President Rudy du Pont (right) with guests Simone and Paul van Eyssen at the Winelands charity auction.
AS we are approaching Christmas we can barely believe that 2024 is almost over. The highlight of this second quarter was of course our Wine Auction organised to perfection by our experienced team.
How was your year? Did you experience happy moments alternating with some moments of sadness? Was it healthy, or did you have to battle with illness? Are your children spreading their wings? Did your grandchildren grow, discovering their world? So many choices, some important and some small, but they all will impact your world in 2025.
The second quarter of our Rotary year has been an interesting one, during which the Rotary Foundation informed us that they will not support our Labyrinth Project to launch Alzheimer’s support groups with a global grant. We did not fulfil a specific demand of the foundation to organise training for GPs, which we believe, and with us Dr Kathleen Ross of UCT, is not in our field of expertise. We will know early next year if the Wenhold Family Trust will allow us to launch the project in January.
We had to postpone the cataract operations performed by Belgian surgeons until March and October 2025, because we could not fulfil the requirements of the Health Practitioners Council of South Africa (HPCSA). The requirements were excessive, and the incorrect information provided made it impossible for us to comply timeously. But we will not give up and persist in our goals to operate 250 people for cataracts and examine the eye issues of a further 250 patients.
The wine auction had an excellent outcome, but as we are in pursuit of excellence, the evaluation of the auction showed some points to improve or to organise differently. The funds raised will, as in the previous years, allow us to support many valuable projects in the community.
Our traditional fellowship event, the end of year braai, was well organised and created many opportunities for exchange of ideas, thoughtful discussions, and much more. Thank you to the organising team.
During our recent AGM we elected the Club President for next year, Pierre Botha. He will, I am sure, continue to bring the club to a higher level in the coming year. For 2025 we have something to look forward to besides the launch of the Labyrinth project: the cataract operations, the spectacle project for needy kids, the development of our new project to promote youth work-readiness launched by a motivated team led by Patrick Klaassen and the many other projects that we will support from now until June. We also look forward to the cycle race on 26 January.
A blessed Christmas and a Happy New year to you and your family. Rudy.
Toasting the new year at the fellowship braai.
