Bally Barker Blog

PP Sue Terry gave a very interesting and well-prepared talk on Coeliac disease at our club meeting on Tuesday evening. Many of us of heard of it; but don’t fully understand its implications. Both Sue and Rick are sufferers and gave us valuable personal insights into the implications.   Sue at the whiteboard Coeliac disease is the most severe gluten-related disorder .   It is NOT an allergy, or “gluten intolerance”.   It is an inherited autoimmune disease that affects about 1% of the population and, undiagnosed and treated, will damage the digestive system (small intestine). In Australia about 1 person in 70 suffers, and about 1 in 100 world-wide. It’s more common in white Caucasian females. It may show up in later life rather than from birth.   Why?     It is often thought to be triggered when a person (who has the Coeliac Gene) has had surgery, illness or pregnancy, or a major emotional event..   There are ...

We just received a nice post card from the students of St Judes School in Tanzania The school of St Jude: This amazing school in Tanzania was started by Gemma Sisia who travelled from Australia to Uganda to volunteer as a teacher, where she taught girls science and sewing. This experience lead to a fervent belief that a free, high-quality education should be the right of all children in the world and that education is the strongest weapon in the fight against poverty, corruption and political instability. How it came about in Tanzania When Gemma first had the idea of starting a free private school for the poorest children in Africa with just a $10 donation from her friend, she knew she would need a major support system. It was at this time Gemma’s father, Basil, introduced her to Rotary. She was given the opportunity to speak to her local Rotary club in her hometown of Armidale, New South Wales. The extremely generous Armidale, Tamworth and Inverell Rotary and Inner Wheel clubs ...

OneMeal gave us 25 Christmas Hampers for Lifeline Northern Beaches . Balgowlah Rotary delivered them the same day, and of course, Lifeline was most grateful.   Christmas Hamper assembly at OneMeal In appreciation of this support, Balgowlah Rotary donated $500 to OneMeal. President Di Hart gave four awards from our 2 Donor Funds (Herdegen and Lechner) at Mackellar Girls High school presentation day on Friday Dec 13, 2024.   Pip and Di at the Presentation Day   Pip Williams was the guest speaker. She is a famous authoress of A Dictionary of Lost Words and she formerly attended Mackellar as a student.   AND OUR MONSTER CHRISTMAS RAFFLE It's getting more respectable Day by Day, our face to face encounters at the stand with the Balgowlah Village shopping public is slowly building to a figure that will provide worthwhile funding to our Youth improvement programs.   The stand that Bev Yakich designed works so wel...