The Rotary Club of Edinburgh
Bulletin 2154 - 12th April 2007
REVIEW
Last Week’s Meeting – Th. 5 April 2007
Having given a collective greeting to a cheerful gathering of 58 members,
two guests and three visiting Rotarians, President Fred extended a special
welcome to Linda Gilmore and Douglas Sutherland recently returned from
the South of France. The grace with which the President formally opened
the meeting had been composed specially for the Rotary Club of Dunbar
and our members were impressed by its warmth and its dignified sincerity.
The visiting Rotarians were heartily welcomed by the President who noted
that two of them, Robin Tatler and Colin Turnbull, are members of the
Scottish club with the longest name - Innerleithen, Walkerburn and Traquair.
The third visitor was Jim Rait, a past President of the Musselburgh Club.
Rotary Friendship Accommodation
A member from Wagga Wagga in Australia is looking for accommodation for himself and his wife for the week from 6-13 June. Please contact Bill Barr.Annual General Meeting
"In terms of By-Law IV and Quorums, Section b), the Annual General Meeting of THE ROTARY CLUB OF EDINBURGH will be held on Thursday, 24 May 2007, immediately after lunch (12.30 for 1.00 p.m.) in The Carlton Hotel, North Bridge, Edinburgh.Nominations are required for the Nominations Committee for the Rotary year starting 1 July 2007. Nominations should be signed by the proposed candidate as well as by the Proposer and Seconder and be in the hands of the Club Secretary by Thursday, 3 May 2007."
District Council Meeting
Members are reminded that they are welcome to attend meetings of the District Council, the next of which will be held at Lockerbie on Sunday 29 April. Members wishing to attend are requested to contact Bill Barr.Zone Meeting, 2 April.
Sandra Campbell presented a brief but informative report on the Zone Meeting on 2 April which she had attended as one of our Club’s representatives.Among subjects discussed were the provision of Rotary notice boards at Edinburgh Airport and Leith Ocean Terminal and the disappearance of two important pieces of Rotarian silverware for curling.
Charity Concert, Cramond Kirk, 9 May
As part of its promotion of closer Italo-Scottish links our Club is presenting a “Musical Treat from Italy” by Francesco Attesti (Piano) and Annika Kaschenz (Soprano) in Cramond Kirk at 6.45 for 7.30 p.m. on Wed 9 May. Tickets, including a glass of wine, £15, (under-16s: £7.50). All proceeds to Rotary and musical charities. Contact Melinda Wallace, 467 7550, (9-5 Mon to Fri.), or John Havard, 667-2107.
The Edinburgh Award.
It was intimated that the Edinburgh Award for 2007 had gone to the novelist Ian Rankin. Our distinguished Honorary Member Sir Peter Heatly was our Club’s nominee for the award and all members are grateful to him for kindly agreeing to be our candidate. The award is given to the Edinburgh citizen who has done most to enhance our city’s prestige during the year and Sir Peter would have been an eminently worthy recipient.Vivant Piscatores !
Piscator Maximus (a.k.a. George Holmes) reports that in 2006 our Piscatorians enjoyed a very happy and successful angling season. On 27 March they held their Annual Dinner at which the annual competition for the Piscatorian Plaque was held. This is awarded each year for the best story told during the dinner and for 2007 the winner was Alistair Beattie. New members are very welcome. Contact George Holmes.Attendance at Club Meetings.
Our Attendance Convenor, Forbes Ridland spoke briefly but forcefully about the attendance of our members at Club meetings. He regretted that this was below the Scottish average and hoped that members would carefully study the attendance statistics which were posted on the Club notice board. He offered some speculations as to why our attendance record is poorer than that of some other clubs and declared his firm conviction that it could and should be better.Guest Speakers: Kate Mavor & Calum MacLeod
Kate Mavor has been the Chief Executive of Project Scotland since its
foundation in 2005 and is a very impressive lady. With almost missionary
fervour she gave us an inspiring account of the origins, structure, and
objectives of Project Scotland. Its essential purpose is the rehabilitation
of young people in Scotland who have for any reason become alienated from
Society and to restore their self esteem by engaging them as volunteers
in important clearly defined social and charitable projects to which they
are carefully matched. Her admirably lucid power-point presentation showed
how, from its beginning, Project Scotland has caught the imagination of
young people so that it now has a clientele of more than 1200 – and
this is growing fast. The majority of these volunteers are aged between
16 and 25 and nearly 75% have experience of social deprivation. Project
Scotland involves them in voluntary projects which have a worthwhile purpose
and thereby restores motivation and self-respect. It is actively supported
by more than 60 Edinburgh business organisations which provide a variety
of opportunities for young people enrolled in it and it has received considerable
help from Rotary.
Our subsidiary guest speaker was Calum MacLeod who left school two years
ago without any educational qualifications or career ambitions but whose
sense of self-worth has been restored through Project Scotland. He spoke
of the opportunities he had been given through his voluntary involvement
with a number of projects and described how he had developed an interest
in journalism which resulted in his appointment as Editor of the Project
Scotland News Letter.
Kate Mavor ended the presentation on a highly optimistic note sounded
by the dramatic expansion of Project Scotland over a short time span and
emphasised how its success depended fundamentally upon close partnership
between its protégés and their mentors.
Our speakers filled their audience with admiration for the aims, ideals
and achievements of Project Scotland and this was splendidly expressed
by Judith Sischy in her gracious and apposite proposal of a vote of thanks
to them.