The Rotary Club of Howick Inc.
Good Afternoon to my fellow Rotary Club members, I hope that you all have stayed safe and well over the past few months. Covid-19 has disrupted, for a long time now, not only Rotary but also our private lives and all that we do on a day to day basis.
I apologize for taking so long to pen a letter to you all. My year did not start well with my sister passing away in late February in Brisbane and my having to safely get there and back before lock down.
Also my mother in law passed away on the 9th of April. This was a hard time for the family as, due to the Covid-19 level 3 lock down conditions, we could not put her to rest and the family could not be at home to be with Dad and Lynne. It was hard for us all as Covid-19 level 3 was not much better and especially as Dad was annoyed that he could not go anywhere.
Never mind all is good now and Lynne and I are going up north to visit Dads cousins this week.
Can I take this opportunity to thank the Club and all of you for your support over the last few months, it was and is very much appreciated by both Lynne and I.
I thank you for allowing me, to once again, represent you as the President of The Rotary Club of Howick for the 2020 /21 year.
My theme for my year is Communication.
I personally think that It is time that we should try to get the local Community Papers and Business’s to get behind and support our Club. We do currently support some of the local schools and I hope that they are starting to see the benefits of that support, and I hope that in my year we see those schools getting behind and supporting us.
Over the last year we have seen a lot of changes in the Club with a change of venue and changing to bi-weekly meetings.
And as it might be better having Club meetings every 2 weeks, it seems that our support for the community projects that we participate, as well as other organized projects are not as well patronized by our members as they could be.
Some projects that we run year on year have the same people on the committees and we should be training up other members to take over from them. I also feel that the club members are not asked to help and get behind and support projects until the last minute.
How many of our members know that we have and how to access the Keyway, Club Runner, the Web Page and Facebook, and how to use these mediums? I think that in my year we could have some educational meetings to address this.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people that said yes to being on the board for 2020/21 year. I know that we will have a fun year and that we also have a lot to get through.
I apologize to the people that are running projects such as Keyway, Fun Run, Bookaramma, Club Runner, Attendance, Club Liaison and The Howick Colonial Village for leaving you in the same positions as you currently are. This is only for the time being and is due to time constraints caused by Covis-19 and the events in my personal life. We can address any changes that are required in the near future.
I will be asking the Club members to think about where we are going as a club and where they would like us to be in the coming year.
One of my tasks as President will be to look at finding Cub members to take over or assist in the Clubs Committees etc. and get a succession plan for the Secretary and Treasurer of the club.
The incoming Board would like their fellow members not only to think about where they can help but PUT YOUR HANDS UP and volunteer. It is very hard and disappointing making phone calls and getting No as an answer.
I look forward to seeing you all at our Change over meeting on the 23rd of June 2020 which will be at the Howick Bowling Club
Yours in Rotary 2020/21
Gavin Green
President Elect