Club Assembly

P.P. Rev. Brian Tomlinson started proceedings by saying grace in his own inimitable style before lunch.

President John Kilgour reviewed events on president's business, highlighting our very successful Kid's Out day at Craigton Park and the 'Dragons Den' event held at Kirkcaldy High School attended by himself and P.P.Anne Mitchell.

It was also announced that the charitable donations had been approved by council and asked for, and received, approval for a donation to a charity which the club has not previously supported.

S.V.P. Mark Rossiter was given the task of running the Club Assembly, outlining plans for his presidential year.

Mark stressed that the coming year would continue to build on the successes of previous years with continued commitment to Foundation, our own charity, continued support for local charities, continued support for the children at Upendo in Tanzania with the additionn of a donation to Dunfermline Rotary for work being done in Uganda.

It was also stressed that the club needs to keep growing with fresh faces and ideas and the Rotary name needs to improve the local profile. To these ends Kirkcaldy Rotary are planning to introduce a Friends of Rotary group and will explore the use of social media and local radio to both increase our numbers and improve our profile.

Kirkcaldy Rotary Club had a net increase of 6 members during the year but we still need to keep pushing for more members for the club to thrive.

J.V.P. Dallas Mechan identified the 4 Service Projects currently being run, 3 ongoing and 1 recent addition. Although not fully identified it was expected that some budgetry allowance would be needed. The service projects are: Kirkcaldy Station gardens, Rosslyn School (after the move to new premises has settled down), Balwearie High School DAS gardens and the new work on the gardens at Merchant House or Laws Close.

P.P. Brian Munro gave members a breakdown of Funds Action events.

Last year we donated c£15,000 to local charities and funded Kids Out and the Xmas Party.

This coming year we have allocated c£13,500 in charitable donations and will continue with Kids Out and the Xmas party.

These will be funded by such events as Race Nights, Santa's Sleigh and bag packing at local supermarkets and our flagship black tie dinner scheduled for March 2017.

Joining rotary is not all about fund raising and several club fellowship events are also planned including a visit to Carr's Flourmill, a joint dinner with Glenrothes Rotary club, a Burn's Supper in January, a music event in Perth featuring past winners of our young musician award and a joint event, districts 1010 and 1020, for the opening of the Queensferry Crossing.

Rotarian Kath Johnston identified the numerous Youth Services events, building on our success of previous years, that are planned for the coming year.

Interact: successful clubs are underway at St. Andrews High and Kirkcaldy High schools and it is hoped that Viewforth will restart after their move to new premisies. 2 DAS units at Rosslyn and Balwearie High have expressed interest in setting up interact groups.

Interact groups are heavily involved in our Kids Out day and the Xmas Party where they appear to have more fun than the kids. They also help with our collections for the party and in all cases are unregognisable as lions, penguins, cows and pixies.

Kirkcaldy High interact group organises the High 5 event between rotarians and interactors

which is always well received.

Youth Services manage several successful events throughout the year and these will be continued including: Young Photographer, Young Writer, Young Musician, Primary Schools Quiz, 6^th Form Quiz, EuroScola, Young Citizen Award and sponsorship of 3 candidates for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award). Attempts will be made this year to invigourate Young Chef and Youth Speaks.

Secretary Jack Dempsey gave a run down of Club Administration activities which run like a well oiled machine. The machine should continue to work well as Health & Safety, District Liaison, Attendance etc. continue with the current incumbents.

Having replaced our sound system and projector this year no major budgetry spend is envisaged for 2017.

The last to speak was our guest, Assistant Governor Malcolm Warner, who was impressed that our donations to Foundation, our charity, continues to be high and the membership model also received praise.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 21^st June at the Dean Park Hotel