1. Rotary Club of Duns

   1. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2015/16

   2. 6 May 2016

1. Present

Marshall Wilson	(MW)	President
Jim McDevitt	(JMcD)	Senior Vice President
Stephen Morris	(SM)	Junior Vice President
David McLuckie	(DM)	Immediate Past President
John Marjoribanks	(JM)	Secretary
Mike Hudson	(MH)	Treasurer
Bob Tait	(BT)	Community Chairman
Dave Denyer	(DD)	Foundation Chairman
Patrick Dixon	(PD)	International Chairman
Eric Bridgewater	(EB)	Youth Service Chairman
Ronnie Nicol	(RN)	Chairman of Trustees

and 17 other club members. Apologies were received from Jeff Abbott, Stephen Blakey, Harry Mark, Bob Noble and Colin Baxter.

2. Approval of Minutes of AGM held on 7 May 2015: Proposed by Jim McDevitt, seconded by George Wood; adopted.

3. Matters Arising from the minutes: None

4. Office Bearer Reports

1. Club Administration (Jim McDevitt) It has been a busy but rewarding year especially at the beginning when we had four events in the first quarter. In August a successful Sunday afternoon Car Treasure Hunt was enjoyed by members and guests; the Fringe visit, our annual boys’ night out, was another successful evening for those attending. In September the Charity Ceilidh, in which we led the club, attracted disappointing numbers but still raised over £1000 for local causes; the Members Golf was an enjoyable Sunday afternoon for 13 members. December brought the Christmas Party- around 50 members and guests attended what was a pleasant night at Gavinton Village Hall despite the failings of the Christmas-themed quiz! In January we celebrated Burns Night on the last Thursday of the month. In February we ran the President’s Night- a change of style with the event opened to the public for the first time - around 150 people being entertained by Spatz & Co on a great night. Our final event will be the President's Handover in June.

2. Community Service and Fundraising (Bob Tait) We started the year with the Annual Charity Golf Day which raised an amazing £3,949.00, thanks to the efforts of Jeff Abbott and his sub-committee. Santa's visits were well received. We made over 30 visits, with the cost more than covered by donations. The President joined the Christmas visit to the Knoll. The April Coffee Morning raised a net £313. We have started to look for the Citizen of the Year and we're making a major effort for the Queen's 90^th Birthday Party on 12 June.

3. International (Patrick Dixon)The year started with helping with the Charity Ceilidh at Aitken Walkers, where we ran the bar. Despite relatively low numbers, the bar raised a profit in excess of £300. We made our international fun visit to The Rotary Club of Hamburg in November. Six members attended, all found it a very entertaining 3 days. As well as the Rotary club visit, we spent some time at the Miniature wonderland, the largest model railway in the world, with a highlight being a behind-the-scenes tour. We crash dived in a U boat , and sampled a number of local hostelries, as well as Christmas markets and other places in the Reeperbahn. November also saw us running a Race Night in the volunteer hall. A slightly disappointing turnout meant we only managed to raise £400. In March we were fundraising again with what is becoming the annual Socha concert, it cleared just over £900

4. Foundation (Dave Denyer) We started the year by planting 5,000 purple and yellow crocuses opposite the Primary School. Planting took nearly a week! Many thanks are due to the planters. The crocuses provided a welcome display in the spring despite the activities of the resident mole population, but next year's display may have been compromised by the council mowing too soon. In December we organised a wine and cheese evening with a silent auction. Members were very generous in providing items for auction and in bidding. It

1. was a good social evening and cleared over £1400. This has been donated 60/40 between the 'End Polio Now' campaign and the Rotary Foundation .

2. Youth & Vocation (Eric Bridgewater) Junior Golf wasn't held due to lack of suitable entrants, but we expect some in the coming year. Our two sponsored RYLA participants, Rebecca Lyons and Erin Lauder made an impressive presentation to the Club after their experience. We have two more nominees going to this summer's RYLA, Joseph Donkin and Rebecca Blaikie. October's vocational visit to the Berwick Museums was cancelled for lack of interest; the one to the Chain Bridge Honey Farm in April was well supported, as was the tutored beer tasting at Hemelvaart Bier Cafe in Ayton later in the month. Six BHS pupils entered the Young Chef competition. The standard was good and the top two, Courtney Bell and Gaby Gracie, went on to the Border area final, where neither was placed. There were also six entrants for the Primary School Quiz. The team from Duns went forward to the Border final. Maddy Cawthorn represented the Club at the District Young Musician final, where, despite a good performance, she was not placed. Still to come is Kids Out in June.

3. Treasurer (Mike Hudson) Total charity income during the year to date has been £11,630. Total charity commitments made by the Club during the year have been £12,025 to date. The shortfall of £395 will be covered by a transfer of £500 from the Members' account, as agreed for the President's Night.

4. Speaker Secretary (George Wood) The small committee system has worked well, with all speaker slots filled. We have aimed at one 'sing for your supper' speaker each month and one of general interest. Continued feed in of possible speakers to next year's speaker secretary, Bob Noble, is essential.

5. Attendance & Club Visits (Ken Fraser) Lists for club visits were given out but response has been poor. Two groups have visited other clubs plus one group which attended three Rotary meetings in a day. Attendance figures will be circulated at the end of the year.

6. Website (David McLuckie) Use of the website has been very low. In practice, we will keep it just for 1020, Rotary GB&I and RI contacts. We set up a facebook page in April and will expand its use. We can link it to Radio Borders to pick up on forthcoming events.

7. Public Relations (Stephen Blakey) We have had a good number of articles in the Berwickshire News, including a three page spread on the Hamburg visit. Samantha Kinghorn's Rotary Young Citizen Wheelchair Athlete Award and Grant Stephen's Champion of Change presentation both generated a lot of useful publicity.

8. Sports (Brian Taylor) We have been involved in golf and bowling competitions. The annual curling match against Rotary England did not take place. There was no notification of fishing competitions.

9. Protection (Colin Baxter) Colin was unable to attend, but activity during the year has been unexceptionable.

1. President's Summary President Marshall Wilson thanked all members for their contributions to a successful year. One new member has joined (Monty Pearson) but two left at the start of the year (Philip Jones and Lida Hatrick). There is another new member in the pipeline (Andrew McColl) and we are working with Farne Salmon towards our first corporate associate membership. To raise and distribute £12,000 in one year is no small achievement for a club in a country town like Duns. It demonstrates both the enthusiasm of our members and the support of our community. We have had two special events this year: our nominee, Samantha Kinghorn, won the Rotary Young Citizen Wheelchair Athlete Award and our Founder Member, Grant Stephen, was one of 12 people in UK to win the Rotary Champions of Change Award. We are looking forward to a third special event, the Queen's 90^th Birthday Party, which we are organising in June on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant Jeanna Swan.

2. Date of next meeting: Thursday 4 May 2017

1. 
   

2. John Marjoribanks, Club Secretary