After the official business of formally opening Conference, the first speaker was the Representative of the President of Rotary International, PDG Chalmers Cursley. His themes were Foundation and Public Image. “In the UK we are competing with thousands of charities, the Charities Com- mission has 68,000 registered. We are at a cross-roads and the Rotary we know has to be different from the Rotary of our fathers. Currently membership has been stagnating at 1.2 million for several years. There is growth in the merging world but here in the UK and America we are standing still. This is a changing world and we must be prepared to change with it. Already clubs are more flexible with attendance. Young professionals with families have very little time to engage with Rotary, so we must make meetings less formal and more attractive. It is critical that we think differently, because old thinking generally means old results.
“There are at least 250 opportunities for innovation in clubs. Rotary II or satellite clubs are not going to take flight immediately, but once the seed is planted they will create new membership.”
There is an important initiative to undertake with the end of polio in sight, he said. The Rotary Global Grants Model can be embraced by clubs. This is the time to dip your toe in the water and take advantage of the model, he said. “20th
October is World Polio Day
and there are all the materials necessary to enhance your public image through the tools available for posters, leaflets in the logo sets. Most people have heard of Rotary and they may recognise the wheel but are not aware of what we do. We know, but that’s not enough, we must tell the public what we do. “Public Image is shaped by the actions of members. Use your shop windows, your website, community events, FaceBook. If we all unite we will create the inspiration to carry Rotary into the future.”
Whether by accident or design, the majority of the inspirational speakers were women. First up was Tori James, the first Welsh woman to climb Mount Everest. She appeared in the BBC documentary ‘On Top of the
World’ and the author of ‘Peak Performance’ describing her breathtaking climb. In 2005, she was a member of the Pink Lady PoleCats, the first all-female team to complete the Polar Challenge, a gruelling 360 mile race to the Magnetic North Pole. Then five years later she cycled the length of New Zealand, a total of 2400 km.
In 2014, she was the only female member of the Beeline Britain team which became the first to travel from Land’s End to John O’ Groats in a straight line. The 1,100km journey involved sea kayaking, road and mountain biking and hiking. The team set a record for the longest open sea kayak crossing in British waters, kayaking non-stop for 200km from Land’s End to Pembrokeshire. Tori is an Am- bassador for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Wales, President of Girlguiding Cymru and a Fellow of British Exploring. “Being in a team you must all have the same aspirations,” said Tori. “Before we started out on The Polar Challenge, no women’s team had ever completed. All I wanted to do was finish the race. One of the other two members wanted to win. The other wanted a respectable performance. So we had to come up with a common goal and we decided that our aim was not only to complete but we wanted to finish in the top half, which we actually managed.” Dragging tyres for 11 hours across Camber Sands paid off because working hard in train- ing made the real thing easier.
Her message to Rotary was: “Keep doing what you are doing for the young people of
South Wales because they are definitely bene- fitting from your wonderful work.”
Cynthia Whiting as District 15 Inner Wheel Chairman is a member of the largest women’s organisation in the world (below). “Some Rotarians think we are stuffy, but over the years we have had to empower and evolve. “We are a help to Rotary and a joint venture is a happy venture. Rotary and Inner Wheel have a superb relationship.”
She told conference: “Encourage your wives and partners to join us, I am sure they will enjoy it.”
She outlined the work of Inner Wheel, including sponsoring a school in India for unwanted girls, educating and looking after them till the age of 16 and giving them a valuable start in life, and a night shelter in Morroco where children can sleep in safety. Inner Wheel volunteers in hospitals, and does shopping for the housebound, keeping people in their own homes as long as possible. Cynthia rides a big motor-bike and delivers blood to hospitals and is looking forward to riding the new zip wire in North Wales next year. In her spare time she is a keen carriage driver. “Stuffy? I don’t think so.”
Alex Rotas takes pictures of athletes. Not the accepted stereotype of young athletes, but men and women in their 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s even over a 100. She enjoys documenting the transformative power of sport and exercise by
photographing older people new to exerc Her picture on the screen above portray “We are all pressured into thinking tha wrinkles, it’s about having an interest. W weights round a field then you realise tha focus on empowerment which in turn wil
Ken Billington DPHF is a no-nonsens help that people caught in disasters need, areas. He cited the Rotary club which fun “Four years later, a member of that clu go and see how the tractor was getting o When he asked what the problem was, he thought of that. “We supplied fishermen in the Phillipin the tools to carpenters who did the work, carpenters.
Tori James with the Welsh flag, a lot cleaner than the one she proudly flew on Everest.
CONFERENCE 2018 16 Cynthia Whiting CONFERENCE 2018
“When there is no electricity electric a collect flat irons. They are becoming rare “Education comes in all shapes and siz
CONFERENCE 2018
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