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The Loading Party	Bob Parfitt's contribution	White Board and Basketball
Books	Yes John - more books	Keep going with the books
We decided to leave Sasha to it ...	... while Tony and David chatted ...	... and we ate the bacon butties
Nearly full	Closing Up	Ready to go

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• Another excellent display of youth talent, all participants contributed to a most enjoyable display of confidence, presentation skills, with a varied and interesting range of topics, unfortunately there has to be winners : -
• Seniors - winners John Fernley C. speaking on 'Freedom and the Right to Vote', team of Antony Walker(chair), Kimberley Anderson (speaker), and Amiee Barratt (vote of thanks)
• Seniors - runners-up KEV11 Interact team speaking on 'Generation 'Y' is born', team of Jessica Wing (chair), Natalie Grindey (speaker), Ralph Hardisty (vote of thanks).
• Seniors - third place KEV11 team, speaking on 'Teenagers, Villains or Victims', team of Jessica Spencer(chair), Gemma Callaghan (speaker), and Lucy Starbuck (vote of thanks).
• Intermediates - winners Melton Young Farmers speaking on ' Archies Menagerie', team of Sarah Lovegrove (chair), Archie Herrick (speaker), and Charlotte Hammond (vote of thanks).
• The top photograph shows all contestants, plus adjudicators who were John Horn, Shirley Morley and Rhona Tomblin.
• Questionnaire and presenter of trophies was David Ward.
• Joint Youth committee of organisers  with Linda Moore as MC, Humphrey Davis timekeeper, Eric Sylt, Brian Sollitt and Jenny Foreman supporting.

Thanks are owed to the adjudicators, organisers, and above all to the participants who showed just what talent exists in our town.

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To summarise the results:

• Ladies outright winner, and overall fourth place -  Jenny Howling.
• Prone or Bench, First - Gavin Howling 98, equal Second James Green and John Dehnel 97.
• Standing Lightweight Sports Rifle, First - Phil Bendall 156, Second - Gavin Howling 149, Third - David Ward 148.

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Our speaker at the Melton Rotary Club's meeting on 21st September was Roger Outram, the Eastern Regional Co-ordinator for Shannon Trust.

Roger became involved with Shannon Trust, following his retirement as a Prison Governor in some of the country's toughest establishments. He explained that Shannon Trust runs the Toe by Toe Reading Plan, an award winning mentoring programme, which encourages and supports prisoners who can read to give one to one tuition to prisoners who struggle to or who cannot read.  In 2008, it provided resources to teach over five thousand new learners in prison.

He went on to describe how Shannon Trust works with prisons to set up and maintain the Toe to Toe reading plan. They do this by supplying prisons with:

• Trained volunteers to help staff and prisoners set up and maintain a reading plan that is tailored to the needs of the specific establishment
• Copies of the Toe to Toe reading manual to every learner and every prisoner involved in mentoring others
• Promotional resources to raise awareness and attract new Learners
• On going support

The aims of the Shannon Trust is to

• To engage EVERY non- reading prisoner early in their sentence
• To support the prison staff to run the Toe by Toe reading plan in EVERY prison and Young Offenders institution in the UK
• To promote the benefits of peer –mentoring in prisons

Shannon Trust recognises that:

• Without the ability to read, it is almost impossible for prisoners to take the positive steps necessary to address their offending behaviour; or to engage in the further learning and training that they need to acquire employment skills in order to lead fulfilled and pro social lives
• Many prisoners have had negative past experiences of learning, and are therefore reluctant to engage with the formal learning opportunities available within prisons.  Those with poor reading skills in prison are the most difficult group to reach

Shannon Trust provides both the Mentor and Learner with a copy of the Toe by Toe reading manual.  The manual helps Learners to develop the skills they need to decode written words using phonetics.

A Mentor may have more than one or more Learners and will meet each for just 20 minutes daily, 5 times a week.  Together they will work through the phonetics exercises and record progress using the grid system in the manual.

The club were all impressed with the approach and the outcomes described by Roger.  We wish them well in their endeavours in a vitally important field.

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John O'Groats - Its a long way from here	Berriedale Braes - I remember this from last time - big big hills	Dornoch - The end of day 1 only 9 to go

Fine way to spend a birthday -  climbing hills out of Cromarty Firth	How on earth am I supposed to hold this - please don't light the candles	I've been having nightmares about climbing Slochd Summit

Never ending Shap - wish the wind was helping	In Devon, the suns come out at last - thought I'd never get the shorts on

Hope this is at last  the final climb	Still some power in the legs  -  Lands End here we are!	Does this jersey mean I've got to start again

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On Saturday 26^th September an inaugural showcase concert was presented by the town’s two Rotary clubs as a big thank you to those young people who, in the previous twelve months, had entered and achieved success in the wide variety of Rotary competitions on offer annually. Monies made on the evening will be used to fund the coming year’s youth opportunities programme.

The large and enthusiastic audience was enthralled by singers and instrumentalists who performed to the very highest standards.  In addition presentations were made to:

• Sophie Gowans, on behalf of the winning King Edward 7^th School Youth Speaks team (Sophie Gowans, Beth Cortese and Katie Hale).
• Winner of the Young Designer competition (Krishan Patel).
• Georgina Roberts Senior Solo Vocal Winner, Young Vocalist - District Final and RIBI Multi-District Finalist
• Last year’s Interact club president Sioni Platts-Kilburn received a presidential citation for the community work done by the club under his leadership.  This Rotary sponsored club, for fourteen to eighteen year olds, is based at the King Edward 7^th School.

Highlight of the evening was a rapturously received performance, by the Youth Group of the Melton Musical Theatre Company, of excerpts from their recent, highly successful production of Les Miserables.  Following their performance a memento and Rotary community achievement award was presented to their musical director Sandra Tebbutt

To complete a thoroughly entertaining evening Sheila Aston a prominent, local music teacher and an organiser of the evening was presented with a Paul Harris Fellowship, Rotary’s highest accolade. This award was made to Sheila, a non Rotarian, in recognition of her long and enthusiastic service promoting and supporting music in both Melton and the Rotary District over many years.

Past District Governor Ian Vernon with Sioni Kilburn-Platts	Presidents Tony Wallis and David Ward with Sandra Tebbutt and some the Youth Group of the Melton Musical theatre Company	Presidents Tony Wallis and David Ward with Sheila Aston

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A further 118 ShelterBoxes have arrived in the Philippines as ShelterBox continues to help people rebuild their lives after Typhoon Morakot.

An initial 224 ShelterBoxes arrived in the country in the immediate aftermath of the typhoon. They were sent to provide emergency shelter for close to 2,000 people who lost their homes when a 1km section of the 5km Bucao Dike collapsed.

The initial ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Peter Pearce (AU) and Ross Mackenzie (NZ) were joined by Lizzy Treglown (UK) and Denise Ho (USA) last week. With the help of the local government, the Philippine Army, the police, the Red Cross, local Rotarians and local students the team set up the first ShelterBox camp.

After identifying the need for more ShelterBoxes, the team requested a further consignment be sent. They specifically requested eight ‘Classroom in a Box’ boxes as many schools were also destroyed when the dike collapsed. The 110 ShelterBoxes and 8 Classrooms in a Box arrived in the Philippines at the weekend.

The ShelterBoxes were packed and shipped from ShelterBox HQ in Helston, Cornwall, UK with Tony Treglown, Lizzy Treglown’s father, joining the team of volunteers to help pack the boxes that were met by his daughter in the Philippines.

On Monday, August 24 SRT members Lizzy Treglown and Denise Ho met Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who was visiting the affected area where ShelterBox tents have been set up.

Lizzy said: ‘We met the president briefly this morning and talked with her about ShelterBox. The local government have been a great help, the locals have cleared a large area of land for us, they’ve brought earth to fill in holes and raise some of the land for the tents.’

SRT member Ross Mackenzie has now returned to New Zealand but SRT member Hans Van Dyk (AU) has joined up with the rest of the team.

http://www.shelterbox.org/news_article.asp?id=156

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• At the same meeting a new member Chris Muris a Solicitor from Whissendine was inducted into the Club.
• The Club's programme for the coming year will be a mixture of Local and International projects, with a variety of fund raising events - the first of which the CiCLE Cycling Challenge took place on 12th July 2009, and raised over £2000, this was reported in Melton Times on  23rd July 2009.
• Other Fund raising events will include:-
• Musical Spectacular of talented young musicians on 26th September at Baptist Church.
• Golf day, Burn's Night, Race night, Quiz nights, themed events.
• Service projects for the year, many organised jointly with the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray Belvoir, will range from:-
• Youth Opportunities, in Young Chef, Musician, Photographer, Writer, Designer, Youth Speaks 
• Development of Interact Club for 14 - 18 year olds, with a BBQ and open evening at Twin Lakes on 10th July 2009.
• Local Community projects of Christmas parcels for elderly, Flowering bulbs for the blind, Kids day out at Wicksteed park, Stroke Awareness.
• International projects a few examples, such as sending a container of redundant school equipment to Cebu in Philippines, collection of redundant spectacles for reuse, and the Polio challenge of Polio eradication supported by our local fund raising efforts and the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

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Post-Convention Fly-Around of the UK, June-July 2009

What a wonderful example of Rotary Fellowship!  As a new member of IFFR and a relatively new pilot I was delighted at the immediate friendship and support that prevailed throughout the IFFR group at the post-convention fly-around of the UK.

We next met on Thursday 25^th June in Coventry airport and (as was to be the case several times during the fly-around) drank several coffees while waiting for the skies at our destination to clear.  Eventually we were on our way and, being in my local area, I was able to route overhead my home in Saxby and show Tom some of the classic English countryside around that area.

A straightforward flight up the River Trent to the Humber and towards York kept us out of the Doncaster airspace, into the Church Fenton MATZ, and we had plenty of the 3000m runway to spare as we landed at Elvington AD.  The base was home to RAF Halifax bombers and the Free French Air Force in the Second World War, and was designated by NASA in its list of possible landing sites for the space shuttle – so we felt in good company.

The event was not just about flying from A to B.  At every opportunity the IFFR committee had made sure that there was interest on the ground too.  At Elvington we visited the aircraft museum, with a wide mix of war-birds and aviation history.  And by now it was late final for lunch in the NAAFI.

Bus, hotel, dinner, prepare for tomorrow’s flying.

On Friday the weather over the Pennines up to the Lake District in the north-west looked flyable, so we set off, initially at about 1500 feet.  It soon became clear that passing close to the eastern edges of the RAF stations at Linton, Dishforth and Leeming we would be better at higher levels.  I was able to make use of the unique British IMC rating to climb above cloud for the transit over the Pennines.  There was much discussion in the plane and in the bar later about this sub-IR rating – not designed for take-off, flight and landing entirely in cloud, but certainly allowing us Brits to do any of those legally where safer flying is the result (albeit with more conservative minima than with a full IR rating).

The clouds cleared as we broke into what we were later informed by incoming IFFR president James Alexander is “God’s own country”, and Tom and I were both able to see the delights of Lakeland flying (my first time, although I have tried and been defeated by the weather a number of times before).

 I was most impressed by the idea of parking the planes in the pub car park.

I concluded later that afternoon that it was our good fortune that the weather closed in.  We all had such enormous lunches that we would all have challenged our weight and balance calculations on take off.  The coach back to York was the safer option, and allowed a few Lakeland beers to be sampled before departure.

 I’ll leave our visitors from overseas to comment on the delights of York that we saw on the Saturday - the Minster, the Jorvik Centre and the railway museum each showed some of what Britain’s heritage has to offer.

By Sunday the flyers were ready for some more, and coached back to Kilbride.  Again the weather cleared just as we broached the top of the Pennines into Cumbria, much to James’ delight.  As there was no fuel at Kilbride (other than some very dirty-looking diesel at the truck pull taking place on the edge of the airfield) hasty calculations led many to plan re-fuelling stops; the next leg to Caernarfon and Gloucester looked a challenge.  Tom and I planned a stop at Manchester Barton, but 20 miles north of there the strength of the Grob team’s thinking skills came through.  We realised, and double-checked each other’s calculations, that we could make it to Caernarfon with just one hour’s fuel to spare.  So a quick right turn took us over the Liverpool docks – again a first for the “local” boy (I will admit I’ve never even been to Liverpool on the ground) – and a flight along the north coast of Wales into Caernarfon.

Lunch here was rather late, but it was good to see everyone getting in to the AD safely having had good flights.  Again we were last in!  But we still had time to enjoy lunch and have a look around the small aviation museum there.  Saturday evening saw a beautiful flight down the Welsh coast and round to Gloucester.  The changing character of the British countryside held Tom in awe.  There’s no prairie farming in this part of the world!

Guess what Monday morning brought us.  That’s right: “Let’s wait and see if the weather will clear”.  And boy, did it clear.  But not until we approached Bodmin moor in a descending cloud base and ascending ground.  “Let’s get over this” – my IMC rating again came to the fore.  At FL50, just when thinking about how to let down for Perranporth I suddenly saw a break in the cloud and a large airport through the very first hole – we were overhead Newquay.  Within two minutes the clouds completely disappeared and we had a straight in approach from 5 miles into Perranporth.

The next part of our journey was the highlight of the fly-around for me and, I think, Tom.  The assembled crews piled into the coach for a visit to the Eden Centre horticultural displays.  Splendid though they are, Tom and I felt a flight over Land’s End and on to the Scilly Isles 25nm further on was a more attractive option.  So, although Perranporth had no fuel we realised we had enough for the flight.  The Scilly Isles comprise about 18 islands with one fixed wing AD, one heliport, and a number of harbours.  We had lunch in the sun overlooking the old town harbour on St. Mary’s, then a couple of hours to walk around the main island, round the headlands, into the town centre, and back to the plane.

A short flight back to Land’s End saw us overfly Svend Andersen’s plane rounding the headland below us after he had returned from the Eden Centre.  The stop for fuel had only one drawback – they refused to discount a hefty landing fee even though we took on a minimum-to-full-tanks load of fuel.

The south coast east from Land’s End is glorious, so we could not miss the opportunity to fly, often at some quite low levels, to see the beauties of the Cornish coast, Dartmouth, the Jurassic Coast, and many others.  A quick diversion inland by couple of miles allowed us to overfly the Eden Centre – so we didn’t miss out entirely. 

Things were rather quiet on our arrival back at Gloucester, other than my mobile phone beeping to tell me Rodney was looking for assurance we were safely back (we were very last this time!).  A feature of the whole event was the care for a safe fly-around shown by all the organisers.

Tuesday was a second break day from flying, and we took the coaches to Bristol.  The SS Great Britain display has developed way beyond how it was when I saw it 20 years ago, and remains as impressive as ever.  Having professional guides to various sites such as the Clifton suspension bridge adds a lot of colour even to those who’ve seen it all before.

After sightseeing at Portsmouth, a landing at Goodwood took us to another lunch in the sun.

From Goodwood eastwards there seemed to be a stack of IFFR aircraft at about 5 different levels at one stage, all heading over Shoreham AD and towards Beachy Head.  We took the route from the Detling beacon up the Thames past the QE2 Bridge, with sights of Canary Wharf before we had to skirt around the City and Stansted Airport zones, overhead Duxford into Cambridge.  We weren’t last this time (but those we beat did try to claim they’d stopped for tea with friends on the way).

By this time we were all getting a bit bored of our aircraft, so the IFFR team arranged for us all to fly up to Gamston, near Nottingham, to place orders for our club fleet of Diamond DA40s.  I trust everyone did sign the order forms before departure – the next IFFR fly-in will be an impressive sight if so.  Various routes were taken home; Michael Graves and I (Tom had deserted me in favour of spending his 49^th wedding anniversary with Anna) took in the famous English seaside resort of Skegness, over the Wash (carefully avoiding the bombing range danger areas), and overhead the north Norfolk coast before heading south to Cambridge.  I had been doing well with the radio calls to then, but was glad to have an interpreter when we flew over Lakenheath – a US airbase.  I absolutely could not tell whether the instruction was to remain clear of their MATZ, or that MATZ penetration had been approved.  Michael came to my assistance, and we were able to descend into Cambridge through their MATZ.

Friday the 3^rd was the third and last day off from flying.  We all went into Cambridge where guided tours had been laid on in the morning; even those who had connections in Cambridge learnt much from the guides.  We managed to avoid having anyone fall into the Cam during the punting in the afternoon.

The whole event was brought to a splendid close on the Friday evening when those participating in the fly-around, many who had been at the first Sunday dinner, and several more members and friends of the IFFR met for dinner at Jesus College.  The fellowship was great after so many exploits together.  Herman Hassinger reminded us of the highlights if the tour in what I understand is a traditional poetic offering.  And of course thanks were given by all to the organisers, primarily by Colin, Ian, Rodney and John, but assisted by a good number of others at the various points on route.  I should like to add my thanks, as the newbie, for a truly memorable 10 days.  All we need now is some even newer members (but don’t tell them until the end that it is down to them to write up the trip for the bulletin!)

On the Saturday coaches and planes departed in all directions, with friendships made and renewed.

John Dehnel

[Photos all courtesy of Tom Johnston]

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Visit to Lee-on-Solent, May 2009

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On 15th May the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray and the Melton Round Table came together for the first time for an event of this nature, Melton Rotary Club being the oldest and the reconstituted Round Table the youngest service clubs in the area.

In spite of the adverse weather conditions, particularly in the morning, the event was a success with over 80 golfers from across the county taking part in a Betterball Stapleford competition for teams of two for the Keith Shortland trophy.  The competition was extremely close with three teams on 40 points vying for first place.  The winners, on count back, were Hugh Middleton and Marcus Twidale from Melton Round Table.  They were presented with the trophy by Mrs Janet Shortland.  In second place were Sean Keegan and Tim Redman, both from Stoke Rochford Golf Club.  Third placed were Suri Gudka and Ramesh Solanki from the Humberstone Golf Club.  The fourth place went to Pramod Shah and Dhiru Popat again from Humberstone Golf Club. 

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The final of Rotary District 1070's Young Musician of the Year Festival took place on the 3rd May at the Melton Theatre. The audience was treated to a feast of good music across the age ranges, with all the musicians performing showing amazing talent.

Congratulations to Georgina Roberts, who won the Senior Solo Vocal section and also took the title as overall solo vocalist.  Georgina will now go on to represent Rotary District 1070 (broadly, the East Midlands) at the Britain and Ireland multi-district final in Chelmsford Cathedral on 30th May.

Entrants  to the District 1070 final each played in front of an audience numbering up to 360.  They each performed at least two pieces of varied style, and of a length depending on their age group (Junior 4 minutes, Intermediate 6 minutes, and Senior 8 minutes). They were judged by expert adjudicator Alijch Blackett-Howe.  When the results were announced the Melton Mowbray Rotary Club was delighted that Georgina , one of the competitors entered by the club, did so well. She sang Boublil and Shonberg's "I'd Give My Life For You" and  Loesser's "Adelaide's Lament" - both songs that the adjudicator pointed out are difficult songs to sing so well.

Well done Georgina.

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Anne’s visit notes.

The Filipinos certainly put the flags out for us. From the Philippine flag waved during their national anthem and played on numerous occasions during our visit, the Rotary welcome banners hanging outside every project venue, through to the patrol flags of the newly formed scout troop for street children. Our group of 6 Rotarians and 2 spouses were given a rapturous welcome at every opportunity and our leader, John Dehnel, was promoted to “Sir” and afforded royal treatment. Abundant supplies of delicious food awaited us everywhere we went so our waistlines were under pressure the whole trip…..well it would have been rude to refuse, would it not?

After a brief stop in Manila to see the sights of Intramuros, we arrived in Cebu city, where we joined with representatives of District 3860 who were welcoming a GSE team from the USA. Beverley Hills Community Centre (yes there really is a Beverley Hills in Cebu) was an appropriate venue! The next morning we ignored our jet lag and visited Sister Anne at the Blessed Sacrament aid centre situated in the middle of the slums around the port area. We were humbled by this modest woman, who with the support of Rotary, a skeleton staff and some volunteers was running an amazing operation: feeding over 1200 malnourished children every day, caring for young children in a nursery so that their mothers could learn to sew and ultimately earn a living, providing therapy for severely disabled children and running not one but two schools covering classes for underprivileged children as well as children with autism and Downs syndrome. There was even a computer room for teenagers who had dropped out of school for alternative learning with a view to reintegrating them into the school system. Sister Anne seemed to take everything in her stride, even the ten muggings she has been subjected to. How could we not offer to help her?

Our deputation attended a lunch meeting for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between District 3860, PRISM (Private Sector Mobilisation for Family Health),Phil Health, US Aid and the Association of Midwives with the purpose of reducing infant and maternal mortality. Every day 12 mothers die in childbirth in the Philippines. Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray was asked to officially witness the agreement.

The second ultrasound machine had been shipped to Bohol Island and we followed it by ferry with some trepidation after the experience in Lapu Lapu. We needn’t have worried; the machine worked a treat and scans by sonographer Kathryn revealed two healthy babies. One was definitely a girl and the other kept his or her legs tightly together…. to be revealed at birth. The welcome given to us at Tubigon, Bohol, both by the newly formed Rotary club and the midwives, was second to none, and we witnessed a very tearful thank you speech from Corazon Paras, head of the midwives association, for the help given to the clinics by Melton Mowbray

The slowest ferry imaginable took us to our next stop, our third island, Southern Leyte. We were privileged to be invited to the 3rd. Anniversary Commemoration of the Guinsaugon landslide in which 2000 people were buried and died in 2006. After the memorial service many people crossed over the river, wading through the water to Ground Zero. Here a stainless steel monument inscribed with all 2000 names was blessed by the Archbishop of Maasin. The scarred landscape loomed as a backdrop to the ceremonies and served as a reminder of the harsh reality of what had taken place at that same moment exactly three years before. The fortitude of the people in the St. Bernard region in which the village of Guinsaugon once stood was very evident, and we were all struck by the fervent will to rebuild and move forward from the horror of what had happened. However nothing could have prepared us for the courage shown by a group of orphans from Guinsaugon who performed the finale of the day: an outdoor re-enactment of the landslide and the ensuing horrors of the aftermath and the two and a half years in the evacuation centre. We were in awe of these children and there wasn’t a dry eye in the group. We will do what we can to help them and the whole school system which has emerged run by a group of dedicated hard working women, very worthy of our support.

Visits to the midwives clinics and community hospital in St. Bernard brought our trip to a close. The staff at all of them were truly grateful for the beds and supplies which had been sent from Melton Mowbray previously, shortly after the disaster, and were proud to show us the beds from St. Mary’s hospital being fully utilised. They had prepared simple hand written lists of the most basic supplies which they couldn’t get, and which hopefully we can do something about.

A very memorable trip, charged with emotion, and a truly humbling experience.

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Georgina Roberts	Clariti	Ellie Slorach
Lucas Ward	Flora Slorach	Jennifer Greene
Gaddesby School Choir

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If you have other club news you would like included here, please let John Dehnel know:

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