Newsletter: April 2013 (Please click here to download the full newsletter)

What a month March has been – the culmination of a number of planned activities, competitions, training, and many club president’s nights.

Top amongst the events for me were the competitions for the youth, the New Generations team have done an amazing job of planning and organising all the events leading up and including the finals. The most entertainment and in many ways is so hard to judge, with Music, Youth Speaks, Young Chef and so on. At some of the finals we also had a number of civic dignitaries, joining me in presenting the certificates and medals, and the odd cup.

Not in any particular order the Senior Youth Speaks were:
Winners and going on to the regional finals: Castle A Team (Taunton Vale Club)
Runners up were the Castle B Team, also Taunton Vale Club

The other schools reaching the finals were Beaminster (Bridport Club), King Edwards (Bath Club), Leweston (Sherborne Club), St Laurence (Burnham on Sea Club) and Sheldon (Chippenham Club).

The topics were varied and included everything from Chocolate to Siblings and the power of words.

The Intermediate results were as follows;
In first place was the team from Beaminster whose theme was ‘behave! The future of football’.
And coming in a close second was the Ralph Allen School, on the topic ‘The nature of Freedom’.

Schools represented included Danesfield, Gryphon, Minehead Middle, and two from Selwood.

The Music finals demonstrated a range of talent and skill, on piano, violin, cello and the voice itself.

The winner was Katey Rylands (Vocal) supported by the Bradford on Avon club and the runner up Edward Creed (Piano) supported by both Taunton Clubs. The music varies from Gershwin to Bloch. The adjudicator Ross Brown is a professional musician, having played with almost every Orchestra (Royal Philharmonic, English Chamber, Mahler Chamber, and many more) as well as Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Elton John and Shirley Bassey. He himself was a winner of the contest some years ago – so these competitions are part of a confidence building route to the top.

What are we doing? This is the time of year when we don’t know whether we are coming or going – both actually!One can feel the next team already gearing up for the Rotary year starting in July, but there is still a great deal to do in the final three months.

There have been changes at all levels, from RI and all areas since the year started. We have had the poorly presented and ‘organised’ re-districting farce which resulted in nothing more than what RI would have imposed anyway – all that angst for nothing. Moving on we have the new ‘RIBI Board’ coming in to existence from July 1st and how that will impact matters remains to be seen. There was going to be a presentation at the RIBI Conference outlining their agenda and strategy, but they have just emailed the DGs and others announcing they want to consult first!So, do we enter a year where the new board has already started they don’t know what they are supposed to do?

Something I have been looking at for a while now, is the formation of new clubs, and how that works within the District (and for that matter across RIBI). It seems to me that new clubs could well come together at the outset as a business networking group, with the care of the community as a part of the concept, which defines how Rotary started – so why not now, when so many businesses all seek a networking opportunity and many have a built-in desire to be seen to help others. We are going to try that shortly in my patch of the District and see how it pans out. Watch this space.

The GSE team from Turkey land at Bristol Airport on April 6th, and spends a month with us all, except for the RIBI Conference in Harrogate. As it is the last GSE team under the old regime, let us give them a great time and insight into how the UK does things.

Barbara and I will be at Harrogate from the Friday 12th, and having a couple of days off afterwards, exploring the Yorkshire area, the first break we have taken since last May (which was Bangkok, so a bit different then!) and a week in June with half our family in Italy. Then we go to Lisbon for the RI Convention, which will be a great event for all of us. I am told there are over 22,000 booked for Lisbon already, so don’t miss it.

Some key news and changes:

RC West Woodspring
West Woodspring has now officially become the Rotary Club of Worle. From the beginning of May they will be meeting at the Wool Pack Inn, Shepherds Way, St Georges, Worle BS22 7XE on a Tuesday evening at 1830 hours (except Bank Holiday weeks). The route from the motorway is take first link road off J21 follow it round until you see the railway bridge, take the road on the right and it is opposite Davan Caravans.

Bob Acland was Elected District Governor Nominee at the 23 March District Council meeting. This means he will be District Governor in 2015 - 16. He will be an excellent Governor and I have no doubt he will be fully supported in every way.

Great to welcome to the global family of Rotary the following:

Jan Mackenzie - Bathavon
John Woolliscroft - Crewkerne District
Andrew Prowse - Weymouth
Julian Booth - Warminster
Andrew Bragg - Bathavon
David Dick (re-joining) - Ilminster
Neil Edwards - Shepton Mallet
Bryan Chalker - Bath

Peter JW Noble,
District Governor, D1200, 2012/13

The next District Council meeting on March 23rd will have a number of different presentations, and a selected few breakouts. I am also asking the presidents and presidents elect to remain in the theatre with the AGs and me after the plenary, to hear from clubs on what the District team needs to do to improve delivery of support. We only learn from feedback – so the ball is in your court. Your club has had the agenda so you should have seen it for the details.

The GSE team from Turkey arrive on 6th April at 21.15 for a month in the District (leaving on 4th May at 06.15) to and from Bristol A/P. They are going to be a very good team, reading through their CVs, with an experienced leader, so many thanks to the clubs hosting and looking after them. I have arranged to have them at the RIBI Conference in Harrogate which I am sure they will enjoy and all will benefit from meeting them. Well done to Charley (Charlotte Seymour-Smith of Dorchester) for her splendid efforts to get everyone involved and organised. She is planning to hold an informal get-together for the various club members and hosts after the plenary at District Council on 23rd March.

The RIBI Conference in Harrogate is looking very good for both speakers and entertainment, in what is an excellent town with outstanding gardens. All the information is on the RIBI web site and I look forward to seeing you there. The RIBI budget will be presented (and the general Council has already decided to hold the subs for the coming year – but the membership has to vote of course). There are items to vote on, so make sure you either attend or go on line as it is planned to allow voting on line – for the first time and assuming it works…….

In June we have the last opportunity for a number of years to attend the RI Convention in Lisbon within easy reach – after this year the convention goes southern hemisphere for a few years. So far we have about 30+ from D1200 (almost as many that went to Bangkok last year from all of RIBI). Check the RIBI web site for more information.

Meanwhile, there are many aspects of Rotary that continue to progress, with the Rotary day held on the ‘birthday’ of February 23rd and a number of clubs making good use of the publicity materials provided. Clubs are to be congratulated for their excellent organisation to collect their own material, and I would like to thank Water Survival Box Operations Director, Hugo Pike, for receiving the massive amount of material and working with the clubs to collect their items. Sadly, there were not enough pull ups for everyone, but they had to be as fairly distributed as possible, and on a first come first served basis – and don’t forget to offer them to adjacent clubs for their events from now on, please.

I am delighted to welcome more members to the world of Rotary and hope they both enjoy membership and are suitably fulfilled in their involvement in community activities of their clubs.

Julia Burnett - Brue Valley
Jake Atkinson - Brue Valley
Paul Jenkins - Wrington Vale
Gerard Tucker - Langport & Somerton
Tina Le Clercq - Lyme Regis
Deborah Allison - Bath West
Philip Greenway - Taunton Vale

And a transferee who is no doubt bringing some expertise from his previous club

David Cound - Weston-Super-Mare, From Loughborough

I am delighted to report that the number of Polio cases this year, until today’s date, is two. Just two; and I know it is the ‘low’ season, but even so, it is great progress – we really are getting there; compared to 1985 when there were about 50,000 in the same 8 week period. I can also say we have a few from the District out on a NID (National Immunisation Day) doing their bit for which they should be congratulated and I believe five are from Brue Valley – why not ask them to come and tell your club of their experiences?

During February I have enjoyed a number of events and activities. Many have involved the youth of the District including a number of Youth Speaks events. The two finals come up in early March and should be an interesting and challenging time for the contestants – and for the record I have never been able to pick the winning team, I always judge it to be one of the others! Barbara and I went along to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) on Dartmoor and had a very interesting evening with the youngsters who have grown in stature in confidence to a far higher level than they thought possible in so short a time. RYLA is one of the most worthwhile activities we promote and support and we should do everything we can to continue the activity.

A number of presidents and charter nights have taken place – including Langport and Somerton’s 65th – a good night was had by all. Barbara and I are enjoying every minute of the hospitality and thank every club for their generosity.

We are actively seeking the development of new clubs and Dorchester is we believe ready for a club to complement the two clubs already there (my club, Dorchester is coming up to its own 90th birthday next January). Some members of my club wondered why we celebrate a 90th, but as one member said, some might not make the 100th!

One matter that I was able to resolve was the poor state of the hotel we used for the Bath conference. It was heralded as the key hotel of the Travelodge group, and when I visited a couple of years ago, it was a good hotel. What I didn’t know was that it had gone downhill, and we had very poor treatment. I ‘negotiated’ a compensation package and was able to send to every paying hotel guest a small cheque by way of the hotel group’s apology. By some odd twist of fate when the conference was last held in Bath, over two decades ago, and I was the conference chairman (for DG David Crowhurst) the banquet food and service was not good enough and I again negotiated a compensation package which was returned to the district funds at the time. I think there is a message there somewhere! Is it me or Bath – or coincidence – don’t answer that….

I would like to thank publicly for their untiring efforts with the conference the key people who were Gail Tucker (Bath West) as chairman, with deputy host, PDG Brian Hellin, treasurer Andrew Jones of my club, Dorchester, as well as the folk who held the statistics together as registrars, Sharon and Bob Haig of Wells club, who all worked hard to make sure those things we had control of worked! Our Master at Arms, Ian Dominy (Dorchester), did a sterling job during the weekend and many thanks to him as well.

Moving onwards, don’t overlook the conference in October being held in a new venue (for us anyway) which promises to be an excellent event (please click here for the latest news on this event), incorporating many of the features that people wanted from the survey. The theme is The Spirit of Youth. The venue is the Four Pillars Hotel and Conference Centre, South Cerney, Gloucestershire. There are options for the whole event, and various packages, including attending the conference only. Check the District website for details, the team running the conference plan to visit every club to tell them about it, and sell you the package of your choice – don’t miss it – the hotel must be better than Bath this last time. Register on line at www.rotary1200.co.uk/conference.

Enjoy the month and have a relaxed and pleasant Easter break in your own special way.

Yours in Rotary

Peter JW Noble,
District Governor, D1200, 2012/13
 

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Newsletter: February 2013 (Please click here to download the full newsletter)

Well, we are into the second half of the Rotary year and our thoughts turn to where we are and where we are going. Are we going to handover our respective roles, clubs and District in a better state, or at the very least we have tried to achieve this basic goal?

Only you can judge …………

You may remember that at the District Assembly last May I challenged every club to recruit five new members this year – well, that is happening in some clubs already. Since July 1st we have had 48 new members, plus another 20 in the Wellington District club, chartered late in the previous Rotary year. 48 is nearly one per club and we are only half way – so let’s keep up the momentum and show what we can all do to grow Rotary across the District and beyond for the benefit of all our
communities.

 

To every Rotarian and member in D1200, Barbara and I wish you a Happy New Year, and a peaceful, productive and interesting Rotary year.

Cost is important, but I suspect time is more so if they have young children. And I do believe that there are many people in the 25-45 bracket who believe they should help their communities, but maybe don’t have an outlet for their willingness to help. If that is true, they need an opportunity to create their own version of Rotary in the 21st Century. Chains of office, toasts, and things like a ‘dress code’ are anathema to many. Paul Harris went to meetings dressed in his work clothes, so that is effectively the dress code for new club members. We need to embrace new clubs with new modes of operation – and we need to examine what we do at District meetings as well. That is why I have been experimenting with new formats, trying to ensure a maximum attendance so that members can be brought up to date with events and activities from a global and local perspective, and meet and exchange ideas and thoughts. I recently heard of a Sunday morning club, meeting at a room in a coffee house, sometimes bringing their children.

 

At the most recent District Council meeting we had a very much larger attendance than for some time, I guess because of the re-districting, but it was also an opportunity to try two large breakouts and the immediate feedback was that it worked, but that is just what I heard, but what do you think? Let me know and I will try and work out the best way forward.

One idea was announced for a web based ‘board’ for clubs to collect names, menu choices, and times to volunteer and so on from the Rotary Club of Brue Valley. It looks like an excellent system which clubs can use. The details are on http://www.rotaryrsvp.com/AboutRSVP.php and I recommend you have a look and see if it suits your club.

 

 

A welcome to new members: this is the best bit of the News, I am delighted to welcome the following to membership and look forward to meeting them all in due course:

 

The past month has seen highs and lows. The high is certainly the presentation of the charter to the new club Wellington District on the 17th October. The low has been the re-districting activities, taking a lot of time and frankly - creating angst in some clubs.

GSE members for the visit to Turkey: Unless we get another two or so potential team members by November 17th we will have to withdraw from the process as it will be too late for training and preparation. Can clubs attend to this NOW please, or else this district will have failed at the very last opportunity to send a GSE team out.

Meanwhile, I have almost completed the club visits, with only two left to visit during November - 54 done. The last club (Yeovil) includes the visit from the RIBI President, John Minhinick, who will be spending three days in the district. The plans include visits to the Water Survival Box packing establishment, the SNAP project at Chippenham, the Memory Café at Langport and Somerton, as well as visits to Bath West, Shepton Mallet, Weymouth, and Yeovil already planned, and a couple more to add. All the hosting clubs should invite the members of clubs close to them. If you don’t get an invitation, ask the hosting clubs. Some interesting visits have been arranged to include the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy with a tour.

One of the most time consuming and poorly planned issues is the so called re-districting. This was designed to allow the RIBI districts to reduce in number to pre-empt Rotary International stepping in and simply withdrawing one or more districts. The timeframe for this has been based on trying to achieve a result in time for the next RI Board Meeting in January. This has pressurised everyone and created a change to dates of district meetings, and sometimes other events as well. You should all have had sight of the planned changes in version 2. I don’t think all that many agree with the ideas as far as D1200 is concerned. I as DG have gone back (again) and produced my own version and my comments to the panel working on this are at the end of the newsletter. At the District Council meeting on 17th November, we will discuss and I intend a vote – or votes - to determine the views of those attending. I have a General Council meeting on the 26th November which will I dare say be exhilarating……………

Then there has been the ‘advertising drop’ and advertising in national newspapers. Have you seen the drop and /or the advertising, and what do you think? I need to know your views so I can represent them at the general Council and to those who are carrying out the task.

The conference has come and gone and I hear that all those attending enjoyed the entire event (although the Friday night event could have been better). The speakers all stuck to the theme. John Dehnel gave a particularly good dissertation on Future Vision, which we will be following up at the District Council meeting after the plenary. All are invited to attend and in particular, Foundation Chairs, International Chairs as well as Presidents Elect as it affects your year. We will use the theatre after the plenary. Then the Foyer will be used by Community, Vocation and New Generations for a general breakout. Presidents can go to any of these key events to keep up with what is going on.

Workshop for club PRO and others: After the council meeting and just up the road there is a half day workshop for the club PRO – and anyone who needs to be brought up to speed. It will cover web site demonstrations, Facebook and Twitter and a lot on press relations and how to maximise your publicity. The presenters include specialists as well as the Editor of the Wells Journal. Please contact Debbie Pugh-Jones on 07984 630663 or pikacommunications@gmail.com.

Now we can all look forward to the next conference when Brian Kirkup is the District Governor. So, check out the web site (http://www.rotaryd1200.co.uk/Conference) and get booking – I am looking forward to attending and relaxing a bit!

I am delighted to welcome new members as below, may I hope they enjoy and feel a part of this great organisation and their clubs.

New Members in September

Geoffrey Mann (Rotary Club of Burnham-on-Sea)
Charles Somers (Rotary Club of Brit Valley)
Richard Lees (Rotary Club of Taunton Vale)
David Seviour (Rotary Club of Midsomer Norton & Radstock)
Martin Spiller (Rotary Club of Midsomer Norton & Radstock)

New Members in October to date

Geoff Syme (Rotary Club of Brue Valley)
Sheila Rhodes (Rotary Club of Burnham-on-Sea)

We lost five through resignations and four were called to higher service. We also had one member transfer out and one in to the District.
 

Yours in Rotary

Peter JW Noble,
District Governor, D1200, 2012/13

 

This month it is all happening, so this newsletter is to the point.

The boundary changes (re-districting) plan has been presented to the General Council as a draft for us, the Governors, to consider and check for errors and oddities. I will elaborate more at the District Conference and the RI Director Allan Jagger will be there as well to answer questions. There is a specific timeline in place which every District and Club will play a part in, but clubs will need to be aware of the dates and times so as to be fully involved.

The timeline:  

• October 25th, the survey will be emailed to every club president
• November 9th, is the cut off day for survey feedback
• November 26th, the modified survey will be ratified by General Council

And from then on the recommendations are passed to the RI Board. More dates and actions will follow from that process depending on the outcome.

The District Conference has room for more at the plenary sessions, as well as the Friday party. We also have a spare hotel room due to a cancellation, so contact the registrars NOW to make sure you get in: Sharon Haigh or call 01749677038.

Future Vision is being launched at the District Conference.

A late speaker is Peter Rawlinson; the Vice Chair of the Stroke Association, himself a stroke survivor for 20 years and brings his own challenge to the conference.

I have the Council of Legislation’s proposals to hand and anything significant will be brought to a later council meeting. Changes to the management of RIBI are imminent with the members (clubs) being asked in due course to vote for their preferred candidate(s). I am advised this will be an electronic vote.

Key matters to consider:

2013/14 Assistant Governors: We will be issuing the documents to request candidates to be Assistant Governors for the 2013/14 year very soon, so please ensure that you have asked the members of your club who wishes to stand. This is a vital and very rewarding role, and highly satisfying for those members keen to spread the word.

There is a big push for Polio eradication financial support from Governments and companies, and to launch the process a public launch was held in New York on 27th September where RI committed $75 million to the cause. The UK Government committed 29 million vaccines. This takes the money members have raised in the 27 years to over $1.2 billion. We need another $945 million to ensure we continue the process.
 
A new club launches: for me the most exciting part of the job is to see a new club join the Rotary movement. Although chartered in June, only now do they have their charter celebrations planned to take place in October. I have reproduced below their invitation to all Rotarians in the district.

Rotary Club of Wellington District

Re: Celebration Charter Evening – Wednesday 17th October 2012

I am delighted to confirm that our Celebration Charter Evening has been set for Wednesday 17th October 2012, 7pm for 7.30pm at the Museum of Somerset at Castle Green, Taunton. It will be held in the Great Hall and we feel that everyone that attends will come away with some lasting memories. Please note this is extended to members’ family and friends, as we would like as many people to attend. This will hopefully be in the region of 100 however the venue can take 200. 

Could everyone let me know whether they would like to come along fairly soon as we need to know for numbers. We have tried to keep the cost to a minimum at £16.50, hopefully making this attractive to friends and family. It is also a pleasure to confirm Tony Quinn has offered us his kind services to be ‘Master of Ceremonies’ for the evening. District Governor, Peter Noble will be in attendance.

In the first instance, if you could let me know the number of tickets you require and then a further e-mail will give details of how you can pay.

I look forward to hearing from everyone in the coming days. Please reply to:  symon.jeffrey@wilkie.co.uk

Symon Jeffrey- Club Secretary - Rotary Club of Wellington District
27 High Street, Wellington, Somerset, TA21 8QT - Tel: Wk: 01823 667799 or Mb: 07971 780920

I commend this event to every Rotarian; the birth of a new club is a really significant event, not just for the district, but for Rotary International. Let us all go and support the event to the best of our ability. If you need any more information, contact Symon by email or phone.

I would be welcoming new members who joined in the past month, but our illustrious District Secretary has been on holiday, so I will welcome two months of new members in the next newsletter.

The District Council meeting on December 1st next:

Although I felt that breakouts were not working well, it was clear to me that the last council meeting lacked a significant part of Rotary. Accordingly we will be looking at changing the meeting after the plenary, to focus on the immediate future of such topics as Future Vision, and the changes to the district boundaries and RIBI management as well as New Generations and ComVoc matters.

And finally: The RIBI President, John Minhinick is due to make his official visit to the district starting on November 27th and running until he leaves our district on 30th November to head for 1170 (Devon) and their conference. We are putting in place a plan for the visit, so to meet him and hear what he has to say (and more usefully ask him about whatever you wish) check on his whereabouts which will be published in the next newsletter. Barbara and I also going to the 1170 conference, and will need to come up for the D council on the Saturday morning (1st December). 

My club visits in the coming few weeks are as below

 

Newsletter: August 2012 (Please click here to download the full newsletter)

So, is summer here, or did I miss it – I was rather busy visiting clubs and doing other things, so maybe it happened when I was visiting two clubs in a day! I will have visited 21 clubs in July and enjoyed the variety, fellowship, humour and amazing projects and plans of every one. Barbara has been to just over half of them so far and has enjoyed all of them for different reasons. The welcome is always very friendly and generous.

People should by now be settling in to their roles and all the clubs I have been to seem to be going well, with enthusiastic presidents and teams – and projects.

The District Council meeting:

At the first District Council meeting this year there won’t be any breakout sessions, but we will have some speakers of great interest, as well as the usual notices and remarks. We will also be having a Q&A session after each speaker so that members can ask those pertinent questions.

I will be talking about the potential changes to District boundaries and the structure of the new board for RIBI, which takes effect on July 1st 2013. The District boundaries will be settled by January 2013 and then we will be electing the District Governor nominee to take over as the DG on July 1st 2015 – after Judy Barnard-Jones – based on the new boundaries. 

Great club projects:

The projects and activities we have seen in clubs continue to encourage me to think what we do as an organisation, whether locally, or on a global scale is amazing. I have established from the club assembly feedback that across the 56 clubs, there are about 750 projects that we can define and still more that we cannot as they are often unique to a club or location.

We have witnessed some strange goings on during the travel:

• The council worker watering the flowers on a roundabout whilst it was pouring and during the worst rain we have seen in July for decades.
• The car nose first in a hedge but with no apparent reason and no-one injured (but people about and we were told all was OK when we stopped to help)
• A car parked in a street with the all doors open and no sign of a person anywhere.

And a warning!!!

Just for fun, we are noting the brightest ties; best main course, best sweet, most casual, best fruit salad, and the first date on which we are served chicken was 30th of July! The latter is because it was a bit of standing joke that chicken is served at every meal……… but it is actually rare.

And the social scene:

As to important occasions and social events we were pleased to be guests at the celebration dinner of the Yeovil club on its 90th birthday, a most enjoyable evening with a full turnout from across the District – including the oldest club in the district being represented by their president and others – Weston-super-Mare.

We went along to Pilgrim House in Weymouth to celebrate the opening of the Weymouth club’s hosting of Rotarians from across the world at the Olympic Sailing Event, and everyone is welcome. Present were the Mayor of Weymouth and the presidents of Melcome Regis, Weymouth Harbourside and the Island and Royal Manor of Portland.

New members:

It is great to welcome new members, including the newly chartered club of Wellington District -

 

Newsletter: July 2012 (Please click here to download the newsletter)

As we start the new Rotary year, we see many changes and as a result possibilities for making our activities ever more fruitful for our communities and our clubs.

Although is it normal to resist and even fear change, in many ways it freshens up our view of this amazing organisation we all belong to. Sometimes in life a jolt can be beneficial in letting in new ideas and strengthen our resolve to keep pace with an ever evolving world – whether in our day to day lives, or Rotary. Briefly we have to look forward to Future Vision, being formally launched at the 2012 District Conference. There are likely to be plans put in place to change a number of District boundaries, the reasons already carefully outlined at a recent District Council meeting by PDG Eric. I hope to expand on this at the District Council on September 8th.

Some think the District Directory is no more, well; it exists and you should all have the new version in your hands – it is slimmed down, and holds the key information on clubs, key club officers and the district teams. This is backed up by the electronic database, itself new this year and which gives a far greater flexibility, to say nothing of accuracy. But it all depends on the clubs keeping it up to date with new members, departed members and officers. It is up to the clubs and their secretaries.

Circa - As to Circa, this has been dropped for now, and the reason was that it had become a bit dated and costly. However, I for one am not against a district magazine, but if it is going to happen, it needs to reflect a modern image, glossy full colour, and totally financed by advertising. All we need are a couple of volunteers to put forward a plan that holds financial water, and then we can re-launch the magazine, provided it meets the basic criteria outlined and is accepted by the District Council and executive. We just need volunteers that are prepared to stay the course for more than a couple of years to get it established.

District Council and what it achieves – or not: I have been studying the activities of the District Council meeting and wondering how effective it is in the present form. My personal conclusion is that it isn’t particularly effective; if it was successful, we could not cope with the numbers. We only get a 10-15% of attendance at breakout sessions, and have therefore decided on a new approach: bring the District to the Clubs – and change the emphasis of the council meeting to be informative, entertaining and allowing Q&A sessions – that is no breakouts. By observing what Rotarians do, the largest breakout has been the Clarks Village! I do think we get a generally good President attendance, and to some degree Secretaries but not the other members of the project teams. We can do a lot better so we are going to try the new way forward.

So, how do we involve the club chairs with the District project team chairs?
For the past few years I have observed the Assistant Governors hold increasingly successful group sessions with their Presidents at a small evening gathering, and it has been successful in each AG area. At the Presidents Elect Training Seminar it was made very clear from the floor that ‘training’ and targeted information was ideal if it was held near to the clubs, indeed, in the AG group areas. So, with that in mind, I have asked each project chair, to arrange sessions within the AG grouping for their respective chairs, perhaps a couple of times a year (or maybe more – it is up to the chairs to agree this detail with their club chairs as they see fit). What this is designed to do is involve many more of the chairs all the time, creating an environment where adjacent club chairs can get to know each other and the District chair in an informal and beneficial way. I want it to be informal but with a general agenda set by the D chair on key topics but with discussion as a major part of the meeting.  We should also encourage ‘boundary jumping’ to another AG region if the date for the particular region isn’t convenient. I believe that all will benefit by this new approach of bringing the district to the Club. Let us see how this goes and what the feedback is likely to be so that we can establish this as the norm, rather than just an experiment.

The anniversary of Rotary International is 23rd February – and in recent   years we have celebrated this by telling the public about us and what we do, focussed in particular on the eradication of polio, one of the greatest goals a non government organisation has ever undertaken.

In 2013 I would hope we might continue this activity, not so much to rattle tins and collect money, but to show your public what we are doing. Can you find an empty shop, or billboard perhaps, to put on a display, not just for the day, but for a week? It need not be manned, but if you do man the display, then tell everyone all about us, and your club and its activities.

It is a window on Rotary, a means of increasing the awareness of your club (or clubs if there is more than one club in your town or city) – could mean more members, more business supporters, and the opportunity to expand what we do because of that additional awareness.

I have asked PDG Stan Jones to provide support, so contact him for help, advice or anything that you might need.
 

The District Conference

A major event this year is the newly styled and organised District Conference, the first time members have been able to

• Pick what aspects of the conference they wish to attend
• Bring friends and family to the social events after August 1st if there are spaces available
• Once registered then add aspects of the conference at a later date
• See everything on-line (http://www.rotaryd1200.co.uk/Conference/concept.html) and keep up to date with developments.

It is in Bath, from Friday 5th October in the evening at the Pump Room meeting old friends and developing new, with entertainment and starting a bit later than usual to give working members time to get there. If you are there in time there are many local bistros and restaurants to prepare yourself for the evening. Half the HQ rooms have been booked as I write this note.
Saturday the 6th sees the start of conference, at the Assembly Rooms, with the keynote speaker, Peter Snow, of swingometer fame!

That evening we have the formal event, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, and a casino for those who consider themselves lucky!
Sunday 7th we have a thought for the day, and speakers covering a wide range of interesting topics including the keynote speaker, Tony Banks, the ‘secret millionaire’. 

The speakers over the weekend include those talking about mentoring teenagers, building a school in Africa; live broadcasting from a war zone, Future Vision launch and the Neem Tree Trust. RI Director Alan O Jagger represents the RIBI president and he is working on the re-districting process for RIBI Districts so you may expect to hear more from him.

New members of clubs are always very welcome and I look forward to meeting them all when I visit the clubs over the coming weeks. Recent new members I am pleased to welcome: