Presidential Letter 6 - 2024/2025

Sunday, December 15, 2024

Josef Icmen

Dear Rotary members!

We are fast approaching Christmas and the New Year. Before we end the year 2024, we have some information about our Christmas Party, which is on Wednesday, December 18th. We also want to inform about an event from the Baltic Sea Committee in Rotary District 2405.

On Wednesday the 18th of December we have our annual Christmas Party, which starts at 6pm. We gather at Norrmalmstorg for a joint tram journey together with Djurgårdslinjen. You can register for the event on Polaris and to participate you must also Swish 200 SEK for the ticket price before the event. Our Swish number is 123-288 11 83. The ticket price includes a lottery that will be held during the evening, mulled wine, saffron buns and the tram ride. In addition to this, lots of other exciting things will also be offered, including entertainment with singing and wonderful moments together are promised. Join us and end the year with us onboard an over 100 year old tram! Welcome!

We also want to inform you about an event from the Baltic Sea Committee in Rotary District 2405. It is an invitation to the boat fair ''Allt för sjön'' which will take place in Stockholmsmässan during March 2025. Below you will find more information from Gun-Marie ''Guje'' Östedt Axelsson, chairman of the Värmdö Archipelago Rotary Club:

To the Presidents of the Rotary Clubs in District 2405, our "Rotary Baltic Ambassadors" and the District Team in D2405 for information,

Dear Rotary and Baltic Sea Friends,

The "Allt för sjön" fair in 2025 will, in the same way as the last two years, take place over two long weekends, i.e. Thursday to Sunday, in the middle of March at Älvsjömässan. The first long weekend will be March 6-9 and the second March 13-16. You can find opening hours and all the details on the website: http://www.alltforsjon.se

Like last year and the year before, we will participate actively in a larger environmental area of approximately 200 square meters, where we collaborate with other organizations. This part of the fair is coordinated by the foundation Östersjökontraktet and this year will be called "Everything for the Baltic Sea". The focus in the area will be on the two areas: "Overfertilization (Wetlands)" and "Herring and flounder fishing".

In this way, we now want to offer the district's clubs and our "Rotary Baltic Ambassadors" to participate actively in the stand during one or possibly some of the fair days. As last year, the cost for the club is 500 SEK incl. VAT. The idea is that two clubs stand together during one of the eight days. The Baltic ambassadors can conceivably stand for several days. Last year, 17 clubs and 100 members actively participated.

Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Additional information such as times etc. will then follow when we know how many and which clubs will participate. Like last year, we will make a staffing schedule. We want to benefit from our experiences and evaluations and have already decided that we will carry out two alternative training opportunities online. These will take place:

- Thursday, February 13 at 19:00 - 20:30 and

- Saturday, February 15 at 10:00 - 11:30

Please note already now that it is important that the stand participants from your club can participate in one of the two training sessions.

Last year we produced some new material for the fair, which we will reuse this year, e.g. two large tapestries with "Save the Baltic Sea" and a "flyer" about the Baltic Sea and Rotary, which we use when we invite the visitors. The activities that we plan to carry out at our stand to spread knowledge about the challenges in the Baltic Sea and how we can improve the situation are as follows:

- Offer the visitors to become "Baltic supporters", which means that you buy a box with one of Lasse Åberg's books "The sea is your best friend" or "This is how the ocean works" for the fair price of 100 SEK (costs 149 SEK and 179 SEK respectively in the Akademibokhandeln). In the checkout, you also get the brochure "Important measures for the Baltic Sea environment", which is published by the Baltic Sea Center at Stockholm University plus information about Rotary.

- Offer families with children to answer a "quiz" about the Baltic Sea with candy as a reward.

- Work actively with the Baltic Sea Contract - www.ostersjokontraktet.se and distribute information from our partners such as Baltic Waters and others.

Gratefully looking forward to hearing from you if your club wishes to participate via e-mail to gog.axelsson@telia.com as soon as possible and no later than January 15

Please also enter the name and contact information of the person in the club who will be the contact person for the fair.

Everyone who actively participates in the stand receives an exhibitor card, which gives free entry to all eight days. The first weekend runs the Antiques Fair in parallel and the second weekend the motorhome/caravan fair.

Best Rotary Greetings,

Baltic Sea Committee

- Gun-Marie "Guje" Östedt-Axelsson, Värmdö Archipelago RC, chairman

- Wanja Bellander, Värmdö-Skärgård RC

- Catherine Legrand, Kalmar Norra RC

- Eva Nisser, Nacka RC

- Åke Rolf, Norrköping Louis de Geer RC

- Sven Rudberg, Värmdö-Archipelago RC

- Lars Sandberg, Söderköping RC

- Jan Somp, Trosa RC

- Yael Tågerud, Kalmar RC

- P-O Wasteson, Söderköping RC