Memorials
The club paid tribute to two former members of our club. Dr. Dick Wylie, Club President in 1978-9 and General Surgeon and to  Bill Kavanagh, Club President in 1992-93 and Chief of Police in Aylmer. More recently Bill has been a member of the Aylmer Rotary Club but often visited our club on special occasions such as the Christmas parties. Both passed away recently.
 
Happy Fins - Donations of $5 to The Rotary Foundation Annual Programs Fund credited to the donor in celebration of something good in our lives. This practice was started in this club in 1985 to raise funds for polio eradication at the suggestion of Darwen Lowe, a member of the club.
Bill Horn & Maggie (8+1)
Ed Willson(1)
Stew Shouldice(1)
Nancy Lovelock (2)
Ron Somerville (4)
Trish Shouldice (3)
Trudy Kanellis (3)
Malcolm Rust (3)
Jen Babcock (2)
Dave Payler (1)
Pat Martyn (4)
 
Trudy reported giving another $500 to Mike Moore for the on-going sales of bears.
Dave P. thanked club members who had help monitor the Salvation Army Christmas Kettles before Christmas.
 
Speaker next week: Debbie
Same topic: Avoidable Blindness – District project in Mexcio
 
Correction: The S.A. officers in St. Thomas are Captains Nyree and David Bond.
 
Ken Ferguson has been admitted to Stegh.
 
Christmas Tour of Homes: Appreciation Dinner  Friday 26 Jan.
Cost $25
6pm for 6.30
All club members and spouses are encouraged to attend.
Our guests will be the homeowners and tour decorators.
RSVP to Trudy
Club Assembly reports:
The Interactors celebrated recent fund raising by having a sleepover and party at Trudy`s house. They will work with church members to attend to the garden at St. Hilda`s St Luke`s Anglican Church in the spring in appreciation for the use of the church.  They submitted a video (1 of 140) about their activities and were in the top 25%.
Dictionaries will be distributed to 5 more schools and that will complete the project for this year.
An application for place in the Ottawa program, Adventures in Citizenship has been submitted and we wait for a response.
 
Members were encouraged to make more use of the club website
Rotarystthomas.org and Club Runner.
 
Dave Moffatt belongs to a RAG group with a focus on environmental issues (RAG = Rotary Action Group) and was encouraged to share more on this topic at a future meeting.
 
Ron Somerville advocated we collect archival material for submission to the Elgin County archives.
 
The Music Festival committee has had an excellent response.  Registrations (by class) are up 40% over last year.  The final details are now being worked out ready for the festival 26 Feb to 2 March.
District Conference at Grand Bend 4-5 May “Embracing Change” www.grandbendrotary.com
There is a world of opportunity waiting for you are the International Rotary Convention will be taking place in Toronto 24-27 June.
www.rotary2018.org
 
 
Opening of the North Building at the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital

Some members of the club enjoyed the tours on Tuesday 9 Jan 2018 and were very impressed with the design and furnishings.  It makes good use of sunlight and is well thought-out and modern.  The club donated $10K for this project. All new areas will be in use on or before 25 January.