First meeting (officially) back at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel

Bulletin report by  Renate Gibbs

Hon. Member Mayor Nils Jensen along with Joan, Peter , Wendy and Anne toast the return to the Oak Bay Beach Hotel

Greeters were Eugen Bannerman and Ron Beyer

The first meeting of the  new year opened with Peter Lawrie’s encouragement to engage with Rotary to make a difference.  Missing the presence of official flags, we almost omitted singing “O Canada,” however, after a rousing rendition of our National Anthem, Eugen Bannerman said Grace.

Health of the Club – Mary Canty

Mary followed up on Hans' health reporting that he’s started chemo and at this time is not feeling up to having visitors. We continue in sending him our positive thoughts.

Delicious Lunch

Introduction of Visiting Rotarians and Guests – Ron Beyer.

There were 3 Rotarians: Ali Edgell of the Rotary Club of Victoria, David Stocks, Rotary club of Westshore, and Honorary member Nils Jensen. Five Victoria Rotaractors attended: Lance Shaver, Samantha Lloyd, Scott Higbie, Connor Trelawney, and Clara Bradley. Our three guests were Brian Burger, Guest of Mary Canty, Frances Stocks, Guest of David Stocks, and Jean Lawrie, Guest of Peter Lawrie.

Announcements

Car Raffle – Perry Bamji.

Please continue to sign up to sell tickets for the car raffle, either on paper (folder circulating at meetings) or online.  If you sign up online, e-mail Perry to let him know what shifts you signed up for so that he can keep track of all the Oak Bay Rotarians who help with this.  Amongst our club members we already have had 58 shifts committed to or completed, and Wendy Townsend’s record of 7 shifts is now being challenged by Lynne Murray with 10 shifts!  

Social BBQ –  Heather Aked

The BBQ is at David Maxwell’s house (1590 Wilmot Place) on July 10^th at 6 PM; the sign-up sheet is circulating at meetings until then. Guests are welcome and the cost is $15/person at the door.  Food is included in the price, with a reminder to BYOB, plus a chair and birthday wishes for Heather!!

Delightful waitresses!

The Rotary Centennial Cup – Ali Edgell

In support of the Mustard Seed Food Bank and celebrating 100 years for the Victoria Rotary Club, a special Polo Match and High Tea is planned for August 25 at 1PM.  Both $50 and $20 tickets are still available.  You'll be treated to a Skydiving Team, 4 chukkahs of Polo, a halftime show of Peruvian Paso Fino horses, British Classic Car club cars on display, traditional stomping of the divots, and the “Queen” will be there to present the cup.  Tickets may be purchased from the Rotary Club of Victoria, by calling 250 590 1215 or e-mailing aenikma@shaw.ca

Fines, Birthdays, Anniversaries, 50/50 Draw, Happy & Sad Dollars – Black Jack Petrie:  

Challenging us to remember David Foster’s protégés along with a singing rendition purported to be Bos Scaggs, ‘Black Jack’ continued to pull out toonies from the pockets of Rotarians.   

Heather Aked (and Tim) are celebrating 14^th  years of marriage.  Hans Ockmueller celebrates a 13^th  anniversary; Will Carter and Neil M are both celebrating 17 years as Rotarians, and Joan Peggs is celebrating her 7^th  year as a Rotarian.

Joan Peggs gave happy $$ because she was given free accommodation in Lisbon after a hotel mix-up; Joan Firkins gave a happy $ to celebrate being “Rotarian of the Year” shared with Jim Force, and her happy memory watching Joan P in ‘concert mode’ while in Lisbon. Heather Aked had an anniversary cheque made up of the appropriate number of happy dollars (undisclosed) despite Black Jack’s commentary. Neil M gave happy $$ to acknowledge his 17 years as a Rotarian. Leslie Rodgers-Warnock gave happy $$ to commemorate her ‘hand-over’ of secretarial papers to Wendy Townsend; Nils Jensen gave happy $$ to express happiness to be a resident in Oak Bay and enjoying 5 Block Parties on Canada Day, and Corey Burger shared his happy/sad $ to now have a 3-gear bike instead of 21 gears.  

George Pritchard won the 50/50 but pulled the black marble, so didn’t win the big pot.  He came away with $16.

Lance - on Facebook

Today’s Meeting – Tricia Timmermans & Lance Shaver.

Tricia provided a clear and succinct approach to demonstrating how to send an e-mail while using ClubRunner.  Reviewing the method to access ClubRunner using our e-mail address and password (first name dot last name - until you change it), we were walked through the elements of getting to the e-mail message centre, composing a new message, sending files, placing a link inside the message, and the caution to avoid copying and pasting Word documents for a message.

Lance Shaver followed with a presentation on Facebook which he explained is the world’s largest social media network, used for connecting with people. He suggested it could work perfectly for Rotarians. Elements of using the tools such as the News Feed, a Profile Page, Connecting with Others, Posting, and the Navigation Bar were highlighted. Lance demonstrated the ability to control different pages and how to add a “Like” for our Rotary Club or Rotaract.

Ad Blockers were suggested to avoid the annoying presence of advertisements – free downloads can be found on the web for Facebook or for your browser.  Changing your privacy settings to filter who can access your information, posting to private or public, friend of friends, blocking unknown or annoying names, and limiting what is added into your profile, are all good options to maintain security and reduce any detractors while on Facebook. With Rotaract members at each table, club members were able to interface with Facebook and practise some of these valuable tips and suggestions from Lance.  

Corey Burger thanked Tricia and Lance, as well as all the Rotaract members who took time to help us navigate through ClubRunner and Facebook.

We closed the meeting with “God Save the Queen”. 

And what a day it was!