Free Portland News

Getting back to normal?

Once again it is time, belatedly this year, to select a Community Champion for Portland – that special person who goes a step or two further to help others.  It could be an individual, but it could also be an organisation.  I say belatedly because we normally pick the winner before the end of the Rotary Year i.e. by 30th. June, but Covid has caused many problems for the club, and one is that, for such an important choice, the members of the Committee really do need to meet face-to-face. There is an advert for this award in F.P.N., but if you know someone you think deserves this recognition, please send your, and their, names and addresses, as well as the reasons why you suggest this particular person, to Andrew Harvey at harvey.portland@tiscali.co.uk. Please send in your nominations by 2nd. October.

At long last!!  The club is back in action after 18 months.  

At the start of this month President Elizabeth, who has had a superb year in charge in charge of us in spite of all the restrictions, handed over the reins of the Club to the new President Celia Canter. This was performed at a Garden Party – thank you Carolyn – when over 60 members and guests congregated to celebrate our release from prison.  We had originally planned the official Handover at the start of July, but Covid restrictions made us delay by one month

We are still not able to hold our regular weekly meetings as the hotel is being refurbished and that work is incomplete at present, so we continue with Zoom. However, we are now out and about, and so some of us have managed to attend and meet the new Chair of the Weymouth and Portland branch of Julia’s House.
We have also been involved in car marshalling for Southwell Village Fayre as well as helping out with the Easton Gardens Fete, and are now getting ready for our first Table Top Sale of the year in the Community 2000 Hall on Saturday morning, 11th.September.  This one is in aid of a Hedgehog–Friendly Portland and we look forward to meeting many old friends and, hopefully, many new ones as well.

The really exciting news from the wider world of Rotary is that there has now been no case of wild polio at all in the world for over six months – absolutely incredible.  So, in spite of the problems in Pakistan and, particularly Afghanistan, there has still only been one case in each country this year, and those were back at the start of January.  We are not there yet but we are well into the hot season (which is the high season for infections), so we are, quietly, getting very hopefully that the battle is almost won.    Keep watching this space.
My apologies for the non-publication of the Rotary updates twice in the last few months.  This was because the editions were small, my chat was long and waffling as usual, and there was not enough room for it all, so, in future, you may see a pocket edition of Rotary News in F.P.N. for the same reason.

So, welcome back to Rotary and see you on 11th. of next month.
Keith