The Rotary Club of Edinburgh

This Month's News

Bulletin 1933 - 23rd January 2003
Bulletin 1932 - 23rd January 2003
Bulletin 1931 - 16th January 2003
Bulletin 1930 - 9th January 2003

Bulletin 1933 - 30th January 2003

CAR PARKING

Members are warned not to park their cars in the street beside the hotel. Several members have already been booked and last week the car of one of our members was almost taken to the pound.

NEW MEMBER

Gloria Duncan
Induction Date, 23 January 2003
Club Number, 166

AQUABOXES

When there is an emergency anywhere in the world it is possible to respond quickly by providing people with the necessary tool and clothing in Aquaboxes until aid is organised.
At present we have in stock a surplus of quite a few articles and as we have several boxes bought ready to fill members will be asked to donate the missing articles. Members will be asked to take a sealed envelope in which will be listed an article or articles required. If anyone finds it impossible to supply the article it is suggested that they swap with someone else. Only good second hand (or new) articles are required and only the article described in the envelope.

Articles will be collected on the date detailed in the envelope.
This is an extremely good way of carrying out service to others and your co-operation is very much appreciated.

CHANGE OF VENUE

Members are asked to note that on 6th February the Club Meeting will be held in the Thistle Hotel, King James Centre; and on 13th February the meeting will be in the Carrubers Restaurant, Crowne Plaza Hotel.

LAST WEEK

Attendance Last Week
Members 86
Visitors 0
Guests 5
Total 91

Our speaker last week Brigadier Charles Ritchie provided members with a humorous description of his life in the Army and in particular of his escapades in Africa.
Brigadier Ritchie was born in Inverness and had received a classical army education, Wellington College, Sandhurst, Shrivenham, Camberley before being commissioned in the Royal Scots.

He described his nightmare experiences in Nigeria where the term Airport Landing Charges have a completely different meaning from that in the U.K. On his last visit to Nigeria he had been very fortunate in that the flight he had been meant to take from Lagos to Kaduna had crashed and everyone on board had died. He described how he had been the founder of the Gambian Navy and his delight in telling his US counterpart who had to seek Presidential permission to deploy troops in Gambia that in the UK they delegated that to a Colonel.

On one occasion he was told that to have an audience with the King of an African country he would have to crawl along the floor as no one was allowed to be higher than the King. He naturally refused and it was resolved that the King would leave the room while he entered and was seated.

COINCIDENCE

Bill Cantley's father-in-law, John MacLaren was a member of our Club from 1958 until 1965 He resigned because he thought he was too old for Rotary. He had been auditor for many years and had to deal with many Treasurers, including Fred Ainslie.

He still has a healthy interest in our affairs and is supplied with our Bulletin by Bill.
John has noticed that President Peter lives in the house previously owned by James Mackenzie of the North British Cold Storage and Ice Co Ltd, a great curler and President of the Club in 1958/59.

ROYAL GALA DINNER

HRH the Princess Royal will attend the Royal Gala Dinner of British Executive Service Overseas, BESO at the Hub Edinburgh on 6th March at 7pm.The money raised will be used to send BESO volunteers overseas.

Tickets cost £50 per guest. Anyone interested contact Iain J McConnell, BESO Director, Scotland on 01620810588

Bulletin 1932 - 23rd January 2003

CHRISTMAS PARCELS 2002

A total of £1107 was collected from 'muggings' plus the buffet lunch with a further £500 being contributed later. The cost of parcels invoiced by Raymond Pia was £1100. 204 parcels were distributed, 160 to individual recipients with the balance to groups. e.g. Bethany Christian Trust. The numbers offering to deliver was unfortunately down from 43 to 34, which meant delivering 4 parcels and in some cases 5 or 6. Many letters of thanks were received and those delivering also had grateful thanks expressed.
One lady wrote "I am writing to thank you for your gift parcel. My cupboard was bare, but now quite full. Everything looks so nice. I am a pensioner of 96".
Thanks to Raymond Pia and his staff and all who helped in the distribution and organisation.

LAST WEEK

Attendance Last Week:
Members 75
Visitors 0
Guests 2
Total 77

Dick Allan announced the sale of Valentine Cards to fund cataract operations in India and Africa. Cards cost £15 each from Dick.
The Quiz Team, Capt. C Rodger, N. Belton, J Murray and R Allison had won the second round tie v Portobello by 30-22 pts.
Sandra Campbell was the new Club Service Convenor, replacing Lesley Telfer.
The Club Assembly will be held at our usual venue on 19th June with the meal at
6 pm followed by the Meeting at 7pm. There will be no mid-day meeting.
At the Meeting on 30th January the prizes in the KIDS OUT Photographic Competition will be presented by Tom Farmer to Ed Lucas and Piershill School.
Council has accepted with regret the resignation from 30th June of Past President and District Governor Bill Rutherford. Bill has given a long and distinguished service to Rotary and we wish him well when he joins his new Club, Longniddry.
Spoons for grandchildren will now bear the Rotary crest. The cost will be £15 including a £5 donation to a childrens'charity.

CLUB ASSEMBLY

Ian Gilmour outlined the aims and history of the Jubilee Charity Fund (JCF). Founded in 1962 to mark the Foundation of the Club and "to put the funds on a firm footing instead of passing the hat round". In the first 25 years £28,000 was raised and in the second 25, £80,000.

The JCF is a Registered Charity and there are 10 trustees,(6 are'ordinary' members'). Donations are made to charities and also to individuals embarking on charitable projects. In future donations will be published in the Bulletin. Members are asked to give to the JCF using Gift Aid when paying their subscription.

Bob Hislop told members about Crisis Fair Share, (CFS) a charity supported by the JCF. The charity runs two hostels in Edinburgh plus helping the homeless. Food nearing its 'use-by' date is donated by firms e.g. M&S and is refrigerated overnight at Leith prior to sorting and distribution to the hostels the following day. They have only one van and that is due for replacement. A new van will cost approx. £20,000 and £12,500 has already been raised with £5,000 from the JCF. It is hoped that the new van will be available by the end of March.
Jacqueline Easson, described the proposed CSF fund raising event to be held at QMC on 12th April. There will be a Rotary inter-club cooking competition followed by a ceilidh. Competitors will cook a dinner for 40 people from basic ingredients supervised by a chef. Tickets are £20 each.

Volunteers are required for the Edinburgh team and donations of gifts for the Draw.
Linda Gilmore talked about two of the projects of the International Service Ctee.
30 visitors from Fiesole will be visiting on 27-29th March. Volunteers are required to host visitors for dinner on the evening of 27th March. On 28th March there will be a visit to St. Andrews followed by a Gala Dinner.

Linda also briefly described our joint project with Rockland, 'SAWATAN', safe water for Tanzania. This 2 year project will involve drilling a deep bore hole on the outskirts of Dar-es-Salaam and ensuring the delivery of clean water.

Many of the people of Dar-es-Salaam suffer from diarrhoea every week through drinking contaminated water and it is hoped that this project will eradicate the source of the problem.

Bulletin 1931 - 16th January 2003

LAST WEEK

Some of us noticed prior to the start of the meeting David Kirkwood approaching President Peter with a mysterious looking parcel from which he drew out a glittering new chain of office that he placed on our President's shoulders.
Later during the meeting President Peter thanked David for making the new chain, which he thought, was even more magnificent than its predecessor.

Attendance Last Week
Members 96
Visitors 0
Guests 1
Total 97

Just short of the magic100 but there is still time before the end of the month.
President Peter congratulated those present on achieving 100% attendance in 2003.
President Peter read out excerpts from two
letters he had received, first, Christmas Greetings from former member Pru Bean, second from the Royal Society for the Relief of Indigent Gentlewomen for the gift of Christmas parcels, which had been much, appreciated.
Reference was also made to the appearance of two of our members, Carol Duffus and Andrew Gibb, in the choir at the Annual Christmas Concert at the Usher Hall and also to the winning photograph by Ed Lucas of KIDS OUT in the current issue of 'Rotary' magazine. President Peter announced that Ed had very generously donated his part of the prize to the Club.
George Holmes announced that 89 tickets had been sold for the Burn's Supper. (Max. attendance 100)
The Rev. Charles Robertson will propose the Immortal Memory, the Toast to the Lasses will be proposed by Iain MacLaren and Fergus Gillies will recite 'Tam o' Shanter and there will also be the traditional musical entertainment.

The speaker last week was Professor Juliet Cheetham, Director, Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling, and Social Work Commissioner, Mental Health Commission for Scotland.
At the start of her talk Professor Cheetham stated that she had told Iain MacLaren that she did not do humour and that if that was what Iain wanted he should try harder and get Billy Connelly!
Despite this Professor Cheetham proceeded to give those present a most interesting account of the work of the Mental Health Commission in Scotland.
The Commission is a Statutory Body and it tries to see public issues through a personal perspective.
1 in 4 people in Scotland have had a diagnosis of mental illness and 2/3rds of the population have experience of someone with a mental illness or learning disability.
She said that there was still a stigma attached to mental illness and that its causes were many and complex (many people interviewed said that they would be uncomfortable living next door to someone with a mental illness).
Professor Cheetham said that there was improved knowledge of the aetiology of mental illness and that advances in medication had lead to spectacular improvements in treatment but in many cases there were still problems with side effects. There was still much to be done in helping people to regain their self-esteem e.g. by gaining employment and a reasonable income.
Scotland at present has one of the highest suicide rates of young men in W. Europe and there has been a rise of 75% since the 1970's. There was still a lack of funding, poor facilities, extreme pressure on GP.s and poor discharge programmes.
Recent legislation by the Scottish Executive will help;
The Adult Incapacity Act
The Mental Health Bill
and the fact that now nothing can be done if not to the benefit of the patient.
Professor Cheetham concluded by saying that in the future there would be more talk, more openness, higher expectations; expect the best and demand it from your MSP.

50th ANNIVERSARY DINNER

The Bathgate Rotary Club are holding their 50th Anniversary Dinner on Friday 4th April 7 for 7.30 pm at the Hillcroft Hotel, Whitburn.
Dress Formal, Tickets £28 each
Further details from Hon. Secretary,
Jack Veitch, 'Knowegate' Marjoribanks Street, Bathgate, EH48 1BG
Tel 01506 631014

Bulletin 1930 - 9th January 2003

LAST WEEK

Attendance Last Week:
Members 78
Visitors 3
Guests 9
Total 90

January is normally the month with the highest attendance of members, it is hoped that we can break the magic 100 mark again in January 2003.
Our speaker last week, Peter Yeoman, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, Historic Scotland gave a most interesting talk on the excavations currently being undertaken at Cadzow Castle near Chatelherault on the outskirts of Hamilton.
He started by telling us that he had been involved in the 1980's in excavations associated with the old city walls that ran under the room in which we were meeting.
He pointed out the importance of Cadzow Castle that for years had been a grass covered mound in a gorge on the River Avon. Unlike most medieval castles Cadzow was not prominent but hidden and was a comfortable home with tapestries and latrines.
It was built around 1520 by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, 'the Bastard of Arran' and a distant cousin of James V. Sir James was also responsible for nearby Craignethan Castle. Cadzow had a short life as it was destroyed in 1579 in a siege during the campaign against Mary Queen of Scots.
Mr Yeoman produced a musket ball and a sample of one of the 800 fragments of 'Fashionable Floor Tiles' stamped with J&M love knots found at the site. The site is closed for the winter but members are welcome to visit in May/June 2003.
Last week saw President Peter showing the appreciation of the Club members to the staff of the hotel when he handed over a cheque to a representative of the staff.

CURLING

The first half of the season, where rinks compete for the League Trophy, was closely contested and the winner (by half a point) was the rink skipped by Robin White.
The Mini League, in which all four new members are doing well, ends in mid-January and will be followed by a Knockout competition.
Members compete in new rinks for the Tyne Trophy that will be completed on 1st April to be followed by the AGM and the Annual Dinner to which all members are invited.
As usual the season has been highly competitive and played in the best tradition of Rotary fellowship.

RECEPTION DUTIES

Four members currently involved in Reception Duties have indicated that they wish to stand down and replacements are being sought. This is an excellent way to get to know your fellow members and meet visiting Rotarians.
Anyone interested is asked to contact Sandra Campbell.

MEMBERS E-MAILS

Secretary John Havard hopes to be able to use member's e-mails to send routine Club circulars. If you would be willing to receive Club e-mail in this way (and if you have not received an e-mail from the Secretary recently) please can you let John Harvard have your e-mail address on jhavard@compuserve.com.

CHRISTMAS PARCELS

Many thanks to all those members who delivered Christmas parcels; their help was much appreciated .Thanks also to Feroz Wadia and the organisers.

Other News:

- October  '03
- September '03
- August '03
- July '03
- June '03
- May '03
- April '03
- March '03
- February '03
- January '03
- December '02
- November '02
- October '02
- September '02