Business Meeting and Handover.

PAUL ADDRESSED THE MEETING:

A young Vicar in his new parish, had to attend a cremation. He knew it was along way away and had never been before. So he programmed the location in to his Smart phone Sat Nav. Put the phone in his pocket and set off for the crematorium giving himself plenty of time. But the traffic was horrendous and he got to the crematorium in time to see the coffin already on the dais. He stood by the coffin. At that moment a voice came from his pocket " You have reached your destination"

Well its seems that after 2 and a half years I have finally reached my destination although I sincerely hope after the year is up you wont be carrying me out in a box! For me it’s been a very hectic few weeks leading up to today. First there was my licensing as Priest in Charge on Ninfield and Hooe, then on Sunday I celebrated 40 years since my ordination in Wells cathedral. That was when I first started wearing my dog collar! It certainly helps me to be recognised. However, I recently joined the Ninfield Working Men’s Club, mostly for the cheap beer but also to meet people in the parish. When I first went in they said, we have never had a vicar here before, what do we call you? After giving it some thought I said “Paul”!!  People certainly have strange ideas of what a vicar should be! A lot has changed though since I was a young curate of 25 years of age! Then I was young and enthusiastic and I may not be so young now but I still have the enthusiasm and in a way that is where I turn to my Presidential year. Enthusiasm is to my mind a vital part of the role, enthusiasm for Rotary as a whole and for our club in particular. The President is the focal point of the club, the image of our club that the public often see in the papers. To that end it is a great responsibility but also a great honour. It is also a type of leadership and that can take many forms. Sometimes the President needs to lead from the front, by example. But that is not the only form of leadership. Sometimes it may be necessary to lead from behind or in the middle of things. The importance is in recognising the skills and expertise that you the members bring to the service of this club and to Rotary and recognising the best way to use those gifts in the service of others. 

I hope this year will be fun and I thank Geoff for handing me the club in good shape and for all the excellent work he together with you all achieved within our community. 

I will keep on reminding myself ,as well as all of you,that we are all volunteers and that you must not be overburdened. We must enjoy Rotary together with the fellowship of each other company. Yes there is some hard but hopefully rewarding work to be done but please relax and enjoy what you do! 

I laid out my vision for the coming year to you all at Club Assembly so I don’t want to repeat that now. I will send Colin a copy of what I said so that you can refer to it if you wish as the year goes by. {SEE BELOW}

Looking back, I joined the Club in 2004, so that’s a fair while ago! It was at the invitation of Past President Frank Field who was my sponsor. Sadly Frank is no longer with us but I am sure his memory lives on. If I can be half the President that Frank was then I will regard that as a success. I would therefore like to dedicate my year to Frank’s memory and I look forward to a busy yet rewarding year but most important of all a year full of fellowship and Fun starting with the BBQ at our house this Friday at 7pm!!

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PAUL'S  ASSEMBLY ADDRESS. ( for reference ).

The new vicar stood at the church door greeting the congregation as they left the Sunday morning service. Most of the people were very generous telling the new vicar how much they liked his message, except for one man who said, "That was a very dull and boring sermon, vicar."

     A few minutes later, the same man again appeared in line and said, "I don't think you did much preparation for your sermon."

     Once again, the man appeared, this time muttering, "You really blew it. You didn't have a thing to say, vicar."

     Finally, the vicar could stand it no longer. He went to one of the churchwardens and inquired about the man.

     "Oh, don't let that man bother you," said the churchwarden. "He's a little slow. All he does is go around repeating whatever he hears other people saying."

Well this is my first address to you all as President elect, soon to be President! Hopefully there will be no mutterings for anyone to repeat! 

It was 2 and a half years ago that I was first nominated as Vice President. At that time I thought it would be ages before it comes around! Here we are and that seems like only yesterday, so be warned Graham and Patrick as itwont be long before you are also presenting the ideas for your year to the club! 

It’s strange to be talking about next year when Geoff has still got a month to go before his year ends! But that’s the way Rotary works! 

I have been working for quite a while now on the plans and ideas for the coming year and have worked closely with Graham as we feel that continuity is a very important part of our plans. We do not reinvent the wheel each year. There is much that we do that is good and there is also much that can be carried forward from year to year. I must admit that when I attend District events and then look at the strength of our club I am pleased and indeed proud to be part of such as thriving club. But we are not just Bexhill Rotary Club, we are part of a much wider organisation and when we look at the work Rotary does across the globe then that is certainly something to be proud of. 

In a way we are at a crossroads in Rotary. We are looking ahead at a year that may one day be known as the greatest year in Rotary’s history: the year that sees the world’s last case of polio. We need to make sure that everyone knows the role that Rotary has played in making the world polio-free. That is tremendously important. Because the more we are known for what we’ve achieved, the more we’ll be able to attract new sponsors, and most important of all, the members to achieve even more. 

We need clubs that can not only attract new members butengage them in Rotary service – clubs that are welcoming and active, that truly follow The Four-Way Test. We can’t forget that the reason Paul Harris founded Rotary 112 years ago is still very much the reason people come to Rotary today: to find people who share their values. People who believe in honesty, diversity, tolerance, friendship, and peace, and who believe that serving humanity is one of the best things they can do with their time on this earth.

Whether we’re reading to schoolchildren or organizing a beer festival or testing people’s blood pressure, even as we change and adapt and move forward, the essence of who we are and what makes a Rotarian doesn’t change.

We are a group of very different people but our diversityis our strength. We still follow The Four-Way Test, because high ethical standards don’t ever go out of style. And we still believe, as Paul Harris believed, that serving humanity is the most worthwhile thing any one of us can do with our lives.

And that is why our Rotary theme in 2017-18 is Rotary: Making a Difference. We are doing so much incredible work already and this year maybe we will be doing even more.

I mentioned the word continuity earlier. Continuity has been an important part of our strategy from Raouf’syear through to mine and between us we set up a 3-yearplan for our Club, which ends in my year. When I look at other clubs we are certainly in a healthy position. However, we must guard against complacency. There may well be good elements of our club but I am sure there will always be room for improvement. Membership is a key element that we need to concentrate upon, especially looking at the age profile of our club. (We are better than many!) We learnt at District Assembly that the average age of Rotarians is 73! However, regardless of age (our senior members are a valued part of our Club) and other factors, our club has much to offer and looking at our achievements over the years we have much to be proud of and indeed to celebrate! We do though need to finds new ways of attracting new members and ideally younger members but at the same time valuing all our existing members regardless of age. Experience is after all just as important as youth. OurOutreach Committee has come up with new ideas and opportunities to increase our membership that you will be hearing more about in their report.

Looking at the range of tasks that we undertake as Bexhill Rotary Club it is extremely wide and beneficial to our community. If Bexhill Rotary Club did not exist there would be a large gap in our towns profile! 

 Rotary Central encourages us to set long term and short term goals and with the help of Graham and Patrick we will be setting goals for the future development of our club so that we can continue to go from strength to strength. 

I have stressed the idea of continuity from year to year. There are many things we do each year that work perfectly well. There are perhaps improvements that could be made in a few areas where lessons have been learnt from past years. There may well be ideas that new committee chairmen have for their year. We will hear a few today. I have a few ideas, but I certainly do not want to over burden either the chairmen or our members with too many new ideas. We all lead busy lives and are involved in many activities outside of Rotary. We must remember that we are all volunteers who give freely of our time and energy and we do the best we can! I therefore want to concentrate mostly upon the things we already do and make sure we do them well! That is not to say that new initiatives are not welcome, we just need to be aware of the very full programme that we already have. 

There are a few new ideas. I would like to support Children in Need in some way and I have spoken to both Community Service and Fundraising about my ideas. I would like us to support a project in Thailand that Eileen and I visited in January 2015 that moved us greatly. It was a community whose aim is to support families and individuals with Aids, I have been liaising with the Rotary club of Eastern Seaboard in Pattya in Thailand to see if there is a joint project that we can undertake maybe involving a District or Global Grant.  Graham will no doubt make reference to this in his report from International.  The Social Committee report emphasises my aim to have fun and enjoy the fellowship that we hopefully enjoy together. Fundraising is obviously a busy committee and they have a few new ideas that will be shared in their report. Youth services continue some of their core activities but I look Forward to the sensory garden project with Glenleigh Academy. 

I hope that the programme of activities we will present will provide opportunities for us all to be involved in what I hope will be another successful year. Fellowship is an important theme of my year and the most important thing is that we enjoy it! As you are already aware, I want to celebrate the start of my year with a BBQ at our house on Friday 7th July to which all members and their partners are invited. The normal August BBQ will continue as in previous years. With your help it will be successful year, however we judge success! It will pass all to quickly as I am sure Geoff will confirm. 

Finally a story:  Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are out on a camping trip. They trudge all day, covering lots of miles, and finally decide, just as dusk is falling, that it's time to set up camp for a night.
They put up their tent, start a fire, cook a simple meal, eat, and both being exhausted from the day's exertions, decide to go to sleep.
At about 3 in the morning Holmes shakes Watson awake and says, "Watson, look up at the stars in the sky and tell me what you deduce from them."
Watson is sleepy, but he has learned that there is always a point to even the most random of Holmes's questions, so he does as he's told, and gazes up at the stars.
"Well, Holmes," he says after a moment, "I can see millions of stars. Millions of them. And I guess if there are millions of stars, then around many of those stars there must be planets. And if there are planets around those stars, then some of those planets must be like our planet. And if planets like ours exist around some of those stars, then on some of those planets there may well be people, looking up at the stars and imagining that we exist as well. That's what I deduce from looking up at the stars, Holmes."
And Holmes says, "No, Watson, you fool -- someone has stolen the tent."

Now I therefore deduce that I now need to present to you my team for the year ahead who are perfectly able to work out any problems that may lie ahead and indeed provide solutions, even if it is a missing tent! 

First we have the Social Committee led by Anthony Thomas. 

This is followed by the Community Fundraising Committee led by Stephen White. 

The next committee is Youth Services, led by Perry Puddefoot. 

International and Foundation are led by Graham Dawson, 

Community Service is led by John Cooper.

Finally we have what I now call the OutreachCommittee, which is Publicity and Membership put together and this is led by Richard Harrison.

As regards to my charities for the coming year, I would like to include:

Air Ambulance – Golf Day? Support Dogs.  (Main charity)

Children in Need – special event, Yellow men – (Spring lunch)

Bexhill Care in the Community, 1066 Specials – Football competition

St Michaels Hospice.  (Main charity) Glory Hut – Thailand (Spring Lunch?) (Main Charity), Surviving Christmas. Conquest Hospital Children’s Ward Christmas Presents. (Community service), Bexhill Food Bank (Main charity)