Club Assembly

Our incoming Assistant Governor, Tony Stringer from the Rotary Club of Chelmsford Rivermead, joined us for this year’s Club Assembly. It is always an opportunity to look at plans for the forthcoming Rotary year but this year, of course, all plans are uncertain because of the Covid-19 crisis.

Incoming President

Janice Goodman, our President for 2020-21, referred to the changes the Club has had to make because of the crisis and paid tribute to the members’ willingness to embrace Zoom meetings despite some initial nervousness. She has already had met other incoming local Presidents through Zoom.

For this next Rotary year she has a target of enrolling at least one new Club member. Unfortunately, because of recent deaths, we have to recruit at least five new members to increase our membership above what it was a year ago. It is now more important than ever to promote Rotary to the public, for example through Rotary websites and social media.

It will be more difficult to arrange the normal face-to-face youth competitions but others, such as Young Writer and Young Photographer, should be possible. The Community and Vocational Committee will continue as far as possible its fund-raising activities and its events for older people.

Administration Committee

Peter Kemp, our First Vice President for 2020-21, gave details of the roles being undertaken by the members of the Club Administration Committee for the forthcoming year:

• Jenny Black will act as Committee Secretary and deal with Club Supplies;
• Andrew Vince takes over from Malcolm Hamlyn as Attendance Officer;
• Charles Hirons continues as Visiting and Protection Officer;
• David Axon will continue arranging the Programme;
• Graham Furnival will lead the Entertainment and Sport Committee, which requires more members;
• Keith Dabbs remains as Librarian and Archivist; and
• Philip Smith will carry on his excellent work as Bulletin Editor.

Membership Committee

In her capacity as Chair of the Membership Committee, Jenny Black reported that there are 1,420 Rotarians in District 1240 and each Club in the District has been asked to recruit four new members. New members bring new energy to a Club and more people to serve on committees and work on projects. She encouraged everyone to invite others to join our online meetings. Members of the public who volunteered during the lockdown might wish to continue volunteering through Rotary.

She also mentioned the “buddy” system that some Clubs have for new members and suggested this is something our Club might look at.

Public Image Committee

As Chairman of the Public Image Committee, Stan Keller referred to plans to buy some Rotary roundels for the Club and expressed a hope that it would be possible to hold a Rotary Showcase like the very successful one we held last year.

Now he would no longer be head of Public Image for the District, it might be more difficult for him to arrange publicity in local newspapers and magazines. He understood that the City Times and the Moulsham Times, for which he produces articles, will start print runs next month.

Foundation and International Committee

Until now Keith Dabbs, the Chair of our Foundation and International Committee, has not been able to contribute verbally to meetings because of problems with his microphone. He has now overcome this by borrowing another laptop, so was able to present his written report. He said that his Committee is investigating a possible future project to improve facilities for a school in Nepal but that it was unlikely it would be possible to hold any fund-raising events until next April. Mrs Patel of the Better Lives Foundation has already been booked to speak at our International Evening that month to give us an update on the recently-completed project providing diagnostic laboratory equipment for Yonibana Sai Hospital in Sierra Leone. Other speakers on international matters will form part of the Club programme.

He mentioned that the possible use of crowd funding had been raised at a District Foundation Seminar he had attended online earlier in the week.

Community and Vocational Committee

Philip Goodman, Chair of the Community and Vocational Committee, put forward its proposals for 2020-21. Subject to the continuing impact of the Covid-19 crisis, the Committee plans to:

• organise jumble sales in November and April;
• organise Christmas collections at local supermarkets and other venues;
• take the lead in organising Father Christmas’s Grotto at the Hylands House Frost Fair;
• take a group of senior guests to the pantomime at the Civic Theatre;
• organise a summer party for senior members of the community;
• consider donations to individuals and local groups; and
• consider ways of extending the Committee’s role.

Youth Committee

The Chair of the Youth Committee, Keith Otter, said that it was unlikely that schools would return to normal before January, which could have an impact on the Club’s youth activities.

He was grateful to Janice Goodman for offering to be the Club’s main contact for the Chelmsford County High School Interact Club. This year’s Interactors would normally recruit their successors in September; it remained to be seen what could be done this year to recruit the next cohort. A similar problem could occur when trying to find new members for the newly-formed Chelmsford Cathedral School Rotakids Club. Janice pointed out that not all the Rotakids were drawn from this year’s Year 6, so there would be some continuity.

Eddie Cassels asked whether Hylands School had been approached to see whether it would be possible to start an Interact Club there. This had not been done and Beaulieu Park School should be considered as well. However, starting a new Rotakids or Interact Club depended on the Club members’ ability to provide the necessary support.

Keith Otter went on to say that it was unlikely that Young Musician would be held this year. He had been in contact with the organisers of the Chelmsford Competitive Music Festival, who had indicated that they might defer the Festival to March, which meant that a local heat of Young Musician could be held in November 2021. Janice suggested that a purely local Young Musician competition could be held after the Music Festival in March.

Keith thought Youth Speaks: A Debate could be held early in 2021, depending on the position of the schools. The Special Young Chef competition planned for June this year had to be abandoned but it should be possible to hold one in 2021. Youth competitions that did not require face-to-face contact would go ahead as usual.

Assistant Governor’s comments

Tony Stringer said he saw his role as helping the local Clubs. He already knows our members and knows what a good job they are doing. He mentioned his own connection with the Royal Horticultural Society and its projects to encourage young people to become involved with plants. The Society would be keen to work with local Rotary Clubs because of its centre at Hyde Hall.

He referred to the Chelmsford Clubs’ good record at mutual cooperation. He thought Clubs could work together to support youth activities and think about crowd funding.