Getting Down to the Business of Club Business

The Club Assembly was quite a cramped affair last Wednesday, as we all had to squeeze into the Parkview Golf Club boardroom. The carpets in the main clubhouse were being relaid and according to staff, all will be back to normal this week.
     It was a well attended assembly (18 members + 2 visitors) and the discussion was lively.
     The visitors were David Bradshaw, our AG from the Rosebank club and Richard Wear, who visits often but hasn't taken the bait for becoming a member yet!

Dave Bradshaw and Richard Wear

     The club gets a new AG for the next Rotary year beginning in July in the person of Peter James Smith, one of our founding members. It means we'll get to see Peter a bit more regularly!
     He continues in what is becoming a tradition as our last three AGs have also come from Rosebank; Lyn Collocott, Jean Bernardo and Dave.

Peter James Smith and Lyn Collocott at her induction dinner last year

       More about the first order of business, but the second order of business was the Bridge Drive, which is being held on Thursday, 15 March.
     We desperately need players and club members are being asked to help with that as much as they can and to get as many people to pay before the day as possible.

The Bridge Lady... Linda talks to the club about the Bridge Drive with Judy Symons listening

     Linda Vink, who is leading the drive, stresses four areas where members can be most useful.
     The first area is the aforementioned marketing efforts to get players. The second place where help will be needed, is on the day, organising the two teas (one in the morning and the other the afternoon) and the lunch, which will be a harvest table.
     A successful lunch will go a long way to establish the Bridge Drive as an annual event, which brings us to the third way in which members can help, which is with the catering.

Judy Symons, Amina Frense, Linda and Frayne were amongst those on the one side of the table. Look at the photo below and it's obvious  that most of the men were on the opposite side!

     Lucille Blumberg will do two salmons, and is sponsoring one of them. Various other members are putting their oar in as well.
     The fourth instance where members can help is with sponsoring or arranging prizes for players. The more prizes the merrier, so take your suggestions to Linda.
     Now that everybody knows what to do, get to it, time is running out!

Steve du Plessis speaking in his guise as an RLI trainer

Steve Speaks
     Steve du Plessis handled a discussion on the Rotary survey that Carol expects each and every member to fill in, preferably in time to hand it in at the meeting on Wednesday. It is a tool developed by the Rotary Leadership Institute to assess the health of your club.
     If you didn't get a copy of the form last week, contact Steve or Carol.

The first of the 8-page questionnaire

     When Carol attempted the same exercise at the beginning of her tenure as president in July last year, only a handful of members obliged. This in itself is already a negative indication, so please fill it in as soon as possible.
     During his presentation Steve emphasised that the club goals should be reported on Club Central on the RI website.

Club fees
     At the first board meeting at the beginning of the month the board discussed a request by a member for a reduction of fees due to financial circumstances.
     I put the matter forward to the board as well as the club, as it was I who was initially approached.
     In both instances a lively discussion ensued, starting with the question whether a discount should be a blanket one for pensioners, or alternatively, following the example of the District dues, whether spouses should qualify for an automatic discount.

Steve du Plessis, Paul Kasango, Ian Widdop and Dave Bradshaw during the debate

     The board foresaw problems with both these approaches as it could potentially leave the club out of pocket when covering our mandatory costs (RI semi-annual dues, District dues, subscription to Rotary Africa, etc.).
     A suggestion was made that the board proposes to the members that a decision on such requests be left to the discretion of the board, as it is potentially a delicate matter.
     To be certain that it does not ever become a blanket reduction, it was proposed that a set of criteria be put forward to act as guidelines to the board when considering such requests.

Julian Nagy and Debbie de Vries

     Julian Nagy volunteered to do this and a draft proposal was put forward to the Assembly. This was accompanied by a breakdown of the fixed costs the club has to meet annually in order to be allowed to continue operating.
     The proposals will be amended (for example, there will be a cap on no more than a 25% reduction) and Debbie de Vries has pledged to have look at the final result with an attorney's eye.
     The members at the assembly were happy to approve this motion and it has therefore been accepted subject to the specific changes.

Ian Widdop and Paul Kasango

     The club doesn't have much leeway in this regard and I must emphasise again that clubs are bound to paying dues to both Rotary International and District 9400, and that a subscription to Rotary Africa, whether digital or a paper copy, is compulsory for each member. Also, that the money for these may not come out of fundraising efforts and therefore, in practise, comes from club dues.
     I have a rough breakdown of how these figures work in practice (they change every time we pay RI, for instance, because of exchange rate fluctuations). The latest available were tabled at the Assembly.

The Link
     At a previous meeting when it became clear that the club application for a global grant was going to be delayed, we discussed the possibility of the club paying out of our own funds to develop facilities at three new sites. Doing this will undoubtedly help with the global grant application.
     The suggestion met with general approval and the time has now come to put our money where our mouth is.
     Megan Maynard of The Link reports that one site costs just less than R30000 and that they are looking at sites at schools in Westbury, Primrose in Germiston and Maboneng.
     Ian Widdop can unfortunately not attend the meeting on Wednesday and I have undertaken to put the matter to the club again, where I will furnish further details.
     Speaker: Debbie Smith will be talking (and showing photos) about her trip to Brazil.
     A Thought for the Week: We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea. - WH Auden (1907-1973)