Service Club Week

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:24): Today, I would like to bring the attention of the house to the fact that last week was Service Club Week. Service Club Week is an opportunity for us to celebrate and recognise the outstanding contribution and achievements of all South Australian service clubs and the enormous contribution that individual volunteers in those clubs make to the state of South Australia and, of course, my local community.

While the clubs do great work in their own right, when they combine their efforts they do some fantastic things for their communities. In my home town of Gawler, the work of the service club and the combined service clubs is everywhere to be seen. The volunteering stories of these clubs are truly amazing. These traditions have been developed and nurtured by individuals over many years of service to the community.

From cleaning up local parks to assisting victims of natural disasters, club members so generously give their time, skills and talents to answer the needs and challenges that communities here in South Australia and around the world face. They spend a lot of time fundraising for projects overseas, as well as in their local communities.

I would like to provide some details about two of the clubs in the area and these are two of the earlier clubs that were established in Gawler. The inaugural meeting of the Apex Club of Gawler was held on 19 October 1951. Bob Taylor was the first president. In terms of their tradition of serving the community, cleaning the Gawler South children's playground was the club's first project. In terms of fundraising, the first service project for monetary gain was grape picking at Lyndoch. In 1951, there would have been members of the Apex Club of Gawler who went out and picked grapes to raise funds for Gawler projects.

Another club I would like to mention is the Rotary Club of Gawler. As a result of a survey, the Port Adelaide Rotary members were hosts to 23 business and professional men at the Kingsford Hotel in Gawler on 1 March 1954. Later that evening, a meeting was held in the Gawler Institute, where there was a unanimous decision to form a provisional Rotary Club of Gawler. Nearly 300 people were present at the institute to see the charter presented to the first president, Mr Keith R. Hogben, on 24 April 1954. If my memory serves me correctly, former member for Light Dr Bruce Eastick was also a founding member of the Rotary Club of Gawler.

One of the first community projects undertaken by the club was the provision of an anaesthetic machine for the Hutchinson hospital, which was purchased before Christmas. A drying machine was also presented. When these clubs work together, they do two things: they provide valuable infrastructure to the community, in terms of parks and gardens and other projects, and they also provide important services and infrastructure for our community facilities.

Service clubs not only do good work and fundraise but also, importantly, provide a very important social role. In an increasingly complex and fast society, service clubs provide opportunities for individuals to have a sense of belonging by joining a service club to service their community and to also be part of a community, which I believe is very important.

Another example of work undertaken by service clubs is the Gawler Light Rotary Club's Wheels in Motion program, designed to help young people achieve their hours of driving so they can obtain their Ps. The Rotary Club of Gawler also help organise the annual Village Fair, which provides local charities with an opportunity to promote their work and raise funds for local projects. Two Kiwanis Clubs in Gawler run a terrific kids program through local schools, while the Zonta Club undertakes activities to make the community aware of the impact of domestic violence in our communities.

I am very fortunate to have a number of clubs in my electorate, including the Apex Club of Gawler, Bottlebrush Ladies, the Country Women's Association, the Kiwanis Club of Gawler, the Kiwanis Club of Roseworthy-Hewett, the Lions Club of Angle Vale, the Lions Club of Gawler, the Lions Club of Elizabeth Playford, the Rotary Club of Gawler Light, the Rotary Club of Gawler, the View Club of Gawler and the Zonta Club of Gawler. When working together, these clubs make a huge contribution to the wellbeing of members of our community. I congratulate them during Service Club Week 2019.