The Westerner for May 6, 2013
Meeting: chair, Rob Dunseith; music, Jerome; grace, Danny Chau
Attendance/Guests: 39 including Tom Hinderks, guest speaker; Jess Morrill, Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield; Michael Brechtel & Corinne Mercier, guests of Kieran & Ingrid; Brendan Phelan (Air Cadet Squadron 699) & Edward Reid (Air Cadet Squadron 395), guests of Lorne; Ross & Darlene Hallett, Rotary E Club One
Sandon Cox: Jerome visited; needed to gown up re potential bacterium that could be spread outside Sandon's room; Sandon would enjoy a visit from club members
Muggsy Forbes: Zen reported that Muggsy is in room 4C07, Edmonton General Hospital, visitor information phone 780-482-8477; Muggsy enjoys visits. Steve mentioned that our Integrity Award winner, Garnet Thomas, visits the General to vist patients every day and Bob Kelly plays guitar on level 4 every Friday
Rotary International President: Sakuji Tanaka will be at Fort Edmonton Park on May 11 @ 9:00 a m to help clean up the park; all Rotarians are invited to join him at 9:00 am; Driving Force is sponsoring a BBQ at 11:00 a m; see you there.
Adventure in Citizenship: Lorne, our New Generations Director, introduced Brendan Phelan and Edward Reid who had been sent to Ottawa by Rotary Club of Edmonton West to experience this adventure. They reported a fantastic 5 day program which meant they met 220 people from across Canada, many which have become friends to be connected with on a ongoing basis. The Sunday welcome included the division of the participants into political parties which were expected to pick a leader to, hopefully, become prime minister. There were many interesting speakers. Venues included National Museum; dinner in Hull,Quebec for dance instruction by a country band; Parliament Building tour and question period in House of Commons (able try out the prime minister's chair); National Library and, then, attending a new citizen induction ceremony where particpants from each province paraded the provincial flag and talked about the province for 3 minutes. The big reward was the gaining of personal confidence by the participants.
Mike Ryan: he particpated in RYLE (Rotary Youth Leadership Experience) last weekend, RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program for Enrichment) this weekend, RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) in the fall - a busy man - thankyou
Membership Reward Program: Darrel Ripley presented the awards for the last quarter for members that have introduced potential members: Fred won the wine; Rob Dunseith won golf balls - congratulations, keep up the good work
Gift Cards: see Brian to purchase towards your buying of groceries, vehicle fuel, pharmaceuticals
50/50: no match of cards by Doug MacDougall and Brian; $27 carried over
Finemaster: Jim Johnston felt guilty about not doing enough for Rotary so he fined Lorne for doing so much for New Generations; Rotarians that had helped the Rotary cause recently had no fine; those that have not worked for Rotary or do not plan to be at Fort Edmonton this Saturday $2
Guest Speaker: Bill Buckham introduced Tom Hinderks as Executive Director of the Alberta Aviation Museum Association. Tom's father was a pilot and flew 38 mission in Lancaster Bombers during the Second World War. Toms is pilot (learned through air cadets) as is his daughter. The aviation museum is about the past, present and future. 20 years ago, there was an empty building. Now there is $2.5 million invested in the building plus investments in the exhibits. The building is the last double wide, double long hangar in the British Commonwealth. Several different museums share the space plus there is an education centre that serves 7,000 to 10,000 children per year. 2 air cadet squadrons parade there and there is a seniors centre where the seniors do the restoration of the new exhibits. Without them there would be no museum. The building hosts 25 - 30 events per year including the Spirit of Edmonton Project (recreate 4 historic cross Canada flights) several years ago. There are 170,000 uses of the building outside of the museum visits. The museum association has won national awards for 2009/10/11/12 and is staying at Blatchford Field even though the airport is closing.
Phase 2 includes growth through 7 new aircraft and a new furnace. A Boeing 737 will be mounted above the parking lot. The association needs the hangar north of the existing site (Hangar 15) for restoration work due to changes in building codes. There will be a satelite location set up at a local airport (either Cooking Lake or Villeneuve) to house a living museum. The Northern Alberta Flying Wing will house aircraft that can still fly. Revenue includes museum admissions, fees to host events and donations. The plan is to develop a trade school at the Northern Alberta Flying Wing for the training of aircraft related trades.
Tom was thanked by Mike Ryan
May 27 is an evening meeting to continue the planning program for the future of our Rotary Club.