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What
Paul Harris said -
November
1914: ‘Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by
the results it achieves’.
Foundation
November
is Rotary Foundation Month; it is appropriate that the Half Yearly Meeting
takes place in St. Albans on the 30th. You will have an opportunity to
meet our outgoing Scholar Lowri Gott who hopes to study in China. You
will also meet our two GSE teams. Do please make every effort to send
a club representative. The District Foundation Committee is endeavouring
to build an up-to-date database of Foundation Alumni so that they can
be approached to join Rotary. The professor of Archaeology at Edinburgh
University is an ex Ambassadorial Scholar who, until the last few weeks,
had never been approached to join a club, despite saying ‘I owe everything
to the Rotary Foundation’. What a waste! Please send any outstanding Foundation
and Tea Caddy money to our Assistant District Treasurer, as soon as possible,
so that it can be credited to the District. Please note: all Paul Harris
Fellowship awards requests must be channelled through the Assistant Treasurer.
Thank you for your co-operation. The GSE Team returns Very early on Monday
the 24th, I was at Terminal 4 at Heathrow to welcome the GSE team on its
return from Canada. Tracy, Rachel, Gareth, Matthew and David are now having
a well earned rest before preparing their presentation to clubs in the
District. The GSE Team (led by David Worker of Luton) were superb ambassadors
and were very well received. Their presentations to the clubs in District
7070 have certainly played a major part in the resurgence of GSE in that
District.
New
Rotarians
On your behalf I extend a very warm welcome to the following who have
joined us since I last wrote to you: Neil Hitch - Ampthill Phil Maulkin
- Watford Clarendon Choon Teoh - Welwyn Garden City Sheila Hilton - Watford
North David Cornes - Winslow Deepak Chandrana - Flitwick Vale. Please
let me have details of any others who have joined us recently so that
I can welcome them. In Memoriam It is with great sadness that I report
the passing of Harry Winsor a founder member of Milton Keynes Rotary Club.
He died on September 24th and the funeral took place on October 4th. Harry
was a great friend of Rotary and he will be greatly missed. A tribute
will be paid to him in the District News that will accompany this newsletter.
If a member of your club passes away could you please let me know as early
as possible. Thank you. Youth Activites Over the next few weeks many of
our clubs will be organising their ‘YOUTH SPEAKS’ competitions. If your
club is thinking about organising a competition why not contact one of
the following clubs: Rickmansworth, Aylesbury, Ware, Hertford, Harpenden,
St. Albans, Luton. Hitchin or Berkhamsted. Why not attend one of the competitions
and take along your newly inducted members – I can promise you that you
won’t be disappointed.
DG’s
Diary
To date I have visited 40 clubs and have been overwhelmed by the welcome
and generosity shown to me and Jasmine. She has enjoyed her visits to
several clubs many of which sponsored her during the walk in aid of Mercy
Ships. If your club sponsored her and would like to present her with the
money she would be delighted to accept it personally. My diary for November
is as follows: 1st Berkhamsted Bulboume 2nd Harpenden Village 3rd PDGs
Meeting 5th Amwell, Hertford Shires and Ware Fireworks Extravaganza. 7th
Leighton Linslade (Quiz Evening) 8th Hertford 8th Conference Committee
9th Amersham 9th Hoddesdon (Past Presidents) 10th Inner Wheel Rally 11
/13th Zone Institute (Bromsgrove) 14th Great Missenden 15th Hearing Dogs
for Deaf People (Princes Risborough) 15th Wolverton 17th Hoddesdon Celebrity
Evening 18th Hatfield 60th Anniversary 23rd Ware (Youth Speaks) 25th Inner
Wheel Gala and Dinner 27th Pre PETS - Tilsworth 28th Berkhamsted 30th
Foundation Half Yearly Meeting. District Conference All the elements of
the programme are now in place and I can promise you a great experience.
I sincerely hope that all Club Presidents will be attending because they
are to be presented to Conference on Saturday morning. If you have not
registered yet please do so soon. If you wish to stay at the HQ hotel
please make a second choice because places are limited. If you have recently
inducted new Rotarians please encourage them to attend. I hope that we’ll
meet at Cardiff and have a great time! The Asian Earthquake Many clubs
have responded magnificently once again by not only collecting funds for
‘BOXES’ Schemes but also collecting blankets. To date 2200 Shelter Boxes
and 7000 Tents have been sent recently to the disaster areas through the
efforts of Rotary International.
Membership
Services Committee
I
regret to tell you that Steve Heywood, who has chaired the above committee
with distinction, has reluctantly resigned the Chairmanship because of
time pressures. All of us at District are very grateful to Steve for all
his hard work in the past and sincerely hope that he will continue his
membership of that committee. I’m delighted to tell you that Sandy Aked-Walker
(Newport Pagnell) has agreed to chair the committee for the remainder
of this year and I am personally very grateful to her for agreeing to
do so. To my certain knowledge the clubs in the South East corner of the
District collected several truck loads and drove them up to Preston. Harpenden
Village collected them for the Central Mosque in Luton. Two of the club’s
members provided a Shelter Box between them and eight others also provided
one. The generosity of Rotarians never fails to amaze me! As I said in
last month’s newsletter, if you do collect money please support the ‘Boxes’.
I know that the supply of ‘Shelter Boxes’ is exhausted and they desperately
need funds to replenish stocks. Any spare money can be kept back to help
with longer term projects such as rebuilding homes, schools and hospitals.
As further advice becomes available I will share it with you. Club Events
As I’ve mentioned previously, if you have a project or event to which
you would like to invite me please do so. I would be happy to attend if
my diary is free And finally …… Pause for thought ‘Never believe that
a few caring people cannot change the world – that’s all who have ever
done it’. - Margaret Mead
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| 1260
District News - November 2005 |
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All
clubs are invited to contribute details of recent or forthcoming events
concerning our District as well as items of general interest to all Rotarians.
Please post or email to Peter Lardi at 13 Oxenden Drive, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
EN11 8QF or email: lardi@btinternet.com
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Calling
All EYE People . . .
A
request is to hand via Roger Mewis from Frank J Devlin, Chairman of Rotary
Trustees. Frank would like to know the names and email addresses of ophthalmologists,
optometrists and opticians, as well as persons in related eye care activities,
and any who have a great interest in eye care. Information is to be sent
to Roger Mewis please (Tring & District) Chairman of District Community
& Vocational Service, email: roger.mewis@chilterncostconsults.fsnet.co.uk
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The
ROTARY Jigsaw
In
April 2005 RIBI produced a Promotional Jigsaw, which is now available
from RIBI at a cost of £8.00 plus £2.00 postage & packing. The jigsaw
makes a fabulous gift or prize especially for competitions such as Youth
Speaks, Young Chef, Essay competitions, Christmas Story competitions etc.
District currently has 8 Jigsaws, which can be purchased at only £8.00
each (no p & p as they were collected from RIBI). The Jigsaws will be
available at the next District Council meeting on 23rd November. The District
also has a large Jigsaw (6ft x 4ft), which is most useful as a tool to
raise the profile of Rotary at any event involving the general public
or perhaps for a club fellowship activity. If you are interested in borrowing
the Jigsaw, please contact IPDG Janet Peirce on 01582 666866 or email:
janet@peirce.schoolwarehouse.co.uk.
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Rotary
Challenge Trail Race
This was the first year of this event, run on Sunday 30th October, when
88 runners took part in the 10.9k race with just 12 participating in the
shorter 5.6k fun run. Organisers, the Rotary Club of Luton North, expect
this to develop into a much bigger event. Postrace feedback from participants
has been extremely positive with many saying that they intend to return
next year and that they found the course challenging and rewarding.
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District
Darts 2004/5
The
District Darts knockout competiton was won by Leighton Linslade, with
Welwyn Garden City as runners up.
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District
Bowls Competition
The
picture shows the DG presenting the Fred Butt Trophy to this year’s winning
team, Amersham, represented by John Stevenson, John Fox and Vic French.
The runners up were Hatfield.
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Jump
For Mbohomhule
The
date for the sponsored Tandem Parachute jump in aid of Wolverton and Stony
Stratford club’s Mbonhomhule School appeal, was chosen back in July. By
good fortune October 9th was a stunningly good day for parachuting. The
six jumpers had been asked to raise £400 each in sponsorship and Rotarians
Karen Lower from Wolverton and Stony Stratford, John Slater from Winslow
and Les Lee from Chesham together with Clare Gold, Della Kimmins and James
Carlisle all checked in at 08.00 at the North London parachute Centre
at Chatteris airfield in Cambridgeshire. They were about to jump from
an aircraft at 13,500 feet strapped to a qualified parachutist.
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Les
Lee (above) makes his descent in the care of one of the expert parachutists.
Della, after her thrilling dive, proudly shows her certificate as “First
Timer”. Then she promptly asked if she could go up again! Her sponsorship
totals about £1,000.
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It’s
Fairly Simple Really
First
there was a brief training session where it was explained that they were
to be kitted out with a jump suit and had to learn a few basic instructions
and postures. When their turn came to board the aircraft they would be
strapped to their parachutist and were to sit on the floor with the doors
open as it climbed to the jump height. This would take around 20 minutes.
After leaving the aircraft they would free fall for 30 seconds before
the parachute was to be deployed and hopefully a safe landing would follow
some 3 minutes later.
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Who
Goes Next?
The aircraft could take only 14 passengers at any time; the organisers
were arranging a balance of tandem and single jumpers. This meant that
our six volunteers all went on different flights. Clare Gold, James Carlisle
and Della Kimmins were safely on the ground before it was the turn of
Karen Lower of Wolverton and Stony Stratford Club. Karen was very cool
as she had jumped once before but still couldn’t stop smiling and husband
Peter was smiling too. Last to jump was Rotarian John Slater from Winslow
Club who also had his wife Ruth to support him. The final sum raised for
the Mbomhomhule School is not yet available, but should exceed £1,500.
Very many thanks to all the Rotarians who supported the jumpers and for
the Clubs which were sponsors of Les Lee.
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Della,
after her thrilling dive, proudly shows her certificate as “First Timer”.
Then she promptly asked if she could go up again! Her sponsorship totals
about £1,000.
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Six
of the Best
There
were a good many people around wanting to jump. Some were jumping for
the thrill, like it was their hobby, some were tandem jumpers and some
were experts jumping with a video camera strapped to their heads to record
the event. The weather was perfect and the first to be called was ADG
Les Lee. Looking skyward, watching for the aircraft when it appeared to
be going so slowly, it was a long way up and as it passed over the airfield
it appeared that no one had jumped! It was too high to see the free fall
stage and then suddenly the sky was full of very colourful parachutes.
Les landed right on the marker spot, to the evident relief on his wife.
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Seven Clubs Water Project
Hatfield, Brookmans Park, Potters Bar, St Albans Priory,
Stevenage, Harpenden Village and Berkhamsted Bullbourne, have joined with
Rosebank Club, Johannesburg to support a Roundabout Playpump installation
in the Hammanskraal area of South Africa. The simple idea is that a Playpump
roundabout is installed over a water well drilled and provided by the
government. The children in turning the roundabout can pump up to 1400
litres of water an hour from depths up to 100 metres. The roundabout itself
seals off the well from contamination by animals and allows any overpumped
water not to be wasted. The water is stored in two tanks mounted on 7
metre high stands that can then supply standpipes for drinking water and
irrigation. The water tanks carry paying adverts. Each well is tested
for purity and flow before handover. The cost of £4600 includes a 16 year
maintenance agreement and training for the locals. The idea came from
the aunt of an Ambassadorial Scholar from South Africa, Georgie Dagnall,
for whom Frank Taylor of Hatfield acted as Host Counsellor. The project
has been supported at the South African end by the Rosebank Club of Johannesburg
who also propose to help the local school.
Rotary Club of Buckingham Schools’ Art
Exhibition
For the second year running, exhibitors were attracted
from six local schools, to show their students’ work which was on show
for five days at the University of Buckingham. The speech by Anthony Green
RA commended the work for its overall quality and astounding attention
to detail.
Vice-Chancellor Terence Kealey is seen with Anthony
Green and Rotarian Roy Taylor who was the organiser of the exhibition.
Buckingham was rewarded last year with the District Community Service
Cup following the first exhibition. Next time we look forward to seeing
more of the art and the gifted artists!
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| Jade O’Hanlon of International Aid Trust
says that Rotary trailer collection points have been
set up in various towns in districts 1290/1170/120 0/1210/1260/1240/1280/1190
- they are still receiving calls from other districts that are interested.
Jade would llike to thank all the clubs that have been involved in making
this initiative a success! IAT are still in need of donations to cover the
cost of collection of relief supplies from across GB as well as the considerable
cost of shipping these to Pakistan once they have been sorted and packed.
Owing to recent misunderstandings regarding donations of free air transport
by Virgin and other airline companies, some clubs and districts are under
the impression that further donations to cover the cost of transporting
relief to the affected area are not needed. This is not so, and I encourage
you to continue to support IAT financially if possible. It is true that
free transport has been promised by the UK government to those relief charities
that come under the umbrella of the DEC, but this does not apply to Rotary
charities. In summary the cost to International Aid Trust for shipping a
container from their warehouse in Preston to Rawalapindi (near Islamabad)
is circa £2000. It is important to remember that such a great response from
Rotary International and the public needs to be accompanied by sufficient
funds to cover the logistical cost of this initiative. IAT also stress that
they need to be aware of locations, dates and times of all the collection
points, to answer public queries about where to donate goods, and also advance
notice of trailers being sent to their Preston depot so that they can arrange
space and rapid unloading. Priority collections are for tents, blankets
& sleeping bags. Clothing will also be accepted but will be monitored, and
that which is not suitable for Pakistan will be shipped to other locations.
Many thanks to all for your efforts in response to this latest disaster.
As I have mentioned in the past, I believe that the strength of Rotary lies
in local communities and the trust that the general public have in us to
ensure that their generosity is channelled in the right way and that relief
supplies are delivered to trustworthy people who will ensure their rapid
use. Rotary is also able to take a long view, and there is no doubt that
we will be approached in the future regarding the long-term rebuilding of
the affected areas of Northern Pakistan, Kashmir and India. I will be in
touch with the District Governor once the immediate problems have been dealt
with to see what Rotarians in Pakistan might require from us. |
Blankets en route to Pakistan
Saturday 30th October, the accumulation of black sacks at three collecting
points in Hertford, Ware and Hoddesdon, proved almost overwhelming. Rotarians
from five local clubs were on duty and by 6.30 pm a sheep transporter
was in
Brewery Road and we chain-ganged black sacks of varied weights and shapes,
about 140 in total. As the pile mounted the inner doors were closed and
bundles stacked against them. A willing volunteer was encouraged to climb
in and heave sacks upon sacks, so using every cubic mm of space, then
squeeze himself out while the last few sacks replaced the space his body
had occupied. The 7½ ton lorry, the largest it is legal to drive without
an HGV licence, gingerly backed across the road and was driven to Preston
early on Monday. As shown in the photo above, another lorry, with trailer,
joined the convoy with blankets collected at Hertford.
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DG Meirion and Presid e n t J e f
f don the tabard to take a turn at the col lect ion point. Here you see
our last black bag, No 139, just being loaded by Peter
STOP
PRESS -
The blankets we collected have been airfreighted
to Islamabad after being sorted.
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HARRY WINSOR – A TRIBUTE
Harry Winsor joined the nine month old Wolverton club in July 1960. After
some eleven years of dedicated service Harry became the President of the
club in 1972/3. At that time this Rotary area was part of District 109.
With the expansion of the “New Town of Milton Keynes” it became obvious
that a new club was going to be needed, and so a Steering Committee of
ten prospective members was set up by the existing Rotary Clubs of Bletchley,
Wolverton and Newport Pagnell. The committee was ably guided under the
chairmanship of Harry, who worked very diligently to find about thirty
suitable persons who would be willing to join the new Rotary club if it
were formed. In due course the then District Governor, Eric Reynolds,
from the Rotary Club of Hatfield, presided over an Inaugural Dinner which
took place at the Lovatt Hall, Newport Pagnell on Friday, 14 July 1978
when some 154 Rotarians and guests were present. The Secretary of the
Steering Committee, Ernest Pye, was appointed as Secretary after the formation
of the new club, which post he held until July 1982. Ernest remains a
very active member of the club to the present day. Harry continued as
President from inauguration to July 1980, which allowed the new members
of the club time to settle together. During the period of President Harry’s
leadership it was decided to find a suitable contact club in Europe which
was chartered at the same time as the Milton Keynes club. The search was
completed by the middle of 1982 when a formal arrangement was made with
the Rotary Club of Helmond Regio in Holland. These friendships have grown
over successive years and the reciprocal visits are greatly enjoyed.
Following his twenty months as Club President
Harry served on all the various club committees but mainly on the Club
Service Committee. During the past few years, when his health was a problem,
he always attempted to attend the various social functions including the
Christmas Dinner and the annual Club Assembly. In recognition of all his
service to the Club he was awarded a well deserved Paul Harris Fellowship
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in 1991 and on the club’s twenty-fifth birthday
in October 2003 he was presented with a further Paul Harris award of the
Medal for Meritorious Service over 25 years . The Service of Thanksgiving
for his life was led by Rotarian Reverend Leslie Jell from the Rotary
Club of Bletchley, and a Eulogy from Vicky Southby reflected on all aspects
of his long life.
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| TRAFALGAR BICENTENARY |
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At
the celebration of the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 21st
October, Les Lee enjoys a chat with Helen Hambling, wife of Hoddesdon’s
Past President Andrew, the speaker that evening. Commander Bryan Smalley
RN gave the vote of thanks, saying he had never heard a more satisfactory
Trafalgar description than Andrew gave 140 diners representing Amwell,
Hertford, Hertford Shires, Hoddesdon and Ware Rotary Clubs.
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Postage stamps carry reproductions
from the panoramic painting by William Heath which now hangs in the Maritime
Museum at Greenwich. The oil painting by T Pocock of HMS Victory is also
in the National Maritime Museum. The portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson by
H Füger is hanging in the National Portrait Gallery. The middle gun deck
of HMS Victory was where seamen ate and slept, here cleared for action.
We spliced the mainbrace and sang sea shanties in celebration.
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Nelson’s original
message included the word “confides” - to express confidence - but the signalman
changed it, using the word “expects” to fit the contemporary Code of Signals.
Collingwood (second in command) is reported to have observed: “I do wish
that man would stop sending signals”. Nelson’s deathbed scene by Arthur
Devis. |
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