Club Awards
Each
year our Club makes a number of Awards to recognise the achievements of various
people.
Operation Livewire for 2000 concluded with a prize presentation in December 2000. In Victoria :-
1st Prize went to Kerryn Howell & Jane Klose "Theme from JAK"
- Boutique themed decorating service aimed at corporate market.
In 2000 across Australia, 420 young people submitted 134 business plans.
In Victoria 90 people commenced the program leading to 31 business plans being submitted.
Congratulations to the winner.
COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD PRESENTATION
SIR JOHN REID COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
This award is given annually by the Rotary Club of Melbourne to recognise and honour persons in the Victorian community whose service to that community is judged to be worthy of special notice.
On 11th April 2001, the Sir John Reid Community Service Award was presented to a member of our own Club, Rotarian LAWTON W. COOKE.
When Lawton Cooke was inducted into the Rotary Club of Melbourne in 1971, he was already actively engaged in helping the community in the neighbourhood where his business, Sydney Cooke Limited, operated through establishing and financially subsidising the Brunswick Creche and Brunswick Youth Centres.
During the period from 1970-80, at the request of fellow businessmen, Lawton arranged for the purchase of Coonil Private Hospital and then took a "hands-on" role in the day to day management of the hospital in conjunction with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation and AH for the treatment of alcoholics.
From 1982-87 Lawton chaired the Camberwell Grammar School Building Fund Appeal which raised $1 million for rebuilding and extensions to the school.
Since 1990 Lawton has been better known to our Club as the public face of Rotary's successful "Paint Your Heart Out" program. Working through the churches and community welfare groups in the inner eastern suburbs, Lawton would identify and research suitable deserving and needy people and properties to be the recipients of our Club's "Paint Your Heart Out" activities. Not only would Lawton work out the paint quantities and other materials needed, but he would order, collect and deliver these to the sites, organise and lead the volunteer painters, provide lunches and refreshments and then return all the equipment when the job was completed.
His involvement did not stop there, as he regularly returned to the properties during the following weeks to undertake minor property repairs for the elderly pensioners such as mending broken gates and rehanging doors. On one occasion he delivered and chopped a load of kindling wood for the hot water service of one elderly lady; on another he delivered a trailer load of plants from his own garden and lovingly replanted them in the pensioner's garden.
There are many frail and elderly pensioners in Melbourne's eastern inner suburbs who think most kindly of this caring and considerate man who, through his unselfish deeds, has in some small way helped to improve their quality of life.
Since the "Paint Your Heart Out" program ended last year, Lawton became the prime mover in investigating and then introducing our Club to the project known as the Christ Church Mission where the aim is to build a new community centre and an emergency accommodation facility in St. Kilda at an estimated cost of around $1 million.
Lawton Cooke is essentially a private and modest person and there are no doubt many other examples of where he has made a very real contribution to the welfare of others in his community which have not been recorded in this citation.
Lawton Cooke has been a model to us all through his willingness to be involved, through his philanthropy and concern for those people in our community who are disadvantaged or less well off and his ability to do something about it.
Lawton Cooke is a worthy recipient of this year's Sir John Reid Community Service Award.
Melbourne Rotary and the modern Apprenticeship system in Victoria
Trade Apprenticeships have long been the backbone of handing down craft skills from one generation to the next and sets standards of qualifications recognised throughout our community and the world.
The Great Depression of the 1930's very nearly ended the system of apprenticeship training, with the consequent emphasis on adult unemployment. The Rotary Club of Melbourne stepped into the breech and worked tirelessly throughout the 1930s to establish training facilities throughout the Technical School network and by 1938 more than 500 young people were once again under active, approved, technically-based training.
Since then the Club has recognised the outstanding apprentices in Victoria. This year, 2001, Apprentice Day turned up with its usual quota of bright-eyed, smiling, confident young people - the four finalists in the competition for the title of Apprentice of the Year in the Victorian Training Awards. These Awards showcase the achievements of students, employers and training providers and recognise their dedication and commitment to excellence. Their efforts have helped to make Victoria's training service a national leader.
The finalists were:
Nick Merciaca was a third year apprentice auto electrician with Pitstop Auto Electrical in Campbellfield. He had always enjoyed working with cars, had raced through his apprenticeship and was 'overwhelmed' to be honoured.
Brian O'Duffy was an apprentice plumber who had learnt from his time in the Outback a dry sense of humour and the knowledge that water is a precious resource. The big smoke, Melbourne, had proved to be an eye opener but it was Brian who pointed out that water pollution and salinity are two of our biggest problems.
A fifth generation butcher, Glenn O'Regan, was an apprentice with William Angliss. With an eye on current disasters, Glen hopes to specialise in identifying exotic diseases in cattle as a meat inspector. A week later he was designated Outstanding Apprentice of the Year.
Lucy McIntosh's father was a carpenter and she has been interested in wood since she was child. She works for R.D. Davis Furniture and controls a number of large and expensive machines.
Ron Cullen who leads the Vocational Service Committee introduced the apprentices and presented the award plaques and cheques. Distinguished member, PDG Frank Newman, presented Lucy with her Award which was named to honour him and the forty year of his Club membership.
Congratulations to all.
The Vocational Service Award
The Vocational Service Award
is an annual award made by the Club to a person who has contributed significantly
to her of his vocation and whose work has assisted the development of services
offered by that vocation to the community. Nominations for the award are open
to men and women who in the opinion of Rotarians are deserving of special recognition
in their vocation. The award has been made since 1964. The recipient in 2000 is
Mr John Landy, Governor Elect of Victoria. Recipients in recent years have included:
Dr Gordon Donaldson, Ms Maudie Palmer, Prof Derek Tribe, Rotarian George Tippett,
Mr Bernard O'Brien, Sir Arvi Parbo, Sir John Holland.
The Sir John Reid
Community Service Award
The Sir John Reid Community Service Award is made
in honour of a very special Past President whose work for the community of Melbourne
was so significant. This award is made to a person who, though selfless service
to the community, has made a difference to the lives of people. It usually goes
to a person who has not been recognised in any other way. It was first awarded
in 1987. Recent recipients include: Mr Kevin Heinze and Mrs Pamela Erwin.
The
Young Achiever Awards
The Young Achiever Awards are made to recognise the
outstanding achievement of young people in the areas of business and professional
life.
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