An exciting year ahead for Germiston Rotary Club’s new presidents
The 2019/2020 Germiston Rotary Club presidents were recently inducted at the 91st annual President’s Induction Dinner.
The Germiston Rotary Club and Germiston Rotary Anns hosted the 91st annual President’s Induction Dinner at Simply Majestic in Lambton last Thursday.
The dinner saw friends, family and Rotarians gathered to bid farewell to last year’s presidents and usher in the new 2019/2020 presidents.
Master of ceremonies John Rodda kept the jokes coming to loosen everyone up and get them ready for some jolly good fun.
In his toast to Rotary International, Tim Borrill reminded attendees of the core mandate of Rotarians.
“We must always remember that whatever we do, no matter how small our efforts in that area may seem, we are here to promote and foster world peace,” he said.
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The Anns were celebrated in Charlie Kane’s toast.
He described the importance of women and honoured them for their fierce support and for being an integral part of the club.
It was then time for the inductions.
John called upon Peter James-Smith to induct Lyn Opie, who will serve as the Germiston Rotary Anns president.
Lyn, who returns to serve a second term as the Germiston Anns’ president, described the past year as a whirlwind of learning curves, joyous festivities and a great deal of ups and downs.
“While we did not do everything we had hoped to achieve, we were able to grow our social media presence.
“We ventured into new spaces, allowing us to start new projects, connect with community members and introduce them to our organisation, to fit right into this year’s theme, Rotary Connects the World.”
Furthermore, she thanked her fellow Anns for supporting her in the past year and entrusting her with the position of president once more.
Hugo du Rand, the 2018/2019 Germiston Rotary president, then took to the podium to induct Willem Potgieter as the new president of the club.
“I must start off by expressing gratitude to the Germiston Golf Club, where we have a permanent home, allowing our club a symbol of dignity that it deserves,” said Willem.
“I’m humbled to be in the presence of some of the great men and women who served in this high office prior to me.
“Considering their professional expertise and long years of involvement in civic leadership, their track records are definitely a tough act to follow.
“This is true in the case of my immediate predecessor, Hugo, who has spent the past year leading us to the fulfilment of our common vision.
“My deepest appreciation goes to him for his leadership and brilliant contributions to our common pursuits.”
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Willem stated that although he was excited to pursue many of the uplifting projects initiated by Rotary, his first plan of action was to get all Rotarians on the same level of commitment in order to achieve the intended success.
“It is easy to build a whole programme of action and a long line of priority projects that may benefit the lives of the poor.
“The hard part of it all is getting our act together, as in the absence of that, not even the simplest endeavour can be called a real success,” he said.
He quoted Halford Edward Luccock, “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it,” as he left the podium.
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za or Kgotsofalang Mashilo (journalist) kgotsofalangm@caxton.co.za
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