November - Success

On the last night of October, the Satellite committee, through the vision of their 30 year old chairwoman, held their inaugural Halloween Spooky Walk in the local park. It was an unprecedented success with nearly 3 times the expected number of families attending. What can a young person bring to Rotary? They can bring a concept like this! Way To Go Team!
Our club also joined in with neighbouring clubs to participate in the annual Polio Movie Release Murder on the Orient Express. Our little co-hort up here on the mountain raised more money than any of the larger coastal groups of our district with this event. Great Inter-Club Teamwork!
We had wonderful attendance at a meeting visit to the Amiens Historical Site and it was refreshing to see our members getting out into the wilderness to support a fellow community group at a meeting with a difference.
The month ended with The Great Debate between Stanthorpe Lions and Stanthorpe Rotary. Both of these clubs face similar challenges with membership and relevance in modern society but of 6 debaters, 4 were women and 5 were younger than 60. We may not be the statistical majority in our clubs but we are actively fighting the good fight!
The final club event for the month was our Junior Craft Awards. This is one Stanthorpe Rotary event that, sadly, has not adapted with changing circumstances in the community. It is my hope that we can rectify this before next year and revamp the JCAs so that they reflect what is happening in our local high schools and offer an incentive for excellence to the participants.
At every one of our meetings in November, there were several attendees who were not Rotarians. Some were guests of members, other were there to support the various causes of the meetings. Every one of those people has now had (hopefully) a positive experience involving the name Rotary and perhaps, out of that, may begin the flow of a new membership base.
Here's hoping anyway...