Chatterbox 0811 - Rotary Club of Belper

Meeting - 25th July
The Route to becoming a DG and the
Club Responsibilities
by Dave Ashley – District Governor Elect
D ave began by telling us that in the past most of the District’s DG’s had come
from Nottinghamshire so it was indeed an honour for Derbyshire to provide
Gordon McGlone this year and Dave next year. In fact the Rotary Club of Belper had
only provided a DG once before in 1935/7.
To become a DG takes four years of hard and sometimes frustrating work.
However the purpose of Dave’s talk was to make the club and members aware of
their commitment. So what exactly are these?
The first event will be the District Assembly on Saturday 28th April 2012 at
Nottingham Trent University with an attendance of over 300. Its purpose is to allow
all Rotarians the opportunity to meet the incoming DG and District Team, and learn
about the Rotary theme for the next year together with other useful information.
Our club will be responsible for acting as stewards for Assembly. It is hoped that all
members will be able to join Dave on this day and for club officers and committee
chairmen to attend their sessions. The assembly starts at 8.30am with people
arriving from 7.30am; as stewards, we will need to there for that time. We will have
to staff the car park and the buildings, directing people to their various destinations
during the event.
The next major event is the District Conference at Southport on the 5th -
7th October 2012. Once again the club will need to act as stewards for the weekend.
We will need as many people as possible. Also some of our neighbouring clubs have
said they will help if needed. Accommodation is available at the Ramada Hotel,
part of the Conference venue, which should making the duties less onerous.
Husbands, wives and partners are all welcome to assist.
The third major responsibility will be that of providing transport for Dave
and Gail to the various Club Charter celebrations etc. they are required to attend.
In total there are 55 Charter nights and a similar number of Club Visits, 110 in total.
Excluding the visits to this club and those Dave will drive himself to these amounts
to around three trips for each Rotarian. Paul Taylor will be co-ordinating this task.
This will be an exciting time for us all and the publicity, which is in the
capable hands of John Scotney, should do the Club a world of good.
John Horwood proposed the vote of thanks and I am sure that we all wish
Dave the very best for his year of office.
John Frankland
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