A Business Meeting and another sad farewell to one of our own.....

Monday 27th July

Last Week

Friday was a business meeting with the various committee heads reporting back to the members.

Of interest:

• Although our weekly Zoom meetings have the same log-in details every time the majority of attendees  asked for Ann to send a reminder on Friday mornings
• John Symons went through the financials, and conveyed the Board decision that the subscription fee for the 2020/21 Rotary year will be R2 000. There was no increase in the previous year, but due to the Rand/Dollar exchange rate now sitting at R17.29/$ it was inevitable that our subs would have to go up.
• James Croswell shared that the container for the Baragwanath Palliative Care Division will be moved from Kevin's property to Bara in the near future and the final interior modifications will be done on site, and Covid permitting we will hopefully be able to host a opening function in September.
• James is also still looking for willing members to join his International committee.
• Jean Bernardo reported on Youth that the Interact Club of Highlands North Boys High School had finally been successfully incorporated into the Rosebank Rotary  club.
• Unfortunately due to the present Covid situation this year's youth camp had to be cancelled. We were refunded the full deposit.
• Les Short reported that there will be various online RI training courses on offer that he hopes all of us will take advantage of.
• Sybille Essmann reported back on Community Services that it had been decided that for the 20/21 Rotary Year they will continue with the projects such as the Spar "Christmas Hamper" collection, the Blanket Drive, as also Charity Begins With Me which is a new initiative. Puthadithjaba, as part of Linda Twala's efforts will also benefit.  
•  Pick & Pay had made a generous donation of R5000 to the Art Exhibition, and it was decided that this will be given to the Boikanyo Trust. 
• DG Annemarie Mostert will be visiting our club on the 18th of September
• President Ann encouraged all of us to install the ClubRunner app onto our Smart Phones.           As per Google: An official Rotary International Licensee, ClubRunner serves thousands of Rotary clubs and districts just like yours across the Globe with one goal in mind - to make technology work for anyone, anywhere while enabling Rotarians to streamline club processes and improve productivity. It manages your club or district with features such as attendance reporting, event and volunteer management, directory builder, social media integration and more.    

Farewell to Cesare 

 

Juanette shares her memories:

Well, when we both were in the Rotary Club of Orange Grove. We were much closer in the sense that he seemed to care about me and my being the youngest in the club at the time (45). But I cannot describe what exactly it was about our friendship.. I believe we just got on well and took the time to actually speak to each other .. sorry..

He and Donny were great, kind, generous people. 

He often came to my office to exchange all the small change collected at Rotary. I cannot remember how this arrangement came about. 

He also used our company truck for the moving of the blankets for the blanket drive. 

 Cesare was an avid cycler... he used to organize the cycling race for RC of Orange Grove long before it became  commercialized as the 94.7 race.. it was one of our big fund raisers, it was before my time. 

 He used to make pizza once a week, and was super proud of this skill. 

 As an Italian he was passionate about anything and everything he did, he was a great family man and spoke often of his children and grandchildren. His son lives in Mozambique and he organised a trip for the club, I am only sad I did not go with. 

 

Tutty's memories of Cesare

Indeed I was shocked to open the e-mails this morning to learn of Cesare’s passing. I got to know Cesare in the 1970’s through business when he served my building company with superb service with the supply of reinforcing steel. This service was so good that it struck me early in my Rotary membership that he would be a good Rotarian so I sponsored him. When he accepted membership of the Orange Grove club he enthusiastically and efficiently got stuck in in all manner of projects. Speaking from memory he successfully served as the Orange Grove President four times. In fact he was the final president. Despite being the president he continued to do all his committee and project work.

 Cesare in his younger days was an competitive and keen cyclist having competed multiple Argus races in the upper echelons. With his knowledge of the cycling world he was instrumental in setting up and organizing the first “Transvaal” Rotary cycle race which was a major money spinner for the Orange Grove club after our “Wilds Tearoom” project finally closed down. We did that for three years before we were muscled out by other sponsored promoters.

 In latter days Cesare served the Highlands North Interact Club as his main Rotary interest. I hope the club can continue to serve those young boys as well as he did.

Tutty's memories of Marian

I had very few dealings with Marian while she was a member of the Hillbrow Club. She contacted me to use my Professional Engineer status to make a professional assessment of the structures in Paterson Park in Norwood. She revealed to me that she was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the subjects that occupied a vast spectrum with her. This was illustrated when David Bradshaw invited her to speak to the Club about the re-development of the Rietfontein Fever Hospital site. The tributes to her in the Caxton press were thoroughly deserved.

Residents pay respect to late community member

This week

I hope I am not stealing Linda Cavid's thunder by giving the briefest of introductions to her topic:

For over 230 years, Franchi Sementi has offered their traditional Italian varieties of vegetables to discerning gardening and cooking enthusiasts in Europe, America and Australia. Now, South Africans too can experience the uniqueness and quality of Franchi Sementi seeds and seedlings through its South African distributor - Sought after Seedlings.

In 1783 in Bergamo, Northern Italy, the Franchi family started cultivating seeds that today, have become a byword for quality and authenticity. Franchi Sementi are not your run-of-the-mill seeds but rather, a story of tradition, pride, experience, quality, passion and excellence handed down over seven generations.

Most Franchi Sementi seeds are open pollinating heritage/heirloom varieties that are grown to maintain the longevity of vegetables which have been around for hundreds of years, ensuring quality and exceptional taste. Nature takes care of their propagation which means that they are not genetically engineered nor tampered with in any way.

Besides from the unique look, difference in taste and the obvious nutritional benefit of Franchi Sementi vegetables, South Africans will also benefit from their high germination rate and long shelf life.

As they say, variety is the spice of life – buon appetito!