Thank you PP PHF Vicki for taking the minutes of the meeting.
President Sangeeta handed over to Chairperson Sid Umesh who introduced our guest speaker.
Guest Speaker Tony Dragon from the 501st Legion
Tony is Commanding Officer of the Knightfall Garrison in Victoria.
Basically the 501st Legion is a worldwide costuming club.
Its mission is to:
- promote interest in Star Wars
- build costumes that are screen-accurate
- contribute back into the community and
- promote and raise money for good causes.
They are bad guys doing good.
The first thing is to have a screen-accurate Star Wars costume. Aneesh dresses as a Scout Trooper from Return of The Jedi. The members help each other out and some just like to be in it for social reasons.
What do they do?
- Attend events throughout the year across Victoria; community and charity events such as Super Nova, MSO, Good Friday Appeal, Relay 4 Life, Variety Christmas party and the KFRWPB. Tony’s first time at the Kids Fun Run was last year.
- They have a nominated charity, the Isabella and Marcus Foundation which researches Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a type of cancer that affects children under 12 and it has no survival rate.
- The Foundation is based in Melbourne where the research is done.
- Over the past 5 years, they have raised just over $21,000 for it.
- We can invite the 501st Legion to our events by going onto their website.
Q&A:
It is quite hot in the costume and they are quite expensive.
- Is it heavy to wear? - The Darth Vader one is very heavy but Aneesh’s is not. Generally weight is not a problem.
Why is it called the 501st Legion? - It is a reference is one of the movies, Revenge of the Siths.
- Some members have the good guy costumes.
- Tony’s favourite Star Wars movie is “Empire”.
- The basic costume costs between $8-900 whereas the Darth Vader one is $10,000.
- There are no Yodas in Melbourne.
- There are 100 members in their garrison.
PHF and Sergeant John Henderson gave the response.
He complimented Tony on his very fascinating presentation. The Star Wars’ characters come to the KFRWPB and provide an extra dimension. They are a great group of people even if they are quite weird.
A couple of Star Wars’ quotes were mentioned such as “Judge me by my size, do not.”
And “I have a bad feeling about this.“ This sentence occurs in all George Lucas’s films and Tony should’ve started with this line in retrospect, he said.
Deb Ball PHF Lyn Beckwith
We started holding the Deb Ball in 1991; this year’s ball is on 15 June at Cathie’s Lane’s receptions.
- Applications closed on 31 March but late applications will be accepted up until the commencement of the dance practices.
- Currently there are 26 Debs and partners but the Committee would like a few more.
- There’s been a huge response to the sale of the tickets.
- The dance lessons begin on 2 May and finish on 15 June and go from 7 to 9 pm. on a Thursday at Emerald Secondary College’s gym.
- If anyone would like to help Lyn, Toni-Anne and Shalini at the dance lessons, contact Lyn and male members would be especially welcome particularly early on.
PP PHF John Shaw
Spoke about reinstating the reading out of the apologies at the start of every meeting, as Lorna puts in quite a bit of work to ensure their accuracy. The feeling of the meeting was that it is not a negative at the start of the meeting, which is what President Sangeeta thought.
Kids Fun Run With Puffing Billy - Co-Chair President Sangeeta.
Tina is organising the showbags this year and needs someone to help her please.
The committee is working on the sponsorships, they have 2 so far and are looking for more. The Run is taking place on Sunday, 24 November.
Sangeeta is joint chair with Allan Douglas.
Sergeant PHF John (Hendo) Henderson
Spoke about how Peter Hadwen welcomed him into our club for the first three meetings roughly. John had worked in a town on the border of UAE and Oman and Peter had worked in Oman so they bonded.
Peter won the Horse’s Arse twice, in 2012 and 2014 when he shared the award with Andy Wood.
John conceded that he had spurious fines this week - for the uninitiated, “spurious” means false or fake – but we couldn’t tell the difference.
Another Star Wars’ quote was also brought up: “The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.” Amen to that!!
Two articles in this week’s Star Mail were referred to; the first one being about our fabulous members Carol Cain and Tracy Lee Bannister who visited the Emerald Glades with individual bags of chocolate Easter eggs for the residents.
The second article featured Marlene Sinclair who will represent the Yarra Ranges in May at the Toastmasters District 73 Conference. Members who had read the article laughed about the fact that Marlene said “It’s been absolutely amazing!“ But they also appreciated that Marlene added, “I run a lot of MC things for Rotary as well.”(Editor’s Note: Marlene has been a long-serving Rotarian too in the past.)
President Sangeeta thanked Sid for chairing the meeting and Guest speaker Tony and family for attending.
Sangeeta is part of the 501st Legion but paradoxically hasn’t watched any Star Wars movies.
Next Tuesday at the 9th of April meeting
- Representatives from the Monash Children’s Hospital are coming to receive the cheque for $50,000.
- Wear your Rotary gear to promote the upcoming Kids Fun Run.
- Bring $35 to pay for the meal.
