A Ghostly Get-together at the Victoria Golf Club

HAPPY HALLOWEEN MARY

We figured this would be a spooky 5th meeting of the month when we were met at the door by Brian wearing Mary's weird and wonderful witch's hat. Once inside, the anthem was not required, which was just as well as President Joan’s first announcement was that our regular pianist Tom Lidkea, recently had surgery. Hopefully you are healing quickly, Tom. 

Announcements: 

1. The bike racks, which are a club Community Service Committee Project, will be dedicated in Uplands Park on Sunday, November 4^th at 10:00. Chris Hyde-Lay, the Oak Bay Parks' manager will say a few words in recognition of our donation. 

2. Several more members have ordered those spiffy OBR vests. If you decide you want one, email Joan Peggs and she will place another order - they're $35. 

3. On a sad note, Joan informed the club that former Oak Bay Rotary Club Past-President Nels Granewall died last Tuesday.

Guests: 

There were several invited guests at today’s meeting: Flora King, Rita Estock, Tara Douglas, Alison Hawksworth, Ruthie Tiessen, Natalya Parsons and Tim and Heather Travers, all guests of Joan Peggs. Jim Force and Mark Bedford brought their wives, Colleen and Josephine. 

The Golf Club chef treated us to a tasty spiced-chicken dish served on a small spinach salad. The dainty chocolate-filled cookies were tempting too.

Our speaker, John Adams, was introduced by Hans. John, at right sporting an appropriately spooky tie, is one of Victoria’s leading historians and story tellers. Our city is believed to be the most haunted in the country. He spoke of two of the most well known haunted spots in Victoria, one of them being very close to where we were sitting. In September 1936, a woman  named Doris Gravlin was murdered by her husband at the Victoria Golf Club. He strangled her on the 7^th Fairway and then dragged her body down to the beach, covering her with logs and driftwood. He was found nearby four weeks later after apparently having committed suicide. Her shoes and hat were in his pockets, and so, the story goes, the case was closed. The ghost of Doris has been spotted wandering the 7th Fairway in several mystical apparitions: in an all-white dress, as a floating mist, and various other phantasmal phorms. Her most common manifestation has her wearing a brown 30s-style tailored suit. She has been known to cause problems on Beach Drive, sometimes walking into the traffic, and occasionally appearing in a vehicle beside the driver. John also told the story of Tod House, located at 2564 Heron Street near Willows Beach. It was built in 1851 by John Tod, the former Chief Fur Trader with the HBC. Since 1929 various owners of the house have complained of ghostly activities and many other unexplained events. John demonstrated how to recognize the energy our bodies generate. In the photo below, some of us are really getting into "feeling the energy".

David Sills gave a hearty thanks to ghost-story-teller extraordinaire, John Adams. There is a story about the ghosts of the Victoria Golf Club on the front page of today's (Wednesday, October 31) Oak Bay News.

HAVE A TOE-TAPPIN' HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Reported  by Lynne M.

Assembly and more... October 23, 2012

President Joan started the meeting at 12:30 as we had a jam-packed agenda.

Past-District Governor Joan Firkins introduced the following guests: May Croft, guest and mother of Tom Croft, Maness Samuel, APU graduate, Christie Johnson of Peason College, Janet Welham Interact Liaison hosted by Ron Cooley, and Moira Hall, Samarah Johnson and Rain Smith all Oak Bay Interact Students hosted by Heather Aked.

Health of the Club: Mary Canty informed the club that Lori McLeod’s father passed away and that a condolences' card was being passed around for everyone to sign. Joan Peggs mentioned that she visited Ted Harrison, but wasn’t sure he recognized her.

Announcements: Perry Bamji informed the Club that we have collected $667 worth of pennies which will be matched if sent to Rotary Foundation by both the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation thus bringing the total to roughly $2000. He encouraged members to keep bringing in their pennies and to solicit pennies from colleagues at work.

Heather Aked reminded us that next week is our Social meeting at the Victoria Golf Club where our speaker Don Addams will be telling us ghost stories. If you haven’t done so please sign up with Brian Lamb bjlamb@kpmg.ca if you plan to attend. Cost is $20.

Fines Master: Vicky Pitt handed out a few interesting fines today. First was to those women who at one time in their lives had to wear stockings held up by garter belts. The second fine was to men who enjoyed the advent of the mini skirt. A few other fines were imposed and then followed up with happy and sad dollars.

Happy and Sad Dollars: Tom Croft let us know the lost “flags” had been found. Ron Cooley realized that his whining about doing extra work on the Merrython fundraiser was nothing compared to the work some others on the committee were doing. He congratulated them all. Heather passed out fliers related to Guide Dogs and informed us that we will be having a speaker in the new year talking about the guide dog program. She is also off to Vegas and promises to pass some of her winnings to Polio Plus. Perry noted that his sister passed away.

Birthdays – past and present: Donna, Lori, Peter Sou, Emma and Rod. Only Rod was present today so we sang him Happy Birthday.

Club Anniversaries: Hans has been a member of our club for 10 years and a Rotarian for 38 years – WOW! Mary, Jerry and Corey have been members for 11, 7 and 3 years respectively.

Speaker: Christie Johnson introduced Maness Samuel (right), an APU graduate from the first graduating class of the Malawi Girls School. Maness was the head girl for each of the four years she attended the school. She is currently a student at Pearson College.

There is nothing that is more rewarding and heart and soul rendering than to see and hear this lovely young woman who has reaped the benefits of the support and generosity of so many of our club members and our club in general. The title of Maness’ presentation was Giving Girls a Voice and a Choice.

She was extremely grateful for all the support she has received for it has allowed her to learn and know what it means to be a woman as a whole and worthy human being. Being able to attend the APU Girls School has provided her with opportunities for hope for a future in which she has both a choice and a voice.

Maness’ presentation focused on 3 key points: 1) Happiness and hope about the future, 2) Giving girls a choice and a voice and 3) changing girls’ perspectives of what it means to be a woman.

The next step for the school is to build a teacher training college as there are few opportunities for employment for women. However, there is a shortage of female teachers across the country. They expect to have the college operational by 2014.

In closing she mentioned that all this was only made possible through our support and she thanked us for that and reminded us that “if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.

Tricia Timmermans thanked Maness.

Club Assembly

Canada Flag Fundraiser: Jim Laing and Jim Force presented the current state of the Canada Flag fundraiser. The following club members make up the “flag team”: Jim and Jim co-chairs, Jack Petrie as sales captain, Don O’Coffey as Placement Captain, Will Carter as Storage Manager, Tricia Timmermans as PR liaison with PR Committee, Rod Sims as Project Treasurer.

Tricia passed around sample brochures for folks viewing pleasure. We expect to have 1000 brochures printed by the end of November. We will start sales to club member in mid-January and to the public the first of March. The Edmonton Club has generously donated 100 flags, poles and spikes to get us started. This is close to a $5,000 donation. We expect to receive the flags by mid-January.

International Report: John Jordan presented the International report. John reminded us that the heart of Rotary is in assisting the less fortunate with the purpose of creating a fair and better world. He outlined the Rotary vision for international development as follows: 1) build sustainable lives, 2) develop partnership in which there is an investment in the future, and 3) maintain patience and respect for those with whom we work. John also mentioned our 5 international projects that current club members are directly involved with. They include projects in Mexico, Guatemala, India, Malawi and Rwanda. At this past year’s District Convention our club was awarded the Fred Olson International Service Award.

Financial Report: Anne Sims provided a handout with the July to September financial numbers. In brief, our total revenue amounts to $16,147, while our expenditures amount to $15,998. Our estimated revenue for this Rotary is budgeted for $57,000. So get out there and help fundraise, for without funds we can’t provide the services we hope to.

PR Report: The focus of Perry Bamji’s report was on Knowledge Management. Perry informed us that the function of Knowledge Management is “information dissemination.” He outlined 5 steps in this process: 1) capturing information, 2) organizing information, 3) storing information, 4) diffusing information and 5) utilizing information. He mentioned that the Club has several Preferred Practices documents, which can be found on our Club website, that describe how the various processes of the Club function. He encouraged committee chairs to pay attention to these documents as they provide valuable information.

Closure: President Joan closed the meeting with God Save the Queen.

Meeting of October 16, 2012 Trekking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

President Joan suggested reading this article on How The Taliban Is Thwarting The War On Polio

Meeting of October 16, reported by Wendy Townsend

     President Joan Peggs called the meeting to order and bravely started off our National anthem, sans piano. As a group our a cappella could use a little work, but we got it done! Dallas Chapple provided the Invocation.

Ron Cooley introduced our visiting Rotarians: Bonnie Goodwin and Ramona Kaptan from White Rock Rotary Club and John Samsom visiting from Harbourside. Next the guests were introduced: Nalin Dhillon (guest of John Jordan – Rotaract), Flo-Elle Watson and Lainey Clark (guest of Bonnie Goodwin) and Sharon Hall (guest of Heather Aked).

     President Joan shared with us a lovely collection of photos in a slide show commemorating Mary Canty's 90^th birthday celebration held October 13, 2012. She extended our best wishes to Mary again for sharing her big day with all of us. Mary added that she had a wonderful time and managed to stay on her feet for 10 hours; she just didn’t want to miss a thing!!! “A lovely Rotarian Indeed”.

Announcements

     Heather Aked reminded us about the Rotary Meeting at Victoria Golf Club on October 30^th. Please sign up and pay the $20 now, or at the door.

     Leslie Rogers-Warnock donned her Santa’s cap to remind us of the 33^rd Annual Merrython coming up on Sunday December 2^nd. This is our 2^nd year of participating and already many Rotarians have signed up: Along with Leslie, Heather Aked, Ron Cooley, Jim Force, Lynne Murray, Jessica Van Der Veen and Tricia Timmermans are Rotarians on the committee. More participants are welcome as runners, joggers, walkers or volunteers!

Of note were the well dressed members: David Sills, Brian Lamb and David Philips...all wowing the crowd with their suits and ties.

Fines Master

Vicky Pitt was in fine form and inadvertently, or maybe with purpose, set the theme for the meeting:  feet, legs and shoes. John Snively wore a dashing pair of red shoes and many of our attending gents lamented over their inability to obtain red shoes, only finding the usual dull black and brown. Then stockings were brought up... something to do with the weather and happy and sad dollars. I inferred that the sadness was the rain and cooler temperatures, but the happiness was not wearing the stockings??? Still to be clarified, maybe best at a Pub night meeting! Jack Petrie furthered the stocking leg/foot theme by sharing a story about 2 men in a bar. One turned to the other and said “I can’t wait to go home and rip off my wife’s stockings!” The second man replied: “Why would you do that?" To which the first man replied: “They’re just too tight and uncomfortable.” OK...it loses something in the writing, but for all who attended with Jack doing the telling there was a wave of laughter.

So, fines were collected and the sad and happy dollar stories shared.

The lucky winner of the draw ($16.50) and the pot ($92.50) was Bob Schelle.

Brian Lamb introduced our Guest Speakers, Ramona Kapton and Bonnie Goodwin, seen below

Trekking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

     Bonnie Goodwin and Ramona Kaptan (White Rock Rotary Club) shared a photo presentation of their journey trough Spain walking the Camino deSantiago (The Way of St. James).They embarked upon the walk to raise funds to eradicate polio. Their trip began in Paris with 4 people but due to injuries ended with only our two speakers. The presentation began with a brief history of the walk.

The Way of St. James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times. During the Middle Ages, the route was highly travelled. However, the Black Death, the Protestant Reformation and political unrest in 16th-century Europe led to its decline. By the 1980s, only a few pilgrims per year arrived in Santiago. Later, the route has attracted a growing number of modern-day pilgrims from around the globe. The route is one of a UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.

     Today thousands of pilgrims and many other travellers make their way to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, some by bicycle, and a few travel on horseback or by donkey. Many people are undertaking a religious pilgrimage, but the majority are travellers and hikers who walk the route for non-religious reasons. Many consider the experience a spiritual adventure to remove themselves from the bustle of modern life. Bonnie and Ramona only got lost once, and could almost laugh now about the 10 kilometres they walked out of their way.

      Bonnie passed around her “pilgrim’s passport", the credencial . The credencial is a pass which gives access to inexpensive overnight accommodation in refugios along the trail.  The book can be stamped with the official St. James stamp of each town or refugio at which the pilgrim has stayed and also serves as proof to the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago that the journey is accomplished according to an official route. It makes a very colourful souvenir.

     Throughout their 40 day adventure, only 3 of which were marred by rainy weather and muddy trails, they enjoyed meeting other travellers, and were happy to meet many other Rotarians too. They saw the wealth of centuries along the route, not only in architecture and art, but in the customs, celebrations and cuisine of the people of Basque Country and Galicia.  The churches, scenery, and villages along the route were all magnificent. They also shared some of the funnier stories including Bonnie showing up for dinner in her nightie one evening as her clothes were all drying; she acknowledged that after so many days on the ‘road’ that “boundaries get blurred”. In total they walked 666 kms, averaging about 18 – 20 kms per day, walking about 6 hours a day. The Camino is also known as ‘The Way’ and it is an excellent metaphor for life,” says Bonnie. “I’ve done it twice and feel I got it right the second time around.” Click here for a map and pictures of the walk.

     Bonnie and Ramona clearly endured some difficulties, but overall they were thrilled to have accomplished what they set out to do. They raised $2,000 for the charity Eradication of Polio Worldwide.

     There was a Q and A following the presentation. Jack Petrie commented on how hard physically it must have been. Ramona explained how important it was to have proper shoes, that it wasn’t necessarily training that was needed, but good fitting and comfortable boots.  (Again, keeping with today's meeting's theme!)

     Bonnie will be leaving her wine making business soon to spend more time working on Rotary projects and Ramona is the Incoming Chair of the White Rock/Surrey Chapter of CARP – A New Vision of Aging for Canada.

     Pablo Diemecke thanked Bonnie and Ramona for sharing their trip with us with a “Muchas gracias”.

     The meeting closed with God Save the Queen.

Meeting of October 9, 2012

Reported by Will Carter:

Amazingly, we had no visiting Rotarians or Guests of Rotarians at our meeting!  President Joan started the meeting with a key-fob presentation and some very kind words for Will Carter for storing, transporting, and cleaning popcorn and candy floss equipment for the Club.

Heather announced that the October 30 meeting will be at the Victoria Golf Club (not the Royal Victoria Golf Club, Heather!).  We are welcome to bring guests to this meeting.

Vicky Pitt, our Celebrations Master, just raked in the dough by asking us, table by table, Rotary questions that we were pretty good at guessing at. There is a distinct advantage at having Joan Firkins, Joan Peggs, or Heather Aked at your table when these questions fly around the room!

Mary Canty turns 90 on October 13 and we happily sang the birthday song to her. 

Jessica won the small 50/50 draw today.

Mary showed her stuff by introducing the guest speakers, Dr. John Snively and Jacqueline Mealing, the participants in Rotary Dental Project 2012. John started the presentation and a good slide show by thanking in particular member Perry Bamji for his ability to fill out the paperwork required by Rotary International to qualify for grants, and the Rotary Club of Nelson, BC, as well as our own Club for our support.
John and Jacqueline's project was in San Antonio Palopo and Santa Catarina Palopo in Guatemala.  They are located on Lake Atitlan in the west central area of the country. John described their work as mainly cleaning, extractions, and filling teeth, fairly elementary work considering that many or most patients have never had their teeth examined and treated, and dental work conditions are basic.  For example, there is no Xray which is desperately required to allow him to see past teeth and down into the gums and bone. That would help him to identify serious problems. In a procedure to remove an 11-year-old boy's root from a broken tooth, John was using a burr to remove the root and cyst at the end of the root, and he suddenly saw his instrument poking into the nose of the patient.  In another procedure, he kept removing material beneath a cyst and finally finished with leaving a small bridge of jaw bone in the girl's mouth - very little to keep her jaw from breaking.

Jacqueline teaches children to brush and floss, and to avoid sugar-loaded treats which are part of the culture.  Through teaching children, she feels that the parents will in turn follow the example.  Training a child can change the community. Jacqueline thanked a Safeway manager for helping to
prepare a display of correct foods to improve health. A Guatemalan custom of decorating teeth can be a problem, as the teeth sometimes become become infected. 

Ted Chambers thanked our member/speakers.

Before adjourning, Joan circulated a thank you note from the Paddington Station Playground for our work there.

First Meeting of October - Bulletin.

REPORTER: Mark Bedford; PHOTOGRAPHER: September Smith

President Joan opened the meeting with some thoughts on Vocational Service, and Tom Lidkea at the piano led us in singing “O Canada.”  Heather took the microphone to lead us with a well-worded grace.  (Thanks for using the mike, Heather; hopefully, other members will follow your example when saying Grace).

Perry Bamji introduced the guests: - Rotaracter, Shaun O’Leary and two Interact members:  Mary-Lynn Sachowski and Kevin Klippenstein; Donna Chow (inductee); and guest speaker, Frank Wilson.

Our newest member, Donna Chow, with sponsor Barry Mutter, and President Joan

President Joan then conducted the first “official” De-ribboning Ceremony. September had collected initials of all members (except David Maxwell, who is globetrotting) on her Introduction to Members' page.  The Red Ribbon was ceremoniously removed from her name badge.

Induction of new member: Donna Chow.  Heather, Barry and Jack all came forward to officiate at the ceremony. Donna (a former Rotary Exchange student, and former member of the club as Donna Carrigan) will carry the classification: Executive Coaching; she will be a member of the Membership Team. (Note: Barry has to bring in a new member to get people on his team!).  Welcome back to the Club, Donna.

John Jordan spoke on the need for books to be shipped to Zimbabwe. Lists of suitable books and topics were available on each table.

Heather announced the 5^th Tuesday (October 30^th) “off-site” social meeting will be at the Victoria Golf Club.  Cost will be $20 for the meal and the speaker’s fee.

Wynn Taylor showed a picture of the new sign at the Water Park; it features a leaping orca. The fire damage at the park has been repaired. You can see the sign at the “unveiling” this Thursday at 2.30 p.m.

Vicky was introduced and mildly applauded as the Fines Master for October. Tom Croft and Jim Force were the “bucket men”. After a number of fines and happy/sad dollars, Tav won the draw and successfully drew a black marble from the bag. Interesting note: Jim put in “happy bucks” to express joy about the attendance of two Texans at the Club in a Pub night!!!

Please note: Tom Croft contributed sad dollars because some of our banners have “gone missing in action”; we’d like to have them available for future occasions.  If you know of their whereabouts,  please contact Tom.

Teaser for the day:  What do you get when you cross-breed a tapeworm with  a porcupine? 

Lori McLeod introduced our guest speaker, Frank Wilson.

Frank was a professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Bradford in Yorkshire, U.K.  He has published two volumes of short stories and is about to publish a book of poems. This latter book will be sold to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. Frank’s “claim to fame” lies in his blood line with the Earldom of Wanford (which seems to have also carried the name of Wharncliffe). The stately 17^th century home is known as Wortley Hall and is located off highway 629, N. W. of Sheffield, Yorks. Frank shared fascinating stories of the family history which dates back to 1125.  The dramas, scandals, intrigues and triumphs were, indeed, a mirror image of the T.V. Program: “Downton Abbey”.  One felt that the history of the family might also be a reflection of Sir Walter Scott’s line: “Oh what a tangled web we weave ...”

The talk continued with some fine photos and stories of the village life centred around Wortley Hall.  Perhaps the most obvious illustration of the “upstairs/downstairs” nature of life can be seen in the local church.  The church was built by the family, the vicar is “appointed” by the family, there is a door for the family and guests of the family and another door for other congregants, and seating in the church is very clearly hierarchical! The “turnabout” has now come into play.  During W.W. 2, it was taken over and used as a military base.  In May 1951, Wortley Hall was bought by the Labour Party and has been transformed into a Conference Centre and hotel with 35 en-suite rooms, and it is widely used for Labour Party related personnel and meetings.  It is now listed as a hotel in the travel guides.

Giles thanked Frank for a fascinating talk and presentation and presented the coffee mug.

We closed the meeting with God Save the Queen.

(Answer to the teaser: --  About twenty feet of barbed wire!).

NEW MEMBER INFORMATION for Marco Fernandes, BCom.

The following describe his Interests and affiliations: 

·         Community Volunteer Member - Tutoring Youth at V.I.R.C.S.  (Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society)

·         Community Volunteer at Income Tax Program Canada Revenue Agency by ISS of BC - Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia

·         Volunteer Coordinator of the Editorial Board for the Association of SABESP* Engineers

·         Volunteer Member of Organization for Technical Events promoted by the Association of SABESP* Engineers

Alumni – Royal Roads University

Education

• Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC (2008)

• Business Access Program, Camosun College, Victoria, BC (2005) 

• Specialization in Environmental Pollution Engineering, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, Brazil (1997)               

• BA in Administration from School of Economics, Accounting and Management – Mackenzie University, São Paulo, Brazil (1991) 

• BSc in Civil Engineering, Mackenzie University, São Paulo, Brazil (1985)

Occupation

·         Financial Planning with Investors Group in Victoria, BC

·         Civil Engineering  at SABESP* in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Number of years in Canada

·         Nine years ( one year in Vancouver and eight in Victoria)

*Note: SABESP is the acronym for the State of Sao Paulo Basic Sanitation Corporation

Should any member have any comments about this application, please contact President Joan or a member of the Board of Directors.