Fun in the sun at Lake Cargelligo

The weekend of the 12 & 13 of January culminated in the last trip planing session for the Philippines 2011 GSE team, a dry run of our presentations before the Rotary Club of Lake Cargelligo and some fun in the sun on the Lake. The picture shows Jo, Dane and myself on the biscuits behind Libby and Peter Skipworth's boat.

Many thanks go to Rotary Club of Lake Cargelligo President, Betty Breese and fellow Rotarians John & Sue Hart and Ross Beattie for hosting us over the weekend. And the team sure loved the hospitality and the lovely meals, we haven't eaten so well for months!

Thanks also go the the Skipworth family especially Libby and Peter for making their speed boat 'Temtation' available and Kevin and Joyce Skipworth for their kind hospitality at their beautiful lakeside home.

This weekend really strengthened the team by meeting in a family context with, Jo's children Kaitlyn, Natalie and Sam, Dane's wife Kelly, Graeme's wife Jill and Libby's Husbund Peter and children Darcy and Gracie also attending.

A bit of recreation to break up all the trip planning served us all well in helping everyone relax, despite a few bumps and bruises and sore muscles...

Also thanks for the Rotary Club of Lake Cargelligo for their advice for further refinement of our presentations.

cheers

Frank

Team Uniform

A big thank you is extended from Jo, Libby, Frank and Dane to their sponsoring Rotary clubs of Oberon, Lake Cargellico, Griffith and Parkes, respectively for their sponsorship of a team Blazer. 

The Five Friends chose a team uniform from Fletcher Jones for their visit to the Philippines. This will be worn at the conference and other official events the team will be attending.

For vocational and cultural visits, the team will be choosing some items more suitable to the climate.  We will also be having a tradtional barong tagalog tailored.  We are sure you will all get a kick out of the blog photos we will post wearing traditional dress :)

Five Friends plus Anim.

District Governor Neal Fogarty, Five Friends and Anim.

We would also like to extend a big thank-you to Past District Governor John Egan from Parkes  for kindly taking official team photographs during our visit to Grenfell.

Five Friends visit Parkes

Dane and his wife Kelly, hosted The Five Friends fourth official meeting at their home in Parkes.

Unbeknown to Libby and Jo, Dane and Kelly are expecting their first child.  CONGRATULATIONS!!  "The boys" were privy to this information at the Grenfell visit, but apparently didn't feel the information newsworthy enough to pass on (Men!!) 

After spending "rigorous" hours planning of our visit to the Philippines we had time to be shown around the town of Parkes. A lovely lunch of Pasta and Pizza was had by all at a local restaurant, Bella's.  While the waitress was most apologetic for our meal being delayed, we took the time and enjoyed a lovely bottle of red and good conversation.

Our visit to Parkes also coincided with an art display by Sean James Cassidy's (Melodies of Woven Light).  Unfortunately the majority of the collection had been sold at auction prior to our visit, but the items still on display provided a preliminary insight into Philippines inspired art.

After the historic tour of Parkes and our mandatory photo shoot, we had a quick afternoon tea at the Hendry's.  Thank goodness Dane has overcome his fear of Banana's and baked a delicious banana cake after which we  all departed in our various directions.

The team will meet for their final pre-trip preparations in January at Lake Cargellico.

On a final note: Libby, Jo, Frank and Dane have been on a msission introducing Graeme to the world of blogs, skype, wiki's, and desktop publishing. Graeme, although sometimes unsure of what we could possibly be referring to, or where on earth any of this will take us, hands us the reins to carry on.  I don't think we have disappointed him yet!!
So while this blog comes 'posted' from me (Jo), I would like to acknowledge Graeme's input into the creation of this post.

Parkes' History

The town was named after Sir Henry Parkes (GCMG), born 27^th May 1815 – 27^th April 1896.

He was an Australian statesman and known as the father of Australian Federation for he was one of the earliest advocates of a Federation of the Australian Colonies. He is considered the most prominent of the Founding Fathers.

Henry Parkes was a commanding figure, tall of stature with a mane of a beard and rugged facial features. He was a commanding orator who adapted his message to his audience. He had little formal education but read extensively and this assisted his political life. A vain man he often resigned from parliament if he didn’t get his own way only later to seek re-election.

A bad manager of his personal affairs, for he died penniless, however in his parliamentary career he chose good treasurers for his terms in office and they provided sound financial administration. The town was named after him and the main street after his wife Clarinda.