President's Message   

 

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The meeting opened at 7:07 with 28 members present and two guests; Cathy Cavanagh, who is currently a member of the Northumberland sunrise club and Brian Barber, father of Jill Barber the musician and author of our current Storybook Walk book “Music is for Everyone” and Wellington resident.  Pres. Ken introduced our speaker in the Charter Member series of presentations, John Inwood. John then gave a lively account of his long involvement with Rotary and many of the highlights of his time, particularly with our own Club since its establishment.

John‘s first encounter with Rotary happened during his frosh year at Queen’s University. He had to do some community service as part of his studies and was picked up by a Rotarian and taken to a subdivision to sell Rotary peanuts in aid of crippled children. He was impressed by the Rotarian and the cause though there was then a hiatus of fifteen years in his involvement with Rotary (though he was a Kinsman & Lion at various times) until he came to Prince Edward County in the early 80s and was invited to join the Picton Club by Leo Finnegan. He became President of the Club in 1989. That was also the first year that the Picton Club inducted a female member, Lynn Markland, and the first Picton Rotary Golf Tournament that was part of raising $50,000 for work on the hospital and has since become established as the Wilf Harrison Memorial Tournament. Changes to John’s professional circumstances made it impossible for him to sustain the 75% attendance that used to be a Rotary requirement but, after his retirement in 2002, John was persuaded, by Leo Finnegan again, to be part of a group of Wellingtonians to set up a new club. An early involvement in the newly-formed Club, was Ways & Means which led to piloting a new initiative, the Diners & Duffers voucher/discount book which has continued to be a substantial and reliable source of income for participating local clubs. John chaired that project for the next 15 years, with the support of Reg Gemmel, Art Sinclair, Howard Ziedenberg, Scott Johnston, Cliff Deleon, Kristen Nash and Liz Bosma, to name a few. John was also heavily involved, particularly with his professional background, in the renovation of the Wellington Beach area including, of course, the boardwalk and the sun shelter which were built for the Club’s Centennial Project. Many hours and days were spent bolting together cribbing for the base for decking and hauling to the beach. John was helped by many Club members including Pierre LeBrun, Dick McArthur, Dean Westbrook, Chuck McWilliams and Kevin Conley. Not long after this, Wellington decided to hold a Waterfront Festival and the Club contributed by organizing a beach volleyball tournament with heavy equipment being used to level the sand and set up the DJ’s trailer powered by Pierre’s generator. The beer garden turned out not to be a big fundraiser but was a fun raiser. Another early fundraising idea was the Texas Holdem Tournament that looked very promising until shut down by the OLG. A curious Wellington Rotary Club artefact was recently revealed as an attempt to brand the Rotary logo onto park bench boards. It’s past belongs with the fairy lights hung in the Chadsey’s Cairns West Hay Mow for a Fall dance party that was held for several years. There were also some run-ins with the OLC in trying to hold a wine-tasting event in the former Dukedome. Amongst other memories were the scavenger poker run and the highly-remunerative Dave Wilcox concert at the Lehigh Centre for which several Club members gained their bar-tending certifIcation. Another major project for the Club became the Millennium Trail, initiated by Barry Davidson, but with a hugh amount of sweat equity from members and some very useful Hydro One contacts. John was also instrumental in installing the scoreboard at the Wellington baseball diamonds with key support from Pierre, David Baldwin and Tim.

John concluded his presentation by explaining his attraction to Rotary because of its weekly format, the informative speaker program and the role of the executive committee. He appreciates both local and international projects to follow our mission.

After answering some questions, John was thanked by Christine who is also a friend of his daughter.

In Club business, the inaugural event for the Storybook Walk was described and Linda was thanked for all her efforts on this project. Pres. Ken requested help to organize this year’s Rotary Foundation Walk which will take place on Sunday September 25th next. Lyn and Margo volunteered to work on that. Christine distributed some posters for the Auction/Dance event (HDAHA). 2 volunteers were needed for Wednesday at the bottle depot. Pres. Ken congratulated David McKinnon on his birthday and Bill and Sean on their anniversaries. PPres Trudy announced that the Wellington United Church were able to pay off the loan  of $25,000 incurred for shoreline repair, with the help of our Club and others. Colin thanked Lana, Pres. Ken and others for making the Golf Tournament ‘ready to roll’ so soon.

The meeting closed at 8.13 after happy dollars, the 50/50 and the 4 Way Test.

 

 

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