SPEAKER MEETING - DR ROB MACPHERSON

This weeks meeting was attended by 41 of our own members and 2 guest.

Neil Chisholm introduced the speaker, Dr Rob MacPherson, as a historian and academic currently a member of staff at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

The members were pleasantly surprised to hear that his post with UHI was Director of Golf Studies, and that his talk was to be about golf!

Dr MacPherson spoke of the impact that high visibility, high budget golf courses, such as the Trump venture at Balmedie, North of Aberdeen, was predicted to have on the 40 or so courses in the inner Moray Firth.

He explained that existing courses were struggling to stay in business. Increasing visitor green fees had resulted in no improvement in income; clubs were suffering declining membership, and waiting lists had reduced.

He appreciated that whilst new courses were attractive because of their novelty value, visitors tended to use them only once. Some 25% of US visitors liked to play an old course which had some history. ‘Bunker’ magazine wrote that the Highlands had no less than 6 ‘hidden gems’ of golf courses, and we needed to exploit that.

The challenge for existing golf courses from developments like that of Trump’s was to improve their marketing, and sell themselves so as to ensure that they obtained a share of the £12.5 million spent by golfing visitors annually – split 5/1 between golf and the local economy.

Next weeks meeting (28/11) would be a regular meeting.

CHARLIE MADE NEWEST HONORARY MEMBER

On the 7th November 2007, President George McRae was accompanied by Past President Jim Dick and club Secretary Caroline Dobson to visit long-standing club member Charles Stewart to present him with his honorary membership of the club.

The presentation was given to Charles Steward to recognise the work and commitment he had given to the club over the past number of years. This commitment included service to the club as its President in 1997/98.

Charles commented, "I am delighted to receive this honour and am grateful of the recognition for my work in the club."

Honorary Membership of a rotary club can be granted by the club council, together with the approval of the club members, to any persons who have distinguished themselves by meritorious service in the furtherance of rotary ideals.

President George summed things up by saying, "Quite simply, Charlie deserved this recognition for what he has done."

Photo: Past President Jim Dick (left); Past President/Honorary Member Charles Stewart (centre); President George McRae (right)

THIS WEEK'S MEETING

Today's meeting was one of our busiest meetings for a number of weeks, when we had 42 of our own members along with three rotarian guests and one non-rotarian joining the meeting.

We were delighted to be joined by Drew Kuzma (photo), originally from Alberta, Canada who has recently moved to Scotland to take up work. Drew commented that benefitted from Rotary Exchange whilst in back home, allowing him the opportunity to travel to France and have his first taste of European life.

He also commented that a active rotarians back in Canada that his parents would be "delighted that he had been able to attend the Loch Ness Club and share in the fellowship of the club."

Joining Gill Silver and David Martin, from our neighbouring Loch Ness Club the members were pleased to welcome Bill MacFarlane Smith (photo), District Governor Nominee for the Rotary district 1010.

During the meeting, President George informed the members that himself, James Dick and Caroline Dobson visited Charles Stewart on November 7th to formally offer him the Honorary Life Membership. The newly appointed honorary member commented, "I am delighted to accept this recognition and thank the Club members for their good wishes."

At the end of the meeting, Hamish Wood informed the members that as a follow up to the very successful Your Inverness event last year, that funding has been obtained for publishing a Directory of Clubs/Activities in Inverness. He Estimated the date of issue would be Feb/ March 2008.

Our next meeting (21/11) we will be entertained by a talk from club member Neil Chisholm.

Photo - Bill MacFarlane Smith, District Governor Nominee (Left); President George McRae (Centre); Drew Kuzma (Right)

GSE CANDIDATE TALKS TO CLUB

Members and guest of Loch Ness Rotary club were recently enlightened by a very informative presentation when their most recent international exchange representative returned from his New York State visit.

Jason Hasson, Customer Service Manager at Inverness Leisure was sponsored by the Loch Ness club earlier in the year to take part in the Group Study Exchange where he spent six weeks vocational study in the United States. He was joined by another 6 exchange ‘students’ from throughout the north-east of Scotland ranging from a teacher to a fire-arms police officer.

Loch Ness Rotary club took part in the international scheme which is designed to offer work-based study for junior/middle management level individuals with a flare and enthusiasm to move on within their work sector.

Jason, married with two children, was fully supported by his family and the Senior Management at Inverness Leisure who allowed him a proportion of paid leave due to the vocational nature of this study trip.

During his presentation to the club, Jason from Muir of Ord commented, “As a local Highland lad, it was a real wrench for me to leave my wife and children but I was excited to see what the States would hold and didn’t want to miss this fantastic opportunity.

“I guess I had the TV image of America and was expecting them to be miles ahead of us, particularly in relation to my field of work in leisure, health and fitness. But I was surprised at how wrong I was. We are streets ahead of them in a number of areas; particularly in relation to standards, cleanliness, health & safety and procedures of working.

He went on, “I went out thinking I was going to learn from them, and found myself coming home to send shared information from my work back to various places in the States. That said, I did pick up a lot from them in relation to the way the approach sport and leisure in their schools, colleges and universities.

During the visit, the group were introduced to one of the first police officers on the scene during the devastation of 9:11 at the World Trade Centre. Jason emotionally outlined how this person had lived, ate and slept at ground zero for over 9 months – leaving his own family technically fatherless whilst he returned to the dreadful site each day to assist with its search and clearing. All the while coming to terms with the reality he was never going to see a number of his friends and colleagues ever again.

Jason concluded, “The GSE was a great opportunity and a brilliant chance to be able to benchmark our operations and what we are doing here in Inverness against my perceived performance over in the States. I learned a great deal not only about my business-field but also about myself as well.

“To be able to go away on an ‘all expenses paid’ learning journey was a chance of a life time and obviously not to be missed. And for that I have a lot to thank the Rotary Club of Loch Ness. This was an experience I will never forget.

George McRae, President of Loch Ness Rotary commented, “Although we do a great deal of charity work on an international basis, we are keen to support local causes as well. It is for this reason that the club was keen to continue our trend of supporting the Group Study Exchange programme and we have been delighted that Jason has been able to take so much from his experience.

“The club has been part of the scheme supporting exchanges from all over the world including India and Australia as well as the US and I am pleased that we have been able to make such a contribution to the personal and professional development of those involved.

Concluding, George McRae said, “From his presentation, it is clear that Jason has gained a lot. And I hope he can now take his knowledge and put it to good use not only at Inverness Leisure but for the benefit of his career development in general.

Photo courtesy of Mike Phimister

THIS WEEKS MEETING - SPEAKER: KEN WILSON

This week's meeting was attended by 42 of our own members, with Mike Phimister, Secretary of the Culloden club in attendance along with another non-rotarian.


The members were entertained by a talk given by Ken Wilson, titled "A Moving Experience".

As one of our own club members, Ken explained that his father worked in Railways and changed jobs frequently, therefore as a child he lived in eleven houses and went to six schools, each of which had a definite character of its own. From his birth place, Ken took us on a journey through Tanganyika, rural Dumfries, Glasgow, and Fife and outlined the impact on a child of moving around, including the challenge of learning a new way of speaking at each location.

He shared with us pleasant memories along with those of a less idyllic hue, reminders of things of yesteryear that have now changed forever, such as milk being delivered by pony and trap.

He went on giving some of his experiences like the 'Tattie Picking Holidays' and watching the Queens Coronation with neighbours on the first TV in his street; which struck a note with several of his listeners being able to share in his experiences.

Ken's talk rekindled a lot of memories with many members in a very entertaining way; it's probably only a matter of time before he considers his autobiography...


There was also details given of the somewhat 'impromtu' Loch Ness Rotary meeting held at Inverness Railway station, as many of the members waited on the Rotary Wives returning from an excellent weekend of theatre and entertainment in Edinburgh.

Members were warned of a mail scam circulating in the area. Where Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam where a card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number).

Recipients of this card are warned NOT to call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. Anyone who calls the number will immediatley be charged £15 for the phone call on connection plus additional charges as you listen to the call.

Members were informed if they did receive a card with these details to contact Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk.

There will be no speaker at next weeks meeting (14/11), however guest are still very welcome.

THIS WEEKS MEETING - GENERAL MEETING

This week was the clubs General Meeting for our 41 members in attendance to approve the business conducted on their behalf throughout the year and elect next year's office bearers.

Jim Cockburn will be President in year 2008/09. He will be joined in the Executive by Senior Vice President Mike Halley; with Ken Mackie joining them as Junior Vice President for the same year.

The members also unanimously approved Caroline Dobson and Hector Douglas as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.

At next week's meeting (07/11) members and visitors will be given a talk by Ken Wilson, one of our own club members.