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The meeting today began in its usual fashion with grace said by Dave Stevenson followed by O Canada led by Don Shaw and a toast to Her Majesty the Queen and Canada.
The head table included: Rick Merritt,Dragomir Lazarov, President Tom Arkell, Heather Combe, Kenji Matsumoto and Joel Chatterton.
Joel introduced the following guests: visiting Rotarian Jean Armitage; Guests: Aynsley Phillips, Elizabeth Baxter, Brian Baxter, Chris Chew, Colin Briggs, James Cooper and Jim Willwerth. The GSE team from Bulgaria was also introduced and included: Dragomir Lazarov and Panauot Nikolov both from the Rotary club of Sofia City, Yana Dikanska, Kataya Kovacheva, Stoyanka Dimova and Svilen Kisiov.
Children's committee meeting Monday June 9 at 5:00 in the offices of Sullivan, Mahoney.
The President's farewell meeting will be June 25 - that is a Wednesday and is a regular attendance meeting as there will not be a meeting that Thursday. See Peter Kudreikis for tickets.
Rick Evans introduced our exchange student Kenji Matsumoto. Kenji was sponsored by the Kanazawa Rotary Club of District 2610 of Japan. Kenji's family in Japan includes 2 brothers and 1 sister. His family is from the city of Kanazawa which is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan and has a population of approximately 440 000 people. The city's history has been preserved well and is known for its crafts like "gold leaf."
While in Canada Kenji has attended Laura Secord and has been involved with baseball and cross country. Kenji wanted to become an exchange student so he could learn English and experience our culture. The need for speaking English is getting greater and greater in Japan and valued to achieve better future employment. Kenji also wanted to try new sports that are not available in Japan.
Since coming to Canada Kenji's English has greatly improved and he has had opportunities to meet many new friends through various Rotary events like the Niagara Falls weekend and the Temagami trip.
Kenji was thanked by Chris Blake who complemented him on his improved English and on being a great ambassador for the Youth Exchange program. Good luck Kenji with all future undertakings.
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President Tom Arkell & Kenji Matsumoto |
Gail MacAdam and Betty Complin presented our outgoing students Ansley Philips and Elizabeth Baxter with the proceeds from the Charlie Complin bursary. Charlie help start the youth exchange program in our club in the 1960's. Upon his death the family established a bursary to help partially support out going students.
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Tom Arkell, Gail McAdam, Elizabeth Baxter, Aynsley Phillips, Betty Complin |
Bob Gosselin
Larry Ross celebrated a birthday this week.
Incoming GSE Team from Bulgaria
Rick Merritt introduced the GSE team from Bulgaria. Team leader Dragomir began by expressing his and the fellow team members gratitude for hosting them and thanked everyone for making their stay most enjoyable. The team's vocational make up was specific in the wine and tourism industry.
Drago was a member of the Sofia City Rotary club and prior to that belonged to a roteract club. He gave a brief history of Bulgaria which was established as a country in 681 AD in south east Europe. The country has seen a lot of territory lost and a lot of political unrest as a result of various conflicts and post WW II communism. Now the country is part of NATO and the EU and is rapidly emerging from the fragmentation imposed by the communist party.
Rotary began in Bulgaria in 1933 but was suspended between the late 40's until the 90's because it was not permitted under communist control. Now there are 80 Rotary clubs in Bulgaria.
Tourism is very important in Bulgaria which is ideally suited because of its moderate climate and varied geography. From Black Sea resorts to mountain resorts in the winter along with over 100 mineral springs Bulgaria has been attracting an increasing number of tourist and expats from Great Britain and the rest of Europe.
Panauot spoke about the wine industry in Bulgaria. The country has been making wines for a long time and ranks 4th in world sales since the 1970's. From classic wines to wine brandy to the traditional Bulgarian drink Rakia they are known for producing high quality wines. Communism fragmented a lot of the industry but in recent years the industry has become more efficient and is again producing a lot of award winning varieties.
Art Wing thanked our speakers today and outlined the possibility of future collaborations between our two districts.
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Yana Dikanska, Dragomir Lazarov, Kataya Kovacheva, President Tom Arkell, Stoyanka Dimova, Svilen Kisiov, Panauot Nikolov |
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Dragomir Lazarov, Yana Dikanska, Kenji Matsumoto, Svilen Kisiov, Kataya Kovacheva, Stoyanka Dimova, Panauot Nikolov, Tom Arkell |
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Tom Arkell & Drago Lazarov |
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Yana Dikanska & Tom Arkell |
Next Week:
Rotary Scholarships & Awards
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