District Governors Newsletter   July and August 2009 District 1070

What a great day out we had for our District handover on 5th July when 160 people came to see Iain out of office after what was a most successful year. Greetham Valley did us proud and we ended one year and started the next in style.
Well would you believe it, one month of the year one already. I made 17 club visits, 4 charter celebrations, 2 all-day meetings at Alcester, chaired a meeting of the District Council and visited the RYLA course at Grafham 3 times in July. Can I thank everybody for a really warm welcome I have received wherever I have been. Now I am looking forward to the next round of visits and charters but there are other milestones for us all to be preparing for. First of all there is our
Conference coming up in Eastbourne 2nd – 4th October. We have a great programme planned and we are looking forward to seeing you all there in huge numbers. Please don’t forget to register and look out for the Rotaract challenge.

On Saturday 19th September we will be hosting a Multi-District Membership Seminar in Northampton. If you do not have the details yet then please check with our Membership Team. On that same day the Group Study Exchange arrive in this country for a month-long stay. Please do look out for their visit in your area and, better still, come to hear them speak at Eastbourne.

Many of you will have heard me speak about keeping up our pressure on the eradication of Polio and in particular about the RIBI-wide “Thanks for Life” celebration of Rotary International Day on and around 23rd February 2010. There is background information and briefing material available using the link from the RIBI website. And speaking about the Polio campaign, have you met up yet with the District 1070 bear? This splendid animal is available from Mary Whitehead for loan visit periods, especially at Youth Opportunity functions. The bear has a diary in which to record the visits and activities witnessed and a very useful backpack in which contributions can be made for funds raised. Mary hopes that the bear will raise £1070 for the campaign. So far the poor bear has no name, but we will be inviting everybody to enter a naming competition at Conference. The bear was a welcome visitor at the aforementioned RYLA course.

And finally, there is a request from the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven for funding help to let them fulfil an urgent plea for more Trade Aid boxes to Sierra Leone. Please do see if you can help them to help others.

Yours in Rotary Service
Dick