Lunchtime meeting notes – 31st January 2017

President:  Patrick Staines
Duty Host:   Peter Richards
Cashiers: Tim Willis & Jeremy Knight
Members: 25
Guests:  None

Non apologies: None

Presidents introduction

Welcome to Guests:  None

Greeting from other clubs:  None

Members welfare:  

 Today’s speakers:  Com Voc

Next meeting:  Charity Night: This will be on Friday 3rd February this year at the Evesham Rowing Club, to raise awareness of the charities being funded this year from the club out of mainly the TOL fund raising. The cost for members will be £15 per head. 7pm for a 7.30 meal. This year’s fund was almost as much as Last year. So far we have approximately 60 attendees including some from the Interact groups.

Social Club events:

Foundation celebration Dinner at Raphael’s Restaurant. Friday 17th February 2017 @ 7pm. £16.50 per head.
Skittles match against  Worcester at The Alma in Worcester . Joyce will be hosting this event & all correspondence should be sent to her.

Birthdays: None this week.

AOB

Patrick is doing the pancake competition again this year & would be delighted should anyone want to sponsor him. Form being circulated.
Chris reminded members not to add partners attending meetings as guests but use the tick box below the members own name to avoid confusion over numbers attending.
PHH are having a Fashion show on 10th February to raise money for St. Richards Hospice & Medicines Sans Frontiers.
Sri Lankan Cultural Evening:  To support a project supplying clean water to 7 schools. This will be on Saturday 25th March @7pm in Pershore High School. £15 per ticket to include a 2 course Sri Lankan meal (vegetarian option if requested beforehand), Sri Lankan Entertainment, Raffle & Bar, Fun Quiz. Tickets from crouch148@aol.com or jancrouch46@aol.com .
Rotary Club Lapel Badges: Any members wanting these let me know. I have a small supply available at £2 each.

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Speakers:

Part 1: Richard Stackhouse provided a quick overview of the new summer Dance/auction event to replace the Bridge the Gap event. This will be held at The Beckford Inn in the outdoor marquee for approx. 120 people. Music by The Tim Willis Big Band (or something like that!) Some prize donations have already been donated & more will be sought. The format will be 6.30 for a7pm start. Bubbly/OJ on arrival followed by a 4 course meal.  Likely cost will be £35 per head with £5 going into our charity funds Auction & raffles etc with possibly a well known TV auctioneer personality involved. A follow on meeting to build on the initial ideas will be held on Thursday 2nd February @7pm.

Part 2: Hein provided an overview of the proposed Friends of Rotary.

Aims:

improve contacts with the wider Evesham communities
New membership
Utilise a wider selection of skills available to us to do more & reach more people

We will go on to develop Corporate membership at a later stage.

How will we create & grow this group?

Flyers for members to use
Website
Launch evening events for FoR
PR

Benefits of FoR membership

Opportunity to make a difference in our community
Supporting the community
Teamwork & Fellowship
Website
No fees & no responsibility
Ability to attend 4 regular Rotary meeting per year
Making friends & made to feel valued
Making good use of their skills
Identify projects for them

The Process

Create the interest } - Register interest through website} - Coordinator follow up} - Invite to

attend 1 meeting} - Progress forward} - Club approval regular

Questions from the floor:

David – Consideration for the logistics & capacities for events & venues required.

Francis – Clear criteria for membership needs to be documented.

Patrick – Same approval process as main Rotary Club should be used.

Merlin – Clear definition & process required for Duration, termination required.