Men’s Health Education Rural Van (MHERV)
On 4 and 5 April 2025, our Club will once again host the Van and the accompanying Registered Nurse, Richelle, on their visit to Queanbeyan. On the two days of the MHERV visit, the van will be located in the Riverside Plaza North carpark, where the Red Cross Blood Bus usually parks.
The van travels around rural areas in NSW, stopping usually for a couple of days in each location, for around 8 months of the year. Whilst men are the key target in the rural areas, women are also very welcome.
The RN provides free checks of blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels; and also a quick chat about general health. A 10 minute visit could save you two trips to the doctor and a trip to the Pathology as well, not to mention a lot of money!!
For our visit in 2024, we had more than 70 people visit the RN over the one and a half days, with several having very disturbing results, some requiring immediate medical assistance.
For more information, check out this link.
Projects and Events
ANZAC DAY BREAKFAST
Queanbeyan Rotary was asked by Legacy to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast on Anzac Day 2024 at Walsh's Hotel in Queanbeyan. Naturally, we found a few people crazy enough to be available at 4am!! So, eight of us were there to help with the setting up, food prep, cooking, and then serving. Fortunately, we brought along an extra bbq - it takes a long time to cook breakfast for 350 people!
This was the first time we'd been involved in this activity and we weren't quite sure what to expect once the doors opened. It turned out to be quite a rush once the Dawn Service had concluded - it seemed as though nearly everyone who had turned out that morning was hungry and now wanted to come in out of the cold!
It was quite a challenge to cook the bacon and eggs fast enough to keep the serving line moving, but we were up to the challenge. We came away with a few ideas on how we might speed things up for this year, and are looking forward to the challenge.
U Turn The Wheel - May 2024
U Turn The Wheel (UTTW) is a Driver education awareness program for Year 11 students. The goal of the Program is to change the attitudes and behaviours of young drivers through a one-day event by stimulating their understanding of road safety and and the consequences of their actions when driving.
The students attended sessions covering: Keeping your L's & P's (Police); Road safety - a Paramedics perspective (NSWA); Safe driving strategies (LTrent driving school); Impact of Alcohol & Other Drugs on your body and driving ability (DirectionsHealth); and Safer Cars (RCQ).
During May 2024, UTTW was held at The Anglican School Googong, Karabar High School and Queanbeyan High School, with around 125 students attending.
The feedback from students and school personnel was very good, and there was considerable enthusiasm to continue the Program this year, possibly with additional schools.
Our Club was very thankful to have such high calibre presenters and we are looking forward to working with them again this year.
Click here for more information on the Program.
From left to right, bottom row:
Peter Mortimer (Police), Wendy Pope (RCQ), Steve Pasfield (RCQ), Eddie Lucas (LTrent), Jake Dimond (Police)
From left to right, top row:
Rikki Lloyd & Tim Ireson (DirectionsHealth), Fiona Gwyther-Marchant & Lisa Laugher (NSWA), Lauren Wright (Police), Graham Wiggins (RCQ)
RCQ CARES FOR THE GARDENS AT HOME IN QUEANBEYAN
Starting this year, our club will be maintaining the gardens at HOME in Queanbeyan, starting from January. Our first job was to dismantle and store the Christmas Nativity set, which was interesting, and took more time than expected. The grass was nearly knee-high, took about 2 hours to mow, and a few of the trees needed some significant pruning. Of course, we had come prepared with the right tools and seven of us to do the work, so we filled the green bins to capacity and then scheduled our return visits. We all were very pleased to see the difference in the grounds when we'd finished!
TEEN CLINIC
Our Club has made a commitment to cover the monthly costs of the pharmacy bill for this Clinic, which provides a very necessary service to the youth of our area. The Clinic provides a confidential counselling service, and where they can’t assist, they refer the teens to appropriate service providers. The Teen Clinic web site provides more information, click here.
QUEANBEYAN MARKETS
- EVERY 3rd SUNDAY OF THE MONTH
Queanbeyan Rotary runs the BBQ stall at these markets every month, selling soft drinks, sausages, steak sandwiches, and bacon and egg rolls. The Markets are now held at the Queanbeyan Showground, with more than 80 stall-holders, some undercover, so lots to see.
Open from 9am to 2pm.
CURRENTLY POSTPONED FOR FEB AND MARCH 2025.
XMAS in July
Queanbeyan Rotary had a reasonable bbq at the QPRC Xmas in July Markets on the first Saturday in July.
This is an annual fund-raiser event for our Club which can be a very busy one, when the weather cooperates! 2023 was not very nice weather, so we were pleased that 2024 was a more successful and enjoyable event for everyone. We are now looking forward to the 2025 event!
FLORIADE GNOMES September to October 2024
Every year at Floriade, Rotary Club of Murrumbidgee Canberra runs the Gnomes workshop project at Floriade. Our Club takes on “ownership” of a weekend.
In 2024 we were there from 9:30am to 4pm on the second weekend, selling gnomes and helping people of all ages to get their wonderful creations ready to take home. It was beautiful weather and a very busy weekend! The 2024 Floriade website is available here. Hopefully we'll see you this year!
QUEANBEYAN SHOW NOVEMBER 2024
Queanbeyan Rotary Clubs have been manning the gates at the Queanbeyan Show, for the Queanbeyan Show Society, for around 10 years now.
This is one of our biggest jobs, as it requires at least three (some years four) gates to be manned for two days, close to 250 hours of effort!
The 2023 Show was bigger and better than any in the past, but the 2024 topped that, with even bigger attendance numbers, and lots of new acts. We expect 2025 to be even better yet, and if you join the Queanbeyan Show Society, you get lots of benefits, so check out their web site, and then make sure you come along and have lots of fun! For more information, check out this link.
QBN CAROLS AND XMAS PARTY IN THE PARK
- 14th December 2024
Queanbeyan Park 3pm - 9pm
Each year, the QPRC hosts the party and carols in the Park, and we provide the BBQ.
That means steak sandwiches, bacon and egg rolls, and of course, sausage sangas! We also have cans of soft drink and water for sale, so as usual, dinner is provided for a very reasonable price.
It's usually a great family event every year, so don't miss it!
PARTNERSHIP WITH NSW POLICE AGAINST GENDER-BASED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
On December 1st, 2023, Rotary Club of Queanbeyan, along with Jerrabomberra and Bungendore Clubs, gathered with the NSW Police, the Mayor of Queanbeyan, and other interested citizens, at Queanbeyan Park to launch the partnership of NSW Police and NSW Rotary Clubs against domestic violence in our local community.
The goal of the partnership is to raise further community awareness of domestic and family violence across NSW. The launch of the partnership comes as part of the internationally recognized ’16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence’ campaign, which began on 25 November 2023, and concludes on 10th December 2023, World Human Rights Day.
This partnership will encourage and build on the already strong relationship between Rotary and the NSW Police. The formal relationship will see the two organisations working together at a community level across the state to significantly increase awareness of domestic and family violence. Under the initiative, every police area command and district will team up with their local Rotary club/s to develop campaigns and activities around local domestic and family violence issues.
See this link to NSW Police for more information.
Presidents of Queanbeyan, Jerrabomberra and Bungendore Rotary Clubs: Rod See, John Askew and Christine Allard.
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