The Rosebank Ramble

 From the Pen of our President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

We managed another social meeting and had some success with technology this time – will it ever be right?

With our third wave on the horizon here, it is not clear how the socializing is going to go in the immediate future – let’s take it a day at a time. There are many more people in our circle that have contracted COVID at this stage than previously and also many of us who have had at least one dose of vaccine – a day at a time.

PDG Peter seems over the worst and is very positive, although Elaine is in hospital. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, along with Jeannette, Jean, Jerry and anyone else who may be ill.

 

We have an induction and new beginnings to a new Rotary year to think of in a month – a new theme, changes all around and lots to look forward to.  I went ahead with the board’s approval and bought 40 bricks towards the Rotary Exhibition Centre – for each of our members, plus a couple!!

 

You have all heard about Rotary’s Action Plan -or have you? (Action Plan | My Rotary)

“ to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt..”

There is so much information on the Action Plan – presentations, courses, guides and flyers – FAQs, Blogs and more – go ahead and read some of it – it is inspiring, makes one excited to be a Rotarian.

 

Keep safe, keep warm and be inspired!!

Yours in Rotary,

Ann

 

Last Friday.....

.....saw 14 members once again meet in person at Wanderers for our monthly social meeting with 7 members joining on Zoom.

We had some nail biting moments, as Wanderers WiFi had gone down, but Ann managed to purchase additional Gigs on her mobile phone and then used the device as a hotspot to connect to Zoom. As they say in the Classics " 'n Boer maak 'n Plan".

Michael Lamb was our Duty Sergeant and presented PDG Ken Stonestreet with a pair of Rotary suspenders, which, judging by the look on his face,  he was pretty chuffed to receive this unexpected gift.

Mike proceeded to regale us with some hilarious jokes and this anecdotal story was too good to relay, so I asked Mike to share it with us verbatim:

Many of us will have great memories about some of the projects we worked on in Rotary or have related anecdotal stories about our times in Rotary.

Here's mine in the latter category.

In 2008 I was on a  European Union mission in Bangladesh focussed on infrastructure development.

I and my project team were staying in a little hotel in Dhaka where I had stayed on previous missions there and developed a close friendship with the manager/owner.

We needed a little light relief one weekend so I decided to try and get a few six packs of beer. Not an easy exercise in a Muslim country!

I went to the manager’s office to enlist his support, the services of a “facilitator” and directions to source.

He had a distinguished visitor there, a doctor and Past Rotary District Governor.

I saw his Rotary badge and said that I too was a Rotarian. After some discussion, he asked what I was doing that Friday. I replied “Nothing” and he, there and then, invited me to be his guest at a major Rotary Banquet in honour of then Rotary International President, Wilf Wilkinson who was visiting Bangladesh as part of a world tour.

Introduced as a visiting Rotarian from South Africa, I was seated at Table #2 with the Past District Governor. During the evening’s proceedings, which were lengthy, I was invited to Table #1 to talk with Wilf Wilkinson. He told me that he was visiting South Africa in a few weeks time as part of his tour and wanted to ask me a number of questions about the country, my Rotary activities, my Club and the District’s activities. 

A few weeks later I was back in South Africa and at a District function arranged at the Sandton Sun Convention Centre to welcome visiting Rotary International President, Wilf Wilkinson.

I was talking to then Rosebank Rotary President, Kevin Wolhuter when the crowd separated  and Wilf Wilkinson walked up to me, gave me a hearty greeting, and we talked about our previous meeting. 

After Wilf moved on, I turned back to Kevin. Open mouthed, he said in amazement,

“You’ve only been a Rotarian for three months and already you know the Rotary International President!”

It was a moment to savour and remember! 

Apologies Kevin!

James's famous marmalade garnered a healthy R100 from Sybille for the Club coffers, and Ann taking a breather after tense moments with technology 

Our delightful exchange student Masego, or Momo as we have gotten to know her, has been wanting to share a special video she had made of her most precious memories of her stay in Thailand but had some challenges along the way, so finally last Friday she had the opportunity to present her video in person.

For those who missed it, or wish to watch it again, please click into the link and enjoy!

Momo's Thailand Memories

Calling all Quizzers....

This Wednesday the 3rd of June it's the Rosebank Gals versus the Guys, so here's a shout out for the Ann's to join in the fun and test your general knowledge.

Please let David Bradshaw or Ann Hope-Bailie know and they will gladly send you the Zoom link.

This Friday....

Our guest speaker will be Paul Channon.

Paul is a Director of AEC, the Alexandra Education Committee which creates opportunities for children of promise in Alex.

Paul was Headmaster at the Ridge School in Johannesburg from 1997-2014.During this time he attended the Harvard Principals Centre and was invited to be a sponsored fellow at Columbia University’s Klingenstein Centre.

Paul has close contacts with the Leadership of independent schools, having served as Chairman of the South African Heads of Independent Schools Association (SAHISA) and as Vice Chair of the Council of the International Confederation of Principals.

While in the ISASA/SAHISA leadership structures, Paul worked with the Wits Graduate School of Business to structure Executive Development Programme tailor-made for heads and senior leaders in the independent schools, the LDP, with an emphasis on enhancing financial skills and developing a strategic mindset.