This week our guest speakers were James McKey from the State Government and Paul Bloomfeild from Utas who presented the University's plans to move into the centre of Launceston at the Inveresk site. Paul explained the reason for this move, stating that they were basing it on the Geelong and Deekin University experience. The aim of the move was to have a higher education presence in the North of the State. Paul spoke about the Memorandum of Understanding between Local and State Governments, the University and Tas Tafe. It was said that the project would have major social and economic benefits.
For more details please go to the University website.
[email protected]/northern-expansion.
On Saturday 26th the Rotary Club held our Cocktails for a Cause Party. Please look at our Facebook page for photos of the event.
Next week's meeting is a casual get together at the Hotel Launceston.

This week at Tamar Sunrise we had a lot to celebrate. First It was with great pleasure that Caro Brown introduced the club to Simone Hackett, our club's applicant for next year's Professional Development Exchange to Montanna in the USA. 
Simone and her husband, Daniel run Riverfly 1864, originally founded as a river-based guiding business in 2005. It has grown to become one of Tasmania’s most respected guided fly fishing operations. RiverFly was a Tasmanian Tourism Award Finalist (2013), in a first for the Australian fly fishing industry. We all wish Simone well with her application and believe that she would be a fabulous ambassador for our State.

Our Guest speaker this week was our very own Lou Mason who  was speaking in her other role which is that of an Interplast committee member. Earlier this year we were pleased to give this great organisation a donation towards their next trip.
Interplast’s intentions are simple. They exist to repair bodies and rebuild lives.
In a nutshell, they are a not-for-profit organisation working to improve the quality of life for people with disability who are disabled as a result of congenital or acquired medical conditions such as cleft lip and palate or burn scar contractures. They do this by sending fully qualified Australian and New Zealand volunteer plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied health professionals to the Asia Pacific region to provide free surgical treatment for patients who would otherwise not be able to afford access to such services.  They pride themselves on leaving a legacy. They aim to do themselves out of a job. They focus heavily on facilitating medical training and mentoring for in-country medical personnel by supporting and building the capacity of local health services.
Quite simply, their purpose is to provide life-changing surgery today and sustainable health systems tomorrow.

- See more at: http://www.interplast.org.au/who-we-are/our-organisation/#sthash.IXPo77ZJ.dpuf

This week Jann Rowlands our Youth Director met with Lynn Wyllie-Watson and her team at the Child and Family Centre at Ravenswood. The Rotary Club of Tamar Sunrise are extremely proud to be a sponsor of this great Centre's early learn to swim program. We hope that it is the first of many projects that we will do together.

This week unfortunately our guest speaker was not well, so we had a spirited conversation led by Toni Wagner on genealogy. Toni  has been researching her family tree and told us a fascinating story about an uncle who was a convict but ended up a wealthy landowner in New South Wales. 

I would like to take this opportunity to remind every one about our Cocktail Party on September 26th at Chalmers Church. All are welcome and it is for two fabulous causes. The first being our Nutrition and Meal program in the Philippines and  the second is the local  Learn to Swim program run  through the Ravenswood Centre. The Cocktail committee have been working hard to ensure a fabulous event and I urge all members and their friends to attend.

This week was a very special week for Tamar Sunrisers. Not only did we have the pleasure of entertaining the District Governor John Dare and his wife Lesley, we officially welcomed Marisa Davenport to our club, plus Susan Dolby brought in this year's finalists for the Children's Book of the Year.

John began his address by thanking Danny Gibson and Lou Mason for the fabulous work that they are doing organising next years' Rotary Conference to be held in Deloraine. He advised us that he had three main goals for our district. They were : 1) To increase the numbers of members by 100 . 2) To talk up our programmes- he urged us to get on board the excitement bus and share our successes with our community. 3) And finally he encouraged us to strengthen our club by adding one extra service plan, such as the re-introduction of the Rotary Bowel Scan Service. 
 John also spoke about his wish that all clubs increased their giving by 10% over last year. We were all inspired by John's speech and agreed to try and make his goals a reality.

One of the regular highlights of the Tamar Sunrise Year is when Susan Dolby brings in the finalists of the Children's Picture Book Awards and reads to us her favourites. This year it was a story of immigration and acceptance titled, My Two Blankets, that captured our imagination. 

On Friday the first Carols Committee meeting was held and already the buzz is out there that it will be a bigger and better event than last year!

Next week we have Lou Mason from Interplast as our guest speaker with Toni delivering her Members Minute. We also have a Board meeting at 7.00am at Cube Aqua, all members are welcome to attend.