Mayor Lindsay Brown opened the conference on Friday night and helped judge the “Quota’s Got Talent” contest. The winner was the Broken Hill and Silver City Quota Clubs.

There were a few tears as District Governor Lorraine Perry pronounced the end of District 35, and welcomed the start of a new Region 14.  The new governance structure will encompass a much larger area, including the states of Victoria, New South Wales, and the ACT.

In addition to wrapping up the business of District 35, the attendees got a glimpse of what’s ahead in Region 14. Regional 14 Director Barbara Edney introduced her leadership team, who are already working to provide a smooth transition and support for local Quota clubs.

At Saturday’s business meeting, Vice Admiral David Shackleton talked about his life and career in the Navy, culminating with some advice on how organisations can best handle a change of direction by focusing on values and leadership and by ensuring effective consultation.

Dr. Jenny Wray, Businesswoman of the Year (2013), used her personal experience to highlight how change can help individuals and organisations achieve even greater success.

Over 100 people attended the Saturday night banquet, where Andrew Constance, MP and state treasurer, acknowledged the great work of Quota clubs. A cheque was presented to Judith O’Hagan, of the Macular Disease Foundation. The donation of $11,400 was a culmination of fundraising undertaken by all the clubs in District 35 this past year. Quotarians then partied to the music of Darryl Lamb.

On the second day of the conference, Jacki Murphy, Deputy Principal of Narooma Public School, outlined the speech and language programs the Narooma Quota Club provides in the local schools.

A prize package consisting of a trip for a family of four to Montague Island, courtesy of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, including transportation to the island by Narooma Tours and Charter Fish Narooma (Benn Boulton) and one night’s accommodation at Narooma Palms Holiday Units was won by Shirley Ronson.

Quota Conference goes out with a bang

In keeping with the conference theme “Out With a Bang” Narooma Quotarians arranged some light relief with an imaginary bomb threat at their conference on the weekend.

Senior Constable Greg Curry interrupted the proceedings at 2 pm, by rushing into the conference room at Narooma Golf Club and notifying everyone that there had been a bomb threat.

Any alarm delegates might have had was quickly eased when the “bomb squad” arrived. Barb McCabe and Jan Gale, appropriately dressed in overalls and face protection, searched the room with their hand crafted  “bomb detectors”. They uncovered two “bombs”, much to the delight of the delegates.

Narooma’s Quota president Angela Hansen then presented Senior Constable Curry with a donation of $500 for the PCYC. In accepting the cheque, Curry said he had never received a request to assist quite like this one in his entire career.