Rotary Club of Shetland

September turned out to be a bumper month for Rotarian visitors to the Shetland Rotary Club, which was unexpected being rather late in the season. The most interesting visitor perhaps was a German lady Utte Schmidt-Brasse from the Club of Sylke Ut Bremen, whose husband had taken ill on board the Norrona as she traversed the Fair Isle Channel. Both were air-lifted to Lerwick where her husband recovered in the Gilbert Bain Hospital, and later they were re-patriated by air ambulance from Shetland to Bremen. From the Millom Club in Cumbria came Mike & Hazel Eady, from the Birstall Luddites Club in West Yorkshire came Mike Webster, and from the Elgin Club came George Duthie who gave us a succinct update on charities his club support in Nepal, charities which we in Shetland have contributed to in the past. Continuing the theme of visitors we welcomed back one of our Past Presidents Willie Williamson, and finally an old friend John Naysmith from North Fife who is also a Rotary Foundation Official---Foundation being the main Rotary Charity organisation.

Member David Polson spoke on a very topical subject, describing a Whaling Transport Voyage he had undertaken in 1957/58 to the Antarctic with one of Salvesen’s vessels. Member Steve Benn came next, giving us a very informative talk entitled “My World of Dyslexia” where he related how Dyslexia had affected his education in school and college. The following week guest speaker was Dorothy Storey who, as an official “Stroke Nurse” gave us a very informative talk on Strokes, and described the work of the Shetland Stroke Support Group. Finally, to round off a very interesting month, Member Larry Sutherland at very short notice showed us a film of the Herring Fishing in the nineteen thirties, featuring boats out of Hamnavoe and also coal burning steam vessels from Lowestoft, a hard tough way of life which thankfully is now but a distant memory..

During the month Larry Sutherland took a ShelterBox to the Scout Hut and demonstrated this to an attentive audience. There is no doubt that this item attracts much attention and is seen to be an excellent way to donate funds to relieve suffering in disaster areas. Member Tom Macintyre gave us an update on the progress of the Youth Volunteer Award scheme with which the Rotary Club is much involved; he was able to tell us that a good number of names had been submitted for consideration at the Award ceremony next month.