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!

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Bilby Infatuation

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

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...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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