Sunday, 11 November 2012
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team (Ashburton)
There are many in our communities who believe that they would like to put something back into there community or volunteer for a service or charity etc. For whatever that reason, one such group of volunteers provides for those who live and work and take recreation on Dartmoor a valuable if not crucial volunteer service - Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team (Ashburton). There many such Teams up and down the country, and I for one have always been grateful as a hill/fell walker, and have in the back of my mind the knowledge that if any accident were to occur it would probably be one of the S&R Teams that would sort it. it takes commitment, time and a great deal of family understanding, and not a little personal risk to work in some of the more isolated parts of both our Moor and the hills and fells of this nation.
Therefore it was a great pleasure as President of the Rotary Club of Ashburton Buckfastleigh that I presented a cheque to DSRT(Ashburton) for £2k this week. The monies raised came from the generous donations and purchases of pictures at our annual ARTEX exhibition held by kind permission of the Abbot and Community of Buckfast Abbey.
I can do no better that to give the link to their web site:
http://www.dsrtashburton.org.uk/rotarynov12/
Therefore it was a great pleasure as President of the Rotary Club of Ashburton Buckfastleigh that I presented a cheque to DSRT(Ashburton) for £2k this week. The monies raised came from the generous donations and purchases of pictures at our annual ARTEX exhibition held by kind permission of the Abbot and Community of Buckfast Abbey.
I can do no better that to give the link to their web site:
http://www.dsrtashburton.org.uk/rotarynov12/
Follow me on Twitter @vogelphilipc
Darcy's Diary 2
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Teignbridge free car parking in car parks on Sundays
Free Sunday parking has been re-introduced in Teignmouth and Dawlish car parks for the winter months.
Both resorts have joined the successful scheme which sees all 35 of Teignbridge District Council's car parks free of any charges on a Sunday.
Monday, 5 November 2012
Dear Diary 1
I discovered two things today - the first if I wee on the floor they come to wipe it up with a cloth - and if I grab the other end we can have a grand game of tug of war.
I actually followed the man outside this afternoon - wow there is a world beyond the window its not just a picture.
Friday, 26 October 2012
#Rotary #ReDistricting
If dear reader you don't understand the title of this Blog, then you are in good company, because I do not either.
Having said that, there may well be Rotarians out there beyond Blog Land who know exactly what it means and the law of unintentional consequences that may well arise from this process. The loss of more members.
Having returned from District 1170 District Council, I am still none the wiser as to what this idea of redistricting is designed to achieve - especially when as I understand there is at least one motion before the forthcoming Council of Legislation that talks about first class travel for life.....
If I have understood the process, Rotary is expanding in some parts of the world and contracting in others, and this has led to an idea regarding rationalisation of districts so that the golden number of 532 Districts world wide - the number currently - remains for financial reasons.
So in the RIBI area there is a proposal to reduce the number of districts from 29 to 22 (sorry if figures, indeed the spirit of what I write is not exactly correct - that just goes to show if I'm confused it can't be simple enough to understand).
Now it seems the cut is based on districts and the number of clubs as this relates to membership - RIBI lost net 4 last count. So someone has come up with the idea that Devon should be merged with Cornwall (ok that was the case a couple of decades ago) but that a number of the Devon Clubs should go to other adjacent districts being formed and so on and so on doubtless up and down the country. Surely those districts that do not make the cut should be redistributed to those adjacent districts that do make the cut - job done:)
Except..... someone somewhere seems to have forgotten that as we are always being told Rotary is the Club upwards and that if one District does not want to do this, it doesn't happen. Further with the recently enacted Localism Bill the whole thought process in this country is changing - and tailoring solutions to local problems is the new 'one size fits all'.
It also seems somewhat random to down size to 22 districts, why not 10 etc. But, and here's the nub of the problem, to date as a humble Club President I've seen no financial justification for any of this in the papers I've been sent, and its my subscription, like all members, that pays for all this, or not as the case may be....
Having said that, there may well be Rotarians out there beyond Blog Land who know exactly what it means and the law of unintentional consequences that may well arise from this process. The loss of more members.
Having returned from District 1170 District Council, I am still none the wiser as to what this idea of redistricting is designed to achieve - especially when as I understand there is at least one motion before the forthcoming Council of Legislation that talks about first class travel for life.....
If I have understood the process, Rotary is expanding in some parts of the world and contracting in others, and this has led to an idea regarding rationalisation of districts so that the golden number of 532 Districts world wide - the number currently - remains for financial reasons.
So in the RIBI area there is a proposal to reduce the number of districts from 29 to 22 (sorry if figures, indeed the spirit of what I write is not exactly correct - that just goes to show if I'm confused it can't be simple enough to understand).
Now it seems the cut is based on districts and the number of clubs as this relates to membership - RIBI lost net 4 last count. So someone has come up with the idea that Devon should be merged with Cornwall (ok that was the case a couple of decades ago) but that a number of the Devon Clubs should go to other adjacent districts being formed and so on and so on doubtless up and down the country. Surely those districts that do not make the cut should be redistributed to those adjacent districts that do make the cut - job done:)
Except..... someone somewhere seems to have forgotten that as we are always being told Rotary is the Club upwards and that if one District does not want to do this, it doesn't happen. Further with the recently enacted Localism Bill the whole thought process in this country is changing - and tailoring solutions to local problems is the new 'one size fits all'.
It also seems somewhat random to down size to 22 districts, why not 10 etc. But, and here's the nub of the problem, to date as a humble Club President I've seen no financial justification for any of this in the papers I've been sent, and its my subscription, like all members, that pays for all this, or not as the case may be....
Follow me on Twitter @vogelphilipc
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)