Ed led us in singing O Canada and Sheila gave the invocation.

 

On October 1, 1971 Bruce Coleman, then of the Rotary Club of Nanaimo, sent a report to Rotary International requesting permission to form a new club. In the subsequent detailed ‘Extension Survey’ sent May 8, 1972, Nanaimo is noted to have a population of about 15,000 and very good economic prospects.  The club was organized September 11, 1972 and elected to membership in Rotary International October 15, 1972. The club’s Charter Night was held on November 25, 1972 at the Nanaimo Golf Club.  The cost was $6 per person and there were 140 in attendance. Bruce Coleman was the Master of Ceremonies, Dave Trace our Charter President, and the key address was given by District Governor Dr. Gene Campbell. At the time of our charter there were 15,375 Rotary Clubs in the world with a membership of 725,000.  

In 1974 the Rotary Club of Nanaimo North and the Rotary Club of Nanaimo hosted the District 502 ( now 5020) Conference,  a remarkable feat and a credit to all involved. There were 991 in attendance at this 3-day conference and 1000 at the banquet held in the Civic Arena all served with a hot meal catered by The Rendezvous restaurant.  In addition to the regular conference there was ladies bridge, ladies golf, men's golf, men's fishing, a pioneer's breakfast, and a president's breakfast.  Ted Stroyan was the chairman of the conference committee.  All 38 clubs in the district were represented at the conference.

In 1975/76 the golf club raised the meal price to $5.00 and we immediately struck a committee to investigate other venues! 1978/79 Ted Stroyan again chaired the district conference committee This time there were 1200 delegates from all 47 clubs in the district.

In 1988 we sponsored the Rotary Club of Lantzville and their charter night was held on September 17th of that year.

Over the years we have had speakers on tourism, Telestat Canada, Biological Station, Winston Churchill, "love City Hall", rum, golf psychology, grizzly attack, alcoholism, pigeon racing, pruning shrubs, exercising on the space shuttle, restoring old Cadillacs and talks on just about every country in the world.

We were obviously more tolerant of politicians in the seventies as we had the Honourable Evan Wolfe, Minister of Finance for BC, talking on the financial state of our Province, Ted Kelly spoke on civic politics, Doug McBride explained why we should elect a free enterprise government and Hugh Anderson, a local MP, was joined by the Honourable Jean Cretien, then the Minister of Finance who spoke on the economy and the general condition of Canada.

We have had meetings which toured Shawnigan Lake Boys School, Tamagawa University, the "roll-on - roll-off" freighter 'Haul Trader', Harmac Pulp Mill, CFMetre, Coastlands veneer plant and the Angus McBean Nursery.

For fellowship we have had Vegas nights, New year's parties, trips to football games, hard times dances, BBQ's, fishing derbies, wine tasting, Dinghy Dock evenings, interclub meetings, theatre nights, golf, mini-golf, ball tournaments and beer, bowling and pizza nights.

One of the main objectives of any Rotary Club is its support of the community. We are proud to have donated nearly $1.7 million to these communities over the past 32 years and we have had a lot of fun and fellowship raising the money.

One of the most memorable was a Bavarian beer garden at the Vancouver Island Exhibition in 1979.  It rained for the entire VIX and we were stuck with dozens of imprinted beer steins which Bert LaBonte stored for over 13 years before we got rid of the last of them by selling ice-cream floats with free glasses.  

We have put on country and western dances, bingos, stag nights, cooked 2000 steaks for Harmac, bartended, car raffles, bastion cannon balls, auctions, 'lucky duck' raffle, band raffle, golf ball drop, art auctions, art calendars, and sold citrus fruit.

We have taken on some good projects over the years.  The biggest was the restoration of the Bastion.  This project caught the imagination of the club and we set a plan to raise the necessary funds in a six-month period.  Three years and $285,000 later the project was finished.  We were honoured by the City of Nanaimo and the Heritage Society of British Columbia for this project. This project drained a lot of energy from the club, but it is our pride and joy. 

Other community projects which our club has taken part in:

Fire Safety House 

Polio Plus – our members donated $20,000 of their own money to this campaign in 1988.

Play Dock at Maffeo-Sutton Park

Port Theatre

Rotary Fields

Rotary Skateboard Park

Special Collections Library at VIU

We also take pride in our hands-on work in the community.  Some of these are.

Hospice House

Salvation Army breakfasts

Loaves and Fishes

White House for Nanaimo Youth Services

John Barsby Community School

Brechin Elementary School

Internationally we have supported water wells, schools, health centres, the Polio Plus campaign and have had over 180 Paul Harris Fellows over the years.

Another objective of Rotary in the world is the focus on youth and international understanding.  Along with the other Nanaimo Clubs we have participated, and continue to participate in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. In addition, we have our annual student scholarships to School District 68 and VIU, RYLA, as well as many other programs focusing on children and youth.

In the past 50 years we truly have made a difference and will continue to do so!  The History Minutes may be ending but the work continues to catalog and write our 50-year history as well as create a system to document our future years.  

Then the 4 way Test.

Guests:  Ann Northwood, Debbie McPhalen, Felix Beaudoin (Exchange student) , Erle Beaudoin, Radik Wojtal and Greg Antosz 

 

Jim reported that the Garage Sale was a success and a gave a big thank you to all involved.  To date our net income is $2,259.39.  However there are many items that will sell on Facebook Market place.  These include 4 microwaves, 4 bar fridges, a bicycle, a dining room table and chairs, skis, water skis, coffee tables and other that will increase the profitability of the event.  If you know of anyone who is interested or needs any of the above items please let them know that they are available.
Jim also represented our club as a volunteer at the Foam Fest event in Nanoose on Saturday June 3.  The Lantzville club had 14 volunteers helping and their club will receive $150.00 per volunteer or $2,100.00.  Our club will receive $150.00.  This may be an event we should become more involved in as there is very little risk, but it will take a lot of club member participation

Rob - The Salvation Army breakfast appears to have run its course. With the current set-up (I.e. food cooked at the White Spot kitchen, and delivered by vehicle to other spots) it seems that the District 5020 insurance would not cover our members for delivering the food. Along with the Lantzville club we are exploring the possibility of putting on a community breakfast at Island Crisis Care Society’s Samaritan Place. More information to follow.

Keith spoke about the Canada day celebrations.

Birthdays: we sang (badly as usual!)  to John Pike.

 

Our speaker was Richard Horbachewski, Associate Vice-President, Community Partnerships for Vancouver Island University. Richard oversees VIU's advancement and alumni portfolios, community partnerships, Milner Gardens, and serves as VIU's Chief Advancement Officer and the Executive Director of the VIU Foundation. Richard also sits on various local boards (busy guy!). Richard brought us up-to date on the happenings at VIU and talked about its strengths:  small class sizes, strong research with hands on experience in the community, inclusiveness with local first nations involvement. 11 % of the students are indigenous and 11% international. He also talked about the Strategic Plan – People, Place and Potential, the global partnerships and the capital projects including a 30% increase in student housing.  It was a very informative talk and created a sense of pride in our local University.