Traditionally, the last meeting of December is our chance to celebrate Christmas as a club.

This year we invited partners and guests to join us for an evening of friendship and entertainment. Rotarians Kathryn and David Pike provided two short sketches, including a "reduced" Cinderella that saw President Emrys and Rotarian Andreas finding their star qualities as the Ugly Sisters.  Rotarian Trevor gave us his traditional Christmas Newsletter, highlighting a few of the amusing episodes from the year, and later led us in a few Christmas carols.  By the end of the meeting, we all left feeling very Christmassy indeed.

Happy holidays to you all!

Tonight we had our business meeting and the following was discussed:

£100 + VAT agreed for the production of bookmarks for Club promotional purposes
£350 agreed for the purchase of a club Projector for use with laptops.  The possibility of hiring this out was discussed, as a way of recouping some of the expenditure.

Goslar trip was dicussed in brief.  Concerns were raised over the date of the exhange.  Any decisions were postponed until such times that President Emrys could be present to discuss the issues in full.

A review of Flag Day and Reindeer parade took place.  In the region of £440 pounds was raised.

This evening we were blessed with not one but two speakers! Our first speaker was Rotarian Gaby Gaut who gave us an insight into her career. Gaby has travelled the world with work and has been a member of the Rotary family in Uruguay, France and Britain, as well as her native Argentina. Her work at Reckitt Benckiser involves the complex statistical methods used to monitor shopping habits, and she gave us an idea of how much thought goes into influencing our decisions when we buy our groceries.

Our second speaker was from one of the charities that we are supporting, Daisy's Dream, who provide support for children who have recently lost loved ones. Daisy's Dream provides a wonderful service and we watched a very touching video about how the charity has helped children all over Berkshire and the neighbouring counties.

This evening we were joined by partners and guests to take part in an Antique Quiz. A friend of the club provided a selection of about 30 unusual objects and our task was to answer interesting questions about them. From a to a , the objects certainly entertained in their variety, and pointed out a few antique buffs in our midst. We rounded off the evening with a wonderful raffle.

Special General Meeting

Renato presented the audited accounts for the year 2007/08

The officers appointed by the club at the SGM for the year 2009-10 were as follows:

President Elect - Kathryn Pike

President Nominee - Andreas Stavrinides

Honorary Secretary - David Pike

Honorary Treasurer - Renato Costabile

Nomination for District Governor 2011-12

Two candidates have been nominated and the club voted for Niall Blair from the Rotary Club of Marlow. Martyn will notify District accordingly.

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Business Meeting

Various committee reports were discussed and reports of our recent events are in the newsletter.

Volunteers are needed for the Christmas Lights in Eton and Windsor, Street Collection/ Reindeer Parade, please see clipboard.

Festival of Christmas Music

Ossie informed the club that all members would receive the tickets they requested. He explained that each choir member receives one ticket and as we have lost fifty seats this year due to the rules applied by Eton College, tickets are limited.

Next week is the Antiques Quiz and numbers currently stand at around 38 which means we should have a really enjoyable evening – Contact David Pike if you have not booked but would like to attend. Apologies should be submitted to David in the usual way.

Trevor gleefully extracted fines from members who misbehaved.

Attendance officer next week is David Pike & the guests' friend is Trevor Morgan

The raffle was won by Ossie Williams.

This evening we welcomed Immediate Past District Governor Jean Charmak.  Jean visited to give us a flavour of what a Rotary International Convention can offer, and to encourage us to take advantage of the opportunity to visit a convention on our doorstep.

President Emrys was back in fine form after his cruise.

The speaker was Josh Lovell who gave a very interesting account of his trip to Kenya to help with a school project. The Club sponsored Josh and he certainly made the most of every minute. He took about three thousand photographs!

Trevor gave an update on the Gala and is confident that all will be go well on the night.

Forthcoming anniversaries: Induction of Richard Cox on 24 October 1995

Speaker next week is Past District Governor Jean Charmak

Attendance officer next week is David Pike

Guest's friend next week is Phil Lenton

The raffle was won by Mike Brown.

Emrys was away sunning himself on a Mediterranean cruise and left Carol to take the meeting.

Members drank a toast to the Rotary Club of Charles Sturt, Grange, District 9500 (South Australia & Northern Territory). They sent a letter saying that at some time in the past, our Club has presented a banner to their club and they thanked us for that gesture of goodwill and said they drank a toast to our club recently.

John Fido had an eye operation last week which unfortunately did not go according to plan and resulted in quite an extensive operation. He has limited sight at the moment but hopes it will improve shortly.

Forthcoming anniversaries:

Al Gore’s induction on 16 October 2007

          Martyn Gorton’s induction on 18 October 1983

Al Gore’s birthday on 19 October

Carol presented Martyn with a certificate to celebrate 25 years of service and thanked him for his contribution to Rotary and especially for the work he has done for the Rotary Club of Windsor St George.

Visits: Tom said he attended a superb concert at Dorney Lake, held by the Soroptomist’s.

Business Meeting: Various reports were read and discussed.

Antiques Quiz – Tuesday 18 November at The Manor. The club agreed to an increase of £1 to £15 on the night to raise funds for Goslar. Members will be asked to make cheques payable to the club on the night and Renato will submit a club cheque to the hotel.

Chris purchased some additional items for sale at the Fireworks and the club approved the increased expenditure. We will also pay the scouts to clear up for us on the Sunday as this is supporting local children.

Neil had asked for a proposal to be put forward asking the club to match the money raised by Gaby and Jayne who did the Sunrise Walk for Thames Hospicecare but the club felt this would set a precedent and decided not to go ahead.

RC of Windsor & Eton are looking at the possibility of holding a careers fair for the two local upper schools which could involve our club.

There will be a New Members seminar at the Scout HQ in Windsor on Thursday 06 November and David Shaw hopes that a few members of WSG will attend.

Trevor has six tickets available for the Gala; please contact him if you need additional tickets. Trevor will give a briefing on everyone’s duties at the meeting next week.

Good News: Tom proudly showed members an impressive medal for active service that has just been presented to him.

~ Speaker next week is Josh Lovell

~ Attendance officer next week is David Pike

~ Guest's friend is Gaby Gaut

The raffle was won by Carol Buckland.

Members were delighted to welcome Neil back to the club; it was really good to see him. He hopes to break a record and remain in the country for a month. Neil has visited countless Rotary Clubs whilst on his travels but no one could spell the names.

Olga took us on a tour of the Orient with a presentation on her trip to China, just before the Beijing Olympics. Olga comes from Mongolia and she told a fascinating and moving story.

Olga is passionate about improving the lives and rights of people and when her children were small, she took them with her to protest about human rights and they still remember the chanting to this day. She showed a picture of her mother who still lives in the Far East and explained that she has suffered with dementia for the past four years which is extremely distressing for Olga.

During the trip, her son James did a bungee jump in Macau, the world’s highest jump. Olga was not persuaded to try it for herself!

Chris reported on the very successful Sunrise Walk last Sunday for Thames HospiceCare. Gaby walked on behalf of the club and raised £150 toward the remarkable total of £83,000 (before Gift Aid). This was the first Sunrise Walk but it will undoubtedly become an annual event. Jayne Parsonage and several other members of the Merry Wives also walked and despite the appalling weather, everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed it.

Trevor reported that tickets are going well for the Gala.

Members went home poorer as Trevor fined everyone because the club was mentioned in the press.

The attendance officer next week will be Terry but apologies should still be submitted to David Pike.  

Guest's friend next week is Tom Farrell.

The raffle was won by David Davis.

As this was the fifth Tuesday of the month partners were invited to join us for our fellowship meeting.

Our speaker was Dr. Tony Maisey, of the Rotary Club of Princes Risborough with a talk entitled 'A funny thing happened on the way to the Surgery'.  His comical speech gave us an insight into the trials and tribulations of being a G.P. 

This evening members 'Scattered' to either attend the Langley and Iver Rotaract Quiz Night or to the club meeting of the Rotary Club of Chertsey.

Twenty four club members, partners and their guests enjoyed an excellent talk by our two guests, Superintendent Tim De Meyer, the Area Commander Thames Valley Police, and PC Claire Parkes, the Beat Officer for Eton & Eton Wick. Marilyn Cox introduced the guests as Richard is well known to Claire!

Tim has been a police officer for over 11 years, starting in the Metropolitan Police and recently Thames Valley. Tim’s career has seen him involved in most aspects of policing and was the head of the CID in Hounslow before his move to the Thames Valley.  In his spare time, Tim runs a boxing club and trains several up-and-coming prospects for success in the 2012 London Olympics

Claire has been a PC for 4 years, her whole career spent based in our local area.  Claire’s has experience in the response team and has been involved in prisoner handling.

Claire and Tim talked to us about the measures that we can take in our local community to help reduce and prevent crime.  Although we were surprised with the knowledge that there had only been one burglary in the area during the previous weekend, Tim urged us to get involved with our local Neighbourhood Watch organisation.  In addition, Claire told us how we can play our part in reducing crime and disorder with some simple, practical advice.

The meeting ended sometime after 10pm, which gives some idea of the interest sparked in those present.  However, the rumour that our Sergeant at Arms’ car registration has been passed to the local Constabulary because he fined Superintendent Tim is currently unconfirmed!

Ossie Williams celebrates his 80th birthday on 10 September which is also the birthday of our newest member, Gaby. Many happy returns to them both.

We were pleased to welcome Michael and Austin, two visiting Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Burnham Beeches.

President Emrys gave a brief report on the District Meeting that he and Carol attended on 04 September.

Ø      The proposal for clubs to be able to choose to meet weekly or at least twice per month was unanimously supported.

Ø      Rodney Huggins put forward a proposal regarding Environment and Climate Change asking the board of Rotary International to give this greater emphasis and to reflect this awareness in Rotary programmes. This was carried unopposed. The two proposals will now be put forward to the Council on Legislation.

Ø      Ambassadorial Scholars are needed

Ø      Nominations are invited for a GSE Leader

Richard asked as many people as possible to attend next week when the Area Commander is visiting the Club. This is now a partners evening.

The attendance officer next week will be Andreas but apologies should still be submitted to David Pike. Please advise David if you are bringing your spouse, partner or guests as he will need to advise the hotel of numbers.

Guest's friend next week is Ray Brown and John Fido will propose the vote of thanks.

We have an invitation to Heathrow's Christmas Breakfast on Monday 22 December – Please contact Martyn if you wish to attend.

Foundation Christmas Cards are available – Contact Emrys.

The club agreed to £200 for food parcels.

Emrys, Andreas and Carol visited Stirrups and were impressed with the venue for St. George's Night. The club agreed a ticket price of £30 and a deposit of £250.

The club agreed to spend £600 on Glo sticks and fans for the Fireworks.

Donations of £200 have been asked for from Clubs toward the Leonard Cheshire Homes which provides education for disabled children. The club agreed this and it will come out of the Legoland collection.

Trevor said ticket sales for the Gala are going well, with half already sold.

The London to Windsor cycle ride raised £783 with Mike's sponsorship still to come

The RBWM Alcohol Team needs funds to promote a DVD that a youngster has made and is thought to be of great value to schools etc. as there is a youth problem in and around Windsor. The club agreed £100.

Chris suggested that a young carer could be a RYLA candidate next year.

Chris, Emrys and Carol attended a meeting regarding the Horse Show and Tattoo. This will be a much bigger event next year as all three armed services will be represented. They plan to increase the seating to seven and a half thousand and there will be an additional day. They are very keen to work with us again and we hope to have the Rotary Roadshow and ShelterBox there.

Emrys and Andreas will go Cardiff next week to assess the costs for a possible visit with our Goslar Club next May.

John Fido gave an update on a report received from AMREF (African Research and Medical Foundation).

The Mkuranga Project (Tanzania) for which WSG provided two water boreholes plus a number of shallow wells still features as one of their high profile projects in East Africa.  Work still continues in Mkuranga District with some support/involvement with the Bahari - Dar-es-Salaam Rotary Club (whilst we may not be in the same sort of contact as Goslar, our joint involvement, initiated by WSG, lives on).  AMREF also report that as a result of the provision of clean water, health continues to show a steady improvement with reductions in all water-borne diseases.

Although not mentioned last evening, John says the long-lasting
mosquito nets we provided through the efforts of Chris Davies and BA are contributing to a decrease in malaria.

The raffle was won by Richard Cox.

This evening we welcomed visitors from the Rotary Club of Lemgo, North Germany and a potential new member from Datchet who was invited along by Al Gore.

Mike Brown gave a very informative talk on Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).  He gave an insight into his 1 month Trinity college course and spoke about his teaching debut this July at Eton College, where he taught English to Chinese students.  Later in the year he plans to go to teach English in Thailand as a volunteer. 

Trevor Morgan has advised that members should get their bookings for tickets for the Gala in as soon as possible.  Tickets are selling very well and he anticipates there will be need for a waiting list.

This weeks bottle of wine was won by Ossie Williams.  Next weeks visitors' friend is Olga Parry.

The attendance officer for the meetings on 9th and 16th September will be Terry Jones however all apologies for these meeting still need to be sent to David Pike in the usual way.

This week we entertained 16 visitors from the Rotary Club of Heston and Isleworth as well as a member of Canterbury Sunrise, a new breakfast club.

Windsor St. George Rotarian Al Gore spoke on the History of the British Transport Police from the 1830's through to modern day.   We learnt that they have a long history of being at the forefront of new development. Their early adoption of the use of electric telegraphs to communicate, the introduction of dogs as detectives and the appointment of female officers proves their place as a pioneering police force.   The British Transport Police is the only National Police Service in the UK and the only British Police Service to also operate in Scotland.

Chris Davies won the bottle of wine.   Next weeks guests' friend is John Fido and Past President Mike Brown will be giving a talk on teaching English as a second language.

Tonight we welcomed the District Governor Malcolm Boddington who spoke to us about being a DG and gave a brief rundown on current RI and RIBI activities.  This included Polio Plus and Leonard Cheshire Disability which is RIBI President Ian Thompson's chosen charity for this year.  He also spoke about the RI Convention in Birmingham next year and the Club Leadership Plan.  His talk concluded with a message to 'Enjoy Rotary'.  If you don't enjoy it you can't give 'service above self'.  Malcolm presented a 'Make Dreams Real' banner from RI President D.K.Lee.

The bottle of wine was won by Neil Parsonage.  Next weeks visitors' friend is Judith Diment.

David Pike (Attendance Officer) advised the club that, as he would be away at Banbury Camping Rally next weekend, the deadline for e-mailling apologies will be Thursday 21st Aug 2008 at 6pm.  Apologies being submitted after this date should be made via phone by calling his mobile 07775 996775 by 6pm on Sunday 24th Aug 08.  This arrangement will be for next week's meeting only.

Gaby Gaut transferred from the Rotary Club of Paris Agora and was warmly welcomed into the Club by President Emrys and members.

Members will be required to register on the RI web-site for member access in order to attend the International Convention in Birmingham (and probably for access to many other things in the future). To apply for access, you need to have the district number, our club number, your own membership number and an e-mail address. Martyn is looking into this and will advise all members of the information they need as soon as he has details.

£250 was agreed for the Micro Credit initiative.  £50 was agreed for REMIT.  £52 was agreed to make up the shortfall from the money raised by Windsor schools to fund two shelter boxes.

Thames Hospice Care are organising a ladies "Sunrise Walk" on Sunday 05 October and need marshals. It was agreed that we would support this event and some of our female members may obtain sponsorship and walk and others will marshal – Start time 05:00. We will arrange to have breakfast somewhere afterwards.

David Pike is taking orders for the Rotary Calendar – cost £3.50 – proceeds to Foundation. Please advise If you wish to purchase one, please advise David as soon as possible.

A RYLA candidate has been selected and will speak to the Club.

Rotaract are holding a Quiz Night on Tuesday 23 September and we, along with other clubs have been asked to support. It was agreed to cancel the normal club meeting so that President Emrys and several other members and partners could attend. It will be a scatter night for those who do not wish to attend.

Phil Lenton has set up an on-line facility for sponsorship of club members who will be participating in the annual cycle ride – www.justgiving.com

Guest's friend next week is David Davis and the raffle was won by Judith.

Tonight David & Kathryn Pike provided a brief guide to e-mail and the internet focusing on the Windsor St. George website and e-mail group.  Mike Brown won this weeks bottle of wine.  Next weeks Guests' friend will be Chris Davies.