Visit by Michael Longdon, District Governor 2017-18

Visit by Michael Longdon, District Governor 2017-18

4th July 2017

Our first meeting of the new Rotary year saw not only the installation of our new President Caroline, we also greeted Geoff Nicholls as a new member (who had transferred from Carlton) and welcomed Michael Longdon our new District Governor. This was his first visit to any club in his new year of office.

Below is the full text of Michael’s talk: the text in italics relates to discussion and responses to questions.

‘’Good Evening, President Caroline, my fellow Rotarians. It is a great pleasure to be here this evening marking the first of my Club Visits as District Governor.

I bring greetings from RI President Ian Risley and RIBI President Denis Spiller added to which are my own greetings as District Governor and also from my own Rotary Club of West Ashfield. President Caroline may I congratulate you on becoming the President of your Club and I sincerely look forward to working with you throughout this Rotary year!

Most of you here will know that in January I attended the Rotary International Assembly in San Diego, it was here that we heard President Ian announce his theme for this Rotary Year – Rotary: Making A Difference.

In my mind, this is what we already strive to do. However, we are challenged to ask ourselves are we willing to make a difference? As an organisation we have to change, we have to drive change, we have to embrace change, but I appreciate that change can be difficult, but with the help of you all we will succeed.

President Ian has encouraged us to look seriously at several aspects of our Service and how we can support and strengthen our Clubs to achieve these goals. The areas he would like us to concentrate on are the 6 areas of focus.

Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
Disease prevention and treatment
Water and sanitation
Maternal and child health
Basic education and literacy
Economic and community development

These are the very foundation of Rotary, for without these 6 areas of focus we would just become another voluntary organisation.(In a question it was suggested to Michael that these areas of focus concentrated on international rather than local community matters. He responded that he believes that all could be related to local community project. It was also noted that the areas of focus are not listed in the new Rotary District 1220 Directory).

President Ian advocates that meaningful partnerships with corporations and other organisations are crucial to Rotary’s future. ‘We have the programmes and personnel, and others have the resources. Doing good in the world is everyone’s goal. We must learn from the experience of the Polio Eradication programme to maximise our public awareness for future partnerships’.

Without doubt, one of the main challenges facing Rotary worldwide is Membership but, using the recent changes announced by the Council of Legislation, we are challenged to start new Clubs, Satellite Clubs, Rotaract and Interact Clubs. We are encouraged to continue our support for Foundation, and enhance our Public Image and Awareness. We need to grow our Clubs and District. Within our District we have a population in excess of 4 million people and yet we only have just over 2,000 members. Where are we going wrong?

I said earlier we have to accept challenges – well this is another challenge. I appreciate it is something which will not happen overnight but we need to be more proactive in attracting new members and reverse the current trend in diminishing numbers.

To assist you in your drive to improve your membership we will be holding a membership Seminar at the Post Mill Centre, South Normanton on Saturday 7th October. To further aid our commitment to recruiting new members and raising awareness of Rotary to the General Public, a very dedicated team have been extremely busy putting together a ‘Rotary Roadshow’ which will soon be available for all Clubs to use in their locality at events they organise.

This year I would like to see a new Satellite Club formed within each of the 9 AG Groups. A Satellite Club only needs 8 people to start, and when formed they then become Rotarians, so if we form 9 new Satellite Clubs with just the minimum number, it would mean we would gain an extra 72 Rotarians.

Another area for us to concentrate on is Youth! Your help is needed in giving our Youth Programme a higher profile, your support in helping to organise the various Youth Events, the heats and the finals. This District offers the Rotary Young Leaders Award, this is one of our flagship Youth Programmes. It is a wonderful adventurous programme held within our District at Buxton and Castleton, offering an opportunity for our young people to experience team work, personal development, the development of social skills and an exciting weekend experiencing a wide and varied choice of activities. So I am asking if clubs can become more involved with your local schools and youth organisations to identify suitable candidates for future events. This year we hope to resurrect the ‘Youth Exchange Programme’. Can I please ask you to look out for details of this exciting programme as they come out in the near future.

Youth is the very future of Rotary. Clubs have a wonderful opportunity to offer these potential future Rotarians the chance to experience Rotary now, and you also have an opportunity to meet potential new members in these students’ parents, grandparents and carers.

President Ian also challenged us to focus on the environment saying how he places great importance on the environment using the term Preserve Planet Earth! We have been challenged to plant a tree for each and every one of our 2.2 million Rotarians in the world. The difference which this could make to the environment could have a long term and sustainable effect on global warming and wildlife. RIBI have now taken the lead on obtaining the trees for the UK and we will be hearing more during this next few months.(Types of trees would be crab-apple, yew, oak, hawthorn and trees to help wildlife. Trees would be provided and clubs would decide where to plant them).

In just under three months we will be seeing the start of our District Conference – this year to be held in Llandudno over the weekend of 29th/30th September and 1st October. Llandudno is now the premier location used by the District for our conferences, it is flat and Llandudno has a host of excellent hotels and guest houses to suit everyone’s pocket and it is easy to get to from all parts of the District.

We have some inspiring and motivational speakers who include Malcolm Wells & Canine Partners and they will be demonstrating their ability on stage. We will hear the wonderful story of the Children’s Air Ambulance and you will have an opportunity to try their Helicopter Simulator – just the thing for high flying Rotarians. Andy Cope will encourage you to be happy with his inspirational talk and we welcome Geoff Miller with some funny stories.

Our new RIBI President Denis Spiller will be with us over the weekend, why not take this opportunity to meet him and ask him about the changes to RIBI? To give you further access to Denis, he has agreed to a Question and Answer session after lunch on the Saturday afternoon. This will run along the lines of Question Time and we will be issuing further details shortly. (Questions are to be submitted in advance. Michael suggested that if the Rotary Club of Newark Castle wish to raise the RIBI matters referred to in their recent letter, then this Q&A session is the ideal opportunity).

We will hear from two experienced Rotarians – Barney Callaghan and David Ellis who will enthuse you with the success of Rotary and what we can still achieve, all with a sense of humour. We will also hear from some of our Clubs and the successful work they are doing. We will hear from Fiona Bassett who was so inspired by the work her Mum was doing in Rotary, she set up a new Club with both young and older members and a good mix of gender.

Our showcase will be re-vamped with some new and interactive stalls. All this with great entertainment in the evenings. Friday evening there is a Hoe Down and on the Saturday we shall be holding our very popular Gala Dinner with the showband Roll-A-Coaster. If you haven’t already registered can I please ask you to do so as soon as possible and join Margaret and myself in Llandudno for a weekend of Fun, Fellowship and Friendship.

So what does one say about the Rotary Club of Newark Castle. I know things have not been easy over the last few months with Karen’s illness, but I have been so impressed how you have supported Caroline as she has taken on the responsibility of Acting President. I know it has been much appreciated by your members, and on behalf of the Club Support Team I thank you.

As a Club you are very active both within the local and international communities - your involvement with the Children’s Bereavement Centre ‘Forget me not’ garden, your fund raising for Rutland House, Rainbows Children’s Hospice, the Notts and Lincs Air Ambulance, the end Polio Now Campaign and new desks for the Brikama School Gambia. I was very honoured to be asked to join you and the Rotary Club of Newark for your Courage Awards, an emotional event for many. You’re twinning with a Club in Normandy, an area of France very close to my heart and this last year you celebrated your 30th Birthday –a mile stone for your club.

I am encouraged that the first club I am visiting in my year as District Governor is so proactive – it gives me heart that Clubs can look to you to see what can be achieved.

I havebeen asked by several Rotarians what is my theme for the year? I have decided not to have a theme as such however. What I would like is for all of us to concentrate on having a year of Fun, Fellowship and Friendship – suggesting a joke to start or end meetings.(The idea is that each Club meeting will start or end with a joke. There will then be a competition to decide the best joke and all jokes will be published in a booklet with the profits going to Foundation).

May I take this opportunity to say thank you for your kind and generous hospitality this evening. It has been wonderful to have been here with you all.

Finally, as an organisation we are challenged in so many different ways, with calls on our time and finances in an ever changing world. So I ask that as a Club and as a District we Embrace Change, we accept the Challenges that we have been set, and the Challenges that this next year will undoubtedly present. So – let us go forward together and MAKE A DIFFERENCE!’’

We thanked Michael for visiting us and sharing his plans, thoughts and aspirations for the year ahead. We wished him well in his year as District Governor.

Visitor Steward: Carole Graham