James Takes Over As President
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On 1 July 2020, James Phiri became the President of Cranleigh Rotary for the coming year, replacing Richard Kenyon.
The social distancing restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the usual inauguration meeting could not take place, but Club members were able to welcome James via social media.
During the virtual meeting, James expressed his hopes for the coming year.
"Over the last year, under the able leadership of Richard Kenyon, Cranleigh Rotary has continued to excel by continually completing a full annual calendar of events that should well be beyond the reach of the fairly small number of Rotarians.
"We remain conscious of the urgent need to retain and attract new Rotarians to our Club. The commendable work of our membership team led by Patrick Leake and the media and publicity work conducted by Jane (Briggs) and Peter (Bond) places us in good stead for bearing fruit over the next year.
"My hope is that in spite of the challenges presented by COVID-19, we will remain united and focused as a club and build on the successes of the previous years and 2019-20 in particular.
"We need to consolidate our drive for membership, retain our focus on engaging our community through our events calendar, extend our collaboration with other clubs on international activities and continue with our youth, sports and fellowship activities.
"My additional hope for this year is that we can engage with a local school to produce one leadership event targeted at our youth. This will be challenging now that we cannot hold events as we did before, but it is one activity I would like to fully explore as President.
"I wish to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude each one of you for your patience, guidance, experience and wisdom during my four years with this wonderful club and I look forward to your continued support over the coming year."
Richard Kenyon's Final Message As President
As he prepared to hand over to James, Richard Kenyon passed on his good wishes to his successor.
"The end of our Rotary year has arrived in unprecedented style with Club meetings now being 'Zoomed' and all our community service efforts and fellowship events curtailed.
"As of tomorrow, I hand over the reins of the Club Presidency to James Phiri with a sense of anti-climax combined with optimism for the future. Although our celebrations of the (Club's) 50th year have been prematurely curtailed, it is intended that we shall hold the Charter Dinner as soon as conditions permit, hopefully towards the end of this year.
I would like to thank all members for their support and efforts in the past 12 months, enabling the Club, as the ADG (Assistant District Governor) Alan Knight put it at our Club Assembly, to 'punch well above their weight'. I am confident that we will continue to do so and look forward to new initiatives from James and his team.
"We say farewell to two long-standing members, both past-Presidents. Michael Hart has been a stalwart of the Club and ADG for several years but, due to ill health, is unable to continue his membership. Jane Briggs has served the Club similarly and is resigning as a member due to other commitments. I am pleased to say that she will continue to be associated with the Club through her company's Business Membership. We thank them both and wish them well for the future.
"Sadly, we lost Tim Quallington, past-President and Honorary Member, and Peter Farrell, Associate, during the year. Our condolences were sent to their families.
"Gill Ford and David Barrett both joined as full members and the new Business Membership is flourishing, so there is good reason to look forward to the coming year. Changes to the format of meetings have been introduced with a more varied programme, additional outside visits and a less formal optional dining arrangement which will be continued when we are once again able to meet as a Club.
"Finally, I wish James every success in the role and hope he enjoys his year as President of Cranleigh Rotary."