My year as Rotary President - The good, the bad and the ugly

Every January, Stanthorpe Rotary kicks into action as a catering machine. In December we had a bit of a warm-up with some sausage sizzles for local community organisation Christmas break-ups. Then in January we don the green shirts for Australia Day in the park, the Stanthorpe Show Lamburger Stall and then Busking@Stanthorpe. Each event bigger than the previous one. This is the time of year when we are most visible in the community and while it is a lot of work, it is a team effort and it definitely qualifies as "Service Above Self". Catering is one of the major fundraising activities that we do as a Club so not only do we feed the populace, we are also then able to offer financial support to projects in the Community. For anyone who asks why I am a Rotarian... Flipping sausages so that others with greater needs than I can be a little better off makes me HAPPY. I also get to hang with some wise and noble people with a world of knowledge and experience way beyond my own. Fo

I have been gently chastised by a couple of people this week for not blogging lately. My excuse... I went on holidays. After all the Christmas excess I hiked 100 km in 6 days in Fiordland, NZ then toured around the south island for a further couple of weeks. So on the Rotary front, not a great deal to report!

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 wi

October was quite a conventional month as far as Rotary programs go. We had a great Movie night at the local theatre to raise funds for Mental Health Awareness. The movie was (again this year) one for the oldies, being about folk in a retirement home but was a great night out. We also had two guest speakers on other meeting nights who delivered their talks in the traditional Rotary way at the traditional Rotary time and in the traditional Rotary venue. Attendance by members was good (although there were few guests along to see what Rotary is about) and the mood was friendly, calm and peaceful. It has made me wonder why I am advocating so strongly for change in our Club. It is far easier to toe the line and play by the established rules! BUT, then the emails have started to flow in from the honchos higher up the line. There are sweeping changes afoot at district level with the strong likelihood that we will no longer be District 9640 in a few years time. Why is this happening? Rotary

So after a flurry of posts last month (because I started my blog late) I have had a pause for a month and have taken this time to do a stocktake of the year so far. I have received feedback that I have been too negative, and looking at August, I agree that this is the case however, this is how I felt in August and the point of all this is to tell the truth about what being the President of the Stanthorpe Rotary Club feels like for me. It doesn't really matter if you agree or disagree with me - it's how I feel. I have been told that my writing this has turned away potential members for our Rotary Club but I have also been told that it's about time we address the problems within Rotary because they, also, are a reason that members have left our Club in the past. I cannot be the only member of the Club who has had a conversation with someone where they indicate that they know what Rotary is and what Rotary does and they think it a good organisation but are not interested in

This was the plan for meetings - Committee meetings - Roll-about-comedy - Christmas in winter - Helene Jager, Austrian Exchange Student. Week 6 - 82.05% attendance - A certain director was heard to say "Didn't we do this already, we've done our plan for the year". Well yes, we did do this, and we will do it another 10 times! So you have a plan for the year, now it is time for your committee to implement it! Then send a report to the Board so that they know what the Club Committees are doing. BTW in August, the Board received exactly 0 directors reports, with the exception of the President (who is on the Board), the Treasurer (who is on the Board), and the Satellite Club (who also has a rep on the Board)! GO TEAM!!! What a proactive Club we are!!! Week 7 - 38.46% attendance - The first of the non-Monday meetings. Doesn't that attendance figure tell a story! It was the nastiest, coldest evening of the year but no-one knew that when they were supposed to be pre