President Lawrie was back in the chair for his first Business Meeting and welcomed Derek Collins and Ranald Shepherd as visitors for the last time as tonight they were both being inducted into membership.

George Morrison introduced Derek and Graham Russell performed the honours for Ranald. David Mackie read The Object of Rotary and President Lawrie went on to the formal induction. Membership of the Club now stands at 49 active members and we look forward to adding further members during the year.

l-r Graham Russell, Ranald Shepherd, President Lawrie, Derek Collins and George Morrison

The Business Meeting was dealt with efficiently, with the main focus on the forthcoming Bridge of Allan Highland games on 8 August, the Fellowship Weekend in the Lake District on 3-4^th September, and the unanimous support of the Club for the appointment of founder members and Past Presidents Roy Erskine and Iain Davidson to Honorary Membership.

In the absence of our new President, Lawrie Orr, Senior Vice President Rod Jones opened the meeting by welcoming two guests. Michael Bailey, from North Carolina, is the exchange minister for Gillian Weighton and was looked after by fellowship host Edward Campbell and Derek Collins, a guest of George Morrison.

John Kilby reported that, despite being in the middle of the holiday season, the meeting was well attended with 32 members and 2 guests present.

Secretary Graham Russell told the meeting that he had checked back in the club records and found that the club had started selling Strawberries and Cream at the Doune and Dunblane Show in 1977 when Iain Davidson had been President.

Preparations for the crepes stall at the Bridge of Allan Highland Games on 8 August are going well and George Morrison circulated a sheet requesting help from members.

Club member Peter Farr was the speaker for the evening, giving an interesting and entertaining account of some of the key points of his life, from birth in Melbourne Australia to semi-retirement in Dunblane.

Peter’s start in life was a story within itself, being adopted soon after birth and then kept indoors for the first eighteen months of his life, as a polio epidemic swept through Melbourne. His new parents then adopted a girl called Trish giving Peter a sister who still lives in Melbourne.

Having completed his studies at school Peter went on to study at Monash University, achieving a degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology. This was at the time of the Vietnam War, which Peter managed to avoid as he was balloted out of conscription. However, he joined the University Regiment, was commissioned and posted to the Prince of Wales Light Horse and although they didn’t have horses he enjoyed travelling in the armoured personnel carriers.

After teaching at several schools Peter joined the RAAF where he was responsible for the training of aircraft technicians, being stationed at Wagga Wagga (he assured us that such a place does exist!!!).  Following a posting to the Flying Training School back in Melbourne, Peter resigned his commission and taught at the Royal Melbourne Insitute of Technology.  While he was there he met Veryan at a barbeque.  It was love at first sight and she was to become his wife. They have two children - Nicola, who is a primary teacher in London and a son, Andrew, who is in Edinburgh.

Peter took advantage of a career break so that they could travel to the UK to   enable Veryan’s father to get to know his grandchildren. Peter took a temporary job and one thing led to another, with the result that he became Deputy Head of Training Development at Barclays Bank. Peter then went on to head up training at the Benefits Agency, Central Regional Council and ultimately the Department for International Development. This last post gave him the opportunity to travel throughout the world including managing a major project in Shanghai.

Now semi-retired, Peter runs his own coaching practice and his hobbies include ornithology, travelling with Veryan and architecture both ancient and modern.

George Martin gave the vote of thanks, saying how enjoyable the presentation had been and the audience confirmed this with a generous round of applause.

Senior Vice President Rod Jones then concluded the meeting with short tale extolling the benefits of working together.

Peter Farr, Rod Jones and Michael Bailey

Nick Rawlings, our Press Officer, reminded me that I had agreed to stand in for him as he jetted off to London. So, as a relatively new Rotarian, it was with a little trepidation that I walked to the Westlands Hotel for our weekly meeting on Thursday 8^th July with the burden of producing a written report of the proceedings.

There was a gap in the rain showers and I managed to arrive at the hotel bar bone dry. This was just a temporary state of affairs, as one of the members (who will remain anonymous) tripped and poured the glass of lager I had just bought him over the table and myself. The omens were not looking good as our usual hosts at the Westlands, Jack and Jason were missing, it turned out they were sunning themselves in Cancun - the pay at the Westlands must be good !!! But my concerns were ill-founded as their replacements Chris and David provided us with excellent service.

After chatting with fellow members we went through to the main room for dinner. It’s free seating, so I was able to sit next to members I hadn’t spoken to recently, as well as two of our guests.

New President Lawrie Orr (should he be wearing L plates?) opened the meeting, welcoming guest speaker Brian Jamieson from the Ochil Mountain Rescue Team and our guests Bruce Thomson, Ian Durie, Ranald Shepherd and David Tapner who had been welcomed by fellowship host Alex Campbell.

There was an amusing exchange between the long suffering Club Secretary Graham Russell and our new President. It is reassuring to know that friendly banter, a trade mark of the club, would be on the agenda for the coming year.

Graham went on to explain that our Rotary District had raised over £100k to help eradicate Polio, when the matched funding from the Bill and Melisa Gates Foundation is added this makes a total of £300k, a stark contrast with the £20k that looked achievable at the beginning of the year.

In between the friendly discussions taking place around the table, dinner was served, a plated salad followed by mandarin gateaux and coffee.

Tony Ford, the chair of the Communities and Vocational Committee reported that the sale of crepes and strawberries at the Doune and Dunblane Show had gone well, raising a total of £311. The outgoing chair of the committee, George Morrison was thanked for organising this event and the members were thanked for all their help on the day. This included hanging on to the tent as the wind lifted it clean off the ground.

Winning the trophy for the best Charity Stand at the show was a new achievement for the club, having only managed to be runners up in the past. President Lawrie Orr showed off the Charity Shield that had been presented to him at the show by former ‘Miss Scotland’, Kat Brown.

Then, on to the speaker, my heart dropped as the laptop and projector were warming up, was this to be ‘death by PowerPoint?’ I needn’t have worried , Brian Jamieson is an accomplished speaker, he used a couple of diagrams to explain how mountain rescue was organised in Scotland, two graphs to show us the types of incidents they respond to and followed this up with a series of magnificent pictures showing the Ochils in their full glory. Rather than banging his drum for the mountain rescue team he explained how they were a part of a co-ordinated effort, led by the police, that included Navy and RAF helicopters as well us rescue dogs and the other services.

The Ochil Mountain Rescue Team originally had their base at a cell in Alva Police Station, but had to move from there as the prisoners complained of the smell of the wet ropes. This contrasted with their new custom built base at Fishcross which is provided on a perpetual lease, rent free by the Order of St John.

The members asked several searching questions at the end of the presentation, but Brian fielded these easily in his relaxed informal style, clearly demonstrating his passion for, and knowledge of, his subject. If only our politicians were capable of doing the same!!!

Giving the vote of thanks, Ronnie McIntyre explained that the word Ochils was derived from the old welsh word ‘uchel’ meaning high. He felt this was more than a little ironic as the hills were neither Welsh or high !!! Ronnie went on to thank Brian for his excellent presentation and everyone present supported this with an enthusiastic round of applause.

Speakers Host, Ronnie McIntyre, Brian Jamieson and President Lawrie Orr

President Lawrie Orr drew the meeting to a close and reminded the younger members not to forget T in the Park at the week-end!!!

As I wended my way home I reflected on a pleasant evening, good company and an excellent speaker.  Also, a feeling of satisfaction that comes from being part of a group that is really makes a difference to people’s lives.

If you would like to join us as a guest on any Thursday evening please give Graham Russell a call on 07948 276242, you will be guaranteed a warm welcome.

Saturday was overcast but mainly dry for the annual Doune and Dunblane Show at Keir Mains.

New Community and Vocational Chair Tony Ford had followed last year's successful format of selling fresh crepes, tea and coffe as well as the traditional strawberries and cream. 

The Show judges were so impressed that they awarded us first prize for the best Charity stall at the show.

Former Miss Scotland Kat Brown presents Charity Shield to Lawrie Orr.

(The Black and white photo was to conceal the vivid pink colour of Lawrie's shirt, or so the photographer says!)

High winds presented a bit of a problem with additional anchorage required to keep the tent down, however trade was brisk and club members were kept busy preparing and serving until we closed at 4pm. 

No, John Kilby is not practising abseiling, he is holding the tent down!

Some of the helpers at the show with the first prize medallion, (certainly not for Best in Breed with this lot!)

Allan Wallace caught in the act - he says it was market testing!

At Thursday’s Handover meeting, Robert Steele welcomed 2 guests in Derek Collins and Ken Murray.

Jim Gardner reported on last week’s Am-Am Golf Competition and social evening and, while final figures were still to be compiled, the total raised for Strathcarron Hospice was looking to be around the £14,000 mark.

Sadly, Past President and founder member, Iain Davidson, announced his resignation from the Club after 37 years service and Robert thanked Iain for his contribution over that time.

In his last address to the Club before handing over the position of presidency, Robert gave an illustrated review of his year in office, noting how his theme of ‘pulling together for service in friendship and fellowship’ had been expressed through the activities of 2009/2010.  Charities supported by the Club included Strathcarron Hospice, CHAS, Childline, First Response and the Haiti appeal, as well as international Rotary projects such as the elimination of polio campaign. A noteworthy unplanned response to the Haiti earthquake raised over £4400 of aid in a single day thanks to the generosity of our local communities.

The usual hosting of the Young Musician of the Year competition from which our last year’s winner, Andrew McLean, went on to win the district competition was supplemented for the first time by a successful Young Chef competition where pupils from local schools competed under the expert assessment of  Tom Lewis , the head chef at Monachyle Mhor in Balquhidder.

The understated sporting prowess at golf, gavel and curling was rewarded when the curling team won the Perthshire Rotary League for the first time in 19 years.

The year included a variety of fun events including a Burns Supper, Pitlochry theatre weekend and a canal cruise dinner. These extra-curricular activities supplemented a great set of guest speakers who attended our meetings to provide talks on a wide range of topics from lighthouse management to M80 road building.

Robert thanked his council officers for making the year a success. These included Lawrie Orr (Senior Vice President), Rod Jones (Junior Vice President) , Derek Young (Treasurer), Graham Russell (Secretary), and Committee chairs Colin Strachan  (Foundation and International) , Jim Gardner (Am-Am golf/ Hospice Support), George Morrison ( Community and Vocational) and Bill Sharpe (Marketing and Public Relations).

Robert then handed the President’s chain of office to Lawrie Orr, who in turn handed the Senior Vice chain to Rod Jones, who passed his junior vice chain to Iain Smith.

 Lawrie accepting chain from past President Robert.

Lawrie ensuring Rod knows who is boss now!

Lawrie Orr thanked Robert on behalf of the club for a very good year and pledged his endeavours to continue the enthusiastic work of Rotary in this locality.

Lawrie’s first official task in his new role was to induct the Club’s newest member, Ken Murray. Sponsored by Colin Smith, Ken was welcomed into the Club and the wider fellowship of Rotary.

Lawrie with newest recruit Ken Murray and Colin Smith

Lawrie closed the meeting by reminding members of the stall at the Doune and Dunblane show on Saturday where our talented chefs would again be preparing a wide variety of tasty crepes for the visitors.