District Governor Penny Spiller

District Governor Penny Spiller

At a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of South Foreland, District Governor Penny Spiller spoke to members about her experience of Rotary and its importance to her.  She joined Rotaract (for young people from 18 to 30+) in 1985 which gave her purpose and the opportunity of serving her community as well as having fun. This is as true for her today as it was then.

In the 1980s clubs could decide whether they wanted women as members.  As there was no club local to her which admitted women when she needed to move on from Rotaract, she left Rotary, but eventually become a founding member of the Kings Hill Club.  It took some years for the club to become established, but it is still going strong.

As District Governor, Penny has the reputation for being a bit of a radical; she wants to draw in people with new ideas.  After eight weeks in post she is looking forward to dealing with challenges and the personal opportunities to give service and have fun.  This is her third club visit and she has sixty more to do, though some will be joint meetings. 

Penny congratulated South Foreland for its forty years in existence and referred to the ambition of the club in securing a recent District Environmental Grant for Guston school and in using Gloria Barnett to help engage and inspire children through her books and presentations on the oceans.  This is a link which the club hopes to develop.

This year’s Rotary theme is ‘Unite for Good’.  Rotary International’s President Francesco Arezzo’s message is that teamwork is important for Rotary to have an impact.  By working together within and between clubs we can achieve much.  However, we need to recognise that to grow and give service we need new members.  Corporate Membership is being explored by some clubs and online and direct membership are other ideas.  While some clubs may help each other some may work with other community groups.  The District Team is also there to support all clubs. Clubs are changing, with more meeting twice a month instead of every week and some alternating between lunchtime and evening meetings.  Tis is one indication of how clubs are adapting to changing circumstances and becoming more flexible.

\We all recognise and may be daunted by our ageing demographics.  Many clubs have no younger members and may worry about what will happen over the next few years.  However, we should not forget what we have done in the past and need to try to be open to good ideas and things that work and share them with others.

To sum up Penny stressed the importance of working together to give service to the community and to have fun.  She wished the club a successful year which will culminate in a celebration of our 40^th Anniversary.

After Penny’s talk, John Dunkley led a planning discission about the club’s 40^th Anniversary which will be celebrated in June 2026.  We are thinking of a dinner followed by some sort of entertainment or a speaker for a lunchtime meeting at the Marina Hotel.  Founder members and other past members will be contacted, and invites sent to Presidents of the Rotary Clubs of Dover, Deal and Sandwich.  There followed a lively contribution from club members about the activities and events that they particularly remembered from the past.  It would be good to produce a timeline or short account of the club’s achievements over the past 40 years. Penny learnt much about the club from this discussion.