MEETING ON 16th JULY: GREAT TRAIN RACE; DG VISIT; AGM; RIVONIA BARNYARD DINNER

A social meeting was held on the 16th with only 7 members in attendance - come on Rotarians, where are the rest of you?  Its time to brave the winter chills and give up a 60 minutes to attend a meeting of your Rotary Club - Johannesburg New Dawn.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING REMINDERS:

The Great Train Race in Middelburg 22/23 August

A great fund raiser for the Club with good fellowship opportunities as well.  A few people have signed up already and Joan has managed to find very reasonable accommodation for the night.  You would need to leave in the afternoon of the 22nd, attend the briefing with the Middelburg Rotary Club and get up early the next morning to assist with the marshalling of the race.  Thousands of athletes compete against a train to complete the event.  Come and join us!

Rotary New Dawn Club Assembly

To be held at Twickenham Guesthouse on 16 August.  Come and make your voice heard in the interest of the Club.  Any agenda items to Club Secretary, Rtn Katinka Vreugdenhil please as soon as possible.  The Club President will deliver a presentation, Rtn Mike Vink will present the Club finances and Rtn Linda will give us feedback on the District Conference in Polokwane.  You will also find out more about our plans for the upcoming year.  See you there!

DG Visit

New District Governor, Annie Steijn will visit to one of our project on 4th August and the DG dinner will be held on the 14th August at the Bryanston Country Club.  More details regarding costs and booking to be announced shortly.     

Barnyard Fundraiser

The annual Barnyard Theatre Fundraiser, held in conjunction with Rivonia Toyota will be held on the 20th September.  Please brush up your waitering skills, diarise the date, notify your friends and join us for an evening of fun and hard work, but very worthwhile in terms of funds for the Club!

Further details to follow.

SEE YOU ALL ON 23 JULY!

GREAT TRAIN RACE MIDDELBURG (Some history)

HistoryIn 1987 the Rotary Club of Coalfields launched the first relay event against a steam train along the private Amcoal railway line between Wolvekrans and Witbank (eMalahleni).  This event took place annually for the next 5 years.  In 1992 the race route was relocated to run along the railway line and road between Middelburg and Witbank incorporating two of Mpumalanga's larger cities in the event.  This led to the involvement of the four local Rotary Clubs and subsequently the Rotary Greatest Train Race was born.

The Rotary Greatest Train Race has since grown into one of South Africa’s largest community investment projects.  The race comprises a relay and individual race against a train along the route between eMalahleni (Witbank) and Middelburg.   Individuals and relay teams consisting of employees of corporations, private companies, government departments, scholars, technikons or universities students, members’ of sports clubs, social clubs and private individuals annually participate in this community driven charity event.  The race is open to all members of the public interested in contributing to the wellbeing of their community and who are fit for the challenge.   The event, which is renowned for its festive atmosphere and camaraderie, is popular with individual runners, teams and walkers.  Walking and running teams consist of 5 runners per team. 

In addition, disadvantaged individuals from the community are given the opportunity to experience the Greatest Train Race with a train ride on the train that “competes” against the runners -  truly a once in a lifetime experience for some.

The purpose of the event is first and foremost a nation building exercise in which all members of the community are able to participate in raising funds that can be reinvested into local community projects.  These projects are annually identified and closely monitored and managed by the Rotary Clubs of Middelburg Cycad, Middelburg and Witbank.  The 2010 event attracted close 20 000 runners and walkers, with a total of more than 45 000 people joining hands and opening their hearts on race day for the less fortunate in their communities.  Close to R1 million was generated for local community based beneficiaries.  

For more information regarding the race see http://www.gtr.co.za/about.html