During the course of the last 40 years of being a Rotarian, I had many Rotary Moments and I would like to share some of these with your readers.

 It was in October 1971 (many Rotarians were not born then) that I was introduced to the Rotary Club of Singapore East (RCSE) by the  late Dr. Wong Mook Ow, PE of RCSE at the time. Dr Wong was a dermatologist who treated my oily face as I had very bad pimples all over my face at the time. I was his patient. He invited me to the club’s meetings and proposed me as a member of RCSE.  I was inducted in January or February 1972 and got very active from the moment I was inducted. I attended many committee meetings at the homes of members of the club who took turns to host the meetings. Unfortunately nowadays very few Rotary meetings are held at members’ homes; the Rotary bond or glue that used to bind us has weakened considerably in the recent past. We got to know the members’ families, spouses and children very well then. Much less now.  Sad.

 I attended my first board meeting of RCSE at a member’s home within a few months after joining RCSE as a member. I later learned that the President wanted someone to take minutes of the meeting and had invited me along as an observer to record the minutes of the meeting. The Club Secretary, Henry Loo could not attend the meeting that evening! They did not tell me that they had planned this in case I chickened out. I did such a good job taking minutes that I was elected as Club Secretary in the following Rotary year! To me that was my first Rotary Moment as in those days it was an honor to be serving on the board of a Rotary Club.

 In the 1970s and 1980s, it was such a great honour to be elected as a Club President that members announced their intention to be elected as President and discreetly competed for support from the club’s general memberships of their candidature. I was fortunate that for RY 1983-1984 I was the only candidate that stood for election and was elected without being challenged. That was a Rotary Moment for me as I felt that I had the whole-hearted support of all members of RCSE. It was also the year that Dr Philbert Chin was District Governor. His dedication to Rotary was well-known and hence very motivating to me to do a good job in my year as Club President!

 I remember organizing our Club’s first RYLA in Singapore. There were about 40 plus youths participating. To witness what RYLA can do to develop confidence, leadership, teamwork and “can do” spirits in the young participants in just one short week was amazing. To me it was a Rotary Moment to be able play a part in imparting something very meaningful, fulfilling and useful to the youths in their future careers and in how they will relate with others going forward.

 I also remember chairing a fund-raising project that raised around S$60,000.00 to benefit the residents of SILRA Home in Woodlands. This was in 1978-79, the year the late PP Thomas Heng was the Club President. This home accommodated around 100 residents at the time, people who were already cured and were not infectious but still bored the scars of when they were lepers. The Home was managed by volunteers of the Singapore Leprosy Relief Association (SILRA). The fund was raised to help them add another wing to their building for the benefit of the residents. Because they were physically disfigured they agreed to be taken out from time to time for a walk but only at night time. S$60,000.00 was a lot of money in the 70s’ and it was a Rotary Moment for me to witness the residents enjoying the added space where they live.

 Post 1979, I served as Trustee of SILRA for about 20 years. I did not have much to do as Trustee except to ensure that SILRA Home had adequate resources ( funds and manpower) for maintenance of the Home for the residents.

 I enjoyed attending district conferences of our district when we were part of a district that included Thailand. During the time when Past RI President Bichai was DG of the district that Singapore and Malaysia belonged to I was very motivated by the speeches of the then DG Bichai. At that time he was not RI President yet. I could still remember the speech that he concluded with his own version of “My Way”. It was inspiring and was another Moment in Rotary for me.

Lots of birthdays at the beginning of this monthLLLLLL

Seeing as there was no bulletin last week, we'll cover two weeks in this bulletin.

Colin Bayliss and Eeon Macaulay shared a birthday on 26th October

Heather Stokes's birthday was on 30th October

Now we're into November and start with Brenton's birthday on 1st.

​We'll toast Barb Lamont who has a birthday on our meeting night - 5th