Plan B came together in the end!
After finding out that RYLA attendee Megan Wolak could not make the meeting at 2:00pm the previous day I approached Bo Burns to be our guest speaker to tell is about what was happening with Times Online following her acquisition of the digital assets of Times Media group. She agreed at 830am on Tuesday and then finally arrived at the meeting at 5:54pm. Not good for stress levels!
It was a pleasure to welcome Bo to our meeting and thank her for attending at such short notice. It was also great to see Gavin Green and Ann Nicholls with us.
Before beginning her story of the acquisition Bo commented extremely favourably on the underappreciated work that Howick Rotary along with other service clubs do for the community. As one of our Local Board members she commended us to make a presentation to the Local Board to make them more aware of the large footprint of good works that the club undertakes in both the local and international community.
Bo’s interest in the Times can be traced back to an early start to her career as she worked there in her second job. She also came back to Times after spending time working overseas. Overall, she has worked in brand marketing/media for over 20 years. With this background and having a passion for her community, which she was born into, raised and educated, seeing the Time Media Group go into liquidation was a wakeup call. She had to do something to preserve this essential voice of the local community. So, she purchased the digital assets from the liquidator.
From here Times became an online newspaper with news being constantly updated daily as well as then developing a bi-monthly subscriber issue which was extremely successful as this could be downloaded and printed so subscriber could read a hard copy at their leisure.
In telling us the story she applauded the amazing work that Raey and Brian Neben (our PHF’s) had put into developing such a wonderful local media asset that had become the voice of the community. She also recognized that she could not have done it without the support of the staff that joined her on the journey.
Bo completed her presentation by revealing that Times would be back in print by the end of the week with an initial print run of 40000 copies that will be available from various pick up and dispenser points throughout the community. We were sworn to secrecy and “Bo on the Go” (her nick name) was true to her word as the Times print version was available on Friday.
The raffle winners were –
Have a Go 1st Pat Abercrombie 2nd Garry Donoghue
New World Geoff Thompson and John Savory
Social Committee Director Glenice Yeoman has asked us to prioritize our preferences for various exciting social activities which we will no doubt hear more about in the future.
Regular stand in Sergeant Steve did another good job however we are all probably wishing Mike A a speedy recovery and quick return to avoid more “punny” moments!
Take Care and Keep Well
Rob Mouncey
President
