Club News

REPORT ON AGM, 2^nd MAY 2023

Our AGM was held on Tuesday chaired by President Judy Whyte.   Judy reported on the Club’s activities and achievements over the year as we settled into a post-pandemic routine.  Back to face-to-face meetings in the KA, our organisation and meetings have become less formal, and we have moved to fortnightly with 5^thTuesday social events.  Going forward, Judy sees the need for the Club to “tweak its structure” a bit to let more members share the responsibilities, and reminded the members that she likened Rotary being like Paddington Bear’s marmalade sandwich – we get out of it what we put in. 

Locally and internationally, we have achieved many successes.   It has also been wonderful to get out and about as a club with our friends and family.   The full list of activities is long so, at the risk of missing out someone’s favourite, they included:

• Participation in the town’s historic Royal Jubilee celebrations.
• Co-hosting a memorable Ukraine-Scotland cultural event at Inverurie Community Campus.
• WAGS dinner raising much needed funds for charitable purposes.
• Our celebrated Glee Club providing entertainment within the club and out in the community and raising funds on the way.
• Cooperating with other groups such as Inverurie Environmental Improvement hanging flower baskets and Inverurie Community Council litter picking around the town.
• Annual Rotary ShoeBox appeal.
• Tree Planting for Queens Green Canopy.
• Schools Quiz, Young Musician and Young Photographer competitions.

Over the year we have been able to make substantial financial contributions to a wide range of organisations and causes including:

• Scottish Charity Air Ambulance
• Rotary Ukraine projects
• Kids Out
• Aberdeenshire Life Education Centres
• Charlie House via the Rotary Raffle at Bon Accord Centre
• Foetal heart rate monitor for clinic in Africa

Judy concluded her report by thanking the members for the honour of being Club President, for the support received from everyone, most especially from Club Council and Officers, Treasurer Charlie and from Secretary Dorothy in particular.

The meeting finished with the election of Office Bearers for Rotary Year 2023/24

President: Sandy Scott

President Elect:  Wilf Weir

Treasurer: Charlie Taylor

Secretary: Dorothy Lamb

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FUNDRAISING BINGO NIGHT

We have a fundraising Bingo night at the Ashvale Inverurie at 7.00pm on Tuesday 30th of May.   Open to the public, why not join us enjoy a great supper, have some fun and help us raise some funds to support charities.   Tickets are available from Kay Diack on Facebook at £20 per person and include an Ashvale meal.

WINNERS OF AREA C PRIMARY SCHOOLS QUIZ

On Saturday 22nd April 2023, Rotary Club of Inverurie hosted the Area C Heat of the Primary School Quiz.  Kemnay Primary School won the heat with Clerkhill Primary from Peterhead in second place.  Inverurei Club President Judy Whyte presented the Kemnay team with the Area Shield. 

A total of 10 teams competed from across the North East of Scotland at the Inverurie Community Campus.  Kemnay and Clerkhill now go on to the North of Scotland District final in the Beach Ballroom which covers 90 clubs from the River Forth to the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

PRESENTATION ON ABERLOUR CHILDREN'S CHARITY

On Tuesday 18 April 2023 we had our first talk via Zoom since the days of the pandemic when Kay Diack’s guest, Abby Parkhouse , Fundraiser for Aberlour Children’s Charity joined us from Edinburgh to tell us about the fantastic work done by the organisation.    Established in 1875 at Charlestown of Aberlour by Miss Macpherson Grant as a home for "mitherless bairns" it developed into one of the largest orphanages in Scotland with over 600 residents.  Over time their residential arrangements moved from a single large orphanage to small family group homes and the orphanage finally closed in 1967. 

Today they are headquartered in Stirling and provide specialist, high-quality, community, and residential care services in over 40 service units across Scotland.   Supporting local authorities, services range from high-needs care to early intervention.   The also provide a fostering service and a guardianship service supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.  

Since 2020 they have provided well over £2.3 million from their Urgent Assistance Fund to support immediate needs of around 6,500 families.  Fund-raising and getting volunteers are continuous challenges so if you check out their Facebook page or website you will finds several ways of helping or donating.

NEXT COLLECTION FOR RNLI

We've now confirmed the dates for our fund-raising collection at ALDI supermatket in Inverurie.  We'll be there on Friday and Saturday 19th and 20th of May 2023.  Please donate generously.

Handover Day 2022

19^th July was our official Handover Day when retiring President Bill Duncan passed the club leadership on to incoming President Judy Whyte in the Elgin Kintore Arms Hotel.  Bill reviewed his presidential year which had many great successes before handing over the chain of office to Judy and wishing her every success in the year ahead.

Judy in return thanked Bill for his efforts and successes during a very difficult period and went on to inaugurate Sandy Scott as her successor-to-be President Elect.   We look forward to Judy and her team growing and developing the club in the year ahead.

Iain Mathers Presentation

On Tuesday, Immediate Past President Kay Diack was finally (post-Covid restrictions) able to present her predecessor, 66^th President Iain Mathers, with his Past President Medal.   Iain had a very successful presidency 2019-2020 although club activities were severely curtailed as the country went into its first lockdown.

Gavel Competition

On 31^st May we hosted teams from Ellon Rotary and Buckie Rotary in a round of The Gavel competition – a series of bar games with the winners going on to play other clubs in the area.  It was a great night of fun, laughter and fellowship and Buckie triumphed as worthy winners.

One Seed Forward Award to Uryside School

We were pleased and proud to be invited along to the school on 25th May to see the school being presented with their Stage 5 One Seed Forward Award - the first in the UK.  We were represented by President Bill Duncan and Environmental Officer Sandy Scott in recognition of the work the Club has done with the school on various gardening and environmental projects.

KEITHHALL SCHOOL WINNERS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL QUIZ

Keithhall Primary School were the worthy winners of our Primary School Quiz on Friday.  We had 9 teams from 6 local schools in a hard-fought competition and Keithhall managed to turn the tables on Uryside who beat them two years ago before the Covid restrictions.  Uryside Team A came second closely followed by Strathburn B. 

Keithhall will now go on to the District Final in the Beach Ballroom Aberdeen on 11^th June when they will face over 25 schools from across the north of Scotland. Many thanks to all who helped and to the staff of Uryside school who hosted the event. 

Well done to all the teams who participated and Best of Luck to Keithhall for the District Final.

Collection for RNLI

On 20th and 21st May we collected for RNLI at Aldi supermarket in Inverurie.  A first estimate shows we collected well over £400 for this exceptionally worthwhile cause. 

Report from WAG of WAGS Dinner and Meeting of 3rd May

“We were finally able to hold our Wag of Wags Dinner at the Lochter facility last Saturday. Originally scheduled for Spring 2001, featuring winning speakers from the previous four years, the fifth in the sequence had to be postponed until now because of the Covid situation.  Over 120 guests sat down to a fine meal which was followed by the competition speeches – voted best on the night was Debbie Leslie, her theme – ‘There’s nae luck aboot this hoose’!  For the record the other theme’s were ‘We don’t laugh because we are happy, we’re happy because we laugh’ (Jimmy Dick),   ‘The up’s and doons o’ a wee stoot Unctioneer’( who else could that be but Colin Slessor!) and  ‘From there to here from here to there,funny things are everywhere’ (Graham Thomson)!   I’m pretty sure there were lots of sair sides by the time these fine speakers finished.  Included in the evening was an Auction, a Heads& Tails game and a raffle. We mustn’t forget too, the support from local companies, helping to cover the costs.   ‘What’s it all about, Alfie?’ as that old saying goes? Answer - To raise funds for good causes supported by the Rotary Club! Final details are yet to be confirmed but the total sum after costs is in excess of £12,000!  Fantastic – the more we have at our disposal, the more deserving and disadvantaged people we can help here in our own community and in foreign places.  This type of event doesn’t just ‘happen’, a lot of time and effort is needed and in that respect we are indebted to George Ross and his hard working team for a vey successful outcome.

As if that wasn’t enough, the club meeting this week was taken up almost entirely by our Annual General Meeting BUT before we got started there were a couple of awards to be announced, the recipients being present! Earlier in the year it had been announced that the Children’s Competitions would be back again. Rebecca Irbena from Port Elphinstone  was our Young photographer of the Year, receiving a Commendation from our District whilst Iona Reynolds from Keithall  was our Young Artist of the Year going on to  win the the Junior Section at District! They are pictured receiving their awards from President Bill Duncan.

Following an excellent 2-course meal, President Bill Duncan led us through the usual AGM procedures with convenors of the various sub committees, having submitted their reports to the members in advance, taking questions from the membership  and approval of the various outcomes.  Finally, congratulations to Joe McDowall and his team, responsible for the new PA system – I could hear every word that was spoken!!

Meeting Report from Tuesday 19 April.

Doubtless, because of the Easter holidays AND the continued ‘menace’ of Covid ‘ we had a smaller than usual attendance at this week’s meeting. To top that, our speaker had to call off at the last minute!  All that said, we had a very constructive couple of hours!   Like many other charitable organisations, we have programmes to organise and commitments to meet and as it turned out, this larger than usual ‘committee meeting’ proved to be very constructive!

Our most imminent fund raiser is the WAGS dinner to be held at Lochter at the end of the month.  For those readers who have never heard of this fund-raising event let me explain briefly!  Four visiting speakers are chosen to speak for 10 minutes, on a subject they have chosen from a list supplied by the organiser. They are subsequently judged by the company, the winner being crowned the WAG of the night. Further to four of these annual events, the four winners are invited back to the fifth annual evening , the winner being crowned WAG of WAGS! Having contributed to one and attended many, I can tell you it can be a hilarious occasion. This one will be no exception with a cast of Graham Thomson, Debbie Leslie, Jimmy Dick and Colin Slessor!   There are raffles and competitions galore – the simple purpose being to earn as much dosh as we can, to finance our charitable work!  What do Rotarians and their guests get out of such events ?   Fun, fellowship and satisfaction that we can deliver on our objectives to help others in the community and indeed in other lands!

The next event to be discussed  and requiring our presence and assistance is the celebration, honouring Her Majesty the Queen’s Jubilee, first Sunday in June when The community will be celebrating with a Party in the Town Square – we’ll be there, helping with the proceedings. Next on the agenda were some of the annual events for school pupils which are cautiously being re-introduced. A classic example being the ‘Kids Day Out’, till now held at Craibstone but this year being moved over to the Gordon Army Barracks and that will take quite a commitment from members....and so, another constructive hour went by before President Bill called the very productive meeting to a close”

Meeting Report, 5th April

The Rotary Club of Inverurie returned this week to the Kintore Arms Hotel for their regular club meeting. Traditionally, we started with an evening meal provided by the new management and I have to report that once again (our first being last week when we held our ‘family and friends’ night) it was excellent! Our guest speaker was Colin Stirling from Kintore,  currently Chairman of the Pitcaple Environmental Project Ltd  at Pitscurry but his subject was the charity by the name of Trellis – Scotland’s network for Therapeutic Gardening (Colin is a Board member of Trellis and I happen to be a Trustee!) . In recent times, Trellis has received a significant gift from yet another Scottish charity which is sadly and reluctantly closing down!  I refer to The Calyx in which I was fully involved but that is a story for another day!  The gift of several thousand pounds was accompanied by a request from the Calyx Board that the money should be used to help develop a new project being launched by Trellis. This relates to their plans to introduce courses on therapeutic gardening to retirement homes! It is recognised that many homes do encourage residents to do a little bit of gardening, Trellis simply wish to develop a service which advises and assists such projects across Scotland.  In recent times dominated by Clovid, Trellis have continued to  help organisations for people with disability and others who have little knowledge of gardening, by using Zoom. This is taken as a strong indication that such a service could be expanded to retirement homes as we look to the day when direct contact will return to something like normal!

 The Trellis organisation currently serve over 400 projects across the country with significantly high numbers still  keen to register and thus able to receive helpful advice on providing appropriate facilities and ideas.  

Colin’s report  undoubtedly resonated with members, in that, Rotary across the country is heavily involved in improving the lives of others in our communities .  A warm vote of thanks was proposed by Rotarian Bert Maitland.

Meeting Report, 29th March

“Some time ago, the Rotary Club of Inverurie organising committee decided that we should cut our official Tuesday meetings to just two per month! Aha, but what happens when there is fifth Tuesday, like his week? Well, after last night’s get together I reckon the membership would agree with the decision that  we should  have a social evening to which invite wives/partners and a few guests would be invited! About 30 people  met in the Kintore Arms Hotel (now under new management) on Tuesday last for our regular meeting where business was kept to an absolute minimum to make way for a short concert in the hands of The Glee Club.  The team, consisting of George Ross, Howard Hughes, David Taylor, Stuart Watson and muggins (with only Joe McDowall missing on holiday), ably assisted by our two pianists Dorothy and Francis, had been itching to get back in harness for some time now. Having started rehearsing again, they were delighted to have the chance to perform! With solos and choruses for the company to join in, interspersed with a poem  from Francis and a few stories from Baker Ross, you could say it was ‘ Just what the doctor ordered!

Next day, it was back to work with a team planting trees at Kellands to mark the beginning of restorative work, following the recent storms!”

On 17th January we uploaded a Recruitment Video shoeing the range of activities we are involved in locally.  If you click on the image below you will see the short video.

On 28th December 2021 we uploaded a video presentation of our activities in the year.  If you click on the image below tyou will bw able to see it.

Sunday 24th October was World Polio Day and we published a short vodeo on our Facebook page telling a bit more about the End Polio intiaitve and our Club's involvment.  If you click on the image belew you will see the video.

On Tuesday 6th July we had our formal handover of Presidency from Kay Diack to Bill Duncan.  As a precursor to that we had a novel open-air handover of the Club Regalia at the Inverurie Community Allotments.  If you click on the image below you will see the video.

NATIONAL THANK YOU DAY

On Sunday 4th July we celebrated National Thank You Day with  tree-planting ceremony at the Community Allotments managed by Inverurie and District Men's Shed.  A short video of the ceremony can be accessed by clicking on the attached image.

5th June 2021

We are celebrating World Environment Day today by publicising our environmental plans for the year ahead.  You can access a short video clip on our Facebook page by clicking on the image below.

26th March 2021

We are pleased to announce that Rotary Club of Inverurie has taken over the work of the Inverurie Practical Christian Outreach Group which will now be run as a Rotary Project.  We have retained the support of the existing volunteers to make sure there is complete continuity but will bring our additional resources of volunteers and fund-raising capability to ensure the essential community service continues. Click the image below to get to our Facebook post.

25th February 2021

We've just added two more video clips on out Facebook page showing our town centre shop window display celebrating World Rotary Day.  You can access them by clicking on the images below.

19th February 2021

We've just added a shorth video clip on our Facebook page in celebration of World Rotary Day on 23rd February.  You can access it by clicking on the image below.

15th January 2021

We've provided a summary of our 2020 activities on the GROUPFEST Album of Inverurie Community Council's Facebook page.  Click on the image below to get to it.

14th December 2020

Click on the image to get to our Facebook page!

12th December 2020

We've just added a link to Inverurie Events' Merry Christmas Inverurie featuring: Neil Baillie, Kay Diack, Joe McDowall, David Taylor and Stuart Watson.  You can access it via the "Links to Other Sites" in the MENU at the top left of this page.  

3rd December 2020

The office bearers for the 2021/22 session were endorsed at the Special General Meeting held via Zoom on 1st December.  The President will be Bill Duncan, and Judy Whyte has been elected as Vice President.  Dorothy Lamb and Charlie Taylor will continue in their roles as Secretary and Treasurer.

1st December 2020

Long Service Recognition

Five of our Rotarians were congratulated recently by President Kay Diack and the rest of the club members on reaching key membership milestones during the year.   Between them they clocked up a fantastic 175 years service.  Ian Ewan and Mike Hay both reached 40 years, Iain Mathers 35 years, while Don Gordon and Bill Duncan each reached 30 years service.

29th November 2020

We've just added a new video on our St Andrew's Night.  You can access it by clicking on the image below.  It gives you a sample of the entertainent with Craig Pike's Doric spin on the alphabet. 

27th November 2020

We've just added a new video on ShelterBoxes. You can access it by clicking on the image below.

Earlier Video Links

Tne following videos can all be accessed by clicking on the images below: St James's Court Video, ShoeBox Delivery Video, Photo Quiz and Handover with a Difference.