Howard Hutchins, above with Steve Wylie and Gilly Swinnerton, came to us referred through the District 9800 speaker bank, on the topic “Humour is Serious” - which seemed a very relevant topic to start the year. After separate recommendation from two members of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, Gilly was inundated with emails from Howard on many topics.

However. He rang Gilly late last week to say his much loved brother-in-law had died and he was going to make the talk a tribute to the late Barry Clayton, as he was a very funny person. Barry had three farewells in different locations and Howard spent 15 days beside him in an ICU ward at the end.

Howard stood without notes and unravelled his folder of papers and his bag of props to give us a genuine meander into his family and their Riverina origins as well as some of his vehicles, his travels, other adventures and his deep relationship with indigenous friends.

It’s a bit difficult to describe the presentation to those of you reading this who were not present, but we all shared in a cathartic event for Howard as he grieves, and  I think that fills the four-way test.