three weeks in

Not yet three weeks into the new Rotary year and much has happened already. Two weeks ago we saw the successful completion of this year’s Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) programme, held at Brimpt’s Farm, Dartmeet, on Dartmoor. The weather was exceptionally kind this year and all the candidates finished their week with good suntans.
It was an honour to be at the celebration dinner on the final night, held in the lovely surroundings of the Moorland Links Hotel. A good meal was followed by each of the four teams giving dramatic accounts of their experiences. Watch out world – new dynamic personalities are back in the community. Don’t tell the bumblebee!
During this time, I have made ‘official’ visits to five Rotary clubs to outline the vision of Rotary International and its aims and gaols for this coming year. There are clear challenges ahead with increasing our membership and bolstering our contributions to The Rotary Foundation, which has suffered considerably from the economic downturn with lower interest rates on deposits and decreased donations. On top of that we have the target of finally eliminating polio from the world.
Next week will be a busy one. On Monday I will be attending the Rotary Inner Wheel District Assembly in Bodmin, sharing with them the aims that we have for this year. District Executive and the Council meet on Tuesday, when we review our plans for the coming months.
Our Group Study Exchange team leader has been appointed and. On Sunday 26th, he will be helping us to choose a team of four young and promising professional/business people to travel to Venezuela for a four week “life-changing experience” in spring 2010. We will then look forward to hosting our guests from the area around Caracas.
Good luck everybody. Thanks for every thing you have done so far and keep up the good work.