The Rotary Club Of Festival City

President:  Dianne Yundt

Minutes of the meeting of November 13, 2012

Club email:  festivalcityrotary@gmail.com

Club website: www.festivalcityrotary.ca

Guests: Cheryl Moore from the Mitchell Rotary Club. Wayne Yundt and Jean Cooke are guests of Dianne Yundt. Randy Mathews is a potential new member. Leticia Figueiredo is our Rotary Exchange student.

Draw Prize: David Moore donated the prize won by Vincent Hill.

Announcements:

  1. Salvation Army Xmas Kettles: If you can spare some time to man a kettle at one of the locations in Stratford let Dianne Yundt or Tyler Canal know.
  2. Board Meeting: The board meets Thursday Nov 15 at President Dianne’s house, 522 William Street.
  3. Rotary Leadership Institute: The next training session, all 3 levels, is in Stratford on Nov 17. See President Dianne for details.
  4. Area 3 meeting: The next meeting is Thursday November 22 at Deck Dentistry in Mitchell. See Dianne Yundt if you are interested in attending.
  5. Reporting Makeups: When you report a makeup at the check in desk on Tuesday mornings please indicate when, where, and what the makeup activity was. RI requires this information when the report is sent to RI.
  6. Dinner of the Month Tickets: Tickets for the 2013 draws are available for sale. Get your tickets from Tyler Canal.  The price is the same as this year. $20 each or 6 for $100.
  7. Rotary Club of Sarnia TV Auction: If you are interested in bidding on items in this fundraiser on November 18 visit www.rotarysarnia.com  
  8. Splash Pad Night at Domino’s Pizza: This Thursday November 15, 50% of the price of any regularly priced item will be donated to the Splash Pad project.

Presentation: Cheryl Moore representing the Mitchell Rotary Club presented a cheque to our club for the final installment of their commitment to the El Salvador project. Cheryl’s husband Mark and his son have just returned from a home building project in El Salvador.

 

Bingo: Volunteers are required for the “Sgt Pepper” edition of bingo on Saturday November 24. Bingo sales start shortly after 5 PM when we require most of the volunteers. If you can only spare a couple of hours that would be helpful and we will need some to stay for the full session which ends at about 10 PM. Sign up on ClubRunner by clicking on “Saturday Bingo” Nov 24, or inform Vince Hill or Jack West.

 

History buffs will recall that it was on this date in 1966 that the Beatles began recording their famous album “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Beatlemania fans may want to dress in Sgt Pepper attire.

 

Guest Speaker: Dianne Yundt introduced Jean Cooke who presented a talk and slide show of her recent trip to Italy. The main purpose for Jean’s trip was to visit the grave of her oldest brother Sgt Ken Beckner of the Perth Regiment. Sgt Beckner was killed by a sniper on Sept 13, 1944. Ken was 26 years old.  Jean had 4 brothers in uniform, 2 of whom were wounded, one killed and one was home on leave on VE day.

Jean’s journey began with Rev. Terry Hastings at St Andrews church who was organizing a trip to Italy for last September. Jean expressed an interest if she could visit the gravesite of her brother. Arrangements were made to take her by taxi from Venice to the Gradara war cemetery. Buried in this cemetery are casualties from the allied advance against the German army from Ancona on the Adriatic coast towards Rimini to the Gothic Line where the German Army made a stand. There are 1192 graves in the cemetery of which 369 are of Canadian soldiers. Until Jean’s visit it has been 68 years and 11 days since her brother’s death and the first time a family member had visited the gravesite.

Jean also mentioned that 846 local men served in the Perth Regiment and 161 were killed during the war. On her trip her tour group also visited the Casino war cemetery where 855 Canadian soldiers are buried.

Jean was thanked by Brian Rivers