Last week Ashley Woods came back to the Club and presented on her time at the Rotary Youth Leadership Award Conference (RYLA). She had many supporters in attendance and it was a delight to see how she has grown in confidence since first we met Ashley. We also heard of a Taste of RYLA for Rotarians. RYLA have recognised how hard it is for Rotarians to talk of the benefits of RYLA when none of us have been on it. So they have developed a Taste of RYLA for Rotarians, which this year will be held in August at a cost of $10 and and a 5 hour taster, sounds like a lot of fun.

Last week we went purple for purple day. Well most of us did, the jury is out really to know if some of the undergarments were or were not purple. Thank you Mani for getting into the swing of the theme and finding that really cute little teddy bear. It made a lovely lapel. Special mention must also go to Janine and Fred for being the best dressed purple couple, on the night. We had the pleasure of hearing from Brendan Lilywhite the CEO of Epilepsy Foundation Australia. The foundation work with individuals and families, organisations and the community to increase peoples understanding of epilepsy. They use evidence based practice to stop avoidable deaths, ensure children get a good education, help people get and keep their jobs and help people feel safe and connected. They believe a good understanding of epilepsy is the key to achieving these outcomes and that no one should go it alone with epilepsy. Purple days aim is to raise awareness of epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disorder of brain function that involves recurring seizures. We learned that it is not a mental health condition, nor is it a disability (unless seizures are frequent and unable to be controlled) and it most certainly is not contagious. About 4% of the population will have epilepsy at some stage of their life and it presents as unique to every person. An epileptic seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical discharge in a group of brain cells (neurons). During a seizure neurons can fire up to five hundred times a second  more than six times the normal rate and for a brief period, this can cause strange sensations, emotions and behaviour or convulsions & loss of consciousness. Around 10% of people can expect to have at least one seizure in their lifetime, of these one third will later receive a diagnosis of epilepsy. Close to 1% of the population currently have epilepsy and 4% of people will be diagnosed with epilepsy at some time in their lives. Sadly 1 in 200 children live with epilepsy and 1 in 4 people with a cognitive disability are likely to live with epilepsy. Surprisingly to me, was hearing that the highest incidences of new diagnosis are in the over 60 age bracket. 65% of diagnosis of epilepsy have no known cause. We were pleased to donate to their Foundation given the uncertainty they appear to have around their current funding model.

Janine Reinking after a sad week for her stood up and gave a beautiful and heartfelt presentation of the kind works she had done with her daughter and granddaughter on a recent trip to Cambodia. They presented baby packs to expectent mothers from the poorer communities. Thet also gave writing and drawing equipment to schools.

Recently the Rotary Club of Sunbury presented the Annual Ron Cook Scholarships to three worthy young men from Salesian, Sunbury and Sunbury Downs Secondary Colleges. Each have gone on from being dux of the year in their school to pursue Science degrees at Melbourne University. Their school teachers, principals and family were all in attendance and gleaming with pride as they presented their dux`s to our club. The Scholarships were well earned and well received with the guys all talking about the money helping out with expensive books or a new computer or new wheels to get around. Congratulations to Jack Drever of Salesian College, Zach Hay of Sunbury College and Rory Healy of Sunbury Downs. We cant wait to see you progress and make your marks in this world.

How lucky are we? Last week we awarded 3 of Victoria Police at the Sunbury police stations finest. The results for the award were as follows:
1st  Senior Constable Robert Horvat
2nd  First Constable Carmel Brew
3rd  Senior Constable Daniel Leach
We had an account of how police involvement in community has changed over 30 years from an Acting Superintendent Charmaine Hosking and Senior Sergeant Michael Pope spoke glowingly of the service these fine constables deliver day in, day out to keep our neighbourhood and our citizens safe.