Chief of Staff

Coastal born and bred Julian O'Brien, Chief of Staff at The Advocate since 2003, spoke at our last meeting.

In his dreams Julian was always going to be a policeman, but after Ulverstone High School arranged work experience at the Advocate he knew he was onto something... Cutting his teeth on the sports desk he soon became the youngest sports editor at the Advocate at the tender age of 25 years.

Highlights of his reporting career included historic events like Cathy Freeman's greatest moment of lighting the Olympic flame and winning Gold at the 400 meter at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

In his 16 years at the paper he has seen many changes. Three ownership changes, from the Rural Press to Fairfax and now Newspaper Pty Ltd. Julian saw the trend move from home delivery to now primarily casual sales, and he observed content shifting from news-focused to more lifestyle/technology orientated as people are looking for a more emotional experience when reading papers. As a rural newspaper The Advocate is one of the leading regional papers of Australia. The Advocate will also stick to their strengths and keep on reporting on the North West, not wanting to be a National Paper.

Newspapers, Julian tells us, are now heading towards a more magazine-style look, as we see with the Herald. Secretly Julian is wondering how The Advocate will look on the iPad in the future, but does not believe that they will ever charge for website content as there is just too much on-line competition including the tax payers funded Rural ABC website. (Ed.If a special daily electronic version of the paper were to appear for mobile devices of course there will be a charge).

Julian  assures us that the paper does everything to avoid bias between the Devonport and Burnie regions and that although on some days more articles might cover the Burnie region, others days it favours Devonport. It is still a common perception both in Devonport and Burnie that there appears to be bias.

The club very much appreciated Julian O'Brien talk and were impressed that he still claims that even after 16 years at The Advocate (which is celebrating its 120th year) he has not once considered another carreer or employer.

Devonport Gallops at Spreyton

Yes another pleasant day at the races.

Hos Koerner and myself (Ree Loane) at the Durkin's Road entrance, Bob Cameron and Barrie Cooper at the Dogs Home entrance.

Not a lot of race goers but enough to keep our interest going. Being a lover of people watching and horses, sunny day, 4 hours didn't drag tooo much, there are worst things you could be doing e.g. ironing!!

Hos taught me the finer art of horse racing and we both agree, abolish whips and tongue tying. I was about to get on my soap box about the latter, but Hos reminded me I was in the Lions shirt, so was forced to keep my mouth shut, "ouch".

How many of you knew that Hos was a very good horseman??

We closed up shop around 3pm, Hos and I said our goodbye's and I headed in to let the horses know they had done a fine job, when this beautiful Dapple caught my eye, so thought what the heck, made my way to the betting arena, had to get instructions on how to put $5 on the horse to win, and hey presto, won $20.

What a Winner!!

Ree----

Perfect day for a good deed

Adopt-a-Highway road cleanup this sunny morning.

James the Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) employee kindly came from Launceston to set up all the road signs to slow the traffic for us to ensure the safe cleaning. It is important everybody gets briefed at the start of the cleaning, for everybody to get equipped with safety gear, everybody to sign their name and that we all stay together for the cleaning of the highway. Our section of adopted highway is sparkling clean again, and the weather was great!

After the cleanup we made our way to the biggest ever BBQ to encourage Australian communities to support the efforts of Children`s Cancer Institute Australia.

A good and productive day was had by all!

Have your Say

If you read articles on this site and think there is not enough coverage of local Lions Club events, why not email Walter with a photo and a story of an event you may have attended or any topic you like to read about. All submissions will be considered for publication. Email your webmaster: webmaster@devonportlions.info!

FundRaisers with Sean Roche

Lion members Cathy and Walter joined forces to bring Sean Roche, Irish Singer and Entertainer, to fly in from Perth WA to host two fundraisers. Starting the weekend on Friday 9 April Sean performed in Ulverstone at the OzRock Inn for Cystic Fibrosis and the following night he performed at Weindorfers in Gowrie Park to aid Motor Neurone Disease. Both functions took a lot of organising, but both did very well with everyone in attendance to either function having a ball and monies raised for the respective organisations!

If you like to support Motor Neurone Disease in Tasmania you can still donate to the Association by clicking HERE. And if you like to help Walter reach his goal of raising $4095 for CF Tasmania click/read about it HERE.

Sean Roche Fund Raising in the NorthWest of Tasmania

Sean Roche, who originally hails from the Irish town of Cork, is flying into our Tasmanian North West for two charity events!

Sean has a unique brand of Irish entertainment that subtly integrates the music of his homeland with a sprinkling of Australian standards. He now lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Next Friday night, 9 April, at 630pm Sean Roche will be hosting and performing at an ad-lib dinner at the OzRock Inn in Ulverstone for CYSTIC FIBROSIS. Walter van Praag, a person with Cystic Fibrosis himself, is climbing Mount Kinabalu in Borneo on the dawn of his 45th birthday on 8 July 2010. The mountain in the jungle is 4095 meters tall and he is raising $1 for each meter of altitude for CF Tasmania; $4095 total.  Be there around 6pm for a 630pm kick off to the evening. $50 covers food and wine and entertainment. See list of sponsor for the event: <click here>. Please RSVP by phoning the OzRock Inn on 6425 1120 or emailing funraiser@coughing4cf.com.
Fifty percent of the proceeds go straight to CF Tasmania and the other 50% towards the July  climbing expedition. CF Tasmania also has a special website where you can donate directly towards the $4095 goal: www.everydayhero.com.au/walter

If you cannot make the Friday night, or perhaps just prefer to support  the Motor Neurone Disease Association come and see Sean Roche  at Weindorfer's Restaurant - Gowrie Park Wilderness Village at 6.30 pm. for 'Days of Silver and Gold': Sean will give a concert and also MC a Blackboard Concert - BYO instruments! A dozen musicians have already registered for the Blackboard Concert. RSVP by Wednesday 7th of April 2010 to Cathy Clayton on 0407 555 859 or 6427 2693. Cost $45. Note there is a FREE BUS to and from Gowrie Park so you don't have to drive out of town:  Bus departs 5.15pm from the Big Apple at Spreyton, leaving Weindorfers about 10.30pm.

Benjamin Does It Again!

Benjamin Knight, double winner of the Lions Club Of City Of Devonport, Inc. Youth Of The Year Competition, went on to take the honors at the Port Sorrell Regional Competition. He will now compete at the State level on 11 April in Burnie. We wish him the best.