On Tuesday, September 20 Cowra Rotary Club, in conjunction with the World Peace Bell Association, hosted the annual World Peace Day Dinner.
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At 6.30pm, Ken Harris, Cowra Rotary President, opened the evening by welcoming all attending and especially Ian Brown, Mayor Bill West, Diane Walsh (Cowra Inner Wheel) and the speaker and guest for the evening Michael Brissenden (ABC foreign correspondent and host of ABC morning radio news programme, AM.)
Diane Walsh then lit the ceremonial ‘flame of peace’ marking the start of the formal part of the evening.
Ian Brown then took his place as chairman for the evening, welcoming all attending, introducing the Youth Representitives nominated for the 2016 Youth Ambassador Peace Award and thanking Cowra Rotary Club for hosting the night.
Ian then introduced Mayor Bill West who delivered a short speech acknowledging the work of Rotary, the Peace Bell Committee, the Youth Representitives and guest speaker Michael Brissenden.
Michael told the audience that he has connections with Cowra, his grandparents were teachers at Neila Creek School and his father was born here and grew up in the area. He then spoke of his experiences as a foreign correspondent with the ABC in various war zones from the Middle East to Chechnia. He said that he had seen atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia and Chechnia and that the cost and consequences of war on human beings should be told.
He then went on to deliver a thought provoking speech on the ease of engaging in war and the lack of consultation required within some governments to send their troops to war – Australia is not immune to this. Michael said that even after what he had seen, he was not a pacifist, and believed that it was necessary in certain circumstances to go to war to prevent an even worse scenario.
Michael then fielded questions from the floor on such varied subjects as the US Election, BREXIT, ABC bias and the Aussie Rules final. Madison Johnson of the Youth Council delivered a very eloquent vote of thanks to the guest speaker.
The 2016 Rotary Peace Award was awarded to Kim Withers for service to the community by President Ken Harris. In reply Kim delivered an inspiring speech on the joys and rewards of volunteering.
The 2016 Youth Ambassador Peace Award was given to Madison Johnson who gave a reply of thanks and the ‘flame of peace’ was extinguished by Sue Brown.