Warragul Garden Club Drouin Rotary
At a recent plant sale by the Warragul and District Garden Club at the Eastern Park Community Garden, the annual George Lowe Memorial Iris Competition was held. Members braved the windy conditions to display their entries which were judged by a popular vote. Winner of all three prizes was June Dineen. Congratulations June.
George Lowe, who the Iris competition is named after was one of the founding members of the club, being one of the 21 people who attended the first meeting on March 28, 1979.
He was the first treasurer. George lived on a farm at Lillico and was an avid grower and breeder of Irises.
When George found the farm and large garden too much he moved into Warragul, taking some of his treasured plants with him to his new garden. He lived and breathed Irises and enjoyed imparting his knowledge to others.
When George died, he left a bequest to the garden club and it was decided to have an annual Iris competition with cash prizes for the winners. In honour of George the competition was named “The George Lowe Memorial Iris competition”.
Drouin Rotary Club hosted a “visit” by District Governor Mark Humphries via Zoom meeting.
The club has continued to meet electronically during the year.
Mr Humphries was joined at the meeting by Assistant Governor Tim Wills, the Drouin club’s immediate past president, and Mardi Shepherd who is district coordinator of Australian Rotary Health.
Ms Shepherd said the club’s donation of $5000 to the Lift the Lid project to that supports mental health initiatives had earned it acknowledgement as a Companion of Australian Rotary Health.
Mr Humphries reported that the Rotary Foundation’s “eradicate polio” project that started in the 1980s has largely eradicated the disease with the only current known case of “wild polio” being limited to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He also spoke about Rotary International’s them for this year, Rotary Opens Opportunities.
Drouin Rotarians were congratulated on their achievements and range of community service projects that was recognised with the club’s being awarded a Rotary International President’s Citation.