It's the end of June as I write this message. It's pretty much the end of our Rotary year.

 

Traditionally it's when we change over our Presidents and recognise that a Changeover function. For us we are doing it a little bit differently and we are having Joint Presidents. Sandra de Gruchy will join me for the next twelve months. We will sort out the role between us and hopefully it will all work smoothly. It gives me the opportunity to mentor Sandra in the first few months and she will gradually take on more. of the day to day running of the Club. I will have more time for other projects particularly our Homelessness project and other District duties. Sandra retains the Youth Director role.  See story and pics below.

 

Also June turned out to be a big month for me as I did The Pushup Challenge for mental health. We did all the 3,139 pushups and raised over $4,000 for Lifeline. See story.

 

In May we had our District Assembly where Rotary Clubs get together to update their plans for the year. We followed this with our Club's Strategy Workshop where we set the resource and operational plan for our key projects.

 

We are confident that our Club activities, and working together with other Rotary Clubs, will lead to significant benefit to our local community. We have ambitious and challenging goals for 2022-23, including the Cookbook, Homelessness, mental health and other projects.

 

Christmas is always the best time of the year.

 

The crazy pace of the world usually slows down a notch or two; siblings stop fighting; gifts are exchanged; and or Club holds its annual event in honour of the season.  This year we again held it at Parklands Country Garden and Lodges in Blackheath.  And again, it was a first class affair held on a beautiful December 12 Sunday afternoon..  We both congratulate and thank the Party Committee of Ann, Liz, and Jenny. First, the world class Gardens at Parklands are such a delight to walk through either prior to or after the event. The hotel and adjacent function dining hall are set in a secluded country retreat of almost 28 acres of beautifully manicured grounds, located on the Govett’s Leap Road not far from the central shopping district in Blackheath.

Parklands itself is reminiscent of a European great estate, with its haven of beauty and tranquillity whilst offering a secluded and relaxed atmosphere. The lodge and hotel area were designed to provide an atmosphere of peace and with only seven garden cottages with expansive views of the manicured gardens and sweeping bushland grounds.

At the event itself, all club members and guests were greeted with a glass of local bubbly which was followed by a sumptuous two course meal.  Sweet biscuits, coffee and Judi’s chocolate were the finishing touches.  Mercifully, speeches were kept to a minimum.  Thank you, President Bill.

We have already earmarked the date in next year’s diary.

 

 

 

 

As usual we all bought a Christmas Gift for the Salvos in Katoomba.

Up in The Mountains, it’s back to business as usual but with new faces.

 

One new face belongs to Colleen Kanzora and she is the new Director of Marketing for The Blue Mountains Tourism.  Colleen is a “former” New Yorker.

 

We were fortunate to spend a half hour with her and it is clear that you can take the woman out of New York but you can’t take the New York out of the woman.  In her past life, she has worked for a number of marquee institutions such as Madison Square Gardens, Radio City, and any number of Broadway theatres. She is smart, savvy, and already anxious to make her mark.

 

 

 

 

This is the first time that The BMT has had a dedicated Marketing Tourism Director since 2014

And they couldn’t have picked a more experienced marketer of Big Events. Ms. Kanzora has a depth of experience, as mentioned, in promoting Broadway shows, music, art and major events, such as Blue Man Group, and Cirque du Soleil.

She will certainly have to think Big up here. Ms Kanzora's hiring is the first step for Blue Mountains Tourism towards investing the $2.6 million Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Funding announced in July.  It is certainly clear to us, who make The Blue Mountains our home, that over the past few years, the region has suffered from a series of bad luck disasters ranging from the bush fires to a world pandemic. Overall, tourism is but a fraction of what it was just two years ago.

Jointly funded by federal and state governments, the $2.6 million tourism grant will involve destination branding, marketing, website development, major events, industry communications and a business resilience program. In all of the aforementioned areas, The BMT will deliver the project in partnership with The Blue Mountains Council.

One of Ms Kanzora's first tasks will be to plan two major events; one for next March. We expect, given her background, that they will be world class.  We can’t wait.

A few weeks ago, we spent a very enjoyable half hour with Mr. Kim Terakes (www.kimterakes.com/) who is a very well-known bon vivant, chef supreme and PhD Master of the Aussie barbeque.

 

It may be said that Australia is world renown for a number of icons, such as Bondi Beach, Paul Hogan, Ayer’s Rock and the Aussie Barbeque. And without doubt the top chef of the Aussie Barbeque would be Kim Terakes.

 

At this point in his life, Kim lives and works from his home in Paddington. Professionally, he spent twenty-five years in traditional roles in big agency advertising. However, he confided, after a glass of Chardy or two,

that advertising was really just an excuse to have lunch in restaurants every day. He has since given up that pretense and now devotes himself exclusively to the noble cause of good food.

 

Since the late 1980s, he has written about food and restaurants for all of the major publications. In addition, he was the restaurant reviewer for The Sun-Herald for several years, and contributed to The Good Food Guide. He has written probably the definitive books

on The Aussie Barbeque, including the best-selling The Great Aussie Barbie Cookbook and The Great Aussie Bloke’s Cookbook. 

 

 

His cookbooks are available on line.

 

Kim is also very involved with various nonprofits and his recipes and cooking hints can be found at: https://www.curecancer.com.au/our-ambassadors/kim-terakes.  It was fantastic having a chance to chat Kim up and we only wish that he would return to lead The Team at the next sausage sizzle at Big W, Katoomba.  As they say: stay tuned.