I was asked to put together a “History of the Alexandra Headland Rotary Club”. This was not an easy task, as although I was indeed a Charter Member, there are not many records available to delve back into the club’s history. Therefore, the following recount of the things that have occurred over the past ten years may not have actually happened. This has been done to protect the innocent, shame the guilty and of course, to provide entertainment value. This is my account....
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Chris Baker. He was a determined boy from a little town called Bundaberg in the centre of the state. He had a misspent youth but developed into a hard working lawyer, the apple of his mother’s eye. He had however, always had the dream of leaving the home town to make good in the big smoke. Consequently, he ends up on the Sunshine Coast as a qualified lawyer in the late 90’s. (The storey of how he came to be is another long and sordid tale for another time).
Something is missing in his life. In Bundaberg, he was involved with a organization known as Rotary. That gave his life a second purpose and meaning. As a lawyer he was trained to rob from the rich, and now through Rotary, he could give something back (particularly to the poor). He thought of himself as a modern day Robin Hood.
But there was a small problem. He was based in a sleepy seaside town known as Alexandra Headland, but there was no Rotary club for the area. He had learnt that there was a club to the south (Mooloolaba) and one to the north, Maroochydore. This would not do for the young Baker boy. So he approached the Sherrif of Mooloolaba (Gary Dillon) and the Sherrif of Maroochydore (Bill Dethlefs) in the thought of forming his own club.
Soon the word was out, and a gang of merry men and women were meeting on a regular basis at the Horton Golf Club. Recruting was furious and the time was right in late 2000, the Rotary Club of Alexandra Headland was formed.
A gala banquet was held at Twin Waters and the club was officially chartered on 4th November 2000. Chris was quite pleased with himself and was the inaugural Charter President. His dream was realized. His mother would be proud.
His inner sanctum was formed and included Marie Benventui (Secretary) and Kerryn Parry (Treasurer).
On the night he was presented with the “Rotary Necklace”, a symbol of prestige and power for the ruling President of the day. For Chris, this was the ultimate. “My precious” he would say.
Celebrations were long and hard. His gang of merry men and women included:
♦ David Aiken
♦ Peter Andrews
♦ Chris Baker
♦ Marie Bienvenuti
♦ Scott Brimelow
♦ Kevin Clark
♦ Anita Corbet
♦ Bob Critchley
♦ John Fear
♦ Mark McCardle
♦ Brad McDonald
♦ Dale Osbourne
♦ Kerryn Parry
♦ Pat Ryan
♦ Greg Schnell
♦ Owen Scott
♦ Trevor Smith
♦ Bob Sparks
♦ Charlie Summers
♦ Norm Townsend
♦ Bernard Tully
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♦ Rolf Weigand
♦ David Woodrow
A wide variety of vocations were covered: Bankers, Teachers, Architects, Car Salesmen, Lawyers, Builders, Real Estate Agents and Rocket Scientists to name a few.
And off they went amongst the community, doing good for the fellow townsfolk. Then something disasterous happened, Chris was cast out from his employment, and was left no choice but to head to the really big smoke of Brisbane in the vain home of establishing a life for himself (a search for his very own Maid Marion perhaps).
The club was in turmoil, but never fear, our very own Trevor (Friar Tuck) Smith stepped up to the task and took over the President role from Chris for the remainder of the Rotary Year. Trevor was a hard working architect and was very community minded. He would ensure that the club would continue doing the good deeds that were promised.
Trevor led us when the club was resident in the bowels of the Alex Surf Club, we had since moved from the Horton Golf Club. Times were good and we had approx 25 members. Meetings were enjoyable mostly thanks to Charlie Summers and his great jokes (sometimes falsified) as the Seargant at Arms. However, there was always a dark side to the club around these times – there were a lot of New Zealand members! Rolf Weigand of course was our resident German member.
Thanks mostly to Bernard Tully, John Fear, David Aiken and Kevin Clark, there was always banter between club members around Bledisloe Cup time. Rivalry was fierce, and a second all Kiwi Rotary Club of Alexandra Headland was almost born, except for the fact that Trevor stepped in and calmed things down. He always had that calming way about him, Trevor. A few of the members nicknamed him “BP – The Quiet Achiever”.
Then disaster struck, Bernard was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Noosa. Club members were shaken. Around the time, we had formed a relationship with the Street Angels, an organization that helped provided support for kids on the streets late at night around the coast. We had a trailer built and donated to the Street Angels in memory of Bernard and his efforts for the club.
David - 2001
Trevor’s time was up as fill in President, and David Woodrow took over in 2001. David was a past member of Maroochydore, so the newer club members were hesitant to befriend him at first, thinking he was a “plant” by the Sherriff of Maroochydore. But it turned out that David was right behind the new club, and he set out on his own quest.One day David woke up in a pool of sweat, his heart racing. He had dream. He at once set out to find out everything there was to know about the Energex Resuce Helicopter service. Over the next few years there was no club he would not visit to extol the virtues of signing up on your electricity bill to help support the service. He visited Rotary Clubs, Apex Clubs, Probus Clubs, Golf Clubs, Bowls Clubs, nightclubs, Gay Clubs and even those clubs that are only spoke out in private between ex servicemen. He was our very own Pied Piper. David would prance into the clubs, show off a presentation and as though under a spell, the members would hand over small and large amounts of cash to him. Needless to say, the presentations continue today under the AGL banner, and it’s one of the club’s most successful fund raising ventures, with over $100 000 given to the Rescue Helicopter since inception.
Members came and went under the rule of David and the club shifted to the Headland Golf Club. The death of Bernard did see some of our Kiwi brothers leave the club, but as always, there was a great core of members working in the background. Chris had even returned from Brisbane, where his search for his very own Maid Marion proved fruitless. He set up his own company and commenced legal work (thieving from the rich and the poor this time).
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We also commenced our Pride of Workmanship award dinners and these have been a shining light for both Rotary in general, but particularly for recognition for hard and valued workers amongst our community. Many thanks must go to all of our Vocational Directors over the years who have worked in conjunction with other club members to make these nights a success. People like John Fear, Carmel, Gary, Prue, Colleen and Bob Murdoch to name but a few.
Chris 2002
At the end of the 01/02 Rotary Year, Chris was ready to give it another go as President, this time for the full year. The club was happy and many activities were now forming part of the AHRC’s roles, namely:
Vocational Visits
Clean Up Australia days.
Social BBQ’s at the Alex beach
Youth Activities such as Rotary Exchange Students, RYLA.
Pride of Workmanship awards nights
Fifth Friday social functions
Participation in numerous Charity Golf Days throughout the region.
John Fear even organized a Sunshine Coast Rotary Club “Blood Bank” challenge and took the club to many sites were we had breakfast then donated our blood. I think John was not only a Kiwi, but a close vampire.
The trailer was back in our hands again and thanks to David Woodrow, was fitted out with a BBQ. We were now able to take our vision to the public. We started cooking BBQ’s at various events such as:
The Row for Cancer (held every year in Sept for the Wishlist Foundation)
The Mooloolaba Seafood Festival
One off events in the community.
Bunning’s weekend days (where we still hold the record for selling the most sausages in one day –
90kgs). We also learnt a lot about Bob Thompson’s cooking techniques on one of the days. Suffice to say, that I’ve never seen a man burn a sausage in so many different ways. We also had our current Bulletin Editor, Bill Brereton join the club from this event, enquiring about us. He remarked on how friendly we were to each other and also how hard and black the sausages were. I’m sure Bill joined just so he could show Bob a thing or two!
Who could ever forget Tony Parker standing beside the BBQ under the Deck restaurant at the Spit for the Seafood Festival? It was freezing cold and the poor bugger was by himself trying to keep up with demand. Tony was one of the nicest guys you could meet (for a Pommy) and was a hard worker in the club, filling the position of secretary on a number of occasions. He was also a real estate agent (we’ve had a few of those in our time) and a great mate of everyone’s. Tony passed away in Aug 2007, and we have a seat at the top of Alexandra Headland dedicated to him. He is sadly missed.
In his time as President for the second time, Chris did actually find his Maid Marion in Brenda. She was a school teacher, was fit, good looking and intelligent. What they had in common we will never know? The relationship flourished and they eventually married and had two wonderful kids. Brenda continues to be the better looking and fitter of the pair, and still holds the record for the fastest run leg for our Mooloolaba Triathlon team. Something that we have let Chris forget easily!
Peter - 2003
Peter Andrews was a fellow Charter Member and wore the Rotary Necklace in 2003. In a previous life, he was a corporate type who spent most of his working life in Asia, particularly Hong Kong. In fact, he still frequents the region as he has many friends, family and business associates living here. Peter’s line of work was elevators - the design, installation and maintenance of elevators in large multi-storey buildings. How did Peter became involved in this line of work?
One day, as a little boy, Peter had come home from school and arrived to greet his mother early (usually Peter was in detention and he was very quick witted and his sarcasm got him in lots of trouble with the
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teachers). His mother was short of milk so asked Peter to visit the local shop. On his way, he was met by a man, who talked him into buying some “magic beans”.
Peter took the beans but when he arrived home with no milk or money and only a hand full of beans, his angry mother threw the worthless beans out the window and sent him to bed without supper for his foolishness.
As Peter slept, the beans germinated in the soil, and by morning a gigantic beanstalk grew in their place. When Peter saw the huge beanstalk, he immediately decided to climb it. He arrived in a land high up in the clouds that happened to be the home of a giant. When he broke into the giant's castle, the giant quickly sensed a human was near and chased him down the beanstalk.
However, as Peter escaped from the castle, he took a bag of gold coins with him, vowing never to return. Before his mother found out, he chopped the beanstalk down and from that day forward he dreamed of once again visiting the land in the sky. Thinking that there was a better way to visit the land in the sky, the elevator business was a particular interest to him and he worked towards his dream.
I have grave doubts as to whether or not this story is factual, but this was the account he gave me when I asked. I think he shouldn’t have experimented with those mushrooms during his years at the University of Hard Knocks.
One of our early club distinctions was to have many Youth projects. Our first Rotary Youth Exchange student, Majella Daniels (was a daughter of Greg Daniels, one of our members at the time and senior policeman), went to Germany, and we have hosted a German exchange student, Mark Hohnhaus. Other exchange students were Enni-kukka Tuomala from Finland; Andrew Baker, who went to Germany; and Cassandra Dickens who went to Canada in 2005.
We have developed strong commitments to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) and have sent many outstanding young people to the course over the years. Of course there are other Youth programs like the Siemens Science Program, the National Youth Science Forum and also locally where we were involved with the Sunshine Coast University mentoring and helping year 9 students.
It was also around this time when population and urban development was a hot topic on the Sunshine Coast. Our member at the time, David Coleman was deeply involved with ideas and planning for 2025 and beyond. He was a cattle farmer from Gympie and was passionate about planned development. We can all remember he big bandy legs that looked like he had just gotten off his horse. Sadly David moved to Caloundra, became a member of their club and passed away soon after.
As we all know Peter is a highly organised individual, and he had the club running like clockwork in his year. His current vocation is Leisure Management, and we can all remember the inspirational talk he gave the club on his current activities. I don’t know where he has the time to do anything?!!
Russell – 2004.
Peter handed the Rotary Necklace over to Russell Thompson in 2004. This was a difficult time in the history of the club as it was quite a task to find anyone to step into the role as President. Russell had been a President before at Woombye Sunrise before he transferred to Alexandra Headland.
Russell was an interesting character to say the least. He grew up in the country the youngest of 5 children, 4 girls and himself. His childhood revolved around school, the farm and rugby league. Being the youngest he was constantly annoyed by his sisters, and they continuously fought over who got to dress him up. Many occasions involved Russell being dressed up in girls and women’s clothing as his sisters played tea parties and the like.
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Of course the rest of the boys in town heard about the dress up and Russell was teased amongst his fellow male friends. It was only when, after an interschool league game, Russell found the coach of the team wearing women’s underwear, did the teasing stop. They came to an agreement that day and the coach set to it to ensure none of the other boys picked on Russell, otherwise the coach’s secret would be known. He grew up as quite a talented fullback for his local league teams, until when he was in his early twenties, had a terrible knee injury that ended his promising career.
Russell’s leadership style was direct and to the point, very much in the style how he dealt with people. He was a favourite amongst the females in the club, and we were sad to see Russell eventually leave to return to Woombye Sunrise. He achieved a Rotary Citation in his year, as all of the goals that he set out at the start of his year were achieved.
It was also in Russell’s year that our first Paul Harris Fellow award was given to one of our own members. David Woodrow was the receiptant of this prestigious award for his long term achievements within our club and previous work within the local community.
Also in the year, we commenced our annual Xmas raffle, thanks largely to the work put into it by Gary Lynch. The raffle has proved a big success and our major source of income over the years. It is also an advertising front for Dixon Homes and occasionally, Gary even managed to obtain a few phone numbers on unsuspecting available female members of the public! We think the last female “friend” was a bit of a bunny boiler so that’s the main reason he has “stepped back” a bit this year. Might have something to do with the restraining order hey Gary?
It was also in this year that a few of the members of the club decided to compete in the Mooloolaba Triathlon to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. This was chosen as Charlie Summer’s son was diagnosed with the condition and it was a worthy cause. We were also asked to provide volunteers to the event and this has lead to a long term relationship between our club and USM Events, providing helpers for the Gear Tent on the event day. How can we ever forget the looks on the faces of Bob Murdoch and Geoff Davies (to name a few) when these fit, young and athletic women would start to undress in front of them? With the heart issues Geoff has had, we nearly had to call for an ambulance!
For the inaugural event, Chris Byrnes (Prue’s better and much less colourful half) completed the 1.5km swim, Scott pedalled 40km on the bike and Chris Baker ran the 10km. We set a World Record for Rotary Clubs and raised approximately $10 000 for the Leukaemia Foundation. This would be the start of something....
Early year since we have fielded the same team in the event, except of course when Chris pulled the pin a couple of weeks out and got Brenda to take his place. Lucky too as she has managed to record the fastest run leg to date. I don’t know how he lives with himself, having his wife beat him like that! In 2010, for the first time, we had a team that comprised of all members of the club – Scott swam, Gary rode his bike and Chris ran. An amazing achievement given the training required to complete such an event.