Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, November 7, 2024
President Jackie chaired the meeting.
Guest Julia Corcoran, Development Officer MUN was introduced and welcomed as were Jean, wife of Rotarian Verbon and Jane, wife of the guest speaker, Jerome Jesseau.
Club Business
Linda, representing Corner Brook Rotary Club, had attended the Community Sector Council NL, Well Being NL, the Cardiovascular & Stroke Provincial Program and the Health Care Foundation senior’s meeting on ‘Your Health and Well-being held at the Corner Brook Civic Centre, Tuesday November 5th. She reported that between 250 – 300 people attended for the musical entertainment, informative talks, refreshments and information booths. She found the talks both informative and interesting.
Christmas Social
A message will be sent to Rotarians regarding a Christmas Social in December.
Financial Statement
Jackie gave a brief outline of the finances of the club and the 50-50 draw with Xavier House, Toonie Quest West.
Guest Speaker
Verbon introduced the guest speaker Jerome Jesseau. Jerome and his family were living in Germany, and he was teaching at a Canadian base in Germany, when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
Jerome began his presentation about the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain by talking of Europe after World War II ended. This resulted in Germany being divided into East and West Germany with the capitol Berlin being in East Germany. Jerome and his family were based in Southern Germany and he spoke of travelling behind the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain formed the imaginary boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until 1991.
He went on to talk about the divided city Berlin to which access was limited and showed a map of the city. In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built and access between East and West was limited. Jerome spoke of visiting East Berlin and Eastern cities such as Dresden which he remembers as being very grey with war damage still showing. He continued by talking about the politics between Gorbachev and the West in 1989 and how on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell resulting within a year the unification of Germany.
Jerome then told a how near Checkpoint Bravo he took a sledgehammer and himself chipped and broke the wall. He reminisced how at that time Dave MacDonald CBC Corner Brook phoned him and interviewed him.
Germany still celebrates October 3, as Unification Day which happened in 1990.
He ended his talk by a side reference to areas between France and Germany such as Alsace that had changed nationality several times.
At the end of the presentation Jerome held a draw for a piece of the Berlin Wall and Rotarian Jim was the winner.
Martin thanked Jerome for his presentation before the meeting was adjourned.