Mitchelton Rotary Club celebrated its 21st Citizenship Ceremony this year, with 37 conferees taking Australian citizenship, at an event at Arana Leagues Club.
Project planning commences in September each year with many administrative tasks such as, applications to host, complying with Federal Government guidelines for hosting, invitations, collating gift bags full of all things Australian-pencils, flags, tim tams, erasers, koala key rings, Australian condiments and an Australian Native plant donated by Brisbane City Council, along with the behind-the-scenes chaos that comes with all events.
Don Biffin our longest running MC doing a magnificent job over the years with diverse cultures coming together, his pronunciation of names has been impeccable.
Arana Leagues Club has as a community service from that day continued to provide at no cost the Ceremony room hire, morning tea and hot and cold beverages for all conferees and guests every year, we now have the capacity to welcome 40 conferees with the option to have up to four guests each.
Ralph Davies, our clubs current President and 8-year veteran of coordinating the Citizenship Ceremony attends the annual planning meeting in Brisbane, while witnessing many changes over the years nothing prepared us for the global pandemic, throughout this period we were able to continue with the ceremony adhering to health guidelines, and guest restrictions.
The Brisbane Jubilee Choir does a very professional performance each year, and the amazing tones of the choir have supported our club for over 5 years and the choir begins practicing in early November, throughout the pandemic our Citizenship Ceremony was the only performance they were able to attend, we have thoroughly enjoyed the relationship with the choir and look forward to it each year.
Our new Presiding Officer, Councillor Andrew Wines has officiated for the last 2 years, with Everton MP Tim Mander giving a speech of welcome for the event.
Mitchelton Rotary Club congratulates our new citizens, and our Club is proud to be able to host the Citizenship event as part of our service to our local community.
