1.
Introduction
This is
a web based version of a little handbook we have called
"Guide
for new members
and potential new members
(and those who never knew or have short memories!)"
It was last
updated in Feb 2011
2 Inside Our Club
2.1 Purpose
This can be summarized as ”to try and improve the world we live
in whilst having fun doing it in the company of friends”. Our
club, like all other Rotary clubs, exists to foster the concept of
service to the community, both locally and internationally.
2.2 Meetings
We meet on Wednesdays (but not the fifth one in a month, nor just
before and after Xmas and odd others) at the Ladybridge Park Residents
Club, Edenbridge Road, Ladybridge Park, Cheadle Hulme. Cheadle, Cheshire,
SK8 5PX. Tel: 0161 485 1188. Fax: 0161 283 1519. We meet at 19.30
for 20.00.
2.3 Apologies
If you cannot attend a meeting then please apologise by Tuesday midday.
Either write your apology in the apologies book which is available
on club nights or email: apologies@bwrotary.org.uk
2.4 Attendance
We take a relaxed view on attendance statistics but members are expected
to attend when they can and to pay particular attention to their duties
(blind run, Speaker host, Sergeant at Arms etc).
2.5 Participation
We expect as many members as possible to volunteer to help in fund
raising events or community activities.
We like to be social, and
participation in social events is encouraged, but is a matter of personal
preference (no one is forced to go the opera/football/cinema/races/dance
etc).
All members are strongly
encouraged to attend the two “big” events of the year
– Charter Night where we celebrate our club’s formation
(c.f. birthday) and President’s Evening, sometimes known (wrongly)
as Ladies Night where we all dress formally, take our partners and
have a ball, usually including ritual humiliation of the President!!
Attendance at two other “almost as big” events –
the Christmas party and the summer barbecue is also strongly encouraged.
2.6
Joining our Club
Whilst membership is by invitation only, there is a process. Anyone
wishing to join Rotary can in practice initiate this by asking someone
to invite him/her to the club as a visitor. So step one is that a
prospective member is brought along to a few club meetings on a very
informal basis. Having seen us, the prospective member may choose
to go no further or become seriously interested in joining. At this
point the process is taken over by the Club Services committee who
will arrange an “information meeting” at which the prospective
member is told about Rotary and their obligations/duties should they
join - (actually it is practically all in this guide!). The committee
will arrange for the completion of an application form (which they
then hold), reference to Council and issue of the formal paperwork.
They also arrange with the prospective member whether he/she is from
then on until joining (or otherwise) a "regular attendee"
or wishes to "book in week-by-week". They also ensure that
the prospective member is included on lists for special events. Joining
is signified by a short ceremony (don’t worry – nothing
secret or embarrassing!) and a formal welcome to the club.
2.7 Organisation of the club
The club is organised into a council, several committees and some
specific roles.
The council is made up
of the president, secretary, treasurer, vice president, all committee
chairmen and the PRO. The first three of these are known as the club
Officers.
The committees are:
Community Service, Vocational & Youth
- this decides where we
spend the funds raised (we generally prefer to support local charities
such as hospices or children’s centres, but also support national
charities e.g. Macmillan Cancer Relief), organises direct community
work (e.g. footpath clearing), and liaises with local schools and
youth organisations.
International & Foundation
– this co-ordinates
our contribution to international activities such as providing emergency
boxes which are sent rapidly in the event of a disaster anywhere in
the world. It deals with Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams, ambassadorial
scholars, overseas students in the area and so forth. It also organises
fund raising for our Rotary charity – The Rotary Foundation
- and sometimes other international charities, often in partnership
with Ways and Means. This is the mechanism whereby we support some
massive Rotary projects such as Water Aid, and the elimination of
polio from the world
Ways and Means
– this organises
our fund raising activities. It is usually the biggest and most active
committee and always needs the full support of the whole club.
Club Services
– this looks after
the internal health of the club, covering such things as venue, meals,
attendance, membership development and the bulletin.
Social
- this organises social
events (i.e. ones we just enjoy and which do not seek to raise funds).
Often these are with spouses/partners. Our policy is not to make a
loss on any social event.
Note that all members,
other than officers and the PRO, are allocated to these committees.
This includes new members joining part way through a Rotary year.
Other roles within the
club are: Immediate past president, protection officer, sales officer,
bulletin editor, blind run co-ordinator and almoner.
2.8 Meeting Formats
There is no strict format to our Wednesday meetings but all are lively,
interactive and fun. They break down into three types:
Committee
meeting evenings
– these occur on
the first Wednesday of each month and are relatively informal affairs.
Committees can meet before the normal start time and members usually
sit in their committees for the meal. After the meal there is time
for more committee meetings and then we all get back together and
the committee chairman and club officers report back to the club on
developments.
Speaker
evenings
. These usually are a tiny
bit more formal with the meal being followed by a speaker who will
talk on a topic typically for 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes Q&A.
A formal vote of thanks will be given and Committee Chairmen will
then only raise club matters of some urgency or high topicality.
Other
evenings
. These include quiz evenings,
pub games evenings etc and each has it’s own unique form.
Most meetings end with
a raffle draw and the ritual and humorous “fining” (50p)
by the Sergeant at Arms.
Meetings (except committee
evenings) are organised by the members who are grouped in pairs and
assigned dates on a rota basis. These pairs choose whether or not
to have a speaker, and if not then what sort of evening it will be.
It is important to keep the Club Services chairman well briefed on
plans for these evenings and to plan as far ahead as possible.
Council
meetings
are held on the Monday
after the first Wednesday each month (i.e. soon after the monthly
committee meeting evening). They essentially hear reports from the
officers and committee chairmen and discuss and develop ideas. They
typically run from 7.30pm to 10pm.
2.9 Bulletin
We publish a bulletin bi-monthly and it contains amongst other things
a list of members, their addresses, phone numbers, spouses’
names and email addresses. It also has a programme and any duty rotas
such as the blind run, the roles of Speaker Host, Sergeant at Arms
and Bulletin Reporter as well as the allocation of names to organise
future meetings. The club has a bulletin editor. Articles are always
welcome and should be sent to the bulletin editor, preferably by email.
2.10 Money
Membership fees should be paid promptly. Rotary is not, in this club,
a “hands in your pocket” fundraiser. We aim to actively
participate in fund raising events and to organise as much as we can
by way of fund raising from the public at large. Nothing stops individual
Rotarians from contributing to any charity and we have forms to allow
easy direct debits and gift aid to our Rotary Foundation. The club
gives no special recognition or kudos to donors (i.e. there is no
option to just “pay” and not “do”).
The club’s financial
well being is looked after by the Treasurer who keeps two entirely
separate sets of accounts. Our General Account deals with money that
belongs to the members and is mostly raised by subscription and used
to pay for things like our onward fees to the Rotary hierarchy, TV
equipment, official guests at our more formal functions, occasional
speaker fees etc. Our Charity Account is where money for charitable
purposes is kept and accounted for. The Charity Account relates to
our own Charitable Trust with the Club Officers as trustees. Any donations
by members to the Charity can attract gift aid tax relief.
The auditor audits all
accounts and full detail is available to all club members. Statements
are prepared annually as is an annual budget.
2.11 How things get done
This is a fairly formal description. In practice steps are often forgotten
or bypassed because of time pressure. “Forgiveness is easier
than permission” usually applies, but not if done in the wrong
spirit or too often!
Ideas usually arise from
the thoughts of an individual member or come up during a committee
meeting. Ideas are discussed and developed at committee meetings.
Sometimes even very early stage thinking is raised by the committee
chairman at the appropriate stage of a club meeting, but usually the
committee decides it wants the club to do something and that idea
is taken to a council meeting. The council may reject the idea or,
much more likely, endorse it and often that is enough and the work
goes ahead. Sometimes the matter is deemed important enough to put
before the club as a whole and this will be done at the earliest suitable
meeting. Hence the saying “committees propose/recommend, council
endorses/decides, club decides/ratifies”.
Anyone can put an idea
or proposal to any committee or direct to council.
2.12 The Rotary Year
In our club (indeed in all Rotary clubs) the year runs from July 1st
to June 30th. We start the previous December by electing the officers
at an EGM who take over in July. At the AGM in April or May we elect
the Committee Chairman and the incoming president allocates members
to Committees. The new committees thus have up to three months to
put together their ideas for the Club Assembly (the meeting at which
we announce our plans for the new Rotary year) at the beginning of
July.
2.13 The Blind Run
One routine activity of the club is taking blind or partially sighted
folk to a dance at Walthew House in Stockport. This is done on a rota
basis and the rota is published in the bulletin. If you cannot take
your turn you must swap with someone. If all else fails, contact the
blind run co-ordinator. New members not too familiar with the area
would find it useful to go the previous week.
3 Outside our club
3.1 Where the club fits in the Rotary Universe
Our club is the Rotary Club of Bramhall and Woodford and is one of
44 clubs in our district, known as District 1050, covering part of
the North West of England. There are some 35,000 Rotary clubs in the
world (combined membership over 1.2 million). The District is one
of 29 districts in “Great Britain and Ireland” and also
one of 531 districts (spanning c200countries). Rotary in Great Britain
and Ireland is known as RIBI and is a unique entity in Rotary. Other
districts are gathered together into administrative zones. Each district
has a District Governor (DG). RIBI has a President. Rotary International
has a President and a committee who run all things Rotary. The HQ
of RIBI is in Alcester, Warwickshire and of Rotary International in
Evanston near Chicago. In Evanston, Rotary employs some 600 staff.
Note that any Rotarian can go as a visitor to any Club in the world.
You can just turn up but it is obviously more courteous to contact
a Club first and check what they are doing. Our secretary has a UK
and an International Directory, and all members are given district
directories annually.
We have occasional Scatter nights when members visit other clubs (usually
in twos or threes). This is a good way of finding out what other clubs
do and how they operate.
3.3 Big Meetings not organised by us
Each year there is a District Conference held round about the end
of September. It is at somewhere like Scarborough, Southport or the
Isle of Man. Typically 4-6 members and their wives attend this big
3 day event. There are inspirational speakers, a dinner dance, opportunities
to meet “district” and “national” people etc.
Similarly there is a national conference (it has been in Blackpool,
Manchester, Bournemouth etc) to which few if any members of this club
typically go.
Similarly there is an International conference (it has been in Singapore,
Glasgow, Chicago and all over the world) to which we rarely go.
3.4 Other District/National things
At District and national level the club’s committee structure
or somewhat similar exist e.g. district and national each has a Foundation
Committee. These committees meet regularly. District holds quarterly
Council meetings that rotate around the District and we usually have
a few people attending these (often the club Officers plus one or
two others).
3.5 Paul Harris Awards
Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary. In America there is a scheme
recognising money donors known as the Paul Harris Award. Basically
you pay your money ($1,000) and you become, by right, a Paul Harris
Fellow (PHF). In the UK, and certainly in this club, we do NOT work
that way. We award a Paul Harris Fellowship to club members or others
based on outstanding contribution to the club, Rotary and mankind.
The process for making a Paul Harris Fellow is shrouded in mystery
and never discussed openly (this is so that it comes as a complete
surprise to the recipient). It involves the current President and
all of the club’s members who are Paul Harris Fellows.
3.6 Husbands, Wives and Partners (HWPs)
HWPs are invited to most social events and some club meetings. HWPs
who wish to take part in Rotary are able to join Rotary themselves.
We already have a number of couples where both are members. We do
not have a corresponding Inner Wheel club (an international organisation,
originally for the wives of Rotarians). We do have a very informal
and supportive group known as Rotary Wives.
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