The Rotary Club of Langley’s 45th regular meeting of this Rotary year was held via Zoom on June 4, 2020. The usual social interaction was enjoyed by members and guests signing in. Almost exactly on time near seven o’clock president Wayne called the meeting to order and gave his official welcome. We did sing O Canada, but the thirteen attending were not as synchronized as we’ve been in previous efforts. It was the most humourous version of our national anthem we ever heard, and laughter could not be contained. Better luck next time. Welcome from Wayne: “Our Rotary theme this year is Rotary Connects the World. Now we’re connecting by Zoom and other online formats. Club training is available on a weekly basis for interested Rotarians. I know Claudia and Veronica have participated, and I encourage more club members to take advantage of these opportunities. Go to the District 5050 website for more information.”
Wayne welcomed Sharon Bazant, our guest speaker, to the meeting.
Discussion topics included Arboretum and RIC, Membership, Polio Plus Project, and Remembering with Photos. Wayne welcomed Jim See back as a member of our club, and was sorry that Jim hadn’t been able to hook up for this meeting. He shared information from a Zoom meeting he had attended featuring Mike McGovern, and you can click here to read his report. Members were saddened to hear of the recent passing of Bill Lee, a former member and past president of our club. Bill had a great sense of humour and brightened many of our meetings with his wit. Wayne showed photos of Bill Lee and other members who are no longer with us, as well as other interesting photos from our club’s past. Expect more of these photo sharing sessions at future meetings.
Sharon Bazant is a local author living in the Cloverdale area. She recently published a memoir of her roller-coaster years in Thailand and beyond entitled Nine Years in Bangkok: Lessons Learned. Sharon shared her memories with us and read a few passages from the book. She and her family had quite the adventures travelling around (including living in Pakistan and Thailand), and the little glimpses into topics and events covered in the book that she shared enticed some of us to want to read the book.
We collected happy and sad dollars for Polio Plus and closed the meeting with a toast to Canada. For an update on Polio Plus please visit our Polio Plus Report. For more photos on our meeting please visit June 4, 2020.