The AGM, the Rotary Conference and a little bit more......

 This is how serious we all looked at the Club's AGM last week.  Other than Allan Beuthin who seems to be praying for guidance and me holding the Book of the Blog, Volumes 1 & 2 put together by Linda Vink as archival material as it reflects the history of the Club since its Charter Date.  It was a very successful AGM though the accounts cannot be finalised until after the 30th June.  Congratulations, President Graham Donet, on moving the Club forward this year.

 Here's our Rotary Conference Contingent, as well as our outgoing ADG Billy Philips and his wife Glo, at the Gala Dinner in Gaborone, Botswana.  Alex distinguished himself by speaking well at Conference and charmingly uttering a few home truths about the need for Rotary to reflect the demographics or die.

The first time I went a Rotary Conference was about 1989 with my previous District when I belonged to Bloemfontein Club.  It was held in Kimberley and I vividly remember the comments made to me by a Club member before I went.  "Don't think it is a real conference as nothing is ever discussed and you will just watch presentations."  That hasn't changed but this time the presentations were generally much better than in the past.  The other things he said was "It's an excuse for old men to give each other medals and pat each other on the back."  It certainly wasn't true this year as personal awards were very few and those made were much deserved.

The real value of the Conference is social and, more importantly, establishing contacts with individuals and their Clubs where we can mutually co-operate.  There we were successful.  President Graham Donet will give us his report on the Conference in due course.

This week is our special Champagne Induction Breakfast to welcome President Elect Jankees Sligcher as our President for 2011 - 2012.



I took this photograph on the way back from Gaborone as I think it really encapsulates what Jankees has ahead of him.  In fact this is what every Office Bearer at every level in Rotary will have to contend with as every position changes in the coming year.  Fortunately Rotary is a team effort so Jankees will be able to do a bit of muck spreading and our support for him is guaranteed.


This is RotaryEN from Rotary International on Vimeo.