Minutes December 12, 2014

 

Call to Order:

The Jingle Bells chimed this festive meeting to order

 

Invocation:

Jacques asked that we all may have good food and digestive systems

 

To the Queen and to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas were led by our President.

 

Tanya Carey read the list of visiting Rotarians, which included our past secretary Jillian Gibson who is back visiting these shores and our club for the first time in six years

 

None today

 

Member Guests: 

Dave, Llewellyn, and Melissa all had guests with them today. There was a suggestion that Marty Weinberg may have been somebody’s guest too, but we were assured he is still a member, and a member with 100% attendance to boot!

 

The question may have been popped couple of weeks ago, but is it really official until it’s announced at Rotary?

Diane and Ferdy are engaged to be married! The cheers from the crowd confirmed that we all think this is a very good thing.

 

Sergeant at Arms:

PP Robert admitted to fixing the Sergeants schedule in an attempt to ensure he wasn’t officiating at the Christmas meeting, only for Elmer to dash his plans by bringing the yuletide celebrations forward by one week, which lead to the normally unheard of disciplinary action of a fine for the President.

 

As is customary at this time of the year, all fines collected were to be given to the staff at the NYC in a show of our appreciation, so Robert did not hold back. Many were fined for no pins (shame on them!), Robin received so many fines that I lost count, and Jeff Albury was fined for wearing long pants.

 

When all was said and done and collected, $515 was handed over to the fantastic staff of the Yacht Club.

 

Robert then shared some research that claimed that one’s drink of choice  reflected their personalities.  The description of whiskey drinker so matched Lindsey that we were almost convinced, right up until the part about leaving parties early that is.

 

(Make cheques payable to:  EAST NASSAU ROTARY CLUB FOUNDATION)

 

Mayuri Deka Dec 12

Julie Fellay, wife of Jean Marc, Dec 12

 

Robert & Rowena Blakesley, 42 years Dec 16

Brian & Cathleen Hassan, 32 years Dec 18

 

 

Membership:

Roland Knowles 13 years Dec 14

Michael Lightbourn 5 years Dec 18

 

Announcements:

 

Lindsey broke the unfortunate news that we have had to canel The Hobbit premiere. But fear not, another movie premiere night wil be coming up in the new year.  Watch this space……

We do still have some Hobbit Opening Night t-shirts for sale. These were already collectors items, now they are extra special collectors items. Got to be worth the $35 asking price with proceeds going to the East Nassau Foundation.

 

Talking of t-shirts, Lindsey informed us that a further $2,500 has been raised through sales of End Polio Now shirts, and as today’s lunch was marked as a Worlds Greatest Meal event, the funds have been donated to that initiative. This brings RCEN's total donations to WGM to $24,760.56 and with the Gates Foundation match, $74,281.68. To  put it in perspective, that's the equivalent of 123,803 polio vaccinations!!!

 

Lee McCoy presented our President with a giant cheque for $3,500 from proceeds of the Colour Run. The funds will be split equally between the East Nassau Foundation and Rotaract East Nassau.  Thanks Lee and all those involved in this fantastic event.

 

Sir Durward thanked all who made the Christmas party at BAPD such a special event, in particular MC Lindsey, lead singer Murray, and of course Santa Robin. He also thanked the club for our donation of $8,000 towards the purchase of wheelchairs.

 

As it is the season for giving, Pres Elmer kept the festive spirit flowing with a donation to Ray Minus Jr for the purchase of safety and sporting gear for his youth boxing program.

 

Adam announced that the balance of the funds needed to purchase a truck for Violets are Blue were raised from member donations at last Friday’s lunch. Good work.

 

There were a lot of announcements today……

 

Corrine has Rotary Christmas Cards for sale. A snip at 50c each.

 

Paul needs/needed help for one last visit to the Seahorse Institute on Sunday.

 

Gavin announced the upcoming annual Christmas lunches at the Crises Centre (Dec 17) and Ebeneezer (Dec 18). Helpers needed.

 

JP informed us that his Rotary team won the Rotaract scavenger hunt last Saturday. Woohoo

 

He also reminded us of the comedy show on Dec 16^th, with part proceeds going to our club.  One upside of being so late writing these notes is that I can tell you this was an excellent show. Hopefully there will be more to come.

 

Volunteers are/were still needed for bell ringing on Dec 13.

 

Geoff urged al to get up off our sofa’s and get active by signing up for the Susan G Komen 5k run/walk in January.  Remember to put RCEN as your team.

 

With the marathon announcements sessions done, we were treated the beautiful sounds of Christmas sung by local artists Angelique Sabrina and Julien Believe.

 

Angelique, at the tender age of 16, has recently released her first cd and has been featured on MTV and BET.

 

As wonderful as their voices were, and they were, we were all left startled when the microphone was thrust in front of PP Geoff’s face and he belted out a verse! Truly a talent he has been keeping hidden from us, though as his dad later revealed his signing skills were honed at the rugby field it’s maybe just as well he stopped when he did.  We all know those rugby chaps like to add a bit of colour to their lyrics, and this was a family show. 

 

All good things must come to an end, so as the clock approached 2, Pres Elmer thanked Angelique and Julien for filling us with festive cheer and raised a glass to……….

 

Rotary Around the World

 

Philip Cumming