Our Activities: 15th March Meeting - Howard Montgomery

Chair

Gerry

International Toast
by Norm to RC Oriskany Falls, part of the District 7150 Rotary Clubs of Central NY. Their Club is 100 years old this year. A major activity is collecting atlasses and periodicals for distribution in third world countries. (no truth to the rumour that periodicals rejected by third world countries are redistributed to Australian doctors’ waiting rooms)

Guests
Howard Montgomery
Alan Gillespie, ex RC Brisbane
Linda Feltman

Makeups
RYDA

Apologies
Pam, Stewart, Mark, Ian, Peter and maybe someone else

President’s Address
President Judy welcomed our guests,

23rd March will be a big day with a Bunnings BBQ and RYDA
District Conference is coming up and there is a call out for people to host international delegates.

There is a farewell gathering for ex DG Trevor, & Robyn Taylor, who are moving from Beerwah to the Gold Coast

Congratulations to Lyn Roberts for 28 years in Rotary starting at RC Bribie Island in 1988, and to Ron Strong for 15 years.Chris was given a new badge and classification of Environmental Management

Induction
Judy and Helen were then pleased to induct Linda Feltman into the Rotary Club of Caloundra.

Linda grew up on a cattle station near Rockhampton with her high flying father a MLA. The rest of her family - husband Ray and children Josie & Trent are all actual high flyers with QANTAS. Linda is starting with McGrath Real Estate.

The line of handbags grows

Three Minutes on Rotary
Gerry gave an outline of ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children) which is an amazing Aus/NZ project running for 25 years. Even more amazingly, Gerry managed to do a blog on the subject (see below)

Speaker
John introduced Howard who is well known to us all as the Community Liaison Officer for Caloundra Bunnings.

Howard came to Australia at 17, returned to the UK and worked on cruise ships, then returned to Aus to work for engineering companies Email/Westinghouse, GC and HPM Industries. Fast forward to 2006 and he came back from Dubai to work as a builder and certifier in Adelaide. Looking for a simpler life, he came to the Coast for “a couple of months” but 18 months later he was approached by Bunnings.

Bunnings/Westfarmers is the number seven company in Australia with a $60b turnover. Enterprises under the umbrella were listed including Coles & Target. They just spent $750m to buy the 260 store Homebase hardware chain in the UK.

With origins in the 19th century milling timber, Bunnings began in1914 in WA
1952 - went public
1980s and 90s - acquisitions
1993 - moved east
1994 - bought out by Westfarmers - “Big Box” hardware introduced.

Now the largest private employer in Australia. All employees are shareholders. It is “gender diversified” with 57% women. Howard says he “loves to be controlled by women” (but he may not have seen Helen checking her bag for a handy whip). Bunnings now has 290 locations in Australia.

Marketing focusses on “lowest prices, greatest range & best service”. Expect to see another 20 stores in the next three years including Nambour, Beerwah & Kawana.

The “sausage sizzles” earn $45m annually and Bunnings makes $7m in donations. ($7m & $1m in Qld)