David Hulme and Alice Albright did a fantastic job of decorating the room in European tour theme focusing on Viking Tours, which is who Bill drove for in his younger days.
Members came dressed as though they were going on holiday and were allocated seats on a bus on arrival.
David ran the evening as a tour guide and each table was allocated a bus number, bus 47 - London, bus 420 - Amsterdam, bus 89 – Berlin, bus 753 – Paris and bus 10 - Barcelona. We later found out the significance of each of these numbers.
President Jane kept to theme, talking about Rotary International Travel and Hosting Fellowship and what it offers members.
Leonie Tisch introduced Bill to the members and had a great slide show outlining Bill’s history and how he got to District Governor. Great pic of Bill with a rather fetching moustache. Bill showed a presentation mentioning Rotary International President Gordon McInally and what he wants to achieve as President.
Both Gordon and Bill want clubs to focus on mental Health and Wellbeing.
He talked about foundation giving for 2022-23 and congratulated Matamata for being the 3rd largest donating club in the district.
Bill’s slide on Rotary’s action plan: Increase our impact, Expand our reach, Enhance participant engagement, and Increase our ability to adapt, gives members something to think about for the year.
Bill’s district goals are: Keep things simple, don’t reinvent the wheel, however, don’t be afraid to try new things, focus on mental health, prioritize family, work and then Rotary, our biggest asset is members and let’s be sustainable.
Bill congratulated the club on a great start to the year and was chuffed to see the effort everyone made to dress in theme.
The district has 6 inbound Rotary Youth Exchange students in the district – four from Europe and two South Americans. Two more South American students looking to come here in January.
Bill has a passion for RYLA and Kids In Need. He also talked about Urban Miners which is part of his home club. They recycle E-Waste and have 92 cars drop e-waste off at their last open day. Urban miners have kept 37 tons of waste out of the dump since starting.
Bill finished with a video inviting members to attend his Conference in Cambridge 17-19 May 2024.
David G thanked Bill, Deb and Doug for their visit and wished Bill well for the rest of the year.
