February 2021
Spring is on the way.
Let us be positive, even in these hard times as spring really is on its way.
At the time of writing, we have daffodils and snowdrops out in the garden. By the time you read this the purple crocuses will be out in several sites on the island to remind everyone of the battle against polio is still not finished, and the colour of the flowers reminds us of the purple dye that we use to mark the little fingers of the children in the Third World who have just been given their polio vaccines, so we know who has, or has not had, vaccination.
I have also had my first Covid vaccine, the vibes are good that this will stop me passing on the virus, my immunity is increasing, and so, if things carry on as they are, I am hopeful that we may well get the Tabletop Sales going again in the foreseeable future. Thus, there is every reason to be optimistic.
I joined a meeting on Zoom yesterday when the speaker was my successor as President of Rotary for the British Isles and Ireland. Rodney gave a very good talk on how Rotarians are helping to save the environment and, in fact, he has donated a cup that is awarded annually for the best Rotary project in Great Britain and Ireland to help our world.
As you are all aware we have been fighting polio for some time, but, through the Rotary Foundation, our own charity, we are helping with:
Community Development,
Disease Prevention and Treatment,
Education and Literacy,
Maternal and Child Health,
Peace,
Water and Sanitation, and, of course
the Environment.
At any given moment in time, somewhere in this world, a Rotary club and Rotarians are involved with projects covering the above topics. And while on the subject, don’t forget that World Environmental Day will be on 5th. June.
There is a lot more to Rotary than just meeting together for fun and friendship. I will address that next month. Maybe you would be interested in joining? If so, contact me on kbeejay@btconnect.com. We are always on the lookout for willing workers.
So, we are all looking towards the future, particularly with the young, and, along with other Rotary Clubs in the area we are getting involved in finding second-hand laptops that could be of use to the students in the Atlantic Academy. If anyone has a laptop that they no longer need and would like to donate it to the Academy, please contact Jayne on 823111 or Jo on 821190 and someone will arrange to collect the laptops from you. All data will be deleted from the hard discs professionally if you cannot do that yourself so no intimate details will be passed on!
You may well have noticed that the Weymouth Pavilion Theatre has been illuminated by yellow and blue lights – Rotary colours. The first Rotary meeting was on 23rd. February 1905 so we have just celebrates 116 years as the senior Service Club in the world. This is the Pavilion’s way of saying Happy Birthday Rotary and we are most grateful to the Pavilion for their support. Maybe we can support the Pavilion as well?
I was saddened to read in the Echo of the passing of Shirley Beggs who was known to many of you. While Shirley was not a Rotarian, her husband, Terry was a founder member of our club in 1976, and our President a few years later, and a very good one too. All the club members send our condolences to Terry and the family. It is sad losing old friends, but life goes on and we now look ahead to the future.
More next month.
Keith
