Sandy Bannerman: John & Mhairi Lafferty - The New District 1320

On February 1^st, Hawick Rotary welcomed John & Mhairi Lafferty to their meeting to talk of the setting up of Rotary District 1320. This involved the amalgamation of two previous districts which had covered the south east and the west of Scotland. John is now the secretary for the larger District and his wife Mhairi promotes its youth activities. The amalgamation had not been straightforward and the new South Scotland area includes Fort William! Local members challenged how this would work, for example for winners of local Rotary Youth competitions being asked to go to Kilmarnock or to Glasgow for District Finals. Members expressed the hope that more importance will be given to the smaller Area units, which for us means the eleven Borders Clubs.