Club visit by new DG Angela Samson – 15 September 2020
Angela Samson, District 1230’s new Governor, paid a virtual visit to our club to outline her views and plans for this Rotary year. She began by telling us that, although now living in Renfrewshire, she is proud to consider herself a Glaswegian at heart and that her interest in Rotary began when a friend asked her along to a meeting of the Barrhead Club where she has served as Club Secretary and Club President. Climbing the Rotary “ladder” she enjoyed a four-year term as District Assistant Governor thus equipping her for the highest District office which she now holds.
Angela explained that she likes to keep things simple with plain speaking and that she is keen to use her people skills to encourage her fellow-Rotarians to help and support their communities, especially during these difficult times for so many. In this regard, she complimented our club on the manner in which we had continued with our meetings and local projects throughout lockdown. She expounded her own views on the importance of maintaining District club membership (“1101 is the magic number”) by focussing on retention and recruitment strategies. For example, District is currently preparing short publicity videos which are “less American” than those we have been used to seeing.
Fund-raising is another of Angela’s concerns and in alerting members to the Amazon Smile initiative she admitted, somewhat unadvisedly perhaps, to being a “big Amazon spender” ………and she definitely stuck her head above the parapet when she bravely introduced the sensitive and often contentious subject of individual club subscriptions.
Hazel McCully thanked Angela for her inspiring talk and wished her a successful year in office.