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Club News and Projects

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)

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Cancer Research Support

 On 14th September 2008 members of the club were pleased to help Cancer Research UK with marshalling a fund-raising fun run at Belvoir Castle.
 Cancer Research, Belvoir

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Jenny Foreman - New Club Member, September 2008

Jenny Foreman was inducted into Melton Mowbray Rotary Club on Monday 15th September 2008. Jenny is the fifth new member this year, and joins the growing band of lady members, who will now number thirteen.  Jenny was introduced by Linda Moore, a long time friend and work colleague, having worked at Long Field High School until recently.  Jenny has a range of interests and hobbies, including walking and reading (presumably not at the same time).  We welcome her into the club, and look forward to much fellowship and friendship to come.

JF

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Visit to Braemar Games
 30 members of the club, partners and friends spent the first weekend of September 2008 in Scotland, with the main activity supposedly being to visit the Highland Gathering at Braemar.  It was unfortunate that we were unable to do this until we had visited several distilleries and been forced to taste the various whiskies they produce.  But the club pulled together as usual, survived this ordeal, and had a splendid day at Braemar on the Saturday.

The games were as big a contrast as imaginable from the recent hyped-up Olympics, and all the more enjoyable for that.  There was always a variety of activities going on to hold the attention, and impressive feats of strength, endurance, speed and skill to enjoy.

By coincidence, yet more whisky was to hand when we met the Rotary Club of Banchory-Ternan.  They had the splendid idea of setting up stall at the Gathering and inviting any visiting Rotarians to join them for some fellowship during their visit - this fellowship included a certificate of attendance and a gift of a miniature of whisky with the Rotary wheel and club name.  They have followed this up with a news item on their club website; please have a look.  As noted by Dennis, "what a generous gesture; one that completely destroys the myth about Scottish tightness." Dennis also noticed that of the twenty photographs of visiting Rotarians on the website, eight are of Melton Mowbray Rotarians. It just goes to show what a scrounging lot we are!

We stayed at the Nethybridge hotel a few miles from Braemar, so the services of our chauffeurs, Bob and Duncan, were very welcome.  They did a great job ferrying us around over the weekend - thanks to them.  In particular, they took many of the party over to the west coast to visit the Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye on the Sunday, where they found some beautiful sunny weather, much in contrast to the rest of the UK that weekend.  Some of the group traveled over to Kyle by train from Inverness.  Others took the slower rail journey on the steam train from near Nethybridge to Aviemore, combined with a forest walk on the journey home.  Walks local to the hotel - with sights of the red squirrels in the local woods - occupied the Monday morning before the flight back to the East Midlands.

It all made for an extremely enjoyable weekend.  Grateful thanks are due to Bob McCord who pulled the whole weekend together, resolved a number of problems that arose, and stayed sober (mostly) to drive us around as well.

Many pictures of the weekend were taken, a few of which follow.
Team

The hotel and local sights:
The Highland Gathering:

Trip to Skye:

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District Governor Iain Vernon's Visit
 On 1st September 2008 we had an inspiring presentation from the District Governor for District 1070 2008-2009, Iain Vernon.  He covered very clearly and concisely the topics of the Polio Challenge, child mortality, support for Leonard Cheshire Disability Education for All in Africa, the Rotary/MacMillan partnership, membership, and RI President DK Lee's citation to clubs.  Details can be seen (by club members) in the copy of his presentation - click here.

Iain Vernon

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Rotary Young Designer
 Congratulations to Rebecca Jenkin, daughter of Melton Rotarian Charles Jenkin, who has won the final of District 1070's Rotary Young Designer competition.  Rebecca, who is a pupil at King Edward VII school, was entered for the competition by the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray Belvoir .  Her winning design was to create a board game to teach young children about the weather.  She was presented with a trophy and a cheque for £100 for her school.
Rebecca Jenkin

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Kate Theobald - New Club Member July 2008

Kate Theobald was inducted into Melton Mowbray Rotary Club on Monday 14th July 2008 at Sysonby Knoll Hotel. Kate is the fourth new member this year, and joins the growing band of Lady members, who will now number twelve.

Melton Mowbray Rotary has a distinguished history dating back to 1928, and is still changing to meet the demands and challenges of the modern world. That is why the club is so attractive to forward thinking professional people like Kate who wish to put back into the community and make a real difference to the lives of the less fortunate, as well as providing opportunities for young people to improve and develop their skills.

President Mike Rowe invited professional people who would like to find out more about Melton’s oldest service club to attend a meeting and see for themselves why it is still going strong after 80 years. Michael Osborne is the Membership Chairman and should be contacted by phone in the first instance on 01664 564581.

 The  photograph shows, from left to right:  Geoff Theobald, Vice President; David Ward, President Elect; New Rotarian Kate Theobald; and Mike Rowe President. Kate's husband Geoff is the current Vice President of the Club.

Kate Theobald

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Presidential Handover 2008

On 7th July the new Melton Mowbray Rotary Club President Mike Rowe took office from Pam Wiggins, who became the Past President of the club in a hand over ceremony at Sysonby Knoll Hotel. Other notable incoming officers are President Elect David Ward, and Vice President Geoff Theobald.

In the photograph on the back row left to right are Geoff Theobald Vice President, David Ward President Elect, and Pam Wiggins Past President:
seated at the front is the new Melton Mowbray Rotary Club President Mike Rowe.  The second photo is of our new sergeant-at-arms, Pam Wiggins, really looking the part. Thank goodness husband James isn't a member of our club, otherwise, I am sure it would be a completely hopeless situation for him, with fines flying at him from all directions.
New Officers SatA

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Burma Shelter Box Appeal

Many will remember the terrible tragedy and loss of life in Burma in May following Cyclone Nargis.  The Rotary Shelter Box charity has sent over a  thousand Shelter Boxes to Burma; the efforts of the Melton Rotary Clubs were to publicise the activity and raise money from the people of Melton to fund a small number of the boxes.

We were delighted with the support of the people of Melton, including the Melton Times, who donated over £1600 in late May, enough to purchase three Shelter Boxes.  Each ShelterBox provides shelter, cooking equipment, shovels, water carriers and other "rough living" essentials, and even a few books and pencils for the children, enough for for 10 people, so over 30 survivors of the Cyclone Nargis disaster will soon have a temporary home and support from equipment donated from Melton Mowbray.

An idea of the contents of a Shelter Box can be gained from this picture of the stall set up in the market square to publicise the cause.
Shelter Box stall

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Pork Pies and Pot Holes
East Midlands CiCLE Challenge

This event on 16th June 2008 was well supported by enthusiast cyclists, and families from far and wide, with the 180km ride setting off at 9:30, followed by the 100km at 10:00 and the family 30km at 10:30.
The Start
They're off
The Vintage Collection (the bikes, I mean)

The routes mainly followed the famous International CiCLE Classic race with both on and off road sections, which allows enthusiastic cyclists and the less energetic the opportunity, at their own pace, to experience the unique terrain that makes the International CiCLE Classic race so popular within Europe.

Many families as well as individuals entered the 30km cycle ride, and with the sun shining really enjoyed the whole event,  which started with the spectacular Vintage Cycles, and the free refreshments available for all entrants to the leisurely bike ride on a lazy summer's day. There were three generations of one family who took part, setting a new way to celebrate Fathers Day.

Over £1,500 was raised for local Rotary Charities. The event has become so popular and successful that it is now firmly in Melton Mowbray Rotary Clubs annual calendar.

Well done to all those who took part, and a big thank you for raising so much money for local Rotary Charities.

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Three New Rotarians
Pam Wiggins President, with new members: Clive Watts, Diana Osborne, and Gavin Howling.
New members
Three new members joined the active and growing Melton Mowbray Rotary Club on 9th June 2008. What made the Club so attractive to them was in their own words: Clive has joined to meet and socialise with professional people whilst playing his part in helping the less fortunate; Diana wants to play a full part in the fellowship of the Club and become more involved with Rotary’s humanitarian projects, particularly those in the third world; whilst Gavin says, "Rotary is an excellent way to meet people and to jointly work on projects which will benefit the Community at large - from what I have seen so far it is also fun!"

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Visit to our twinned club Rotary Club of Warsaw Wilanow

David Ward

Before During After
Before During After

Summary of the meeting regarding potential joint projects:

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International Federation of Flying Rotarians

Visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, April 2008

Three members of the club plus one small guest took the opportunity of a fly-in to Yeovilton organised by the International Federation of Flying Rotarians (IFFR) in April.  Yeovilton, although a MOD airfield, will accept civilian flights during opening hours, and the IFFR had arranged for about a dozen planes to fly in and for the assembled throng to spend the day visiting the Fleet Air Arm museum there.  John Dehnel, Geoff Goodwin and Tony Lord, plus Tony's son Adam  decided to join the party.  It seemed a good way to celebrate Tony's birthday as well as for us all to have a fun day out.

Plans were nearly scuppered for us, as our arrival at Leicester airfield was closely followed by a torrential rain storm and accompanying thunder clouds - not much fun for flying in a light aircraft.  The same storm persuaded one other attendee from Leicester to abandon his day out; a number of others from elsewhere either abandoned or drove to Somerset.  the latter was really not what we wanted, so we waited for about 45 minutes, by which time the storm seemed to be blowing through.  By the time we had prepared the plane the sun came out, and we had a delightful flight down to Yeovilton passing over the Avon valley near Stratford, the Vale of Evesham and the Mendips.

The  museum has the largest collection of Naval aircraft anywhere in Europe together with the first British built Concorde.  The museum's award-winning Aircraft Carrier Experience is where the museum meets theatre. We were 'transported' by helicopter to the replica flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.  On board the Ark Royal, among a static display of fighter aircraft were two enormous projection screens showing a Phantom strike fighter and a Buccaneer fighter-bomber performing take offs and landings on the carrier.  There followed a guided tour around the various activities that go to make up the life of a carrier in service - all very well produced.

There was good a licensed restaurant (no alcohol for the pilot!) where we met up with the other Rotarians who had made it to Yeovilton. Outside, was a children's adventure playground (Tony claims he spent so much time there only for Adam's benefit).

The flight home was uneventful, flying home by following the Bristol channel up to the Severn Bridges, then along the Wye valley up to Monmouth - absolutely lovely scenery all the way.  One occupant of the plane was less enthusiastic - the rigours of the day catching up with him most of the way home (see photos).

Tony and Adam Parking


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Skittles competitions - 2007-08 Season

The club had a wonderfully successful, and more importantly very enjoyable season in the District Minor Sports competition.  Mostly this was a series of skittles matches, with a few other pub sports thrown in.

Repots from the captain, Swiss Tony, follow:
27/11/07 beat Soar Valley 2nd Round
No Report
Captain Sacked!!


New Captain – New Era!

23/01/08 beat Ashby Aces 3rd Round
For those of you just waking; the dream continues, yes after a stunning victory by the non league minnows Melton Mowbray 1st.......11!  Over the semi professional Ashby Aces in the second round of the FA (that's the prize) Minor Sports 2nd round.

Despite last minute withdrawals, prat - nav failure & a beer soaked pitch the home team started the stronger & blew away the overconfident star studded opposition in the first leg, the deeper squad of Ashby & lack of  substitutes for the Melton captain saw the bigger side draw level in the second leg, but after tea things were once again going Melton's way & after a well fought & tactically astute last leg, victory was secured, fittingly by the club president with Ashby star player needing an unlikely 18 for victory.

Special mention must be given to the pint size whirlwind & top scoring Melton & overall lady Margaret Morris with a superb 6 average, the less experienced & injured top male scorer John Horn with an average of 5 point something & the club President Pam who with her extensive injury list really shouldn't have been playing but with typical fortitude & against the advise of the Physio she saw the team through once again, not only with her natural flare on the pitch but with the superb motivational talks that have become her hallmark.

We await with eager anticipation the draw for the next round & surely Melton's fans now deserve a lucrative away draw against one of the Premiership Giants.

But whilst we await the next round of the big cup adventure, we have the mouthwatering prospect of the tired but upbeat senior team taking on the young pretenders from the Vauxhall Conference Roteract league on the 7th April (provisional date) at Ashby Folville, a word of warning: The exuberant first team will have to be on their mettle to see the youngsters off!

This victory should also give the rather overlooked but consistently successful Hotshots team confidence for the upcoming Betty Turpin competition against Oakham at Holwell dates to be confirmed.

Junior sports reporter,

Swiss Tony

05/03/08 beat De-Montfort Demons Semi Final
The Dream Lives On

Yes it's true, possibly buoyed by previous evening's walkover for a core of the team in the Betty Turpin Hotpots competition the un-fancied Melton Pedigrees under the leadership of an inexperienced & woefully under qualified Captain march on into the finals of the District Minor Sports Tournament.

Although last nights encounter with the canny De-Montfort Demons could have gone either way, the Melton team were initially on the back foot with the Decathlon type event they were unexpectedly confronted with but with some subtle but ultimately inspired tactical team switches the Captain forced an honorable draw from the frankly insulting minor-Minor Sports in the early part of the evening, a suggestion of Tiddley Winks would not have been a surprise.

Ultimately the opposition could delay & posture no longer & the real competition began but not before a shock defection of three of Melton's most consistent performers.

This shock was too much for the plucky Amateurs & they went down to their heaviest defeat yet in the first leg of the competition proper, this could have been the end for the Captain who was under tremendous pressure from some of the more experienced & outspoken members of his team, for his apparent "laid back" approach, there was a definite feeling of revolt in the air especially as the captain & captain of vices' usual  excellent personal performances were once again suffering due to the pressures of leadership.

But after some subtle but once again crucial motivational talks with individual members of his team by the Captain, Melton fought back in the second leg: It must also be noted the Captains clever behind the scenes negotiating for the return of Whirlwind Morris (after he found some of De-Montfort's team hiding in the bar). Maybe also the over confident professional outfit hadn't done their homework quite as thoroughly as they should; we all know Melton are slow starters. Whatever the reasons with virtually no support from his closest advisors & mentors (who by this stage had virtually given up!) the second leg belonged to Melton.

The momentum was once again cleverly disrupted by the Demons who called a halt for tea.

But they couldn't match the sheer tactical genius & desperation to get out more of Melton's team & after a very controlled last leg the Amateurs once again proved this game is not just about the big money clubs & with the Presidents motto of "Losing is not an option" ringing in their ears they came through 3 -- 2.

Special mention to the silky smooth Full Back Sasha Lord who turned in a seasons best performance on the scoreboard as well as the alley, Centre John Dehnel who still recovering from surgery & against the advice of his doctors matched Sasha's top score for Melton . Also praise to the two youngest members of the team the untried previously uncapped wingers Tom & Hannah Green who were completely unfazed by the big stage & humbled their critics, the whole squad deserves a great deal of credit from the established pack to the exciting backs, well done Melton & watch out Hinckley!

I must also mention that the turncoats, some of whom were Demontfort's highest scorers, especially the much Fancied debutant Jenny Howling have accepted the olive branch offered to them and will be seen in Melton colours again...... the grass isn't always greener!

Next event the local derby Melton Pedigrees V's Melton Rotaract at Carrington Arms Ashby Folville 07/04/08 will it be a confidence booster or an error in judgment to be taking on these hungry youngsters at this stage of the season?!!!

Junior Sports Reporter

/Swiss Tony/

07/04/08 lost Rotaract (friendly)
The dream is...... fading!

The Academy trounced the Senior team in a frankly quite dismal display at The Carrington Arms last night, even allowing for some of the Star names not being present there was just no zip, no va va voom, no inspiration last night & after losing the first leg (as usual) & narrowly winning the second the Rotaract team, led intelligently by there unflappable Captain were always in control over a hesitant, lighthearted & quite honestly an unprofessional & under prepared looking Senior team.

This loss does not bode well for next weeks Cup Final, but on a brighter note the club President looks like she has once again pulled off quite a coup by "poaching" four of the best Rotaract players in a typically audacious manner for the big match against Hinckley Hawks.

As an exciting aside to one of the worst performances of the year there was of course the usual entertaining friction between Captain & Vice Captain, it's probably a good job the former embittered Captain is actually serving a one match ban for the final otherwise I could see the flawed but progressive current Captain being ousted by the President & even replaced by the outstanding female Acedemy captain. Stranger things have happened!

James Whirlwind Wiggins & The Thunderbolt Theobolds were the only rays of sunshine in an otherwise desperate display of amateurism & farce. That said we must take nothing away from the rising stars of the Acedemy so ably brought together by the ever impressive Morris camp & it is to be hoped they are not lost to other clubs in the future!.

Swiss Tony


17/04/08 lost Hinckley Hawks Final
The dream is over.......

On a gloomy April morning the report I didn't want to write....... Sometimes you just need that little bit of luck in this game ..... Just a couple of your big names to perform....... Neither happened last night as the unfancied & ultimately out gunned Melton team went down to the giants of the premier league in a fairly competitive final that the Hinckley Hawks were always in control of.

The almost Teutonic efficiency of the opposition quite obviously rattled the more casual attitude of the plucky amateurs who after holding there own in the first half (unusual in itself) seemed to crumble as the reality of their situation began to dawn on them, the first time since non league status, longer ago than even the stand-in Vice Captain could remember, they had reached the final, missing some of there more influential players & under frankly laughable Captaincy even their President could do nothing to stop the slide & through her tears could only watch forlornly on as one after the other her players failed to deliver, whenever the opposition did make an unexpected slip so did her team and from the middle of the second half the result looked inevitable.

Without the pressure of the former Captain looming over him the Captain's personal performance improved but a lot of his more adventurous signings failed to deliver with some notable exceptions, the Horns for example proved there worth once again with a business like performance, the Morris's brought there usual flair to the Final but it wasn't enough, even their most consistent player Hawkeye John Dehnel couldn't pull of his usual miracle missing a last minute chance to level the match & the long season, injuries & lack of big match experience finally took there toll, if only they could have kept it all going for one more match! But life is full of regrets & all they can do now is hope something can be salvaged from the wreckage of the season & build for next year. Will the current coaching set up get the support of incoming hard line management? This is the big question. Will they give them more time? Is it time for a change? Have your say, e-mail your opinions, remember it's your team your club, your passion!!

Well done Hinckley, hard luck Melton, here's hoping next years competition can be even half as exciting.

Cheers for now,

Depressed.... Swiss Tony
Junior Sports Reporter & Tea Boy


Captain Remains with full support of the board!!!!

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Melton Mowbray Rotary Club Annual Shooting Competition

Dick Turpin Trophy - 2008

The annual small bore rifle shooting competition between the Melton Mowbray and Rutland Rotary Clubs for the Dick Turpin Trophy did not take place this year due to a the Rutland Club’s inability to field a side.
However the event continued on 4th March 2008 at the Holwell Rifle range, in order to establish a new club champion, and have a fun evening.
The event being renamed The Betty Turpin Competition with the Hotpots competing, 13 club members, plus friends, took part supported by a team from the Holwell Club, the results were as follows:-

Club Champion for 2008 – Buffalo Bill Bendall with a score of 95

Runner-up for 2008, many times past Champion – Jesse Jim Green (93)

Fun Animal shooting – guest Bob Skerrit (hole in wall gang) score of 46

Runner -up Hair Trigger Hallam score of 41

(The vet was not required, and meat was taken off the menu.)

Fun Number Card – Jesse Jim Green, score of 72, (just like bingo – lucky)

Runner - up Milky Bar Kid (Tony Lord)

Runner – up Cayote Kid (Tom Green - guest)

The following were competitive but unplaced:-

Bobby the Kid McCord

Doc Holliday (Ward)

Gunslinger Gav (Gavin Howling)

Crackshot Kirk

Dave Crocket (guest)

Calamity Green (3rd placed – guest)

 John Stares, Hole in Wall gang (guest)

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Rotary Day press release
See Melton Times article following this press release: click here
 The 23rd February is "Rotary Day" - the anniversary of the founding of Rotary.  The following press release (written by David Ward and Dennis Watts) was issued to let the people of Melton Mowbray and the surrounding area know more of what the Rotary Club is supporting, and to thank them for their support for the club.

Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray

The Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray is one of two Rotary Clubs in the town, whose motto of ‘Service above Self’ defines the basic principles of this International organisation that encompasses some 1.2 million members over 200 countries.

 As a service organisation of business and professional leaders their objectives are to help those in need, the underprivileged, the ill and the disabled, both locally and internationally.

The two local clubs have specific projects for their members but also work closely together on many projects to optimise the available skills and effectiveness.

Examples of the range of projects undertaken include: - 

Local Arena

International Arena 

International projects are focused on Education, Health and Livelihood, and have included such areas as: -

Funding

In order to fund such a vast array of projects, the Rotary Club organises a wide range of events including Golf Days, Charity Auctions, Burns Night and Sportsmen’s Dinners, Concerts, and the Cycle Challenge Event, this year to be held on 15th June. 

None of these activities would be possible without the support and generosity of the townsfolk of Melton Mowbray, for which the members of the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray are extremely grateful.

The "Rotary Day" press release was accompanied by a further press release describing the valuable alliance of Rotary with the Bill Gates Foundation targeting the completion of the eradication of Polio world-wide.  Click here to read this.

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ICE - In Case of Emergency
The Melton Mowbray Rotary Club is supporting the promotion of the ICE - In Case of Emergency - scheme in the borough, in conjunction with the Police and other Emergency Services.
ICE-poster
For any further information or help please contact the web master:

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Golf Day 2008
 Golf 08-1
Click here for copy of details and entry form.

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Youth Speaks 2007-08

Two teams from Melton Young Farmers' Club represented our Club in the 2007-08 Youth Speaks semi-finals held recently at Bourne Grammar School. Whilst neither the intermediate nor the senior team got through to the final they performed very well and were a credit to their club. The intermediate team spoke about a personal experience - dancing at The Royal Albert Hall and the three 10-year olds from Brownlow Primary School put on a confident and composed performance. They were singled out by the adjudicator for their young age.

The senior team spoke about streaking; not a personal experience this time. Again they delivered their speech with great assurance and confidence and despite a valiant effort, the competition was too tough this year.

(contributed by Linda Moore)

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Gap Year Bursary
Mike Powderly of the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray, and Ann Duckworth of the Raynes Trust interviewed candidates who had applied for Gap Year Bursaries for their Voluntary Service Overseas projects. The interviews took place at Sysonby Knoll Hotel on the evening of Wednesday 21st November 2007.


This year there are two lucky benefactors of the Gap Year Bursary:
Jessica Goff, aged 17 years, of Stathern, was awarded a Gap Year Bursary of £800 towards her expenses for her Voluntary Service Overseas Project. Jessica has been accepted by “Project Trust” a worldwide educational charity and will spend a full year in South Africa, probably in Uganda working on utility projects and also in an orphanage. The trust provides extensive support while abroad, but Jessica needs to find £4,480 for travel, some accommodation, part living expenses, and Project Trust administration. So far Jessica has raised nearly £2,000 by events and working part-time, and the £800 Bursary will help her meet her goal.
Jessica attends King Edward VII School and is studying A2 level Geography, Biology, and Psychology. She is full of enthusiasm and has researched her project well, and has no illusions about the likely hard work or the risk factor. Her successful selection by Project Trust followed an arduous four-day course during which one of her most challenging tasks was to get off the island of Oban by herself. The £800 Bursary is made up of £500 from the Raynes Trust and £300 from the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray.
Tessa Svennevik, aged 18 years, of Somerby was awarded a Bursary of £200 towards her expenses for her Voluntary Service Overseas Project. “Raleigh International” has accepted Tessa for a 10-week period of service from the end of January. Tessa will be working on split tasks, part community and utility projects, and part environmental analysis in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The planned projects have the support of the host countries, and International Agencies.
Tessa attends Oakham School and has just completed A levels and is intending to study law at University. She needs £3,000 of which approximately half has been raised so far. Tessa already has most of the ‘Kit’ required from previously winning a “Gold” Duke of Edinburgh Award. Tessa is raising money through working as a waitress in a village pub, sponsored half marathon, and cake sales.  The £200 Bursary is from the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray. The restrictions of the Raynes Trust prevent a donation to Tessa because she lives, and attends School, outside of Melton Mowbray.
 (contributed by Mike Powderley)

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Youth Speaks
The Youth Opportunities Committee staged the local heat of the Youth Speaks competition at the end of November 2007 and selected two teams from Melton Young Farmers to go forward to the District semi-final in Loughborough in January. Topics ranged from ethical trading to streaking and the teams gave  the adjudicators some tough decisions. David Ward posed the inevitable questions.       
The Young Farmers will face more challenging opposition in the next round….but they are good.

(contributed by Linda Moore)

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Higher Education Bursary
On 17 December 2007 at the King Edward VII School Sixth Form Presentation Evening Linda Moore, on behalf of the Club, presented Adrianne Bowes with a cheque for £250. Adrianne is studying business administration and Spanish at Birmingham University. She was nominated by the sixth form tutors. She is the first generation in her family to go university and was so thrilled to receive the bursary.
The guest speaker at the event was Quentin Raynor, journalist and BBC presenter. He spoke about his job and duly encouraged the students to take advantage of all university has to offer.

(contributed by Linda Moore)

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BftB07

(contributed by Richard Haines)

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Final Report on Philippines Matching Grant
In January 2006 the Rotatry Clubs of Melton Mowbray, England and Tagbilaran, Philippines applied to the Rotary Foundation for a matching grant to support Health, Education, and Livelihood in central Philippines. The objectives were:
 The project has now been completed and the final report issued.

What was actually accomplished?
BatToilet1 BatToilet2 BatToilet3

BATKitchen1 BATKitchen2 BATKitchen3

BatWater1 BatWater2 BatWater3
This was all achieved with a contribution of £2,400 from RC of Melton Mowbray, a similar amount from District 1070's Rotary Foundation DDF funds, and £3,600 from the Rotary Foundation humanitarian awards funds.

The Rotary Clubs are both proud to have achieved so much to support the indigent villagers in the rural Philippines.  We thank Rotary Foundation for its support.

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Izaak Walton Weekend
Several members of the club, plus partners and friends, spent the weekend of 30th November to 2nd December at the Izaak Walton Hotel in Dovedale, Derbyshire - a traditional pre-Christmas weekend for the club over the past many years.  Pictures (and captions) courtesy of Dennis Watts.
IW1 IW2 IW3
IW4 IW5 IW6

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Christmas Tree Festival at St. Mary's Church
The annual fundraising Christmas Tree event was held in St Marys Church over the weekend of 30th November to 2nd December.  It was a wonderful spectacle and well worth a visit.  The Community and Vocational committee placed a tree on behalf of the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray - see picture below.
Christmas Tree

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New Kitchen for Looc School, Philippines
Dear members of RC Melton Mowbray
 
Yesterday, we dedicated a brand new kitchen in the Looc Elementary School. The school is located about 17 km out on Panglao Island on the north Road. The school has 370 students who come from fishing and farming families.  This is the second school of four to be equipped with a full teaching kitchen. The Parent Teachers Association and the School District is very thankful for your generosity.
 
You can expect the other two elementary schools to be equipped with full teaching kitchens this month, which completes the MG 58632. You can expect a final report and  full accounting of MG 58632  to follow before year's end.
Kitchen Kitchen
Dedication Dedication

Thanks to your support the four pilot schools will be participating in a program called FOOD TRAIN. 
FOOD for malnourished children and
TRAIN out of school youth in culinary arts
This is the results of your sponsoring Doljo Elementary School earlier this year. The summer pilot training program was a smashing success, as  previously reported.
 
We will build from there with a formal program, Food Train which is a  four way win.
  1. School gets complete teaching kitchen.
  2. Home Economic Teachers gain new skills so they can teach the new cooking course.
  3. Out of school youth and disadvantaged women learn commercial cooking and baking. The students learn by doing, and gain a diploma in Culinary Arts
  4. The biggest winners are the malnourished students in the school and at the Day Care Center, because the students must prepare the menu, cook the food and feed the underweight children every school day for twelve weeks to qualify for the diploma. Food Train will start in January at all four schools.
Regards, Dave and Baby Collins RC Tagbilaran

To see a slide show illustrating the Food Train click here. (You may need to click to tell your PC it's OK to run this - some web browsers may attempt to block it,  As far as I can tell it is safe.  It's just a PowerPoint presentation).

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Rotary's Race Night at Burton Lazars, 9th November 2007

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District Governor Tony Martin visits Melton Rotary Club
District Governor Tony Martin brought greetings to President Pam Wiggins when he visited Melton Mowbray Rotary Club on Monday 5th November 2007. His main message was his objective to build Rotary Membership in District 1070 by adding one additional member per club by the end of his year. If achieved the district would have a net increase in membership of 86. He issued a 'Rotary Shares' challenge to the Melton Mowbray Club to help him with his aim..

Here he is seen with our President, Pam Wiggins:
President & DG

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Neighbourhood First Responders evening
For our "5th Monday" evening meeting in October 2007 the Neighbourhood First Responders group visited us.  Peter and Ina Scott, who organise the local group of responders spoke about what Responders do to support the local community.

NFR works in conjunction with the East Midlands Ambulance Service, to assist in potentially life-threatening medical emergencies where for whatever reason EMAS are unable to get an ambulance to the scene in the desired time.  So, for example, if someone is suffering chest pains and 999 are called, EMAS will dispatch an ambulance immediately.  But if its arrival may be more than a very few minutes (the local ambulances may be elsewhere - dealing with previous cases, an a road traffic accident, etc.) EMAS will ask one of the NFR group to attend and to attempt to stabilise the patient until professional support arrives.  The volunteers in the NFR group are all professionally trained to cope with unconciouness, chest pain, choking, difficulty in breathing, strokes, and similar events.  In all cases the professional ambulance crew will attend, but NFR provide a vital bridge in time where ambulance resources are constrained. More information about NFR is on their web page.

The NFR group then gave a demonstration of basic life sustaining CPR (cardiac pulmonary resuscitation) using resuscitation dummies Annie and Fred.  I'm not sure Annie and Fred would have survived some of the intitial attempts of Rotarians to provide effective CPR, but with a little practice all visitors to the Rotary Club are guaranteed it is now safer to feel ill when with us.

After the demonstration  Melton Ladies in Rotary presented the NFR group with a cheque for £1,000, raised during Claire Abbott's year as president, to help support the work of the group - a splendid effort by LiR.

Many thanks to Peter and Ina Scott, Tim Frisby and John Wright for their time and efforts to inform and train us.

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Bob McCord's Lands End to John o'Groats Bike Ride, September 2007
Club member Bob McCord completed the famous Lands End to John o'Groats bike ride in September, raising money for leukaemia research and in memory of a good friend Brian Wakefield. Bob's notes from his epic trip:

"Just a few memories of my cycle ride to raise funds for Leukaemia Research and a thank you to all who so generously sponsored me.

The first reaction from family and friends when I mentioned my intentions to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats was either complete silence or “have you gone stark staring mad?”  However after several months of training I felt that this year was now or never and the aim was to start at the beginning of September, with Gill driving the “support” vehicle.  

My route north was through the West Country, Bath, Chester, Lancaster, Dumfries, The Lomond side, Glen Coe, Inverness, Wick and on to John O’Groats.

I left Lands End on Wednesday 5th September in glorious sunshine and temperatures of 26 C. The first days through Cornwall, Devon and into Somerset took me through some stunning scenery but more hills than I could have imagined. I also had to contend with frantic farmers harvesting with enormous machinery which left little space to spare on country roads.  So north of Bath I decided to take a more direct approach to avoid some of the navigation problems we encountered on country roads e.g. no signposts or road numbers!

Bath to Gloucester and Tenbury Wells took me through more beautiful scenery and parts of the country that were devastated by floods and are still trying to recover.

Further north presented different challenges – heavily trafficked roads and huge roundabouts. Once through the major towns of Warrington, Wigan and Preston the route via the A6 became much quieter and more pleasant. The flatter terrain had helped and I was making the progress I had targeted.

Lancaster to Gretna took me up and over the famous Shap Summit which was pretty daunting; approx. 12 miles of climbing from Kendal but the weather was still in my favour. The last stretch from Carlisle to Gretna on the A74 was hairy and scary with narrow lanes and road works – was I glad to cross the border 90 miles completed that day.

I arrived in Scotland after 7 days – still with a target of a further five to go.

The ride from Gretna to Loch Lomond was fairly flat but the temperature had dropped about 10 C. and the first heavy rain came down just before Crianlarich in time for the most rugged part of the ride. Conditions through Glencoe were diabolical, head and side winds of up to 50 miles per hour, heavy rain, heavy traffic and narrow roads – a cyclist’s nightmare. Surviving the day and the terrain Fort Augustus was a welcome sight.

There was no evidence of the “Loch Ness Monster” the next day and now I was in the last two days of the journey and heading towards the east coast. There was no let up as far as hills were concerned either – Helmsdale and the Berriedale Braes were extremely challenging for a last days ride – Wick was a welcome sight but was also my first and last encounter with the dreaded “Scottish Midges!”

Seeing the signpost 13 miles to John O’Groats really brought it home that I had almost achieved my ambition – arriving in John O’Groats despite the wind and rain was a fantastic feeling and getting the final stamp on my record sheet meant that I was now a member of the End to End Club, 977 miles cycled in 12 days.

My target was to raise £1000 for Leukaemia Research and through your most generous sponsorship is now more than £2000 and with Gift Aid should reach £2500.

A big thank you to Gill who drove all the way from Lands End to John O’Groats stopping every 10 miles to make sure I was okay, a feat on its own.



Gill and I at Lands End
Check the route for the Tour of Britain
Shall I do this too?

Worse than caravanners
Looking for the monster at Loch Ness
Last House, John o'Groats

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Visit to Scotland, September 2008

A visit to Scotland over the weekend of 5th to 8th September 2008 has been proposed. Allan Dean has provided the following advanced information:

I thought it would be helpful to let members have a preview of possible activities. I have listed the contact web pages of the main attractions.

Not all of these activities are possible over a weekend but whatever the final programme it will be informative, different and fun! 

Flights are now available.  As at 22nd November fares are about £20 each way plus tax.

Let Bob McCord or Allan Dean know of your interest in joining the party.  Please do so as soon as possible so the flights can be booked before prices go up any further.

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Interact President Victoria Watts at Rotary District 1070 Conference

Melton King Edward VII sixth form student, Victoria Watts, wowed the hearts of the Rotary faithful at their Harrogate District Conference last weekend when she made a presentation about Interact. Victoria addressed an audience of 1,200 delegates from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. 

VW1    VW2

She followed many prestigious speakers including Gloria Hunniford, and just before Patrick Mower. Victoria is the President of Melton Interact – a service club for young people between the ages of 14 and 18. The Club, which meets weekly in term time during the Tuesday lunch break, has been continuously active since it was formed two years ago.

A recent achievement was the raising of funds to sponsor a hairdresser at Melton Learning Hub, to teach the skill to other young people. In November for the third year running, Melton Interact will be collecting money at the Twinlakes bonfire for a charity, which they themselves will select. These are just two of many charitable events which have been successfully undertaken by Melton Interact.

Thanks to Victoria and her friends in Interact, Melton is leading the way within the Rotary organisation. Earlier this year a new Interact Club was chartered in the Deepings following the example set by Melton. Other towns in this area are also considering starting their own Interact Clubs and the Melton Club is seen as a beacon for others to follow. 

Rotary's commitment to young people is total. It helps to identify service projects, both locally and overseas. Interact is part of the Rotary organisation. The two Rotary Clubs in Melton Mowbray initially sponsored the Melton Interact Club. It is now fully self-financed, but the two Rotary Clubs continue in the background to give support and encouragement when needed. The Rotary connection means that Melton Interact is connected to the massive Rotary Foundation - the world's largest charity.
The first Interact Club was formed in 1962 by 23 students at Melbourne High School in Florida, USA. Today 45 years later, there are almost 9000 Interact Clubs in 110 different countries with over 200,000 members. Rotary itself is over 100 years old, with just over 1.2 million members in over 32,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical regions.

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Rotary Benches have their name plaques added
The benches that were installed in High Street last year (see story here) finally had their name plate plaques added this week (October 2007), to confirm their intallation by the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray, celebrating the centenary of Rotary from 1905-2005:
Bench Plaques

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News on Matching Grant in Bohol, Philippines - Home Economics project nearly complete
 We received today the following email from Dave Collins.  The matching grant awarded in February 2006 to help provide toilet blocks, computers, books, vocational training equipment, and rain-water collection systems for schools; vocational development equipment and training for adults; and prescription drugs for community centers in Bohol is almost complete.  With the delivery of the refrigerator for the home economics block at Looc school there are now three schools on Panglao island equipped to train children in food preparation.

There is a small amount of the grant (about £700) remaining, which Dave proposes using to buy a second cooker for the Tangnan school to extend their capabilities.  I plan to propose we agree to that suggestion at the club meeting today (15/10/07).

That will complete the Matching Grant, and Dave will then write the final report for us and Foundation.

There is still some money (about £600) outstanding for building some village homes, which will be done shortly.

Dave's email reads as follows:

"Dear John,

The Second refrigerator has arrived, and Paid.

The current Balance in the account is P 111,079.    subject to audit, of which there is P53,788. for home kits  with an accounting to follow shortly.

That leaves about P 57,291.00 in the bank remaining on the MG 58632

As previously stated, there are some security purchases needed  before delivery to Looc Home Economics Building and some purchases needed before Delivery to Danao Home Economics Building.

PROPOSAL

There will still be enough money to purchase another 40 inch Range for Tangnan Elementary School and enough money to add the necessary security measures as above. There is no need to provide a refrigerator at Tangnan because they have a relatively new one there now. The overall plan is to use the kitchens to provide a 12 week training course for out of school youth. While they are learning to cook, they will prepare and feed the underweight children in the attached daycare centers of the schools. This has already been a proven success at Doljo as you have heard in previous e-mails

 

Looc is so small it is not actually named on the map. From Panglao Village go east toward Mormal.  It is the circle in between on the map. All three elementary schools have between 350 and 380 students. All three schools are in economically depressed fishing barangays. All three schools have a stand alone Home Economic Building which is ideal for the purpose. See attached three photos:

Danao Looc Tangnan
Map

Thanks for considering the proposal.

Regards, Dave Collins

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District 1070 Annual Conference, Harrogate

The annual Conference for District 1070 was held in Harrogate over the weekend of 5th to 7th October 2007.  24 members and partners from the Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray attended. The conference featured a wide range of presentations on topics from dealing with cancer to "Shelter Boxes" being distributed in Pakistan.  Various Rotary projects such as Peace Scholarships and Group Study Exchange were featured.  Good fellowship was in evidence all weekend, both within clubs and in refreshing of contacts with colleagues and friends from across the District.

Some pictures of the event, courtesy of Allan Dean:

Dinner Where's the President?Pam? Pam?
The Presidents Presidents
We didn't enjoy ourselves at all! Pam & Bob Pam & Bob
England 12, Australia 10

(cheered on by a Welshman, a Scot, and a Kiwi fan!) Rugby Aussie-Whine

I'll be pleased to add any more detail to the report, should any of those who attended have any further memories to share.

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Flying Visit to the Lake District (or not)

Another fly-in event was organised for the 2nd September by the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians (IFFR), this time to the Lake District. The plan was for four of us from the Rotary Club to fly up over the Peak District to the Solway Firth, spend some time flying around the Lakes to see the splendid views, then land at Kirkbride airfield near Carlisle for lunch with the other Rotarians in the IFFR who planned to make the journey. Things did not quite work out as planned - but we had an enjoyable day out anyway.

We left Leicester airport on a clear day, flew overhead Melton, and then up past the north of Nottingham towards Sheffield. As we approached the Peak District the cloud began to build up and it was clear the weather was not as scripted by the met office. We expected scattered clouds but only once we got up as far as the north of England. This much cloud this far south was beginning to make us think the views may not be as good as we'd hoped.

Around Chesterfield we went into fairly solid cloud at about 2,000 feet. As the Peak District hills were ahead of us we climbed to about 3,500 feet but that didn't get us above the cloud; we couldn't climb higher because we would have risked infringing the Manchester Airport airspace. Never mind, the plane and captain were fully equipped and qualified for flying in cloud - until one of the radios started playing up! After some investigation we were able to resume good communications with the  air traffic controllers, who proved superb in guiding us directly through the Manchester airspace into Manchester Barton airfield, where we landed to consider our options (and, importantly, have lunch).

There is a school of thought that the whole exercise was masterminded in some mysterious way by one of the crew, young Rotarian Geoff Goodwin, as a means to revisit his youth.  Manchester Barton is the airfield where Geoff learned to fly and was a flying instructor some years ago.

We phoned the organiser of the IFFR event to assure him we were on the ground safely, only to find that only one plane had managed to get to Kilbride (the organiser himself who, ironically, had also flown there from Leicester, but had chosen to go via a more easterly route - up the A1 and across from Scotch Corner - yes, planes sometimes mirror car journeys). He had made it, but it clearly was way too cloudy to have the day's sight-seeing we had planned. So it was lunch, chat for a bit while the cloud lifted enough for us to take off again, then a flight directly south and the south-east back to Leicester. As soon as we got overhead Crewe the weather cleared and we had 20 miles of visibility.  If only.....

There will be another day.

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Acupuncture

On 20th Augu