Visit of DG Steve Martin

DG Steve’s message to the Club

    Greetings from RI President Barry Rassin. Barry is a passionate Rotarian who lives in the Bahamas. He is also passionate about the environment and mindful that due to global warming his island will no longer exist in 80-100 years

Rotary GB&I President Debbie Hodge also sends her good wishes and I am confident she will be a good leader for our organisation in these islands. She is very much let’s stop talking about it and do it!

Also greetings from my own club Neston on the Wirral.

This years Rotary theme is “Be the inspiration”

Rotary Vision

Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe in our communities and in ourselves.

Club projects.

The Nantwich Club has over the years had some fantastic projects both locally and internationally. The clubs work in Nepal is outstanding and the planned clean water project will be an inspirational piece of work.

Locally the outdoor classroom area is a wonderful idea and having completed a similar project at my own club, I can assure you it will be well used !

Sadly we live in a world where our hospices rely on charities to support them and I know that you support St Lukes when you can.

Supporting events like the Nantwich show and the Beer festival are good for raising money, but also raise the awareness of Rotary in the local community so keep up the good work.

Club Website

This is the portal that the public will get access to your club always make sure it is up to date, I can’t stress how important this is if you wish to attract new members.

Public imageis very important Please use the correct Logos on everything that you do. There will be a membership/public image seminar coming up very soon 25^th September, please come along.

‘Thinking outside the box’.

Talking of Membership

For us to have successful clubs in the future we must look after our club and its members

New members, look after them, harness their new ideas, their fresh approach, be bold and innovative and DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Harness the ideas of new members and give them a job. Give them a say in what happens, give them a voice. If we don’t look after our new members they will leave it’s as simple as that. They are the future of your club and they will be the future Presidents of your club. Look after them and nurture them.

Council on Legislation has given us the freedom to be very flexible. We don’t have to do things the way we always have, we can do what we think is best for our clubs. But most important thing is that as a club we listen to our members and decide what we want as a club.

Look at yourselves and ask those difficult questions and be honest with yourselves, what is the best way forward.

Even more important than that, is to enjoy your Rotary, after all that is what it’s all about. CONSIDER A CLUB HEALTH CHECK.

Rotaract. This is a very strong club but you may wish to bring in younger members, am I correct ?  Rotaract is very weak in this district with only one club at the moment. How about a Rotaract club In Nantwich? There must be a group of 18-30 olds in Nantwich looking for something to do?  There is help and support from the team if you need it.

Foundation.Thank you for your contributions.

You are a shining light in District 1180 and are great contributors to both foundation and polio.

But do you all really understand it ??

Foundation is our charity and is responsible for thousands of projects across the world, all of which fall into our areas of focus.

30,000 service projects a year, 24.3 million hours of voluntary work, 8000 youth exchange students each year.

400 million children are immunized against polio each year thanks to Rotary.

Many of our projects are clean water projects. One in ten people in the world do not have access to clean water and every 20 seconds a child dies due to poor sanitation.

In response, Rotary international spends 108 million on polio connected projects.

73 million on global grants and 26 million on district grants.

This isn’t a different Rotary, this is your Rotary, you are making this happen with your ideas your fundraising, your crazy ideas where you seem to be able to drink eat and party  and do very silly stunts that all raises money. By donating to the Rotary Foundation, you can help to complete projects all around the world and in your own locality. Of course you also have access to District and global grants. Our Foundation team would be more than happy to come along and give you the full run down on the benefits of our Foundation. 92 pence of every pound that is donated goes to Rotary projects around the world far higher than most other charities and the Foundation is OUR OWN CHARITY.

Polio.  It is difficult to believe that some clubs in the district do not support Polio. Thank you for your tremendous support over the years. Particularly the crocus planting, it helps to raise awareness to those who think polio has already been eradicated.

October 24^th is world polio day and I am asking ALL clubs to have a small fundraiser that week (even their club meeting ) a worlds greatest meal to end polio, details are on line.  This is part of my goal to have every club in district 1180 to donate something to polio. Let’s get the job finished and move on. There have been 13 cases this year compared to the 350,000 in 1985 when we started. If we stop immunizing now we will be back up to 350,000 within a few years and our time and money will have been wasted.

Rotary beach cleaning and environmental projects 15^th Sept

Parks and rivers can be cleaned also !  Maybe a joint day out with the New Satellite Club ?

Conference

Thank you for your support for conference over the years, I hope some of you will be coming along on 6^th October to the Liner Hotel In Liverpool. Last day for booking is 15^th September.

Rotary Days. 24^th October World Polio Day and  23^rd Feb Rotary birthday.

District team. Is there to support YOU. Please use them to the fullest, they are waiting for your call.

Four way test

Is it the truth

Is it fair to all concerned

Will it build goodwill and better friendships

Will it be beneficial to all concerned

Remember this when you make all your decisions, in the club, in club council, before typing that email or making that phone call or making an off the cuff comment !

With Rotary International Vision being on increasing membership, supporting our foundation and increasing our public image THIS club is well on its way to be a leading club in all aspects. It will also easily achieve the presidential citation if you keep up to date with Rotary club central.

Rotary Club Central is looked upon with suspicion by some and too difficult by others. Only one person in the club needs to be proficient in this and it will keep a record of all that you do for years to come.

Thank you for putting in your goals and please keep this up.

Keep in touch with your Youth Alumni particularly RYLA students, this time next year you could have a Youth exchange student ! This goes for Rotaract members also..

Yes it is agreed that Nantwich is an ageing club and you have lost members. What you have done in supporting a Satellite Club at Wych-Malbank is to ensure that Rotary grows in your local community. This is exactly what the Rotary model for growth is. Thank you all for your service and the lives that you change by being Rotarians.

Rotary in Nantwich is in safe hands for the next generation, due to your hard work and foresight.

So please be bold and be innovative to do something different and be the inspiration.

President Michael thanked Steve for the kind words which Steve said about our Club.