More than a Sausage Sizzle

Last week the Currumbin-Coolangatta-Tweed (CCT) Rotary Club celebrated a major milestone of seventy-five years of service to the community. In a fully-booked event at the Tweed Heads Bowls Club, attendees listened to a tapestry of ‘unofficial’ stories as well as the better-known tales that captured member contributions since the group’s inception.

Many would associate the CCT Rotary Club with its successful sausage sizzles and Car-Boot Sales, but listeners discovered there was so much more to the Club.

On the night, past Rotary presidents, members of Kingscliff, Banora-Tweed, Burleigh, Nerang, and Mt Warning groups, and Rotary hierarchy, mixed with local professionals and dignitaries. Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry and Gold Coast Councillor Gail O’Neill shared their congratulations and even their surprise at the number of contributions that had been made by Rotary over the years. Local state and federal politicians who were unable attend sent video messages of congratulations.



Rotary Club CCT special guests L-R: Gold Coast Councillor Gail O’Neill, Bruce Kuhn QLD Police Inspector (missing) Mick Palmer, Retired Federal Police Commissioner, Rotary District 9640 Governor Andy Rajapakse, John Giuricin, Rotary Club CCT President, Carol Outen, Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry, and Lutz Gaedt

Major recipients of the Club’s fundraising efforts, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary CEO Jonathan Fisher, Dr Michael Pyne and the Shaping Outcomes CEO Col Usher, voiced their thanks for Rotary’s contributions and support. 

Mary Flynn and a number of women in the room shared ‘living history’ stories about the time when women were not allowed in Rotary meetings, and how Rotarians’ attitudes softened when numbers diminished and wives were finally allowed to be “Rotary-Annes”. Ironically, the event’s host was Sharon Styman, a professional trainer, Board member, and one of the newest female members of the CCT Rotary club. 

Bev Prosser with some Rotary treasures

One hair-raising tale described the Club’s efforts as they constructed the Rotary walk around Greenmount Hill in the 1960’s, where “dynamite assisted their progress” around the rock.  Many more current stories were shared including raising $50,000 for a project to buy equipment and materials and to bring a Rotary team to Vanuatu to build a school ‘from scratch’. The work done with and for the youth in our Gold Coast and Tweed communities, through scholarship support and personal development, was also recognised.

As more stories were heard, one of the speakers commented that she didn’t realise how much Rotary actually contributed to the community. As many discovered during the course of the evening, Rotarians enjoy giving to the community but choose to remain quiet achievers. They don’t like to make a fuss about what they’re doing.

John Giuricin, Club President, summed up the spirit of Rotary as ‘funraising’, capturing the support and fundraising that is regularly provided to the local community, along with the fun and fellowship of the group.




Rotary CCT 75^th. Cutting the cake: Rotary District 9640 Governor Andy Rajapakse, Frank Muggeridge,and John Giuricin, Rotary Club CCT President