PRESIDENT"S BLOG - SEPTEMBER

September ‘24

August was a quieter month overall. It began with a meeting of representatives from most of the Rotary clubs in our area. These meetings give us a chance to share ideas and to hear what each of us is doing within our clubs and to offer or ask for help if needed. It’s also good to see how different clubs do things in different ways - and what a wide variety of projects and initiatives there are in progress in our local ‘Area 7’ at the moment!

The Newton Town Show is always a great day, and we were there again, not only with our familiar Coconut Shy, but also with a very successful tombola stall. Our Christmas Float even put in an appearance but was almost unrecognisable, decked out for summer in its bright Hawaiian colours. The message, though, was a real plea for help with our Christmas Float Tour throughout December. Offers of help from individuals and organisations would be greatly appreciated to spread the load of this onerous task.

It was with some sadness that I accepted John Coleman’s resignation from the Club after more than 25 years of service. John has been a member of our Community Service Team for some considerable time and served as the Club’s President from July 2007 until June 2008. Unfortunately, John felt that he could no longer devote the necessary time to Rotary meetings and activities due to other commitments, but he has offered his continued help and support on an occasional basis, and we are grateful for that. We wish John and his family our very best wishes for the future.

During the month, our small but active Environment Working Group, under the leadership of Craig Roberts, made further progress in its project in association with Ascent Autism Specialist College; and our Service Teams continued to discuss and develop their projects and their plans for events that will further our valuable work, both in our own community and overseas. Our next public event will be our Last Night of the Proms with Golborne Brass Band. Tickets are on sale now, so check out our ‘Events’ page for further details.

Last, but not least, we had a wide variety of speakers: Our own District-led ‘Million Meal Miracle’ project, to work with our local schools to raise awareness about world hunger and then to pack meals that will benefit less fortunate children in Africa; from the Alzheimer’s Society; and from a Wills and Estate Planning expert – himself a new Rotarian. It’s amazing what talents and expertise people bring to Rotary to be used for the wider benefit of others. What could you bring that could potentially change the life of someone else? As always, please get in touch; we need you!

secretary.nlewrotary@gmail.com