DG's Week 23

Today saw Daphne and I taking the long overdue opportunity to meet up with my brother and his wife and one of their friends. As all of us have some sort of Rotary involvement, I almost considered designating the meeting as worthy of an 'official' attendance! The day did turn very rapidly into a Rotary occasion, as the same venue had been chosen by the Rotary Club of Dundee to hold a party for their Rotary members with over 40 years of service, and their partners. Hosted by President Graham and his wife Joan, and aided by several other members of the Club who were providing chaffeur services, I thought that this was a really nice occasion. It acknowledged the role of a Past District Governor, Past Presidents and other Rotarians who have all contributed enormously to Rotary over the years. It is all too easy to push our elders into the background and I was delighted to see their contribution recognised in this way. The day was dry but cold, the venue was wonderful with great views, it was warm, and the food and company were both excellent. What better way is there to pass an afternoon. My thanks go to the Dundee Rotarians for this really nice gesture.

DG's Visits Week 23

This stage of a DG's year is one of change. Many activities which have become almost a way of life, draw to a close, other new activities begin, and there is always an awareness that time is passing rapidly by, with many objectives still to be achieved. Tuesday saw Daphne and I heading first of all southwards for a short meeting with the two other Scottish District Governors in the cold wilderness of upland Lanarkshire. The wind chill factor must have been considerable with temperature, elevation and wind speed combined. We then reversed our tracks to get to the Queensferry Hotel for the meeting of the West Fife Club. This is a very recent change of venue for their members, and is obviously different from their previous venue of many years standing. However, it is a super environment, with many plus factors and I am sure that it will soon feel like 'home'. The Club is in great heart, with many boxes ticked on the 'things to do' list. I would admit to a mixture of feelings on the evening as this was the last of my 87 Clubs to visit. On the one hand, it is good to complete the list before winter really sets in. I had not fancied driving back from Thurso on a cold winter's night with heavy snow. However, just to underline that nothing can be assumed, we were faced with heavy rain mixed with snow on the way home! On the other side of the coin, I will really miss my regular meetings with Clubs and their Rotarians. This is where the real business of Rotary goes on and I have the feeling that I will be more at arms length in the future, despite my best endeavours to do otherwise. However, I will watch with interest, the endeavours of the Clubs, no less so in the case of West Fife, where raising yet more money and increasing their member numbers figure highly in their plans. I wish President George and his members well on both counts.
I take this opportunity to thank all of the District 1010 Clubs for their warmth of welcome, hospitality and unfailing courtesy to Daphne and I on all of our visits. This has been a period of my life which I will always treasure, with all sorts of different memories from the many different parts which constitute this wonderful District. Daphne and I have been fortunate beyond measure and we do look forward to visiting the Clubs again in the future, on a less formal basis, and perhaps at a slower pace which will allow us to enjoy to the maximum, the Rotarians and their surroundings.

DG's Visits Week 22

Wednesday took Daphne and I into the heart of the Perthshire and Angus soft fruit growing area to visit the Rotary Club of Blairgowrie and to meet up with a number of old friends. To my great delight, the Club still maintains some of the old traditions and courtesies, and it was the first occasion in all of my visits when the President and I were preceded into the meeting by a mace-bearing Sergeant at Arms. The Blairgowrie Club has an especially strong relationship with the local community, and an extensive involvement with various activities to the benefit of both young and old. All of this is to the considerable benefit of their fund raising activities. The needs of the wider world are not neglected, with Shelterbox and a matching grant, high on their list of priorities. The sports and social sides of Rotary are not neglected so doubtless I will meet up with a number of them again on the curling rink, with as usual, no quarter asked or given. The visit was further enlightened by the presence of a large contingent of visiting Rotarians from Kirriemuir, led by their President Jim. To hear my Club address a second time, is surely beyond the call of duty, notwithstanding the fact that every one of these has been specifically tailored to the Club being visited. It was really good to see them all again.
My visit had to draw to a close all too soon, for a quick trip to Perth to meet up with AG Sandy to hand over posters for the Tfl campaign, and then onwards at haste to Edinburgh to catch the Birmingham 'plane south for a meeting of the RIBI General Council at Alcester. It was good to meet up with my fellow DGs again and they had been kind enough to save me something to eat notwithstanding my late arrival. As always there seemed to be a huge amount of business to get through, to the extent that the following day, I had started to wonder if I would even manage to catch the last flight north to Edinburgh on the Thursday evening. However, the fates were kind and it was nice to reach home base just before midnight. As always, the e-mails seem to flow in at least as quickly when I am away as when I am available, so there will be the inevitable catching up for the next 2-3 days. Apologies to anyone who was hoping for an immediate response to their message.

DG's Visits Week 22

Tuesday evening saw Daphne and I heading eastwards to visit the Montrose Club, very capably led by President Alison. It was a great pleasure to be there, despite the wet evening, and to meet up with a Club whose Rotarians do so much both for their own community and internationally. If you add to this, the service which several of their members give to District, there is absolutley no doubt of their commitment. Members had just finished sending off a very large consignment of Shoeboxes, packed by both their own members and the young people of Montrose Academy. This had been immediately preceded by a very successful event to raise funds for PolioPlus. A big plus for the Club is their very productive drive drive to bring in new members, something which no Club, however big and successful, can ignore. It was also a valuable opportunity to touch base with the two current District officials, Clive Bartram and Robert Ritchie, who are doing a wondeful job in organising the new Events team. I think, from the most recent District Conference onwards, there can be no doubt about the improved audio and visual quality of meetings and individual presentations. Change is part and parcel of any organisation and I am delighted that we have such talented and willing people giving of their skills and taking us forward.

DG Week 22

Monday evening saw me taking my first tentative steps into the wonderful new world of audio conferencing, using the District's recently purchased software. Even with just the four of us, James, Graham and Iain, I was conscious of how much time and expense was being saved, compared with at least 3 of us having to travel to some other venue. With the rain hammering down outside, it made a doubly enjoyable experience! As always with any new system, there are the initial trepidations over the unknown, but despite one or two initial technical hitches, such concerns were quickly dispelled. James was able to take us through the system whereby control was switched from one to another. This will allow us to run our own meetings in the future. This meeting was very much aimed at testing out the links but even from this, I am clear just what a fantastic difference this can make to District communications and both the cost of meetings and, for some, the difficulties of ever getting to meetings. There are obviously skills to be perfected but I am in no doubt that this represents the way forward.

DG's travels

Today, is one of several opportunities in the year when I have a real chance to give someone a break from their normal heavy workload. On this occasion, it was to accompany Daphne in her duties as a temporary warden at one of the RSPB reserves near Kirriemuir, so that the usual warden can have a few hours to herself. This is a very demanding job, summer and winter, and it must be very welcome when some of the RSPB local members can provide some relief. The forecast of rain was spot on first thing, but the weather then relented to give a bright spell mid- morning to the early afternoon. The number of visitors was lower than normal but the adverse forecast had obviously had an effect. As the weather tuned very dull, with outbreaks of rain in the afternoon, perhaps they had made a wise choice. The number of bird species was down on what we would normally expect to see at this time of the year, though four different birds of prey were prominent. The usual sightings of other wild life such as otters, deer and squirrels were conspicuously lacking. One remarkable feature was the impact of the prolonged wet weather, and I have never seen the water levels so high. This must have created a somewhat different landscape for both the water and land birds. It was a great pleasure to linger at this island of tranquility and just let the world pass by, but all too soon the light had gone and there was no excuse not to return to the hurly burly of a DG's life.

DG's Week 21

Saturday(21/11) provided a first opportunity to meet our incoming Ambassadorial Scholars as a group, in the very pleasant home environment of Rotarian Jerry Beaulier and his wife, Linda- Ann in St. Andrews. District Scholarships Officer Sylvia Donaldson had done an excellent job of getting the students and their Host Counsellors together, from Aberdeen, St. Andrews and Stirling. We were also joined by Rotarian Jack Daniels, a legend in his own time, who had hoped to take us all on a conducted tour of St. Andrews, a town about which he has extensive knowledge, but the weather was not keen to co-operate. Hopefully, there will be another occasion, Jack. Despite the wet weather outside, the atmosphere inside was very convivial. Julie, Constantina(plus husband Greg), Joanna, Lungile and Andrew are all very worthy representatives of their countries and all have had very interesting lives before they came to Scotland for a period of further study. It was a great pleasure to talk to them and to hear of their plans for the future. All of this was set against the wonderful background of the Beaulier's home with wonderful views looking out to the North Sea, superb food and drink and a very relaxed and happy atmosphere. All too soon it was time for people to go their different ways but I hope to meet up with the Scholars again during their time in Scotland. I hope that all of our Clubs will take the opportunity to invite at least one of the Scholars along to talk to them.