Rotary GB&I President Denis Spiller visits Club
The Club were honoured to welcome Rotary GB&I President Denis Spiller accompanied by District Governor Garth Arnold to the Club Thursday 25 January 2018. We were also delighted to welcome to the well attended special meeting 15 Rotarians from other clubs.
Bringing greetings form his Club in Strood, Kent, and highlighting the history and legacy of Rotary President Denis noted that membership is reducing and getting older and thus Rotary needs to change to generate a younger membership. He revealed that Paul Harris has stated that to remain relevant evolution, if not revolution, is necessary and declared we cannot afford to resist what he calls ‘Rotary 2’. Clubs, he stressed, must embrace the new flexibility within Rotary such as meeting less frequently, being less formal etc. to attract younger members with different lifestyles and also get the story of Rotary into the public domain embracing social media. He pointed out that Rotary were one of the first responders on the ground after the Grenfell Tower disaster and Somerset floods and concluded that his goal is to achieve 50,000 members by 2020 and asked members to be “change agents”.
Thanking him for his address President Rosemary presented him with a Club banner.
DG Garth pointed out that his year is featuring the number 100:- the Rotary Foundation is recognising its 100 years, Rotary Ireland are targeting 100 new members and he is the 100th District Governor. He revealed that the District Strategic Plan aims to support and strengthen clubs, lead on humanitarian service and emphasise Sustaining Membership. Noting that Rotary Ireland membership was now at only 2,000 having been 2,500 and the aim is to achieve this figure again over 5 years, he stressed that new members are the lifeblood of Rotary, flexibility is the key to making it more welcoming particularly for younger and recently retired people and not only must the average age be reduced but also that membership should reflect communities particularly with more women. He advised that it was hoped to have 8 Satellite Clubs and 100 new members this year pointing out that so far this year there has been 1 new Club Chartered – Raheny, 1 new Satellite Club – Dublin South and 1 new Rotaract Club in Dublin University.
Encouraging Foundation Sustaining Membership he stressed the ‘One Last Push Campaign’ for polio looking for $150m to be raised in 3 years and pointed out that if Polio is not eradicated we would be back to 200,000 cases in 10 years. He noted that the District Council on Saturday would mark the 60th Anniversary of the Belfast polio epidemic of 1957 with some survivors and Pamela Ballantine attending.
On behalf of the District team he thanked the Club for its Foundation support and presented a Rotary Foundation 2016-17 Certificate of Appreciation signed by Kaylan Banerjee, Chairman The Rotary Foundation Trustees and RI President John Germ. (see here)