ON LINE
The Rotary Club of Sevenoaks Amherst
December 2006
THE PRESIDENT
"Plus ca
change, c'est la meme chose"! Despite some dissent at our SGM, the majority
view prevailed and Club officers and ordinary members of the board were duly
elected. Congratulations to all and thanks for offering your time.
For two years most of the Club have recognised our need of change and have enacted
it. Obviously we cannot foretell the effect of any of those changes, but, as we
have heard, we can be reasonably certain of the future if we do nothing. In my
mind - and I believe I speak for the majority - it is better to try and fail
than to fail having not tried at all.
Colin's recent note to you all underlines that his views are consistent with mine,
as mine were with Derek's. With Don and Bill following us there is an opportunity
to give these changes time to settle down, and I implore everyone in the Club
to put their guns away - the season's over - and get on with fellowship and
Rotary.
I know there was some difficulty hearing Nick Bracken, an accomplished and very
interesting speaker - my fault, I chose the wrong table. I won't do it again.
Our thoughts this month were with Elaine Hook, who is now making progress and
recovering from a nasty virus. Get well soon, Elaine.
As Christmas approaches, we have our party to look forward to and I would like
to take this opportunity to thank Malcolm and Don in advance, and to wish
everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Simon
PROGRAMME
December 2006
06.12.06 Special General Meeting—Election of Officers 2007-2008/Approval of Accounts 1005-2006
13.12.06 Mike Parker—A surgeon’s story
20.12.06 Christmas Party
January 2007
03.01.07 Julia Sorenson—Kenya Project Partnership
10.01.07 Business Meeting
10.01.07 District Council Meeting, Hadlow Manor, Hadlow
17.01.07 Amherst Evening—Topic TBA
24.01.07 Lucy Miller—Adventures in Sport
31.01.07 PARTNERS EVENING—Linda Steward—Master Chef Programme
February 2007
07.02.07 Business Meeting
09.02.07 Concert—The Ship, Bobby Chen
14.02.07 John Thurston—A&E Tales
21.02.07 Amherst Evening—Topic TBA
28.02.07 Peter Hartley—A Royal Interlude
March 2007
07.03.07 Business Meeting
14.03.07 8:45pm Start: Community Sentence Talk—Alan Dowie, Kent Probation
19.03.07-21.03.07 Visit of President to District 1120
21.03.07 Amherst Evening—Topic TBA
28.03.07
April 2007
04.04.07 Business Meeting
SHELTER BOXES
" 'Out of the Box' the newsletter from Shelter Box HQ refers in it's September issue to the crisis caused by the war in Lebanon -now not much in the news but still unresolved.
Three consignments of aid from Shelter Box were flown to Cyprus for onward transmission to Beirut. A second consignment went the following week and since the cease-fire further boxes have reached Beirut all being distributed by local Rotarians to where they were needed.
Amherst's interest in this story is that a Shelter Box paid for by the Club was one of those which went to Lebanon. Our second box, purchased in mid-September, has now been dispatched to Mogadishu, Somalia.
Bill
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THIS (But do they really mind?)
In 2005 the European Commission decided that land used for Christmas trees would no longer be eligible for subsidy, consequently many growers throughout the EU grubbed up their trees to grow subsidy earning crops. However the situation does not seem too worrying. According to the British Christmas Tree Growers Association an estimated 8 million real trees will be sold this Christmas of which about 500,000 will be imported. It is estimated that the total number of Christmas trees currently being grown in the country is 65 million and some 200,000 of these will be exported.
As part of the Christmas scene, the Christmas tree is a comparatively recent entry. The first recorded tree was placed at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, by Queen Charlotte, the German born wife of George 111, on Christmas Day 1800 . FW Woolworths first sold manufactured tree ornaments in 1880.
It was about this time that Christmas cards became the vogue when, in 1843, JC Horsley designed a card, depicting a Victorian family seated at a meal table, for a client. Surplus cards were sold to the public for a shilling each which makes the present price of cards seem almost reasonable.
HAVE YOUR SAY
From Jim
Subject Musings of a Member
I joined the club some 6years or so ago and, having been a member of a service club in the past, there were no great shocks or surprises. The transition was relatively smooth but not in the least disappointing. However it concerns me that potential new members, particularly the younger ones might find our goings on a bit strange and uninteresting, not to mention anachronistic.
Listening to someone talking about hearing dogs for the deaf or the merits of recycling gizmos for the third world is interesting and all well and good, but I fear it being a real turn off for some folk.
I appreciate that in our drive for an increased and younger membership we need to get the right bums on seats, but I can’t help feeling that in the first place we have to get lots of bums on seats and then select the ones we feel deserve to be considered for membership. In order to attract numbers in the first place I think we need to hold a really big and exciting event at least once a year. One that members would be keen to invite a bunch of friends along to, knowing they would all have a damn good evening. We need to spend big money on a big name speaker; a black tie event with a really special meal. If we do not have sufficient funds then let’s increase the subs to cover it.
Talking of anachronisms, maybe this event could replace ladies’ night?
INVITATION
The “Last of the Summer Wine” walkers cordially invite all members to join them in a leisurely (about 6mls) walk on Thursday December 21st. Start St Julians 9.45am Finish St. J. lunchtime approx 1pm.
If you’re not interested in the bit between ‘Start’ and ‘Finish’ why not join the walkers at lunchtime. Let Bill know.
No comment
The new structure (from John Harland)
