World Inner Wheel Day 2020
Inner Wheel Club of Taiping
18 January 2020
World Inner Wheel Day is a day when members celebrate the first Inner Wheel Club meeting in 1924, held in Manchester. The Inner Wheel Club of Taiping organised World Inner Wheel Day for District 330 on 18th January 2020. It was held at the Grand Baron Hotel in Taiping, Perak. Organising Chairman Dr Karen Jeet Kaur welcomed special guests International Inner Wheel President Phyllis Charter and spouse, Rotary's Past District Governor Paul Charter, National Representative Juanita Lee, District 330 Chairman Padmini Menon, District 331 Chairman Shirin Ghadiali, Taiping's Member of Parliament YB Teh Kok Lim and spouse Mrs Esther Teh and Sekolah Semangat Maju Chairman Mr Joseph Lau.
On this occasion, Inner Wheel Club of Taiping adopted Sekolah Semangat Maju (SSM), a school for mentally challenged children, by signing a memorandum of understanding. In so doing, the Club has made a commitment for long term community service and for promoting green initiatives with the school. An initial sum of RM10,000 was raised at the event for SSM.
About 250 members and friends were treated to a fun-filled day with high tea, shopping booths, photo sessions and a sumptuous dinner. The night ended with a thrilling "Inner Wheel's Got Talent" contest. The clubs put up a sterling performance, with IWC Klang being crowned champion, IWC Kuala Lumpur as 1st runner up and IWC Subang Selangor as 2nd runner up. Winners were awarded cash prizes which went towards their club.
The next day, a dialogue session between IIW President Phyllis Charter and members were held, followed by lunch and short tour of Taiping. Taiping, translated from Mandarin means "town of ever lasting peace" and is recognised as the third best city in the world for sustainable development of the 2019 Sustainable Top 100 Destination Award at the International Tourismus-Börse (ITB) trade show.
Below is the speech by Organising Chairman, Dr Karen Jeet Kaur
Good Evening, Selamat Petang, Taa Chia Woo An, Maalae Vanakum, Sat Sri Akal
Guest of Honour International IW President Phyllis Charter & spouse PDG Paul Charter,
Yang Berhormat Teh Kok Lim and spouse Mrs Esther Teh,
DC 330 Padmini Menon, DC 331 Shirin Ghadiali,
Respected members of IW clubs from as far as Kota Kinabalu to Taiping Lake Gardens
Respected friends from various NGOs
Respected dear friends
Darling family and children.
Today we celebrate 96 years of Inner Wheel. From Margaret Golding to Phyllis Charter. 96 years - wow - that’s close to a century! No words can express the clouds of pleasure that we, the 24 members of IWC Taiping are floating on today. We welcome ALL of you!
When I was saluted the task of Organising Chairperson of World Inner Wheel day 2020 ̶̶̶̶ I was gung ho - unthinkingly enthusiastic - not knowing what I was getting myself into. Then I gathered my members and had a meeting. After several meeting, we were sceptical. What was our aim? What did we want to achieve? Could we do something different? I leave you, ladies and gentlemen, to be the judge of that by the end of the evening.
We decided to have a lengthy programme with 3 main aims…..
The first aim, the core of Inner Wheel ̶̶ can anyone take a guess? Yes ̶̶ Fellowship. We, women, live a hard life. If you come knocking at our doors on a Sunday morning, you will be shocked ̶̶ you wont be able to recognise us. But today we all look glamourous, with our hairdown and with friends. We are happy. We hope you enjoyed the fellowship just now. The second aim was the formalities. No function is complete without it. We will bore you for the next 45 minutes or so. The third aim ̶̶ how did we make it different?
You only live once, life is a one way street ̶̶ live it your BEST!
When we were younger ̶̶ for some, just recently ̶̶ for others not so long ago… the word BEST meant ambitions, achievements and success. The vocabulary philanthropist did not exist. But as the grays crawled in, and life polished our `knooks and crooks’ ̶̶ the definition of best changed. Best is to be a candle ̶̶ to give warmth and light to those in need. Remember ̶̶ No candle looses its light by lighting another candle!
So we decided on 2 charity items. Firstly,, the adoption of Sekolah Semangat Maju by the Inner Wheel club of Taiping. This will be elaborated by the club president shortly. Now the second part - which we all have been waiting for ̶̶ the Talent show by various Inner Wheel club members. The grand prize today has been contributed by each and everyone of you ̶̶ which is a total of RM 6500! This will be further used by the winning clubs for charity! Amaze us with your masterpieces ladies.
We, the 2 dozen members of IWC Taiping apologises for any hiccups throughout the function. Before I end ̶̶ Life isn’t tied in a bow. But it’s still a gift. Enjoy it !