Club News

Notes on Last 6 Club Meetings

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 23rd April 2008

Club President Vince Fusaro welcomed 36 members to the Club’s Annual General Meeting on 23rd April. Club Secretary Ian Copland was on fellowship.
The meeting opened on a sad note with the announcement of the death of club member, Ken McLaren. The President paid tribute to Ken’s service to the Club since 1982 and the personal qualities that made him an esteemed member of the community. The Members stood for one minute’s silence in his memory.
The meeting received reports on the Club’s finances from the Treasurer, indicating that while the various charitable accounts were in good heart, much of the fund raising had been earmarked for specific good causes.
In the last 12 months the Club has committed or already paid out over £19000 to local and National Charities including CHAS £1000, Alzheimer Scotland £1500, Rotary Foundation £1467, NACC £1500, DebRA £1500, Age Concern £6000, Kilmaron School £2000, Breathe Easy £1500, MacMillan Cancer Fund £1500. Numerous smaller amounts have been distributed to other local groups and organisations. In addition, £15000 has been spent on two projects in Nepal to provide a constant supply of water to two villages there.
Club President Elect, Pat McInally led the reports from the Club Service Committees.
The Membership Committee had attracted four new Members into the Club in the past year and were continuing to follow up suggestions for further additions.
The Entertainment Committee reported on a series of successful social occasions, while the Communications Committee reported on development work being undertaken on the Club Web Site, www.rotarycupar.org in addition to the regular reports to the local press.
The Ways and Means Committee are progressing two major fund-raising activities before the end of the Rotary Year, a Charity Golf Day at Elmwood College Golf Course on 15th May and a Bike and Hike Day at Tentsmuir Forest on Sunday 22nd June. The Charities to benefit from the latter event are to be CHAS, Ninewells Cancer Campaign, the Club’s Water Aid Projects and local good causes.
The Community Service Committee were to take a number of local elderly residents on a bus outing on 27th April and were investigating the possibility of a clean-up of a stretch of the River Eden in August.
The Vocational and Youth Activities Committee would shortly be selecting candidates to participate in this year’s Rotary Youth Leadership Camp, and a visit to the Robert Gough Centre in Leven was being arranged as a vocational visit.
The International Committee was continuing to raise funds for “Send a Cow” and planned to host a football match for migrant workers against local opposition during the summer. The work of the Rotary Foundation Committee included further development of the Club’s water aid projects in Nepal with ongoing research into a further project in Uganda.
The formalities concluded with the election of Club Officers, Council Members and Honorary Members for 2008–2009.

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 16th April 2008

The club met at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 16th April 2008 with President Vince Fusaro in the Chair.
Thirty-two members and one guest were present. Rotarian Tracy Jordan introduced the guest speaker the Reverend Doctor Ken Jeffrey who spoke on the work undertaken by the Vine Trust in Peru and in particular the plight of abandoned boys in that Country.
In October 2006 a working party from Cupar had travelled to Ica to construct the walls of a home for street children and, following an earthquake in August 2007 which severely damaged the area, work had been accelerated on the home to allow early completion of the site.
Reverend Doctor Jeffrey felt privileged to be asked to return to Ica to open the home in January this year. The home already provides a safe environment for 20 abandoned boys which will soon grow to 40.
Another working party from Cupar is travelling to Peru in October this year to build dormitories and the hope is to add workshops in the years ahead. His talk was illustrated by a DVD which he had taken during his visit in January. The vote of thanks was given by Rotarian Ron Smith. He thanked Reverend Doctor Jeffrey for his moving talk which vividly contrasted the predicament of the under-privileged in a country such as a Peru with the lifestyle we were fortunate to enjoy in the affluent world.

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 9th April 2008

The twenty-nine members present at the meeting on Wednesday 9th April were increased by one following the induction of new member Vicky Hunter by President Vince Fusaro, who also welcomed one guest to the meeting.
Vicky is Cupar born and bred; with a degree in Biochemistry and several years in the bio-technology field, most recently at the Wellcome Trust Biocentre in Dundee, she was keen to run her own business back in Cupar. She and her husband Jim opened the children's play centre, Bonkers, last year.
Richard Hynd, who is incidentally President-Elect of the Rotary Club of North Fife, was the speaker for the evening, talking on "Classic Car Ownership and Restoration". He described three types of vintage car owners - "The Polisher", "The Driver and Racer", and the "Basket of Bits Restorer". He's in the last category, and described the purchase of his first car as a blind buy - it was sold as an MG, but he soon realised that it was very heavily hybridised. As well as many accessories, the engine had been replaced with one from a Morris Ten. Over the years he has developed a network of friends who interchange ideas, skills and spares, and now finds that the internet is very helpful in tracking down elusive spares. This communication network has led to the development of a number of sources of newly-manufactured spares, including some in the Far East. Rotarian Béla Simandi thanked Richard on the Club's behalf.
The Club's question-master, Ian Copland, reported that the winning team from the first round of the Primary Schools Quiz (St Columba's Primary School), will be appearing in the next round on Saturday 26th April at the Queen's Hotel in Dundee at 10:00 for 10:30.

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 2nd April 2008

President Vincent Fusaro welcomed 34 members and one guest to the evening meeting on 2 April 2008.
Rotarian Dr Michael Hendry gave a fascinating account of his recent trip to Antarctica, following the route from there of Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, who went to seek help after his ship Endurance was trapped in ice, to South Georgia and then to the Falkland Islands and back to South America. The talk was illustrated by well-composed photographs of the surprisingly varied wildlife (from the ubiquitous penguins to seals and whales) and the scenery, including an iceberg larger in area than Fife. A keen ornithologist, Michael’s enthusiasm and evident knowledge were enjoyed by all.
Rotarian Pat McInally proposed the vote of thanks.

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 26th March 2008

President Vince Fusaro welcomed thirty-three members and five visitors from the Rotary Club of Leven to the meeting. There was no speaker, and the meeting was devoted to fellowship. The monthly draw for a bottle of whisky was won by Eric Young, but as he was absent, the prize was retained for the forthcoming Golf Day.
Secretary Ian Copland reminded members of the RIBI Conference at Blackpool, and pointed out that although Cupar members who are to attend the conference are not delegates, they would appreciate a steer from club members on their opinions.
The Wishing Well at the Deer Centre has been repaired by Ronnie Law and Bobby Houston for the cost of materials - £90.
A contribution of £800 has been made to the Vine Trust.

Evening Meeting held at the Armaan Restaurant on Wednesday 19th March 2008

Thirty three members and one visitor were welcomed to the meeting by President Vince Fusaro. Rotarian Bruce Rollo described his recent trekking expedition to North East Pakistan. Following arrival in Islamabad, his party was to have flown North, but the flight was cancelled, and they were forced to take an alarming two-day jeep trip up the Karakoram Highway, before starting the trek itself. Everything they needed for the trek was brought up by porters, because the area is so inaccessible and sparsely populated. Bruce illustrated his talk with a selection of slides, covering the colourful villages and vehicles as well as the spectacular scenery and challenging terrain they were walking through. Many of their days started with a wake-up cup of tea at 4am, breakfast at 5 and departure at 6, so that they could avoid walking in the hottest part of the day. The destination, Concordia, afforded them views of K2, the second highest mountain in the world, but much harder than Everest. More than 1400 people have now reached the summit of Everest, including 300 in the last year, but only 189 have conquered K2, twenty-two of whom died on the way down. Female climbers are outshining their male colleagues in many mountaineering projects these days, but only five women have reached the summit of K2; three of these died on the way down, and the other two have died on other mountains since then. Rotarian Bill Pagan thanked Bruce for his presentation. The local heat of the Rotary Primary Schools Quiz took place at Castlehill School on Tuesday 18th March. Seven teams from six schools took part, with Rotarian Ian Copland in the question-masters chair. After ten rounds a tie-break was required to separate the three leading teams. This in turn failed to separate the teams from Castlehill and St Columba's, so a sudden-death play-off was required, and St Columba's was declared the winner. It was reported that the club's Charter Dinner last November raised £4000 for charity. This will be matched by a further £4000 from St Columba's Church, so a total of £8000 will be donated to Age Concern. Repairs to the Wishing Well at the Deer Centre brought in a further £110 for the charity account.