The Rotary Club of Edinburgh

Bulletin 2,071 - 11th August 2005

REVIEW

Attendance

Last weeks tally came to 73 when you included 69 of our own members. Our speaker was Eileen Davis; president of the breakfast club, Beth Wilson from Beaufort South Carolina made a second visit to The Balmoral along with Kelly Befus Bain-Ham-Lake Minnesota USA and Josephine Gwim from Seaford Carrum, in Victoria Australia.

Our own visits to other clubs included Fergus Gillies to Glasgow Charring Cross, Harry Bell to Burntisland and Kinghorn (again), and Colin Mackay to Thurso.
The Second Farewell Tour - August 30th.

'Barry Cryer's Second Farewell Tour'! Renowned wit, writer, musician and broadcaster, Barry Cryer together with pianist and songwriter Colin Sell have both most generously donated their services for a special performance for Edinburgh Rotarians and friends in aid of President Judith's chosen charities. On the evening of August 30th, hopefully at 6.30 pm at the Balmoral Hotel.

Barry and Colin will treat us to an entertainment of about 45 minutes featuring jokes, songs and the devastating 'one liners' for which Barry is justly famous. Drinks and canapés will be served before and after the performance. This will provide a chance to meet and chat with our guest performers. The ticket price will be approximately £15. You are invited to make a note in your diaries and to invite friends to come along. Please let Judy Kay know your ticket requirements by email to judy@gordon-kay.fsnet.co.uk, by telephone on 0131 662 0247 or at lunchtime meetings.

Return of the Tea Tokens

When you buy your Yorkshire Tea at the knock down priced of £2 from Bill Barr, you are making a donation to Rotary Foundation and this is accredited to Edinburgh Rotary. The Tea Caddy also contains tokens, which can benefit the club when returned to Bill (see small print).

FOCUS

Fred's Great Experiment

This last Sunday was a test for Fred Lawson's theory that we should fund at least a part of our activities from the general public and not the generosity of our members (which none the less is also a part of the grand plan!).

The Asian tsunami at Christmas sparked the idea. The Leith Rotary Club was organised to make a meaningful response. They had invested in tabards, collection buckets, charitable status and street collection permit. Whilst we did our bit and raised a splendid sum, it had to be under the Leith banner. Alex Wilkie and Fred have now made the investment for our Club, which allows for charitable street collections.

The forecast for the great experiment at the Festival Cavalcade on Princes Street was rain, parking chaos, and a bus strike. The Gods favoured us with a nice day and minor obstacles were set aside by the attraction of a parade of all the cast of the Edinburgh Festival. The Rotary float was augmented by our stars including Jenny Ingvarsson as Pooh Bear, Jacqeline Easson, Tigger; Mohindra Dhall, Saint, Sandra Campbell, Dutch Lady, Fred Edwards, mad Scotsman, Fergus Gillies and Alex Wilkie, suave Scotsmen, and Bob McIntyre in a clown costume. They were part of the 28 volunteers to come to aid Fred in proving the great experiment.

The Cavalcade was a great success. Having the Carron suite in the Balmoral was an excellent boost and Gordon Sims, our level headed money counter, reported that the collection raised £1,000. Thanks to all. The Encore is at Christmas.

PRATTLE

Grandpa Day

The end of July saw silver spoons awarded to (and paid for by) John skinner to his new grandson Fergus James Skinner and to James Findlay MacLaren, the grandson of Iain MacLaren.

The JCF Trustees Meeting

President Judith reported that she had attended an "enervating meeting" of the Jubilee Charity Fund Trustees. The new committee are taking a good look at the fund and questioning past practices with a modernising eye to shake things up to make our clubs charity fund be seen to work for our club.

Lamb Shanks for Lunch

A special offer was made to us at our lunch last week, which was duly accepted by our vice-president. That was provided Renato introduced the chef at the Balmoral. Sure enough Chef Bland was standing at the servery door last Thursday when we were treated to huge portions of lamb shank, which were his special offer of the week.

Waters of Loch Uisge Not Yet Water of Life

The waters of Loch Uisge may be surplus to the requirements of Barra in the Hebrides, but Scottish Water is not just about to allow it to be turned into "Whisky Galore". In fact the island whose claim to fame lay in the wreckage of the SS Politician does not make whisky. The loch could of course one day be needed. Ironically this could be if tourists, eager to see the proposed Distillery, swelled the population. Then the loch would become the Water of Life on a dry island.

Stamps from the Isle of Man

This is rather old news left over from the Rotary centenary year. Isle of Man stamps have been specially designed for Rotary and includes the Queen's head. First day covers are available from the Isle of Mann Post Office or through RIBI, and therefore probably through our secretary. The proceeds from the stamps make a donation to RIBI

THIS WEEK'S MEETING

Thursday 11 August 2005: John McGurk
Editor of The Scotsman
Vote of Thanks: Douglas Sutherland

NEXT WEEK'S SPEAKER

Thursday 18 August 2005: Dr Stephen Henderson: Rotary District Governor.
Vote of Thanks:

PREVIEW

Our turn for a talk from the latest District Governor to grace the Rotary Clubs in 1020. This time his home club is Galashiels.