Tenterfield Rotary Club host 2022 Rotary District 9640 Annual Expo

The expo created a buzz in the town on the Friday and Saturday with many participants enjoying everything our beautiful town has to offer.

Among the events was a delicious buffet dinner at the historical Tenterfield Railway Station, catered for by Rotary Tenterfield and Granite Belt club members.

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Despite the rain it was a very successful evening with many guests coming in traditional dress.

Mayor Bronwyn Petrie gave a welcoming speech along with District Governor Jeff Egan and Rotary International President's Representative Tim Moore.

On Saturday morning a lovely Welcome to Country was given by local Helen Duroux.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with amazing guest speakers, including emotional recounts of the drought, fires and now floods by Niccy and Angelo Saccon.

BackTrack's founder Bernie Shakeshaft introduced some of the boys who thanked the town and Rotary for support to bring BackTrack to Tenterfield, and Kevin Butler of BlazeAid gave an insight on how the charity has worked alongside Rotary and other organisations to assist the farming community during tough times.

Other inspirational talks continued throughout the days and display booths (House of Friendship) were set up by other Rotary Clubs to showcase the fundraisers going on around the district.

The ladies of CWA provided morning tea on Saturday, Tenterfield High School students and teachers provided lunch, and Tenterfield Show Society catered for dinner.

Rotarians were happy to see Ballandean wines being served too!

Dinner and dancing followed on Saturday evening at the showground pavilion and prizes were presented for the Captain's Golf Day won jointly by Bill York (Capalaba) and Greg Evans (Burleigh Heads) held on Friday, plus the prestigious Rotary International Citation for Meritorious Service which was presented to Tony Heading.

A fantastic prize of a visit to Lady Elliot Island was won by Allan Barnett from Burleigh Heads.

Guests enjoyed listening and dancing to live music by Dave Newman.

Sunday started early for 70 guests who joined the heritage walk conducted by Harry Bolton around the town, and 18 braved a hike up Bald Rock, hosted by Caitlin Reid, before they enjoyed a champagne breakfast afterwards.

The afternoon speaker, Major Alex Rubin presented his story about the Thai Cave Rescue of nine boys.

Alex is currently based in Lismore assisting with the flood situation and came for a break to attend the expo.

Rotary Tenterfield would like to thank and acknowledge all the sponsors and local organisations who assisted with setting up, packing up, catering and cheerful unwavering work throughout the weekend.

The Rotary Expo was a team effort by the town and with the help of these organisations and sponsors the event was a huge success.

Anyone can attend a Rotary Expo.

Registration to hear speakers is free and if you would like to attend the next Expo in Yamba from 10-12 March 2023 please look out for the information in the coming months or contact Rotary Tenterfield.