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RC Swindon documentation 22-23 – Swindon Rotary
100 CLUB
The club organises a monthly draw to raise funds. We are aiming at having 100 members – family and friends as well as rotarians – but we haven’t quite reached that figure yet! If you’d like to join, do make contact…Debbie Vincent is the powerhouse behind it, and she’d love to add your name to the list of those who pay just £4.34 each month – but with the prospect of winning £50!!!! The draw is made on the last Thursday of each month.
Winners of late were:
June: Darren Puffett
July: Debbie Vincent
August: Nicky Alberry
September: sadly the winner’s membership had lapsed!
october: Nigel Henham
Here are some of the more recent club activities:
11th November: visit to the Bodleian Library Collections Repository at South Marston
Thanks to club member Ray Fisher, a group from the club were able to tour this amazing site on the edge of Swindon. We had little idea what we were going to see and only knew that it was the store for books and other items that the main Bodleian Library could not contain. But truth to tell, we were bowled over.
A brief preliminary meeting set the scene as we heard of the 11,000,000 items held in storage, and how the centre is used , and then we set off to see how the collection is organised…
And then into the storage area…..something akin to a sci-fi scene
Row upon row of 11 metre high shelving – simply breathtaking!
Byron’s face says it all! We came away with our heads reeling with statistics and wonderment at how the logistics a ever work out! It had its lighter side too…. when the manager said quite innocently “I’m not into books”
Thank you Ray for a simply great experience
10th September: Italian Meal at Fabio’s
68 club members and supporters of the Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service gathered at the ever popular Italian Restaurant in Bath Rd and enjoyed a great evening of good food and wonderful fellowship. As a result £1484 will be heading to the needy coffers of the charity. Our thanks go to all those who supported the evening in different ways and of course to Gianni and the fabulous restaurant staff!
8th September: Evensong at St Paul’s, London
A group from the club, together with family and friends recently made our way up to London and St Paul’s Cathedral where one of our club members, Revd Catherine Okoronkwo had accepted the call to a position on the staff of the Cathedral. She was installed during the very beautiful and moving service of Evensong that day. Although we are sorry to lose her from the club we know that she will be very happy in her new role as Residentiary Canon and Steward of St Paul’s.
18th July 2024: What a Day!
Firstly, at our lunchtime meeting, after a superb presentation by Sarah Gardner on the work of the charity she created “Action Through Enterprise” that does amazing work in Ghana, Sarah was handed a cheque for £6200 that will certainly give a boost to expanding her project into other areas of that country and help countless numbers of people to a better life. Sarah was also made a Paul Harris Fellow by the club – a singular honour for a very remarkable woman! And our DG Drewe Lacey was there to add to the sense of occasion!
Then later in the day came cheque presentations to the beneficiaries of this year’s Charity Ball when in excess of £26,000 had been raised and was handed out. Their beaming smiles say it all……
Club Handover 27th June 2024
The Royary year runs from July to June so this week saw the quaintly named handover meeting when our new president was handed her chain of office!
For the coming year. Debbie will be the Junior Vice President( President nominee), Richard becimes the Senior Vice President (President elect) and our President will be Lesley.
President’s Night: 21st June 2024
FRiday evening saw a gathering of the club at Wrag barn Golf Complex to mark the end of this Rotary year! Our guest speaker was Kevin Ashman of “Eggheads” fame and he gave a fascinating insight into his career as a ‘quizzer’ as well as the making of the popular TV programme. All in all and excellent evening with superb food, and great company! Here are a few photos …..
Swindon Rotary Cares High Sheriff’s Concert 1st June at Christ Church:
SWING BIRDS
Well Nicky pulled it off again! This year’s concert at Christ Church in aid of SDASS was simply breathtaking! The church was just about full and the band simply wowed us from start to finish with some simply great music. It would be impossible to pick out the best numbers but I’d have to say that the two vocalists were absolutely outstanding: Susannah Bevington’s ” Feeling Good” left you weak at the knees and Kym Rose was indeed a “Natural Woman”.
It must be the first time that any High Sheriff of the county was moved to dance down the aisle of Christ Church as the band played us out with their encore number “Happy”.
A simply brilliant night and the Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service will have benefitted by a very welcome sum of money as a result.
(above: The Huigh Sheriff, Dr Olivia Chapple is flanked by the Mayor and Mayoress of Swindon and of course, the indefatigable Nicky Alberry!)
May Charity Ball
Our Charity Ball Committee did well, agaon this year – more that £26,500 raised for local charities….here are the folks that planned it all
Chinese Banquet 18th Feb
More than 80 members and friends joined together to rause funds for “Mercy Ships”. As a resuly of the generosity of the restaurant management and a afabulous raffle, more than £1050 will be heading off to that great charity….amd as you can see below, we enjoyed ourselves in the process!
Yet another evening meeting when we had booked the Training Restaurant at the College for a Christmas meal (as we have done for many years!) and a very good evening we had too! It was perhaps one of the best college evenings we have had as a club – the meal was really excellent and the service matched the quality of the food.
November 30th: 5th Thursday of the month
A tradition of the club is that if there is a 5th Thursday in the month we hold an evening meeting and invites wives and famioy to come a,ong and join us (they’re always welcome at other ties too! )
This month we revisited our old haunt and went back to the KIngs on Old Town and enjoyed a very pleasant evening.
Our speaker for the night, Revd Dr John Railton had researched and told us all about the background to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. His distant relative had been the army Chaplain who had dreamt up the concept of the tomb…a fascinating and very poignant topic.
23rd November: White Ribbon Day
Okay… so the real White Ribbpn Day was not until 25th Nov… but we thought we’d steal a march on the national scheme and get our publicity in earlier…….
so here we all are sporting our ribbons and looking veryt cheerful too……
15th November: Art Auction
Charity Art Auction
We’d anticipated that we’d have 30 or so paitings to sell but n the end there were some 50 beautiful paintings and other works of art auctioned off by our talented club president-turned-auctioneer. In addition other paintings were for sale. All the art-work had been kindly donated by prominent local artists and other donors.
As promised, the whole evening was filled with a spirit of good humour and generosity and although the ballroom of the Hilton Double Tree wasn’t exactly packed, few of the paintings remained unsold. As a result, just over £5,000 was raised that will be divided equally between ‘The Harbour Project’ and ‘Young Carers’
The club was well represented at the event and our raffle added to the grand total for the evening.
A special word of thanks must go to the team from the Harbour Project who tracked the purchasers as the hammer went down and took care of all the money as it came in…not to forget the careful use of bubble wrap to parcel up the paintings!
12th November: Remembrance Day
President Jeremy represented the club at the remembrance ceremony at the Swindon cenotaph, laying a poppy wreath on behalf of the club. Looking resepndant im the presidential chain of office, like many previous club presidents in past years, he was mistaken for the mayor!!!
15th September: Winetasting at Magnums in Wood Street.
The President’s charity, was the beneficiary of the evening – The Harbour Project – and twenty-six staff and friends of this amazing charity gathered for a fun evening of tasting some interesting wines, and although the financial outcome is not yet known, the coffers of the Project will have swollen by a tidy little sum as a result. Congratulations go to club member Liz Holloway who won the star prize in the raffle of a Tour of the House of Commons and afternoon tea with Justin Tomlinson M.P.
(Below) President Jeremy in action as the auctioneer – is there no limit to the talents of the man?!!!
11th September: Italian Meal at Fabio’s – Fundraising for SDASS
Seventy Eight members and friends gathered at Fabio’s in Old Town for a splendid Italian Meal, and as usual Gianni and the staff there did us proud!
With generous reponse to the raffle (well who could say ‘no’ to Debbie and Lesley when they came round with the tickets!) a staggering £1479 was raised that will swell the coffers of the Swindon Domestic Abuse Support Service. So a huge “Thank You” to all those who came along and gave so generously, to the staff at Fabio’s and especially to Debbie and her band of helpers who worked so hard to make the evening such a success!
Below: Debbie and Lesley working hard to sell raffle tickets
9th August: Downs Syndrome Picnic at Coate Water
Thank goodness the dreadful weather we’ve been having in August changed in time for the local Downs Group to enjoy an afternoon of fun and games at Coate Water. Our club had helped sponsor the event and several members turned out to lend a helping hand where it was needed. As you can see, a good time was had by all….and the sun was shining most of the time!!!!
Photos courtesy of Phil Compton
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil? Three club members enjoyed the trip!
Croquet and Sunday Afternoon Tea
Sunday 23rd July: president Jeremy, ever keen to raise funds for his chosen charity (the Harbour Project), invited club members to join him on his back lawn for an afternoon of croquet, followed by tea…..well the weather wasn’t too promising and only a small number of club members turned out but they were joined by members of the Harbour Project team and a very pleasant afternoon ensued…
Despite the lack of numbers, over £320 was raised to help swell the funds of this amazing local charity that does so much to help refugees and asylum seekers in the town.
President’s Night: 14th July 2023
Thirty seven club members with partners and friends assembled at the Wrag Barn Golf Club on the evening of 14th July to mark the end of President Rob’s year in office. At the beginning of the evening a presentation was made of Paul Harris Fellowships to Jane Leighton and Catherine Weaver; these ladies were the crucial non-rotarian players from Brighter Futures who ensured the successful delivery of Rotary’s massive £330,000 contribution to the Radiotherapy Unit at the GWH. Here are the photos taken on the evening:
