Club

Meeting 3 July 2013

New Governor, District 1250, Mike Goodridge

Brace yourselves theres a personal opinion coming up. We had a very good meal at the Dorset Arms on Wednesday - so good that some couldnt bear to stop eating when our new President Michael rang the dreaded bell for a comfort break before the speaker for the evening, the new District Governor, Mike Goodridge on his first of sixty club visits in District 1250. The lovely weather may have diverted a few members on the night and it is quite puzzling that there is a noticeable lack of enthusiasm to hear what Rotary has in store for the coming year makes you wonder why some people join although on this occasion THREE perfectly fried eggs (rumour says four for Barry) and a gammon steak nestling in a mountain of crisp chips was a pretty good reason to turn out. And so was the speaker. Mike is an affable and enthusiastic representative of what Rotary ought to be all about and he got his message across without lecturing or telling the Club unduly what it had to do for the coming year. The message is strongly about membership though, and he will be visiting a number of clubs during his term in office where something pretty drastic needs to be done to increase membership and in some cases to stop a club disappearing completely. We are still urged to recruit new members and there is an incentive to do this in the shape of a Presidential Citation from the new President of Rotary, Ron Burton. (Click the picture to see how it works) The adjective new has come up a few times already new Club President, new District Governor, new President of RI. Its amazing that Rotary gets anything done with so much upheaval each year, but get things done, it does. The NEW Rotary theme for 2013-2014 is shown here Engage Rotary Change Lives and Mike explained what this should mean to members and Rotary as a whole. At the moment this is inextricably mixed in with a desire to eliminate polio once and for all in the world and at the recent Lisbon Conference it was announced that the Bill Gates Foundation is pledging to double any monies raised by Rotary to help with this aim. Click to Read.

 At the same time, the new Rotary Foundation Grant scheme is coming on line and there is quite a lot of work needed to get the message across on what the changes mean at Club level. Digressing a little from Mikes chat here is what Ron Burton has to say about it all. Ron exhorts us to get off our cans and make a difference in the world through Rotary. Not a regular East Grinstead expression (unlike, we dont do that here), but pretty graphic in a quaintly American way. Click to watch Rons video. Mike was very complimentary to East Grinstead Meridian and in particular praised the work of Anthony Beevor, the last New of this report as he takes over as Assistant Governor for the District. We are seen as a go-ahead Club with an exciting time ahead of us during Mikes and Michaels term of office. We wish him well with his very difficult, but hopefully equally rewarding, task as District Governor for 2013 2014. RJC 3 July 2013

Terry Sanders
January 1937 - June 2013 Member of Rotary Club of East Grinstead Meridian Past President of Rotary Club of Oxted & Limpsfield 2002-03