Local Inspiration

I belong to a Rotary club and unlike many of the public misconceptions about Rotary being a bit stuffy, my club, the Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland is lots of fun and its members are great - generous community-minded people with hearts of gold and tremendous senses of humour.

Christmas 2015 meeting

However, we do have a serious side, and some of our projects are based in the local community - graffiti removal, supporting the homeless and needy, the local school's gifted and talented students' program and supporting local charities and other volunteer groups with catering for fundraising.

Some of the catering team enjoying a break....

(We also have other projects we support which are district, national and international)

This week we celebrated the 111th birthday of Rotary International but at a local level. Being a club which enjoys any excuse for a celebration, we are having a whole month of bringing our Rotary club into the community. On Tuesday morning, we had a birthday cake - not unusual for a birthday celebration, but this was with breakfast and at a meeting where we all learnt that you are never too old or decrepit to exercise, even at age 111! Birthday cake, and exercises with beach balls, ribbons on sticks, bean bags and swimming pool noodles, and lots of laughing - that just about sums up a Rotary meeting for our club!

Our birthday celebrations continue with a colourful display at the Wallsend Regional Library about Rotary in general and what our club does.

Library display

Last night, my club hosted the Community Awards which recognizes the achievements of other volunteers who make our community a better place in which to live, work and play. There were sixteen amazing recipients of these awards and each one of them has a story which is inspirational. Congratulations to all of you! I nominated a very special young woman, Sarah, who in three years has raised over $66,000 locally for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, after suffering her own personal tragedy of losing her husband to this disease and is also a volunteer with SIDS and KIDS after losing a baby at 32 weeks. I think Sarah epitomises our club's mantra " ordinary people achieving extraordinary things " .... and while I would never take for granted the wonderful work which Sarah does, there are so many "Sarahs" in our community who are, in their own quiet ways, going about supporting and helping others and we don't even know about them. If you know them, please say "thank you".

Sarah (on the right) with her friend another recipient, Kim

It was also wonderful to see my friend, Wendy (a Rotarian from another club) receive an award for putting her creative talent for dressmaking to support others in the community, Wendy is always at the Hunter Homeless Day mending and altering clothes, and she makes tiny baby clothes for Angel Gowns for stillborn infants, reusable sanitary hygiene items for Days for Girls, and "dressy" clothes for Dress for Success, especially for homeless and underprivileged women seeking employment or for appearing in court.

Not all the recipients were individuals. It was great to see a local business, Local Hearing Aid Specialists recognised for their exceptional service and care of their clients , but also for their compassion, empathy and friendship. Great to hear in these days of commercialised health care!

And there's more.... as a final part of the celebration of "Rotary - Serving the Community" , our club will be hosting a free Community Breakfast at the Rotunda in Wallsend (NSW, Australia) on 15 March at 7.15am. Join us for a fun- filled morning. Invitations will soon be in your letterboxes if you live in the Wallsend area. If you would like an invitation, please contact a member, or message via our Facebook page

Happy Birthday, Rotary International and keep celebrating, Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland!

Christmas Countdown 15 : Christmas Tree #11 - Disposable

Plastic cups https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ? from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result. from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary. Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers). This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach. Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that work up

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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