In absence of our president Gabe, “IPP” Barbara volunteered to chair last week’s meeting…obviously tempted by two important circumstantial details:
1. the speaker board at the MCEC allows her to wear flat shoes and still be seen by guests
2. she must have been starving all week to have enough room for the delicious food provided.
well.....good for Gabe and good for us. The only person who seemed to have a problem with it was our Sergeant Nick. Admitting that he had a „bad hair day“ he first complained about not having been announced appropriately, then didn’t want to start the sergeant session and finally didn’t want to end it. After pausing with counting hums he is now back to questioning guests about Rotary acronyms what turned out to be quite time consuming. So you better get prepared for the next meeting and brush up on your knowledge!
Whilst enjoying a longer fellowship session and the delicious meal guests were bombarded with a whole range of announcements demonstrating that a lot is going on in our Club these days.

• Richard presented Rotary Polo shirts and caps from RC Albert Park and suggested that Southbank should also produce Southbank-t-shirts to promote Rotary at all events.

• Michael Fingereth reminded us that we are still looking for a suitable RYLA candidate

• Tracey updated everybody on the volunteer planning process for the HWC and is also looking for a host for a Norwegian Student currently guest of RC Echuca Moama.

• Philip would like to sell more wines to raise funds for our club and indicated that after Cup Day there is still Christmas to come where more alcohol would be needed for several celebrations.

• Bettina invited everybody to celebrate Rotary Foundation and our newly selected GSE team member Jamie Anderson at our Club’s upcoming Foundation on November 18th.

Members Moment was Diane’s time and she gave us very entertaining insights in her endeavours at a tradeshow in Japan….take and sell Australian veggies and fruits and transform them into drinking money for the night…interesting concept! 

Our special guest and speaker of this night was Tony Thomas, currently Sergeant and Bulletin Editor at RC Melbourne Central Sunrise. His topic: “Devils on horseback – the Mongol empire and its legacy”
Tony went to Mongolia last year and travelled out to Karakorum, the ancient capital of the Khans. Influenced by his trip he gave a very passionate talk about Mongolian strategies and tactics to conquer and invade many countries. The Mongol conquests were extraordinary because with a population of only 1 million or so, the Mongols subjugated most of Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, stopping just short of Vienna.
Besides their aggressive and bloody approach they left some valuable traces behind like fast and secure post and trade, spread of Chinese/Islamic science and technology - e.g. paper, printing, compass, maths, astronomy, medicine/surgery, paper money and more. The most interesting lingering legacy of their empire seems to be the fact that today “Y chromosome” of Khans can still be discovered in 0.5% of world’s male (That explains a lot, doesn’t it?)
Well, it was a very special presentation and for those who would like to recap more details please click here for the whole presentation.
Philip, the Chairperson thanked Tony and presented him with the penny for Polio. He then handed back to “important past president” Barbara for her final wrap up. Following Gabe's instructions she reminded the scribe to send scribe notes on time to herself. She then took the liberty of skipping one of the provided two thought for the week. Here is the one she left us with:
"Action without vision is wasted, and vision without action is just a dream. Action with vision brings hope to the world!"