The 2007 District Conference was up to its usual high standard with high quality speakers. We had excellent representation with John and Maree Weston, Enid Healey and Paul Lehman, John and Lynn Grady, Robyn Buccheri, Robert Iverson and Judith Smith, David Finney, Trevor Harris, Barbara and Robert Read, and Sue and myself.

The Conference started with a cocktail party on the Friday night followed by an enjoyable dinner with our club members. Saturday night was our Club dinner and we enjoyed the company of Rotary Clubs of Echuca, Bendigo, Rochester, Castlemaine and Melbourne Latrobe. Sunday ended with a Gala dinner where we were entertained by two world standard professional dancing couples.

As well as excellent speakers one of the highlights was our very innovative Fundraising activities (Belts, DVDs, Calculators etc.) - more on this in next weeks newsletter and a special thanks to John Smith Weston and David Finney.

Guest speakers this year included:
·         Dr Andrew Thomas: ‘Astronaut’
·         Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld: ‘Revered Neurosurgeon’
·         Alan Kogosowski ‘Brilliant Concert Pianist
·         Stuart Diver: 'the Thredbo Disaster'
·         Kerryn McCann: ‘Commonwealth Games Marathon Gold Medal’
·         Glenn Burns: 'The Beaconsfield Mine Rescue'
·         Greta Bradman: ‘Grand Daughter of Sir Donald Bradman
·         Keith Paine VC ‘One of only two surviving Australian Victoria Cross Recipients’

As the conference venue was the Australian Institute of Sport Bernie decided to have a Cluster Relay race. Competitors ran the very same track that famous athletes like Asafa Powell and Cathy Freeman have run before. One of the competitors for our Batman Cluster was our very own Trevor Harris. Trevor has been in training for some time with three Gym sessions each week, walking up mountains weekends and playing golf at every opportunity. The Starter’s gun saw a packed grandstand of some 500 roaring Rotarians. It was splendid to see Trevor carrying the baton for our cluster. We qualified in the heats and came third in the final but I am told AIS spies have since approached Trevor to train for the Masters.

Gala Dinner
Professional Dancers
Exchange Students
Cluster Relay & AIS Gym
Selling Belts