GSE Team Taste Aussie Fare

On the menu, grilled Kangaroo, Lamb and Chicken at Swann River.... From the left:  Megan Kuhn, Bill Croxton (Team Leader), Jacquie Heron (Inbound Australian GSE Coordinator) hosting us with grilled delights, Dwayne Petersen, Diana Truong, Jordan Clough.

GSE Team greeted by Cyclone Rusty

.Our Rotary Group Study Exchange arrives in Western Australia on Monday February 25th and is greeted by the arrival of another visitor from the Indian Ocean, category 4 Cyclone Rusty..... fortunately the GSE team are in Perth and some distance from the storm's intense battering of the Western Australia coast further north of Perth.

Reception honor bond between Western Australia and Virginia

Nice reception at the Western Australia parliament -  Barry House, President of the Legislative Council of Western Australia receives a pewter Jefferson cup from Bill Croxton (right), Rotary GSE Team Leader, and also receives a special friendship letter from Bill Howell Speaker of the House of the State of Virginia and a letter from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell .

GSE Team visits the Western Australia Legislative Council

The Virginia GSE team visits Barry House, President of the Legislative Council in Perth, Western Australia. The team was impressed by the amount of time the President devoted to their visit and endorsed the value of the exchange - Barry House was a past GSE scholar so he understood the value of the program. From the left: Jordan Clough, Dwayne Petersen, Diana Truong, Barry House (President of the Legislative Council), Megan Kuhn, Bill Croxton (Team Leader).

President John Lewis graduates the final phase of the Rotary Leadership Institute in Blacksburg on 2 FEB 2013. RLI is a 3-phased program designed to better educate and develop current and future Rotary Leaders.  It is totally on a volunteer basis and one of Club President John Lewis's goals for the year  - which was have 4 RLI grads: John Gregory, Bill Croxton, John Lewis and C. Norman Wood.  John Lewis did this to further develop himself as a leader and also to set the example for more to follow!

Bill Croxton Team Leader on GSE to Australia

GSE Team Members

The situation has (finally) resolved itself, and a new GSE Team Leader has been appointed.  He is Rotarian Bill Croxton of the Rotary Club of Tappahannock, VA.  Bill is a former Assistant Governor of our Rotary District, and an experienced world traveler.  He speaks/understands Australian!

Bill accepted the appointment with appreciation and excitement, stepping up in a situation where he will not have the normal time to become acquainted with you.  As you may gather, he ranked high in the set of interviews that were conducted several months ago for this job.  In other words, he wanted the job from the start!

Bill will hit the ground running, but he will certainly be appreciative of anything you can do to cement the bond between leader and team member.

Michelle, thank you for all that you have already done to assist our team in getting ready for a great trip.  You are a professional in every sense of the word.  I owe you big time!

Chuck Davidson
District Rotary Foundation Chair

Rotary New Year's Eve Cruise Raffle

Top photo: Joanne Ruffa and Bill Croxton welcome the guests to the Tappahannock Regional Free Clinic New Year's Eve party at Hobbs Hole Restaurant - the highlight of the evening was  the drawing for a Rotary sponsored Caribbean Cruise for two.
Bottom photo: Michael Faulkner (left) and Bill Croxton pulled the winning ticket from the spinning
drum and the lucky winner was Sue Hoffman of Alexandria. Congratulations!!

Jenni Armor entertains the Tappahannock Rotary Club!

Jenni Armor, daughter of Jeff and Liz Armor, entertains the Tappahannock Rotary Club this evening December 13th with numbers from her Jazz and Broadway repertoire. Jennifer is an accomplished singer and peforms classical violin, traditional and Celtic fiddle, as well as Jazz, Blues and Broadway vocals. In the center, Jeff, her father is controlling the background music while Ron Geiger is being honored with a special song.

Norman Wood receives his Paul Harris Award

See more of the evening awards at http://www.tappahannockrotary.org/web-2012-present/
including Club Awards and other service awards. Norman Wood is pinned by Chuck Davis , the District 5610 Foundation Chair. Tom Saville (see photo gallery) was recognized for his Citizen of Year evening and honoring Joe and Helen Ware. Also assisting in the presentations is Scott Clary (in green jacket) a District 5610 Foundation leader.

Rotary Club Social mid-Atlantic

Only two members, Emerson Hughes and David Broad,  attended this extra special meeting and social hour half way between Africa and the Caribbean.  Due to lack of member attendance, the program was abandoned and the social hour extended another two hours.

Rotary Club Marine Corps Marathon Runner

Bill and Melanie Reavis ran this year's Marine Corps Marathon as a fundraiser for Jacob's Ladder and in Bill's son Andrew memory.  Please  support this effort, there are many underprivileged, hardworking, enthusiastic young students who will benefit greatly!  http ://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/billreavis/2012-marine-corps-marathon-team-andrew

Dr. John Gregory Graduates Again!

This time around Dr. John Gregory graduates from RLI - Rotary Leadership Institute - on November 17th at Germana Community College in preparation for his upcoming Presidency of the Club 2013-2014. Well done John!

Being President of the 50+ member Tappahannock Rotary Club is a highly challenging task and John will need all the leadership tools in his doctor's bag to keep the club on track next year!

Historic Rotary Meeting

Just stumbled across my Rotary attendance make-up certificate for a very special evening in Moscow on August 20th, 1991. We met for the social hour and suddenly the entire Russian Rotary membership of some 25 men excused themselves in mass  "we have some very important business to attend to...." and left us (about 8) foreigners to our meal! That evening was in fact the fateful night in the coup d'etat between Yeltsin in the Russian White House against the traditional communist regime headed by Gorbachev and effectively the day that turned Russia to Perestroika.

Rotary Past-President Bill Reavis weds this weekend to Melanie Kyte Throckmorton

Rotary Announces Citizens of the Year

Tappahannock Rotary Club presents Mr Joe Ware and Mrs Helen Ware of Dunsville, VA our Vocational Award of "Citizen of the Year". John Lewis presented the Rotary Award and Monte Gladding the Mayor of Tappahannock also presented them with a key to the town for all the greatness they have done and continue to do for our great town and county. We could all wish there were more selfless people like the Wares in the world. CONGRATS to them both.

Meanwhile at the bar...

Rotary barmen par excellence... Bob Jump and Gary Youngling mix drinks for the thirsty crowd.... to view the photo album of guests and Rotary click here

Annual Pig Roast Feeds Hundreds!

Tom Saville and Sonny Terry take first shift on the serving line doling out large portions of Roasted Pork Loin, BarBeQue, Beans and Cole Slaw along with the usual chocolate cake dessert and large helpings of good humor and community friendship..... to view the full album of guests enjoying their evening and Rotary members hard at work click here

Steve Cook, new District 5610 Governor visits TRC

Steve Cook, the new District 5610 Governor for 2012-13 from Springfield, VA, assisted by Kylie Bransford, Assistant District Governor based in Kilmarnock, met with John Lewis, Tappahannock Club President, and John Gregory, President-elect and the rest of the board today at Roma's for an introduction annual meeting where each board member in turn presented their annual goals for the club.

Rotary Mission to Jamaica

John Frazier and Tommy Neuman visited Kingston, Jamaica to spearhead a mission to help improve the literacy rate at Stony Hill school in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. The plan is to install two interactive whiteboards in classrooms of these schools - thereby helping to increase literacy from 40% to 80% in the 6th grade students using the program.  The Jamaica Rotary Club of St. Andrews is helping facilitate the introduction and development of this significant program to help the school children in their vicinity.  Click here to view John Frazier's and Tommy Neuman's Powerpoint presentation. [Caution - large files that may that a few moments to load]

Rotary - Can you Pass the 40 Year Test?

John Gregory was presented with a recognition plaque this evening at our regular club meeting at Roma's Ristorante in Tappahannock..... the plaque reads "CLUB SERVICE ABOVE SELF AWARD, Presented to DR. JOHN GREGORY For 40 years of Outstanding and Dedicated Leadership. ROTARY CLUB OF TAPPAHANNOCK 2012" Congratulations John! Significantly, the plaque was presented by Dr. Tommy Neuman. himself a 40 year veteran of Rotary, however unlike John who served his 40 years with the Tappahannock Club, Tommy's service began in 1971 as a member of the Orangevale Club in Orangevale California, then went on to Foothill-Highlands Club in Sacramento California - (only a few miles between the two!), then in 1987-88 The Rotary Club of Thamesdown in Swindon, England, and finally in December of 2000 to the Tappahannock Rotary Club. Congratulations both of you long timers!