Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 1115 Issue Date: 14 Apr, 2024

Visit to the Rotary Club of Cambridge.

Today, Wednesday 18th April, we paid a visit to the Rotary Club of Cambridge at the Cambridge Bowling Club.

It was a wet morning but we were met at the entrance by a pop-up coffee stall at the rear of a 5-door car. Having collected our coffees and found our way into the club bar we were greeted by the members in true Rotary fashion. We were invited to help ourselves to breakfast which was a selection of pastries such as croissants and quiche. There was also orange juice and muesli with yoghurt.

We were formally welcomed by Club President, Jeremy Wood, who opened the business of the Club by calling on Max Puddey to tell the members about the state of negotiations for the Cambridge Men’s Shed. Max was very pleased to be able to tell the meeting that five years of lobbying and negotiations had resulted in the Cambridge Council agreeing to the establishment of a Men’s Shed as part of the refurbishment of the Lake Monger Recreation Club. Land had been allocated to the east of the site. It was now up to the Club to produce a funding plan and a corporate identity for the Shed. Max was congratulated by the members on this great result and thanked for the large amount of time he had contributed to this project.

The speaker for the meeting, Rotarian Velu Ramasamy was then introduced. Velu’s talk was about the “Wheatbelt Science Hub”

Velu is based in Northam where he has found many of the challenges faced by country children in obtaining a complete education and developing their full potential. These included insufficient support, resources and transport. In addition many teachers were not confident in teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Velu had a vision where the attractions of the region could be used to encourage students to study STEM subjects and convened a meeting at Wongan Hills where the Wheat Belt Science Hub was formed. This consists of a committee and volunteers. The idea is to stimulate student interest in STEM by enabling them to discover the joy of studying science. The hub has been supported by an $80,000 grant from Inspiring Australia and other smaller grants.

As part of the programme, over 170 sites of interest have been identified across Western Australia and these have been formed into the Wheatbelt Science Trail, details of which can be found at wheatbeltscience.org.au/trail. At these sites, a series of geocaches have been established to which visitors may add or take away a souvenir.  The potential of these as a tourist attraction has also been recognised by grants from the Royalties for Regions Programme.

Velu concluded his talk by telling the meeting that many farmers were leaving the land looking for solutions for their current difficulties and that more funds were needed.