Rotary is a service organisation formed in 1905. It used to be very formal and bureaucratic. It’s not like that now.
However, it still has a pyramid-like structure, to best help it achieve the good that it does. Some people think that at the top of the pyramid is the president of Rotary International. This year that office is held by a very nice German chap called Holger Knaack, who visited Leicester Novus a few months back, via Zoom
Other levels of essential bricks in the pyramid are occupied by Zones, Regions, Districts, Clubs and (right at the top, in the view of this author) individual Rotarians — 1.2 million of us around the world.
One of the remaining bits of bureaucracy is the requirement for each of the 530 district leaders around the world to visit each club in her or his District to speak to, and listen to, the Rotary members in that geographic area.
This year, in our case, it falls to Peter Berry, a member of the Rotary Club of Grantham, to visit our club — one of 83 in his area. It is usual for the District Governor to brings pearls of wisdom from his or her induction.
Not only did Peter do that for us, but he continued the popular tradition of bringing a gift for the presidents. Despite visiting us by Zoom, Peter was not to be denied the chance to give something to President Sarita Shah.
He stretched forward to his computer screen and held out two badges. One bore the three-legged symbol of the Isle of Man, where he grew up. The other bore the logo of the year “Rotary Opens Opportunities.”
In a moment of powerful magic — so powerful that it seemed to have sucked all the light out of Sarita’s home — the badges were transferred into the hands of our delighted president.
Over the course of 90 minutes, interspersed with the usual Rotary banter and laughter, Peter discussed all aspects of Rotary.
On behalf of her 16 members (the people at the broad top of this author’s pyramid), President Sarita thanked Peter and Assistant Governor Eddie Pearson for attending the meeting and bringing to it so much fellowship and things to think about.
Last edited: 21:25 on Thursday, 19.11.2020
