Meeting Tuesday Sept 22nd at The Riverine Club Today is a Hillis Day, so very little business was conducted and no guest speaker was welcomed. We met today in the new enlarged meeting room. The room is long and bright, and served us well. The decision on a final meeting venue is still in abeyance, but will be resolved soon. Any ideas? Get them to President James. Today's Rotary Information was presented by Michael Knight who was President 95/96. Some of the highlights he discussed included the first nomination of a lady to Wollundry who lost interest due to a ditherling Board's delayed decision making. It also saw Penny The Pig raise some $23000 from 1and 2 cent coins..an initiative of Mark Hillis, firmly supported byRick Priest. The Sunday Markets were relocated from Woolworths Car Park, pending the development of Big W, to the Showgrounds. Eventually they came to Myer Carpark. A fine English gentleman, Grenadier Eric Morton had 100% attendance that year, although he was not a member. His attendance record at his own club was similarly 100% Candida Fisher was an inbound student, as was Fernada from Brazil. Our outbound was Ben Howard, who also went to Brazil. Last week our Guest Speaker was our own Richard Rossiter, a real estate agent in Wagga. Im repeating his address this week, and including a link to the movie he had hoped to use . Unfortunately WiFi at the club was not sufficient for it to be played at the time. He spoke very positively of the picture in Wagga, even with the Covid effect Among the things he highlighted was that while rents remained stable, rental properties were well subscribed, and that rents remained very bouyant.Returns of 5 to 10% are achievable. Property values were a mixed bag as some suburbs had gone through growth stages and were now showing a slow down. However, there were few properties for sale in Wagga . Currently there are around 400 on the market, and usually there are somewhere between 1000 and 1500. This must see a rise in prices. He spoke of the Donebus complex and how he perceived this to be an excellent project and a strong indicator of the way property could be expected to go in the future This was an excellent talk and raised some interesting thoughts among the members. David Post outlined a proposal to employ a student counsellor for the Batlow Technology Central School which would reach children from Tumbarumba, Bartlow Tumut and down to Yaven Creek. He has sourced funds from Bushfir eAppeal and Drought Appeal, and has jumped through the Red Tape involved with Department of Education. He has asked that Wollundry be the sponsoring club, although he is aware of our financial position. Mayor Greg Conkey could not help himself as he took the role of Seargent. As the bucket went around, he stated that those paid the "very cheap rates" were extremely lucky as they got magnificently maintained roads,93 children playgrounds, 110 parks, 65 sporting venues, a free zoo, magnificent cycle tracks, brand new and uncontroversial levee banks (soon to be fitted with passing lanes), 43 km of walking track, 42 km of cycleways around the city, free cricket nets, skate parks, a golf range, art gallery, art glass gallery, and library. Add to that free entertainment every two weeks at the council meetings and you can see just how lucky we are to pay for all these free things! Andrew Puckeridge was asked to explain the source and meaning of Subway's BMT. So it all began when the founder, Fred de Luca introduced his highly popular Boston Manhattan Transfer, with pepperoni, Salami and Ham. Something to eat on the three hour train journey. The name is too long and has no significance in Australia, so it was called The Big Meaty Taste. QED. David Wishart with his daughter Maggie and Tanya Reid Sophie told us of her impending trip to Sydney and the Blue Mountains. She is very excited. She also introduced her Australian flag which she hope all Rotarians will sign for her to keep as a souvenir. Guests and Apologies David Golland, Sophisticating Seneme, Andrew Crackanthorp were guests. Robert Nicholson David Post Malcolm Robinson, Jonty Shuter Craig Bromley Peter Clucas, Greg Conkey, Ken Cook David Hodge John Mason were apologies. |