Time Flies When You're Having Fun

They say time flies when you're having fun and that has certainly been the case with my presidency.
     As a matter of fact time has flown by so fast that half of my year is almost over.
     It is a good time to reflect a bit on the past six months and hopefully that's what we will be doing at the meeting on Wednesday, which has been turned into a Club Assembly.
     Please be there if at all possible, as the assemblies are an opportunity for everyone to have a say in how the club will move forward.
     It's not all hard work and no play, though and those few of us who could make it, had a fabulous evening at the Bassline in Newtown on Saturday evening.

Debbie Nagy, Carol Stier, Mike and Linda vink and Julian Nagy at the Bassline in Newtown

      Just getting to the concert and finding parking was an adventure in itself, but everything went off smoothly and there was a good turnout for Bruce Cassidy's Anti-Gravity Machine, as he called the concert.
     Bruce is a jazz trumpeter from Toronto in Canada and led an ensemble of sixteen musicians in a concert that will be remembered for a long time by those who were lucky enough to attend.

Bruce Cassidy (left) leads the orchestra on his Electronic Valve Instrument (a kind of electronic trumpet)

     Bruce joined the American jazz-rock group Blood Sweat and Tears (remember hits such as And When I Die and Spinning Wheel?) as a young man and was responsible for arranging most of their music during his time with them.
     Although the group is still incredibly popular on the concert circuit, Bruce is not involved anymore.
     It's a pity more club members couldn't attend, as the Bassline is a special venue, and we were told it's being closed down early next year.
     The social evening was meant to replace the meeting on 30 November, which is a fifth Wednesday, but after speaking to a number of members, it was recommended that we should make the meeting of the 30th November the last one of the year and not meet the following week, 7 December, which is only two days before the annual Christmas party.
     If any members want to debate this, we can do so at the meeting on Wednesday, time permitting.
     Wednesday will see another debate of course, one that is larger in scope. Ian Widdop will set a discussion/debate in motion on leadership within the club and how we deal with succession planning, dissent and anything else that crops up from time to time.

Heaps of talent ... Ian Widdop (right) the week before last, flanked by Mike MacDonald

    The aim would be to establish a framework of leadership within which the club can operate successfully. An example: We all know, or should know, how important Rotary International is to clubs, and by extension the district administration. Most of the demands made on people serving as club officers, the president, secretary, treasurer and Foundation officer, comes from these quarters and are primarily administrative in nature. We often forget though that Rotary clubs can and ought to operate autonomously and that this is what keeps some clubs alive and others not so much.
     Another aim would be to encourage as many members as possible to put their hands up for leadership roles in the club and then to provide the necessary coaching and mentoring for them to make a success of it. The more people participate, the lighter the burden becomes.
    Give the topic some thought, as it is an important debate. We'll surely not come up with all the answers within an hour, but can continue the discussion later, maybe at a next assembly early next year.

Speaker
     Chris Van, our speaker last week, is a screenwriter and playwright. He spoke about William Shakespeare and the screenplay he is writing on the playwright's life, a project which has kept him busy for the last 20 years. He originally thought it would take six months.
     He traces the young William's life with his parents, John and Mary Shakespeare, who doted on their only child after his three older siblings all died of the Plague.

Chris Van talks about Shakespeare the Playwright. He has agreed to come and talk to the club
 about the Shakespeare sonnets in the new year

     It traces how an ordinary school boy at the Stratford Grammar School became the greatest playwright and poet of all time, displaying a breadth and depth of knowledge that astounds even to this day.
     Van quoted Milton on Shakespeare: Our wonder and astonishment are his monument. Alexandre Dumas said of him: After God, Shakespeare created the most.
     The screenplay ends when the young William becomes famous in London when Titus Andronicus became a hit at the Globe Theatre and played to packed houses.
     Let's hope Hollywood gets its act together and makes the movie soon.

Sam Donet brought a colleague and friend, Marisa Capcovic, to the meeting to hear Chris Van speak

Christmas dinner
     Don't forget to let Joan Donet know whether you'll be able to make it to the Christmas dinner on 9 December and if you're bringing friends along.
     And don't forget to pay!
     A Thought for the Week: We know what we are, but know not what we may be. - William Shakespeare (1564-1616)