Jimmy Johnston MBE – District Governor – 30 July 2019

This year’s new District 1230 Governor, Jimmy Johnston’s address to our members was something of a lighthearted novelty. He joked his way through a thoroughly entertaining twenty-minute address whilst liberally sprinkling it with (much-deserved!) compliments about our club and the many charitable projects in which we are involved. He is clearly a speaker who knows how to get his audience onside.

His main theme echoed that of the current RIBI motto “Making a Difference in our Communities” and struck a chord with his listeners since this is our own club’s principal focus for this year. He encouraged us to be bold and brave and emphasised that together we can make a difference by doing good work in the community. Whilst recognising that Ayr Rotary club already targets many of the key areas in which we can make a significant impact he nevertheless made a few suggestions such as engaging with student and youth group leaders and identifying and supporting tomorrow’s “stars and celebrities”. By doing so we can increase our own profile and improve club membership size and diversity.

Jimmy also invited us to make use of the District team who are there assist club projects and to publicise successes on Rotary Central.

In thanking Jimmy, Alex Thomson paid him the compliment of having delivered one of the best of the many DG’s addresses he had heard.