DISTRICT GOVERNOR IAN LEGGE: VISIT TO HIGHCLIFFE ROTARY:
THURSDAY 22ND JULY 2010
In his address to the Club, District Governor Ian brought greetings from his club
(New Milton). He congratulated the Club on it’s up-
Regarding the new Rotary worldwide President, Ian thought him a ‘breath of fresh air’ who was looking afresh at everything to do with Rotary. The R.I. President’s theme for his year is “Building Communications, Bridging Continents” i.e. Aiming at the world at large as well as Rotarians, and wants Clubs to be “Bigger, Bolder, Better”.
The R.I.B.I. President was emphasising the Focus on Crocus campaign (part of Thanks For Life), with plantings in October. He is challenging Clubs to try and beat the current Guinness world record for such plantings.
District (Ian) had no particular lead charity for the year, but he wants to look
at how Clubs operate. He reminded that Clubs were not fund-
Regarding membership, he hoped Clubs during his year would :
1. Try and end up bigger
2. Try and become more diverse in it’s membership
3. Try and lower the average age of it’s membership...”we need more working and younger people”
On Rotary Foundation, Ian considered it “an enormous and fantastic charity” which was very powerful and persuasive world wide. Ian reminded Members of the opportunity of Sustainable Membership where Rotarians can donate, say, £5 a month towards Foundation. He stated that the take up in the US was 45%, but only 3.4% in the UK.
On being a Rotarian, Ian reminded those present that people trust Rotary when donating to our charities, knowing that campaigns such as Shelterbox are extraordinarily quick to respond when needs arise (sometimes quicker than governments).
Finally, Ian encouraged all to: a) Have fun b) Keep learning about Rotary and c) DO SOMETHING