Dear Members and Friends of Rotary,
 
Please join us for our very first online meeting using an App called Zoom on Monday 30th March from 6:30 pm. Angela Porritt will be sending a link, with instructions very soon to you. 
 
Thank you David Brown for another bumper newsletter received recently. Also, a huge thank you to Angela Porritt, supported by Michael Brown, for a seamless transition to our new website. Thank you to everyone for many years of assisting with the Concord Farmer’s Market - all the behind the scenes meetings, hard work and planning are greatly appreciated.
 
Please note that the Concord Farmer’s Markets have been cancelled until further notice. We are doing everything we can to support our stall holders via facebook and our website during this tough time. When this is all over, we’ll re-launch the markets, and we know we’ll have club and community support to build the market bigger and better than ever before.  

We care very much about all of you. Please keep us informed if you need our help, need to talk and keep us updated of any illnesses or celebrations. Please, during this challenging time, look out for each other and continue to take precautions as advised to keep yourselves safe. We need to care about each other more now than ever before.  
 
Thank you for your continued support during this challenging time.
 
On a positive note, we have recently received a bumper, information-laden and up-beat newsletter from our intrepid David Brown. Thank you David for keeping us connected, informed and cheery. We do need to smile no matter how dire the COVID-19 pandemic is at present. A huge thank you to Angela Porritt, supported by Michael Brown, for a seamless transition of our website, and I am happy to announce we are now live on Clubrunner. Well done, Angela, your hard work behind the scenes has not gone unnoticed. I would also like to thank Helen McCaffrey, Peter Rogers, Ken Wright, Dianne Hunter, Patrick Legey, Ray Kane, Richard Bell, Cheryl Gagliano, David Brown, Judy Love, Peter Smith, Rotaractors and Interactors and all our members and Friends of Rotary for many years of assisting with the Concord Farmer’s Market, despite the challenges experienced at times. All the behind the scenes meetings, hard work and planning are greatly appreciated.
 
Unfortunately, the decision has been taken out of our hands and we need to comply with tighter government restrictions and an ever-escalating situation. Sadly, we bid farewell to the markets for the time being until government restrictions are lifted. No more Concord Farmer’s Markets until further notice. Having said that, we encourage stall holders to work together, become creative and seek options for collective online ordering and home delivering of your goods. Our club will do everything we can to assist by advertising via our website and Facebook, thanks to Helen, Peter Rogers and Angela in this regard.  We want to support Stall Holders as best we can as we really value them. When this is all over, we’ll re-launch the markets, and we know we’ll have club and community support to build the market bigger and better than ever before.  
 
On another positive note, at least for some who love a computer challenge, we’ve explored an online meeting option. We want to continue seeing each other, keep up-dated, feel connected and yet, respect the social distance and staying at home restrictions. We are going to hold an online meeting using an App called Zoom on Monday 30th March from 6:30 pm. Angela Porritt will be sending a link, with instructions very soon to you. I suggest you connect from 6:15pm so you can test your audio, video connections. If all else fails, join without video, just so you can hear us and talk to us. I cannot wait for our online Sergeants session. Allan has been active via email and I am sure he will have a trick or two up his sleeve to keep us entertained. Once we’ve ironed out the glitches, I will arrange for amazing speakers to join us online too. I expect there will be a few glitches, but please be patient, hang in there, we’ll make this work and have a whole lot of fun while we do it. Just because we cannot meet in person doesn’t mean we can’t have fun online. Any creative ideas you have for future meetings, let Allan, our dear Sergeant, and myself know.
 
We care very much about all of you. Please keep us informed if you need our help, need to talk and keep us updated of any illnesses or celebrations. Please, during this challenging time, look out for each other and continue to take precautions as advised to keep yourselves safe. We need to care about each other more now than ever before.  
 
Thank you for your continued support during this challenging time.