ALL Rotary clubs aim to do their best, but a thriving club is one with the ability to turn ideas into reality, based on strategic goals set by the club itself. A strategic plan to ensure continuity and efficiency is key.

CONTINUITY

Electing new club leadership every year can be a challenge to sustaining a club’s vision over the long term. A sitting club president may be promoting water projects, for example, while the president-elect wants to focus only on New Generations programs.

Rotary leaders are seeing the need to move beyond the ‘my year as president’ mentality and encourage planning initiatives that represent the entire club’s vision. Strategic plans can guide the current president’s work with the president-elect, president-nominee, and immediate past president, thereby smoothing out the year-to-year transition.

The same principle holds for committee chairs and others in club leadership positions. The Rotary Club of Hout Bay, South Africa, had just completed its strategic plan when Patrick McLaughlin, then club president, became ill. “Everyone bumped up while I was in hospital, because we had implemented the succession plan in time,” he says.

EFFICIENCY

A strategic plan ensures that the club is working toward its goals, and maximizes the efforts to reach those goals. “You can get more done with less effort, and it’s a more productive use of volunteer time and more rewarding for everyone,” says Don Evans, past president of the Rotary Club of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, who also chairs the club’s strategic planning committee.

For a starter on strategic planning in your Club, try filling out the Planning Guide for Effective Rotary Clubs at

http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/862en.pdf

THINKING STRATEGICALLY

APRIL will be MAGAZINE MONTH

I have just received a note from RI showing that the Clubs in our District have raised a grand total of $207,112.15 since 1 December 2007 for the Rotary US$200 Million Challenge to end polio. And if you add the $40,000 which has come from our District Designated Fund, that totals $247,112.15 to 29th February 2012. What a great effort. That equates to £157,686 at today’s exchange rate. That’s quite an achievement. Thank you all.

If you read this in time, turn on the television to see Brewood Rotarian Jean Martyn appearing in Songs of Praise on Mothering Sunday 18th March 2012 with amongst others Aled Jones. The programme goes out from 5.10pm on BBC1

Are these records? Rtn Stuart Shrimpton of RC of Ludlow became a centenarian in March. He was a founder member of the Club, back in 1938, was named a Paul Harris Fellow in 1992, and was Club President in 1947-8 a n d a g a i n i n 1 9 8 8 -8 9 . Congratulations, Stuart.

Also, the RC of Stoke-on-Trent recently celebrated their 85th Anniversary. They still meet in the same venue as when they were Chartered in 1927. That’s another remarkable fact.

Back with more Bits after Easter.

Barry Preen District Governor

BARRY’S�BITS�

��DISTRICT�1210�GOVERNOR’S�NEWSLETTER��2011-12�APRIL 2012 Informa�on for Club Presidents & Secretaries and all D1210 Rotarians

‘Reach�Within�to�Embrace�Humanity’�

OUR NEW GENERATIONS competitions for young people have been outstanding successes this year

And the recent Young Chef 2012 competition kept up the high standard, with 17 youngsters from schools right across District 1210 making some

mouth-watering dishes.

The Intermediate (11-13) and Senior (14-16) finals were both held on the same day at the excellent facilities at Hadley Learning Centre, Telford, courtesy of its Principal, and Telford Centre

Rotarian, Gill Eatough.

Thanks also to Brian Tew (RC Walsall) who ran the

competition again this year.

Each entrant had one hour to prepare a two course meal unaided, and the results were stunning. It’s fascinating to watch the youngsters at work, with

single-minded determination.

But just one thought. I’m not quite certain where these excellent dishes went when the judging was over. I have my suspicions, but none of it came my

way!

(Thanks also to Chris & Jayne Nutt at Codsall

Photographic for the use of their pictures)

ALL IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTEALL IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTEALL IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTEALL IN THE BEST POSSIBLE TASTE

Above: Intermediate Winner James Lancaster (Leek) receives his award.. Below: The judges deliberate.

RAGS HELP WITH SERVICE PROJECTS

Rotarian Action Groups (RAGs) are groups of Rotarians, their family members, and Rotaractors who give time and expertise to help enhance the quality and scope of club service projects. There are currently 15 RAGs with a combined membership of nearly 30,000 in more than 100 countries worldwide. Each RAG specializes in a particular area of service, areas of focus. For more information about RAGs take a look at

http://www.rotary.org/actiongroups

RI website: www.rotary.org District website: www.rotary1210.org DG’s Tweets: twi�er.com/rotarybybarry RIBI website: www.ribi.org

SUSTAINING SOLUTIONS

Creating positive change means, at its simplest, using our knowledge and resources to solve a problem.

But when we are talking about solving humanitarian problems in a real and lasting way, knowledge and ideas and resources are not enough to ensure results. We have to remember something else that is no less important - sustainability.

A sustainable solution is one that will continue to work even after the Rotarians who proposed and facilitated it are gone. This means that even though the project might have come from Rotary originally, the community will take ownership of it.

That, of course, means that when a part breaks on a water pump, there will be a process in place to repair it and to keep that pump functional – carried out by the community, and without further recourse to Rotary.

The first step toward sustainability is understanding the need – for example, the cooking fuel problem common in much of the developing world.

In many regions, solar ovens are a wonderful solution. They are inexpensive; they rely on a source of

energy that is free, non-polluting, and inexhaustible; and they are simple to use and maintain.

But before we step into a community and attempt to solve its fuel problem with solar ovens, we have to fully understand its situation – and look beyond the problem we see.

Perhaps the local foods need to be cooked at a temperature higher than the solar oven can provide. Perhaps the area is windy, and a solar oven would blow away. Perhaps it’s traditional in that area to begin cooking before dawn, which you cannot do with a solar oven.

These are issues you simply might not have thought of, but that could soon lead to the solar ovens being used to patch roofs or keep animal feed dry instead of for cooking.

If we are trying to bring about change, it’s not enough to say, “My way is the better way.” We have to be listening and watching, not just talking.

We can only help others if we reach out with an open mind – and with the knowledge, the commitment, and the perseverance to deliver on what we promise.

ACROSS THE DISTRICT the crocus bulbs planted over the past couple of years under the Focus on the Crocus banner continue to flourish and give pleasure to all. Pictures show the RC of Stoke Rotary Wheel (above) and a swathe of purple at Trentham Gardens a couple of weeks ago.

IMPRESSIONS OF BANGLADESH

In my first message, last July, I quoted Mohandas K. Gandhi, who said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And in the months since, I have had incredible opportunities to travel the Rotary world and see how Rotarians everywhere are bringing those words to life, writes RI President Kalyan Banerjee.

AS MENTIONED in a previous Newsletter, Sylvia Keris from Eccleshall Mercia Club recently spent some time doing volunteer work in Bangladesh. Here are one or two of the impressions Sylvia brought back. I took the train from Sylhet down to Chittagong and the nine hour train journey was broken up with some unusual scenes, besides the constant flow of hawkers coming into the carriage selling food, drinks, toys, books, sweets, etc. There was an elderly man who came in and suddenly started playing the fiddle and singing (actually quite nicely) to entertain us. Then we had some women, very made up and beautiful dresses, but then I realised they were not women! All the children and women in the carriage wanted their photograph taken with me on their cameras, another Rotarian in the carriage (recognised by that famous pin badge) calmed down a quarrel between two passengers. At one stage the lights went out for about an hour, when it was dark in the evening, so we sat talking in pitch blackness, until the lights went on again and we all cheered. So an eventful journey. Sylvia was in a school for autistic children one morning, helping in a couple of the classrooms. She left them with lots of flash cards and other teaching aids she had taken with her, and the principal and teachers were really pleased to have them. Concludes Sylvia: “I have so many stories to tell, and many photos to show you - some that will inspire, and others that paint the picture of scenes of

THE ROTARY SPRING

poverty that you cannot help but see all around you. But everyone was very friendly and welcoming to me, and they said they wished that their own young people could be inspired to volunteer in the schools and hospitals in Bangladesh. Also, the need is great here for teachers who work with special need children, also therapists (speech therapy is totally lacking here I was told, and qualified therapists needed to help train other therapists here). So, if anyone wants to volunteer here at some point in the future, I'm sure the various organizations/Rotary clubs in Bangladesh would help to arrange your visit!” You can find the contact information for Sylvia on the Eccleshall Mercia page of the District 1210 Directory.

FAREWELL TIM I WAS WITH almost 200 people at Stafford Crematorium recently, saying goodbye to Rtn Tim Hughes. Tim was a Past President of the RC of Blythe Bridge, and before that a member of the RC of Stone. He had also served as District Youth Exchange Officer, and was still on the District GSE Committee at the time of his passing. Our thoughts are with his wife Julie, and their family.

DID YOU KNOW?

World Water Day is on 22 March so this is a good opportunity for your club to plan a water or health project. Find out more about World Water Day at http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/