President Mairhi Trickett was in the chair
at last week's meeting of the Rotary Club when Past President Andrew Suddon
introduced the speaker Gordon McInally. Andrew and Gordon are
long-standing friends having previously been members of South Queensferry Rotary
Club in the 1980's and that friendship has been sustained since. In his
talk Gordon described himself as "the man who couldn't say no!" which resulted
in him being President of the South Queensferry Club before taking up posts,
despite being a practising dentist, in the Rotary District as District Governor
and then onwards and upwards in Rotary as President of Great Britain and Ireland
in 2004/05, Despite all this he and Andrew managed to fit in several rugby
dinners!
He was then appointed to Rotary
International's Board of Governors world-wide and visits Chicago 3 or 4 times
each year and, indeed, attended USA President Barack Obama's inauguration in a
crowd of millions which was memorable. He now heads the International
Convention Committee now that he has retired and resides in Town Yetholm.
He set up the Convention in Toronto. a huge undertaking, and recently has been
looking at Melbourne and London for future Conventions so is busier than ever
and retreats to Yetholm to enjoy downtime with his family. He listed his
highlights in Rotary as seeing the results of Hope and Homes for Children in
Rwanda, clean water in India and helping children in Johannesburg who scavenge
the rubbish tips to survive. An excellent insight into what goes into
Rotary behind the club scene President Mairhi thanked Gordon for an excellent
address.
Past President Scott Elliot presented the
club accounts for approval before presenting them to the auditor.