New Members Guide To
Newquay Rotary Club
This guide has been designed to help new members find their feet and potential members understand some of the procedures and customs that form an integral part of the Club’s operation. We hope you will find this useful, but if you have any questions, please just ask another member.
1. Club meetings
We meet for an evening meal at the Newquay Golf Club on Tuesdays at
7.30pm on the first, second, fourth and fifth Tuesday of the month
and at 7.30pm at the Hotel Bristol on the third Tuesday. You will
need to become a social member of the Golf club if you are not already
a member.
If you cannot attend, please provide your apologies to the meals officer, before 8pm on the Monday. (Details are in your year book). IF YOU DO NOT APOLOGISE, YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THE MEAL. When arriving at either venue above you should pay the Meals Officer and inform him if you know you will not be attending at the next meeting. The meals held at the Golf club are considered to be social meetings where no business is conducted unless urgent. It is at these meeting that we will sometimes have visiting speakers.
2. The Members Year Book
The year book contains a list of all current members of the club,
together with their addresses and contact details. It also shows which
members are on which club committee, the vice chair of each committee
will normally be the chair in the next Rotary year. Services; Community
&Vocational; International & Foundation).
There is normally a “hand-over” event planned for late June to induct the new President. In our club, there is a line of succession, so anyone offering to be Junior VP must expect to be the President in two years' time.
A “Club Assembly” is also held every May, just before the “handover”, to give the new Executive an opportunity to outline their plans for the year. The Members' Handbook lists the current Council.
When you have joined the club you will normally be
asked to be the meals officer. This is so you can get to put names
to faces of the various members it also gives you the opportunity
to meet each member each week. Later you will be assigned to a Committee.
Each committee meets regularly and is responsible for sponsoring projects
or fund-raising activities.
News from Club Council meetings is reported to members
at the monthly “Business Meeting” of the membership and
this is each members' opportunity to endorse (or not!) any proposed
action.
3. Club structure
The Rotary “year” runs from 1 July to 30 June, with a
new council taking office each year. The Executive, or Rotary Council,
consists of a President, Senior Vice-President, Junior Vice-President,
Secretary, Treasurer and the Chairs of a number of committees (Membership
:4. Fund raising
Newquay Rotary Club raises money for local, national and international
causes. Each committee, or the club itself, may organise fund-raising
events to swell our general charity account. They may also decide
to raise money for a specific requirement agreed by the committee
or in response to a disaster need.
Ideas for fund-raising projects may come from a Rotary project book, e.g. “Send a Cow” (Cows to Africa). Other projects may involve collecting eye-glasses for instance, arranging to fill shoe-boxes with toys or food or purchasing shelter or aqua boxes for dispatch to disaster areas.
Sometimes we help in the community, assisting the Newquay Day Care Centre, Schools, Scouts and Sporting Activities etc.
Rotary is raising money for “Polio Plus” and over the years, Rotary International has raised millions of dollars to buy the vaccine used by the World Health Organisation. Polio is now endemic in only six countries in the world and it is Rotary's aim to wipe out this scourge completely.
Requests for charitable donations from local or regional organisations are considered at business meetings.
Newquay Rotary Clubs main fund raising events are the Golf Day in September, the Rotary Ball in November and the Christmas collection outside Woolworths on Christmas Eve.
5. Speakers
We aim to invite a speaker to our meetings at regular intervals, to
make the meetings as inviting and as interesting as possible. If you
know of anyone who would be interesting as a speaker you should consult
with the member allocated to be speaker finder as shown in the year
book.
6. Rotary Foundation and Paul Harris awards
Rotary Foundation is Rotary International's own Charity. It is available
for major humanitarian projects across the world, such as Polio Plus.
It is also used for topping up special Club activities on a 50/50
basis (matching grants). The Foundation also sponsors Exchange Visits,
etc.
Clubs may contribute annually to Foundation and on the basis of contributions, can award Paul Harris (founder of Rotary) Fellowships to both Rotarians and non-Rotarians who have made outstanding contributions to the Community, etc.
7. District Council 1290 and beyond
There are 37 Rotary Clubs in this “district”, of which
Newquay is one. There are 29 Districts in RIBI (Rotary in Great Britain
and Ireland). There is also an annual District Conference at which
each Club should be represented.
A regular newsletter “District 1290 News” is issued to
all members in this area. More information about the District and
RIBI can be found at Rotary web sites such as www.rotary1290.org and
at www.rotary-ribi.org
The Newquay Club is represented at District by the President and Vice President. District meetings are held quarterly and our representatives are expected to attend. Other Rotarians in the Club, particularly members of Council, are also encouraged to attend District meetings from time to time.
Individual Club members are welcome to put themselves forward to membership of District Committees.
We receive regular visits from the District Governor and other members of the District Executive.
8. The Reg Vaneer Swindle
At the beginning of each year, you are invited to pay a one off £10
to enter a raffle that is drawn once a month at the business meeting;
the winning number receives £10. At the Ladies Christmas Lunch
the prize money can be adjusted upward by the Vice President. All
profits go to charity.
9. Attendance and Subscription
Certain meetings and events are considered as obligatory to attend,
they are; the Golf Day held in September, Christmas collection on
Christmas Eve, the Rotary Ball in November Ladies’ Lunch on
the Sunday before Christmas Day and the Presidents Night usually held
around May.
All Rotarians are made welcome at any Rotary Club meeting anywhere in the world. This is a real 'eye opener' on the World of Rotary and is highly recommended. Many members have experience of visits to other Clubs as is evidenced by the banners displayed at most of our meetings. The Secretary holds the Directory for the meeting times of other Clubs and can advise anyone thinking of making a visit. You will automatically receive a directory of Clubs in District 1290.
You may bring guests to the Club meetings but make sure the meal’s officer has been informed.
Annual membership fees are payable at the beginning of each Rotary year. Members are expected to achieve an average 60% attendance rate. A make-up can be achieved in various ways: by participating at a Rotary fundraising event, attending another Club’s meeting or attending a Committee meeting.
It is expected that each new member will eventually
become President of Newquay Rotary Club
