Presidential Address

                                              Presidential Message

I first participated in Rotary when I was invited to join in the Zoom Meetings which were held during the Covid Pandemic crisis. What was immediately obvious was the fellowship that existed between the members, and even when the lockdown restrictions were in place, the concern that members had about the charitable causes the Club supported, and the welfare of those in less favourable circumstances.

There is a lot more to Rotary than I first realised, and I am now aware of the considerable amount of work that goes on, as it were, behind the scenes.

Bradford Blaize is a relatively small club in the Rotary network, but it is in my opinion a club that punches well above its weight. We have an ageing membership but nevertheless one that is extremely committed.

We have a total of nineteen members, just one more than last year. I hope we can show an increase e in membership in the next year.

This year we shall once again be supporting financially a variety of Community, Youth, and International projects and charities and our intentions are clearly defined in our various committee reports. I do not propose to list all these, and whilst the list is quite comprehensive there will no doubt be other causes brought to our attention during the coming year which will also be considered.

I thank all the various committee chairmen for the work they carry out and I am extremely relieved that all have agreed to continue in their roles for the year ahead.

All efforts to raise funds are warmly welcomed and I look forward to the newly formed Blaize Choir making a re-appearance at Christmas. Our main fund-raising event this year is again our Charity Golf Day at Ilkley Golf Club on 19th June 2024. It is a tribute to the organisers John Waterhouse and Derek O’Hearne that this year there will be more teams competing than last year. This is against a decline and lack of interest in Golf Days generally. The event is a great team effort and my thanks to all who volunteer to help on the day.

Finally, a big thank you to two members. Firstly, our secretary David Burrows who week in, week out conducts his duties quietly and efficiently and secondly to our technophile Mike Clewes who constantly updates our website, carries out his various roles with great efficiency and has been a great help to me personally.

When I was a very young child, I was taught a song that asked me to shine with a clear pure light, The song went on “Like a little candle burning in the night In this world of darkness let our candle shine, You in your small corner and me in mine.” We at Bradford Blaize are in our small corner but our candle burns brightly. It might only have a luminous intensity of just one candela but when added to all the other Rotary candelas constitutes a strong powerful beam emanating from a beacon of hope in the darkness.