By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
BILL Minns isn’t one for a fuss.
So the last living original member of the Berwick Rotary Club may have to cast a blind eye over the Pioneers Park rotunda from now on, with the piece of architecture soon to be named after him.
Last month Casey council carried a motion which will see the popular rotunda, originally donated by the Rotary Club of Berwick, named after Mr Minns.
The idea for the Bill Minns Rotunda came from Berwick Rotary and was formally raised by Casey Mayor Mick Morland, himself a Berwick Rotarian, at the first council meeting for 2015.
Mr Minns said he was extremely humbled when he was told of the news, an honour he had not been expecting.
“I only found out about it a couple of months ago and I’d kept it confidential,” he said.
“The mayor also mentioned it on Australia Day.
“I thought something like this only happens after people die, so I was very grateful to hear the news.
“I had a little effort in the building of it.”
Ever humble, Bill Minns has served with the Rotary Club of Berwick since it was chartered on 3 May 1961.
He said Berwick had been as much a part of his life as those other people and things dearest to him.
“I came to Berwick in 1940, my family shifted out of Melbourne when the war started and we lived on a property out here,” he said.
“I was only about 14.”
Mr Minns said he had always respected the Berwick Rotary Club’s “genuine attitude towards the community”.
“It’s a social avenue, a strong fellowship,” he said.
The rotunda will be formally named after Mr Minns at a special ceremony later this year.
