Well I`ve just concluded my final night as Rotary President; it’s a strange feeling, knowing I`ve handed on something that’s been a major part of my life for the last 18 months. It was an enjoyable evening and my fellow Rotarians were very generous in their praise. What have I enjoyed most about my time in office ? Almost certainly it will have included the privilege of speaking to many folk about their interests, admiring and encouraging the work of young people, such as the youth of Tibshelf school who are part of a building project in Sri Lanka, or the young people of Chernobyl with their indomitable spirit and the young ambassadors for Rotary who have travelled to our country to tell us about their culture.
I would also want to include my two charters (you can read about them on my blog Feb 2010 and 2011) and also the three Inner Wheel Charters I attended as President of Rotary. Inner Wheel is a fine organisation for ladies who often achieve more than the men in Rotary !
I think that it has also been good to have opportunity to “get off my backside” and make a difference by raising money to “STOP POLIO NOW”, the Rotary campaign to completely eradicate Polio across the world. Alongside the Bill Gates Foundation this is a major initiative to try to completely eradicate this dreadful illness. Working with the World Health Organisation there are now only four countries in the world which report Polio in its midst.
The Polio Plus campaign is one I`m particularly proud of.