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The Rotary Club of Langley’s 44th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 28, 2020. Great social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. For the first time online, we reached seventeen participants. After Les seemed to give most of his arboretum report, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. We did sing O Canada, and the online singing and timing amused our student guests.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Right now we’re trying to connect with all our club members, and hoping more will be able to attend our meetings from the comfort of their homes. With restaurants opening up, somewhat, perhaps soon we’ll be able to meet in small groups to connect over coffee. In the meantime, Zoom meetings for club meetings and district informational presentations are the order of the day.”

Annuals are now being planted at the arboretum to bring colour over the summer. Les reported that the gate is now open, so you won’t have to park across the road and sneak in to enjoy the site. Claudia is actively leading the membership committee and has attended online sessions. The Nikomekl Enhancement Society is looking for a volunteer to assist with their website, and Allan has the details for anyone interested. We sang Happy Birthday to Leon, a new, slow version so everyone could keep in time (or that was the idea), and actually did get some harmony.

Jack Miller was our guest (attending for the last time as guest) along with Una Chang, from Walnut Grove Secondary, and Jennifer Vuong, from Aldergrove Community Secondary. Una and Jennifer are two of our scholarship winners this year, and both presented interesting summaries about themselves. Una will begin studies at Trinity Western University as she prepares to become a nurse. Jennifer is planning to attend the University of British Columbia to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Science, hoping to become a biomedical engineer in the future. Both girls mentioned that it was really cool to be part of our club meeting.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit May 28, 2020.

May 21, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 43rd regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 21, 2020. Great social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. When he deemed appropriate, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome.

Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. I haven’t connected with the world, but I did connect with six young women on your behalf and made them very happy. They were excited to hear from me that they had been awarded Rotary scholarships. We did not have guest speakers on May 28 or June 11, so I arranged for three students to speak to us on each of those occasions. Club members on the Membership Committee were also able to connect with others in District 5050, and I’m hoping more club members will take advantage of the opportunities to become involved in online training sessions offered by our district.”

Announcements included an updated speakers list, membership information from Claudia, and correspondence from DG Brad. Wayne expressed pleasure that our club was ahead of the game in already conducting activities requested by Brad. Club members who have been unable to attend meetings should be receiving phone calls from our volunteer phoning committee: Claudia, Rudy, Brendan, Allan, Bob L., John and Wayne.

George Garrett was our guest speaker, informing us about the need for and services offered by the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society. Over 3500 people were assisted in 2019 by about 200 drivers, and 2020 had projections of 27000 trips. The service is very well used. George also shared anecdotes from his career as a reporter for CKNW, proving to be an informative and enjoyable speaker.

Executive members passed motions proposing Jim See and Jack Miller as new members of our club. Jack was a guest again this evening, and we enjoyed his participation.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and shared a number of humourous stories, as this meeting seemed to have more laughter than usual. We closed with a toast to Canada.

May 14th, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 42nd regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 14, 2020. After allowing about twenty minutes for members and guests to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. I’ve been told that because we are forced to use technology, meeting online via the internet, we are actually more connected than we have been in the past. Perhaps, but I miss the in-person meetings with you.

Announcements included the possible reopening of the arboretum after the long weekend, upcoming speakers (listed elsewhere), Rotary COVID update, announcement of scholarship winners (more information to be provided on website), and a short quiz on the Four Way Test.

Dr. Brendan Martin served as our guest speaker and turned storyteller as he spoke about how nonviolent protests have been more effective in bringing about change than the protests involving guns. If as few as 3.5% of the population get behind a protest movement, massive changes can be made. Brendan’s compelling story included both tragedy and persistence from two Irish women who felt there was a better way.

We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus (and heard about a beautiful stream in Boulder, Colorado), and closed with a toast to Canada.

April 30, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 40^th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on April 30, 2020. After allowing a fifteen minute social time for members to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. In it he quoted from remarks our RIP Mark Maloney had made when announcing his theme.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. “Rotary allows us to connect with each other, in deep and meaningful ways, across our differences,” Maloney said. “It connects us to people we would never otherwise have met, who are more like us than we ever could have known. It connects us to our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help.”

Maloney also called on every Rotary and Rotaract club to identify segments of their community not represented in their club by creating a membership committee with diverse members.

“Through Rotary, we connect to the incredible diversity of humanity on a truly unique footing, forging deep and lasting ties in pursuit of a common goal,” he added. “In this ever more divided world, Rotary connects us all.”

Officially we had one guest, Nora Truman. However, since Nora joins us so frequently, we now treat her as one of us and forego the formal introduction. An interesting, slow version of Happy Birthday was sung for PE Veronica, who will be celebrating on May 2^nd. Lana was wished a happy anniversary as well.

Fifteen new azaleas have been added to the collection for the garden at the Arboretum, Les reported. Wayne advised that Rotary will be holding a virtual convention in June that will be free for us to attend. We wait for details. Claudia reported on procedures for welcoming new members and will be updating our membership application form. Wayne informed club members that twenty-three applications for scholarships were narrowed down to thirteen, and numbers 4 – 13 had been distributed to the scholarship committee members for their evaluation. Three of those ten will then join the top three to become this year’s six scholarship recipients. Twenty of the applications were from females, with only three from males, and the top eighteen were from young women.

PE Veronica headed up a discussion about social activities and members expressed a desire for more of them, starting as soon as we are allowed to meet together in person. Veronica kept track of the suggestions made. We had thirteen people participating, and finally got to hear from Bob Lukie, even though we could not see him. The screen shots saved by Leon shows us “in action” during the meeting.

Wayne shared before and after photos of the improvements made at LCSS through our district grant project. We still have the hands-on part, sanding and painting, to do once we are again allowed to gather.

We closed with happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, and a toast to Canada. For more pictures please visit April 30, 2020.

May 7, 2020

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 40^1st regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on May 7, 2020. After allowing a fifteen minute social time for members and guests to log in and exchange pleasantries, president Wayne called the meeting to order and asked if club members would like to sing O Canada, our traditional opening when we meet in person. Before long we were singing, not all in unison, but mostly with the same words, and we could recognize the song.

Welcome from Wayne: Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects

the World. In the news yesterday we heard that slowly we will be able to move a little way towards the connections we had before this virus struck. It will not be the same, and likely will never be the same. Now we have a new meaning for “remembering the good old days.” Rotarians will prevail, though, and we will continue to do good in our world. Our new district grant project is the latest example for us.

We welcomed guest speakers Susan Cairns and Michelle Bisson-Somerville, and special guest Pauline Buck, president of the Rotary Club of Aldergrove.

Announcements included having two benches installed in what we call David’s bird garden at the arboretum, and the possibility of installing the Rotary wheel there instead of in front of the Rotary Interpretive Centre building. We will have 100+ varieties for the azalea garden. Members were asked to review the Four Way Test as questions will be asked at our next meeting. Pauline shared information about her club and projects they have underway.

Susan and Michelle brought us information about the garden tower project in our schools, one we have supported by buying six (?) towers for the program. The food program in the schools is supplemented by the vegetables these towers produce.

Dr. John Brynjolfson brought us information about medical marijuana and the benefits and cautions that come along with it. Interest was expressed in the gummy bears, but John recommends the liquid for superior quality assurance.

This was our first online meeting with speakers presenting to us, and it worked quite well. We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus (at the request of several members, Wayne is now collecting IOU dollars), and closed with a toast to Canada. For more pictures visit May 7, 2020.

April 23, 2020

Our weekly meeting via Zoom was a little different than most meetings. After fifteen minutes of socializing while people logged on to the meeting, Wayne called Meeting #39 to order and offered his words of welcome. “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. What a theme for a year when we’re being told to stay home, to self-isolate, and to avoid large groups. Thank goodness for technology. Now (speaking for myself) some of us just have to learn how to use it.”

Les and Leon pointed out that the local paper featured a picture of the tulips at the arboretum where club members have donated hundreds of hours of labour. Wayne shared a message from DG Brad about a future volunteer opportunity, Volunteer Surge, which is now in the United States and plans to come to Canada. More information will be sent out to all Rotarians in our district very soon. Club members welcomed guests Dwight Bennett (again appearing as the telephone in our snapshot) and Jack Miller to our meeting. This week we had sixteen people involved in our meeting, a new high for our online sessions. Claudia shared the results of the recent membership survey she conducted, and the information will be used as we plan future meetings.

President-Elect Veronica then led a brainstorming session where we exchanged ideas about what we would like for our club and how we can make the Rotary experience more meaningful for all members. Leon recorded ideas on a whiteboard and we will continue the process next week.

Happy dollars were donated and will be saved for future delivery. We closed with a toast to Canada. Cheers! For more pictures visit April 23, 2020.

April 16, 2020

Our club held meeting # 38 using Zoom with ten participants. After allowing time for socializing, Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are doing our best to do this and maintain the proper protocols during this time of crisis. By Zoom meetings and email messages, we are keeping in touch and sharing with each other.

We welcomed past member Dwight Bennett as our guest at the meeting. Dwight appears as the telephone in our screenshot of those attending.

Rather than hold special executive meetings, Wayne advised that decisions would be made and voted on at our regular meetings, since the majority of those attending are executive members, and we have a quorum each time. He will advise members ahead of time when a funding request has been received, so they can be prepared to make an informed decision.

Wayne reviewed the requirements for the club to earn a Presidential Citation and informed the members that the rules have been relaxed due to the coronavirus causing social distancing and other hardships. We now must achieve three of the goals under Unite People and three under Take Action. Reviewing what we’ve done this year, it appears that we will meet these requirements and earn a citation for our club. Good for us!

The Area district grant re. COVID-19 will include proposals from all four Langley Rotary clubs so we will share the grant equally at $1250 US each. The Rotaract club will not participate financially but is looking at its options for assisting in the other projects. Our club will provide funding for the Gateway of Hope and as the needs are urgent, Wayne asked that we approve our share for the matching grant immediately so plexiglass shields may be purchased and installed as soon as possible. Moved by Leon, seconded by Lana; “That we approve a donation of $1750 ($1250 US) to Gateway of Hope for the purchase and installation of plexiglass shields as needed in the reception and kitchen areas.” Motion carried. Matching funds from the district, when received, will be used to purchase masks and antiseptic wipes.

Happy and sad dollars were donated, and more members are creating special containers for these funds.

April 9, 2020

Our club held meeting # 37 using Zoom and had nine participants. After allowing time for socializing, Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Rotarians continue to do this, but unfortunately, person to in-person contacts are limited. We now need to connect online, and we continue to do our best to serve others.

Both Claudia Trigio and Bob Hillmer celebrated birthdays last Monday, and this week we sang for Bob. It was a slow paced first verse, but we sped things up for our special verse, finishing with beautiful harmony.

Les announced that at the arboretum the daffodils are out in full flower, and the tulips are up but not yet blooming. Forms have been poured in the bird garden, and the benches have been treated and assembled.

Lana reported that she will be able to send copies of all receipts for her district grant, so we should be able to wrap that one up in the next two weeks. We decided to redirect funds that had been approved for events that are now cancelled or postponed, and discussed possible projects for the new special Area district grant. Support for the Gateway of Hope won approval, and Claudia will check the costs of the plexiglass screening for the food area. We also approved a grant of $2500 to SOS Children’s Village B.C. supporting their Transition to Adulthood (TTA) program.

Happy and sad dollars were donated, and members are creating special containers for these funds, looking forward to when we can deliver the money to Anthony.

April 2, 2020

Our meeting was held via Zoom with Leon serving as host. Socializing and catching up with each other was a fun way to begin, and then President Wayne officially called to order Meeting # 36. In his welcome, he remarked, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. No-one predicted or even guessed how difficult that would become due to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic. We are now meeting online, rather than in person, and all social events have been cancelled or put on hold. No club training event. No district conference at Harrison. No Rotary International Convention in Hawaii. We try to remain optimistic, reach out to each other, and do our best to stay healthy through these troubled times.”

Nine people joined in, and we sang happy birthday to Claudia. It was interesting to hear Rudy’s voice finishing each line just after many had sung the words. Oh, the beauty of technology.

Announcements were made about AG opportunities, an up-coming joint presidents meeting, scholarship applications, survey of club members, the garden wall at LCSS being finished, a possible district grant for our Area, the donation of Ribfest gloves, and that we will be making some decisions about funding requests next week. SASSY will go forward in a virtual format and we are sponsoring one of the awards.

Happy dollars were donated and will be saved for future delivery. We closed with a toast to Rotary, and a toast to Canada. Cheers!

November 21, 2019

Some things are becoming predictable (or is that dependable) this year with Wayne as the club president. We are allowed time to socialize, we get called to order, we sing O Canada, and he reminds the club about this year’s Rotary theme: Rotary Connects the World. Usually he has some words of welcome to follow that.

The topics for discussion are stated and the club members are invited to add to them. Then we proceed through that list with ample opportunity for members to ask questions and share. Sometimes the discussion gets a little off the official topic, but rarely is the gavel used, and the president guides the discussion back to the agenda.

Tonight we heard from the Social Committee, received an update about the arboretum, were reminded about the Groups of Five (get your $100 US payments in for TRF’s Annual Fund), were told about the Foundation Dinner, were given an invitation to an event at Gateway of Hope, and listened to “Readings” from Wayne, quoting our RI President.

Our guest speaker was Karen McDiarmid. Karen works as a Consultant with ASTTBC, wearing many hats including, among others, Coordinator of the TechAbility project which she spoke about tonight. She is also a cat lover and volunteers fostering cats/kittens with Cat Therapy and Rescue Society. Karen has been a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Vancouver Yaletown since 2011. Her presentation captured our attention, and her power point graphics were great. Allan presented her with a book to sign to be placed in the Nicomekl Elementary School library on her behalf.

We contributed happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus, and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Then the executive members regrouped for their own Executive Meeting. What fun!

November 14, 2019

Wayne called the meeting, #19 this year, to order and Les led us through O Canada. In his welcome President Wayne stated, “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are working to help the world by fighting polio, and by helping fund projects around the world through our personal and club giving to the Annual Fund.”

Announcements included the following topics: Arboretum and RIC, Social Committee, Groups of Five, Ribfest, Foundation Dinner, Gateway of Hope invitation, and a message from Allan Richmond.

Our guest speakers were Alison Nicol and Kirstie Strange, speaking about the Langley Youth Hub. It is located not far from the Township Civic Building and is providing a much-needed service to homeless youth. Alison and Kirstie told about the programs offered and why they are needed in Langley. We were invited to tour the building sometime in the future if we wished.

Happy and sad dollars (and extra, if you missed giving on World Polio Day) were collected. As is our custom, now that we don’t sing God Save the Queen to end our meetings, we had a toast to Canada. For more photos please visit November 14, 2019.

November 7, 2019

President Wayne Wiebe called the 18^th meeting of this Rotary year to order and Les led the group in the singing of O Canada. As has become his custom, President Wayne listed the topics for discussion/reports on the agenda and welcomed further topics. We enjoy weekly updates on the arboretum and Rotary Interpretive Centre from Allan and Les.

Our guest speaker was Sherry Taylor from Flip City Gymnastics Club. While there are no aspiring gymnasts in our club, we enjoyed the presentation. Sherry kindly answered questions, even after the thank you book signing, as club members were interested in learning more.

Happy and sad dollars were collected, and Canada was toasted. For more photos visit November 7, 2019.

October 24, 2019

The Rotary Club of Langley’s 17th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held on October 24, 2019. President Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome, reminding us that our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. We are working to help the world by fighting polio, and tonight we have a special program to bring us up-to-date on the subject.

Our guest speaker was Rachel Sledding, the Director of Development at Wagner Hills. As a daughter of a Missions Pastor she grew up in a family where they lived with a passion of helping others and a call to serve. In her own words, “I am excited to be part of an organization that brings healing, growth and transformation to those in addiction. Thank you for having me share with you.”

Rachel spoke about the work done at Wagner Hills and the success rate they have with the addicts who come to them. As a club we are invited to visit Wagner Hills and plan to do so in the spring. Members were very impressed with the presentation and the program they offer.

Then we moved on to the topic of polio eradication on World Polio Day and the program featured our own Brendan Martin and Veronica Lopez, with technical assistance from Claudia Trigo. Rotary, in cooperation with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has done so much to eradicate this disease, and we have much to be proud of. Descriptions, numbers and facts were shared with on-screen graphics. We realize, though, that because the wild polio virus is still endemic in two countries, we must be vigilant and continue our fight. We are “this close” to ridding the world of polio and protecting all the children of the world from this terrible disease.

We collected generous happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. Thank you to Claudia, Veronica, and Brendan for their excellent presentation. To see more photos please visit October 24, 2019.

October 17, 2019

President Wayne Wiebe called the 16^th meeting of this Rotary year to order and led the singing of O Canada. In the Welcome from Wayne he mentioned that we are working to help the world by fighting polio, and we will hear more about that next week.

Our guest speaker was Eric Woodward, a member of Langley Township Council and local entrepreneur. In an engaging presentation he spoke about development and concerns in Langley, including Fort Langley where he has been active, and answered questions on matters affecting council all across the district. Our meeting ran longer than usual due to the high interest and many questions from club members.

We concluded with a toast to Canada, and then executive members reconvened for another meeting.

October 10, 2019

President Wayne opened the meeting and asked members what they had done to help Rotary connect the world. Announcements included Rotary Interpretative Centre (Wayne and Jorda met with Township officials), Rotary World Help (we renewed our membership), Club Website (Wayne and Jonah are posting weekly updates), District Grant (appears to be all in order), Arboretum (the tarp was stolen so we couldn't varnish the "roots" bench), Social Committee (plans made for Christmas party), Groups of Five (time to pay your $100 US contributions to TRF Annual Fund), and World Polio Day (we will be having a special program on Oct. 24).

Our club funded two indoor gardens for Langley School District, and Susan Cairns received the cheque for $3500 from President Wayne. These gardens use little water and no soil and produce a variety of vegetables for student lunches. Susan will be in touch with us when we can visit a school to see the garden in action.

Our guest speaker was fellow Rotarian Tony Malyk who spoke about his book, Leaky Bucket of Profits, and his journey along the road to writing the book. Many blue-collar businesses fail to profit as they should because of poor business planning, not because of good or bad ideas. Tony has learned firsthand that common business processes and principles reside in virtually every industry and are transferable with the right knowledge and insight.

Happy and sad dollars, including half the sales from Tony's book to club members, were gathered for Polio Plus. For more photos visit October 17, 2019.

October 3, 2019

President Wayne called the meeting to order, and after O Canada, encouraged members to bring in new members so we can increase our impact on the community, just as DG Brad had suggested.

Announcements took up a fair bit of the meeting time, with topics including club website, arboretum, Groups of Five, Know Your Neighbours, work groups, social committee, World Polio Day, Foundation Dinner, Taste of Fort Langley, and RLI.

Our guest speaker was Laura Sandgren, President of CDART (Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team) SWBC. She and CDART founder Cheryl Rogers spoke about their agency and informed us about how to prepare a disaster kit for our pets and the needs the pets face in case of disasters. Ours was Laura's first presentation and her enthusiasm showed. The lengthy Q&A which followed the session showed that a high degree of interest was sparked within the club. Pets often become parts of families.

We sang Happy Birthday to Rudy Storteboom, who admitted he might be having a birthday but divulged no numbers. For more photos visit October 3, 2019.

Sept 26, 2019

This was a very special meeting for our club, with three (or four) key features:

1. We welcomed and heard from our District Governor, Brad Whittaker;

2. We inducted a new member, Brad Jalbert, into our club;

3. We officially inducted four members into the newly resurrected Langley

Rotaract Club: Jonah Johnson, Mikayla Johnson, Sydney Morfitt, and

Abran Johnson;

4. We enjoyed wonderful treats brought by John Brynjolfson.

AG Jorda Maisey introduced DG Brad and he delivered a very impressive and inspirational message to the club. He wants us as Rotarians to make an impact this year, and to learn more about Rotary. He asked us to google Rotary Action Groups, Rotary Friendship Groups, and Rotary Leadership where we will surely find items of interest and increase our knowledge.

President Wayne announced that we were successful in being awarded a District Grant for improvements at LCSS and that club and Rotaract members would be asked to lend a hand at the painting project.

Visiting Rotarians were Bill Lindahl and June Jones, who brought her granddaughter as well. Plans are being made for us to have some type of celebration of World Polio Day on October 24. Wayne thanked Jonah for his great work in getting comments and photos onto our website, so now we have a visual record of our meetings and you can catch up when you miss a meeting. DG Brad met with the club executive after the regular meeting, encouraging us to implement a membership plan. For more photos visit Sept 26, 2019.

Sept 19 Meeting

President Wayne opened the meeting with the singing of O Canada, once again led by Les Clay. In reminding members of our theme, Rotary Connects the World, he encouraged as many members as possible to meet DG Brad Whittaker next week when he makes his official visit. All directors should be in attendance for the executive meting to follow.

Three wedding anniversaries were announced: Brendan and June Martin on the 20th, Bob and Maria Hillmer on the 22nd, and Stephen and Irina Richardson on the 23rd. Rivers Day celebrations will be going on at the Arboretum from 11 to 3 on Sunday, and Rotaract will be holding a Meet and Greet from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday as well.

The Yorkson Block Party we helped sponsor was a success, despite the rainy weather. Trisha, Jonah, Leon and Claudia volunteered at the event, and Wayne brought his granddaughter and four relatives from the United Kingdom to participate in the activities.

Brendan has brought to our attention World polio Day on October 24, and our club will plan special activities to honour this day. The executive will bring suggestions to the club, but here's a hint. Start saving your change and small bills (large ones welcomed as well) for the happy dollars that night.

Our guest speaker was Lisa Block, site manager at Hope for Women in Langley. She has a strong desire to help women who find themselves in crisis situations, and finds Hope for Women to be an incredible fit. She spoke about their programs and showed videos of some of the clients who have had their lives changed for the better by contacting the agency. Women who find themselves with unplanned and often unwanted pregnancies are given options, and are not left on their own to cope. Sadly, despite the counselling, about 80% choose to end the pregnancy as their perceived best choice.

Following the regular meeting, the executive met and HISTORY WAS MADE. For the first time in the history of the Rotary Club of Langley, the majority of the executive members at an official executive meeting were female. Twenty-five years ago Wayne Wiebe was our club president when he sponsored and inducted the very first woman into our club. Now, a quarter century later, he is again our president and chaired this historic meeting. A selfie of the group was taken to commemorate the occasion. For more photos visit Sept 19, 2019.

Sept 12th Meeting

President Wayne repeated our theme, Rotary Connects the World, and reminded the club that our District Governor would be visiting in two weeks' time. He would like to meet as many members as possible before the regular meeting, and then with the executive after the meeting. All directors should be present to answer questions. Wayne gave the directors their "assignments", including which ones would be responsible for the five avenues of service.

September birthday wishes go to Trisha (16) and Brendan (older). We continue to sing both verses of Happy Birthday, quite heartily. Members had some difficulty naming I Guess Things Happen That Way by Johnny Cash, this week's tune, after the opening sounds.

From that Johnny we switched to John Brynjolfson, who filled in for an absent guest speaker with the second part of his medical update. This time he spoke about Parkinson's and the advances being made in fighting that disease. He sees a future where medicine will be available to stop the spread of Parkinson's, and people will not have to suffer as they do now. Many of us wish that day were here right now. For more photos visit Sept 12, 2019.

Sept 5th Meeting

Following the call to order, we opened our meeting in the usual fashion, singing "O Canada". We seem to blend the old and new versions, singing "in all your sons command" and "in all of us command" with no difficulty. Wayne noted that for the first time in many years we have not prepared to participate in the Langley Cruise-In. He circulated member information sheets, the first step in preparing to conduct a study of our members' occupations, working on a goal in the Rotary Citation.

Our guest speaker was Bill Hendricks from Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities and he spoke to us about horse therapy for children (and others). He brought a number of visual aids and explained how the program works, helping individuals with physical disabilities relax and become comfortable with their horses. Children gain confidence and appear, at least for awhile, to be pain free. He offered to host our club on a field trip to his facility, and club members expressed interest in doing that. For more photos visit Sept 5, 2019.

August 29th Meeting

President Wayne encouraged us to show Rotary Connects the World by bringing in some new members. Les Clay replied that he had one in mind. Stay tuned.

On behalf of the Foundation Committee, Wayne wrote the proposal for a District Grant to include three projects at Langley Community Services Society. For the two garden areas, including building an Allan Block wall two courses high, we would provide oversight but hire someone to do the work. For the third, we would provide the labour and invite Rotaractors to join us in preparing a ramp for painting, and then doing the actual painting. Now we wait to see if our application is successful.

Club members were challenged to identify a song and name the artist after hearing only the opening chord. Veronica and Rudy were able to recognise A Hard Day's Night by the Beatles by hearing only that iconic chord.

Our guest speaker was our own practising physician and past president of the club, John Brynjolfson. John brought us all kinds of incredible facts about research findings and new developments about prostate cancer, and he feels positive about medical breakthroughs coming to make our lives better. Words like benign prostatic hyperplasia and 5 alpha reductase inhibitor just flowed freely from his lips. He saved the second part of his talk for another day. For more photos visit Aug 29, 2019.

Aug 22 Meeting

Our Rotary theme is Rotary Connects the World. Some of us were able to hear RI President speak to the theme at Ribfest. Wayne was lucky enough to sit with him and enjoy some very tasty ribs! Early indications are that we surpassed last year's profits with this year's event, and comments have all been extremely favourable.

President Wayne reported on the results from the last Executive Meeting, keeping members informed.

Our guest speaker was Nichole Marples, Executive Director, Langley Environmental Partners Society. Did you know that over 1700 km of streams and ditches have been mapped in Langley? Much information was shared, and a great Q&A followed. Nichole signed a book destined for Nicomekl School as a thank you for her presentation. For more photos visit Aug 22, 2019.

Aug 15th Meeting

President Wayne reminded us that we can help Rotary Connect the World at Ribfest this weekend. He announced we were getting a second quote for services for the proposed district grant for work at LCSS. Special guests were Lillianne Fuller, Brooke Lindberg, and her parents, Clayton and Cathy.

Brooke, a recent graduate from Langley Fundamental Middle Secondary School, spoke about her volunteer experiences and her plans for the future. As a winner of one of our $1500 scholarships, she was most appreciative and thanked us for helping her, and stated, "I plan to continue to volunteer and make a difference in the world around me."

Lillianne spoke about the Nicomekl Elementary School lunch program and her involvement with that project. Students behave better and learn more when they are not hungry, and the results of providing food for the students who otherwise would not receive the nutrition needed are obvious and heartwarming. Lillianne has been able to obtain sufficient sponsorship funding for this year, but may be back to see us next school year. For more photos visit Aug 15, 2019.

Aug 8th Meeting

President Wayne handed out Rotary pins to commemorate our theme, Rotary Connects the World. Members were informed that Rotary International President Mark Maloney would be attending Ribfest on Aug. 18 and would be meeting with the four Langley club presidents.

We held extensive discussions about where we should meet, and whether we should move to the Rotary Interpretive Centre . Allan showed photos of the new sign in place at the building. After full discussion, we decided to stay at the Timms Centre but hold occasional meetings (up to once per month) at the Rotary Interpretive Centre. Negotiations with the Township will be needed to get this approval. For more photos visit Aug 8, 2019.

July 25th Meeting

We met this week at the new Rotary Interpretive Centre at the Doubleday Arboretum. As our club had donated $250 000 plus over 9900 hours of labour on this project, we wanted to experience a meeting inside this unique building. President Wayne shared information from the executive meeting held last week, and announced that Judi Piccolo was reaffirmed as an honorary member of the club. Funding requests have been forwarded to our new funding committee for recommendations to the executive.

Plans are well underway for Ribfest, and members are encouraged to sign up to volunteer. With no speaker for the evening, Wayne decided to play Name That Tune and provided the music.

We went back in time as Wayne played parts of several songs and club members attempted to first name the songs and artists, and then arrange the tunes by year and tell which had remained #! on the Billboard music charts the longest. Who knew that It's All in the Game (Tommy Edwards) and Purple People Eater (Sheb Wooley) each remained at #1 for six weeks in 1958, or that Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White (Perez Prado) was #1 longer than Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley) ten weeks to eight in 1955? For more photos visit July 25, 2019.