Shepperton Aurora Presidential Handover

AT LAST, I GET A GONG

So, it was the last Sunday in June, and time for our club’s Presidential handover ceremony. Incoming President Pauline Hedges held the event in her beautiful garden in West Byfleet, with lots of gazebos to provide shelter from sun or rain. Members provided most of the food and brought their own drinks, making it a low cost party. There was a good turnout from club members and it was a very jolly afternoon indeed.

The formal part of the afternoon occurred when outgoing President Doreen Pipe handed over her chain of office to Pauline, who then passed her President Elect gong to Karen Sutton. The final link was provided by Karen handing over the Vice President’s gong to yours truly. Yes, I am finally in line to be President of the club, although not until 2016/17. The thinks I will agree to just to get a gong to wear!

The plan was that I would wait until Vivian’s year of office was over before I took on the mantle of President Elect, which is actually a very busy job. As President Elect in 2015/16 I will have to chair the busy Admin committee, which is responsible for various events and activities. In preparation for this, I have been switched from the membership committee to the Admin committee for the coming year.

In a gracious acceptance speech, I spoke of how pleased I was to finally receive some Rotary bling,  as I am still waiting for a Consort’s chain of Office. I am sure it has just been an oversight by someone that will be resolved quite quickly, so I have decided not to make a fuss, particularly as I now have my Vice President’s gong.

                                                               A quality line up - me, Karen, Pauline and Doreen 

I don’t think there are enough acronyms in Rotary, so, looking at our leadership line up, I have come up with some which I think fit the bill nicely. Pauline, as our new President, becomes our POSA, or President of Shepperton Aurora, whilst Doreen becomes the IMPOSA, or immediate past president of Shepperton Aurora. See how it works?  Naturally Karen then becomes PELOSA, or President Elect etc. whilst I, the new Vice president, become VIPOSA, or VIP for short.  I then considered developing this theme for other club officers, so for instance the Secretary becomes SOSA, but I dropped the idea when it occurred to me that the Treasurer might object.

I have ordered some new, bigger business cards to accommodate my new titles:

Mike Gicquel C.D.G.,  V.I.P.O.S.A.