Hosted by the Rotoract Club of Stellenbosch, the conference was held this weekend at the Neelsie in Stellenbosch.

PP Johan Beukman and Jenny Howard of Newlands  attended the Sunday session and were most impressed by the enthusiasm and dynamism of the 4 clubs represented there.  They were the Rotoract Clubs of  Wynberg, Claremont, Paarl and Stellenbosch, and the session was attended by about 35 members, DG –elect Mike Saxby, PP Michael Lawrence, President Geraldine Nicol from Stellenbosch and PP David Barnard from Wynberg.

PP Justin Schonegevel of Rotoract Wynberg gave a very interesting presentation on the history of Rotoract. (Did you know there are now 7 000 clubs in 163 countries, but in greater Cape Town, the number has dropped from 26 to 4?)

Michael Lawrence then gave three wonderful presentations on Monkey management ( aka Leadership), Membership and Strategic Planning, all in his inimitable style. Even us oldies learned a lot. The AGM served to wrap–up the session and, after a debate, “Make Dreams Happen" was adopted as the theme for the year.

Our observations were that -

·        We need to work hard on building better relationships between our organisations;

·        We should maybe be bolstering Claremont and Wynberg rather than starting another club,  (We will continue this discussion with District New Generations Committee and Wynberg / Claremont.);

·        One third of attendees were of colour –the future of Rotary beckons;

·        There is a distinct turn–around in the growth of Rotoract – eg Wynberg grew from 4 to 18 members in the last year;

·        Die Burger Fietstoer has a willing band of helpers in Stellenbosch, and we need to include them. They have also diarised One to One, The Big Walk and the Cycle Tour and want to be involved.

Report and Pic - Jenny Howard