The Rotary Club of Edinburgh
Bulletin 2127 - 5th October 2006
REVIEW
Last Week’s Meeting – 28 September 2006
President Fred opened the meeting with a special welcome to Honorary
Member Sir Peter Heatly who had been in Australia for seven months. A
serious injury had delayed his return but he had made a complete recovery
and this was heartily acclaimed.
The President’s Scottish (Scotch ?) Grace seemed to elevate the spirits
of the entire company of 58 members and one visiting Rotarian including
even your editor on the first day of his 80th year. Our visitor was Olive
Geddes, President of the Edinburgh Waverley Club and President Fred’s
cordial welcome to her included the presentation of the CD of our choristers
singing Scottish songs.
Whisky Miniatures
The President thanked members for their handsome response to his appeal for malt whisky miniatures.Induction of New Member
In formally presenting John Williams for admission to the Club as member No. 161, Keith Frost eloquently summarised his curriculum vitae and made special reference to his successful career as a stockbroker and as an investment manager. Having admitted and welcomed the new member President Fred expressed his confidence that the Club would benefit from John Williams’ professional expertise and experience and emphasised to him the pre-eminence of the ideals of Service and Fellowship amongst the fundamental guiding principles of Rotary.Brian Watt
The speaker was again one of our own members Brian Watt who, from 1973 until his retirement in 2001, was consultant medical microbiologist to the Lothian Health Board. The highlights of his distinguished service in this capacity were concisely described by the President who recalled that since retirement Brian had directed the official enquiry into the Glasgow salmonella infection outbreak and that the recommendations of the Watt Group’s report are a major influence on the control of hospital infection in Scotland.Brian’s subject was “M.R.S.A.” and he started by presenting some of the basic facts about hospital-acquired infection with the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.
There was nothing new about this infection and it was certainly not untreatable although it was a worrying cause of morbidity and mortality. Hospital infection could be caused by many other micro-organisms and it was impossible to banish these and M.R.S.A. completely from the hospital environment. Advances in medical and surgical technology inevitably increased the incidence of hospital acquired infections but reliable statistics were not yet available. Many healthy people were carriers of M.R.S.A. and were at increased risk of M.R.S.A. infection but the true incidence of this was still uncertain.
Hospitals accommodating sick patients were bound to be repositories of infection but there is much more that could and should be done to reduce the danger of the hospital environment. Most importantly the basic principles of hygiene had to be much more rigorously applied even although this will have huge financial implications. It will necessitate the employment of additional medical, nursing and domestic staff and will inevitably reduce the number of patients that can be admitted and treated in any time period.
Hand-washing was a very important anti-bacterial measure but if this was to be done to its optimum effect a junior doctor or nurse would have to spend more than two hours every day washing and drying his or her hands.
Michael Clark’s proposal of a vote of thanks evoked an enthusiastic response and several members stayed on for an informal “question-and-answer” session after the final toast.
The Joint Inner Wheel/Rotary Charity Bridge on Sunday 1 Oct. raised about £400 for Richmond Hope.
A Weekend in Turin (22-24 September)
The other weekend Bill and Marion Cantley with Tim and Susan Simpson joined the Rotary Club of Torino Dora for their annual weekend with three other Continental Rotary Clubs, including the Lyon Club which many of us visited last December for their display of City Lights.We stayed in a brand new Hotel adjoining the Roman remains in the city. When we arrived at about 6 pm on the Friday, there were a host of French faces, many well-known from Lyon. Between us we were able to converse in French, Italian, the occasional English, and “Euro-babble”.
We were greeted in our room with a positive library of guidebooks and brochures, maps and a most professionally presented “Programma”. There were ten productions in all in French and Italian, provided to all 55 couples. Dinner was at a Chateau Restaurant in the hills above the city where we were charmed by our hostess and her guests.
On Saturday we inspected the town which is a Baroque plantation built by the Dukes of Savoy as a Capital City with some 20 kilometres of grand arcades. We rode on a tram and went round the dazzling Museum of Decorative Arts, with gold-mirrored interiors and displays. Lunch was an extensive buffet at the Boat Club, where we enjoyed the company of a small delegation from Barcelona.
Susan and I were also able to visit the Egyptian exhibition, the largest in Europe after Paris and the British Museum. Dinner, this time with everyone together, was in a private Villa, Passatempo that offered decaying elegance.
On Sunday, this time in the French bus, we toured the new Olympic facilities under construction and rode on their teleferique railway up to the Basilica Superga, an architectural jewel, and the church on the hill.
The finale was a buffet lunch in the courtyard of our hotel before the company broke up with a host of new-found friends.