This Week: A Project Meeting - Terry Cannon, District Chairman of Youth Exchange will be joining us.

zMy apologies for the Zoom problem last week.  I couldn't sign in despite using the correct password and then the password changed without being requested!  Many thanks to Jim Rankin for stepping in with his business Zoom.  Unfortunately some people were left out.  I managed to guess the new password and sort things out so hopefully we will not have problems this week.

Terry Cannon has headed up Youth Exchange at District level for a number of years now and many of our members have had experience of hosting so it will be an interesting discussion both on long and short term Youth Exchange.  

Youth Exchange has been open to abuse in the past and my experience of hosting and the general administration of it.....I hasten to add, not in this District......has made me quite cynical about it.

I must say that outgoing and incoming students with any Rotary Clubs I have experienced in this District have been faultless.

Saturday the 19th October will be our Annual Spring Braai at Modderfontein Dam.  Lauwrence Vosloo will let you know the details separately via WhatsApp.

Ron McCormick and Andy Stevenson represented the club at RetinaSA Bowls for Sight at the Edenvale Bowls Club last Saturday.

I will be away in the Western Cape for our next two meetings so this is what the Beano used to call "A Bumper Issue".

Next Week

Dr Mark Potterton will be talking to us about educating refugee children.

Mark has a distinguished career in education but it's not high profile.  His doctorate followed on from his research into violence in schools. and he began his teaching career at Sacred Heart College, Observatory.  He has been involved in many other things from Umalusi (Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training), Principal of Holy Family College which he developed further and rebuilt the hall after a devastating fire and is currently Principal of Sacred Heart Primary School and also the former Dominican Convent School building in Jeppestown where Sacred Heart has established a school specifically for refugee children to prepare them for integration into the normal school curriculum.

And the Week After That!

We have several new members who will be given the opportunity to tell the club about themselves.  President Andrew Paschalides has requested this and he will let us know who will be chatting to us.

I will try to attend these meetings on my 'phone.

Last Week

Martin Kobald gave us a very interesting and far ranging talk about his career as a chef and his subsequent position as President of the SA  Chefs Association and as President of the World Association of Chef Societies which represents 10 million chefs.  We were particularly interested in the fundraising and projects that had been achieved.  Martin is a member of the Rotary Club of Lungau in Austria and I am sure the connection between our two clubs will be mutually beneficial.

STOP PRESS

Jacques Borman of Boschkloof Winery was a guest speaker last Rotary Year.  Here is a section from the report of the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction:

Heralding a significant milestone for the South African wine industry, this past weekend saw the successful roll-out of the 40th annual Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction. Taking place on Friday, 4 and Saturday, 5 October both online and in person at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, the hybrid event drew 276 bidders from 13 countries, raising a sum of R16 645 500,  and up 11% on last year.

A total of 2,118  cases (6 x 750ml) were sold, with an average price of R1,309 per bottle, R1,210 for white wines and R1,375 for red wines.

With prices reaching R45 000 per 2 x 6 bottle case lot of 750ml, the Mullineux Swartland ‘The Gris’ Old Vines Sémillon 2023 set a new record for white wines. This was the highest average price for any wine on Auction. Kanonkop Wine Estate’s CWG Paul Sauer 2021 was the most successful seller by value and the last of Abrie Beeslaar’s Cape Winemakers Guild offerings from Kanonkop. The top five sellers by average price also included Savage Wines Auction Syrah 2022, Boschkloof CWG Epilogue Syrah 2022 and David & Nadia  Veiling Chenin Blanc 2023. The Boschkloof was remarkably the first wine offered by winemaker Reenen Borman, since taking over from his father Jacques, a previous Guild member.

International - France

More than a dozen Rotarians and friends in southeastern France donned inflatable dinosaur costumes and stumbled along a 100-meter course in a playful race that raised funds and awareness for Rotary’s mission to end polio. Organised by District 1730, the T-Rex Race took place last October during the Fréjus International Air Festival, a kite fair that draws thousands of people. “The idea came to me to create an event to rejuvenate the image of Rotary in the fight against polio,” says Dinh Hoan Tran, the district’s immediate past governor and member of the Rotary Club of Nice. Spectators could place bets on the contestants. “We made people laugh and we informed people,” says Tran. More than 40 of the district’s 71 clubs participated in the event, as the district motivated clubs to “support PolioPlus to the tune of about $45,000,” he says.

Martin Kobald, Honorary Past President of the SA Chefs Association, Vice President of the World Association of Chefs Societies.

 

• After a double apprenticeship in culinary Arts, Chef and Hotel Management, Chef Martin first worked in several hotels in Austria and Germany.
• Immigrated to South Africa in October 1998
• Started working for Southern Sun Hotel Group
• Joined SACA – The South African Chef’s Association
• Joined Board of Directors of SACA in 1994
• President of SACA 2004 – 2009
• Board of Directors of World Chefs in 2008

• Honorary Past President of SACA
• Vice President – WorldChefs – World Association of Chefs Societies WACS -118 member countries, representing over 10 million chefs globally
• Owner of ChefMLK group of companies.
• World Chefs accredited international “A” Category judge.
• Awarded Honorary Member Awards Emirates Culinary Guilds 2015, Abu Dhabi and Jordanian Chefs Association 2015; Jordan
• Global operations manager owner and head judge of Global Pizza Challenge
• Head judge and national co-ordinator of the Shoprite-Checkers Championship Boerewors competition since 2002
• Convener – World Chefs Tour against Hunger

ChefMLK School of Cooking started as a fun cooking school for amateurs but very quickly became a school for professionals as well. 

Next Week

It's a Project Meeting but we will be concentrating on Youth Exchange.  Terry Cannon, who heads up Youth Exchange at District will be present.

Last Week

Our Business Meeting extended support for Agang Sechaba Remedial Solutions with R5 000 and that new batteries had been supplied to Little Eden for motorised wheelchairs at a cost of R42 000.

Andy Stevenson and Ron McCormick represented the club at Retina SA Bowls Day.

International - Colombia

Sonia Uribe and her husband, Alberto Londoño, created a stuffed animal collection called El Zoo del Amor, or the Zoo of Love, to comfort seriously ill children and raise money for polio eradication. Sales of Anna the giraffe, Lucas the tiger, and other animals — each wearing a shirt with Rotary and End Polio Now logos — have raised about $550,000 since their introduction in 2018. In addition to giving the animals to sick children, Rotarians carry them on their travels and snap photos of them at iconic
landmarks. “All these animals have travelled, being ambassadors of the Rotary brand,” says Uribe, a member of the Rotary Club of Nuevo Medellín and, like Londoño, a past governor of District 4271. Londoño is a member of the Rotary Club of Medellín Nutibara. The couple also manage the Fundación Monica Uribe Por Amor, which assists children with spinal bifida.