Programme for week commencing 20th September 2012

I have experienced so much through Rotary.  I discovered the regenerated canal and its wildlife in the town where I live, which I wouldn’t previously have noticed.  I have been transported to the top of Everest – twice! – once by a man with only one leg and who carried a spare artificial leg sticking out of his rusksack (he lost his leg playing on his local railway line as a child). I have lived through the transformation of a local airfield from the beginning of the war.  I understand how much it costs and how much hard dedicated work it takes to train a guide dog for the blind or a hearing dog.  I have felt the passion of visitors from Ocotal (South America) for their dance.  And I have discovered the richness of interests that individual Rotarians have and how they use their interests, business skills and contacts to achieve amazing things, both locally and around the World.

How have I experienced so much? Through the weekly programme of different Rotary clubs. In traditional clubs, where they meet to share a meal, after the meal a talk is given.  This will either be one of the club members themselves or a guest speaker who is a personal contact or from a local organisation.  It is a means by which everyone gets to know each other better, experience things through other people’s experiences, learn more about their local community, raise awareness of community needs and a means by which to promote discussion and develop ways for the club to work together as Rotarians.  It is all the members, coordinated by the committees, that organise the talks so that there is a wide and varied programme throughout the year.

Here at the eClub we have been posting a programme each Thursday, which is the equivalent of the weekly talk.  So far, as the eClub has been so new and many members new to Rotary, the programmes have been very much based around Rotary, how it works and how the eClub operates.  But now it is time to widen it out, for you all to share the responsibility of helping us all learn about each other’s communities, interests, business, passions or anything you feel would be of interest.

Following on from last week’s programme, where we talked about how to support the Action Groups to work well, dates throughout the year have been allocated to each Action Group.  It is up to you, in your group, to decide how you will provide a programme for each of these dates.  For example, they can be given out to individual members, who then may provide a programme themselves about their life/job/interest or they could find a guest ‘speaker’ (do make sure they know all they have to do is write something, not actually turn up!).  Alternate week’s will remain a monthly eClub Business Meeting and our monthly open meeting.

Dates for each Action Group are:-

Administration: 4th October, 6th December, 21st February and 2nd May

Service Projects: 18th October, 20th December, 7th March and 16th May

Membership: 1st November, 17th January, 21st March, 30th May

Foundation: 15th November, 31st January, 4th April and 6th June

Public Relations: 22nd November, 7th February, 18th April and 20th June

Comments this week, plus action:-

• Have you any questions or thoughts?
• What speakers or subjects can you think you could provide or things you would like to hear about?