Welcome Russ Smith! The Seminars, Retina South Africa and lots of Bunnies!

We had a good turn-out at the New Generations & Membership Seminar on Saturday as we were represented by President Graham Donet, Joan Donet, Calvin Meter and Allan Beuthin.  Here they are seminaring!   I'm sure Graham will give you a report back on the Seminar on Tuesday.  Mike Vink and I were there briefly as we are both members of the District PR Committee who organise these events.

Our speaker this week is Rob Kershaw, Marketing & Fundraising Manager for Retina South Africa.

Retina South Africa is a non-profit organisation dedicated to finding the cause of, and treatment for retinal degenerative disorders. While aggressively promoting Research to resolve the problem, Retina South Africa also aims to do as much as possible to assist sufferers in coping with their condition.




                              Our Policy

We believe in growing Retina South Africa by the establishment of independent, self-supporting branches and mini branches, who affiliate and contribute to the national organisation by choice. We have a professional and transparent approach to all of our activities and the standards we set in our advertising, literature and administration are of the highest possible.

Our Commitment Finally, we are committed to eventually dissolving Retina South Africa, having found a successful treatment and cure for Macular Degeneration, Retinitis Pigmentosa, Usher Syndrome and other allied retinal degenerative disorders. Our Membership Membership of Retina South Africa is open to all sufferers of Retinal Degenerative disorders, their friends and families. Our members become actively involved in the administration of Retina South Africa, and our National Management Committee is comprised largely of sufferers and their families. For further information see here.

Last week Russ Smith was inducted as our latest member.  Congratulations Russ and welcome to New Dawn.  It's fantastic that we must be close to 50% male/50% female membership in the Club.  Also, if you look top right, standing to attention during Russ's Induction...we are sticklers for discipline...is our guest speaker, Adele Thomas.  Her talk on membership was fascinating and thought provoking, particularly on the need for inclusiveness.

As you can see our ADG Billy Phillips was also present and Don Lindsay is finding it very hard to be separated from the bunny he has lovingly knitted.  Eleanor Hough is dragging in the money from the Brag as Peter James-Smith stares with horror at his breakfast whilst Ian Widdop conducts the Club in the New Dawn Rotary Song.

Here is some of the food collected each week for the 5C's, Don's Bunnies and assorted other toys for our Interact Club's Project and 2 of the buckets made up by Jenine Coetzer with the children's names on  that will be going up to the orphanage at Pomfret.


Pomfret is a desert town, the site of an old asbestos mine, on the edge of the Kalahari desert in northwest South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Molopo Local Municipality. Many of its inhabitants are former members of 32 Battalion, also known as Buffalo Battalion. These soldiers were predominantly black Angolans who were used by the South Africangovernment to help fight South Africa’s wars in Angola and Namibia, and after the end of the South African Border War to police the black townships.  Today the town is described as depressing by those who visit. Injured veterans of war live in squalid circumstances.

Rotarians stream across the Bosporus bridge, which connects Europe and Asia, as part of the Eurasia Marathon in Istanbul 17 October. The event raised about $8,000 for polio eradication.

Don't forget to book with Mike Vink for the Christmas Dinner to raise funds to modernise the lavatories at the 5C's because the evening is getting very close to being full! 


Congratulations to President Graham and Mike for such a fantastic spur-of-the-moment idea.