Guests this morning were: John Doyle (Guest Speaker and more about him later), Elaine Scrivener, Sean Thomson and our two in-bound exchange students Anel Neuman and Mana Sawamori
Anel and Mana are both remarkable young women: Anel from Estonia, for her confidence and for speaking flawless English, and I mean flawless, better than many many Canadian-born peers I’m sure, and Japanese Mana for her astonishing confidence standing up and addressing us although her English is on the rudimentary side. They have barely started their exchange years and I anticipate some extraordinary months ahead from them both.
A few announcements:
Our
next regular Thursday meeting (September 13
th) will be at Burlington Food Bank located at
1254 Plains Road E (sort of at the top end of Maple Ave.) starting at the usual time We will be making a formal cheque presentation to the food bank of money raised at the Golf Tournament. We’ll also learn about their needs and operation.
A Club Mystery Tour is scheduled for Saturday, October 13. Cost of the day is $60 per person and the cost includes all of the events, foods and refreshments for the day. We’ll use historical transportation to visit unexpected sites of interest. Tickets will be available at the next Rotary Meeting.
The Nominating Committee is looking for members prepared to serve on the Board of Directors. The committee seeks three new members who will take on portfolios for two years starting in July 2019 under the presidency of David Roscoe. Check with Janet Canavan.
Telling Tales (on September 16th) is looking for a bit of volunteer help taking down the show at the end of the day. If you can spare a few hours contact Janet Canavan. The Telling Tales site is out near the African Lion Safari which Janet explained is about a 20 minute drive; although that would be 20 extra-long minutes in my experience.
Guest speaker John Doyle is Chair of the Joseph Brant Museum Foundation (and former Sudbury (?) Rotarian) and told us about the plans for the new Joseph Brant Museum.
The existing building is a replica of the original Joseph Brant homestead and sits on land granted to Joseph Brant by King George III. (The Mad King by the way)The current building as a museum is desperately inadequate, obsolete and does not meet current museum standard. The new building is under construction at the corner by the hospital and will be enclosed late this year, finished off over the winter and ready for its first travelling exhibit this time next year. The new 12,000 sq. ft. building at ground level will have a green roof, meet LEED Platinum standards and feature the existing Joseph Brant building as a prominent landmark re-sited (perched actually) in more or less its current location.
And the cost? Around $11.4 million: $4.5M from the Feds, $1.5M from the Province, $2.5M from the City and the balance from the Joseph Brant Museum Foundation.
Long in the planning, first conceived about 40 years ago the new museum will have one of the best views in the downtown.
