Περιοδικό τῆς Ἐνορίας-Κοινότητος Ἁγίας Ἄννας, Χρυσή Ἀκτή Newsletter of the Greek Orthodox ParishCommunity of St Anna, Gold Coast Aug-Sep 2013 31 a Crombie Ave, Bundall PO Box 5074 GCMC Qld 9726 (07) 5574 0777, 5574 0434 admin@gocstanna.org If you would like to receive the Phos in colour by email send your email address to admin@gocstanna.org FESTIVAL 2013 Loukoumi Eating Competition The Music! Coming up in Aug-Sep: Thurs Aug 15 Bus to Mt Gravatt Sun Sept 8 Fundraiser Brunch Fr. Themi St Anna Dancers Traditional Breaking of Plates Olive & Spoon Race Mon Sept 9 St Anna Luncheon CHURCH SERVICES The Food! The Crowd Dancing See Inside or go to our website To see the Phos in colour, visit our website at: www.gocstanna.org
Page 2 Our community has been very busy over the past two months with various events taking place. On 4 th of June 2013 we were proud to attend the launch of the Lexion Foundation. The launch was held at the Greek Club in Brisbane to celebrate an historic milestone of learning Modern Greek online through Griffith University in partnership with the Flinders University. Patron of the Lexion University is Mr Jim Raptis, Consul-General of Greece in Qld. For information on e- learning of Modern Greek, to register for updates or to check for eligibility, please phone (07) 37356762. On 22nd of June 2013 some of our parishioners participated in the Walk Together event which was held at Broadbeach. It was hosted by the Multicultural Communities Council, Gold Coast (MCCGC). The walk celebrates unity of all communities and to support multiculturalism. This event started in 2012 where there was a national turnout of 10,000 people. This year for the first time on the Gold Coast, the Greek community participated in the walk. Participants held our Greek and Australian flags. We hope next year to make this an even larger event for our Greek Community. As well, we take this opportunity to thank Bianca Armenis who is representing the Greek community on the Gold Coast in her role as Youth Ambassador in connection with the Youth Ambassador Project through MCCGC. Bianca is an active participant and is a wonderful role model for other Greek youth and for multicultural youth generally. Congratulations, Bianca. By far the biggest event on the St Anna calendar is our bi annual Greek Festival which was held on 14 th of July 2013, after many months of planning, organising, and logistics by the Festival Committee (Sandra Voukelatos, Helen Raptis, Cathy Walker, Chris & Maria Politakis and Rebecca Cominos). The Festival Committee who worked tirelessly and in a voluntary capacity did an outstanding job. Many thanks to them and to the hundreds of hard working volunteers who all worked together to present an excellent event. Another band of helpers was our core of volunteer cooks led by Thalia Zakos. Many ladies cooked each week and, standing for long hours, prepared and cooked all the food for the festival. Without these wonderful groups of volunteers there would be no festival. We thank everyone on the day of the festival who worked very hard to make this festival successful. Congratulations and thanks to the Festival Committee, all the volunteers, our sponsors, Dance Teachers, Greek School, our suppliers and media. For a small community we have much to be proud of. PRESIDENTS REPORT On the 23 rd of July 2013 we were fortunate to have Dr Anthony Dracopoulos, Senior Lecturer with the Dept of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney, present a lecture. His presentation was on C.P. Cavafy: Alexandria and Hellenism. The lecture was to mark the 150 year anniversary of Constantine Cavafy s birth. His lecture conducted in Greek and English was very informative and thought provoking and well attended by our parishioners. We thank Tom Drakopoulos and Leonidas Naoumis for facilitating Dr Dracopoulos visit to the Gold Coast. Many thanks to the Ladies Auxiliary for providing coffee and sweets. On 25 th of July 2013, our community celebrated St Anna s Day in our Church and afterwards a luncheon was held in our newly named Hellenic Function Centre. We thank Father Roman for conducting a beautiful service along with the many visiting priests who were in attendance, including the Vicar General of Qld, Fr Dimitri Tsakas, Father George Papoutsakis, and Father Nicholas Brown. Also in attendance were Father Smith and two orthodox priests representing the Serbian community and the Romanian community. The Ladies Auxiliary once again put on a beautiful feast for our local parishioners and the many visiting parishioners. We thank them very much and a wonderful celebration was held in honour of St Anna.
Page 3 On a sad note on the 31 st of May 2013 Mrs Chrysoula Paris passed away. Our deepest sympathy go to her son Michael, his wife Helen and their daughter Crystal. Our community wishes to convey our sympathy to the Tooma family on the sudden death of Tony Tooma. The Tooma family, over many years, have supported our community at various fundraising events and have especially assisted our Greek Festival. Our sympathy is extended to Anna and to her family. On 17 July 2013, another of our beloved parishioners, Mr John Patras, suddenly passed away. Our condolences go to his wife Loula and to her extended family. On 21st of July 2013 our community lost one of our dear friends, Mr Vasili (Bill) Kyriacou. Vasili actively participated in community functions and, in his time of better health gave great assistance to the Committee, to the Senior Citizens Group and to the Ladies Auxiliary especially with his culinary skills. Vasili was popular amongst the community and we will miss his sense of humour. Our very deepest sympathy to his beloved wife Vaso. May their memories be eternal. James Nides President GOLD COAST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION THANK YOU Following our donation to Gold Coast Hospital we received a reply from Kim Sutton, Chief Executive Officer of the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation. Following is an excerpt from her letter. It was a wise person that said, If you have good health you have everything. To give someone else the gift of the best healthcare and the best chance at good health is inspirational. Your very generous donation will help us to purchase digital thermometers for use across the hospital as a first point of diagnosis. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of the Greek Community of St Anna for their support. We couldn t do what we do without you and for that we are extremely grateful. soon. We hope to see you at one of our events SPIRITUAL CORNER Άκουσε κάποιος από τους Αγίους Πατέρες ότι ένας αδελφός έπεσε στο αμάρτημα της πορνείας και είπε: «Ω, άσχημα έκανε». Μετά από λίγες μέρες πεθαίνει ο αδελφός και πάει άγγελος του Θεού με την ψυχή του αδελφού στον Γέροντα και του λέει: «Δες αυτόν που κατέκρινες, πέθανε. Πού παραγγέλλεις να τον βάλω στη Βασιλεία του Θεού ή στην κόλαση;» Μετά απ αυτό, μέχρι την ώρα του θανάτου του ο Γέροντας ζητούσε ασταμάτητα από τον Θεό με δάκρυα και πόνο πολύ να τον συγχωρήσει. Ρωτήθηκε ένας Γέροντας: «Γιατί δεν μπορώ να κατοικήσω μαζί με άλλους αδελφούς;» Κι εκείνος είπε: «Γιατί δεν φοβάσαι τον Θεό. Αν θυμόσουν αυτά που λέει η αγία Γραφή ότι στα Σόδομα σώθηκε ο Λώτ, επειδή δεν κατέκρινε κανένα (Γεν. 19,1-23 πρβλ. Β' Πετρ. 2,6-8) και εσύ θα έβαζες τον εαυτό σου να κατοικήσει και σε θηρία ανάμεσα». Είπε ακόμη: «Ας αποκτήσουμε αγάπη Ας αποκτήσουμε συμπόνια για τον πλησίον, ώστε να αποφύγουμε τη φοβερή καταλαλιά και το να καταδικάζουμε κάποιον ή να τον εξουθενώνουμε. Ας βοηθούμε ο ένας τον άλλον σαν να είναι δικό μας μέλος, γιατί είμαστε μέλη του ιδίου σώματος, όπως λέει ο Απόστολος όλοι είμαστε ένα σώμα και ο καθένας μας είναι μέλος του σώματος στο οποίο ανήκουν και οι άλλοι ως μέλη (Ρωμ. 12,5). Και όταν πάσχει ένα μέλος συμπάσχουν όλα τα άλλα».
Page 4 LADIES AUXILIARY FESTIVAL 2013 DONE AND DUSTED! This year we were very blessed that, after a faltering start weather-wise, the clouds lifted to reveal a pleasant winter s day and our patrons started pouring through the gates. Though our numbers were down on last year because of this hesitant start, we think you would all agree that we were still very fortunate as our event had a good crowd, great atmosphere and lots of kefi. There are so many people who made our Festival the success it was. An amazing band of truly dedicated women, has been working behind the scenes for months organising and preparing for this event. Their dedication, their stamina and their resilience are truly inspiring. A special thank you must go to Georgia Georghiou for leading the teams who prepared the many, many trays of baklava, kataifi and galaktoboureko and helping with everything else, and Thalia Zakos of the Ladies Auxiliary who organises and oversees all the sweet and food preparations. To these two remarkable organisers and to THE MOST WONDERFUL TEAM OF WOMEN who helped each of you is an INSPIRATION to us all. Friday and Saturday before the Festival was a hive of activity in our community with volunteers assisting in the many preparations. Many of these same people turned up early and left late the day of the Festival. Thank you also to the very large contingent of volunteers (including a large number of youth) who worked so hard on the day. We are very grateful, also, to the hardworking men who helped by putting up ban- ners and with set up of the festival the day prior and for their hard work in transporting all the gear and foodstuffs to their various positions at the park. These same men helped again so willingly in bringing everything back again on the Sunday night. Your tiring work was deeply appreciated! As well, we thank our special volunteers who took on the extra challenge of being Team Leaders in their various stalls. Your extra responsibility was taken on so agreeably, without reservation, and your community is very appreciative. Great appreciation also goes to all of you who bought tickets in our raffle, to those who donated financially to our festival, to those who donated prizes for our raffle and to those who so kindly sponsored our festival. Please see our generous Sponsors and Raffle donors names on the separate page. We thank our dancing teachers, Vera Georgiou and Sally Cominos Dakin and Angela Demetre for their dedicated service enabling our dancing groups to perform so beautifully at the festival. We also thank School Principal, Mr Michael Christoforou, Mrs Marley Costan and the other Greek School Teachers who so diligently taught the children the Australian and Greek National Anthems for their excellent performance at the Opening Ceremony. We are also appreciative of our visiting dance groups from the various communities in Brisbane. MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Annual membership fees are now due for the 2013-2014 year. Renew now at the community office. As a member you receive: 20% discount on hall hire Discount on Greek School Fees. Voting rights for our committees with two years consecutive membership Eligibility to be a member of a committee with 2 years consecutive membership
Page 5 CYPRIOT MEMORIAL DAY The children of our Greek School prepared posters for exhibit at the festival around the theme of Creating Beauty. Their work was much admired by the public. Our gratitude is also heartfelt to Father Roman who organised the Church with a display and a lay preacher to enable visitors to learn something about Orthodoxy. We also say thank you to various groups within our city that came and gave different skills to making our event successful. These are: Apollo Soccer Club, Lions of Ashmore, Volunteer Coastguard, English Language students from Griffith University, Crimestoppers, St Johns Ambulance and Bribie Island campus. Your assistance in various areas of expertise was valued by us. And lastly...a special thank you. We express our gratitude to John Carras who so diligently, year round, sends our Community and Church news to the Neos Kosmos newspaper. This resulted in a special visit by a representative of the newspaper, Mrs Claire Gazis who attended our Festival. Our gratitude goes to John for his extraordinary work in raising our profile throughout the Greek Australian landscape and for facilitating our Festival coverage in the excellent English edition of the newspaper which is produced each Saturday. Thank you, John. Thank you to each and everyone who gave so selflessly in playing a role at the Gold Coast Greek Festival. Congratulations...you have excelled yourselves! ST ANNA S DAY The Ladies Auxiliary was honoured again this year to welcome and prepare luncheon for over 100 people after the Divine Liturgy in celebration of St Anna s Day. We were especially pleased to welcome so many from Brisbane and interstate. We thank Father Roman and the visiting clergy for the beautiful service. On Sunday, July 21 st, our community kept in our consciousness the tragic events of 1974 when, after a military coup, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus and one third of the island fell into Turkish hands. Our community marked this 39 th Anniversary by remembering the fallen at a Memorial Service at the end of the Divine Liturgy and then by the placing wreaths at our Church s Cenotaph. A display of these historical tragic events has kindly been set up by John Carras in our Community Centre. COMING UP Feast of the Virgin Mary Thursday August 15 On August 15, a bus has been booked in order to take parishioners to the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, Mt. Gravatt, Brisbane, in celebration of this important Feast Day. To book your seat, please see Vaso Kyriakou. Welcome & Fundraiser for Children of Africa for Fr Themi On Sunday September 8 after the Liturgy to celebrate the Feast Day of Panayias, all are invited to attend a Welcome brunch in our hall to honour Father Themi on his annual visit to Australia. As you no doubt know, Fr Themi visits this country to give a synopsis of the amazing work being done for the destitute in Sierra Leone. While Fr Themi is in Australia, we always try to fundraise to assist him to continue the valuable work of the Orthodox Mission in educating and looking after the under priviledged. Please join us. Entry is $20 for the brunch. Also, be assured that your entry donation and all donations given go a long way towards the mission of the Church. St.Anna s Day, Monday September 9 On after the Divine Liturgy on September 9th, we warmly invite you all to the Ashmore Steak & Seafood Restaurant to share in the celebration of our Church s Feast day. The luncheon will be $20 and we look forward to gathering as a family with our visitors to honour our Church s special day.
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Page 8 FESTIVAL 2013 BEHIND THE SCENES
GREEK SCHOOL REPORT We have welcomed all students back after the mid-year holidays with the understanding that term three will be a busy time for students and teachers alike. As such, semester two has begun with all classes completing some existing tasks and also embarking on new topics of study with a view to further extending their knowledge of the Modern Greek language. Senior students are continuing with their comprehensive studies and we encourage all of them to ensure they consistently revise their work as part of the learning process. We are pleased to advise that senior students have now completed first and second term exams and their performances were above average; we are delighted with their efforts. Thus far students have found they are learning about topics that both interest and fascinate them while constantly being encouraged to expand their ever increasing Greek vocabulary in the process. The topic of Ancient Greece-sites and pottery, provided the opportunity for all students to participate in this year s AHEPA competition with many positive learning outcomes. We were proud of the way many students researched and analysed each task, so much so that all completed work was put on display for all to see at the recent Greek Festival. We strongly encourage all parents (and grandparents) to contribute to students learning by not only speaking Greek to them whenever the opportunity arises but by also assisting them with their homework when possible. We encourage the practice of our Greek language as often as possible so make it a family project. Mid-year reporting was completed by all teachers upon our return to school and on Wednesday 17 July 2013, students were presented with an interim report card outlining their progress and effort in reading, listening comprehension, speaking and writing. We hope that students feel their progress reports are accurate representations of their efforts. We also encourage all students to make every effort to further improve in all the learning areas outlined on their report. On a final note we would like to formally congratulate the school children for their immaculate presentation and their wonderful performance of the National Anthems both Greek and Australian at this year s Greek Festival. The School Administration ΕΚΘΕΣΗ ΑΠΟΓΕΥΜΑΤΙΝΟΥ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟΥ Καλωσορίσαµε πίσω στο Ελληνικό Σχολείο, όλα τα παιδιά, µετά από τις χειµερινές διακοπές, τις οποίες απόλαυσαν µετά από τη σκληρή εργασία του Β Τριµήνου. Γνωρίζουµε όλοι πως το Γ Τρίµηνο θα είναι επιφορτισµένο µε πολλές δραστηριότητες κι άλλες σχολικές εργασίες, τόσο για τα παιδιά, όσο και για µας τους δασκάλους. Ως εκ τούτου, το Β Εξάµηνο έχει αρχίσει µε όλες τις τάξεις να είναι απασχοληµένες µε νέες κατηγορίες θεµάτων, µε σκοπό την περαιτέρω κατανόηση της Νέας Ελληνικής γλώσσας. Τα παιδιά του Λυκείου συνεχίζουν τις ολοκληρωµένες µελέτες τους, µε νέα θέµατα κι εµείς ενθαρρύνουµε όλους, να καταβάλουν κι αυτό το τρίµηνο- το πολύ σηµαντικό για τα τελικά τους αποτελέσµατα- µεγάλη κι αξιέπαινη προσπάθεια, Page 9 για να εξασφαλίσουν όσο το δυνατό καλύτερα αποτελέσµατα. Ας µη ξεχνάµε πως τα Ελληνικά λαµβάνονται υπ όψη, µαζί µε τα άλλα µαθήµατα του καθηµερινού σχολείου, στον καθορισµό του «ΟΡ») Είµαστε στην ευχάριστη θέση να ανακοινώσουµε ότι τα παιδιά αυτά συµπλήρωσαν τις εξετάσεις τους για το Α και Β Τρίµηνο, µε πολύ ικανοποιητικά αποτελέσµατα. Είµαστε ευχαριστηµένοι µε τις προσπάθειές τους. Μέχρι στιγµής, τα παιδιά µαθαίνουν για θέµατα που είναι πολύ ενδιαφέροντα και συναρπαστικά, ενώ στη διαδικασία, συνεχώς ενθαρρύνονται να επεκτείνουν το ελληνικό λεξιλόγιο τους. Το θέµα : «Αρχαίοι Ελληνικοί Χώροι και Αγγειοπλαστική» έδωσε την ευκαιρία σε όλα τα παιδιά να συµµετάσχουν στoν διαγωνισµό της Οργανώσεως ΑΧΕΠΑ του τρέχοντος έτους, µε πολλά θετικά αποτελέσµατα µαθήσεως. Ήµασταν περήφανοι για τον τρόπο που πολλά παιδιά ερεύνησαν και ανάλυσαν κάθε έργο, τόσο πολύ, ώστε όλα τα ολοκληρωµένα έργα να διατεθούν σε έκθεση για να τα δούν όλοι στο πρόσφατο Ελληνικό Φεστιβάλ της Κοινότητάς µας. Ενθαρρύνουµε όλους τους γονείς (και παππούδες/ γιαγάδες) να συµβάλουν στη µάθηση των παιδιών/ εγγονιών τους όχι µόνο µιλώντας σ αυτά Ελληνικά όποτε τους δίνεται η ευκαιρία, αλλά και να τα βοηθούν µε την εργασία τους για το σπίτι όπου είναι δυνατόν. Ενθαρρύνουµε την χρήση της Ελληνικής µας γλώσσας όσο το δυνατόν συχνότερα,στο σπίτι. ώστε να γίνει αυτό µία οικογενειακή συνήθεια! Οι έλεγχοι προόδου για το Α Εξάµηνο συµπληρώθηκαν και δώθηκαν στα παιδιά την Τετάρτη 17 Ιουλίου 2013. Στους ελέγχους αυτούς φαίνεται η πρόοδος και προσπάθεια των παιδιών,στην ανάγνωση, στην κατανόηση του προφορικού λόγου, στην οµιλία και στην έκθεση. Ελπίζουµε όλα τα παιδιά να αισθάνονται πως ο έλεγχος προόδου που έλαβαν αποτελεί ακριβή αναπαράσταση των προσπαθειών τους. Ενθαρρύνουµε επίσης όλα τα παιδιά να καταβάλλουν κάθε προσπάθεια για περαιτέρω βελτίωση σε όλους τους τοµείς της µάθησης που περιγράφονται στον έλεγχό τους. Τέλος θα θέλαµε να συγχαρούµε επίσηµα τα παιδιά του σχολείου για την άψογη παρουσίαση και υπέροχη απόδοση τους, των Εθνικών Ύµνων,του Ελληνικού και Αυστραλιανού, στο φετεινό Ελληνικό µας Φεστιβάλ. Η ιεύθυνση του Σχολείου
Page Thank you to all our sponsors and raffle donors of the Gold Coast Greek Festival. Dr Stephen & Terese Withers
Page 11 TO ALL OUR DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS We offer our heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all your hard work, before, during and after the Festival. Thanks to your efforts the Festival was a true showcase of our culture and a wonderfully successful day. The Festival Committee
Page Senior Citizens We meet at our Hall at 10.30 am on Tuesdays. BYO Food Θά συναντηθούμε στο χώλ μας 10,30 π.μ. με τα φαγητά μας Eleni-Pinelopi Tsolakidou It was all lights, lasers and tonnes of pizza on Saturday 29 June at TunzaFun, Pacific Fair. World Champion Eleni-Pinelopi Tsokakidou is 12 years old and a student in Year 8 at Benowa State High School as well as a student at the Greek School of St Anna. Eleni-Pinelopi entered a world on line competition Language Perfect World Championships in the category of Greek language. She worked hard for 10 days nonstop online, giving up most of her free time to compete against 1050 schools and 14 countries. Eleni-Pinelopi came first in the world for the Greek language and an awards ceremony is to be held at her school where she will receive her award from the Minister of Education, Qld. Eleni-Pinelopi is very proud of her achievement for both Greece and the Greek language. TunzaFun was overrun by 45 Kids & Teens and their parents from the Gold Coast and Brisbane for a night of lasertag, arcade games and pizza. Our Kids & Teens didn t have all the fun though, with a number of brave parents donning combat vests and taking one for the team. The party room was a feast of pizza kindly subsidised by Tony and Effie Bahlizanakis of Pizza Stop at Jura Parade, Merrimac. Our sincere thanks also go to John and Angela Sophios of TunzaFun Pacific Fair for hosting this event and donating full use of the arcade games for our younger members and the Lasertag room - well beyond home time! Thank you to all those families that supported this event and those that wished they could have been there! Watch out for details on Greek Junior MasterChef 2013 coming soon. Sally Cominos Dakin & Chris Sakley Kollyva Memorials with Kollyva can not be conducted between the Saturday of Lazarus and the Sunday of St. Thomas; on the major feast days of our Lord and the Parish Church nor on the 15th Aug, the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. To arrange for Kollyva, contact Theo and Maria Asimopoulos 55782995 or 0408 500 382. Father Romanos Stergiou Parish Priest Email: father@gocstanna.org Phone: 07 5574 0777 Mobile: 0414 740 477 Fax: 5574 2287 Office Hours: by appointment please call directly