BULLETIN - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2018

 

Today’s guest speaker for our Remembrance Day program was Regimental Sergeant Major Tim Cooke.  Read the full report below.

 

Greeter Tracey McGrath introduced and welcomed five guests today:

 

Lloyd Longfield - MP for Guelph

Mike Schreiner - MPP for Guelph

Jordyn Therkildsen - Rotaract, University of Guelph     

Commander Steve Harwood - Commander, Air Cadets Squadron, Guelph

Tim Cooke - our guest speaker

 

David Worthen - 13 years

Sue Ricketts - 17 years

Jim Shortreed – 45 years

 

Karl Wettstein - November 5

 

 

Paul Taylor invited everyone to the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at Woodlawn Memorial Park, starting at 10:45am on Sunday, November 11.

 

Sue Ricketts had two announcements: 

(1) The Rotary Club of Caborca in Mexico has extended an invitation for Rotarians in District 7080 to join them for their Polio Immunization Day in February 2019. The cost per person is approximately $1,300.  Interested persons should contact Sue or Hubert Singh at hsingh@psidata.ca

(2) Please do not hit “reply” when receiving emails from ClubRunner system inviting you to volunteer at Sparkles In The Park.  Click on the “sign-up” option in the email and this will open the correct page in ClubRunner where you select your volunteer shifts.

 

Dianne Dance announced that we almost have enough money donated by club members to sponsor two families for this year’s Adopt-A-Family program.  Anyone wishing to make a donation should please contact Dianne. 

 

Jane Armstrong invited volunteers for this year’s Sparkles In The Park to sign up for their shifts through our ClubRunner system.  We still need lots of people to help collect gate donations over the Christmas period.

 

Ian Smith reminded everyone about the 2^ndannual Harbourtown Sound fundraising concert at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on Sunday, November 25, at 2:00pm. Tickets are $55 per person, with a tax receipt, and $35 from every ticket sold will go to the Polio Plus project.

 

 

Tracey McGrath wanted to recognize her friend Christa, who is currently in Lesotho with club member Anne-Marie Zajdlik, raising funds through the Bracelet of Hope project to build a new foster home and mobile health clinic.

 

Cyndy Forsyth was happy to announce that over 50 different Guelph-based charities are attending a meeting at the Guelph Y on November 24 to discuss the possibility of establishing a Youth Wellness Hub in Guelph. 

 

Sean Yo updated everyone on Carolyn Weatherson and he was delighted to tell us that she is recovering well and is in good spirits.

 

Jim MacKenzie said he was glad to be back in Guelph after a recent visit to Inverness.  There is now a Guelph connection to the cathedral in Inverness.  The cathedral is holding a memorial event on November 11 and they will be displaying photos of the John McCrae statue in Guelph.  The photos were taken by Jim’s partner, Sandra MacKenzie.

 

Paul Dredge informed us that Luisa Del Rosario and Rosemary Clark are going to Uganda soon, to further support the sewing project.

 

 

Marty Fairbairn introduced Regimental Sergeant Major Tim Cooke. Tim is a 32-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and, in his current role, he is responsible for leading, developing, mentoring and disciplining soldiers.  In his non-military life, Tim is a Team Leader at Toyota Canada, in their Fine Fit Department.  He has two children, both in their 20s.

 

Tim started his military career as a gunner and developed into a leadership role.  In his presentation, Tim gave us an insider’s view of a military deployment to a war zone, the importance of getting to know the local community and their day-to-day lives, and how building relationships with local people helps the armed forces stabilize and improve local conditions.  

 

He mentioned that, in his experience, the “enemy” as portrayed by media is sometimes not the evil empire it’s made out to be.  Instead, they often represent just another facet of the local environment trying to get things changed to their way of thinking. 

 

At the start of this Remembrance Day weekend, Tim reminded us that when a soldier enlists he or she signs an agreement where they accept “unconditional liability”.  No other job in the world requires a person to agree to this.  It’s a sobering thought.

 

Marva Wisdom thanked Tim and all of our veterans for their sacrifice and for Tim’s revealing and informative presentation on today’s modern day war.  It just might make us think differently whenever we hear or read of Canadian troops being deployed to conflict zones around the world.

 

Jim Anderson