What a trip to the stars can teach.
 

 

In the same birthday spirit but at another phase in the cycle of life, Rabbi Shalom Coleman, Past President of Perth Rotary celebrated his 101^st birthday last week. Rabi Shalom with his bright and sharp mind and his energy has defeated the laws of nature wanting an elderly person to retire.

 

Last week we also had the Golden Ticket Raffle draw and we were all happily surprised to find out that the lucky winner was someone for whom watching the various events at RAC Arena for free, would be very important and life-changing. 

 

We also saw Helen Leach in the newspapers, collecting donations of gifts for the mothers and the children who fell victims of domestic violence and the Path of Hope has been helping them feel the spirit of Christmas.

 

We met the gorgeous team of students who are mentored under the Rotary Global Citizen Award, a great initiative in support of the foreign students studying in Perth.

 

If all the above have taken you to the stars, some of us traveled to the stars and to a number of galaxies last Friday, watching Dr Jean Pierre Macquart. Jean Pierre is the principal investigator of the team that uses the Australian SKA Pathfinder to study the bright millisecond-timescale flashes known as fast radio bursts.  He spends inordinate amounts of time grappling with their baffling properties and using them as cosmic weigh stations to examine the vast reservoir of matter that exists in between galaxies.

 

Jean Pierre delivered one of the most interesting presentations for 2019 and while he was unfolding the vastness and the infinity of the unknown to us space using unthinkably major or minor units of measurement like the billion light years or the millisecond, I couldn’t help not become philosophical.

 

I thought of the things that make us unhappy and the vanity that leads people to war or to exploit other people. I thought of the briefness of human life but also of the importance of human life and well-being.  I thought that it’s impossible for matter to live forever and similarly the only legacy that humans can leave behind after life is the legacy of their charity to those in need. That’s something that the most powerful and richest people on earth have realised and they have donated the largest part of their fortune to support various causes.

It is remarkable indeed, what a trip to the stars can teach you…

 

Our flight to the stars continues this Friday 13/12 in a meeting that shouldn’t be missed by any member. In our formal Rotary Luncheon we will have the President of Rotary Club Melbourne Kevin Sheehan as Guest Speaker who will speak about the Centenary Anniversary of the Rotary Australia and New Zealand and the 2023 Rotary International Convention in Melbourne which will attract over 20,000 delegates and it will be the largest Conference secured this century for Victoria. 

 

In the same meeting we will have the induction of the Hon Judi Moylan AO, the first woman to be elected to a House of Representatives Seat for the Conservative parties in Western Australia and former Minister for Family Services and Minister for the Status of Women.

 

Also, Rebecca Tolstoy AM will update us on the latest news from the Path of Hope team who are extremely busy this time of the year, ensuring that the victims of domestic violence have a peaceful and festive Christmas time in the refuges, like they should.  

 

Another reason for not missing that meeting is that this will be our inaugural luncheon at the Westin Perth, our new meeting venue for the new year. You will have the opportunity to meet Peter Brampton, the hotel manager who will welcome our Club and to explore the areas of this brand new hotel and of Hibernian Place, the modern plaza that won the Russel Perry Award for Urban Development Excellence at the Urban Development Institute of Australia Awards 2018 and is home to Westin Perth and numerous other venues.

 

 

Friday 20/12, Perth Rotary Christmas Breakfast. Like every year and this year more than ever, we will have Christmas carols and the Salvation Army Band. This is a family event and you are all invited to come with your children, grandchildren and friends.

 

 

New Year’s Eve Vienna Pops Matinee and New Year’s Gala Concert. The most elegant and inspirational New Year’s Eve event in Perth having the signature of Perth Rotary, available again in two performances: Matinee 2:00 – 3:00 pm and the Gala: 9:00– 12:15 pm

I’m inviting you to live the most celebrational time of the year with Perth Rotary!

Get your tickets here: https://tickets.perthconcerthall.com.au/11258/11261