‘Everyone cares for each other’

Gordon McInally, church elder and soon-to be President of Rotary International, laughs at the memory.

He’s only the second Scot to ever hold the prestigious post and is keen to promote Scotland to the world leaders he’ll meet during his tenure.

Talking about his Bible class teacher, he says: “I always thought he was a ‘cool’ character with a nice lifestyle and, as an impressionable teenager trying to make a career choice, that probably pushed me in the direction of dentistry. Interestingly, although several years older than me, he and his wife remain great friends to this day. Heather and I enjoy their company greatly and we meet up regularly – and he is still ‘cool’!”

Gordon says he’s always had a personal, Christian faith.

“I was born in Edinburgh in July 1957 and was educated at the Royal High School. The family home was in Portobello where my mother owned and operated a private nursery. My father was in the licensed trade, working for McDonald and Muir, the parent company of Glenmorangie Whisky.

“My parents were members of Leith Methodist Church and I was christened there and went on to attend Sunday School, Bible Class etc. My first connection with the Church of Scotland came in the early 1970s when I was a member of Old Restalrig Parish Church Youth Fellowship.

At the time the Rev Donald Caskie, ‘The Jackie Macadam meets the Church of Scotland elder soon to become President of Rotary International.

Tartan Pimpernel’, was a locum minister and I remember being enthralled by his tales of helping people in wartime France.

The Youth Fellowship at Old Restalrig was very strong and had an active programme – we had regular weekend retreats to St Ninian’s in Crieff which I recall to this day.

“I became a member of the Church of Scotland in1980 when I married my wife, Heather, in Craigsbank Parish Church, Corstorphine, Edinburgh, where the minister was the late George Grubb (who had also, previously, been a member of the Methodist Church!).

“My parents instilled in me and my late brother a sense of helping and caring for others that has remained with me for life.

“My personal faith, and my upbringing within a family with a similarly strong faith, has definitely impacted my life choices and career. As a Christian, I believe I should be willing to help and care for people to the best of my ability and that is why I chose to become a dentist where, I would like to think that in my 37 years of practice, I was able to care for my patients, many of whom I treated for my entire career, along with their children and in some cases their grandchildren as they came along.

“Similarly, the opportunity I have had through Rotary, which as you can imagine, is a major part of my life, to help and care, and to work to improve the lives of people around the world, is driven by my personal faith.

“I think that is why I am particularly impressed with the work of the Church’s

CrossReach programme which sees it support people to achieve the highest quality of life which they are capable of achieving at any given time, together with the work of the Church overseas – aims not dissimilar with that of Rotary where we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe in our communities and in ourselves.

“Following our wedding in 1980, Heather and I set up home in South Queensferry and decided that we should join a local church rather than travel into Edinburgh each week. That led us to attending Dalmeny Kirk where we were made extremely welcome. It was a small congregation and we always put the warmth of the welcome down to the fact they were desperate for new members!

“I was ordained as an elder in Dalmeny in 1982.

“Our two daughters, Sarah (born 1984) and Rebecca (born 1986) were christened in Dalmeny but, as they grew up, the absence of a Sunday School there, saw us take the hard decision, that had been taken by a number of other families before us, to leave Dalmeny and join Queensferry Parish Church, where I became a member of the Session and the Congregational Board, which I ultimately chaired. Heather, a professional classical musician and music teacher, ran a Junior Choir at Queensferry for many years.

“Ultimately, Queensferry Parish Church and Dalmeny Kirk became a linked charge and, for a number of reasons, Heather and I chose to return to worship at Dalmeny.

My parents instilled in me and my late brother a sense of helping and caring for others that has remained with me for life.

“One of the proudest moments in my life came in 2014 when I walked Sarah down the same aisle to be married as I had carried her almost 30 years previously to be christened.”

It was the Dalmeny Church connection that brought Rotary into Gordon’s life.

“A farmer friend, who was also a member of Dalmeny Kirk, invited us along to a Rotary Club of South Queensferry event which we enjoyed and subsequently he invited me to join the club. Initially I saw it as a great way to make friends in the town and to do things in the area that would benefit the wider community. As time went by, and I realised the work done by Rotary all round the world, I was hooked!

“I also found my involvement with Rotary a great release from dentistry and a great help in creating a good life/work balance. I think my involvement with

Rotary probably made me a better dentist – but I guess only my patients could answer that question!

“I think it is in everyone’s nature to be caring and to want to help make things better for other people – this nature might be more apparent in some than others, but I am convinced it is there.

“I have found Rotary to be a great vehicle for being able to care and help for others. It provides a worldwide network to identify and meet the needs of the less fortunate and, though its charity, the Rotary Foundation, it provides the wherewithal to make a real difference in the world. I have often said, “how could a dentist, living and working Scotland, provide clean water to a village in South Sudan, or provide safe, clean toilet facilities to schoolgirls in India, or improve healthcare facilities in rural Brazil?” – by being one of 1.4 million like-minded individuals all over the world, I have been able to do that and more – much more.

“Rotary has also given me friends all over the world and, as a consequence, a better understanding of the world in which I live. All that, together with the personal development to which I have referred elsewhere is what makes it continue to appeal to me and what makes me want to share it with others.”

Being a member of Rotary has given Gordon untold opportunities to put his faith and personal ethos into action. They have ranged from helping manhandle a new organ up to the loft in Dalmeny Church to working with the Rwandan Government to transition orphans into families and communities.

“Through Rotary, I have carried out humanitarian work in South Africa, Kenya and especially in Rwanda,” he says.

I think it is in everyone’s nature to be caring and to want to help make things better for other people – this nature might be more apparent in some than others, but I am convinced it is there.

“Working alongside the charity, Hope and Homes for Children, I have spent time in Rwanda working with the orphans of the 1994 Genocide and HIV/AIDS. I first went there in 2004 when I was the incoming President of Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland to establish a project known as ‘Rotary’s Africa Hope’ which helped support child headed households through education towards a sustainable future.

“Hope and Homes for Children has been operating in Rwanda since 2002. Since 2010 it has been supporting the Government of Rwanda in the eradication of institutions throughout the country and on the development of a national child protection system that minimises family separation and provides family-based alternatives when necessary.

“Over the last seven years, working closely with the Government of Rwanda, it has helped build a strong national social workforce, assisted with the closure of 13 orphanages across the country including Rwanda’s oldest and largest institution Orphelin at Noel de Nyundo and helped transition over 1,300 children into families and communities. It achieved this through the development of a range of communitybased services including eight community hubs, 175 child development networks and the development of family-based services like foster care and community-based living for children and people with special needs. In total it has successfully worked with over 55,000 children and their families and is currently in the process of closing one further orphanage.

“Over the years, over 13,300 participants benefited from training programmes across Rwanda, and were equipped with the knowledge and skills to support the deinstitutionalisation process.

“In Rwanda, Hope and Homes for Children is working in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, UNICEF and other national partners, to ensure all children will be safely transitioned into families and communities with access to health, education and jobs. It will continue working closely with the government and civil society in the development of policy, service standards and national action plans to underpin and consolidate reform of the child protection system.

“In South Africa, in a project which was also part of ‘Rotary’s Africa Hope’, I have also worked with orphans of HIV/AIDS to help them in a similar manner to that in Rwanda.

“I have travelled to Kenya on a number of occasions and have worked with the Gloag Foundation at Kenya Children’s Home in Nairobi where the Rotary Club of which I am a member, South Queensferry, refurbished the children’s nursery and sent a team out to redecorate some of the residential accommodation.

“Internationally, in addition to the work I have done in Africa, I have had close involvement with Rotary’s Polio Eradication campaign. Rotary is the driving force behind efforts to eradicate polio. With our partners, we have achieved a 99.9 percent reduction in polio, with just five cases of wild polio reported in 2021 compared with 350,000 a year in the late 1980s. Members of Rotary have contributed over $2.2 bn to protect nearly three billion children from this paralysing disease and with the infrastructure we have helped create to end polio, we have built a lasting global health legacy that is now being used to protect millions of people from other diseases – including Covid-19.

“Most recently, not long before the pandemic struck, I travelled to Kenya again to volunteer with the Nyumbani Trust, as part of a North East Scotland

Rotary, led initiative, where I carried out dental screening in Nyumbani Village, a self-sustaining eco-village in the district of Kitui, which has been purpose-built to provide homes and full supporting services for destitute grandparents and their dependent grandchildren.”

But it’s not all been overseas travel for Gordon, and he feels that the work Rotary does ‘at home’ is every bit as important.

“Locally, the Rotary Club of South Queensferry raised over £1m over the past ten years or so, through its annual abseil from the Forth Bridge. As part of Rotary’s work with youth, I was able to help establish a ‘Young Musician and Young Singer of the Year’ competition which has grown to be a national event, giving school students the opportunity to perform and challenge themselves, and improve their performing skills. Many of the former winners of the competition have gone on to become professional musicians, some performing on the world stage. A number of years ago, I was part of ‘The Auld Alliance Challenge’ which saw two cars leave South Queensferry one morning in November and, whilst one headed north to visit as many distilleries as possible in five days, the other headed south to the Beaujolais region of France to bring back a quantity of Beaujolais Nouveau wine. On our return to Edinburgh, the whisky and wine was auctioned to raise money for the Sick Kids Appeal, to improve facilities in the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

“My late father died suddenly and unexpectedly in church, of a heart attack at the age of 56 in 1985. At the time, it was recognised that had equipment such as a debrillator been available, he might have survived. On a national level, whilst President of Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland, was able to lead an initiative to provide defibrillators in public places.

Many Rotary Clubs throughout Great Britain and Ireland provided defibrillators in public places and I am delighted that many lives have been saved as a result.”

Gordon and Heather fulfilled a lifelong ambition to relocate to the Scottish Borders when Gordon retired from full-time practice in 2017. They settled in Yetholm.

“There is a real sense of community here and the way we have been welcomed us into the village, and into Cheviot Churches where we now worship, has been one of the great benefits of our move. Whether incomers like ourselves or people who have been here for generations, everyone cares for each other – something that has been brought home to us all over the course of the past two years with the various restrictions placed on us all by the pandemic.