The Rotary Club of Edinburgh
This Week's Bulletin
Bulletin 1,998 - 4th March 2004
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM ON HIGH
Council will meet on 8th March at 6 pm. The Fund Raising Committee will meet on the 15th March. Names to Bill Barr for tour of Rachel House (CHAS) on 24th March. Pres. Neville welcomed Jim Maclachlan back; he drew attention to the obituary for PP Peter Wilson in the Scotsman of 25th Feb; he also stated that 7 members were meeting to catch the 11 am train to Glasgow on March 9th - more welcome; and that the bridge club were meeting on Mar 11th at the Press club for dinner and cards.
ATTENDANCE, Melinda Wallace 79
Members 74, Guests 3, Visiting Rotarians 2: Rosemary Okoli from Aba, Nigeria and Bill Sutherland of St Andrews. Neville led a delegation of 12 members to Leith at Hibs.
RACE NIGHT £2,000 IN FRONT
Alan Hately has organised many race nights for Hibs, Headway and Rotary. On Friday 5th March the venue is Murrayfield Wanderers, 112 Roseburn St. Go through Gate B at the South Stand of the rugby stadium, keeping the railway on the left. Sponsorship to date is £2,000. All horses are sold except for the last race, when they are auctioned. If oversubscribed, then preference is given to those attending. More attendees are needed, so please bring friends along, £10 each. Gifts on the night are welcome for a raffle.
TIM SIMPSON JUGGLES BANNERS
"The exchange of quilted and tasselled silk, bulked with whisky and a CD of Scottish songs (masterfully sung by members) includes that rare commodity, our club banner. Guests struggle with their haul. Maybe a plastic bag emblazoned with our logo would help."
NEW SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
Iain Gray became a Labour MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands in 1999. However, he lost the seat to Tory leader, David McLetchie in 2003 (David had been a list MSP before). Iain is now a special adviser to the Secretary of State, having held Ministerial positions in Health, Justice, Enterprise, Transport and Life Long Learning.
Mr Gray stated he was, and is, pro the Parliament and was very moved at the opening by HM The Queen. He feels the negative publicity regarding the building has inflicted undue damage on the institution. However, it enacts primary legislation, except where powers are reserved to Westminster, whereas the Welsh Assembly passes secondary legislation, all of which goes through Westminster.
The advantage to Scotland is speed. At Westminster maybe 8 Bills were enacted for Scotland over 4 years, whereas now 60 Bills were passed. The first Bill revised the Mental Health Act to close a loophole where legal arguments stated that if a psychiatric prisoner is not treatable, and is therefore not treated, he should not be held. This nonsense would have led to many being released, and was stopped. Also, 500 year old legislation was brought up to date with the Adult Incapacity Act, which is widely used. A draft had previously been prepared for Westminster but never discussed.
There is now closer scrutiny of the £25 billion budget and the legislators are closer to the people. There are 129 MSPs and 150 accredited journalists.
Andrew Gibb thanked Mr Gray, stating that he had given a good sales pitch for the Parliament. Andrew looked forward to the opening of the new building and wondered how much it would cost to build Westminster in today's money. A Nationalist quote outside the building site: "Past imperfect, Present tense, Future perfect." Underneath a wag has written: "Awa 'n' boil yer heid!"
AULD REEKIE FREENS. CURLING
On 12th March, David Henderson and Keith Frost, plus 3 other members from Edinburgh clubs, leave for Minnesota to play in the Friendship Bonspiel, running concurrently with the Rotary World Curling Championship. The famous five ran the 2002 Championships.
SOUTH AFRICA, ROTARY TOUR
The 28th Rotary Friendship Tour of South Africa is being run by Knysna Rotary from 12th to 28th November 2004. Fred and Sue. Lawson went in 2002 and highly recommend it. Contact James Pannell, (Rotary PP), PO Box 444, Knysa, 6570, SA. They are also running a tour to Croatia from Sept. 22 to Oct 6th 2004. www.pannells.com.
99TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROTARY
Rotary was founded by Paul Harris on 23rd Feb 1905 in Chicago, 99 years
ago. On Friday 13th July 1928, Paul Harris and his wife Jean came to a
club lunch in the North British Hotel, Princes St. He made a breezy speech
about progress in Europe. In 1934 they came back to Jean's native city
and Paul sat for a bust by a Somerset Rotarian. He was guest of honour
at the City Chambers for a dinner for all Lord Provosts in Scotland. Paul
attended two weekly club lunches at the NB.