Rod McDougall
President 2006-7
Rotary Club of Strathfield
The President's View
Wednesday 12 July 2006
Rob Edwards, our guest speaker last week, gave us a good start to the year with his talk on "the good, the bad and the ugly" of direct marketing. And now we know just how extensive consumer advertising has become – on average, each of us sees 7,000 messages per day!
Welcome back to Ted Ingall, returning after a brief illness and now firing on all cylinders. I know registrations for the district conference will be high on his agenda.
Congratulations to Kevin Freund, now "sworn in" as vocational services director after he was unable to attend the changeover due to illness.
A benefit of being an incoming president is the visibility gained of the wider world of Rotary – in particular, the amount of RI and district support available to presidents, directors and club committees is extensive.
We gained a glimpse of this last week when Raymond McCluskie put on his assistant district governor's hat and spoke to us about his role. Raymond can marshal district support for membership development and programs such as RYLA and many other initiatives. I suspect he is also the DG's undercover agent!! Raymond mentioned RI President Bill Boyd's citation program I would like to see Strathfield receive a citation, but the criteria are broad and include completion of projects in all avenues of service. That means club member involvement. More later, after consideration by your board.
I trust Angelo Franco will appreciate the bound copy of last year's bulletins presented to him, but fellows, there must be someone who is willing to take over from him in this his third year as editor. At this stage the future of the bulletin does not look bright! Please see Brian Johnson or me to discuss the commitment required – which is not great (and only basic computer skills are needed).
Thanks to Steve Taylor for getting the fellowship program off to a flying start – see details later in the bulletin.
And it seems we can sing after all! We just needed a good choirmaster (thanks Peter Foss) and some creative lyrics (thanks Alan Petersen). A "Song for Harley" promises to be a great success.
Thanks for the gentle reception at my first meeting – I'm sure it won't last!
Enjoy Rotary … by getting involved!
President Rod