First meeting of the 2022-23 Rotary year.
Highlights included the update from Evonne Lu, a student at the Mac. Robertson Girls High School who was supported by the Welfare of the Young Committee to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF), founded by Rotary in 1984. The NYSF is now a stand-alone entity actively supported by Rotary Clubs around Australia as well as Industry, Government, and Higher Education science and technology institutions across Australia.
The 2022 program was conducted digitally in January 2022 and involved a record 630 students featuring 195 speakers and a combination of 73 live digital events, experiments and lectures, plus five days of in-person STEM visits in Perth, where COVID-19 restrictions allowed. In her brief presentation, Evonne expressed her deep appreciation for support from the Club.
National Tree Day - Peter Berg, Environment Sustainability Committee Co-Chair updated members on the Planet ark National Tree Day on Sunday 31 July. It will provide an opportunity for members to volunteer to play our part in planting trees. See further details in the bulletin.
Our speaker for the meeting was delivered by The Hon Heidi Victoria, former State Government Minister for the Arts. Eloquently introduced by Arts Committee Chair, Maestro Dr David Kram AM,. Heidi Victoria is an award-winning photographer, and portraitist, and spoke of her photographic journey through the Covid 19 pandemic and her mission to capture resilience of the Arts community in her book "The Show Must Go On”. It is filled with portraits of over 70 Performing Arts professionals, with each image accompanied by the subject’s own words, on how during the pandemic they reinvented themselves and their income streams, passing time until their normal activities resumed.
A highlight was Heidi’s shared experience of recovery from a hemorrhagic stroke in 2019 from which she has fully recovered, but now dedicates a large part of her work to supporting the Stroke Foundation. Heidi reminded us of the importance of knowing our blood pressure and proactively ensuring it is under control.
Apologies to members who were unable to participate digitally last week due to a technical issue.
A recording of Heidi’s address was made and this is available for viewing on the Club’s YouTube Channel behind this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRedCsDmWRw
Report by Past President Reg Smith
