by C & G McCulloch

On Monday 4th December at the Attadale Rotary Club meeting President Colin McCulloch was delighted to welcome the Guest Speaker Patrick Allioux and his wife Sue.  Rotarian Patricia Robertson introduced her friend Patrick and spoke a little about his background.

Patrick was born in Brittany on the west coast of France.  After school he enrolled in the French Navy and trained as a marine engineer. He then served on the "grey" boats for 15 years.  The navy then seconded him to the Cousteau Society to crew Commandant Jacques Cousteau's new second boat "Alcyone".  They criss-crossed the Pacific Ocean making documentaries along the way.  Patrick shared his stories and photos of all the places they visited as well as speaking about revolutionary sails on tanker ships that were four to five times more efficient than regular sailing boats.

After six years and the Kimberley expedition, while up-keeping the boat in Fremantle, Patrick met a young nurse, Sue.  After Patrick and Sue had married he left the French navy but still worked as a civilian for Jean-Michel Cousteau.  After another couple of years the Cousteau Society began to decline, there was no expedition coming and life at sea is not a family life.  Patrick then began working at a Perth company doing the maintenance of diesel generators in mine sites.  After various other jobs in the maintenance industry, he landed in Kwinana looking after the maintenance of a flocculent production plant where he stayed for 20 years before retiring.

Patrick still keeps himself very busy with the Cockburn Sea Rescue Group and the Cockburn Pipe Band.

Pictured is Attadale Rotary President Colin McCulloch with the Guest Speaker Patrick Allioux and his wife Sue and Rotarian Patricia Robertson.

Also two of the hard working Attadale Rotarians Greg James and Gail McCulloch who both gave a very interesting, entertaining and enlightening thumbnail sketch of their early days and what led them to joining Rotary.

Attadale Rotary Club President Colin McCulloch was delighted to welcome Shona Davies as the Guest Speaker at the Club meeting on Monday 27th November at Tompkins on Swan. Shona was an Exchange Student from South Africa and came to the Club in 1995. Colin also had great pleasure in welcoming her host families from that time Pam & Mike Wadsworth, Jacquie & Mike Cox and current Attadale members Jim & Jenny Calcei.

Meeting up with Shona again brought back many fond memories for them all. Shona, now aged 40, is part of the crew aboard the Clipper 'Dare to Lead' which arrived in Fremantle the previous Sunday. Shona played a video about life on board a clipper. There was no doubt about how rough and tough it can be.

Shona will be taking part in three legs of the race which will see her travel some 15,000 nautical miles, half way round the world from Cape Town to China.

After years of struggling with anxiety and depression, Shona had a devastating breakdown at the end of 2015 as she had been working long hours and travelling as Chief Operating Officer for a major British company with Overseas interests. She realised she needed to get back into doing things she loved but had lost. She had loved sailing and this was what led her into becoming part of the Clipper Round the World event which she described as the experience of her life. Her delightful personality, enthusiasm and willingness to share the good and bad times she has lived through were refreshing and extremely inspirational.

This was a wonderful presentation from a young woman showing her bravery both in sailing and with her own personal journey.

Pictured are Jim & Jenny Calcei, Mike & Pam Wadsworth, Guest Speaker Shona Davies and Jacquie & Mike Cox.