It was a great opportunity for fellowship in the delightful surroundings of Deana and Gerald's outstanding garden once again.
Ron Smith was presented with a Paul Harris Fellowship by President Christine.I was asked by our President a couple of weeks ago to present a Paul Harris Fellowship to Charles Miller which I accepted with pleasure, however when I heard that another member of our club was being honoured and recognised for his long-standing contribution to the development and success of this club over the years, in this instance I not only volunteered but insisted that I had the privilege of performing the task again.
As you go through life we all make many close acquaintances but we are lucky if we make half a dozen really close friends and I consider myself and Lynda to be very lucky to count the recipient of this award and his lovely and long suffering wife as truly close friends.
He had the dubious honour of introducing me to Rotary back in 1995 and has always, to this day, acted as my mentor and for this I will always be grateful.
He joined the Rotary Club of Nantwich in 1987 after originally being a member of Lymm Rotary Club prior to moving into the area and became president in 1997/98. Ron, for those of you who have not already guessed who I am waxing lyrical about, has chaired and or has been an active member of all our committees, he has been treasurer and acted as secretary, whilst as far back as I can remember assisted in the preparation of the Frugal lunch and until this year at this BBQ was in charge of cooking and serving the sausage usually in various colours of black, no wonder Pam keeps him out of the kitchen.
Talking about Pam behind every good Rotarian there has to be a supportive partner, Pam has not only assisted Ron over the years but herself has been president of inner wheel on more than one occasion.
As a neighbour of Ron and Pam’s for over 10 years there are many anecdotes that I could relate that are very special to us, and I am sure that many members have similar stories and fond memories of such a genuinely happy, modest and supportive couple.
They both will have had quite a year, starting off with their third grandchild being born to their son Neil and his wife Nana in Singapore and some of you may know that Ron has been invited down to Wimbledon in order to receive a prestigious award for services to tennis, another love of his life. All this can and will only be surpassed by the presentation by our president of this well-deserved, in my view long overdue Paul Harris Fellowship Award.
Robert Eardley
The Evening raised raised £473 for Community Service Funds.