Do you know who planted many of the Norfolk Island Pines on the Port Macquarie headland in the 1950-60s?
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How about the building of the Astronomical Observatory? Know who built that? No?
Port Macquarie Rotary Club did. These monumental structures are now part and parcel of Port Macquarie life.
On Wednesday May 23, this very special Rotary Club will celebrate its 70th anniversary.
The event is expected to attract some 130 people, Rotarians past and present, friends and family plus visiting Rotarians.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Mayor Peta Pinson will be guest and will co-jointly with current club president John Sheppard launch the pictorial history of the club - Seventy Years of 'Service Above Self'.
A special part of the night will be the roll call of past and former club members whose families will be present.
The Rotary Singers - Ted Giblin, Neil Porter, David Meidling and Terry Crossley - will perform a rendition of the song Little Brown Jug, which was sung by Taree Rotarians in 1948. John Oxley's has written some new lyrics.
A new DVD production Trying A Little Kindness will also be premiered featuring the ‘bucket loads of caring’ that the Port Macquarie Rotary club has shown over the past 70 years.
The presentation posthumously of a Paul Harris Fellow to the grandson of Clive Chapman, the charter secretary and main driver for the formation of the Port Macquarie Rotary Club in 1948 will be another highlight.
In its 70 year history, the Port Macquarie Rotary Club has chalked up 224,000 hours of community service, raised over $3 million and welcomed 395 Rotarians.
While the planting of the Norfolk Island Pines and the building of the Astronomical Observatory were important to Rotary's work, the club has also participated in a raft of other community-focussed events.
These include raising funds at golf days, helping purchase equipment for the Port Macquarie hospital and Sydney hospitals; raising funds for the local swimming pool; created Rotary Park; raised funds for the local scouts and guides, surf clubs; emergency services and schools.
They have also supported students; constructed Rotary Lodge; restored Flagstaff Hill; painted the cemetery fence and painted rooms in the women’s refuge, just to name a few of the projects the club has organised and completed.
