November 27 Meeting

Reporter:  Bob Schelle

Attendees to the November 27, 2012 meeting were greeted by Brian Lamb and Peter Lawrie who were hopefully at their posts by 11:50am. Giles Bixler did the room setup. John Edgell handled cash duties and 50/50 tickets were sold by Claire Helm.  At 12:15pm President Joan Peggs called the meeting to order reminding the throng that the monthly theme was the Rotary Foundation. Following the singing of the National Anthem, Brian Lamb offered Grace.

President Joan announced that lunch was ready, reminding all that visiting Rotarians and Guests of the Club were to be at the head of the line. The very tasty lunch consisted of coleslaw, potato and yam fries, onion rings and fish with cookies and pastry for desert.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests of the Club

Peter Lawrie introduced Geoff Stokes, IT Consultant, from the Saanich Rotary Club and Rotaract member Samantha Lloyd, who was the guest of Neil Madsen.

Health of the Club:

Mary Canty advised that Donna Chow was proceeding well with her pregnancy with no major problems.

Birthdays

Happy Birthday was sung in recognition of Pablo’s upcoming birthday.

Presentation

President Joan presented a cheque of $2,300 from PUC (Project Unity Committee, Victoria) to John Jordon (centre) and Perry Bamji to be applied towards John’s Rwanda project. Perry, who was applauded for his great PR effort in obtaining the grant, said it was all due to John’s persuasive talk with the committee.

AGM

President Joan reminded the group about the upcoming AGM on Tuesday December 18^th. She was hoping for a short meeting followed by the Christmas Luncheon. She invited comments from Peter Lawrie and Heather Aked.

Peter: Co-Presidents Elect, Peter Lawrie and Brian Lamb, have come up with a slate for the next year’s club administrative positions but there are still some holes in it, particularly, the president-elect. They are encouraging the concept of sharing the responsibilities of the positions between two members to make the duties more doable. Joan Firkins reminded the club that to apply for grants, there must be a president-elect available to sign off on the next year’s commitments. Peter invited any members who may be considering filling a position to contact himself or Brian to discuss it and the idea of sharing the position.

Heather: The AGM and Christmas luncheon will be at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, David Foster Foundation Theatre, on December 18 at 12:15p and guests are welcome, as usual. Cost will be $20 per person. A sign up list was circulated at the meeting and will be circulated again next meeting.

Announcements:

Heather Aked reminded everyone that the Merrython will be held this coming Sunday, December 2, starting at 9:45am. She thanked all the volunteers and people who will be participating in the event. In order for this event to generate the maximum revenue for all of the effort put into it, it is expected that all club members not attending the event, either as participants or volunteers, will contribute $20 per person to the event. Cheques can be made out to the Rotary Club of Oak Bay.

Jim Force advised that Club-In-A-Pub will be held this coming Thursday at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel’s Snug at 5:00pm. Please give Jim an indication if you plan to attend so a suitable table(s) can be reserved.

Samantha Lloyd, the Rotaract guest, gave an account of the Rotaract 2^nd annual Sock Drive for “Our place”. The Rotaract members canvassed 400 houses in Oak Bay and collected over 700 pairs of slightly used or new socks. Club members were invited to bring in any similar pairs of socks (washed!) for next week’s meeting when another Rotaract member will collect them. Jack Petrie suggested the drive be called “Sox in the City” but no vote was taken. Samantha would like to encourage any young people who are interested in doing fun and worthwhile activities to join Rotaract. They do not have to be UVic students. Samantha provided the following Rotaract contacts:

·      WEBSITE: sites.google.com/site/rotaractuvic

·      EMAIL:  rotaractvictoria@gmail.com

·      Rotaractclub of Victoria (UVic) on Facebook

·      Rotaract_Vic on Twitter

Perry Bamji advised that there would be a short PR meeting following the regular meeting to discuss Social Media.

Pablo Diemecke offered to pay $5.00 to the Club from every ticket purchased by an Oak Bay Rotary Club member for his concert series. The next of the DieMahler Chamber Music Series 2012 is on December 8 at 7:00pm at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Oak Bay (Elgin Street) with the theme: Traditional Christmas Favourites.

Treasurer Anne Sims was happy to collect the cheques

Peter Sou told the group about a letter he received from the Bank of Dalian, which was a scam. If you receive it you should just throw it away (as with all kinds of scams).

Fines master:

Jessica van der Veen as Fines Master somehow made giving away money seem like a fun thing. Although she had a ticket for the 50/50 draw she still insisted on drawing the winning ticket, which belonged to Peter Lawrie. Unfortunately, for Peter, he did not pick the white ball for the big jackpot but went back to his seat $16 richer.

Tax Auction:

Tom Croft performed very well as a quick and humourous auctioneer for the Club’s annual Tax Auction. When all of the bids were tallied, the total of the auction was $8125 plus $3000 from 50-50s and fines.

God Save The Queen

President Joan led the singing of the God Save the Queen and adjourned the meeting.

OK Tom, hand it over. Great job as Auctioneer today!