The Rotary Club of Mudgee, N.S.W., has staged two seminars to promote road safety.

First was a workshop for owners and intending owners of mobility access (Gopher) vehicles. This was in conjunction with Mudgee Shire Council’s road safety program. The second was a Driver Refresher Seminar which attracted 50 older drivers, some travelling from Rylstone and Hargraves. Sponsors included Mudgee Shire Council, Mudgee Toyota, McCarroll Ford and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

When organising the Gopher day the Rotary Club of Mudgee attracted Gopher owners and their carers/helpers aged from 45 to 95 years. The need for such an event was expressed to the club by Mudgee Shire Council Road Safety Officer, Lynne Eckhardt. Community service director at Mudgee, John Staples, and Rotarians Warwick Spies and Bob Stanley organised the day with sponsorship from the RTA. Speakers addressed the subjects of Gophers’ rights, responsibilities, insurance, selection, maintenance, physical balance and endurance. Gopher distributors Geoff Dray and Ed Wassum had a variety of gophers on-site for trial runs.

Rotarians ruefully noted that this may be the mode of transport for some of them in the near future. Lunch was provided by the Mudgee Hospital Auxiliary. Rob Thomas, Shirley Stanley and Dawn Staples from the Rotary Club of Mudgee Sunrise helped to run the day.

Feedback was that it was of great benefit as it was the first gopher day to be held in the area. Mudgee Rotary has had a request from Lismore, N.S.W., to assist in organising a gopher day for seniors there.

Bob Prowse, in wheelchair, with Mudgee Shire Council Safety Officer Lyn Eckhardt, Community Health’s Virginia Compton and Rotarians Warwick Spies and John Staples at a Gopher day, a seminar organised by the Rotary Club of Mudgee, N.S.W., with strong community support.

Photograph: Courtesy, Mudgee Guardian.

Ian James, of the Roads and Transport Authority in Mudgee, and members of the Rotary Club of Mudgee, N.S.W., John Staples, Eddie Ogden and President Mal Petrie at a seminar for older drivers which was organised by the Rotary Club of Mudgee, N.S.W.

Devonport, N.Z. – The Rotary Club of Devonport in Auckland, N.Z., is hosting Brazilian Eduardo Sampaio from the Rotary Club of Sao Paulo, Cambuci, Brazil. He met New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at the recommissioning of an artillery piece at North Head. The gun was installed amid fears of a Russian invasion in the 1880s and 1890s. The March firing marked the end of the first stage of restoration on Department of Conservation land in a $15.2 million package for New Zealand heritage sites.

Waihi’s Jim looked around and saw Rotary could help

When Past President Jim Orchard, of the Rotary Club of Waihi, N.Z., visited Bolivia, South America, with an eight-person Salvation Army Maintenance Mission team he saw that Rotary could help too. After the team finishing painting and maintenance at a hospital conducted by the church two nights were spent at a Salvation Army home in La Paz.

The home is run by a man who was raised in a Salvation Army Boys’ Home from the age of four. He acquired excellent joinery, cabinetmaking and metalwork skills and was developing a training project to pass on this knowledge. It was clear to PP Jim that the home needed better equipment for the training course, so on return to New Zealand he set about fund raising. Assistance came from club fellow President Selwyn Baker, a past president of the New Zealand Joinery Manufacturers Federation. Selwyn Baker is chairman of the Joinery Training Organisation in New Zealand. A sum of $NZ11,000 was raised from individuals and various groups. The Rotary Club of Waihi topped up the funds to reach the project goal. Past President Jim Orchard, Immediate Past President Jim Boyd and President Selwyn Baker, all from the 16-member Waihi club travelled to Bolivia to present a new 600mm thicknesser and a large panel belt sander to the Salvation Army Boys’ Home.