The President’s column
It seems scarcely credible that almost half the Rotary year is gone and for much of that time we’ve been cloistered in our Zoom rooms for meetings or have chosen to remain a face-to-face member. I must say, some of our Zoomier members appear to live in exotic locations with great sunsets. Whichever you are, welcome to this column.
It’s been a great relief that we didn’t lose any members due to lockdowns, either from COVID itself or disconnectedness. In fact, in our few F2F meetings there has been the heart-warming and delightful sound of animated conversations around the tables. As an analogy with the economy, the enforced pent-up savings are being joyously spent when given a chance. But fellowship is only one aspect of Rotary; we have a deeper purpose to volunteer our brain, brawn, or funds in the service of humanity and we haven’t achieved much of that to date.
As with our conversation and personal funds, our enthusiasm for service will find an outlet in the second half of the year. To some extent we’ve started by seeking candidates for Youth and Community programs and in lining up Environmental renovations at the Doug Mills Reserve. Our fund-raising project of a Golf Day will let loose the world early in 2022. Even writing that number has a feeling of the far-off future about it, but in fact it’s only four weeks away.
Some time ago, Jama Farah and I were interviewed on Zoom by DG Dale Hoy. The result was shown last Saturday, 27/11, on the Zoom meeting ‘Morning Tea with the DG’ and it was warmly received. Later we, plus Graeme Thompson, had another Zoom meeting requested by RC Melbourne for them to learn how we set up a crowd-funding method of paying for transporting containers to Africa. Old dogs can learn new tricks, although that doesn’t necessarily extend to working with mygovID apps as I’ve found recently. Nevertheless, the old lags of Footscray are dragging themselves up by their modems.
Although I stopped having a club Sergeant from the outset, probably because no one would accept the poisoned chalice, another role has become a victim of our nomadic existence and the set-up of The Plough Hotel. We haven’t had “Chairperson of the Day” for months. I’m hoping to perform CPR to bring life back to this useful role in the new year. It’s not like being chairman of Whitehaven coal at its AGM; chair of the day allows a brief opportunity for public speaking and fielding questions for a speaker.
Sports Report. For those with strong constitutions, Partick Thistle is fourth on the ladder in its division; plenty of time for a repeat of Icarus’s flight.
Have a safe and Happy Christmas and holiday season and come back refreshed for a lively time in 2022.
Jamie
