Rotary International is a humanitarian service organisation which brings together business and professional leaders in order to provide community service, promote integrity, and advance goodwill, peace, and understanding in the world. It is a non-political and non-religious organisation.
Whether mentally or physically, it’s fair to say that the past two years have had an effect on almost everyone, and will continue to have an effect on many with the a suffering NHS being left with staggering staff shortages, which means ongoing delays for surgeries and treatments.
Thankfully from these difficult years, humanity seems to have been rediscovering itself, where giving and receiving acts of selfless kindness and generosity, as well as being more understanding of one another, are becoming more ordinary. Society appears to be changing for the better, and it’s taken a common catastrophe to nudge it in this direction.
Throughout 2019, on my mind was the question “where do I fit in the the local community?“, and I entered what I would call a journey of personal development. I decided to study Counselling Level 1 at Stroud College to brush up on my listening skills, which I found so fascinating I then also continued and passed Counselling Level 2.
In April 2020, on completion of Counselling Level 2, the “only three weeks, we promise” pandemic measures were implemented across the UK.
Like many people, throughout the two years those three weeks then became, knowing that many would be having difficulties I was keen to make an effort to try and help the local community somehow. But I quickly discovered that helping is surprisingly difficult without any guidance or structure, because…
- Where do you help?!
- What needs help?!
- Who needs help?!
- When do you help?!
This meant that my help was more along the lines of just collecting someones shopping if I happened to notice someone ask on Facebook.
In the second half of 2021 Robinson David Estate Agents was created and launched, and it is imperative to me that Robinson David Estate Agents is a local business that is a genuine part of local communities, bringing value to peoples lives outside of the home selling and home buying services that we offer, however, guidance and structure was needed.
I attended a networking event at BoxTree Barn outside of Cheltenham, where I met Nikki Budding, Head of Communications at ElmRep Office Solutions.
I then attended a networking event with Gloucestershire Forwards, the business networking arm of Gloucester Rugby in Kingsholm Stadium, where I met Nikki again. Having both attended the BoxTree Barn networking event, we recognised one another and had a common ground to speak. Nikki invited me to a Gloucester Quays Rotary event that was happening that evening at FigFlex offices in Southgate House in Gloucester.
It’s strange how all of this should happen whilst ‘becoming a more meaningful part of the community’ just happened to be a focus. It’s a perfect example of the excellent business networking opportunities that Gloucestershire has to offer, which you can read more about in our Gloucestershire Business Networking journal post.
Shortly after this event, it was clear that Rotary International, founded more than 100 years ago “for the purpose of doing good in the world“, offered the structure that Robinson David Estate Agents needs to become more involved within local communities, as well as being a perfect fit with part of our own mission statement, which is to embed traditional values of honesty, integrity and reliability within our service.
The Rotary International mission statement is: “We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.”
I’m very happy to say that we have joined Gloucester Quays Rotary.
Gloucester Quays Rotary meet once a week at the Llanthony Secunda Priory, an iconic medieval building in Gloucester that has been recently restored and now open to visitors and events. A once large and important Augustinian Priory which was founded outside the city walls in 1136, Llanthony Secunda Priory is a true miracle or survival that is not only full of period features, but being an important part of English history for 900 years, holds many stories like having hosted parties for King Henry VII.
Each year, Gloucester Quays rotary supports three charities through fundraising and events. Our current supported charity is Gloucester Food Bank, as we don’t think anyone in our community should have to face going hungry.
To discover more about the charities that Gloucester Quays rotary supports, and to find out how you can be involved, visit their website: https://www.gloucesterquaysrotary.co.uk