PRESIDENT'S BLOG - FEBRUARY

As I write this, at the beginning of February, I am reminded that we are already into the third quarter of this Rotary Year and, thus, over half way through my term as President. The year is passing so quickly and yet, as I review my own goals and objectives, I feel there’s still much to do to engage current members, to attract new ones, and to move our Club forward towards its new year under a new President.

Following the success of our Christmas Float collections in December, we began 2025 with our usual presentation evening, to which we invited representatives of those local organisations who had helped us, and gave them each a donation in appreciation. This annual social gathering gives us a chance to celebrate the success and to recognize the efforts of all!

Another social evening came later in January as around 50 people from across our community – of which only 6 were Rotarians – met at The Firkin on the High Street. It was great to see so many new faces; I really hope that some of them – and perhaps you – may be considering how to become involved and offer a new perspective and new ideas to help us to make a difference in our community and across the world.

In between, we had the usual round of Service Teams’ meetings and our monthly Business Meeting where we discuss our ongoing plans and activities to make our Rotary both meaningful and Fun!

January also saw our first local heat of the Rotary Youth Speaks competition, where two of our schools – Byrchall High School and St Edmund Arrowsmith RC High School – made us proud with their presentations. As I write this, we have already had our second local heat, about which I will say more next month, and we look forward to the District Final on 12 March.

Two advance notices . . . We will be having a Curry Night at Aman’s on the High Street on Wednesday 5 March, all profits from which will be to support Newclare Primary School in South Africa – just one of our International projects that you can read about on this website – to create a Learning Resource Centre where the ‘learners’ will have a safe environment in which to work. . . . We will also be holding our annual Beer Festival at the Newton Sports Club on 3, 4 and 5 April. We would still welcome offers of sponsorship so, if you feel that you could sponsor a barrel at the Festival, please contact us to get a sponsor form, or to let us know if you would like to help us in any way with this event. newtonbeerfest@outlook.com

As usual, if you would like further information about Rotary and about what we do here in our own community, please contact our secretary at secretary.nlewrotary@gmail.com