PSSST....It's Top Secret
The Program:
Member Cynthia Carter-West was invited by President Sally to share some thoughts about the Virginia Arts Festival where she is public relations director. This marks the 20th year downtown Norfolk, and much of the immediate area, is immersed in cultural activities from April 8 to June 26. One the biggest attractions each year is the Virginia International Tattoo. Its first public performance for the season is in SCOPE on Thursday night (April 21), but rehearsing was underway during our meeting Tuesday. The cacophony of bagpipes accelerated to a crescendo, and then subsided periodically during the entire meeting. This extraneous music proved to be no competition for what we heard from the Top Secret Drum Corps.
The Top Secret Drum Corps is directed by Daniel Uhlmann and hails from Basil, Switzerland, which has 10,000 drummers. Six of the 25 corps members performed for us. Wearing mostly black uniforms with a white flourishing plume, five played snare drums and one the bass drum. Daniel pointed out that a performer had to be good at their drumming, but they also had to be a team player. The teamwork was obvious in the performance; all movements were sharp and synchronized. The members are mostly students, but also some others who were able to take time off from work to perform and travel. Practice is usually one 2½ hour session, once a week. When asked about the group's name Daniel’s standard answer is that it is a ‘secret.’ When asked if he had any women? There was a pause, “Women?” then he said do you mean in the group? The answer was no, but if one wanted to join, and qualified, that would be fine. The inviting organization pays for the transportation and accommodations, food or other needs may be provided by sponsors or the performers. Of the three languages of Switzerland, this group spoke German. This is the first year the Top Secret Drum Corps has performed in Norfolk.
The Meeting:
President Sally got the meeting started promptly after requesting a moment of silence for member Dick Lammers who died unexpectedly last Saturday morning. Singing was then led by Lynne Berg with Frank Whitman on the piano: "Clementine" and "Sing Out a Song of Rotary." John Chittick offered an appropriate invocation much in the style of Ecclesiastes, or perhaps the Beatitudes, or both.
Jim Clary was invited to come forth and receive his Paul Harris Fellowship pin with one jewel: PHF+1.
Guests and visitors included:
Two visiting Rotarians: Past District Governor Bill Pollard from Churchland and Michael Abraham, an author, from Blacksburg.
Dona Overstreet had a guest, Jamie Wright
John Chittick brought one of his associates, Peter Keto
Mike Desplaines had his mother, Lise Desplaines
Announcements
- Michael Abraham, a guest, asked to announce that he was a historian working on a railroad travelogue called ‘Chasing the Powatan Arrow,’ a popular passenger train of the Norfolk & Western. Anyone with information or a similar railroad interest was invited to contact him (Sally Hartman has his contact information.)
- All attending members and guests were invited to attend the rehearsal activity in the main area of SCOPE immediately after the meeting today. We had already heard considerable practice noises, on one occasion the bagpipers marched right next to our room, the U.S. Navy song drowning out speaker Linwood Beckner, and causing Joe Massey to pay us $20. This relates to undocumented agreement Joe made with the former owner of his house, the author of Anchors Aweigh.
- Lisa Chandler made announcements about Suds and Buds, and she observed that Bernie Cohen had sold close to 30 tickets!
- Jack Magee will be honored on May 10th. He had a record for bringing in new members during an active and supportive life in our club. His family is invited.
- First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe was in Norfolk on Monday and saw one of our grants for the Learning Barge, part of the Elizabeth River project. Our club, the Portsmouth club and the Rotary district were recognized for grants to support the Learning Barge's environmental education program.
- Steve Jones reminded us all of the spring golf outing on May 21 on the Eastern Shore.
- Jim Kitz promoted several volunteer opportunities, one worth noting was Make Moms Happy, by working at a wine festival May 8th.
- Sally mentioned that the Harrison Opera House is having a dot maze in the Virginia Opera parking lot, April 28 to May 1. Our group will get a preview led by Cynthia Carter-West on April 28 at 4:30 p.m.
- Baseball caps will be here soon, thanks to Sigur Whitaker, and can be purchased for $10. A cap must be worn when serving either beer or wine at some of the upcoming events where we are volunteering.
- Chip Finch has arranged a May 1 club visit to Youth Boat Builders where young people build rowboats. While having fun, the participants practice math skills and teamwork.
Happy Bucks & Fines
- Past District Governor Pollard offered some congratulations to our club and then did a little promotion for the Churchland Club who were sponsoring Beatlemania on May 14.
- Adrien Latta rose to share his work at Shepherd’s Village, Assisted Living, and that he had been studying law and would be taking his bar exam in 2017
- Pam Tubbs gave a banner as a result of a visit to her father-in-law’s Rotary Club (Black Mountain, NC).
Program Close
There was an extra drawing this week for two tickets to the International Tattoo. They were won by Bob Powell. Harry McCoy won the daily drawing for $15, but left the big prize for another day.
The School of the Week was Mary Calcott Elementary. They were the recipient of the book Julia’s House for Lost Creatures honoring Cynthia for bringing the day's program.