Kenmore Rotary Archives

Rotary Club of Kenmore Presents Flood Relief Concert Featuring Kelsey Giarola

On Sunday, August 3, local music lovers will have the chance to experience a stirring afternoon of live performance while supporting a vital cause, as the Rotary Club of Kenmore hosts a special Flood Relief Concert, demonstrating Rotary’s enduring commitment to service above self and community care. .

Read: $10K From Kenmore Rotary Brings Hope to Flood-Hit Outback

Headlining the event is acclaimed vocalist Kelsey Giarola, a Brisbane-based singer-songwriter known for her captivating voice and heartfelt original music.

Giarola, who holds a Master of Music Studies in Voice Pedagogy from the Queensland Conservatorium, has made a name for herself performing at weddings, private functions, and events across South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Her debut album, released in 2018, showcases her pop and easy listening style, with tracks like “I Won’t Stop” and “I Can’t Get Enough of Your Love.” In addition to performing, she also offers vocal coaching.

She will be performing at the Kenmore Anglican Church from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. with the Brisbane Citizens’ Concert Band. Celebrated for its polished sound and diverse repertoire that spans classical and contemporary favourites, the band will be conducted by Adrian Head.

Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 concession, and free for children under 12. Bookings can be made via Rotary Club of Kenmore at www.rotarykenmore.org, and enquiries directed to David on 0419 700 647.

All proceeds from the concert will go towards the Rotary Districts 9620 and 9560 Western Queensland Flood Appeal, supporting recovery efforts in communities affected by devastating floods.

The Rotary Club of Kenmore’s Flood Relief Concert is a chance to enjoy outstanding local talent while lending a hand to those in need—music with meaning, right in the heart of the community.

Read: Moggill Creek Overflowed: Roads Blocked and Community Services Affected in Kenmore Hills & Brookfield

Published 24-July-2025

$10K From Kenmore Rotary Brings Hope to Flood-Hit Outback

When rivers rose and swallowed fences, homes, and hope across Western Queensland, a ripple of heartbreak was felt all the way in Kenmore. Now, that ripple is becoming a wave of support.

Kenmore Rotary Club has donated $10,000 to the Western Flood Appeal to help families, graziers, and small towns across the outback recover from one of the worst natural disasters to hit the region in decades.

A Deep Connection to the Land

For those who know places like Quilpie, Jundah or Adavale, these aren’t just names on a map but homes. Generations have grown up on the land, weathering the harshest conditions with quiet strength. But even for the toughest among them, the recent floods have brought devastation unlike anything seen before.

More than 150,000 livestock have perished, entire paddocks have turned into lakes, and infrastructure has been torn apart by floodwaters. With damages climbing past $2 billion, the impact is overwhelming.

In Kenmore, far from the flood zones, the Rotary Club has found a way to help by offering practical support through prepaid debit cards of $250 and $500 to those who need it most. These cards give families and graziers the freedom to buy what they need, when they need it, without the wait for red tape or complicated claims.

Backed by a Community That Cares

The $10,000 donation didn’t come from big grants or government funds. It came from bottle collections and community effort. Through Kenmore Rotary’s recycling containers program, locals have quietly been making a difference, one container at a time.

*Photo Credit: Rotary Club of Kenmore/Facebook*

Between July and March, the program raised $11,000. Some of that has already gone to local causes, but a large part is now headed west, where it will help people rebuild homes, replace essentials, and keep going when it feels impossible.

This is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Rotary District 9620 and Rotary District 9560 are working together to distribute aid quickly, while partnering with groups like GIVIT, BlazeAid and Farm Angels to deliver goods, services, and mental health support. From fences to food hampers to care packs and counselling, every part of the recovery matters.

“They Know What to Do—They Just Need Our Help”

As one Quilpie-born resident shared in a public callout for support, these graziers and families have lived and breathed the land for generations.

“Please don’t begin to tell me what they should and shouldn’t be doing,” she said. “They know what to do. Right now, they just need our help.”

And Kenmore is listening. The Rotary Club’s donation is not just money. It’s a message that says: you are not alone.

*Photo Credit: Rotary District 9560/Facebook*

How to Lend a Hand

For those who want to join in, there are many ways to help. Donations can be made through the Rotary Foundation’s Disaster Response Fund or directly to District 9560’s Disaster Fund. Tax-deductible options are available for individuals, while Rotary clubs and groups can contribute to immediate-response funds.

DONATE

Many local and national organisations are also stepping in, from the QCWA Quilpie Branch to BlazeAid, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and Outback Futures. Whether it’s rebuilding fences or supporting mental health in isolated communities, every action counts.

What began as a tragedy is slowly becoming a story of resilience, shaped by people across the country who care deeply…even from hundreds of kilometres away.

Published 23-April-2025

Kenmore Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony Moves To Moggill State School

For many years the Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony has been held at the Old Lady of the Rosary School in the Assembly Hall. However, due to Australia Day falling on a Sunday in 2025, car parking became a challenge given the expectant congregation for the neighbouring Church. So in 2025, the event will be held at Moggill State School, which stepped in at late notice, to host the event, from 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 26.

The presiding officer will be local councillor, Greg Adermann. Local State MP Christian Rowan will attend on behalf of the Department for Home Affairs, welcoming approximately 60 new Australians who have already been through the citizenship tests.

Dave Patmore, President of Kenmore Rotary, will be the emcee for the event. Music will be provided by the Brisbane Citizens Concert Band and Kelsey Giarola, a wonderful local singing talent who has graced the event for many years and performs a rousing National Anthem, as well as some other songs in her repertoire.

Kenmore Rotary Citizenship Ceremony — *Photo Credit: Supplied*

In 2024, 51 conferees from 16 countries attended the ceremony, along with their family and friends.

The event is funded by the National Australia Day Council and hosted by Kenmore Rotary, whose volunteers are organised into a support team to enable the event to run smoothly.

A new venue will bring new demands to the running of the event, as the sound system will be different as well as other small details, though Kenmore Rotary has a long history of delivering professional service whilst raising funds for good causes. The club is always looking for new members to join the mission.

LEARN MORE ABOUT KENMORE ROTARY

Despite the difficulties of this year’s major fundraiser, the Christmas Raffle, the continued support of Kenmore Village and Kenmore Plaza as well as the support of residents proved to help the Club deliver a strong performance.

The 2024 Christmas Raffle raised $16,000 despite a slow start and the renovations at Kenmore Village. Lisa Jarrold, Kenmore Village Shopping Centre manager, provided a strong location for the raffle ticket sales, which the Kenmore Rotary members used to great effect.

“Kenmore Rotary wants to thank the support of our local community in purchasing the raffle tickets it is through this major fundraiser each year that support our many programs,” said Patrick Cook, a senior member of Kenmore Rotary.

“The good causes for 2025 include youth leadership & empowerment programs, such as mentoring programs at Kenmore State High School, the sponsorship of Year 11 students to the National Youth Science Forum, and the Solar Buddy program at local primary schools.

“We are also supporting victims of domestic violence through Women’s Crisis Support Service and food hampers collections in collaboration with Kenmore Village.”

Kenmore Rotary Club meetings are held every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the venue below:

Published 21-January-2025

Award Nomination for Local Recycling Scheme by Kenmore Rotary

A local community, who obtained a Containers for Change Scheme ID when the scheme began in November 2018, has been nominated for a “Change Maker award— Charity/Community Group.”

Kenmore Rotary Club was an early adopter in the movement to recycle plastic containers and the program, run by the members of the club, has evolved into a wide array of collection points across Kenmore through to Moggill.

Kenmore Rotary members Michael Fitzgerald and Ken Ryan have used their combined career knowledge to take the project to the next level since COVID put everything on hold.

Kenmore Rotary Pullenvale Container Recycling Station — *Photo Credit: Supplied*

“Our initial intention was for the recycling project to be one of our community projects that raised some revenue and reduced landfill,” says Michael Fitzgerald, a former Queensland Law Society President.

“As a club, we are always looking at assisting the community and raising revenue that can be used for the range of good causes our Rotary Club supports.”

Kenmore Rotary Containers for Change — *Photo Credit: Supplied*

Included in the plan was the engagement of schools in the local area, getting students to encourage parents to recycle containers through Kenmore Rotary’s collection network.

“Initially, we had two very large cages manufactured that were placed at E-Waste in Kenmore Hills and Pullenvale Marketplace,” says former Town Planner, Ken Ryan.

Local State MP Christian Rowan played a role in helping Kenmore Rotary apply for a grant from the Department of the Environment. The grant application was successful and a trailer was purchased that enabled club members, some 30-strong volunteers, to run a roster emptying the cages and delivering the containers to a Coex depot where they were turned into a cash donation to the club.

This led to more donation points being arranged at:

The Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Kenmore

St Catherine’s Church in Moggill

The Anglican Church in Kenmore

A member’s house in Aronia Street in Kenmore

Later three further collection points were added:

A cafe on Brookfield Road in Kenmore

A block of units in Merlin Terrace in Kenmore

A commercial property in Brookfield

With the scheme increasing to include wine and spirit bottles, the wider network became difficult for members to keep up with, and so Ken and Michael started to have conversations with Community Co Recycling Pty Ltd (the Coex operator the Club has been working with in relation to collections for several years). This led to the Club booking them to pick up from the various sites, freeing Kenmore Rotary members up to focus on other ways to raise revenue and support the range of local good causes as well as school children in PNG.

The project to date has stopped 537,085 containers being added to landfill and raised $153,708.50 distributed between Kenmore Rotary good causes and partners.

Kenmore Rotary’s current range of local good causes supported:

A Domestic Violence shelter, Domestic Violence support services, including Legal services;

Youth mentoring programs from STEM programs to Leadership programs;

Learner Driver programs;

Supporting children in desperate need and delivering Primary and Secondary school awards;

Community programs from running the annual Citizenship Ceremony, to ANZAC day, to the Brookfield Show, to a range of Christmas food donations to those in need;

A range of defibrillators bought and installed at the Brookfield Showgrounds, Pullenvale Marketplace and Kenmore Village Shopping Centre.

Kenmore Rotary’s range of overseas programs supported:

An Opthamologist’s Program in Nepal to help Nepali people in desperate need of eyesight help;

An Arts Centre in Port Moresby;

Various donations to PNG through “Donations in Kind.”

Kenmore Rotary has also been instrumental in raising funds for e-Waste which enables disabled youths to access work experience through the NDIS.

A humble group of 40 members donating their time and expertise in the Kenmore area can achieve great things. It’s no surprise they have been nominated for a Change Maker Award.

Published 6-Oct-2024

Kenmore Rotary Trailer Raffle Encounters New Challenge to Help Fund Good Causes

Kenmore shoppers have become well acquainted with the selling of Kenmore Rotary Raffle tickets over the last 20 years, both Kenmore Village Shopping Centre and Kenmore Plaza being the venues to exhibit the trailer and sell the tickets. However, the 2023 rendition will have a new challenge.

Due to the major renovation of Kenmore Village, Kenmore Rotary Club has decided to leave the Trailer and all its prizes there instead of the usual towing of it between the two centres.

Previously, Kenmore Village was the Friday and Saturday venue for the trailer and the selling effort and Kenmore Plaza hosted the trailer and sales effort on Sundays.

This year, the trailer will remain at Kenmore Village, as the sales campaign will run from November 2 to December 3.

The Trailer Raffle is the major fundraiser of the year for Kenmore Rotary. Here are the organisations that benefited from a donation from the Trailer raffle last year:

The Women’s Crisis Support Service

DV Support is considered a priority by Kenmore Rotary and the WCSS was made a beneficiary. Kenmore Rotary, in conjunction with Karana Bellbowrie Rotary, paid for a full mould cleaning of their facility; the construction of a Children’s Cubby House; the construction of a Children’s Sandbox with shade cover; and the landscaping of the children’s play area.

Mould before and after — Photo Credit: Kenmore Rotary

Cubbyhouse Kenmore — Photo Credit: Kenmore Rotary

Other areas of help offered to the refuge included the donation of new clothes for women and children, financial cover for a child’s emergency medical intervention

STEM

Kenmore Rotary offers a scholarship for a local Year 11 student to attend the 10-day National Youth Science Forum.

Photo Credit: National Youth Science Forum

Kenmore Rotary runs the Solar Buddy program via several junior schools including those at St Peters Lutheran College, OLR, Kenmore State School, Ambrose Treacy and Chapel Hill State School.

The students construct a solar light and include a written message with each light, which are then sent to PNG to help combat the lack of electricity over there which means children cannot study after dark.

Solar buddy lights improve student reading & study time by 87% for the children that receive them. This also eliminates the use of kerosene lamps which have proven to be very dangerous for children.

Leadership

Kenmore Rotary has long focused on developing young leaders in our community, to that end it invests funds into 5 Leadership programs:

Aspiring Leaders Program mentoring Yr 11 students potential leaders at Kenmore State High School
RYPEN (14-16 year olds) Residential weekend-long program delivering leadership training
RYLA (18-26 years old) One-week residential program
RYTS (on graduating Yr 12) 7-day Life Skills program
RJCA (Junior Community Awards) Yr 6 students that get them involved in the community. This program runs at Chapel Hill School.

Young Driver Awareness Training

In an effort to cut down on young driver accidents, the RYDA program is run for Yr 11 students at Kenmore State High School.

“The Club is run by volunteers that dedicate their time to improving our community, we really appreciate the support every year for our Trailer Raffle, as our major fundraiser, and we are delighted once again to be able to offer the trailer and it’s full array of prizes, kindly donated by sponsors, to the lucky winner,” a spokesman for Kenmore Rotary said.

Published 18-Oct-2023

2017 Brookfield Show : Scary Weather Forecasts, Equine Flu Scare But The Show Was As Good As Ever

Congratulations to the Brookfield Show Committee

Another great rendition of the Brookfield Show is now behind us, the Show Committee once again organizing three days of action packed fun supported by great sponsors, stall holders, and with the assistance of Kenmore Rotary.

As far as major events go in the western suburbs of Brisbane, there is no bigger than the Brookfield Show.

This year’s event was as good as ever despite a terrible weather forecast, thank goodness proven incorrect!

Friday morning kicked the event off with a mixture of drizzle and heavy rain that left the Boscombe road vendor car park greasy but under management by Kenmore Rotary. The hiatus of school drop offs, coinciding with the arrival of show vendors, happened seamlessly. One Friday casualty due to the weather were the pony events, but the Rodeo went ahead in the evening and locals arrived en masse for a fun evening.

Saturday and Sunday brought glorious weather. The main car park was full by 11:00 a.m. though Boscombe Road had space for most of the day. The equestrian events displayed some great equine talent and riding over the weekend, whilst the gravity of the competition there contrasted with the hilarious pig racing in an adjoining ring.

The rides stayed busy during both days, many kids stretching their $45 all-day pass to the limits, with continual lines at the dodgems.

One concern which the Courier Mail has headlined today was the suspected Hendra virus case, though this was cleared up by a statement from the vet:

The Children’s art show was a great success, judged this year by Catherine Mactaggart of Sotheby’s Queensland.

Best in Show was won by Sophie Evans:

Here are some of the other highly talented entrants:

See more entries here

The dog show results can be found here

Councillor Kate Richards reported watching the woodchopping:

A great event that families get wonderful value from every year, West Brisbane is lucky to have the Brookfield Show.

Photo Credit: Brookfield Show from Facebook.com/CrKateRichards