Suresh Bharwani

In our Rotary year we had several objectives to meet and all were happily achieved. For the continuity and training of new members in the club, we decided to form a board with new Rotarians in those positions, with the exception of our distinguished treasurer Marcos Cabrera. With the help of the most experienced members, great harmony among members and much participation was achieved. 4 new Rotarians joined: Sergio Durante, Magdalena Rostagno, María Mateo and Pedro González. In my view Rotary should not only help society but also share and enrich the community culturally through interesting meetings. This year we had more than 15 speakers of the calibre of Roberto Konrad (businessman), Miguel González (TVE presenter), Francisco Torres (co-founder of Renta 4), Mr Santiago Yus (TFS Airport Director) or Silvia Esteban (Canarian actress based in Miami), among others. As a Club we wanted to reach out and collaborate with other clubs in the islands. This was reflected when for the first time two clubs (RC Tenerife Sur and RC Santa Cruz de Tenerife) shared a project to present at the Canarian get-togethers, and all the more when that project was declared the winner and became the Rotary project in the Canaries. We had much communication with all Tenerife clubs and with RC Arucas in Gran Canaria. This made it easier to achieve objectives together in the short and long term. We took part as witnesses to the twinning of RC Santa Cruz de Tenerife and RC Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a symbolic and very important union for Rotary and for the Canaries. A fellowship trip to Poland was also organised by our twinned club RC Pordenone. Our commitment to our flagship project, which was in its 3rd year, "One child, one book, one meal", led to an enormous effort by our members with numerous fundraising events, resulting in a record collection, enabling us not only to support this project but also children with disabilities, the El Fraile social canteen, local associations such as Padre Anchieta Association and many others in need of our emergency assistance. At district level we collaborated on the project to provide water for 32,000 people in Peru led by Alejandro Amoedo with a global grant, we had an exchange student and we contributed financially to ending Polio. The great effort of the Rotary team was reflected in the well-deserved award to our Vice President that year, Guido Gianoli, who not only won the coveted Tarraco award for the best Rotarian in Spain but also received 3 Paul Harris awards in a single year. It is also worth noting that Don Manuel Florián, Assistant to the Governor, was appointed Governor Elect that same year. Our Club was recognised with the Rotary Presidential Citation.