Who are we
About us
A vibrant group of about 40 people from diverse professional and ethnic backgrounds, since 1972. We espouse Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self” and live by Rotary’s 4-way Test.
Our focus is to serve humanity through our various projects in the local community, international, vocational, and youth programs. We build relationships with other community organizations, and charity groups.
Our projects are funded primarily by our Market at North Rocks which we manage every Sunday morning. Our voluntary work is done in the spirit of fellowship and fun.
Please join us Tuesday evenings, or on a Sunday morning at our Market.
Learn more..
Presidents message

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Carlingford

Rotary Carlingford are celebrating our 50th club anniversary this year !  Come and join with community leaders from a diverse range of backgrounds and industries who work actively to make a difference to people locally and overseas.  We welcome you to come along to one of our meetings and find out what we do. And yes do have fun too!
Mini Calendar
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Club Information
Welcome to our Club!
Carlingford
We meet In Person
Tuesdays at 6:30 PM
Vikings Club
35 Quarry Rd
Dundas, NSW 2117
Australia
Order dinner at the bistro for 6.30pm. Official meeting 7.15 to 8.15pm.
Our Projects
40th Anniversary Market
North Rocks Market will be celebrating 40 years of operation on Sunday May 21st !  Come along and enjoy the atmosphere as we celebrate this special anniversary.
 
Congratulations John Green !
The Rotary Club of Carlingford congratulates Rotarian John Green on his recent recognition at the 2023 Australian Dental Industry Awards held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.  John was presented with the 2023 ADIA Industry Pioneer Award for his amazing work.  William Green Pty Ltd, Australia's only manufacturer of dental units was founded on three core principles; Customer focussed service, Product innovation that cater to the needs of the dental profession and Sales of leading-edge products that make a positive contribution to dental health care.
 
Read more...
Clean Up Australia Day 2023
 A successful Clean-Up Australia Day effort was organised by Rotarian Sandra Payne, pictured here with Ed Strom and Rod Jolly.
 
The clean up effort was made in the Eric Mobbs Memorial Park in Carlingford.  
Meals Plus Sponsored Lunch
Last Thursday, Rotary Carlingford members and friends, sponsored and served lunch at Parramatta Mission.  More than 90 people availed of this free lunch service, which was made available by Parramatta Mission together with coffee, free hair-cuts, clothing and connection to other services.  Supporting Parramatta Mission is an important part of Rotary Carlingford's community service program and we look forward providing further support in the future.
 
Opening of Grace's Place 2nd February 2023
On Thursday 2nd February 2023 the formal opening of Grace’s Place took place bringing to fruition the wonderful dream of our remarkable club member Martha Jabour OAM, who heads up the Homicide Victims Support Group. This development will now be able to house and care for up to 24 children and their families who have suffered the tragedy of losing a family member to homicide. The day was especially poignant as it was the 37th anniversary of the murder of Anita Cobby. It was the resilience and determination of her parents, Grace and Gary Lynch, to begin the long journey of finding hope from such evil circumstances. Martha’s vision has been instrumental in realising this hope and dream.
 
The Carlingford Club support was represented at the opening by Pamela and Bob Lawrance, John Davidson, Ellen Harvison, Mike and Carol Morgan together with former club members and Presidents Joy Pogson and Trish Wetton.
 
 

The significance and recognition of this achievement was evident by the presence of our NSW Governor Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC·who formally opened the building. Also present was the Police Commissioner Karen Webb, as well as representatives of our Prime Minister and State Premier, Opposition Leader Chris Minns who spoke on the day, and numerous other dignitaries. The singing of ‘Amazing Grace’ followed by the playing of the bagpipes by a Knox College student, was especially moving and a reminder of the tragedies experienced by so many present that day, but also the hope than lies ahead for all. We all moved through the beautiful buildings and rooms to see how the place will support the children and families, and we also enjoyed coffee and refreshments and caught up with other Rotary friends present as well as congratulating Martha.
 
Carol and Mike Morgan
 
 
(Photo - Pam Lawrence and her hobby horse donated to Grace's Place).
Concerned about Nuclear Weapons ?
Are you concerned about nuclear weaponry in the world? 
 
On Tuesday 7th February, Gem Romuld - Director for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), Australia is speaking at the Rotary Club of Carlingford Meeting (Vikings Club, 35 Quarry Rd, Dundas.  Arrive 6.30 for 7.15 start.  Everyone welcome).
 
Join us to learn more about this group's amazing work.  ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its role in achieving the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
 
In 2021 Gem was awarded a Peace Woman award by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Australia. Gem has worked with Australians for War Powers Reform and produced radio programs for 3CR Radio and the Community Radio Network. She has degrees in Communications and Law from the University of Technology, Sydney and is dedicated to growing our collective power to build a better world.
Australia Day 2023
Australia Day at John Wearn Reserve was a great success despite the challenging weather conditions (hot during the day and thunderstorms threatening all evening). 
Read more...
Western NSW Flood Relief
The current flood disaster in Western and Southern NSW is devastating to so many families.
Rotarian Ed Strom has been able to provide insight from first-hand knowledge of the terrible damage at Eugowra.
Want to help through donations of cash, goods or volunteer your time and energy ?  Read on.....
 
 
Read more...
Donation of Hearing Aids and Spare Parts by GN Resound For Samoa and the Philippines

My colleague Heba Hamdan, who is an audiologist with a hearing aid company called GN Resound, organized the donation of 140 hearing aids, equipment and accessories for use in Samoa and the Philippines.

A few days ago, my wife Cristy and I drove to the offices of GN Resound in Macquarie Park to collect a large box full of these items from Heba. We will send them to our colleagues overseas who will fit them, at no charge, to deaf children. In Samoa, where we are working with the Senese centre for Inclusive Education and in the Philippines, where we work with the audiology clinic at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. The clinic in the Philippines is run by students from the Masters in Audiology program.

Heba spoke at one of our Rotary meetings a few years ago about the problems of hearing loss and how hearing aids can help. Apart from her Master’s degree in Audiology, she also has a Master’s degree in Public Health and she provides audiological support for GN Resound customers.

As many of you know, hearing loss can have a catastrophic effect on the education of a deaf child. We have fitted more than 200 children with hearing aids in Samoa over a period of twelve years. A good example was a 15-year-old girl, who was noticed by a teacher of the deaf for the Senese centre, wandering around on the street on a school day. She was rather unkempt and rather depressed and had dropped out of high school, as she could not hear the teacher. She was tested by the Senese staff and on our next visit, we fitted her with hearing aids. We saw her a few months later in a smart School uniform, attending a high school with the help of a sign language interpreter. There are many similar stories.

On our visit to the GN Resound offices, Cristy and I were also able to tour the GN Resound offices and saw the latest state of the art custom-made earmould manufacturing lab. An impression of the ear is made by injecting soft silicon material into the ear canal, which is then scanned. The image is stored on the system, cropped and modified using computer-aided design software and sent to a 3-D printer, which produces an earmould. The system is very impressive, but is of course expensive, partly due to the health regulations, which regard an earmould as a medical device.

I learned to make earmoulds in the UK in the 1970’s, when we took an impression of the ear and carefully placed it in plaster of Paris. When the plaster of Paris set, the impression was then removed and the resulting cavity in the plaster of Paris was filled up with a mixture of liquid and resin to produce a Perspex earmould. It had to be carefully ground, drilled and polished. It was all too easy to produce a really bad ill-fitting earmould. It was amazing to see how things had moved on in the last 50 years.

-Philip and Cristy Newall

                

 

 

Donation of Spare Parts for Samoan Children - Cochlear Implants

Our regular visits to Samoa to test the hearing of deaf children and fit them with donated hearing aids had to stop because of Covid, as flying to Samoa became difficult. Our last visit was in March 2020 and we left Samoa just as they began to close the country down.

Five Samoan children have been fitted with Cochlear Implants, as a result of initiatives by Next Sense (or the Royal Institute for Deaf children/ Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre, as it was). These devices are used where the hearing loss is so great that a hearing aid would not help.

Four of the children were implanted several years ago by Professor Bill Gibson (at no charge) and the devices were programmed remotely with help from colleagues in Samoa (one other child was implanted in New Zealand). These devices would have cost about $25,000 each (plus surgical costs) and need maintenance and spare parts. Part of the device is implanted in the child’s head but another part (the processor) is worn behind the ear, like a large hearing aid. As more than two years had passed since our last visit, one device was not working and all the children were using spare processors. Several of them needed the special rechargeable batteries and chargers, as well as other spare parts.

These children are all profoundly deaf and oral communication would be impossible without the cochlear implant. They would not be able to attend school without sign language support.

When I contacted the Cochlear Implant group at Next Sense, Kyle Chisolm of Next Sense responded and agreed to donate a large number of spare parts including the processors. If these parts were new, they would be worth about A$80,000. Fortunately, the devices used in Samoa were an earlier model cochlear implant processor and many Australian children have now been fitted with new models, so spare parts for the older models are available.

Cristy and I collected a large box of spare parts from Next Sense in Gladesville a couple of weeks ago, sorted them out and posted the devices in two parcels to Samoa. The first one has just arrived there.

It will make a huge difference to these children and we are very grateful for the generous support of Next Sense.

Our work in Samoa is supported by a Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) grant

-Philip and Cristy Newall

 

Parramatta Mission - Update
On Thursday 28th July, after working at the Rotary Australia Repurposing Equipment (RARE) centre in Castle Hill, I delivered a walking frame to Paul Moussa at the Parramatta Mission. It was needed for use by one of the disadvantaged people who make use of the services provided by the centre. It was kindly donated by Keith Roffey of RARE.
Rotary Australia Sends Equipment to Ukraine

ROTARY AUSTRALIA REPURPOSING EQUIPMENT (RARE)

SENDS EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINE

By PP Philip Newall

This is the new name for HEERA, which itself was formerly called Donations in Kind.

On 23rd June, Chris Johnson, Ed Strom and John Davidson of our Club worked at RARE, assembling two pallets of non-perishable pre-boxed medical items and creating packing list waybills. These were hospital beds, which needed separating, testing, matching to accessories and organising.

The pallets were addressed to the Ukraine and Qantas was taking them as free freight to Heathrow. From there Rotary has arranged road transport, which may go via Poland if it cannot be direct. 

As some members will know, RARE is a Rotary organization, which is, involves in collecting items of medical and educational equipment and consumables. These are stored, sorted and packed into containers and sent to developing countries. Great efforts are made to ensure that the items are sent to organizations (usually connected with local Rotary clubs) and put to appropriate use. The work in NSW is currently organized by an experienced Rotarian called Keith Roffey.

Our Club has been involved with RARE, which has a very large warehouse in Castle Hill and our Club has committed to helping out there on the fourth Thursday each month.

Cristy and I were unable to help on this occasion as we were out of town.

Our colleagues from the Club did a great job, and everyone should be aware of the ongoing commitment undertaken by some of our members. This shipment to the Ukraine, which as you all know is suffering so badly, is a great thing for our Club to be involved with.

Shelterbag Donation
Imagine sleeping rough in all the rain we are having at the moment !  Parramatta Mission does an amazing job of trying to support homeless people in the local community.
 
Rotary Carlingford Community Service Director Cristy Newall saw these terrific Shelterbags advertised and quickly ordered five to give to Parramatta Mission, who can donate them to people who are doing it tough, living on the streets.
 
Shelterbags are a light, durable, warm, waterproof, comfortable protective sleeping tent.  To find out more about Shelterbags, listen to the Podcast of "Rotary Matters".
 
Bulletins