For the Rotary Club of Retford, January is a bit like ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Ball’, following on from all the hectic activity in December. The start of 2022 was even quieter, brought on by the continued impact of the Omicron variant. The first meeting was on Monday 10th (Monday 3rd being a Bank Holiday) when Club Council, the ruling body for the Club, and most committees held their monthly meetings.
The monthly Business Meeting followed the week after as usual. This is when every Committee Chairman informs the membership what is happening in their own group. It is also the opportunity to vote on decisions to donate monies from the Charity Account. This is something that must be agreed by the members.
However, what was more significant was the induction that evening of a new member. Brett Smith is a Procurement Officer for one of the big five energy companies. He lives in Everton and is married with one child. This means that the Club now has 64 members with others seeking to join.
All the files necessary for operating the Club have now been securely transferred online. At the meeting on 24th January, members Mike Davis and Jaime Hitchcock explained how all this works and how members can access the site.
There were five Mondays in January. The tradition of making this fifth Monday a Partners’ Evening was upheld. Past President Phil Lewis planned and compered a quiz with questions on geography, English monarchs and sport. It also gave the opportunity for members and their partners to socialise – many meeting up for the first time for nearly two years.
Finally, on 1st February, President Andrew Avery went with Percy Laws Chairman Mervyn Waring to the Rufford Avenue Allotments in Ordsall to present a shed, paid for by Mervyn’s committee, to Bassetlaw’s Plot 51 Community Project.