General Business
A special welcome back to Chris Adams after his knee surgery and we are glad to see Kerry is now out of his foot boot and Peter' knee is also on the mend - is it something to do with the water up in the hills that affect men's legs!!!!
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President Ian thanked PHF Marcus Adams for organising the fun evening at Pakenham Racing Club last week. All who attended had a great time and some even beat the bookies!
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Working Bee to clean up the Gembrook Oval for the All American - to be advised.
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Raffle items for All American - please supply by next week's meeting.
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Board meeting next week - 12 February.
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President's Meeting 22 February - Pres Ian Ash attending.
chairperson's report
- A list for volunteers Sat 16 and Sun 17 was circulated at the meeting - please ensure if you can help you let Russ or Peter know. Sat 8-11 am, Sun 8 am -3 pm.
- Pride of Workmanship - we need to gee up interest, please ensure you talk about this to local businesses when you are in the shops/offices. Jason Wood is also attending.
- We are helping steward the stalls at Funfeast on April 6, again a list was circulated can you ensure if you are available that day you pitch in to help. We are also running a BBQ.
- Stamp - we are still collecting these and giving them to district so keep them coming!
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guest speaker - russell bennett
We were delighted to welcome Russell Bennett to our meeting last week when he told us about the 'Journey of a Local Journalist'.
Russell told us about his path into Journalism, from wanting to be a sporting legend to realising he could stay close to sport by writing about it. He worked hard to get there learning in a hands on way at Frankston TAFE then finishing his education with a degree at Monash Uni. It was a real lesson to us all in sticking at it and working hard to get to your goal.
Russell has worked for the Star News Group since 2009 covering general and sports news which he now loves as the Sports Editor. His stories have covered inspiration and tragedy. His story about the Catania Football Club won him a prestigious national award - it wasnt about sports scandal but the commitment of the local members to save the club by changing leagues. A good news story.
That said, Russell mentioned that sometimes bad news stories need to be written but as a journalist you have to maintain your integrity and believe what you write - you have to stand behind that story and obviously, working so locally you need to be able to defend the content.
Russell loves working for the Star News, it is a family business of long standing that has become the communication glue for our local area. The medium of the message may be changing but the heart behind the paper has remained the same for a number of generations.
Look out for the local paper this week - Russell was a member of the Gembrook CFA at the time of Black Saturday and as we remember the 10th anniversary, he has a story to tell about experience 'putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff' with fellow fighters one a treelopper the other a mechanic by trade.
Thank you Russell for a taking us through an amazing journey!
