Bulletin - February 15, 2012

President Joan called the meeting promptly to order at 12:15 p.m. Our National Anthem was followed by an invocation by Dallas Chapple. In keeping with the Valentine’s Day theme, she asked everyone to perform a random act of love and kindness thus creating goodwill – a very Rotarian sentiment.

After lunch, Don O’Coffey welcomed our two guests, Harriet Graham (Batya & Dave) and Diane Macpherson (Tav).

There was a long list of announcements. Eugen started with his Ted Harrison publication. If you are interested in this, please chat to Eugen.  Announcements were made regarding two club fundraisers – please support them. Firstly, Pablo and his quartet are performing on 24^th March; and secondly, the Tuscan Dinner is on 28^thApril. David Maxwell  appealed for donors interested in providing or financing a gift basket (value $75). Corey thanked those who helped out at the successful event at the Monterey Centre.

Jack Petrie acted as Fines Master. With his usual sense of humour and fun, he opened with an oblique reference to an exploding cigar and love in the darkness (OK, don’t go there!).  He noted that Mark Bedford had to leave early but still had time to be at the dessert tray. He fined Dallas for looking better than “really good” and also Batya and David for lying around in Mexico. Eugen and Jim Force gave happy dollars and Neil Madsen made a generous contribution in recognition of his own birthday.

Pablo introduced President, Joan Peggs who gave us an interesting overview of her Rotary Fellowship Exchange to India. Power Point photos were capably edited by David Westover.

The exchange was from 9^th – 23^rd January and Joan’s hosts were from Rotary District 3060.  After an exhausting flight through London to Mumbai (Bombay), Joan arrived at the station at 5:40 a.m. and boarded a train leaving at 6:20 a.m. The carriages were packed with passengers but despite this, refreshments were served including a large bottle of water.  As she rode through the city, Joan noticed many fires in the tenements where people were trying to keep warm.  Many others were setting up their markets for the day’s business. 

The journey took them through Vapi, which is the home of Perry Bamji and R.I. President, Kalyan Banerjee, with Surat being the destination. Surat, Baroda, Nadiad, Bhavnagar and Rajkot were the communities visited. The visiting Rotarians were hosted by five families, three of them being extended families. Their occupations were either in the professions or in business and they were clearly well-to-do.

Rotary had a significant presence in the community and Joan showed us photos of buildings that were the headquarters of individual clubs and had the names of the clubs over the front door. Visiting Rotarians reviewed many of the local club projects which included an eye clinic, an intensive care unit and a dialysis facility (Surat), an engineering school near Baroda, a school for the deaf with 325 students in Nadiad. In Bhawanagar is Ray of Hope, a school for impoverished students where Rotarians are providing furnishings, toilets and water purification. Children are encouraged to attend and academic results appear to be excellent.  Also viewed were a library, a senior’s home and an orphanage in Rajkot.

Joan had some interesting cultural revelations as well. The traffic is intense with horns blaring and vehicles travelling at speed with frequent fast stops. Minor fender benders seem tolerated – just carry on!  The food was generally excellent and most people are vegetarians.  Varieties of chapattis, roti and dahl were served with little rice. Many people were of the Jain belief system and eat nothing that grows below the ground. Joan also enjoyed chikoo juice which was served like a milkshake. Families created ground flours, spices, curds and butter in their own kitchens. All the families had servants who came in to the home for specific tasks, whether to clean or prepare meals. The visitors were also treated to singing, dancing and art displays as well as preparations for a kite festival and fireworks. They visited a diamond cutting business, a Jain temple at Palitana and another at Hastgiri.

Visiting an inoculation clinic was clearly one of the highlights and Joan was able to administer inoculations for infants against typhoid, hepatitis, TB and polio. While not sophisticated, this clinic had a doctor and a nurse.

Jim Force thanked Joan for her presentation and for sharing her experience with us. It was most interesting and well presented.  Note that a return visit by Rotarians from India is to take place in May of this year.  Those interested in participating should contact Joan Peggs.

The meeting closed with the singing of God Save the Queen.

February 7 meeting - Oak Bay Rotary

Heather reported that the March 24^th Concert was looking for sponsors. The program will start at 2:30 on the 24^th.

Eugen requested an expression of interest in the book ‘Walking with Ted Harrison’. He also announced the availability of posters Ted prepared when joining the club in 1993.

John Jordan announced that he was leaving for Rwanda in the next few days to visit and participate in projects underway there.

Celebrations Master

Jack Petrie served as Celebrations Master.  He reported that today, February 7, was the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Rotary International Centres on Conflict Resolution.  Assorted general fines were levied. Happy and sad dollars came from Joan Peggs, Corey Burger, Bill Burns, Heather Aked, Leslie Rogers-Warnock and Mark Bedford. David Warnock won the draw.

The Speakers

District 5020 Governor David Stocks introduced the speakers.  Christie Johnson, who has played an instrumental role in the development of the Malawi Girls School, made some introductory remarks covering the background of the school’s evolution.  The principal speaker was Henry Mdyetseni, coordinator of the APU (Atsikana Pa Ulendo) Girls' School in Malawi, which our club has supported for several years. Henry began by pointing out the importance of professional knowledge and expertise to the school: the need for good teachers; financial control; and the need for the orderly and integrated development of physical facilities.

He showed the site plan and the placement of the 11 buildings that have been put in place over the last five years. He reported that in construction work, good environmental practices have been followed.  Oak Bay Rotary has been especially helpful in providing water systems. The water tank capacity is now 10 thousand litres.

Henry discussed the impact of the project on the communities surrounding the school.  The school provides 70 jobs in an area of subsistence farming. It has in place a ‘buy local’ policy wherever possible. 

He next pointed out the importance of role models for the girls, giving the example of female teachers, something very rare in Malawi’s government schools. The school is also pleased with the superior academic performance of the students.

Christie added to the information provided by Henry, pointing out that there is an 18 month interval between the time that students graduate from the school and their entry into university, assuming they qualify for admission. This is a serious problem and the school is considering the establishment of a teachers' training college.

Mary Canty thanked the speakers.

Oak Bay Rotary at Oak Bay Bistro

REPORTED BY RENATE GIBBS; PHOTO BY JACK PETRIE

Today we celebrated the 5th Tuesday with a luncheon served by the amazing staff at Oak Bay Bistro!  It was President Joan's first week back since returning from India.  A number of other Rotarians also had January travel stories to share as we gathered over two  long tables for 32 members and guests!

 

The guests were visiting Rotarian Walter Moore and his wife Kate from the Rotary Club of Berry-Gerringong (District 9710) in New South Wales, Australia.

 

Jill Croft was the guest of Tom Croft; Jean Lawrie was the guest of Peter Lawrie; and Anke was the guest of Pablo Diemecke.  Mary Canty's grandson Brian kept the family numbers up as well. 

Eugen Bannerman shared his work to compile a book of photos and artful creations of our very own Ted Harrison. It was hot off the press and Ted will be paging through it soon!  Ted's health is gradually improving and we hope to see him at a meeting in the future weeks.  After a long absence we were also graced by having David Phillip share his wit and commentary with us today.

Program for January 24, 2012    –     Reporter David Sills

President’s Corner                           

President-elect Peter Laurie is on assignment in Vancouver. Past-president Vicki Pitt (right) ‘owned the podium’ for this meeting which proceeded calmly once she overcame the microphone squeal. Vicki introduced a radical inovation – a paper handout. A copy of The District 5020 Stocks Market Report for the month of January, 2012 was placed on each table.

The grace was provided by Neil Madsen.

Our visitors were introduced by Hans Ockermueller

– Rotarians Jane Curry (Nanaimo) and Walter Moore from near Sydney, Australia

– Guest  Patrick Keller, a neighbor of Don O’Coffey

 Why I Joined Rotary

Rotary Awareness Month was rounded out with comments from Don O’Coffey and Ted Chambers. For Don, Rotary represents a huge international club with unlimited resources to tackle the needs of the world while the local club can tend to the needs of the community. For Ted there is the personal satisfaction from the program to eradicate polio. As well, he allowed that the Oak Bay club is a wonderful group of people.

Health Of The Club

Welcome back David Philip. Your sartorial presence has been missed for the past few meetings. Mary Canty advised that John Snively has lost five pounds while practicing dentistry some fourteen hours a day in Guatemala. [Blogger's note: Then why have I put on five pounds?]

On With The Show

Another episode of the ever popular ‘What are these Rotarians Saying’ slide show was presented on the big screen. You had to be there to appreciate the droll wit emanating from Jack Petrie’s fertile imagination. Here are a few samples (1) Pablo – Music has words, (2) Heather – pay up big guy and (3) Jack – Molson eyes are shining.  If you were not at the meeting you will have to imagine the content of the supporting pictures.

No Time For Sergeants                                              

Fines' Master is probably the better title as Heather Aked went “at it” with a vengeance. To ensure everyone was fined she levied a one dollar Club assessment to commemorate Rotary Awareness Month. Jack Petrie contributed 100 pesos (that’s almost CDN $8.00) to acknowledge the good work by the Wexler team in tending to the club’s weekly photography needs. Rod Sim contributed ten dollars to tell us about a meeting he had with Bill Gates at a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Actually he was only standing next to Bill in the line for the buffet.

Announcements

The Oak Bay Bistro is the venue for our January 31 meeting; an opportunity to sample the menu at this new restaurant replacing the Blethering Place on Oak Bay Avenue. Heather Aked has the sign-up sheet.

A Foundation For The Future

Rod Trebek, or was it Alex Sim, introduced our speaker with an answer - what he and Perry have in common. The correct question – who were the presidents of the Oak Bay and Kingston Clubs in 2001 – 2002? 

The most Rod would tell the audience is that Perry was born in Mumbai, India, many moons ago. I gleaned from his resume that he has a B.Sc. in Physics, an M.Sc. and a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering. He spent eleven years as a Professor and Director of the Small Business Consulting program at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and twenty-eight years with Alcan International in England, Japan and Canada. He was very active in the Kingston Rotary Club, was awarded the Four Avenues of Service Award in 2005 and was Rotarian of the year for that club in 2006. He is presently an active member of the Oak Bay Club and Director of all things International.

His topic is a Foundation For The Future (The Rotary Foundation’s Future Vision Plan)

This reporter suggests that the title should be “RI Grants - What A Deal”. To explain, I will start at the end of his presentation. Perry reported that the Oak Bay Rotary Club contributed $25,325 over the past few years for international projects. Through RI matching grants and funds from other contributors a total of $50,150 was utilized for the following good works:

Now that’s what I call a good deal.

RI has introduced the Future Vision Plan to simplify and focus existing programs, to balance our efforts on global and local programs and to focus on significant and sustainable programs. The plan also aims to give local clubs an increased sense of ownership, that is, to shift decision making to the local level. Another purpose is to be recognized as first choice partners for global projects. The significant bequests from the Gates Foundation is an obvious example of the latter.

Perry went on to explain the RI Share Program. Under this program, annual Club contributions to RI are held and invested for three years then distributed, 50% to the Districts for matching grant purposes and 50% to The World Fund. Interest earned during the three year period pays for all of the administrative costs. For example, in 2008-2009 District 5020 had contributed $717,602 to the Rotary Foundation. Four years later. in this Rotary year 2011-2012, $358,801 came back to our District to be divided equally between District Matching Grants and Global Grants. Perry ended his talk by listing several key lessons he learnt when conducting matching grant projects.

Wynn Taylor thanked Perry for his presentation.

Bulletin for January 17, 2012

The meeting was called to order right on time by Peter with the assistance of Heather who whistled loudly to get everyone’s attention. Ron Cooley said Grace and Tom Croft led the singing of the National Anthem. Peter commented that the snow was almost spooky given our Speaker for the day.

Lunch was poached salmon with dill sauce dressed up with lemon and prawns.

Announcements: 1) Heather reminded everyone to sign up for the January 31^st  luncheon which will be at the Oak Bay Bistro. A menu will be forthcoming. 2) Peter reminded everyone of the Spring Concert on March 24 at 2:30 PM and encouraged everyone to buy tickets

Hans introduced the visitors, there were no visiting Rotarians. Visitors were George Stewardson a guest of Don O’Coffey and Anne McCarthy our guest speaker.

Mark Bedford and Jerry McLean spoke on why they were proud to be a Rotarian. Mark dated this to ‘68 or ‘69 when he first attended a District Conference in Peace River as a speaker. He came away thinking that after all he had heard, seen and enjoyed, if a bunch of guys [it was all guys then] could get so much achieved and have fun then he wanted to be a part of it. Many years later he discovered that the District Governor, having heard him at the conference, wanted to get him for his church and that was how he later came to move to Calgary. Jerry said his story was much shorter, that he joined for all the wrong reasons - to get Jack Petrie off his back - and now he is very proud to be a member for all the right reasons. He spoke of the effect of Christie Johnson’s talk about the Malawi girls school and his involvement there.

Peter showed some “outtakes” from the many pictures that have been taken. As it is Rotary Awareness Month these pictures were captioned but “in the kindest spirit”.

Ron Cooley was our fines' master: Wolf for not signing in, Jim for being very late which saved Wyn, David Maxwell for thinking Ron was Jerry, Hans for being late as Greeter, David Sills for taking so much time going through the badges to find his own, one dollar for anyone who had given up on their New Year’s resolution already, and ... one dollar for everyone at Ron’s table who did not get him a drink. There was one happy dollar - Jim whose neighbor has a Rotarian’s approach to selling snow tires.

There were no birthday or wedding anniversaries.  Both David Maxwell and Anne Sims  have anniversaries for joining Rotary today. Perry had the winning ticket but he pulled a black marble.

The speaker was introduced by Lori who  said it was good timing for the topic since everyone is talking about the snow and the weather today.  Anne McCarthy has been with Environment Canada, weather services and has worked in many places in Canada including up north.

The topic of weather is huge. Weather starts at the ground and goes up to 60,000 feet. You can create a forecast model without human intervention but it will not be as accurate, and it is accuracy that counts. 

To make a forecast:

1. Start with data from planes, ships, automated sensors around the world, upper air balloons, radar, and satellites [remote sensing from space].

2. Add the weather equations (weather is math and physics made visible). Number crunching for these is done by a supercomputer in Montréal.

3. Numerically model the atmosphere up to 50 or 60,000 feet. This is done because you cannot understand the surface without understanding all the way up. Anne showed us some charts that were basically slices of the atmosphere showing the airflow developing at various heights which are good indicators of which systems are going to get “fueled up”

4. Take these snapshots over several hours,  put it together with the math, the various graphs, and other data

5. Add human brains and experience

The forecaster will take the best of the models and adjust based on his knowledge and experience to produce the day-1 and day-2 forcasts on the website where all of that information and all of the models are worked down into very few words ... cloudy with sunny breaks in the afternoon.

Chance of precipitation (COP)

Anne then talked about what a "chance of precipitation” means. A 30% chance means there is a 30% chance that measurable precipitation (.2mm of rain - that’s less than a line created by your pen) will fall somewhere in the forecast area during the forecast period.

Forecasters look at patterns and the likelihood of precipitation based on those patterns. Anne equated it to “a 40% chance of snoozing” if she is an after dinner  speaker. This would mean that out of 10 speeches given by her, on four occasions one or more person would have a snooze. It’s not 40% of the people, nor everyone 40% of the time, and it does not deal with how fast asleep these people are. The same applies to chance of precipitation. So a 40% chance of precipitation means that 4 out of ten times given the weather conditions it will rain at least .2 mm; it does not include any indication of how much it will actually rain.

Anne explained that weather in Victoria is special. Weather is affected by topography. Usually we have a southwest flow. This means that the systems come in from the Pacific and slide down the island as it comes acorss the island hitting Port Hardy first. The system comes from the northwest. The surface winds may be south and east but up aloft the system is from the southwest. She used the example of someone with a fire hose which is on,  stepping sideways. The system comes in the same way.

As the systems approach Victoria they hit the Olympic Mountains; the air rises, becomes colder, and can hold less water so it rains; after the air comes over the mountains it falls, warms, and is able to hold more moisture. This creates the rain shadow which Victoria enjoys. The center of the rain shadow is in the Straits of Juan de Fuca just off Oak Bay. As a result it can be raining at the ferry but still be sunny in Oak Bay. When looking at the weather forecast you can reduce the chance of precipitation for Oak Bay by 10 to 20% and increase it for Sooke by 20 to 30%. Brian won a prize for knowing that the Highlands get more rain than Oak Bay. (Gonzales gets about 620 mm annually (thigh high), Victoria International Airport 860 mm (waist high), and Prince Rupert 2600 mm (swimming!)

Environment Canada:

            - observes and preserves - this includes collecting data with various partners

            - forecasts

            - warns

            - disseminates information

            - does research                      

You can have a personal consultation with them for a fee.

If you want to know the weather,  you can go to www.weatheroffice.gc.ca  which apparently gets about 40% of the Government of Canada hits.

Tom and Hans each won a book for their interest in things marine.

Neil Rawnsley thanked the speaker for providing one of the most relevant talks we’ve had and commented that the snooze factor for Anne’s talk was 0%.

There being nothing else for the good of Rotary, the meeting closed with  the singing of God Save the Queen.

Bulletin for January 10, 2012

The meeting was called to order right on time by Peter Lawrie, our interim President replacing an absent President Joan Peggs. 34 members and guests were present.  Tom Lidkea accompanied us on the piano and Peter led the singing of O Canada.  Peter reminded us that January is Rotary Awareness Month in the Rotary calendar and alerted us that he would ask a few members to express their thoughts on the topic.

Jack Petrie introduced guest Laura Atkinson, a lawyer. Jack introduced the Club guest speaker, Sandy Gervais (seen on left with President-elect, Peter Lawrie. Sandy is the Manager of Donor Relations and Planned Giving at Silver Threads.

Announcements:  Giles Bixler reported that Quadra Elementary school has sent their thanks for our Smart Board donation and passed around the  written appreciations of some of the Grade One students. Joan Firkins reminded us of the Tuscan Dinner preparations and to bring along donations. Peter Lawrie reminded us to purchase tickets to the concert of Pablo’s Quartet on March 24 at St Mary’s Church on Elgin Street in Oak Bay.

Peter invited a few members to share their thoughts on why they are proud to be Rotarians. Neil Madsen recalled his first experiences when he joined the Rotary Club  and first noticed Rotarians' efficiency in doing good deeds. Neil remarked on the extensive TV adds many nonprofits are investing in and how Rotary is able to raise funds without advertising. Batya Westler mentioned how the Rotary good deeds touch on many people’s lives conveying our compassion and good will.

Jack Petrie and Peter Lawrie put on a humorous display of selected photos catching our club members in funny situations asking the audience to suggest remarks and presenting their funny quotes getting a roar of applause and laughter.

Jerry McLean was the fines master collecting the fine from us for “wrong/good doings"; dollars kept falling in the basket - either loonies or toonies -  all too fast to keep up with.

Sandy Gervais, our guest speaker, is the Manager of Donor Relations and Planned Giving at Silver Threads Service, a nonprofit organization that for over 55 years, has been providing programs and services for seniors. After listening to Sandy, one can only appreciate this organization's dedication to improving the quality of life for seniors, and their mission to encourage and promote the well-being of Senior Citizens, by strengthening individuals, family, and community.  The organization has two centres: Victoria on Douglas, and Saanich on Hampton; both centers have small thrift stores that provide additional opportunities for seniors to be engaged.  Sandy mentioned that Victoria has seen a “Gray Hair Tsunami” in the last few years.  Serving nearly 10,000 seniors, family, caregivers and inquiries each year, this number is increasing along with the aging baby boomers.

As a small nonprofit, Sandy reminded us that Silver Threads Service relies on the community for support and referrals of seniors.

Barry Mutter thanked Sandy for a very informative talk.

Tom accompanied us in the singing of God Save The Queen to end our meeting. 

Reported by David Westler.

Bulletin January 2, 2012

The meeting was called to order right on time by President Joan Peggs, - and there were 34 members and guests present by the time the late arrivals Wynn Taylor and David Maxwell  arrived.  Tom Croft led the singing of O Canada.  Joan reminded us that January is Rotary Awareness Month in the Rotary calendar.

Jim Force made the introductions of visiting Rotarians:  David Stocks (D.G.) and Hugh Robertson (A.D.G.), (left) both from the Westshore Club; and Hector Minkus, guest of Hans Ockermueller.

 Health of the Club:  Mary Canty reported that Jacqueline Mealing’s son  had been injured in a car accident near Kaslo.  Jacqueline’s plan to work on our project in Guatemala has now been postponed to February so that she can be with her son.  We extend our best wishes to him.

Eugen reported that Ted Harrison has been moved to the Parkwood Court Care Centre, Shelbourne and Hillside.

January Programs: Eugen also gave the program schedule for January:   10^th: -- Silver Threads Service.  17^th:  Ann McCarthy on Weather Forecasting.  24^th:  Perry Bamji, International Service Chair, will be the speaker.  31^st: - will be a social event, - planning is a work in progress.

David Stocks presented a Certificate of Commendation to President Joan.  Our club is the third highest per capita donor to the Foundation.  The 2^nd highest per capita donor club is only $2 ahead of us; but the number one club is $78 per capita ahead.  

Fines Master, Ron Cooley, collected dollars from latecomers and unsigned members; previous cashier for something to do with loonies and toonies; and a whole bunch of “didn’ts`that moved far too quickly for this scribe to keep up with.  Dallas, Perry and Lynn paid Happy $s.

Joan Firkins and Joan Peggs were our speakers: After listening to them, one can only be extremely thankful that we have members in our club who have such enthusiasm, knowledge and experience in Rotary that our whole club, - and Rotary in general, are all enriched by their very generous efforts. 

Joan F. spoke on the topic of Using Member Access.  The opening paragraph of her hand-out explains the outline: Member Access is perfect for busy Rotarians.  By using this password protected area on the RI website, you can register for the RI Convention or make club or district administrative tasks as simple as a few mouse clicks.

Joan used the computer to demonstrate on screen how to use Member Access.

Joan P.  gave us a quiz on Rotary information, - from Polio Plus to Paul Harris;  from RI to Rotary Anns; from  the Foundation to Rotary History.  Joan Firkins gave out prizes for correct answers, - and Lynne Murray garnered enough prizes to require a Brink truck to haul them home!

Jack Petrie presented a slide program of pictures of members that he had taken during meetings throughout 2011.  A succession of great smiles from obviously happy members, - or good actors!  Of all the members featured in the presentation, - the only one that was actually speaking was John  Edgell!.

And thus, - a very informative, happy and worthwhile meeting closed with the singing of The Queen.