Guest Speaker Intro- Pres Rod introduced our Guest Speaker, District Governor Ric McDonald, (incidently, a triple sapphire pin awardee) who will be the last DG for district 9465 prior to WA’s amalgamation with District 9455 in 2023 to form District 9423.

Guest Speaker 

DG Ric provided a brief summary of his early life pre-Rotary which included quite some time in farming and agricultural- based industry prior to settling later in life in the big smoke. Prior to joining Rotary Ric developed and expended his strong passion and energy for community service as a member of Apex.

DG Ric reminded us to look to the core values of Rotary for inspiration and to “imagine Rotary “and what we could achieve in the future with the right forethought and planning in place to facilitate long term changes required to allow Rotary to evolve for the better and avoid stagnation.

He reminded us of the Rotary Foundation grants system and the opportunity to do good by leveraging our funds, allowing us to expand our projects both locally and globally to better benefit recipient communities.

We need to be constantly enthusing and engaging existing and new members to draw out their talents to best advantage.

Rotary must change to remain relevant. Therefore, we must embrace change as all progress is generally the result of change. We must also harness technological change and the benefits it brings.

Existing clubs should consider creating and supporting Satellite clubs which allow much more flexibility to people who may never otherwise fit into a “traditional” Rotary club. Similarly, Corporate clubs should not be overlooked in the big picture of embracing large business organisations. One of the latest “Passport” memberships allow travelling Rotarians to have their own club and attend any other club.

We need to be constantly aware of the cost of membership, accepting that it’s ok to raise funds to support our Club providing we market it correctly.

His challenge to us is “act today to make Rotary better tomorrow than today.”

DG Ric also recommended attendance at the next 2023 District Conference in Mandurah which has a great range of speakers on offer.

 Guest Speaker Thanks –  Asst Governor Steve Schmedje thanked DG Ric for his presentation handing him the customary Club engraved biro.