Newsletter - 280 - September 2016

Rotary Club of Stranraer

Monthly Newsletter No 280

September 2016

Service above self

Imminent Activities   

Thurs 1^st Sept -  6pm bowls at Soundhead followed by a meal at Tigh na Mara

Mon 5^th Sept – Alastair McWilliam will be speaking. His talk is titled ’20 years on’

Mon 12^th Sept – evening – Steve Sloan, ex CEO of Global Alliance will be talking about Livestock Vet Medicines.

Mon 19^th Sept – Fellowship

Sat 24^th Sept – Prostate Cancer Ride – a notice will be circulated with details and requesting volunteers

Mon 26^th Sept – Alan Leiper will be talking about 'sky diving in your seventies'.

Dates for your Diary

Mon 3^rd Oct – evening – our meeting will be devoted to discussion and decisions about changes to our Club – see below

Sat & Sun 17^th & 18^th Dec – Street & Morrisons Collections

Mon 19^th Dec – Christmas Lunch

Fri 19^th May – Christian Aid - Bread and Cheese lunch

Fri 30^th June – Annual AmAm

Recent Events

Mon 1^st August – We had 3 visitors from Newton Stewart Club – President Gordon Bennie, Keith Best and Bob Boan. Keith and Bob provided a presentation about their Club project to supply insulin pumps to those who are unable to get them through the NHS to deal with their Type 1 diabetes. Each pump plus initial treatment will cost £4,140 but they are working on obtaining a Foundation Global Grant of $200,000 towards the project. An ambitious project which we should look into helping!

Fri 5^th August – Portpatrick Raft Race report by Bob Fryer.

It was encouraging to see so many members turning out to help run the raft race on the Friday night of Portpatrick Life Boat Week.11 teams entered (mostly at the last minute as usual) which allowed us to run a men’s race, a ladies’ race and a final. The two prizes of £150 each were generously donated to the RNLI by the winning teams. A surplus of £60 from entry fees was retained to pay for essential maintenance of the rafts and paddles.Special thanks to John Munro for the PA system and commentary and David Campbell and Hugh Parker for transporting the rafts and running ‘the office’ as well as former Round Table members for their help on the night.

Mon 8^th August – evening -  Jock Smith’s extremely interesting talk ‘I was there’ 'described his time in Cyprus during his military career -  a time when Turkey invaded the north of the island.  (currently our Secretary has invaded the Turkish north – at his villa!)

 Mon 15^th August – Ian McIlroy entertained us with a very well prepared and interesting humorous talk about ‘Beginnings, Beethoven and Baptisms’. Davis Brock, a regular visitor from Alloway club, told us about the District Conference being held in Clydebank on 1^st and 2^nd October with the main speaker being Sally Magnusson.

Mon 22^nd August – Bill Campbell, our District Governor, visited us accompanied by 2 fellow members from Alloway Club. His talk emphasised the challenges facing Rotary in this time of change, challenge and crisis with declining membership numbers and an average age of 73 for UK Rotarian!

Mon 29^th August – Ian McIntyre provided an updated auto bio talk.   

Membership

We are an active Club but, like many other Clubs, our membership numbers are declining. It is clear that we are not meeting the needs of potential members and that change is required. Club Council would like to hear the views of our members and in the circumstances the lunch time meeting on Mon 3^rd October has been changed to an evening meeting (usual time) to allow time for full discussion. A discussion document prepared after an informal meeting a couple of months ago is being sent out separately. It is important that we hear the views of our members and make decisions!

Club Council Meeting – 25^th August -  a brief summary

Financial position – Treasurer Henry McFadzean reported that our Accounts for the year to 30^th July, which show a healthy position, have been completed and are being passed on to our Examiner, George Fleming.

Our General, Charity and Mull of Galloway accounts continue to show healthy balances.

Membership – Gary Small now has a discussion document ready for distribution. Various ideas were discussed and will be discussed again at a special meeting on 3^rd October.

International – donations of £300 each to 6 international charities were proposed by Alex Cairns and agreed by Council: Mary’s Meals, Water Aid, Sight Savers, 500 Miles, Jaipur Limbs, and Gurkha Welfare Trust and a further ShelterBox provided. A donation of £500 will be made to Foundation to go specifically to the polio campaign. These donations will be made over the course of this Rotary year as cash flow allows. A change in format of the Bread & Cheese lunch was discussed but it was decided that we should continue on the existing basis.

Community – Mike Sheppard advised that details of the Old Folk’s Outing will soon be made available and volunteers requested. He is also looking for nominations for the Community Service Award.

Youth – Walker Miller reported on behalf of Steve Dampney. It was agreed that we continue with the usual help to the Academy and the Schools Lunch as well as supporting the Young Chef competition.

Fund raising – Peter Baird confirmed the dates of the Christmas collections and a suitable local beneficiary was identified although further research is required before this choice is finalised. Details of the Rotary Ride for Prostate Cancer on 24^th September, which will involve static bicycles and volunteer riders and collectors, are to be circulated to members.

Social events etc. – Neville Wright advised that a social evening at Stranraer Golf Club is being planned – possibly a Friday or Saturday night in early November. It will include 5 minute presentations on what we do. It is hoped that members will bring along potential members. Ronnie Irving agreed to take over organisation of our annual Burns Supper.

Other possibilities include a trip to Belfast, golf with Larne Rotary Club, a visit to Portpatrick lifeboat and a visit to the Dark Sky Observatory – possibly late November.

AOCB –

Consideration is being given to our future participation in the Raft Race.

Skiff project – Costs should be covered by grants etc. but it was agreed that, if necessary, we will do our best to give financial support up to £3,500 if we have funds available.

Community Service Award

Please advise Mike Sheppard of any suitable candidates.

Defibrillator       

The defibrillator which we have donated to the town has now been installed in the Castle  Square. It is expected that the defib which will be located in Morrisons will be ordered within the next few days. The Morrisons manager has agreed that it will be returned to us if his company policy changes and they supply them to their stores. There is also now the possibility of Morrisons meeting part of the cost. The North West Castle is also obtaining a defibrillator, possibly through us. They will pay the full cost. They have agreed that their staff training will be opened up to others.

A full report and photos has been printed in this week’s Free Press and a report will be submitted to the District Magazine. 

Rugby       

Our group of supporters and friends made good use of their season tickets to watch Glasgow Warriors last season.All of our group have renewed their season tickets and have been joined by a new supporter bringing us up to 9.There are home matches on Saturday 10^th September against Leinster and Friday 23^rd September against Ulster.Our season ticket holders will again be making their tickets available to Club members for individual matches which they themselves are unable to attend. There are 2 such tickets available for the Ulster game! Contact Tom Mitchell if interested.

Press Officer

Members should get in touch with Tom Mitchell, in his role as Press Officer, if they have anything they wish included in the Newsletter or reported in the press. He particularly wishes photographs for publication and/or Club archives.

We have articles in the Free Press and in our District Magazine on a regular basis.

Hopefully Border TV are still interested in featuring the Mull of Galloway Trail in their Border Life programme.

Our websites are

http://rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=1383

http://www.mullofgallowaytrail.co.uk/

We also have a presence on Facebook

And finally --------

They told me I had type A blood but it was a type-o!

I changed my iPods name to Titanic. Its syncing now!

Jokes about German sausages are the wurst!

 I know a guy who’s addicted to brake fluid but he says that he can stop at any time!