President Nancy rang the bell at 12:30 p.m. to start the meeting, asking PP Diane Good to lead the pledge, after first thanking all Veterans for their service. This was followed by PP Ron Lyster dedicating the prayer for the day in honor of the Day’s speaker, by reciting the Irish Blessing Prayer.
Finally, PP Ed Gauld, in honor of Veteran’s Day, sang the patriotic song “Over There,” written in 1917 by George Cohan, that was popular with the U.S. military and public during both world wars.
Special guest today was Donna Rose who in 1985 was the Ambassadorial Scholar for Westwood Village Rotary (a Club she admits loving). She studied international mass media in England at Leicester and called it the “event of her lifetime.” Also, in attendance was a friend of PP Chris Gaynor, Phil who is also a Rotarian from Palm Springs.
Announcements:
- President Nancy announced that Westwood Village Rotary (WVRC) for the second year in a row (no pressure Incoming President Adel) won the PolioPlus contest over more than 60 other Clubs by having the largest amount of donations made to the cause. This was announced at the District 5280 Foundation Celebration Dinner.
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The Holiday Shopping Spree with the children of Westwood Transitional Village (WTV) will once again be held this year, only it will be virtual. Each child will be assigned to one Rotarian. They will have a ZOOM call together on November 30th to get to know each other; the Rotarian will then shop for the family, delivering the gifts to WTV and finishing with a ZOOM dinner on December 10th. Each member of the Club will be asked for a donation towards this annual program. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Phil Gabriel.
The Film Festival then began with the introduction of PP Chris Gaynor who agreed to share with us pictures of his and “Queen Rose's” (his words not mine) travels. He told us the first video would begin in the United States and the go around the world. We started on Ellis Island and went to London, Paris, Rome, Sicily, Egypt, Thailand, Japan, SE Asia and many other places where we saw castles, waterfalls, pyramids, museums, statutes and some of the Wonders of the World, where we ended in Ireland and I am pretty sure at a pub or two.
The last video started in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherland’s where we saw a beautiful city with many canals, narrow houses with gabled facades and, the Rijks museum which had recently been renovated. From Amsterdam we travelled to Kuekenhof to visit the world famous and most beautiful spring garden in the world. We saw vibrant colors of tulips and other bulb flowers as Chris and Rose bicycle through the botanical garden.
We finished our travels in Tanzania in East Africa where we saw a magnitude of animals in Serengeti National Park from crocodiles, hippos, hyaenas, zebras, lions, giraffes, water buffalo, impalas, jackals, cape buffalo, gazelles, monkeys, elephants, cheetahs, wildebeests, jaguar, elans, rhinos and many different birds, some up close and personal!! All of this was shown in a beautiful video put together by Scott Gaynor as a thank-you to his parents for taking him on this trip (and isn’t he a lucky child). The Gaynor family stayed at The Manor at Ngorongoro which Chris highly recommends. They felt this was one of the best trips they ever took, where they enjoyed seeing all the animals in their natural habitat and, learning about the circle of life.
Many of the Rotarians wrote in the chat box how much they enjoyed all the videos and travelling vicariously with the Gaynor family. When asked, Chris explained that his hobby is planning all these trips for his family and then putting together detailed books of each trip afterwards. When asked about his favorite trip, knowing Africa rates near the top, Chris said it was to Egypt, to which he hopes to return, because there is a highlight to see every day from a historical standpoint.
The presentation was fun, colorful, historic, with great pictures of the family – including PP Chris! The lesson learned is that if you ever plan to travel you should ask PP Chris first if he has any recommendations!!
Meeting notes prepared by IPP Diane Good
