changeover Club Celebration

CopySaturday night saw a night of surprises. We were gathered at the Barossa Arts and Convention Centre to celebrate last year's achievements and welcome the new Board, but right from the start, the surprises kept coming.
 

A Paul Harris Fellow was awarded to Julie Combe for her huge contribution to the community through the Barossa Valley Cancer Fundraising group, who specialise in providing support for Barossa Valley people battling cancer. Julie was also instrumental in gaining a McGraw Foundation Breast Cancer nurse for the Barossa. Add her work with the Make a Wish foundation and you can see why she deserved a PHF. DG David Egan was proud to make the presentation.

 
Ian Rice has been the Bulletin Editor for 12 years and has decided to retire. During his time as Bulletin Editor, he has made many changes to the way it was produced and has spent untold hours gathering information, sorting it into relevant sections and finally producing the Bulletin, publishing it then distributing it to the members. President Sue presented Ian with an award in recognition of the hard work he has put in over the years.
 
Rick Kessner has retired as the club Treasurer after 18 years of service. In that time Rick has kept a keen eye on the finances, making sure we do not overspend, but also ensuring that when we need to spend, the money will be there. His control of our finances has been a dedication for Rick. He is not stepping away from finances altogether as he will remain as treasurer for the Rotary Club of Barossa Valley Foundation. President Sue is shown making an award to recognise his huge commitment to the club.
 
 
 
 
 
The next surprise was when Brian and Ro Forgan changed their status from Friends to Members, with DG David doing the honours. A surprise for Brian and Ro too, as although they were well on the way to joining under the guidance of Peter Perkins the opportunity to be inducted by the DG was too much to miss
 
 
After President Sue completed her final speech, DG David sprung another surprise in awarding a Paul Harris Fellow Saphire to Sue for her extensive work at the district level.
Sue has been on the District Committee for Future Directions with the responsibility of developing and implementing guidelines for the development of clubs, recruitment and retention of members.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It seemed the induction of Keith Millington as President, the presenting of the Rotary Theme for 2019-20 and the introduction of the new board was a bit of an anti-climax as there were no surprises there. The new theme is shown on the left, Rotary Connects the World, chosen by the RI President Mark Daniel Maloney.
 
The new Board for 2019/20 Standing before the members present, from left to right are:
President-Elect Lisa Akeroyd, Vocational TL Bryce Lillecrapp, Immediate Past President and Membership TL Sue Graetz, Treasurer John Tunnicliff, International TL Gavin Sidhu, Secretary Sandie Simons, Fellowship TL Bill Simons, New Generations TL Pru Maitland, Community TL Peter Perkins and President Keith Millington.
 
The distribution of the Annual Report revealed the final surprise of the night when we discovered Prue Maitland and Sandie Simons had been promoted to Trustees of the Rotary Club Of Barossa Valley Foundation to replace long-serving members Peter Sich and Craig Rogasch who have chosen to retire.