Congratulations to one of our founding members, Tino Ballan, for being awarded a triple sapphire Paul Harris Fellow.

President Ross presented the award at our last meeting to a surprised and humbled Tino. In fact, he was almost lost for words which is fairly unusual. But he did express his thanks for being given the honour.

Pictured above is the latest construction built by Chris Ochaya and his friends at the Tamarind Farm in Uganda. You will recall that Chris was in Australia last year as a Royce and Jean Abbey Scholarship recipient to learn farming techniques.

His previous project was the erection of a water tank stand and a pump house which is now functioning well and supplying fresh water for the local communities and for the farm.

The new building is a goat shed. When Chris was in Australia he learnt some valuable lessons about how goats should be protected and housed. Part of the erection includes a raised section where the animals can rest without wallowing in their own waste. The goats will be a very useful food source and will provide both milk and meat for the community. The milk will be an on-going donation. The meat will be a once-off sacrifice.

The poles pictured in the foreground of the photo will be used for the erection of the poultry shed which is the next big project on Chris's list.

Click here to see a few more photos of the goat shed.

The Rotary Club of Albert Park is marking the centenary of the Rotary Foundation by organising an evening of fun and celebration on the large ferris wheel, the Melbourne Star, at Docklands. ‘Star Carnivale’ will commence at 5.30 pm on 22 April and they are asking for your support for this unique event.
 
Seats on the Melbourne Star are $35 per person and, if a club buys a whole ‘pod’, $400 will be donated to the Foundation in our club’s name.  A pod holds 20 people.  Hampers are available should attendees wish to pre-order online. Drinks are at $6 per glass for wine, beer and cider and $3 for soft drinks on the night.  The ‘flight’ takes around 35 minutes. 
 
The Star will be lit up in Rotary colours for the evening. There will also be an international speaker, Astro Physicist Rachel Livermore, who will update us on the ‘Galaxy’. There will also be music and a few Star Wars characters for photo opportunities.

President Ross is asking for your support of this event as a way of us repaying the favour to Albert Park for contributing to our Ugandan water project. Please let Ross know if you would like to go.

Click here to see a flyer of the event.

Click here to visit the Rotary Club of Albert Park's website.

The date for the Werribee Rotary Annual Golf Day is Friday 2nd March.

For the third year in a row, you have the chance to win a car from Ballan Holden in the hole-in-one competition on the 15th green. No-one has been successful in the past two years which means the chances of someone scoring an ace this year are improving.

• Hole-in-One observers
• Hole-in-One spruiker
• Drink cart drivers
• Helpers for the putting hole
• Someone to install sponsor signs at each hole

On Sunday 4th March, there will be a Clean Up Australia event to be held at Baden Powell Skate Park in Tarneit and you are invited to come along and join in the fun.

Peter and Elizabeth Ross will be attending and they would love to have your company.

Click here to see the details.

Women in Rotary is organising the annual the International Women's Day breakfast to be held on Wednesday 7th March at the Crown Palladium.

There will be a number of great presenters and panellists including newsreader Stephen Quartermain (MC) and Victorian Ombudsman Victoria Glass OBE.

Click here to view a flyer of the event.

Rotary International President Ian Riseley has set down the challenge to Rotary clubs around the world to plant one tree for each member during this Rotary year.

Our Community Committee is planning to do better than that. In conjunction with Wyndham Council, we will be having a working bee on Sunday 29th April to plant one tree for each year of membership in our club. The total number of years of membership is 750 (give or take a few years), so we will be planting 750 trees in a spot along the Werribee River. And we will need all hands on deck to get the job. 

For now, mark the date in your calendar and stay tuned for more details.

• Click here to read an article from the Wyndham Star Weekly about the upcoming Mercy Hospital Easter Fair. The article includes a cross promotion for our Rotary Golf Day.