Narrandera Rotary Club has once again swung into action for what will be a very busy year ahead.

The first event was the Lil Mills Tertiary Scholarship on 18 February when Rotary members and many guests were able to meet nominees and winners of the “Lil Mills Tertiary Scholarship”.

A large part of the club focusses on youth as they prepare for their future after leaving formal school. The purpose of the scholarship is to help students to make the transition in the first year with living expenses for example board, text books, transport or course fees.

To be eligible students must be completing their last year of formal schooling, reside in Narrandera shire and be planning to embark on some form of tertiary studies through a university, Tafe, apprenticeship, or other tertiary institution within the next 12 months.

The winners of the scholarship:

1. Milly Smith ($4000) will be studying occupational therapy

2. Harvey Odgers ($3000) will be studying physiotherapy

3. Marcella Close ($1500) studying education (K-12)

4. Keely McLean ($1500) who will be studying medical radiation diagnostics.

The second Lil Mills Scholarship presentation took place on 20 May in the Narrandera Ex Servicemen’s Club.

This scholarship was the Lil Mills Apprentice/Trainee Scholarship.

The winners were:

1. Harry Taylor ($4000) who is doing his Certificate III in Horticulture, Narrandera Shire Council – (parks and gardens)

2. Mason Pearson ($2500), heavy vehicle mechanic, Narrandera Shire Council

3. Dustyn Morgan ($1500), Bundy’s Plastering Certificate III Wall and Ceiling, Solid Plastering.

4. Riley Smith ($1000) Certificate III Horticulture, Narrandera Shire Council

5. Isaiah Hutchinson ($1000), Phase 2 Electrical Apprenticeship with Zac Campbell

These cholarships are in memory of Lil Mills, who was a local woman, who worked tirelessly for her community through a number of different organisations including, Narrandera Show Society, Red Cross, CWA (70 years), Police Community Consultative Committee, Spastic Council, Meals on Wheels, View Club, National Party, Uniting Church Fellowship. This is only a small portion of what she was involved in.

Growing up on a farm Lil always wanted to be a teacher, however her father was so involved in Community Affairs including State President of the Farmers Association for five years.

He was a very versatile man who made his way in the world. That had a lot to do with her dream not being realised to become a teacher.

Lil said she had no regrets, saying she loved farm life which was to continue with her marriage to her husband Bert, Lil came along to Rotary as a friend of Rotary, however was not satisfied with that, so then came on as a full member to become one of the oldest new member, if not the oldest, in Australia at over 90 years of age.

This year Stromlo Energy partnered with the Narrandera Rotary Club in awarding these two scholarships. Stromlo Energy are the developers of the Devlin’s Bridge Wind Farm.

Another youth program held earlier this year was RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness).

Year 11 students from across the region travelled to the Yanco Agriculture Institute to participate in the Road Safety Education (RSE) award winning Road Safety Program, that will challenge the way they view themselves and their choices as both young drivers and their passengers start to drive independently.

The (RYDA) program is a series of practical and powerful workshops that provides students a unique opportunity to learn about behavioural and technical factors associated with road safety at a critical time in their lives, it takes each student one school day to complete the program, several Rotarians from schools around the region attend to supervise the students.

(RYDA) is an award winning, road safety education program that was created when four teenagers were killed in a car being driven by a P plater. The car smashed into an innocent woman’s vehicle and she was seriously injured.

The Rotary Club of St Ives decided something had to be done, and the first RYDA was conducted in 2001.

Another fantastic Rotary Program is the MHERV (Men’s Health Education Rural Van) “Saving men’s lives is the catchcry of the Rotary Men’s Van.

It is an initiative of the Rotary Club of Warners Bay in collaboration with local Rotary Clubs and other community groups in each area it visits.

With the support of the Royal Freemason’s Benevolent Institution, a registered nurse undertakes free basic check-up’s for “blokes”. Services provided are blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar (diabetes) with the consultation taking around 10 minutes and provides immediate results.

Over the past four years, the van has seen over 12,000 men and potentially saved an estimate 450 lives because of these basic health checks.

The project leader Graeme Hooper says “while men are our key target as we don’t want them dropping dead in the paddock, ladies are also welcome

“Mherv” sees around 3500 patients each year and it is no surprise how many males have undetected symptom’s, with around 40 per cent require following up with their own GP. It is not known how many rural men have died suddenly for the want of a basic health check.

Rotary Clubs along the towns visited support the project locally. They provide accommodation and meals, for the registered nurse and they liaise with the local council for suitable parking for the van.

Rotarians staff the registration desk outside the van and work with local media to gain publicity prior to the van arrival.

This year at the end of March the “Mherv” van was due to be in Narrandera but to tie in with the agriculture field days, the van was relocated to the Whitton Malthouse with Rotarians from Narrandera, Leeton, and Griffith staffing it.

The annual Narrandera community new residents night was held a little later in the year than usual, but it turned out to be a very pleasant evening at the lovely Coco Lounge in East Street.

There were a large number of new residents and their families, coming to the wonderful shire of Narrandera to live, including, our new Narrandera shire general manager, Tim Coote and his wife Ilda and our new deputy general manager of finance, Andrew Reynolds.

The new residents had arrived in Narrandera through employment, education, agriculture while others just came for a tree change or just to get out of the rat race.

Mayor Neville welcomed the new residents to Narrandera, telling them a little about how wonderful it is to live here, including the small towns of Barellan and Grong Grong.

The shire covers an area of 4000 sq kilometres and 700 kilometres, of sealed roads and some of the best recreational facilities in the Riverina.

Narrandera was declared a town in 1863 making it one of the oldest In the Riverina.

Each of the new residents gave a short speech on the reason why they came to Narrandera.

To finish up the report January to June – The world needs more Rotarians.

Who are we: We are ordinary people just like you, and together we would be able to achieve great things …

So now is the time to think about becoming a Rotarian and if anyone would like to find out more about Rotary please talk to myself in person or phone 0417 200 441, Jason Haines 0488 594 450 or Bob Manning 0428 592 553 or any member of the Narrandera Rotary Club.