New Rotakids Club.

On the 7th October the newest club in the District was formed. It is the Rotakids Club at St.John’s Church of England Primary School, Midsomer Norton. It was wonderful to hear the President’s plans, which included helping the local community, playing games in the local care home and raising funds for a ShelterBox. Six of the Club travelled to Southampton to take part in the District Conference and were warmly received on stage. If you would like any more details about Rotakids please contact Martin Carter.

District Conference.

Around 200 people attended the conference at the Grand Harbour Hotel in Southampton. The theme was Inform, Inspire, Indulge. We had some great speakers who did indeed inform and inspire us. Evan Burrell told us how to have FUN in Rotary. Following Bonita Norris’s talk I will never be able to think about sleeping bags in the same way! Johnny Ball entertained us with some fascinating mathematics. On Friday night we indulged in fellowship with a charity casino evening. On Saturday we had a great band called DT8 and the dance floor was still crowed at midnight. The founder of the Rainbow Trust, Bernadette Cleary addressed us and we raised around £1,000 for this national charity that helps families with seriously ill children.

Best wishes. Dennis

World polio day.

Have you registered your event yet? Follow this link to find out more and to register your event. https://www.endpolio.org/world-polio-day?gclid=CjwKCAjwxOvsBRAjEiwAuY7L8hs0qwF6ECk8hCvUJPGaDPlkSOMgqz3M0FecnKQmV-3_tLaWlS5ztBoCx2MQAvD_BwE

The Big Climate Fightback.

The Woodland Trust is calling on one million people to pledge to plant a tree to help fight the climate emergency. We need to act now!

This year, on 30 November the Woodland Trust are holding a mass participation tree planting day with events across the country and I understand that they will donate trees. Join in The Big Climate Fightback. https://campaigns.woodlandtrust.org.uk/page/46713/data/1?locale=en-GB

SOUP.

Stewart Cursley went to a super community event in Wells called “SOUP” which could easily and very beneficially be facilitated by clubs. In essence, SOUP is a micro granting lunch celebrating and supporting creative projects in Wells. For a £5 donation, attendees received soup, a roll and a vote and hear from four presentations ranging from art, urban agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurs, education, technology and more.

Each presenter had four minutes to share their idea and answer four questions from the audience. At the event, attendees eat, talk, and vote on the project the voters think benefits the community the most.  At the end the votes are counted and the winner goes home with 50% of the money raised to carry out their project.  The other projects received the balance divided equally. Winners come back to a future SOUP dinner to report their project’s progress.

The ingredients for the soup were donated by Waitrose and the soup was made by a local state school. The atmosphere was great and all attendees were able to interact with many local community organisations.  The idea originated in  Detroit please see the link – https://detroitsoup.com/

The next SOUP event in Wells in on the 11th January 2020 at 12.50 if you are interested in attending to see SOUP in action just let Stewart know.

Conference.

I am looking forward to having FUN in Southampton with you at the weekend.

Best wishes

Dennis

Caribbean Hurricane Dorian Update.

Update From Our Team in Nassau

Thank you, Rotary Family

for your dedication to supporting our islands and residents affected by Hurricane Dorian!

During the last week, your collective work has enabled us to:

• See an increase in donations across our multiple funding channels to approximately $940,000.
• Receive, pack, and sort (alongside other partners) supplies for distribution to Abaco, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, Shelters, and private accommodations.
• Continue pumping water (daily capacity of 6,000 gallons) at the Rotary Water Plant in Grand Bahama for distribution to the hospital, clinics, feeding centers, shelters, and the community at large. More than 120,000 gallons have been pumped since the passing of the storm.
• Continue engaging officials from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) plus other international and local private and corporate partners to discuss ways Rotary can assist in the immediate and long-term building efforts.
• Begin erecting tents from Disaster Aid International in partnership with the Bahamas Scouts Association at their Headquarters, a National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) approved Temporary Shelter Area.
• Deliver over 750 meals prepared by Mercy Chefs to persons in temporary private housing.

Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland has now received donations of over $25,000. A recent report mentioned collections by Melcombe Regis and Weymouth. The advice is to continue to support ShelterBox and Water Survival Box or to qualify for Gift Aid, donate to Rotary’s Disaster Recovery Trust for Caribbean Hurricane Dorian.

Foundation

In the post this morning I received banners for the top three clubs that gave the most per capita, to the Annual Fund in 2018-19.  These are Frome Selwood $128.55; Chippenham $110.13; Midsomer Norton & Radstock $97.54

I also received certificates for clubs that contributed at least $1,500 to Rotary’s polio eradication efforts in the year 2018-19. The clubs are: Chelwood Bridge, Glastonbury & Street, Lyme Regis, Minehead, Shepton Mallet, Sherborne Castles and Yeovil.  Well done everyone and keep up the great work. The banners and certificated will be presented at the District Forum on 30 November.

District Family Tree

I recently came across the Districts Family Tree which I believe was produced by Stan Jones back in 2018.

There have been quite a few changes since then.   

Best wishes, Dennis

Hurricane Dorian

Rotary District 7020 Hurricane Recovery

Dorian is the strongest storm ever to hit the Bahamas, at least 43 people are dead, and that number is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.  More than 70,000 people are homeless on Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, the parts of the Bahamas hardest hit by the hurricane.  The search and recovery efforts in the Bahamas have been slowed down by the complete destruction of infrastructure hampering the delivery of support for those affected.

The Rotary supported charities are reviewing and supporting the aid effort in the Bahamas.  The airport in Nassau is now open and Water Survival Box are planning to send 240 Water Survival Boxes and 2x 15 Aqua plus 1 x 10 Community filters. This is a significant amount of stock to be sent to one emergency which will need to be replaced as the hurricane session continues. Donations can be made to Water Survival Box as follows:

http://watersurvivalbox.org/donate/index.html and to ShelterBox https://www.shelterbox.org. UK donations to Rotary GBI Disaster Recovery Trust.   District 7020 The Bahamas was looking to twin with our District, so please do what you can to help.

Poppy pins

The Rotary Club of Chelmer Bridge plans to raise funds again for the Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland from the sale of a new lapel pin badge. The badge shows the inscription of “Rotary Remembers” to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battles of Arnhem and the Bulge and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Second World War. The pins are £3 with £2 going to the charities. Send in your orders by 30th September 2019 to chelmerbridgerotaryremembers19@gmail.com

The Yeovil Hospital Breast Care Unit Appeal

The Classics at the Castle event had a record year and has donated £11,000 to the Appeal. A group of intrepid Rotarians are planning to wing-walk to raise funds.

Visits

This last week I visited Shepton Mallet who are heavily involved with helping at the Glastonbury Festival and took part in the District Golf Team Competition run by Glastonbury & Street at Wheathill Golf Club. The Team prize went to Yeo Vale.

Anniversaries

Devizes are celebrating 60 years of service with a  new members evening as a Night at The Museum. Crewkerne District are celebrating their 10th birthday with a party at Oscar’s Wine Bar.

District Forum from 9am Bath & West Showground this Saturday —I hope to see you there.

Dennis