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District Governors' Visit

On 28th May '25 we were joined by two guest speakers, close club friends DG9780 Lesley Shedden and dynamic Rotary leader DG9800 Michael La Pina.

Coming to the end of her term as District Governor, Lesley acknowledged RCWB for “all the wonderful work you do” across a range of areas. Lesley highlighted Rotary’s Youth Experience Program, focussing on RCWB’s success with Youth Exchange including Harold’s current stay and forthcoming exchanges for 8 inbound and 11 outbound young people from D9780.

Lesley commended RCWB’s consistent and ongoing efforts at the Bridge Mall Farmer’s Market each month, support for international projects, namely Ambon, pausing at this point to offer her condolences to the club at Rob McDougall’s passing. Lesley went on to acknowledge the variety of social and networking activities generated by RCWB such as coffee club and cryptic crossword group, mentioning Rotary’s newest funding appeal for those affected by the drought in southern and south-western Victoria to close out her address.

How could we not be engaged by someone who commenced his address with opera singing?! Michael La Pina went on to speak about how two main career threads in his life, opera singing and National Australia Bank project management, had led to a third career as an executive coach and how “working with people to get the best out of them” has become a true passion.

Michael also made connections between the need for Rotarians to bring their Ikagai – a Japanese concept which translates to ‘a reason for living’ or ‘reason to jump out of bed in the morning’ – and the need for Rotary clubs to be passionate about every the “member behind the badge”. Michael exemplifies this kind of connection; in saying, “I will sing for you” and donating his fee to Rotary, Michael showed us how to combine vocation with our service work. Talk about a strong finish! Michael left us with more opera and the President’s words – a “talented culture-builder” ringing in our ears.