SERVICE ABOVE SELF


JUNE 2020 : ISSUE 134


F


ellow Members,


This month has been one of the busiest of my Presidency. I have


attended, via Zoom, the Rotary GBI AGM, the District Assembly, an Area Presidents’ Meeting, a Council Meeting as well as three regular meetings. It is interesting to note how the mood and tone have changed throughout the month. At the national event, the Treasurer painted a downbeat picture of membership, anticipating that many will resign due to a lack of face to face meetings whilst the Area Presidents’ meeting was the most upbeat that I have attended. The District Assembly had 240 delegates who enjoyed excellent speakers. The tone was set by an Australian Rotarian who gave an amusing presentation on public image which needs to be changed from the traditional stuffy formal approach to a relaxed modern style that will attract younger members. This sometimes involves dressing up to catch media attention but I cannot see our members dressing up as Superman or a mermaid anytime soon! In terms of business, the club’s efforts has focused on fundraising by members to donate to causes affected by COVID-19. We continue to donate our ‘dinner money’ to a lockdown fund which has had £615 from the sheet quiz added to it. Congratulations to the members for this effort as this sum is more than we usually raise from this initiative. In terms of distribution, our initial focus was on the provision of funds for visors for carers. Then we looked at ways of support care home staff and residents through providing ‘treats’. This involved distributing Polio Mints, Fisher and Donaldson cakes and Janettas’ ice cream to the three care homes in town. We have also a donation to Kids Out, currently Kids In. Our regular meetings have been successful and well attended with 33-34 out of 39 members logging in. We were given a fascinating career talk by Eric Fraser who charted (no pun intended!)


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his naval career from graduating at Dartmouth College to serving on and c omma n d i n g a variety of ships to hi s land-based assignments later on in his career. At another meeting when Bruce Rollo gave his talk, John Spittal, thanks to Zoom, introduced his one day old granddaughter, Cassandra Alba, to the members. Bruce then gave his talk on Visions of Immortality from a legal perspective which brought us back to reality and meant that we went from cradle to grave in one meeting. Our final meeting of the month was a two-hour session discussing on our annual plan for 2020/21. This was time well spent as Jim Allison, President-Elect, outlined his theme of ‘Adapt and Act’ for the forthcoming year which is going to be a very different year for all Rotary clubs as we have to plan in such a period of uncertainty. We discussed the way forward for our meetings and it was decided that we would continue to have talks every two weeks with fel lowship meetings, possibly using breakout rooms, for the intervening weeks. This will be reviewed in August. Take care.


John Fernie


CONTENTS:


Cover photo “Beautiful Spring Blooms in our Planters’ by Isobel Clifford From the President


Lockdown Fund Donations A Life on the Ocean Wave 2020 Herbs and Spices Quiz Dingbats


2020 District Assembly Well Done James


Visions of Immortality from a Legal Perspective Club Planning Meeting 2020 DSF Swimming Championships The Best of Happy Pound


May Celebrations and Visitors The Last Laugh Calendar Contacts


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