A Surprise Visit From One of the Greats

The meeting this week promises to be a bit more riotous than last week's rather sedate one, but more about that a bit later.
     The meeting last week was no ordinary one though, and we kicked it off with a video chosen by Carol Stier.

The speaker Shawn Actor as he appears in YouTube, the video-sharing website

     This was by a guy called Shawn Achor who spoke on The Happy Secret to Better Work as part of the TED Talks series. He's a Harvard boffin and very entertaining and thought-provoking. Catch it here if you couldn't be at the meeting: https://youtu.be/fLJsdqxnZb0. (Copy and paste the URL into your browser if you can't click straight through).
     The video is only 12 minutes long.

International partners
     Ian Widdop used the opportunity at the meeting to bring the club up to speed on the Link Literacy Project and what having an overseas partner involved means.
     The Rotary Club of Parkdale-High Park in Toronto, Canada, has adopted The Link as a project sponsor alongside Johannesburg New Dawn.
     Carole Rowsell of the club in Toronto has sold her club on the idea, and is helping to look for other clubs in their district who might want to join the project.
     It's interesting to note that the next Rotary International Convention after Atlanta in June, is in Toronto in 2018. With a bit of work, New Dawn will be in the thick of things.
     The club needs a third person to act as co-partner with Ian and Judy Symons on the New Dawn side now that Bob Wahl has asked for a leave of absence due to work pressure.
     If you're keen on the idea, please speak to myself or Ian about joining his team. It's not a lot of work, especially if the load can be shared.

Carol Stier is helping members to register on My Rotary. Frayne Mathijs and Amina Frense did the right thing

     Having all the members in the club signed up to My Rotary is one of the important boxes that must be ticked in order to be in consideration for a Presidential Citation from the RI president. My Rotary is the Members' section of the Rotary International website. Everything you wanted to know about Rotary but were too afraid to ask, is contained in the site, and then some. It is a literal mine of information and a very powerful tool in the right hands.
    The Rotary motto of Service Above Self very emphatically extends to service for and on behalf of the organization itself, which is why it can be so frustrating that members don't visit the rotary.org website and sign up of their own accord. Go on, don't be a RINO (Rotarian in Name Only) and sign up!
     If you need help to do this, ask Carol, Steve du Plessis or myself.

What a Boykie

Long John Berks, legend of radio in South Africa

     The speaker this week is none other than the radio legend John Berks, if everything goes according to Carol's plans, which she assures are still on track.
     Berks is still on radio after a brilliant career at LM Radio, Springbok Radio, Capital Radio, Radio 5 and Radio 702, amongst others.
     He's a born comic and the meeting promises to be a very interesting and most likely raucous one.
     He's not visiting alone, but we'll keep the name of his partner in crime under wraps to add an element of surprise to the meeting.
     Don't miss it!
     A Thought for the Week: There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met. - William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939).