Business Meeting

ROTARY CLUB OF CHESTFIELD

Club Meeting online 18^th March 2021.

Present:               Pat; David B; Lesley; Robert; Margaret; Jean S; Godfrey; Paul (Chair); Pete; Dave C; Hilary; Andrew B; Andrew & Jean M; Iain; Sue;

Apologies:           Kathy will be late

Paul:                      Paul said he had a long chat with Gordon yesterday.  Latter is feeling good at present.  In answer to a question, Paul replied that the best time to ring him is in the morning, he has carers round sometimes in the morning.  Jean M said she has spoken to Anne; it would be a good thing for members to make a relationship with Anne now.

                                At the Board meeting last night we were told that a member from South Africa, who is stranded in the UK by the pandemic, may wish to attend our meetings.  Paul has written to him, but no reply as yet. 

                                Paul has had an email from Jeremy at Margate.  The dinner dance to celebrate their centenary is cancelled due to the pandemic restrictions.  Instead there will be some sort of celebration and presentations online.  We will probably receive an invitation to this; it will be in May sometime.

Treasurers Report  David M reports that we have £2,228.83 available to spend in the Charity account.  There is £96.73 in the Club account.  David will shortly be submitting a claim against Gift Aid, which he estimates will be £2,421.00, or thereabouts.  The Charity Golf Day is booked for September.

                                David has asked if the club does intend to go ahead with the request for a donation towards the cost of re-furbishing the toilets for the Whitstable Over-60’s club?  This was discussed at the end of last year.  Discussion centred on the fact that the Over-60’s meet in a hall which is owned by someone else, so any donation would really be to their benefit.  Also, it is believed that the toilets have in fact already been done.  After a vote, it was agreed not to go ahead with this donation.  This item is off the agenda.

Sue:                       She has received a request from the St Vincent de Paul Catholic church in Whitstable & Chestfield.  They run a food bank, furniture store etc for people in need.  Last night the Board recommended that we could donate £200.  This was voted on and agreed.  It was noted that we could also include them as a beneficiary at the end of the year when we do our Christmas food collection.

Pat:                        Pat noted that she has shown David B how to host a meeting on zoom.  David said that he has since been able to successfully run his RAF meeting online.

Robert:                 Robert will be the Meals Steward during Lesley’s year as President, from the middle of the year.  He also looks after the club’s LCD projector, but he is concerned that if he is busy with meals, he won’t be able to set up the projector for any speakers.  Dave C has volunteered to set the thing up.

                                Robert also referred to something he has heard about District wanting to collect £20,000 for Rotary UK.  No-one seems to know much about this.  Hilary will try to find out more.

Lesley:                  Lesley has been in touch with the Golf Club.  They are planning to re-open on 21^st June, when government-imposed restrictions will come to an end.  Lesley has given them the dates of all our meetings during her year.  Our first meeting after they open will be 24^th June.  The members present suggested that we make this an evening celebration and encourage members to dress up ie evening dress for ladies, DJ’s or suits for men.

Godfrey:              Godfrey has spoken to Ron who is keen for the club to remove its stuff from his garage.  Actually, there isn’t very much left there (David M has the gazebos in his garage).  Paul is due to see Ron tomorrow.  There was some question of Ron continuing to help out with some events, notably the car parking.  However it was felt that a clean break is best.

                                Hilary gave some feedback about how well-received our cake donations have been to the NHS.  Staff have been very appreciative.  Godfrey said we have done some 100 deliveries.  He confirmed that we will now stop these collections.  Godfrey said a big thank you to all our members to have contributed home baking to this initiative.

                                Godfrey hasn’t had any news yet from the school about car parking.

Jean & Andrew:   They have collected a sewing machine for TWAM.  The person who donated it has a small business and may be able to donate others.  Andrew B asked if the collection van will be down in April this year?  Not clear yet, but in any case we can pass stuff on the the local TWAM organiser.

Andrew B:           Andrew said that at the Board last night he was asked if Rotary International is involved in distributing anti-Covid vaccines to the Third World?  Hilary and Andrew are 90% sure we are not, but will check.  This is something which only national governments are handling.

                                At the Board meeting last night, Andrew mentioned a zoom meeting he attended, along with Sue, organised by Rotary South.  Emma from ‘Open Your Hearts to Bhutan’ charity was a presenter.  Her charity is now involved in providing filtration systems to schools across Bhutan.  These systems can provide clean water for pupils; importantly they can filter out the eggs of parasites which otherwise can get into the human body.  Each system costs £805 all in to install.  Ideally, Andrew would like us to be able to provide two through a grant from District.  Members should note that the maximum grant is $1,000.  The assumption is that we would match fund whatever grant we get from District, so each system would cost this club £400.  We could keep some of the anticipated Gift Aid refund for this purpose.  Some members were concerned that we might be over-stretching ourselves during what is a fallow year for charity collections.  Also, if this equipment relies on charcoal filters, then there will be an ongoing need to fund replacement filters.  We need more details about this.

                                Emma is due to attend an Autumn meeting to talk to us.  Should we ask her to be an evening speaker?  David K has already shared a list of speakers for our evening meetings with Lesley.  Anyway, Emma has always been happy to come along to our breakfast meetings in the past.

                                Andrew told the club that he has done an online presentation to the whole of Whitstable Junior school about Walk4Water.  David M had given him a video clip about how this benefits children in Africa.  The presentation went well, and lots of questions were asked.  Sadly, Andrew had to say that he couldn’t provide wristbands for the whole school.  Hopefully, if word gets out, other schools will want a similar presentation.

AOB:                      Dave C thanked the club for his (70^th) birthday card last week end.

                                Margaret and Jean S said that have had emails telling them that they are now allowed out.  (Dave C: - was this from the NHS, or the probation service?)

                                Pat confirmed that the Spring Garden competition is still on.  She will be the judge.

                                Suggestion that at our first face-to-face evening meeting, every member should bring a black & white photo of themselves as a baby or young child.

Next Meetings:

Board Meeting 7^th April at 7.30pm

Club Meeting 8^th April 8.00am