The Rotary Club of Edinburgh
Bulletin 2,069 - 28th July 2005
REVIEW
Attendance
The Rotary visitors to our Club last week were Doug Forsyth, a past president of the Selkirk Club and also our speaker. His subject was Group Study Exchange, a project that he has improved and modified. We also had a visit from Beth Wilson of Beaufort South Club in South Carolina. Our own visits included Andrew Anderson to Helensburgh, Jacqueline Easson to Corstorphine Wendy Goldstraw to Longniddry and Neville Belton to Edinburgh Waverley. With our visitors and ourselves attendance reached 72.
Subscription Discount
The end of the month is drawing near. That means that the Treasurer's discount rate for subscriptions for club membership is also just about due to end. To take advantage of the discount, you should let Alan Young have your cheque by this weekend.
Festival Cavalcade
The Balmoral Hotel has offered us the use of The Carron Suite in the Hotel on Sunday 7 August for those who wish to change to help with the collections at the Cavalcade. This will be particularly helpful for those who are dressing up in costume on the day.
The idea is for people to meet up at the Balmoral on the Sunday and to start collections at the Waverley Market, possibly with the aid of the shelter box and tent. The group would then join up with the Rotary Float for the procession down Prince's Street before returning to The Balmoral Hotel.
Rotary Statistics
Dick Allan has been scouring the details of Rotary Clubs throughout the UK. He has discovered that the principal club in London now has 144 members. As such the London Club is the largest Club in England, but not quite in the UK. Our latest total was 145, which makes Edinburgh, the largest Rotary Club in the UK by just a whisker.
FOCUS
The End of July is Jazz Time in the City
Give yourself a lift and enjoy the atmosphere in the centre of Edinburgh this weekend. Some of it is free. (Or at least that is what we waste our rates on.) Saturday sees Mardi Gras in the Grassmarket. A New Orleans flavour is set with about a dozen bands from the Southern States and Caribbean parading from the City Chambers down Victoria Street to the Grassmarket. They are accompanied by a colourful display of parasols, and you might enjoy the brolly-dollies twirling the umbrellas too!
Also free is the opening event for Sunday at the Ross Bandstand in Princes
Street Gardens. This brings together another array of professional talent
and also our own Edinburgh Schools Jazz Band.
As you can see we are coming up to the season of special cultural events in Edinburgh. Apart from the Festival itself with serious music and ballet, exhibitions and fringe shows, we have the book festival to look forward to. But the season kicks off with a week of jazz which runs from Friday 29th. July to Monday 7th. August.
The jazz, possibly more than any of the other Festivals, is the opportunity to take up the ideas put forward by Alessandro D'Aleo. and his Arts Committee. They would like to encourage us to enjoy the various programmes of events in groups. This allows discussion and the informal nature of a jazz evening may lead to looking at unfamiliar arts programme in the company of a knowledgeable member of the club.
There is an international flavour this year stretching beyond the USA. According to the programme sponsored by Starbucks Coffee, Sweden is in the forefront of European jazz with exciting adaptations of traditional and folk music. They are also into bebop, swing and are enjoying experimentation. Napier University have also joined in with an intensive course for musicians in the theory and technique of jazz improvisation.
PRATTLE
What Price a Silver Dollar?
Down under they have struck Rotary centenary silver dollars with the usual Queen's portrait on the heads side and a Rotary wheel on the reverse side. The inscription reads "a century of service - a new century of success" One might naively believe that there is more than one Australian dollar to the pound. Not so, this weighty silver disc sells at $75.90, unless you wish 100 in which case they are $52.80, this must be the privileged Rotary exchange rate, which applies to Aussies and Pomes alike.
The Mythical Cook Book is out
Like magic or is it rather a slow boil dish, at any rate Jacqueline Easson's collection of recipes is now out. Reading them through, there are some unusual and outstanding contributions as well as some homely simple dishes. The contributors include two professional cooks (and there may be more) - Judy Robertson and Alastair Risk of Queen Margaret College. The Book is an attractive addition to the Kitchen shelf and is worth the £10 cover charge. Your purchase of the cookbook will also make a significant contribution to our funds.
"Fish Stocks Conserved by Piscatorians:
Seven members of the Piscatorians fished Butterstone Loch, near Blairgowrie all day on Friday, 22nd July. The weather was a high-summer day and perfect for a splendid outing to the country. The Landscape setting was superb. The Fellowship was also fine and the Lunch was excellent. The company became well lubricated with bright conversation. In short, the outing was a great success, enjoyed by all.
There was just one small thing, - NO FISH!
The Piscatorians are in fine heart but need a new secretary. Applications for the post to George Holmes please). Future Prospects: Loch Eddy, and Cobbinshaw Loch in Sept/October; Club Dinner and Prize giving in Jan. 2006." George.
THIS WEEK'S SPEAKER
Thursday 28 July 2005: Sally Anne Hunter,
The Caledonian Challenge
Vote of Thanks: to be announced
NEXT WEEK'S SPEAKER
Thursday 4 August 2005: Eileen Davis,
Topic - seizing opportunities
Vote of Thanks: to be announced
PREVIEW
Eileen Davis, who is the Principal of St Margaret's School. She is also
the President of the Edinburgh Breakfast Club