• Modernise our social media output
• Develop Podcasts which discuss the activities we are involved in
• Review and determine appropriate communication channels i.e., Rotary Radio, Newspapers, City of Boroondara publications, Real Estate Board in prominent locations, etc.
• Increase circulation of Rotary publications such as Networker / Bulletin / RDU “Outside of Rotary”

• Review and revise the membership plan laid out for 2022/2023 – ensure expectations are understood, formalise mentoring
• Connect, develop, and maintain relationships with local community groups i.e., Magpies Cricket Club / Camberwell Hockey Club, etc
• Create & Maintain relationship with Swinburne University & Box Hill TAFE – for Volunteers and or expertise required by the club e.g., marketing plan, digital marketing, etc
• Continue to participate in Volunteer Expos
• Encourage volunteers to participate in club activities (Markets, Art Show, FORaMEAL)

 

John Steven was proposed for membership of the Rotary Club of Camberwell by one of our long serving members, Frank Leigh.

 

John was inducted into the club on 1^st May 1979 by Dr George Katchor and continued as a member until his passing on the 1^st July 2023.

 

John’s Classification was Engineering, and he remained a member of our Club for 44 years.

 

John had a strong personality - he always wanted to ‘get the job done’ and was a conscientious member who was involved in nearly all Club projects and activities - as well as being on District Committees.

 

 

John was ably assisted by his charming wife Audrey who is a great pianist and played at many Club social evenings as well as hosting many dinners at their home.

 

John’s son Peter Steven was also a member of our Club for a number of years.

 

 

John’s interests were coin and stamp collecting. John also loved playing tennis and he played tennis up until a few years ago and could generally be found on Sundays at courts near the East Camberwell Railway Station.

 

 

 

In the 36^th year of our Club 1991- 92 - John was inducted as Club President. In this year John was also the Art Show Chairman, a role he held from 1986 to 1993.

Some highlights from the 1992 Art Show

 

Greg is still one of our current Artists and he had 3 paintings in last month’s Art Show.

 

John also liked to do things differently.  For example, John’s Annual Report for 1991 / 1992 was different.  It did not have the usual plain coloured cardboard cover.  Instead, it had a series of photographic images of Club members and partners, including Father Christmas enjoying themselves.

 

 

Both John and Audrey had - 2 Diamond Paul Harris Recognitions. John also had an ‘RI Service Above Self Award.’

 

John was a great citizen and he was a great Rotarian and he will be sadly missed and our thoughts and wishes go to his wife Audrey and family. 

 

Farewell John – a service job well-done!

 

 

My father often said ‘Community Service is the rent I pay for the space I take up’ and he lived his life by that statement.

 

Dad has had many titles over his 95-year journey, some that are not repeatable in company, many of which he would find hysterical, but then there were a great number that exemplified his community service involvement.

 

I was originally going to walk you through all the different community service titles that he had, but there are so many that that would take us through to Thursday so time prohibits.  So I will tell you of a good number of them, which tells the story of a life time of, to use the Rotary motto, ‘Service Above Self’.

 

His involvement within Camberwell Grammar, this great school is well known within these grounds but no so much to those outside.

 

He started as Parent John, and was a parent putting three boys through the school from 1963 to 1976.

 

President John, of the Camberwell Grammar Parent’s Association.

 

President John of the Camberwell Grammar past parent’s association.

 

Council member John, on the Camberwell Grammar school council for 20 years including stints as deputy chairman, chairman of the development committee and member of the executive and finance committee.

 

Camberwell Grammar life governor John awarded for services to the school.  And of course, having Steven house named in his honour.

 

Through his Camberwell Grammar days, board member John, as the Camberwell Grammar delegate on the Independent Schools Association for 14 years.

 

This is leaving out all the professional pro bono work that he did or arranged to be done for the school that saved them literally millions of dollars, including leading the work on the design and building of the Jack Tobias Oval and the Shenley Sports grounds.  It is recognised that without his professional pro bono involvement, the science building and the magnificent performing arts centre would never have happened.

 

On to football, captain coach John of the St Andrews football club in the Eastern Suburbs Football Association, which included captain coaching a premiership in the early 60’s.

 

Life member John, of the St Andrews football club.

 

Registration secretary John of the Eastern Suburbs football association.

 

Life member John of the Eastern Suburbs football association.

 

Spectator John, watching his three sons playing football for the Old Camberwell Grammarians football club as an, at times, vocal supporter.

 

President John of the Old Camberwell Grammarians football association.

 

Life member John of the Old Grammarians football association, an honour he shares with my mother for her own services to the footy club.

 

Just a few others thrown in for good measure, treasurer John of the Parkside Kindergarten in Box Hill where we four kids went to kinder.  President John of the Camberwell Probus Club.  Board member John of Lynden Aged Care.  Olympic torch relay runner John, in the 2000 Olympic games, nominated because of his community service work and he ran one of the legs with his family running along the side of the road with him.

 

If you aren’t tired yet, strap yourselves in with his Rotary involvement.

 

 

Team leader John for Rotary building projects to Papua New Guinea on 5 occasions, far north Queensland and Northern Territory on 3 occasions, Vietnam on 3 occasions, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and India, all at his own expense.  These were not cushy trips staying at the Hilton Hotel, often he would travel in Land Rovers or hike for hours into the sticks, sleeping on dirt floors for weeks at a time, no shower, no toilet, no kitchen, teaching locals how to build schools, medical stations, water storage and the like.

 

Chairman John, of the Camberwell Art show, the largest contemporary art show in the Southern Hemisphere, for 6 years.  During his term as chairman he, leading a team, revolutionised how the art show was run and for many years after he organised the art show roster which was a mammoth task done manually.

 

In recognition of his services to Rotary and Rotary projects, he was awarded a District Governors award and, on another occasion, a Rotary World President’s award, both rare honours.

 

Remember this is the abridged version.

 

Moving on, we need to recognise anonymous John.  There are dozens of stories where my father heard of a situation of someone less fortunate, and organised for whatever the problem was to be fixed, either himself, with connections, or just digging his hand into his pocket.  No fuss, no bother, no one needed to know.

 

One such example was a boy in the junior school here at Camberwell Grammar whose father had passed away from a heart attack going for a run.  They were not wealthy, and it got to the stage that the mother could not afford the fees.  Dad walked into the office, pulled out his cheque book and payed them for a couple of years.  Remember, Camberwell Grammar fees in today’s money are north of $30,000 a year, so we are talking of over $60,000.  No fuss, no bother, no one needed to know.

 

I remember talking to him one Friday morning, he asked me what I was doing on the weekend, and I told him I was going to a fundraiser for a mate whose baby was born with significant medical problems.  Having a commission only job, he hadn’t worked for about 6 months and a few of his close mates organised a fundraiser to help him out.  Dad came into my office that afternoon and gave me an envelope and said put that in the pot.  The envelope had $200 in it.  No fuss, no bother, no one needed to know.

 

There are dozens of stories I could tell, a good number of people in this room have been the recipient of his incredible generosity which I know would count in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  No fuss, no bother, no one needed to know.

 

With all those titles, and I have missed many for the sake of time, it makes you wonder how he ever had time for work or for a family, but as you have heard, he did.  The saying give a job to a busy man, and it will get done summed dad up perfectly.

 

There are three other titles that he held more highly than any others.

 

Husband John

Dad John and

Grandad John