A monthly business meeting, see who the February Club 100 winners are and Exchange Student Emma's weekly report...

 From the Pen of the President....

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 

Having spent Saturday Rotary training , I recall how good it is to meet other Rotarians in person and hear about the wonderful things going on in our District. I am inclined to motivate that ALL new members are required to attend training in the first 6 months of their membership and I challenge those members who have not attended any in person training to register and attend.

We have some RLI training coming up… come on!!!

So much rain and so much water and the flooding has spread to the Vaal dam area and the Vaal and Orange rivers. I grew up on the Vaal river and lived through a few floods, also in February as it happens. My gran lost her house in 1975 floods and the one house on the farm was under water to the window ledges – you have no idea what it is like afterwards – the damp and fine silt in everything!!

Keep those affected in your thoughts and if you are still wondering what climate change is all about – this is it!!

 

Have a good week.

See you on Friday and I challenge you to do that training!!

Ann

 

Last Friday...

... we met for our monthly Business Meeting, where committee chairs have the opportunity to report back on Club activities.

Briefly:

Youth - Jean Bernardo thanked all the members that attended school assemblies where Rotary School Awards were presented to deserving learners that had excelled academically, in sports and leadership.

The Highlands North Boys High School Interact Club held another successful Blood Drive which was well attended. 

The annual Careers Day and the Senior Youth Leadership Course are in the planning stages and possible dates are being discussed.

Young Tsjamo Nyato, who had been accepted as a Rotary Exchange Student for 2023 had made the decision that because of his age (16 years) he would postpone his overseas placement to 2024, but due to circumstances beyond their control he and his mother have relocated to Limpopo, he is however still a keen candidate, and the Club has agreed that we will still sponsor a portion of the costs that are incurred as an Exchange student. District will carry 1/2 of the costs. His Exchange will now also only take place in 2025 after he has matriculated..

Membership - David Bradshaw has compiled a very comprehensive strategy to attract new members to our Club:

- We need to make more use of social media platforms like Facebook.

- To attract a more diverse and younger membership we should approach parents of Interact clubs and members of Round Table and the Lions. By example David took the opportunity to speak to a Lions member, who was manning a stall selling Christmas cakes and invited her to take part in one of our quizzes. Lyn recruited Brigid Booth by inviting her to a meeting.

A suggestion was made that at a social gathering that will take place in lieu of the 5th Friday meeting every member bring along a friend.

We need to distribute Rotary brochures at every fundraising event and also when we do our food and blanket drives.

The December edition of Rotary Africa specifically dealt with the challenges of  attracting new members and included a "Prospect Star Chart" as a guidance tool.

Community Services -  In last week's Ramble we made an appeal to assist Charity Begins With Me's Stephan Ferreira in his quest to supply 1500 children with a warm garment for the upcoming winter. 

And that gave rise to the idea of organizing a Sew-a-thon.

As the 5th Friday meeting of the month has now been replaced by a Fellowship and social gathering on the Saturday, we will be meeting on the 31st of March at a place and time still to be determined, armed with sewing machines, material (fleece) and necessary paraphernalia and sew up a storm.

We have a number of new members that might not be aware of the what the role of the Duty Sergeant entails, so President Ann asked Margaret Dale to read the documented task list.

Rotary Club of Rosebank (Johannesburg): Duty Sergeant’s Task List 

·         Arrive well before 1pm and check the venue of the meeting - sometimes they send us upstairs.

·         The key for the bureau is in the drawer.

·         Place the large Rotary Discs in 3 visible places ----- upstairs at the top of the stairs; at the bottom of the stairs outside the lounge entrance; outside the outer door where one comes from the parking lot to the Bowlers lounge. If the venue is upstairs then just “use your head.”

·         Put the lectern on the President’s table and the bell/gong. (Note: Some presidents prefer not to have the lectern there at all).

·         Put 2 Rotary banners on the hooks of the wooden stands - one on each table and the small RSA flag on the attendance desk, together with the sheets of name badges.
Raffle system - The numbered discs are kept in a bag with the Attendance Officer’s float and attendance sheets. The sergeant should obtain the bag of disks from the attendance desk. At the appropriate time ask someone to draw a disk and consult the attendance sheet for the winner. RETURN THE BAG OF DISKS TO THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER.

·         At 13:00, after checking with the President, ring the gong to call the meeting to order.

·         When called upon, ask the members to stand and you say Grace.

·         When the food arrives see that it is being served and assist with serving.

·       Sergeant’s Time: have a list of members’ and partners’ birthdays, wedding anniversaries and dates of Rotary induction-for that week. Tell a joke or two or ask someone before the time to help with a few jokes, or read out something of interest.

·         Ask someone to draw the lucky number.

·         Keep order during the meeting  -  use gong if necessary and pass the collection bottle around the tables.

·         At the end of the meeting ask members to rise and say with you THE FOUR WAY TEST.

·         Pack all the regalia away, lock the bureau and replace the key. This is an important part of the sergeant’s duties; please do not leave it for somebody else to do.

 Rotarians are professional people and should take personal responsibility for finding someone to replace them when they are unable to fulfil their duties.

Once they have found someone, it is then also their responsibility to let the Master Sergeant and the attendance officer know.

 

Emma's Weekly Check-in...

Last week Emma had the opportunity to visit Dresden, situated on the River Elbe. During WW2 the city centre was entirely destroyed, but has been painstakingly restored to its former glory.

The Frauenkirche lay in ruins for 50 years after the war as a war memorial but restoration work began in 1994 till 2005 and the cathedral is now once again a magnificent landmark.

Emma's host mom has a friend with horses, and because Emma does show jumping she of course "jumped" at the idea (no pun intended) to do some horse riding. She reports that it was more like "pony" riding.

This week Emma is going on holiday with her host family to the south of Poland.

She is certainly putting her passport to very good use.

This Friday....

 ....we welcome an old friend of the Rotary Club of Rosebank guest speaker Mike Greeff who will talk to us about the Royal Drakensberg Education Trust - Impacting Lives for the Better.

He will be joined by PDGA Janet Callard.