Oak Bay Rotary Bulletin: Rotary Club of Oak Bay meeting report

Meeting #1 for 2013-14 President, Peter Lawrie.

Congratulations Pete.

Rotarians helping Rotarians

Gianfranco doing one of his two two-hour shifts outside Thrifty's on the weekend.
The raffle is to aid projects run by the Victoria Rotary Club and the prize is that lovely
Nissan Rogue parked in the background. http://www.rotaryraffle.ca/ for details and tickets.

Reported by rockin' Jack

Fellowship month June 18th got off to funky start with video of a flash dance to Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' somewhere in Vancouver with a big Rotary symbol evident. President Pete got us off on the right foot...plus hips, hand claps and cool moves. Ya gotta love a Rotary meeting that starts like American Bandstand. Dallas said the invocation. Oh Canada had a nice beat too and you could almost dance to it. Some of the other hot tunes we heard this day came from the dynamic Perry Bamji who crooned about the car raffle (see above); Jim Force wailed over more flags on the way; and Sabrina rapped her way thru the news that we have a social coming - July 10th at the Maxwell's house on Wilmot. Let's Dance!

We had 2 guest artists appearing on the same bill in the persons of fellow Rotarians, Howlin' Ross White from Nanaimo and Stompin' David Sheppard from Qualicum Beach. Jacqueline sang a sweet ballad of Guatemalan purses now available for $20.

Then we had a performance by the the hardest working man in the Dental Business, Soul Brother number one in the person of John Snively who not only did our Celebrations Mastering after introducing himself...but then went out for an encore to be our speaker. More about that later, but as our 'CM' he collected payola for playing the hits, like birthdays and anniversaries, and a few quizzes. The wit was rampant and the coins chimed. Renata is back from a stint in the Phillipines and confessed to a dose of Rat Bite Fever (now THAT sounds like a blues song!), Mark Bedford said the only tea left today was Chamomile, noted for it's sleep-inducing qualities, sort of like Leonard Cohen in a mug. He suggested that his drinking of this tea may be a happy or sad moment depending on the quality of the presentation.

The presentation was excellent and took us to Guatemala, to the shores and villages around Lake Atitlan, where Dr. John volunteers his skills and his heart to helping so many. For this scribe it was interesting to hear of John's repeated attempts at retirement thru the years, trying at age 27 and a few more times since then with stints as a flying dentist in the north and a shrubby marketer of clothing dispensed from a huge camperized bus at Festivals and other gatherings. Soul Sister Claire brought her 'amazing grace' to the microphone to thank our very dedicated speaker who moved us with his stories.

A closing song by Queen...er honouring the Queen... was annhilated in punk fashion and promptly at 1:30 the closing note was wrung by our new president. A meeting well led and one that gave us all a few new moves.

And here are a few of the faces of Rotary seen and heard at this week's meeting: