Hythe Rotary Gains New Members
When President John Wren took over his Presidency of Hythe Rotary Club last year he spoke of the aspirations he had for the forthcoming Rotary year
IMAGINE - this is the RI Theme for the next Rotary year, and one I can relate to, being an optimist! Can you imagine a New Rotary? John Lennon, in his song, says "you may think that I’m a Dreamer, but I’m not the only one".
Our Focus this year will be on membership, not just attracting new members but ensuring, as far as possible, that current club members continue to receive the Rotary fellowship they joined the club for, in some cases decades ago.
How we can address this was discussed yesterday, the first day of my term in office, when a membership think tank for the club got together as part of the first steps in this process. Membership, how we look after existing members, and how we encourage new, is not the responsibility of a few! It is the responsibility of every club member.
As a result of John’s “dreaming”, during his time as President we have already inducted 3 new members, Roy Lawler, Jim Martin & Luke Haisell, 2 more in April and potentially 4 more in May/June.
This has not been without difficulties, with new members being younger and in full-time employment. Because of this John has suggested differing meeting formats, moving away from the lunch and dinner options to more informal meetings, to also include breakfast. This itself has proven problematical, however, it is acknowledged that changes have to be made to accommodate younger members and we continue to move forward, continually looking at the best way ahead. We realise we are extremely fortunate to gain this many new members within one year and hope that it may continue!
