Rotary Club of Burlington Central
9th August 2018
Lawrence Leung presiding.
Bob Martin introduced the guests:
- Sean Thompson from Smith's funeral homes;
- Joe Richardson from the Burlington North club.
Joe Watson was pleased to announce that at 5 AM the Lakeside a la Carte was fully sold out. A secret for the club is that in fact 25 tickets were held back specifically for Rotarians who might want at the last minute to obtain tickets. Requests for any of these tickets need to go through Gerry Willard. (Randy Smallbone suggested that some of the tickets might be scalped but that wouldn't fit with the Four-Way Test!)
Mae Radford is in Scotland but has not forgotten the volunteers. A great deal of work went into getting volunteers for the day for which Mae has the club’s thanks.
On August 15 Big Bike Ride for Heart and Stroke will take place. There is a Burlington Central Team and fundraising is either by writing or by pledge with a goal of $1500 but only $320 has been raised so far. We are encouraged to go online to pledge. The teams will gather by six a clock at the Beaver and Bulldog where there will be a photo op. Rotaract members were invited but were unable to attend.
The following day Thursday 16th is Jamie Edwards BBQ. He tells us that the purple martins have already left. Up to 60 guests will be invited to his place at 31 Lake Gate Drive. This year it will be self catered to save money. Sherri is looking for help. Drinks are included in the price of admission and electronic transfers for $30 can be made to Lawrence. Payment before the event is requested. There has been an outreach to ex-members and so far five will be coming. 35 guests are registered so far. This year they will not be a tent and good weather is being called for – literally!
Bob Martin will be starting as social convenor and this is his first gig.
Nancy Penney was introduced by Janet Canavan as today's speaker on the subject of the Telling Tales Festival which will take place at Westfield Heritage Village on September 16. This Festival has been named as number one literacy festival in Canada and is at its 10th year, the brainchild of Susan Jasper. It was her dream to have a huge, free festival fostering literacy for children and youth. It is been immensely successful and grows every year. Last year 5000 attended. 1000 children were brought from high-priority schools free of charge by school buses. They are given vouchers for food and to obtain books. It's a great event for them.
This year there will be 10 tents and the theme will be Superheroes with Kevin Sylvester at the helm. The theme of the event is embracing the power of storytelling. Story tellers, musicians and authors will be present. The Festival is supported by 22 Rotary clubs one of the best examples of collaboration between clubs even between regions.
The event costs $250,000! It is well supported by numerous organizations and is definitely a going concern. This year the event will be over two days: Sunday, September 16 at Westfield and on September 23 they will be an event for teens in the Hamilton Central Library. The raising of awareness of the importance of literacy is an integral part of this and also one of the six goals for global impact by Rotary International.
One of the premier events at the Festival is the Book Swap which this year will be taken over to the village itself and a larger tent is going to be put up for this popular event.
In keeping with the theme of superheroes, there will be superhero cape's for sale for $15.
The many renowned authors in attendance will be signing autographs. The event takes place in the historical village and there is always a great deal for youngsters to do. A question was asked about the appropriateness of the event for boys of 10 years and up and clearly there is more than enough to keep them happy in the village.
The Telling Tales website is the place for volunteers to sign up. 300 volunteers are needed. Signing up is a straightforward process. Members of Rotaract will be helping.
Questions were asked about access. As usual there will be a large car park at the Rockton Fairgrounds and shuttle buses will go back and forth from the fairgrounds to Telling Tales where there is no parking. There will also be for shuttle buses from downtown Hamilton and the sites will be on the website. They will be leaving at 930 starting at 930 every 15 minutes to the fairgrounds. There will also be a trailer for strollers. The return buses will start at 3 PM.
Nancy was thanked for her presentation.
A few weeks ago there was a presentation to the club by a gentleman from the Main Street Ministry who is running a clothing program for men and women. Everybody knows that women have lots of clothes after each season but indeed so do the gentlemen and gentlemen of the club are encouraged to purge their closets of clothes that they might share with this important ministry. As Joe Watson suggests: when going through the closets, if the clothing doesn't give you joy, give it away.
The meeting was adjourned after thanks were given to the members who set up the breakfast.
Anthony Ford-Jones
