Martin, Anne and Winnie with the RI President and Binota
The Three Scottish DG's with The Banerjees's
Another celebration took
place on the 16th of March, the 50th Charter Anniversary
of the Rotary Club of Abertay and Broughty Ferry. President John Mee presided
over the evening which was attended by a good number of Rotary Clubs, both
locally and from further afield. The Club presented a PHF to Abir McIntyre as
well as two founder members of the Club. Abir represents Mary’s Meals, a
charity which a number of 1010 Clubs now support as well. I took greetings from
the RI President and presented the Club with it’s 50th Charter Anniversary
Certificate, as well as a letter to the Club from Kalyan Banerjee.
 |
| President John with Winnie and I |
 |
| The 'Chain Gang' at the Abertay 50th.
On the morningof the the 17th
of March, I joined President John and members of the Club, to plant two trees
at the Rock Garden Broughty Ferry, to celebrate 50 years of Rotary in Broughty
Ferry. It was a fitting reminder of 50 years service to Rotary and a permanent reminder to all who see the trees.
The three 'Cooncil' workmen and onlookers!
On Sunday the 18th Winnie and I were in Perth where I chaired the Regional Final of the Young Musician of the Year competition. There were 4 Districts represented, 1010, 1020, 1050 and 1230. As you would expect at this level the standard was very high and the range of musical talent widespread across the various aspect of music, both instrumental and vocal. You will be happy to learn that we in 1010 have a finalist in the National Final at the RIBI Conference in Bournemouth. Andrew Dickinson from Stonehaven was the vocal winner and we wish him well at Bournemouth.   |
The RIBI President Ray Burman paid a short visit to District 1010 at the invitation of a consortium of Clubs from Inverness and surrounding areas. The first part of the visit was to the excellent Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre where the President was given an overview of the battle in 1746, being an East London boy Burman had to take a few jokes about Redcoats and so on..Since it was over the Easter weekend there was little opportunity to visit many of the Clubs so the organisers arranged visits to Rotary projects in the area. There was also an opportunity to do a radio interview with Moray Firth Radio, on the subject of Rotary in general and Rotary in our District. Burman and I both took part in the interview. A visit to the South Kessock Nature Reserve was made to show the superb work that has been taken by Rotary to improve the ecology of what was virtually waste ground, and also give a peaceful area for families to enjoy the marine flora and fauna. The President also visited the RNLI station below the Kessock Bridge to see the work that has been done there to enhance safety and rescue operations in the Upper Moray Firth area. A cheque was presented to RNLI on that occasion by the President on behalf of local Rotary Clubs. During the evening the Royal Burgh of Inverness gave a civic reception to mark the Presidents visit and this was attended by a large number of local Rotarians. Burman addressed the gathering and his message was well received. He returned home on the Tuesday to prepare for the RIBI Conference at the end of that week.
 |
Could that be one of the last Redcoats!
|
President Burman, President Gavin and DG presenting a cheque to the RNLI
A large contingent of District 1010 Rotarians attended the RIBI Conference in Bournemouth from the 13th to the 15th of April this year. We had around 60 delegates attend a 1010 dinner in the Trouville Hotel Bournemouth on the evening of the Friday. It was a splendid evening of fellowship and Winnie and I were delighted to see so many attending. After the dinner we attended the musical evening provided by the Young Musicians of the Year finalists. The standard was superb as it always is. It gave the 1010 delegates double the pleasure of the evening, I'm sure, to see and hear our own contestant Andrew Dickinson sing, it was his birthday and we all sang 'happy birthday' to him. He may not have won first place on this occasion but I am certain he will never forget the evening. The various presentations at Conference were of the usual high standard and well received by the delegates. The Business meeting was not as chaotic as Dublin, thank goodness, but the General Council managed to get the approval of the voting delegates to accept our restructuring proposals - I was a happy DG as you might imagine having campaigned for this. I was also delighted to accept, on behalf of the PR team of District 1010, the District Online Presence Award for the year. This trophy recognises the work done by us in the fields of PR, Communications, Facebook, Twitter and Web presentation. There was also another District award to celebrate, and that was the RIBI
Vocational Service Trophy awarded to the Rotary Club of Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay for the encouragement to local schoolchildren of the realities of working in the hospitality industry. As usual at events like this there was much to learn about and much to think about.
Who is as pleased as Punch with an award for his District
