Messages this week from our Club President, Tracey Curtis
This week was our club's annual and sombre observance of Remembrance Day. President Tracey was pleased to welcome almost 70 participants to our meeting, including today's special guest speaker and WWII veteran, Bill Ramage, and many members of the Ramage family attending online to proudly honour Bill.
Remembrance Day at our club will forever bring to mind our dear departed friend and Rotarian, Dr. Bill Winegard, remembered in this warm photo with Paul Taylor.
Prior to our special Remembrance Day talk today, here are a few club announcements that show Rotarians continuing to deliver SERVICE ABOVE SELF ... the simple motive that brings each of us to join Rotary and to stay in Rotary, making the world a better place.
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A reminder to everyone about The Rotary Foundation celebratory meeting on Tuesday, November 10 from 7-8pm on Zoom. Details and Zoom link are on our website Calendar here. We're hoping for excellent attendance by our club members to learn more about how the Rotary Foundation, our international charity arm, makes a difference in the world.
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Tracey sadly reported that our former Rotarian, John Caron, passed away on October 28, 2020, leaving a proud legacy of service to community, country and family and a 40-year career in aviation. He was 85.
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Two members of our club, Dr. Anne Marie Zadjlik and Marva Wisdom, invite all interested to attend their monthly info and chat sessions together with Helen Fishburn from CMHA and guest speakers about FINDING THE BALANCE DURING COVID-19. The next virtual session, featuring Dr. Doug Friars, Guelph COVID-19 Clinic Lead, will be on Monday, November 9 at 7pm. You need to sign up in advance. Details can be found on our website here.
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Lynne McCurdy was pleased to announce the acceptance of her nomination to speak about the BHENY project (Better Hearing in Education for Northern Youth) at the upcoming Arctic Change 2020 conference taking place from 7-10 December. For the first time, this ArcticNet international science conference, that takes place every 3 years, will be held virtually. It brings together researchers and partners from around the world, and is an amazing opportunity to highlight the amazing BHENY project initiated by Lynne in 2015 with the help of Rotary. Congratulations on being selected for this, Lynne! Read more about BHENY here.
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Please take a moment to catch up on the progress being made on the Youth Hubs in Wellington Guelph here. Our fellow Rotarians, Cyndy Forsyth and Paul Dredge, would love to tell you more, so reach out to them for a chat. What a remarkable role Rotary has played in getting this started in Guelph and Wellington!
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With Christmas less than two months away, our club has two key activities underway:
SPARKLES IN THE PARK and a brand new project called CHRISTMAS IN THE BAG led by one of our newer Rotarians, Eleni Bakopoulos. Read about both projects on our website here. Please email Eleni if you can lend a hand in bringing this project to the finish line. Orders for Christmas Bags can already be placed on Canada Helps here. Please help us promote sales in support of local businesses and charities.
Remembrance Day Reflections with Corporal William Ramage, WWII veteran
What an honour it was to hear first-hand reflections and memories from Bill Ramage, whose recollections from his WWII experiences remain vivid and deeply heartfelt after so many years.
Noting that many of us were wearing poppies to honour Remembrance Day, Tracey began the program by reading aloud the famous poem, In Flanders' Field, by Guelph's John McCrae. Read a little more about poppies and John McCrae here.
Bill was introduced and interviewed by our fellow Rotarian, Crista Renner, who is also his daughter-in-law. We were deeply touched that so many Ramage family members had taken the time to attend today's meeting as well, showing their admiration and love for Bill.
Bill shared how his own father had been seriously injured in an explosion while serving as an engineer during the first world war, which embedded a sense of duty and service in Bill and his brothers as they grew up. When the second world war broke out, they all readily answered the call to serve.
Bill left school and a promising hockey dream to join the Royal Canadian Air Force as ground crew working on aircraft avionics in northern England. He was joined in service during World War II by both of his brothers, Jack and Don, and a number of brothers-in-law, one of whom, Ernie Walker lost his life in the Netherlands within 6 weeks of the war's end.
Bill spoke of his initial ambitions to become a pilot. Failing to meet the required vision tests, he nonetheless signed up and supported air services from the ground in Bomber Command. It still amazes him how he almost had to beg to be allowed to serve overseas, eventually taking the place of a Canadian recruit who had been called up for overseas duty but had reasons for not wanting to go, so Bill volunteered to go in his place.
Despite moments of sharp and painful remembrance from the war years, Bill also shared some humorous stories. Like his first "fighting" experience in the war being not with enemy combatants but somehow helping to separate local seamen and airmen who had got into a heated argument and fistfight. It sounds as though Bill's hockey skills might have helped in pinning one fellow down until calm was restored.
Bill showed us his medals, noting that he had lost or misplaced a particular bar showing his service in Bomber Command. He recently followed up with the military to see if he could perhaps receive a replacement after all these years, and is both amused and pleased that it is now "in the mail" to him.
Asked about his hope for future generations, Bill's message was short and sweet. "Be kind and be fair to your fellow man."
Said one Rotarian attending the meeting: "Bill seems like the kind of person for whom the phrase 'a fine man' was created." Hear hear.
In closing, Rick Le Feuvre thanked Bill and played a moving video of photos set to the Canadian song 'Soldiers Cry' by Roland Majeau. It's certainly worth watching.
This week was our club's annual and sombre observance of Remembrance Day. President Tracey was pleased to welcome a
Remembrance Day at our club will forever bring to mind our dear departed friend and Rotarian, Dr. Bill Winegard, remembered in this warm photo with Paul Taylor. 
Two members of our club, Dr. Anne Marie Zadjlik and Marva Wisdom, invite all interested to attend their monthly info and chat sessions together with Helen Fishburn from CMHA and guest speakers about FINDING THE BALANCE DURING COVID-19. The next virtual session, featuring Dr. Doug Friars, Guelph COVID-19 Clinic Lead, will be on Monday, November 9 at 7pm. You need to sign up in advance. Details can be found on our website 
Remembrance Day Reflections with Corporal William Ramage, WWII veteran
Bill showed us his medals, noting that he had lost or misplaced a particular bar showing his service in Bomber Command. He recently followed up with the military to see if he could perhaps receive a replacement after all these years, and is both amused and pleased that it is now "in the mail" to him. 
