"I always thought that Ethelred the Unready had the best moniker of any medieval Monarch. But the satire of the nickname is lost in the translation from the old English.
Red, meant counselled or giving counsel, hence Alfred, means advised by Elves or giving advice to elves.
In any event Ethelred was traditionally thought of as one of England’s worst kings because he even didn’t listen to advice or was poorly advised.
I have been recently struck by how many of our leaders at the moment make a point of saying that they are following the best possible advice. Which makes you wonder what sort of advice they usually take.
Rotary has a long tradition of providing mentors and thus some good counsel. Pertinent examples being our mentoring in the Police and Ambulance services and our involvement with the Brotherhood’s stepping stones programme. Rotary Melbourne has just started involvement with a new endeavour with the Placement Circle supporting peer mentors for migrant/refugee women going into post-secondary education. But there have been others.
For such good counsel and wisdom of our members I am thankful."
