Rotary Club of Trenton
Serving Our Community since 1922
http://www.trentonrotary.ca/
Rotary Bulletin for June 14, 2010
President Alistair called the meeting to order with the singing of O’ Canada, a toast to The Queen and the recitation of Rotary Grace.
This evening’s meeting was a road trip that involved meeting and dining at the stunning new Season’s Retirement Centre in Trenton courtesy of Rotarian Sheri-Lynn Koenig, General Manager of Seasons. Guided tours of the facility were held but it was only later that I learned that the John Tripp suite was not part of the tour. Fortunately I have a couple of images of that suite to share with the members.
The master bedroom of the Tripp suite offers a terrific view of the beautiful Bay of Quinte.
While the ensuite biffy provides a wonderful place to relax after a stressful day.
Head Table: Pres. Alistair introduced the head table of PP John Williams, Rot. Sheri-Lynn, Rot. Marianne, to be inducted Rotarians Rick Cartwright and Chandy Davis.
PP John thanks Rot. Sheri-Lynn for her hospitality. (nice photo of Sheri-Lynn).
Guests: The opportunity for a peek at the John Tripp suite brought out a plethora of guests including: YE Student Amelie, HR Lynn Lake, Sandy Cunningham, Christina Eggiman, HR Gwen, Paul Teahen, HR Sandra Wright, Sally Tripp, Betty Frulen, Linda Heable, Dorothy Stewart, Dave Stewart, Helga Wiemer and Doreen Howe.
There were many Season’s employees in attendance as well including; Louise Sandercock, Dawn Petite, Tracy Cook and the lovely Natalie.
I missed this but Louise and the chef appear to be performing a mime routine.
Rot Lynn clearly approves of the complimentary wine Natalie offered.
Photos of some of our guests.
The buffet line was organized in a manner that avoided the usual stampede.
Betty and Linda gave the evening two thumbs up.
Once again due to time constraints our format was altered this evening so we did not have our Happy Buck segment or our song interlude. Pres Alistair asked all members to save their J $ up for the next meeting.
Service Above Self
This week the SAS award, buffed to a glistening sheen, was presented to Dir. Bill Rorabeck in recognition of the outstanding Discover Rotary event Bill and his committee produced and presented last week.
A most deserving SAS recipient.
Attendance:
Tonight, PP Dow, after locating the sign-in information, shared that there were 36 members in attendance for a 58% turnout.
Missing and missed were the usual suspects Linda B, Kris B, Joseph B, Carolyn L, Tammy C, Nick D, Edna N, Kurt G, Garry J, plus; Lionel B, Colin C, Wayne S, Chris F, Angie M, Dan R, Wayne S, Angie G, Steve M, Jim McShane, Tim W, and Ralph T.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
· Doug Whitley June 13
Partner Birthdays
· William, partner of Rot Jinni June 15
· Baran Prasad June 17
Wedding Anniversaries
· June 13 – Pat Finnegan and Don 7 yrs
· June 16 - Alistair and Tina celebrate 37 yrs
· June 18 Ken and Barb Kee celebrate a golden 50 yrs of marriage
Club Anniversaries
· June 16, P.P. Bill Oliphant celebrates 17 yrs
New Member Induction
Pres Alistair called forward PP John W to introduce our two newest Rotarians; Chandy Davis and Rick Cartwright. John shared with us that Chandy and Rick are married and have 4 children and 4 horses. They live in Wooler and both work at ElectroCables in Trenton where Chandy is the VP Engineering and Rick is the Fleet Coordinator. John described them as great corporate citizens who have long been supporters of many causes in the community.
Rick and Chandy appear to be keeping their distance from PP John. I’m not sure why as I find him to be a real gentleman.
Pres Alistair, as is our tradition, called forward various Past Presidents of the club to perform the rites of membership induction, including, RIPP Wilf, PP John Tripp and PP Bill O.
As John applies the Rotary pin, Rick seems to be wondering how John gets his hair so straight.
At the conclusion of the ceremonies Chandy thanked the membership for the invitation to join Rotary and shared that her goals are to do all possible to make the community a better place. She noted that she had once visited Germany for a month as a 16 year old Rotary exchange student.
Rick also thanked the members of the club and stressed that he and Chandy were committed to helping Rotary being even more successful.
Program
Tonight Rotarian Marianne introduced Rot Sheri-Lynn Koenig who would be presenting her classification talk. Marianne advised that Sheri-Lynn was a transfer in Rotarian from the Bracebridge club who loves golf, is a musician and pianist and who has two children Josh and Virginia. She and her partner Paul reside in a century home in a hamlet north of Belleville where they spend their time fixing things.
Sheri-Lynn described herself as the daughter of Flower Child parents who raised her in a musical and flexible manner. Between moving as a child and as an adult she has lived in 18 locations to date. She married young and had her children young. She is greatly interested in history and antiques (that’s doubtless what drew her to our club) and in 1990 joined the staff of a long-term care facility. She earned a Sr. Mgt. Degree and opened a business in Listowell called Chocolates on Main which she sold in 2004. She subsequently joined Seasons Retirement Communities and has worked with them at several locations. Seasons presently has seven locations and has three more in development to be better positioned to capture business from the projected massive growth in the number of seniors. Sheri-Lynn wants to be part of the solution to changed living requirements of seniors and to offer them facilities that provide services beyond basic living that engross and entertain in manner that affords personal dignity.
Sheri-Lynn then astounded the crowd by closing her talk with a song, Neil Young’s classic “Helpless”.
Another addition to the lineup of formidable musicians in our club.
Interesting fact:
The "town in North Ontario" referred to in the opening line of the song Helpless is often presumed to be Ontario native Young's hometown; Young himself cleared up the rumors in a 1995 Mojo interview with Nick Kent:
"Well, it's not literally a specific town so much as a feeling. Actually, it's a couple of towns. Omemee, Ontario, is one of them. It's where I first went to school and spent my 'formative' years. Actually I was born in Toronto..."
Omemee, just west of Peterborough, is well within what is now considered Southern Ontario, and 130 km from Toronto by road.
The song's second verse contains the surreal nature-inspired imagery that was typical of Young's early 1970s work, similar to the lyrics of the well-known title track from the After The Gold Rush album:
Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
It was Director Stuart’s privilege to thank Sheri-Lynn and thank her he did in great fashion. Stuart offered to keep the feelings going by thanking her in song however the membership made its views clear on that offer so Stuart stuck with presenting Sheri-Lynn with a certificate of thanks suitable for framing.
The “grip and grin” was held for an inordinate amount of time while waiting for the club photographer to make his leisurely way across the room, grumbling all the way that his coffee was getting cold.
Calendar Draw: Even in new surroundings Bob felt comfortable tottering here and there wafting the Magical Mystery Drum under the noses of various and sundry to persuade them to assist in the drawing of calendar stubs. For reason not apparent no images of this aspect of the meeting were captured nor was I able to record the names of the winners. The moment I get them I shall post them to our website as per usual.
50/50 DRAW: Tonight we reverted to our normal format and with a pot of $550+ on offer the room was on tenterhooks. Jubilation broke out when the winning ticket was held by PP/ADG/Secty Grant and the jubilation continued when he was unable to select the winning playing card.
Announcements
· The next Cancer Society Relay For Life takes place at Loyalist College on June 25th and members are encouraged to come out to both take part and to witness the lighting of the luminaries. To arrange to purchase Luminaries in honour of those friends or family lost or stricken with cancer contact the HPEC Cancer Society Office at 613-962-0686. It is an amazing ceremony and well worth witnessing.
· Canada/Scotland Golf Exchange: This Rotary Fellowship program involves 12 Scottish Rotarians and their spouses coming to Canada to compete at golf against Rotarians from three areas in Southern/Central Ontario over a two week period from Sept. 10 to 24, 2010. There will be several casual social events and it is expected that the Trenton club will sponsor a social evening. One more Rotarian is needed to fill out the team and any member interested or looking for details on the program should contact Dir. Stuart.
· Dir. Joe Hunter advised that an initial meeting had been held with city hall staff regarding the proposed new Rotary - Peter Latenstein Children’s Playground. Joe will keep the membership apprised of progress on an ongoing basis.
· Bain Park Rotary floral garden. Rotarian Wayne Scaletta, along with his wife HR Gail, has been the driving force behind the enhancement of this garden. Wayne and a few others have planted the flowers and carry out weekly maintenance to weed and deadhead. He needs volunteers to help out with the gardening on a time-to-time basis and will have a sign-up sheet at the meeting of June 21st. Let’s keep this garden beautiful and one Rotary can be proud of.
· Our June lineup of meetings includes:
o June 21 – Classification talk Mike Cowan
o June 28 – Induction of the 2010/11 Board and a Club Assembly night
· Canada Day
PP Lionel needs volunteers to help out with the children’s putting games at the Canada Day celebrations and also with the annual pleading for change at the Beer Store and Smylie’s Independent to go towards the payment for the fireworks. Every year Rotarians raise considerable $ for the fireworks during the two weekends preceding Canada Day. Please contact Lionel to advise if you can help out on June 25th or 26th for a couple of hours.
Rotary Club of Picton Golf Tournament
Friday, August 27th
Picton Golf & Country Club
11:30 am Registration/Lunch
12:30 pm Shotgun Start
Price:$185.00 per ticket
Price Includes:18 Holes, Cart, Lunch, Dinner,
Grab Bag, Prizes For All, Raffle, Live Auction,
Tax Receipt
Dinner Speaker:Jim Johnson
Call:Rick Jones (613) 476-2266 Dusty Graham (613) 393-2768
And Finally
Three of these four people will be at the Rotary International convention in Montreal next week. My daughter in law Sandy (in the reddish top) would have been there but she is moving to Nassau.