About a year ago, Leicester Novus Rotarians had a question about the Disclosure and Barring Service. They sought advice from the Compliance Officer for District 1070 and were impressed by the speed with which Rotarian Louise Willis resolved the issue.
So they decided to get Louise — who worked in compliance area for the commercial, industrial, and education sectors for more than 20 years — to visit the club and explain it all to them.
For Louise, it was a chance to rehearse the PowerPoint presentation she was to deliver to club secretaries at the District 1070 Assembly to be held at Loughborough on May 18.
She tackled issues including
1. Who is Responsible?
2.What are Rotary Compliance Areas?
3.Health & Safety
4.Safeguarding
5.Equality & Diversity and Rotary’s new Dignity Policy.
Although Louise went into great detail, her was presentation was enjoyable and of interest to her audience which included brand-new member Ranjit Mann and two Japanese academics.
One is Mai Tsumura, who has been studying philanthropy, as demonstrated and written about by Victorian philosopher John Ruskin, at Leicester University since September 2018.
The other is Professor Atsuko Miyake, who is also doing research at the University’s Victorian Studies Centre, focusing on the output of Nuneaton writer George Eliot, the pen-name of Mary Evans.
Both ladies have benefited from The Rotary Foundation — the world’s biggest private charity. Professor Miyake studied at Nottingham University 25 years ago as a Rotary scholar. Then, she was hosted by the Rotary Club of Newarke She has been in Leicester since early April.
Novus Rotarians hope Professor Miyake will take as active a part in the life of Leicester Novus Rotary as Miss Tsumura, who attended the Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland Showcase event at Nottingham on May 11 and who will attend the District Assembly at Nottingham on May 18.
Novus member Mark Esho had shared the stage at Nottingham with paralympian and TV star Ade Adepitan. Both are wheelchair users, having had polio as children. Mark and his Rotarian wife Diana were thanked for allowing Novus to hold the meeting in their ground-floor wheelchair-friendly office.
Last edited: 11pm on May 16, 2019
