1986 A short history of the Rotary Club of Pascoe Vale
1986 Tenth Anniversary – Dinner
CHARTER ANNIVERSARY DINNER DANCE
Rotary Clubs of Coburg and Pascoe Vale
Saturday, August 2nd 1986
Air Force Club, 4 Cromwell Road, South Yarra
Ken Baulch, President of Coburg Rotary Club
John Lawless, President of Pascoe Vale Rotary Club
Toast to Rotary International: P.D.G. Mike Reiner
Toast Response: District Governor, Leo Gorman
1986 Tenth Anniversary – A Short History
In May 1976 District Governor Frank Ruler appointed Rotarian Carl Verey as his Special Representative to form the Rotary Club of Pascoe Vale. The initial meetings were held in April/May 1976. On 31st May, 1976, Pascoe Vale was admitted into the family of Rotary International.
On Monday 2nd August, 1976 the Rotary Club of Pascoe Vale was presented with its Charter by District Governor, Keppel Turnour at a function held at the Northern Golf Club. Under its first President, Sam Gandolfo, the Club established the Jim Esselmont Award in memory of one of Coburg’s most community minded citizens. A former Councillor, Jim was to have been Charter President. The Club also started to interest itself in a feasibility study of a comprehensive care centre for the aged.
Its second President, Mike Reiner, later to become District Governor of District 979, directed the club into many aspects of Rotary Service. He was also the Club’s first recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship.
Permanent links were established with the Northern Spastic Centre and, in conjunction with the Apex Club of Coburg, a Mini Bus was presented to the Coburg City Council for use by the citizens of Coburg. The club was also the recipient of a Rotary Foundation Grant to enable Policewoman, Marcia Caulfield, to undertake an overseas study course on hostage negotiation.
Under the guidance of successive Presidents, the club went from project to project, its most significant being the Edith Bendall Retirement Village, a planned 28-unit complex, 14 of which are now completed and providing accommodation for our elderly citizens. This project was achieved in conjunction with the Lions Club of Strathmore.
In 1982 the Club bestowed its second Paul Harris Fellowship upon Rotarian Rock Pinder for Community Service work.
The Club has organised Exchange Student programs, both inward and outward. It has also sponsored
a very successful Girls’ Debating Team from the Pascoe Vale Girls’ School which won the Ian Murphy
Memorial Debate at District Conference in two successive years.
The Club was instrumental in the establishment of a Disaster Fund to provide relief to the victims of
the 1983 bushfires in Victoria. It also assisted in hosting members of the United Kingdom, Group Study Exchange team during their stay in in District 979, and a group from the Rotary Club of Berlin-Tiergarten as they passed though Melbourne.
In1985 Past President, Mike Reiner, became Governor of Rotary District 979 while a former member of the Club, Neil Strongman, who upon retirement moved to NSW, became Governor of Rotary District 965. The Club experienced its first hosting of a District Conference in 1986 which was undertaken in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Coburg. The most recent in a longline of achievement was the endorsement of the club’s nomination for the Rotary Foundation Award.