Hythe Rotary installs new President

Liz tell us

By now you will all be aware that John has moved to the West Country so that, earlier than expected, I have become your new President for a term of 15 months and not the normal 12 months.

Thank are due from us all to John for his work throughout his time as a member and as President of Hythe Rotary and we wish John and Kay every happiness in their new home.

It is not the most auspicious of times to become the first female President of the Rotary Club of Hythe but I am very honoured to hold the position and I will strive to live up to the preceding presidents. As you know, Malcolm has been a member of the club since 1996 and so despite my having joined the Club as a Rotarian quite recently, I do go back a long way with many members and their partners. Once we are all back to normal we can look to celebrating our 70th anniversary with a bit of an Installation as well. (would that be a re-installation?)

As Rotarians we are used to being among the first to respond to any requests for help in an emergency but as most of us are required to be in self-isolation we have done the next best thing with a donation of  £2000 to the Hythe Community Support Hub whose work is being led by Age UK.  Andrew Hong and Rotary Friend Steve Jones are liaising with the Hub and we are still ready to do whatever we can to help our community.

It was wonderful to learn that Past President and Honorary Rotarian Doug Amans had left a bequest of £500 to the Rotary Club of Hythe. Doug was involved in almost every aspect of life in Hythe and he was generous in his legacies to other associations in the town. While we are confined to barracks we could give some thought as to how we would like to use this legacy.

Looking to the future, the incoming team will be having discussions about re-establishing our meeting structures and setting up teams for the myriad of activities that we as Hythe Rotarians are involved in. We hope to schedule a programme of events –some but not all fundraisers- that can ensure that we have good camaraderie and projects for the year that will also encourage new members. Someone joining us socially can often result in a new member.

I believe that John Wren has plans for a trip May next year and he will let you have details later.