The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville has had one of the busiest weeks of the year in September with programs and initiatives giving back to the local Community event
Jazz at the Pines
On Sunday 17 th September, the “Jazz at the Pines” 2023/24 Season commenced featuring “Mike Hallam Hot Six”. A beautiful sunny afternoon was experienced with a great crowd able to sit outside in the fresh air, unwind and spend time with family and friends lapping up good music, food and views of the historic venue (IMG JAZ-1 & IMG JAZ-2).
Jazz at the Pines is run throughout the year by The Rotary Club of the Hills- Kellyville in conjunction with The Hills Shire Council and is held in the historic grounds of Roughley House, Dural. The next Jazz at the Pines events in this season will be Carolyn Packer on the 15 th October and Bridge City Jazz Band on the 19 th November with more to follow throughout 2024.
Schools Writing Competition On Monday 18 th September the annual Schools Writing Competition culminated in an Awards night at The Lyceum, Castle Hill RSL. The competition is one of many youth programs run by the Rotary Club of The Hills- Kellyville.
The writing competition invites year 6 students to write a 500-word narrative, this year entitled “The Bushfire started to spread closer to our home. It is too dangerous to stay any longer”. This is the 19 th year of the program recognizing achievements in comprehension and writing with the support of local schools and their wonderful staff.
This year, 16 schools were represented with 48 finalists’ entries received. Schools and student finalists were recognised at a dinner with teachers, parents and families. Special guests participating in the proceedings and handing out the awards included Ian Pascoe – President of The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville, Niranjan Deodhar – Rotary District 9685 Governor Elect, DR Peter Gangemi – Mayor of the Hills Shire, The Hon. Mark Hodges MP – State member for Castle Hill and The Hon Mark Taylor MP – State member for Seven Hills (for Image: IMG SWC-1)
Results – Top Three Student Awards:
1 st (Trophy winner): Ruyi Yang – Matthew Pearce Public School (IMG SWC-2)
2 nd (Silver medal winner) Kaitlyn Yu – Excelsior Public School
3 rd (Bronze Medal winner): April Williams -St. Michael’s Primary School (IMG SWC-3)
Results – School Awards:
1 st : Excelsior Public School (IMG SWC-4)
2 nd : Matthew Pearce Public School (IMG SWC-5)
3 rd : St Michael’s Primary School (IMG SWC-6)
Listing of Student awardees attached below.
Sydney Hills Garden Competition
On Friday 22 nd September, the gardening community of the Hills and surrounds came together for an awards night at the Harvey Lowe Pavilion in Castle Hill showgrounds. The Sydney Hills Garden Competition is steeped in history and intricately linked to the Hills Shire. The first competition ran in 1959 as the brainchild of Councilor Eric Mobbs.
It became the forerunner of the Orange Blossom Festival, so has a significant place in the cultural history of “The Garden Shire”. The competition is run with the support of the Hills Shire Council and is an official Orange Blossom Festival event. Hills residents, businesses, schools and institutions can enter their gardens for spring judging in the competition.
Special guests at the event included Ian Pascoe – President of The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville, Dr Peter Gangemi – Mayor of the Hills Shire, The Hon. Mark Hodges MP – State member for Castle Hill, Clr Mitchell Blue – Deputy Mayor of the Hills Shire, Ross Miller – Horticulturalist and competition judge, and a very special guest Felicity McCaffrey – Horticulturalist and granddaughter of Eric Mobbs.
The Garden Competition is run each year by The Rotary Club of the Hills-Kellyville and has a variety of categories for gardeners from small Town Houses to residential gardens, to gardens of industrial, commercial and retirement complexes. The garden competition is open to gardens located in the Hills Shire and adjoining parts of surrounding suburbs.
The last few years have seen record numbers of entries coinciding with huge interest in our homes and gardens.
There were many awards – most noteworthy were:
Eric Mobbs Award for Excellence in Gardening: Danuta Szczypior (accepting the award from Felicity McCaffrey, granddaughter of Eric Mobbs – IMG GC-1) and 2 awards in Residential Garden Categories: Danuta Szczypior (accepting the awards from Mayor Dr Peter Gangemi – IMG GC-2 PLUS her wonderful garden (IMG GC-3)
Champion of Champions Award and winner of Large Residential Garden – professionally maintained category: Paul & Margaret Gaudry (IMG GC-4) PLUS images of their beautiful garden property (IMG GC-5, IMG GC-6, IMG GC-7)
Some of the category award winners:
Community or Communal Gardens: Aminya Village Vegetable Plot (representative accepting the award from Deputy Mayor Mitchell Blue IMG GC-8 PLUS the wonderful veggie patch (IMG GC-9)
Schools Garden: Kellyville Public Schools (Teachers accepting the award from Deputy Mayor Mitchell Blue, Deputy Mayor – IMG GC-10 PLUS image of the school garden IMG GC-11)
Senior Citizen’s Garden owner maintained: Denis & Jennie Fleming (accepting the award from the Hon Mark Hodges MP – IMG GC-12 PLUS their most interesting garden IMG GC-13)
Listing of Garden awardees attached below.
Ian Pascoe, President of the Rotary Club of the Hill-Kellyville commented on the conclusion of the events that “the impact in the local community and beyond is quite astounding for such a small Club. Having the right projects to focus on, the support of the Hills Shire Council and our community leaders allows us to make a real difference from what we do.”
Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville
The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville not only holds events like all of the above in the local community, we also raise funds for numerous programs far and wide, from the Hills area to outback Australia to overseas communities with specific needs. We run and support many local programs for students and youth.
Further afield, the club continues its Bourke Public School Breakfast Club project, helping school attendance. The Club has been at the forefront of the drive for drought and flood relief support and fund raising, working in communities including the Wisemans Ferry area and the NSW north and south coasts following the many devastations over recent years.
We worked closely with the Mens Shed and Turbans4Australia to get support into those communities. The Children’s Hospital at Westmead have purchased new state-of-the-art equipment for their Eye Clinic with funds organised by our club. At an international level, the club has been involved with and helped to fund water sanitation, education and health support for poor communities in Sri Lanka, India, Vanuatu …. Just to name a few.
Anyone wanting to be part of an inspired group that are making a difference, contact the club though our website www.hillsrotary.org.au or our Facebook page.
