Past President (PP) Napa has continued her travels around the globe, in August she finally travelled to Melbourne in Australia after the original trip was postponed due to Covid. Napa travelled with Inter Country Service chair Alan brown and his wife Nadia.
As Service project chair PP Napa is always on duty even whilst on holiday.
Through Alans well established contacts in Australia PP Napa visited several Rotary Clubs. On her visit to the Rotary Club of Noble Park Dingley in Rotary District 9810 in Melbourne she met club members for lunch and club President for Rotary year 118 Greg Penaluna. During this meeting the Rotary Club of Noble Park Dingley agreed to become a global partner for the Thap Put hospital dental clinic in Phang Gna.When the work is completed on renovating this clinic the number of patients that can be treated in a day will increase from 10 to 40 people, which will greatly improve the health of the local community.
The original club Rotary Club of Noble Park was chartered on the Tuesday 15th June 1965 with 27 Charter members. The inauguration of the club was undertaken on the 13th July 1965 by then District governor Bill Brett, and their club became the 50th club in the former district 280.
The Charter President was William Henry (Harry) James, and the club have sponsored many global projects and sporting events. Previously the club has help sponsor the replacement vehicle for Jungle aid by donating 40,000 Thai baht.
One of the clubs Rotarians Neal Wickenton served as District Governor in 1978/9.
In 2020, the Rotary Club of Noble Park merged with the Rotary Club of Dingley Village to form the Rotary Club of Noble Park – Dingley. With active members in all facets of Rotary we continue to serve the local and international community.
Since the club was formed, it has had over 196 members and counting.
Notable club achievements include:
- Community Service donations raising $30,000 from 1991. In 2001, the club raised over $100,000 for many worthwhile charities and projects from its organisation and promotion of lawn bowls championships within the broader community.
- In 2005, the club provided the labour and built a school at Marpe East Timor in support of the 100th Anniversary of Rotary and our International Service.
- In 2006 our club raised over $90,000 assisting the cleaning of the Olympic Village in Melbourne.
In addition to this sponsorship Alan and PP Napa met with a very good friend of Alan’s Andrew Madigan who has frequently donated to our projects and golf tournament donated 5,000 Australian Dollars, also to the Thap Put hospital dental clinic in Phang Gna. In addition, PP Napa and Alan visited our sister club the Rotary Club of Cheltenham in Australia.As President of the Rotary club of Royal Hua Hin I would like to thank on behalf of our members the continued support from our Rotarians and friends down under and look forward to future collaborative working to support communities in both countries and globally.
In the true spirit of Rotary, when our members visited the Yarra Valley in a remote area they rescued two Japanese students where were studying in Melbourne to be pharmacists, and somehow became stranded. PP Napa, Alan and Nadia made sure they were safely delivered to the nearest railway station. Their kindness saved the students a 4 hour walk to the railway station.
On a lighter note, as PP Napa has a knack of solving problems for our club in our Rotary District I nicknamed her Miss Marple after the fictional character who solves mysteries and murders. PP Napa during her visit found and took afternoon tea at an appropriately named Tea Room.
