Paul Seymour was at the door, Richard Smith was Chairman and Tania Laird was Sergeant.
We had an apology from Doug Lipp. Chris Thurtell introduced our Youth Exchange Student from the Netherlands, Gigi. Welcome! See separate article about her presentation.
President Andy Bell wellcomed all members and Gigi to our first meeting of 2018.
Prior to the business of the AGM, Andy invited DG Darrell Brown to elaborate on the Re-Districting issue, relating to a recent email distributed from District Secretary Sue Randel. It is relatively straight forward: Current Rotary International rules state that any district whose membership drops to below 1,100 members will automatically face re-districting, without any input by individual clubs in the district. Whilst our District currently is still well above that, there is a potential that we (or one of the neighboring districts) could slip below that number. Organizing the re-districting is not just relevant to our district, the project encompasses the entire continent and New Zealand. The concept is a major streamlining: each district has approximately 150 clubs, the District Governor will be supported by Assistant Governors each looking after about 15 clubs. There is also a high likelyhood that professional, paid people will be employed to run the administration. After Darrell explained it, an open ballot was conducted: all members bar 3 were in favour. President Andy thus will submit our vote to district, as requested.
This meeting was also our Annual General Meeting. President Elect Jo Gorman presented her nominations for the incoming board. Nominations for two vacant positions were received and, as is customary, the incoming board and committee chairs for 2018/19 were unanimously elected. Details of the individuals on the board and its committee structure can be downloaded from the Download Section on the right. Jo's concept for 2018/19 is to have quite a small board and individual working committees, a proposal which was well received by the members.
Vocational Service Chair Richard Smith proposed that we are again running a Pride of Workmanship Award presentation, to be held at an evening meeting (most likely the RSL Club) instead of a breakfast meeting, so we can also combine it as a social event. He is looking for nominations - see separate article. Graeme Isaacson is organizing tickets to see Shen Yun, the Chinese Dancing and Entertainment group, on Sunday 21st January. Contact Graeme directly please.