Click
on the link in this list to
view the News Item, which are in
date order, most recent
first. (Note: older items have been moved to the "History" page - click here)
Melton Tigers Celebrate Our
Community and Vocational Committee and Ladies in Rotary teamed up to
organise a surprise 70th Birthday Tea Party for John Hack at the King
Edward V11 School on Friday 5th March 2010.
The party was a result of a request by John's daughter-in-law, to help
in recognising the work John puts into organising the Tigers Club, a
group of disabled adults that meet weekly in the school to play a range
of games including carpet bowls, soft darts, pool, table games etc. The
group who were very appreciative of the evening tucked into food and
drink provided and served by members of our Community and Vocational
committee and Ladies in Rotary.
Photo's show: -
o John Hack mid-puff blowing out birthday cake
candles.
o Tigers Club in full flow tucking into food and drink
o Servers for the event plus John's daughter-in-law
Linda
Long Field School
Year 7s Raise Money for a Shelter Box
Long Field
School's year 7 pupils were concerned by the stories coming from Haiti
following the recent terrible earthquake, so decided to raise money to
help. They did fantastically well with a wide range of fund
raising efforts among their friends and families,
including selling cakes, lollipops, filling in the white of a
Union Jack with coins and many, many other novel ideas. Rotary
International has sent well over 10,000 Shelter Boxes to Haiti to help
the displaced families to re-establish some sort of a normal life.
The Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray were delighted on 26th February
2010 to be presented with a cheque from the pupils for £423.31
which, with some
other small donations we have received from other kind donors, will
pay the £490 needed to send another Shelter Box to people
affected by natural disasters.
A Shelter Box contains all the
living needs for a family of 10 people - including tent, cooking
equipment and eating utensils, water purification equipment, carpentry
tools, waterproof clothing, blankets, and even colouring books and
crayons for the children.
Indian Evening in aid of
the End Polio Now campaign
As part of the "Thanks for Life - End Polio Now" campaign across the
UK, three of the Rotary Clubs in Melton and Rutland combined in a
"Bollywood Evening" at the The Dining
Room Indian
restaurant in Oakham. 55 members and friends of the three clubs
enjoyed a
wonderful meal and great fellowship, also raising over £500
towards the eradication of polio. Many thanks to Amin, the
proprietor of the restaurant and his staff, for looking after us all so
well.
Thanks
for Life, End Polio Now
To promote Rotary's campaign to "End Polio Now" the two rotary clubs in
Melton Mowbray rented a stall at the Melton market on 23rd February.
This gave us the opportunity to tell people about the campaign
and how close we are to achieving the goal of eradicating polio
world-wide for ever. We also took the chance to publicise
the work we do with Shelter Boxes, Aquaboxes, and other Rotary
programmes such as ICE.
Anthony
Smith - Our club's Group Study Exchange delegate to the Philippines Anthony
Smith one of the delegates for the 2010 District 1070 GSE team to the
Philippines made an excellent presentation to the Club on 8th February
2010 covering his qualifications, vocational training and experiences.
The enthusiasm and presence of Anthony throughout the
presentation fully justified the Club's nomination and sponsorship for
a place in the GSE team.
Anthony
will be joined by three other delegates, all female, plus team
leader Mike Brearley on their trip leaving at the end of the week for
some 4 weeks in Philippines. This is a return visit as the
Philippine team visited our District 1070 in Sept/Oct of 2009.
President David on behalf of the club presented Anthony with 12
Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray banners and a cheque to value of
£100 to assist in his expenses possibly for gifts to be given to
host families etc. All members of the Club wished Anthony every
success in this unique opportunity and adventure, and hoped that he and
the rest of the team would visit R. C. of Melton Mowbray on their
return to present their experiences.
Induction
of new member, Julia Hinde, 8th February 2010 The Rotary
Club of Harpenden acted as the formal proposer for Rtn. Julia Hinde to
be transferred as a member of their Club to that of the Rotary Club of
Melton Mowbray. However President David requested that the honour
of proposal and of induction be his, with due justification in that
Julia's father, Rex Barber, a long serving member of our Club,
introduced President David into our Club for the first time in the
early 1980's. Julia's mother Joyce also participates in the
activities of Rotary, through Ladies in Rotary, and other social events
of our Club.
Rtn.
Julia has recently moved back into the area, now living in Burton
Lazars. Julia will initially join the ComVoc committee, but has
in the recent past been involved with many Youth projects in her
Harpenden Club.
All Club members extend their best wishes to Julia in her relocation
and membership of our 'family'.
Youth
Speaks Melton’s
two Rotary Clubs sponsored three teams in this year’s Rotary
Youth Speaks competition.
The local heat was held in November 2009 with the winners and
runners-up in the intermediate and senior sections taking part in the
district semi-finals in January and February 2010 at the Walton
Girls’ School in Grantham.
Melton Young Farmers were the representative team in the intermediate
section, ably coached by Emma Lovegrove, a past winner of the
competition. They were by far the youngest team in the semi-final and
although they didn’t progress any further in the competition,
they will have learnt a great deal from the experience, especially if
they choose to compete again next year.
King Edward VII / Interact team, and the John Ferneley College team
participated in the senior competition and were supported and trained
by Kathryn Bloodworth and Jon Beaver respectively.
Young Farmers
John Ferneley College
King Edward VII / Interact
The standard of public speaking in this year’s senior semi-final
was very high, and although neither team made it through to the
district final they acquitted themselves very well, speaking on the
Nineties v The Noughties and Freedom and Responsibilities.
All the teams deserve much respect and also to be congratulated for
speaking so confidently and with such aplomb to a critical audience of
adults.
Linda Moore, Eric Sylt
Burns'
Night Celebrations Another
excellent night of fun and
fellowship was enjoyed by 65 members, friends and guests at a Burns'
Night
dinner held on the 23rd January 2010 at Sysonby Knoll hotel, who again
royally hosted the
event with traditional Burns' fare, ambiance and genial
hospitality.
Thanks to Ben and Claire Abbott, along with Club Service team for the
planning
and organising of the occasion.
Members
and friends of our Club were
joined by guests of Sysonby Knoll, plus a group from Melton Round
Tablers,
to a most enjoyable evening celebrating the Life and works of 'The
Scottish
Bard Robbie Burns', as well as raising approx £250 for Rotary
charities.
The event
packed evening included: -
Bagpipes
played throughout the evening by 'Champion Piper Bill', who explained
the reason for pipers keeping walking around - to get away from the
noise!
Malt whiskey
tasting, quiz on Robbie Burns, 'heads and tails quiz, raffle.
Elegance
beyond imagination from Gavin, Haggis, and piper Bill in Piping in,
addressing and then decimating the haggis. (see photo)
Three
representative Scots from the club (see photo), plus honorary Scots
lass, presided over: -
Selkirk
Grace, with true sartorial aplomb - Bill Glancy.
Immortal
memory, with compassion for times gone - Bob McCord
Toast to
the Laddies, with subtlety and care - Jane Horn
Toast to
the Lassies, with true feeling - Duncan Manderson
A most
enjoyable event, achieving
all objectives set for the evening, Fun, Celebration of Burns, Raising
cash for
charities, allowing Scots in Club at least once a year a bit of freedom
to show
off their heritage.
Christmas
Food Parcels for the Older Needy People of Melton Four local organisations
participated both financially and physically in the annual food parcel
project for the elderly needy of Melton, with over 500 parcels of food
items being delivered on Monday 14th December 2009 as a
result.
The four organisations contributing some £550 each plus many
manhours of labour and organisation in the project are : -
Rotary
Club of Melton Mowbray.
Rotary
Club of melton Mowbray Belvoir
Melton
Lions and Phoenix Lions
Barnes
Trust
The
financial contributions were complemented by food collections at both
Tesco's and Morrison's during the Friday and Saturday.
We thank the shoppers of Melton for buying that one extra
item to put in our collection trollies - they make so much difference
at this time of year. The purchased and donated produce was
sorted, stacked and packed ready for delivery over the same weekend.
This very rewarding project and worthwhile project has been undertaken
for about 28 years, with Mike Pell (Lions), being the organiser for the
last 20 years.
All
the Service organisations involved are extremely grateful to the two
supermarkets Tesco's and Morrison's who allow the collection of food
products in their stores for this event.
Flower
Bulbs for Blind People In the lead up to Christmas
the President of the club,
David Ward, and other members (Pam Wiggins, Bill Glancy) presented
approximately 35 pots of hyacinths to the Vista group for the Blind,
and their helpers, on 10th December 2009 at Gloucester House.
The bulbs, pots, compost and moss were obtained by Pam Wiggins from a
variety of sources, including generous sponsorship from Gates' Garden
Centre, Market Overton. Pam spent a happy evening earlier in
the
week potting up the plants. While the presentation was going
on
the ladies at Vista found Pam a job to do so as to re-soften her hands
after her unaccustomed manual toil.
Christmas
Tree Display in St. Mary's Church The Rotary Club of Melton
Mowbray displayed a Christmas Tree
with “Rotary Activities” as the theme at the 2009
annual St
Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival which was held between
4th
and 8th December 2009.
Pam Wiggins, Kate Theobald, Adrienne Holland, Wendy Davies, John and
Jane
Horn all contributed towards getting everything organised including
supplying the tree, tables, lights etc. and the artistic talents of all
the helpers who made the decorations, obviously learnt from watching
Blue Peter in their youth.
Many people from far and wide visited the festival and we hope that we
have managed to let people know what Rotary is all about.
Izaak
Walton Visit 2009 Another
enjoyable weekend on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border in Dove Dale
was had by several members of the club in early December 2009,
including a super walk on the Saturday morning followed by a compulsory
visit to the local pub.
Philippines
Aid Container The Melton Rotary Club was
pleased to dispatch another container
of goods to our friends in the central Philippines today, the 2nd
December. In exactly one month's time the Rotarians in Cebu
should be receiving a large quantity of clothing and assorted medical,
educational and other equipment for them to distribute to hospitals,
health centres, schools and many other projects that they
support
in their district.
A major reorganisation of schooling in Melton means that the secondary
schools are disposing of computers, books (school text books
including sets of encyclopaedias and some hymn books), classroom
furniture, science equipment (including microscopes) sports equipment
(gymnasium equipment including a pair of basketball nets and
backboards) and other items which are not apppropriate to the new
buildings and IT specifications. More sets of encyclopaedias
were
donated by the Leicester Mercury. A Melton primary school
which
was re-equipping let us have class-rooms' worth of infant-sized
chairs. The donations will all support education at
the
schools we visited in February where computers were non-existent or at
best very scarce, science equipment was scant, and books were fewer
that most of us have on the bookshelves in our living rooms.
Through our contacts across the East Midlands many Rotarians and Rotary
Clubs have donated other goods: more PCs, books, clothing
(especially children's clothes), folding chairs, children's
soft
toys and much more. We were fortunate to be given another
ultrasound scanner by a Rotarian in Bedford; she is a vet, and
they had an old but serviceable human-spec scanner no longer in use in
their surgery. Another Rotarian has a great variety of
sources of
aid materials, and was able to let us have, literally, pallet loads of
children's toothpaste kits complete with a tube of toothpaste and
brush; pencils and pens which can go to the schools; children's
clothes; antiseptic wipes which will be of enormous help in the health
centres. We have also sent a few more bicycles, many
unclaimed
from the police pound where they store stolen and recovered bikes.
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
We
are enormously grateful to all the
donors of what is going out to the Philippines.
Having
visited the Philippines as a club earlier in the year we know how
overwhelmed they will be by all you have given us.
So many
thanks to you all, too many to mention here. We also
are
very grateful to Tony and Sasha Lord, club members and also the owners
of PP Removals, without whom the storage of it all and the logistics of
the whole operation would not have been possible.
We are hoping to repeat this exercise in 2010, so please let us know if
you have any items at all similar that we could include in our next aid
container.
Addendum
3rd December: having
just listed out all the equipment we've sent, to ward the Filipinos
what's coming, I am including it here for the interst of all those who
helped us:
1. An ultrasound machine - a Hitachi (not
the same
model as the ones we sent last time, but suitable for pre-natal use)
complete with two probes (a linear 7.5MHz and a curved array 305MHz).
2. A single, very heavy box containing a
range of
medical (surgical, maybe laproscopic) instruments.
3. Disposable "wet wipes" - again,
another pallet
load. They should be useful in health centre and hospitals
4. Boxes of tooth care kits - packs with
a child's
toothbrush and tube of toothpaste - several thousand I imagine - a full
pallet load anyway. We remember well Jun taking us to a school where
the kids were being shown how to brush their teeth.
5. Computers (CPUs, monitors, etc) -
probably (at a
wild guess) about 60 CPUs and 60 monitors. Many of the CPUs
are
from the schools, where they've been used in the school
network.
They are not all that old - Windows XP era, and should work
fine.
There'll be many others of varying ages and states of
repair. There is at least one laptop (minus hard
drive
unfortunately); maybe more. We hope to send more laptops next
time. I've no idea what software they have
installed. There
are bundles of mice, keyboards, network cables, and other
bits,
Have fun sorting that lot out! I'd like to think that several
of
the computers can go to the schools in Leyte that we visited in
February (c/o Rico Rentuza and Jane Araneta) and in Boljoon and Granada
(c/o Antoinette Gould).
6. Some printers and other computer
peripherals
7. At least one TV (though it will be a
UK standard,
so not sure if it will function in the Philippines - apologies if not).
8. A fully working photocopier.
9. Small amount of gymnasium equipment
including a
pair of basketball nets and backboards. The basketball stuff
all
comes from a school gym - a complete, very professional looking set
up. It's in several pieces, so anything in the container that
is
a light blue piece of metal is probably part of it. There are
four sheets of board that all are part of it. And, of course,
two
hoops and baskets painted dark yellow.
10. Several boxes (maybe 40) of assorted
books
including secondary school text books, sets of encyclopaedias, some
hymn books. I'd like to think that a good lot of these can go
to
the schools in Leyte and Boljoon, as above.
11. Boxes of pens (1000 per box) - a
complete pallet
load
12. Some school science equipment (a few
boxes of
microscopes, a couple of boxes of chemistry lab equipment, and a few
boxes containing some sort of electrical meters - not sure what they
are for) - can some of this go to Leyte? Rico knows which
secondary school it was that we visited that particularly asked for
science equipment.
13. Several bundles of assorted clothing
- much of it
used to pack out the spaces in the container. Much of it is
children's clothing I believe.
14. Several Disney character soft toys -
for the
REACH school, perhaps?
15. Elementary school furniture (mainly
desks and
chairs for younger children) - about two classrooms' worth, I think
16. Folding chairs (adult size),
promotional items
from a pet food company near us
17. A few bicycles that we couldn't ship
last time
18. Some boxes, marked with a large red
"A", which
are Allan's and the rest of the GSE team's personal goods
Thank you to all who made such a wide range and large amount of stuff
available.
Youth
Speaks in Melton On
Saturday 21st November the young
people of Melton excelled themselves in the Youth Speaks competition
organised by the two Rotary Clubs in the town. President
David
Ward writes:
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.
Over
Christmas 2009, and with the kind help of Twinlakes'
family theme park, their polar bear is helping to raise funds to
support Rotary's challenge
to eradicate polio world-wide:
Remembrance
Day
The 8th of November 2009 was Remembrance Day. It was a bright
sunny day and drew the largest turn-out to the town parde that
the
President of the British Legion could remember for a long
time.
The Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray were represented by our
President David Ward and other members.
Our
President David Ward organised an
enjoyable evening's shooting at Holwell rifle club on 27th November
2009. 16 members of the club and friends & family
came along
and had good fun (and some success). It was all hosted by the
very hospitable members of the Holwell rifle club - thank you to them.
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.
Overall
winner, First - Gavin Howling 247, Second -
Phil Bendall 239, Third - John Dehnel - 232, Fourth - Jenny Howling 229.
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.
Melton
Victorious Again - "We blew them away" (from
our totally
unbiased captain)
Melton
Rotary
Club's under prepared, under pressure, Minor Sports team did
it
again, in a frankly breathtaking display of skill that left one of last
year's "semi finalists" reeling. In a classic Minor Sports
confrontation on 15th October 2009 the Melton team, despite all the
injury worries & last minute withdrawals, had the look
of a
hungry team & gelled well from the outset. Watch out
the more
established prima donnas, they may well find there places up for grabs.
The usually slow starting Melton team got off to a flyer with
the
first round of conkers going to Big Ben in a matter of minutes (about
20). There followed some grimly determined bouts with no
shortage
of flare & panache, the conkers round was all but conceded
before
the break, all the while the Pea shooting was ticking over nicely in
the background with the two sides fairly evenly matched ... Then came
the fireworks with Gattling Gavin Howling smashing Chris Muris' long
held lead with a astonishing display of power & accuracy which
I
feel finally broke the spirit of the Grantham team & buoyed the
rest of the home side - with the notable exception of the embattled
Captain whose form was once again less than impressive, apart from his
last gasp effort in the power play that could possibly have made a
difference.
Once again it must be noted that the President was spotted in the crowd
& when asked stated he & and the management had full
confidence
in the Captain...... we all know what that means!
So yes they did it again even after all the shenanigans &
boundary
changes during the closed season & with a laughable transfer
budget
compared to some of the nouveaux riches clubs out there, the Pork Pies
march on to the next round with a hopefully kinder draw for last year's
fighting finalists.
Until next time...... keep blowing, keep winning.
Thanks to all involved (especially Grantham Kesteven) for making this
such an enjoyable night of Fellowship.
The
81st Annual Conference of RI District 1070 was held over the weekend of
2nd to 4th October 2009 in Eastbourne.
The weather was kind, in that the rain was sparse, the temperatures
acceptable, the wind tolerable all but for those venturing along the
cliffs or attempting picnics on Beachy Head.
Melton fielded an intrepid 27 delegates, who contributed significantly
to the friendly aura that pervaded the formal and fellowship elements
of the conference. In a small way the team also helped to
alleviate stress on the shelves of many of the hostelries in the
vicinity.
Simon Weston OBE the keynote speaker was the Conference highlight, he
was outstanding with an inspirational and humorous talk, detailing his
physical and physiological challenges. Sample of his humour: -
• As a Youth I was not well
informed - more commonly known as 'Thick'
• I was not particularly
intelligent, I couldn't drive a tank, but I could carry one on my back.
The last speaker, Pat Langham OBE, Principal of Girls only Schools
spoke eloquently and humorously, on her perception of the many
differences between men and women. The talk was unfortunately riddled
with fact, mainly truthful, but given with a female perspective which
clearly nullifies the balance.
Highlight of the fellowship occurred at Gala dinner when a group of
disgruntled, late booking Clubs, obviously relegated to fringe tables
at the rear of the hall, attempted to storm those tables in better
positions. Their pathetic attempts at raids using long
balloons,
were soon put to nought by a well disciplined military march and rifle
display, in the manner of 'Sharpe's Chosen Men', by the Melton Team,
led by mercenary James Wiggins ex Grantham, and draftees from other
Clubs - see photo for those involved.
A great time was had by all involved.
We were lucky enough to have the GSE team from the Philippines staying
with around the time of conference, and took them down to Eastbourne
with us. They presented themselves, their home country and
their
vocations to all the conference delegates, finsihing with a traditional
Filipino dance:
...
and Back Again. Bob McCord Does it the Other Way.
Having
done Le JOG (the Lands End to John O’Groats cycle ride) in
September 2007 (see the story on our history page),
Melton
Rotary Club member Bob McCord decided to see if it was any easier the
other way. Read his story below:
"Some folk have a party to celebrate their 70th but I had this odd idea
that cycling John O’Groats to Lands End would be a good
notion
and a way of ignoring this milestone in my life!
Family and friends thought I was mad the first time so imagines their
reaction to this latest trip! So here are a few memories of the journey.
Training done in the rolling hills of Leicestershire and Rutland, Gill
and I set off for John O’Groats to start my ride on Sept
1st.Taking a slightly more direct route this time down the east coast
to the out skirts of Edinburgh across country to Lockerbie and from
there the A6, A49, A38, A30 - 891 miles in all.
Day one was windy but dry and I had forgotten the climbs that I was
going to encounter apart from the dreaded Berridale Braes and
Helmsdale. Head winds didn’t help.
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
Dornoch was lovely but uppermost in my mind was the climb out of
Inverness up to Slochd Summit – bad enough in a car but only
day 2 for
my legs was a tough task but achieved on my 70th birthday.
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
Rain, rain and more rain for the next section of the ride through what
would have been some of the most stunning scenery along the A9 and on
to Kinross where I arrived wet through - thanks to the
kindness
of the hotel owners my kit was all dried out for the next day. More
rain and flooded roads didn’t make life any easier but by the
time I got to Lockerbie conditions had improved a bit.
Lockerbie and south took in Shap Summit and more hard climbs
(definitely harder in this direction) pretty windy too but at least the
road was fairly quiet. It doesn’t help the moral or legs when
you
have to actually pedal down steep hills because of the head wind!
Never
ending Shap - wish the wind was helping
In
Devon, the suns come out at last - thought
I'd never get the shorts on
Down through Kendal and on to the busier stretch through Lancaster,
Preston, Wigan and Warrington, we were making progress but the weather
wasn’t improving much.
Southwards and on towards Gloucester and Bristol and probably the worst
piece of road for a cyclist – the A38 – it was good
to
leave that behind and head for Crediton and Okehampton to join the A30
for the last part of the ride.
Days 9 and 10 brought out the sun at last and certainly helped spur me
on. Devon and Cornwall have not got any flatter than the last time I
rode but at least the end was near and the spirits were rising. My team
car support and manager persuaded me to maybe add a half day to my
ambition of completing the ride in 10 days but the final day was going
so well that I decided to go for it. I had forgotten that the last 14
miles or so were very challenging!
Lands End almost in sight – 2 miles or so to go and a so far
the
incident free trip was almost put paid to by badly marked road humps
– despite almost taking off I managed to keep upright and
complete my journey in the time I had set myself. North to south is
definitely harder but End to End was achieved!
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
This will be my last big ride as my manager and support car driver
resigned as soon as I reached Lands End!
However I would like to say a big thank you to all who sponsored me,
spurred me on my way and helped me raise around £1600 for The
Prostate Cancer Charity."
Well
done Bob,
A splendid effort, both the ride and raising money
for such
a worthwhile cause. Are you sure cycling does not damage your
prostate?
On
Saturday 26th
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 7th
School Youth Speaks team (Sophie Gowans, Beth Cortese and Katie Hale).
Winner
of the Young Designer competition (Krishan Patel).
Georgina
RobertsSenior 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 7th
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
This ShelterBox aid is provided to the Botolan province, about 90 miles
north-west of Manila, so not directly affecting the areas our club
supports - but tragic nevertheless.
ShelterBox
Response Team meets Philippines' President
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.
The good news: 12th July 2009
saw a dry start to the
morning after heavy overnight rain
The less good news: the aftermath of the rain front was strong easterly
winds
Nevertheless, 150 cyclists gathered at the King Edward VII school to
undertake the Pork Pies and Pot Holes CiCLE Challenge, 2009, organised
by Colin Clews of the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray. The
following photos show scenes at the start:
and,
less fresh looking,
at the finish:
Many
thanks to Colin,
Ron, and the fund-raising team for a most enjoyable day out for all.
On Friday 10 July 2009 Melton
Interact hosted a barbecue
at
Twinlakes Adventure Park in Melton Mowbray, courtesy of Rotarian Phil
Bendall. Most of their current members attended plus a number of their
friends.
Members of Long Field School Council also attended. This group of young
people are considering the formation of a second Interact Club in the
town and the contact with Melton Interact helped to develop real
friendships between the two groups and the promise of future joint
projects. As a result Melton Interact President Ellie Groves
has
been invited to speak to the Long Field group at one of their meetings
at the beginning of October.
Members of the Rotaract Club of Melton Mowbray were also
present,
plus Ahmed a member of a Rotaract Club in Egypt who is visiting
Leicester.
The evening was well supported by members of the Rotary Club of Melton
Mowbray of which 15 members were present, many with their wives.
The head cook on the night was Jim Green who deserves special
recognition for his service: "well done" would be a very appropriate
way of applauding his efforts!
The
new President of the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray
for 2009/10 David Ward, receives the chain of office from last year's
president Mike Rowe at the Club's lunch meeting of 6th July 2009. David
Ward becomes the 82nd President of the Club founded in 1928.
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.
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.
Post-Convention
Fly-Around
of the UK, June-July 2009
Following
the Birmingham
Rotary
Convention in June 2009 several of the International Fellowships of
Rotarians arranged get-togethers of their members. The
International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians organised a fly-around
of England and Wales.
Rotarian and
IFFR member
John Dehnel describes the event:
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.
Firstly we all met up for dinner
at the Motorcycle Museum on the Sunday before the flying began.This
was my first
opportunity to meet Tom
Johnston, who was to be my close companion for the flying tour.I
had been pleased to hear
earlier in the
year of Tom’s wish to join me in the fly-around, hoping both
to enjoy his
company and to benefit from his considerable experience.These were both well borne
out.
We
next met on Thursday 25th
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.
We were last to arrive, but found
as the days progressed that was to be a common occurrence.Tom seemed to be coping
with my flying
ability, and was pleased to start getting the feel of the plane.We
both were enjoying
seeing the sights and
flew, whenever reasonable, at low levels.
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.
Wednesday dawned bright enough
for no major delays, so we all got away for the flight to
Chichester/Goodwood.Our
routing was
due south, past the white horse at Westbury, via a helpful Bournemouth
CTR, and
out towards the Needles.Both
Tom and I
are sailors, so the Solent and its many harbours and racing buoys were
of real
interest.
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 49th
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 3rd
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.
As part of Rotary
International's Convention 2009, held at
the
Birmingham NEC, on 22nd June 2009 several Rotary clubs in the Midlands
hosted various events to greet and meet our visitors from around the
world. The Melton Mowbray club, in conjunction with 9 others
from
district 1070 invited Rotarians and friends to join us at Rutland
Water, near Oakham, for an evening of fellowship and
entertainment. As well as a great hog roast, there was a
variety
of musical entertainment, including the Ono Band from Grantham Rotary
club and the Leicester City Male Voice Choir.
The Event was sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Rutland, Uppingham,
Stamford Burghley, Stamford St Martins, Melton Mowbray, Melton Mowbray
Belvoir, Grantham, Grantham Kesteven, Spalding Welland Centenary and
Boston. Members of other Rotary Clubs in the immediate area
who
attended also came from Stamford, Oundle, South Holland,
Loughborough Beacon and Peterborough Werrington.
A total of
354 persons attended the Event. There
were 84 guests from 52 Rotary Clubs in 11 countries: United States,
Canada, India, Ethiopia, Australia, Japan, France, South Africa,
Finland, Denmark and Egypt.
Other guests from less far afield came from Torquay, Richmond, Exeter,
West Wirral and Llanfairfechan in Wales.
Four
members and friends
of the club took the opportunity of a fly-in to Lee-on-Solent
organised
by the International Federation of Flying Rotarians (IFFR)
in May. Lee-on-Solent is the base for the Hampshire Police
air
surveillance plane and the coast guard rescue helicopter for
the
south coast from Brighton to Weymouth. It
is the site
of a museum housing hovercraft of all sizes. The airfield
also hosts an active gliding club.
Flying
from Leicester on
a superb
sunny day the flight to the Solent took just over an
hour, flying
around Portsmouth harbour and town, seeing the naval base, HMS Victory,
and the (in)famous spinnaker tower on the final approach into the
Lee-on-Solent airfield. Once there we had a traditional
all-day
breakfast at the gliding club, then on to the police base.
The
police
crew were
enthusiastic to tell us of the way they operate, covering all of
Hampshire and beyond, providing surveillance services in the
pursuit of law and order. They gave us several intriguing
insights into the benefits of aerial surveillance - law-breakers
beware! Hampshire is one of very few police aerial units that
use
a fixed-wing aircraft, and it was interesting to hear about the
benefits and drawbacks compared to the more usual use
of helicopters.
The
coastguard rescue
crews were
equally keen to tell us of the work they do, and showed us over the
helicopter in some detail, including the maintenance work on a second
machine. All fascinating to see, and reassuring to
those of
us who sail in and around the Solent to see such professional and
well-equipped rescue services.
The
hovercraft museum
held examples
of the cross-channel Hoverspeed machines, long out of service
now, of course, and many, many machines down to the smallest, specified
for "one small adult". Although somewhat randomly displayed,
there was plenty to marvel at in this part of transport history.
Housed in one of the buildings of the museum was a
well-presented
display by the Gosport Aviation Society of the history of aviation on
the Gosport peninsula, dating back to the first World War and with a
long-standing link particularly to the naval air services.
In
the meantime one of
our party went
back to the gliding club and had two glider flights (with an
instructor) all courtesy of the Lee Gliding Club.
Thanks
are owed to
Rotarian Malcolm
Barton who organised the whole splendid day out for the crew and
passengers of the 10 planes that joined the fly-in - a busy day, but
well worth the effort. Thank you Malcolm.
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.
The
funds raised as a result of this event
will be shared between the two Clubs and will support both local and
international Charities.
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.
To see details of the plans for hosting visitors from the RI Convention
at Rutland Water on Monday 22nd June, click here
to open the minutes of the latest meeting of the organising committee.
The 2009 Dick Turpin shooting competition between Melton and Rutland
took place on 10th March this year.
A new format, Prone and Standing shooting, was adopted this year, as
word had leaked that the Rutland Club 'were up for it', and using the
'Family of Rotary' to its full value.
A strong team of 13 arrived from Rutland, but the magnificient 7 1/2
shooting members, and 3 tacticians of the veteran Melton team held of
the challenge, even though last year's champion 'Buffalo Bendall' was
not present, having received a better offer in the nether regions of
Devon.
The six best shooters of the Melton team scored 1461 points, compared
to an extremely competitive 1366 points from Rutland, this being the
agreed formulae for the competition.
A New Club Champion surfaced, in the form of Duncan Manderson, Duncan
became the Club Elite by beating Gavin Howling into a close second
place, who was closely followed by John Dehnel and Jim Green, previous
Champions.
For the full gory detail of the scores click here
to open the spreadsheet.
Club
Visit to The Philippines, February 2009 Eight
members of the club and spouses visited the Philippines for
two weeks in February 2009. The visit covered:
• Review of the existing projects
we are supporting in the Philippines
• Discussion
of possibilities for future projects
• Visits to local hospitals and
health centres
• Visits to local schools
• Visits to the health centres
and other areas affected by the Guinsaugon
mud-slide
• Review of preliminary
arrangements for the GSE
exchange between our districts
in 2009-10
• Visits to Cebu,
Boljoon, Bohol, South Leyte
Anne
Fisher's article below captures the essence of the trip. To
see Diana's diary click
here
(it's a large file, with pictures added, so it may take a while to
download).
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.
In
keeping with the
morning’s event we moved on to a midwives clinic in Lapu
Lapu, Mactan Island.
One of the two ultrasound machines we shipped from QMC Nottingham had
been
installed here the previous day with the help of Kathryn Manderson.
After the
handover ceremony, the first scan was attempted on a pregnant mother
but after
a brief glimpse of a healthy baby’s heart the machine shut
down. We suspected
problems with the heat and humidity (we weren’t functioning
too well for the
same reasons) and the rather dodgy electrical feed to the clinic (20
houses fed
from a set of wires you would be reluctant to use for a reading lamp).
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.
Young Musician - northern
semi-finals,
March 2009 On
Saturday 7th March 2009 almost seventy talented young musicians from
across the East Midlands gathered in Melton’s Baptist Church
to
take part in the Northern District semi final of this prestigious,
Rotary sponsored, annual competition. Each one had
successfully
come through their local heat.
A wide range of musical skills represented the time and dedication not
only of the young musicians but also of their schools and
teachers. The musical talent, so professionally presented,
included not only impressive vocal skills but impressive instrumental
skills from piano and violin to clarinet, cello and
saxophone.
There were soloists, ensembles, choirs and a jazz band.
The difficult role of adjudicator was taken on by James Norden whose
playing career as a trumpeter includes working with the London Festival
Ballet, CBSO, Royal Shakespeare Company, D’Oyly Carte, Welsh
National Opera and the Orchestra de Camera.
Presentations were made to all winners and participants by Assistant
Governor Rotarian Chris Knight.
The pictures show:
Georgina Roberts: Winner
of the Senior
Vocal section
who sang ‘I’d Give my Life for You’ -
Boublil &
Schonberg and ‘Adelaide’s Lament’
– Loesser.
Emily Fionda, Danielle Grange and Sara Hall who together perform as
‘Clariti’ a clarinet ensemble. They
participated in
the Senior Ensemble instrumental section ('Serenade to the Holy Family'
- Berlioz and 'Leaps and Bounds' from the Nutcracker suite -
Tchaikovsky)
Ellie Slorach:
Plays piano and entered the Senior Instrumental section ('Notturno
Op54-4' - Grieg and 'Sonate II' - Soler).
Lucas Ward:
Solo vocalist who participated in the Junior Solo Vocal
section('Food,
Glorious Food' - Bart and 'here is Love?' - Bart).
Flora Slorach: Solo vocalist who also
participated in the Junior Solo Vocal section('Doll
on a Musical Box' - Sherman and Sherman and 'Chim Chim
Cheree' - Sherman and Sherman).
Jennifer Greene: Solo Vocalist who participated
in the Senior
Solo Vocal section('Oh,
Mr. Porter!' - Le Brunn and Le Brunn and 'The Wizard and I' - Schwartz).
Gaddesby School Choir:
Participants in the Junior Choir
section('Hey,
Mr. Miller' - Machell and 'Many Shads of Blue' - Williams).
Georgina
Roberts
Clariti
Ellie Slorach
Lucas Ward
Flora Slorach
Jennifer
Greene
Gaddesby School Choir
The winners of each section, including Georgina Roberts representing
the Rotary Clubs in Melton Mowbray, will go on to the final of the
Young Musician Festival for Rotary District 1070 (which covers broadly the
East Midlands), on Sunday 3rd May at the Melton Theatre.
