Fellow Rotarians.
Yes it’s the start of another Rotary year. Last year we had a very successful time fundraising and as Ian Wilson said in his address last year his goal was to concentrate on the fun part of fundraising.
You heard my aims for my year first at the assembly and then again at the presidential handover or maybe you missed both and are now reading them in this newsletter.
As I’ve already said my goal for the club is to focus our thoughts on membership and fellowship. Which brings me to the word which is part of both – SHIP. We must make a concerted effort on membership otherwise our ship will founder and go under without a trace. What a disaster that would be for both ourselves and the community we have tried to serve for all those years. When I got home after the presidential handover I took a good look at our chain of office, when I looked at all the names on it stretching back to 1944 I realised, although I did not know half of them, what we have in our Club is too good to let founder.
Our minimum goal for the year must be a 10% uplift in membership – yes a minimum of 3 new members, hopefully 5. This may even mean the induction of our first lady members. We need new blood and active members as we have too many members who have been there and done it all before.
For fellowship I hope we can visit as many other clubs throughout the year as possible. I have included a fellowship and games night in our programme for the year where we can invite other clubs to come along and enjoy a night of fun and fellowship.
This can all be achieved without neglecting our usual fundraising activities. We will continue with our flat in Largs (a very worthwhile cause when you listen to the comments from our tenants), our grass cutting at Abbeyfield (another worthwhile cause which brings in some very useful income), The community carers (you all heard Wynn Forsyth speak about their need of our help) and of course our outing to Cartland Bridge (something that is enjoyed by everyone)
I also hope we can raise some funds to support "Shine on Africa". I was really inspired 18 months ago when Fiona Marra came along and told us of her plans, what she has achieved in Ghana in such a short time is quite amazing. One of her goals for the coming year is to expand her school in Kpandia from 2 classes of Primary 1 & 2 with an extra class for Primary 3 and a library. I plan to run a half marathon in September at the Glasgow Fresh & Low Great Scottish Run for sponsorship to help her achieve her goals.
We will also try and resurrect our relationship with the local youth through the schools and community.
As I start my year I’m excited about the year to come and know I’ll be well supported by Vice President Andy Cattenach, Past President Ian Wilson and the members of Council but without your support we will achieve nothing.
So let’s all work together to achieve our goals and do it with fun and fellowship.
I will do my best as President of the Rotary Club of Rutherglen.
Bill McIntosh
To all my friends in the best Club, the Rotary Club of Rutherglen.
I feel that in some way I am back in a training room where the trainer operates a training system of telling his audience what he is going to tell them, tell them then tell them what he has told them i.e. repetition is good for understanding and recollection.
Well first you heard my aims at Club AGM, then at the Assembly and now for a third time at the Presidential Handover or in this Newsletter.
I will therefore keep them brief but maybe it is not such a bad thing to think about these and use them to set the agenda for our first attempt at the new Committee Meetings set for Thursday 2nd August. It would be good if that night we can harden up on the programme of fundraising activities we plan to organise over the next year. Remembering of course that fundraising begins with fun and even if we don’t raise a lot of funds at some of the events we will have more than when we started with and we will have had good fun.
Our commitment to the Maggie Centre is considerable and of great significance to those involved in operating the Centre as well as those who need their love and support be they cancer sufferers or their loved ones.
President Elect Bill McIntosh intends to follow up on the suggestion of selling off the financial commitment by contacting local businesses to sponsor the Maggie Officer by the day, week or month. Contact with the business community will also give us the opportunity to try and interest business people in Rotary and we hope lead to increased membership.
This is another reason why we have to get involved in running more events. Who wants to join something that is just going through the motions? People will be attracted to a Club that is active and vibrant. Busy people get involved with busy things. We don’t want to stop giving to our normal charities or supporting local people when they need our help so we have to do more things.
As indicated it has been agreed that the first Thursday in each month should be set aside for Committee Meetings and therefore each committee will sit together and discuss what they are involved in and planning future matters. This will hopefully overcome the difficulty in arranging meetings following on from Rotary Meetings or at other times during the season. We also have a vice convener for each committee so if the convener is unable to be available the committee should still function.
Finally Rotary to me is about fellowship, friendship and fun within our own Club and with other Rotarians. I should like to see us visiting other Rotary Clubs in the coming months meeting new friends and learning what they do well and what might work well in our Club.
I am excited about the above but I cannot possibly do any of it on my own and not even with the help of those members on Council. We need everyone to be involved and take an active part in getting things moving and keeping the momentum. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. Fellow Rotarians we all signed up to the Rotary Motto – Service above Self.
I will do my best as President of the Rotary Club of Rutherglen.
Ian Wilson