8th – Speaker meeting

We met in the Fleur restaurant and dealt with some immediate items of business, after which we listened to a fascinating talk from Dan Evans regarding the battle of Agincourt. Dan is better known to most of us as the organiser of the music programme at Gold Hill Fair but he is a man of many talents including being a medievalist. His talk was entitled “Myth, Mayhem and Money”.

Myth because much of what we learnt at school and more especially what Shakespeare told us is wrong. Mayhem because the outcome of the battle in large part came down to the confusion of the men at the front of the French army, being trodden into the mud and unable to escape from more enthusiastic knights and soldiers behind trampling on them. Money – well we learnt the real costs or present day values of running such a campaign, or of buying yourself a suit of army and a charger to ride.

The secret was to avoid battle if you could, because you might lose or get killed. Instead you should lay siege to wealthy towns. You could then plunder and rampage and take hostages to be returned in exchange for a hefty ransom.

22nd – Business Meeting

Tonight was a business meeting. We discussed donations and updated on our events for next year including our Cycle event in May, and the Gold Hill Festival. We will be having to change our meeting venue so we discussed plans for this, together with recruitment ideas to attract new members. So! – if you are interested please make contact: hello@shaftesburyrotaryclub.org

The real value of Rotary

Here we have an interesting article in this month’s Rotary magazine.

ROTARIANS are known the world over for humanitarian service and the good we do in the world to ‘Serve to Change Lives’. But rarely do we talk about the value of the Rotary network, which spans over 200 counties and territories worldwide, itself. That network of over 1.4 million Rotarians and our younger Rotaractors all join together to exchange ideas and take action. The recent events in Afghanistan have evidenced that. We have three Rotary clubs in Afghanistan and are in regular contact with them to ask for the best ways we can help. The connections that drive and strengthen Rotary arealready at work as members network with each other, and our partners, to provide aid to refugees who have fled the country and are resettling elsewhere. For those interested to know more try our Rotary Action Group for Refugees, Forced Displacement and Migration – www.ragforrefugees.org

We also expect to see many new project proposals for more sustainable long term humanitarian aid.
Thankfully the current situation in Afghanistan has not halted our progress in our efforts to eradicate polio. Just one case of wild polio has been reported this year. As conflict in Afghanistan quickly evolves, we must advocate for the children of Afghanistan and ensure that polio immunisation remains a high priority so that the gains we have made against polio do not diminish. We look forward to working with our polio eradication partners and the Afghan people to completely eradicate polio. In summary, we work with leaders on the ground at the point of need and mobilise a global network to help solve those problems addressing both immediate and longer term needs. As members of this global network we also benefit from lifelong global friendships ourselves too.

“Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, across the globe, inner communities and in ourselves.”

The real value of Rotary is priceless!