New Year New Leadership

Thirty members, wives and visiting Rotarians met to celebrate the successes of outgoing President Roger Kettle and welcome new President Patrick Rothon and Vice President Stephen King to their new roles. 

Not only was it a notable occasion for the “passing of the baton” to a new President, but also a first for the club as our new President accepted this honour for his third term of office, and we welcomed a recent new member as Vice-President of the club.

Sixty-Five Years

President Roger  welcomed us all, and then made a point of congratulating our sole remaining founder member, Ben Clarke, to the meeting - exactly 65 years since he first became a Rotarian (see foot of page 12).

Final Words

In his farewell address Roger looked back with fondness over the past year.  “We had achieved most, if not all, of the objectives we set out a year ago,  We initiated 19 different activities, raised over £25,000, donated over £23,500 to charities, and carried over almost £1,500 into the next Rotary Year”
“While we are only 23 in numbers, our annual performances supports District’s claims that we certainly punch above our weight.

Committed to Excellence

“I want to thank all members for making my job so easy through your commitment, and the support that you’ve given me and our Club in all our initiatives and activities.  Everybody who has been able, and not on holiday, always seems to turn up and support our events.  I believe we have had a very enjoyable time and I am very grateful.”

“Finally, all my good wishes to Patrick who has been a member for over 40 years, a great and supportive Vice-President, and who undertakes his third term as President.  I’m sure we will all support him to the best of our abilities and am sure he and the Club will have a most enjoyable and successful year in 2024-25”

It’s Magic

Roger then handed over his chain of office to Patrick who spoke of his plans for the year ahead.
“The Rotary theme for the coming year is It’s Magic.  This week will have magic in its own way for me as, apart from today’s induction as President, there will be a General Election and .... the wedding of our son David at home on Saturday,  and all competing with the Euros, Wimbledon and the Tour de France!”.

Patrick plans to continue with a the same mix of social and fundraising events, starting with Paella in the garden in August, followed by the double triangular visit of our European Rotary colleagues in September “organised single-handedly by Malcolm with his incredible attention to detail, despite his worrying medical issues”, and the District Conference in October.

Next year will also see the return of “Music in Garden” thanks to Peter Strong and Christabel who have offered to host it again in their beautiful garden.

Major Projects

Patrick’s chosen local charity for this year are Billericay’s Hamelin House which supports and provides respite care for families with children with learning difficulties.  Our project should train twelve people with the skills to enable them to enter mainstream employment. 

Internationally, he will continue our education project to enable three children who cannot afford further education to attend senior school in Kenya.  This sponsorship enables them to subsequently give back to their communities the knowledge they have acquired. 

“We have had a wonderful year with Roger at the helm ... his usual encouragement and persuasive manner is a hard act to follow.”  “I hope we can all enjoy our Rotary Year ahead and fulfil our objectives in the process, with or without a little Magic!”

President-Elect

Next on the agenda of the day, was Patrick’s replacement as Vice-President.  Patrick was delighted to announce that Stephen King, a relative newcomer to the club, had embraced the club spirit and volunteered to be Patrick’s Vice-President prior to becoming our President for the year 2025-26.

Stephen has been joint Youth Officer for the previous year where he had already made his mark with our RotaKids clubs at Buttsbury and Quilters Junior Schools.

Stephen thanked members for their confidence in him and hoped for their support in the year ahead.