*old in the sense of long-standing 😊
When the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus tried out a new venue, they welcomed back old friends.
Meeting for the first time at Elizabeth Park, Checkland Road, Thurmaston, President Maya Vansia welcomed back frequent visitor Mai Tsumura who had been back to Japan to visit her sponsors and her family. Also present was Assistant Governor Nigel Aaron from the Rotary Club of Oadby Launde, and Louisa Horne returning to Leicester nearly a year after she first visited us.
Like Mai and Novus’s newest member Atsuko Miyake, Louisa is studying at Leicester University. She is a busy woman; being a management consultant by profession, a year into her career as a doctoral scholar and three months into being District Governor for Rotary District 7820.
But Louisa does not use that title. She has led remarkable changes in her district, which includes 46 clubs in eastern Canada and the French islands of St Pierre and Miquelon. Her title is Chair of the District Leadership Team.
She explained that she does not intend to attend all 46 clubs and deliver “The Talk” 46 times. In her audience was Novus secretary Pam Spokes, whose husband Rodney is Governor of Rotary District 1070. Pam smiled because she has accompanied Rodney to nearly half of the 89 clubs in the east of England.
Louisa’s expressed desire is to make Rotary clubs ‘irresistible’. It’s working; under her leadership, the Rotary Club of Halifax Harbourside increased from 22 members to 72.
Novus members, who have maintained their club’s reputation in its 10 years of being innovators and taking a novel approach, were delighted to hear such an inspiring talk on how effective and how much fun Rotary can be.
To conclude the evening, members and guests took part in a picture quiz based on summertime which had been devised by Lesley Green, of Oadby Trinity Methodist Church, who had spoken to Novus about dementia earlier in the year.
As they left, members reflected on what had been an inspiring and fun meeting in a venue they intend to visit again.
But before they do, Novus Rotarians will be meeting on September 19 at Falcons Primary School. They will be playing host to a large number of Rotarians from the West Midlands who have asked to see the Peace Garden which Novus created there.
If you would like to see the Peace Garden, please click on the “Contact Us” link at the top of this page. We would love to see you at any of our meetings.
Last edited at 23:25 on Thursday, 12.09.2019
