D.G. Calum Thomson - D.G.'s Visit

President Katrina welcomed everyone to the meeting, including the speaker, Calum Thomson, our District Governor.

In Katrina’s Interesting Rotary Information section, she highlighted “Rotary Fellowships”:

·     Rotary Fellowships began informally in 1928 when Rotarians with an interest in the language Esperanto joined together.  In 1947, The International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians came into being and is the longest Rotary Fellowship in continuous existence.

         The purpose of Rotary Fellowships is to unite Rotarians in friendship and provide venues for enjoying their favourite recreational or professional activities.  In 2010/11, 59 Fellowships reported a combined membership of 32,842 Rotarians, spouses of Rotarians, and Rotaractors in 104 countries.

·       Examples of Rotary Fellowships are – Amateur Radio; Bird-watching; Bridge Playing; Canoeing; Caravanning; Carnival Parades & Festivals; Cruising; Genealogy & Heraldry; Magicians etc.  The average size of each Fellowship is 557 members.  

Speaker for the evening:

·         District Governor Calum Thomson addressed the Club and began by saying that strong effective Clubs are defined by what they do and the projects they are involved in.  He complimented Motherwell & Wishaw Rotary in this respect.  He believed that Rotary’s best days were ahead. Rotary had a great opportunity to make a difference to our local and international communities.  The District had received a record £50,000 from Rotary Foundation to support local and international communities.  The disaster recovery grant that the District had obtained for Clubs to give tablets to care-homes etc had been a successful project and a great way to show how Rotary was reacting to Covid 19.

·         Calum talked about the four priorities that had been set for Rotary Clubs by R.I. President 2021/22, Holger Knaack.

1.    New flexible innovative Clubs e.g. Clubs setting up satellite clubs to attract and work in partnership with local volunteers.

2.    Strategic planning by Clubs for the longer term e.g. plan a project that enhances participative engagement of Rotarians and widens the scope of involvement e.g. by involving local schools. Increase adaptability in what we do e.g. vocational exchanges and virtual RYLA.

3.    Looking after our members e.g. help them to fit in and contribute to the Club and adapt our practices to suit their circumstances.

4.    Keeping up our efforts to eradicate polio.  There is a target donation to polio of $1500 per Club each year. He said he had noticed that our Club had exceed this target in November 2020. District 1020 had donated in excess of $1,000,000 to polio since 1985.  Our Club had donated $16,920 since 1985.   

After Calum had answered a series of questions from the members, SVP Charles Keeper proposed the vote of thanks, appreciating Calum’s enthusiastic presentation.

Willie Talbot reported that the bonus ball winner was Ian Carrol.  Willie’s wife, Agnes, made the monthly draw for the Numbers’ Club:

1^st – Willie Talbot; 2^nd – Andrew Stephen; 3^rd – Tom McPherson