Happy 50 Years Chinook Rotary

Chair John Charrett called our meeting to order at 12:15, welcoming all in attendance and reminded everyone of Rotary’s theme for this year, “CREATE LASTING CHANGE”.

Club Business:

We had a good turnout at our meeting today including a visiting Rotarian, Brian Gentles from the Heritage Rotary Club, three guests; Bernice Bohnet, Ellie Chuda, (guest of Keith) and Theresa Stevens (guest of Anthony), together with our guest speaker, Michael Antle and his wife, Ouida. Our guests were introduced by Rob Dempsey and welcomed with our rendition of “Welcome to Rotary”.

John thanked Rob for greeting and welcoming all our attendees. He thanked Paul for being our scribe today and also thanked George for helping set up the speaking and presentation equipment.

Rob had to stand at the podium and speak about how much he loves the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (he really supports the Saskatchewan Green) due to a lost bet with Wayne, (the real Winnipeg fan).

Keith was busy on our National Day for Truth and Recognition:

Keith told us about his activities during Truth and Recognition Day when he attended three events; starting with a walk on orange shirt day, listening to a speaker at the University of Calgary and attending an evening event hosted at the Rotary Club of Calgary Heritage Park. Congratulations to Keith for being so involved and representing Chinook during this significant day of recognition.

_{Paul announced our birthdays for October. We have five member birthdays this month starting with President Keith on October 1st, Peter Bickham on the 2nd, Hank Popoff on the 18th, John Charrett on the 23rd and Fred Jessee on the 24th.}

_{Special note that Fred will be turning 100 on the 24th.}

_{We also have two spousal birthdays this month, Grace Wada on the 26th and Glenda Wellon on the 30th.}

_{We have 3 anniversaries during the month of October: Hank and Janet are celebrating their 60th anniversary on the 8th, Garth and Barb their 54th on the 7th and Nick and Jody celebrated their 18th anniversary on the 4th.}

Society Annual General Meeting:

The AGM of our Society was held today. President Joe chaired, Treasurer Vlad provided numbers and Secretary Tammy took the minutes. All is well with our Society.

Former President’s Brief Report (Anthony):

Anthony related some of his memories from the first of his two terms as President, 1992/93. He recalled some well known speakers/contacts wth Ed McNally from Big Rock Brewery, Ron and Margaret Southern, former Premier Ralph Klein and attending at Spruce Meadows during the Queen’s visit. He was President when our first three lady members were inducted (including Moe Tynan).

MISSING A JACKET:

Anyone missing a RED JACKET - please contact Rob (or I will gift it to my brother for his birthday !).

Brian spoke to us about “Breathing Space” - a project which gives families a place to stay close when a loved one is having lung surgery.

The effects of changing clocks:

Our speaker was introduced by Bart Dailley.

Mr Antle is a behavioral neuroscientist from the University of Calgary specializing in understanding how our brain and body track environmental cycles.

He has earned a PHD at Simon Fraser University and has trained at Columbia University in New York and Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

His research is focused on daily “circadian”rhythms that govern our sleep/wake cycles. Michael is married to Ouida and they have two children.

Michael advised that keeping standard time year-round — would be the best bet. Standard time, used historically during the winter months from November to March, is most closely aligned with the sun being at its highest point at noon. He said that because the systems within the human body align themselves with the rising and setting of the sun, standard time is the better fit physiologically.

Of the three options, permanent daylight time (which is the one we have chosen) would be the least preferable, he said, “because of the chronic harm that comes living on the wrong time for the four, five months in the winter. In December, sunrise is at 8:30 here in Calgary,” he said. “If we move to a permanent daylight time like B.C. is doing, it’s going to be 9:30 in the morning. Some parts of Alberta, like Grande Prairie, it will be 10:30.”

Seasonal depression will get worse and productivity in general would go down. Later sunrises have also been associated with a lower health index, with higher risk of obesity, heart attack, diabetes and cancer.