Friday 15th October 2021 at 11.00 am

Getting back to Face to Face – Statement by Hon. Sec. Martin to Club meeting 15 October 2021

The good news the Rotary Club of Bradford is alive and well as we move into our 100^th year.

May I first remind you of all we have done since the pandemic struck some eighteen months ago.

We have met online for over 80 formal Club meetings, including monthly evening Thursday meetings. I sincerely thank Jane for the work she does to get Zoom meetings running. We have renewed our Zoom licence and I will come back to that later. As well as Zoom we have kept in touch via WhatsApp, Facebook, Bulletin and our weekly information sheet Roundup, which goes to all members. Our last meeting Face to Face was Charter on the 15^th March 2020. Since that meeting we have had many speakers, conducted Club business, and had monthly quizzes.

Fund raising, which is vital, has continued. We introduced a monthly draw, raising over £2k in 12 months, with an equal amount paid out in prizes; huge thanks to Jane & John for all their work setting up the draw, including applying for a licence, and running it. Also we have had generous donations from Members. As a result we have made donations, totalling over £13k in the 18 months (including a £1k District Grant). Over 65% of our donations have gone to local charities.

I have explained all the above so that you can see the Club of Bradford has been, and is, very much, alive and well. Membership at the time of the 2020 Charter was 43 it is down to 33.

We are one of the last Clubs to restart Face to Face meeting for a number of reasons. Until recently RIBI have been warning us that our insurance may be invalid if we did. Robert, our H & S expert has now done a very comprehensive risk assessment in order to ensure that it is safe for us to meet, given our age profile. Additionally, the Dubrovnik were not prepared for meetings to start. They had been shut for 18 months and judged it uneconomical to re-open. After a frank discussion with them we agreed the proposed restart date is the 5^th November. It will be different initially, we will meet in the ballroom, soup, sandwiches and coffee will be served, this arrangement would be in place up to Christmas and we will then review for the New Year. As I have said the Dubrovnik is not open, their regulars have not yet returned therefore they can't engage staff, it’s chicken and egg. 

We believe we will be able to have hybrid meetings, the hotel can handle Zoom, we have had speakers from all over the world recently, thus we are not confined to local speakers. Members reluctant to attend in person can use Zoom; hence the reason for renewing the licence.

We are encouraging members to pay the £11 cost by card, if somebody wants to pay by cash we will manage. If we agree to resume the raffle this will be by cash £1, Mike volunteered to collect!

You may be surprised by the cost but, the ballroom is big and needs a lot of heating and food and staff costs have risen. Mike negotiated the original quoted price down and hopefully we can get our numbers up to pre-Covid levels from the low attendance on Zoom. Of course we considered alternatives, but they are hard to find, many Clubs have moved and all are finding their meal costs have rocketed, one club now only has a meal once a month and the other weeks meet in a scout hut! Given all facts your Council considered that the Dubrovnik is our best suitable venue.

Before introducing Bob and opening the meeting for comment Martin hoped for support for the action proposed in order to see the Bradford Rotary Club into it's 100^th year as a strong Club.

The continued existence of your Club may really be at stake 

The Club has been kept alive through Zoom since March 2020, but now we need a commitment to support Club Officers in deciding how to move ahead 

The Council meeting on 1st October heard a report from the delegation who held exploratory talks with the Dubrovnik Hotel on 22 September. There is a proposal that a first face to face meeting could take place in the hotel as soon as 5 November on the basis of it being a soup and sandwich meal—price to fix. Negotiations with the hotel continue to establish that the arrangements, which they seek to put in place, are acceptable to Council. 

These will be put to a Special Meeting, a single issue meeting, to be held on Friday 15 October at 1100 by Zoom . 

In the first instance Council requests that every member able to do so tries to attend this meeting and make their views known about the proposals. Thereafter, information will be forwarded to all members with a view to using the planned 5 November face to face meeting to confirm the way forward. 

 If your Editor’s stark headlines seem a little over the top then Club Council were told of the demise of two more Rotary Clubs and the reduction to single figure membership in another.