Rotary Club of Hove
Founded 1933 RI No 3630 RIBI No 393
For previous years click on http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2006/ or http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2005
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Founded 1933 RI No 3630 RIBI No 393
For previous years click on http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2006/ or http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2005
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ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN JUNE 2007 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: As I write, my year as your President has only five weeks to run, and I am starting to get the sort of feelings of regret that one gets during the last two or three days of a summer holiday. I took up the Presidency with some trepidation; the whole Rotary "thing" (to use the disgusting modern vernacular – I think the Latin res is much better) is immense and complex and fine and noble, and it was already clear to me that presidency of a Rotary club was a great privilege and honour – I have never experienced this and never shall, but I suspect that it must be rather similar to being captain of a warship. And with that honour, of course, goes responsibility. As the months have gone by, and everything seems to have gone all right, it has gradually all become rather fun. Since my last President’s Message to you, the third high spot of April which hadn’t happened yet now has: the Motorcycle Rally on 29th April. And it was a huge success; about £6,400 was raised. All our thanks go to our tireless Organising Committee, led by Adrian Ball, for their sterling work. At the Club Assembly on 8th May, convened by ADG David Hodge, my successor-designate, 1VP David Henderson outlined his plans for the continuance of the business and activities of the Hove Club. Of paramount importance is the maintenance of good levels of membership and attendance, and, as David Henderson said, Rotary needs to be fun. The speaker that we had on 15th May was ex-CPO Nigel Whiteley who gave us all an incredible insight into the work of St. Dunstan’s. Until we heard him, I knew that blind people could do many things, not least of which was musicianship and other forms of artistry. but I had no idea of the amazing range of activities in which they could participate. Nigel himself is totally blind, and…an accomplished archer! Yesterday, at the evening meeting on 29th May, Guy Hudson spoke on the subject of water divining or dowsing. (Has anyone read Patricia Wentworth’s crime novel The Gazebo, in which two thoroughly unprincipled rogues, one of whom is a dowser, try to buy a property in whose garden is a gazebo? Under the floor of the gazebo is buried a collection of valuable gold plate which has been there since the early nineteenth century, and the dowser tries to detect the precious metal with his divining rod.) But what is really important was that Guy went out to Zambia with a team of dowsers to teach the locals how to find underground wells. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for life…and the same goes for water divining. Yours in Rotary, President Michael
CLUB DIARY 2007. June. Mon. 5th Club Council, 6.30pm West Blatchington Windmill. Sat 9th. Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club Elvis Night. Wickwood's Country Club £45.00 per ticket*** Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Every member has been given itinerary of the visit*** July. Mon 2nd. Club Council. West Blatchington Windmill. 6.30pm*** Sat. 7th Housing Society Barbecue. 30 Sackville Road, 6pm. Ticket details later. August. Mon. 6th. Club Council. West Blatchington Windmill. 6.30pm Mon. 13th Lewes Rotary Club Charity Golf Day. See President Michael for details*** October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. I/C David seeks company for this important weekend in the District 1250 Rotary year. New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR JUNE Cash – John Eaton Care of Visitors – Bob Hinton CLUB DUTIES FOR JULY Cash – Peter Fowle. Care of Visitors – Tad Phillips/Filipowicz CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JUNE. 5th. This being the first meeting of the month, there will be a report from President Michael on what went on at Club Council the previous evening. 12th. I was unable to confirm this with the programme secretary but according to the distributed programme this is the day of the Presidential handover. 19th. Today sees the getting together of the various committees to discuss their respective business. 26th This, the last meeting of this Rotary year will consist of a Valedictory from President Michael. The vote of thanks will be given by Bob Mulholland. CLUB MEETINGS. 1st May 2007 29 present – 28 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. Club Officers for the next Rotary year were reminded that this Thursday sees the occasion of District Assembly, being held at Forest School, Horsham, 5.30 for 6pm. It was also announced that there was to be a lunch for Paul Harris Fellows, being held on 27th May at Reigate Manor Hotel, Reigate. A card was circulated today, for members to sign, wishing John and Shirley Ansell much happiness in their new house. Owing to the absence of secretary David, there was no written report of last night’s Club Council but the following few items were mentioned: Treasurer’s report and recommendation that next year’s subscription should be £104.00 was approved by Council. The Motorcycle Rally appears to have been a great success realising some £6,400 in revenue. The visit to St Patrick’s, to view the pods spoken about last month, was very successful Mike Peters reported that Peter Hill, the curator at West Blatchington Windmill, has agreed that we can use the windmill for future Council meetings. The Club will also donate £120 to the windmill charity account. Thanks were also given to Dr. David for the use of his surgery this past year or so. Ray Tiltman informed members that the marlin Swimming Club, which Portslade and West Hove Rotary Club supported for many years is holding it’s gala night at The King Alfred Baths on Sunday May 13th, 6.30 to 8.30pm. All Rotarians are welcome to attend. Mike Peters, in the absence of Adrian Ball, reported on the Motorcycle Rally, thanking everyone who helped out over the weekend. It looks as thought it will turn out to be very financially successful. Today was also the occasion of the Club’s AGM and the following is a summary of what went on: The minutes of last year’s AGM were not available but they were taken as read, proposed by Chris Heath and seconded by Michael Nettell. Members were informed that next Rotary year’s council, which is of six members, would consist of Bob Mulholland, Paul Beaken, Peter Fowle, Bob Hinton, Roger Patterson and John Eaton. Next on the agenda was the consideration of the various annual reports. Secretary David reported that club council had met 12 times this Rotary year and all were very well attended. Club Service Chairman Ron Knight reported that it had been unnecessary for his committee to meet because all of his officers are pretty much self sufficient and his task had been made very easy owing to all Club service officers had coped quite well. He welcomed our two newest members, Yveline Milner and Ron Loadsman to the club and informed us that our membership is 43 plus two honorary members. All the Club Service Committee Chairman, those that were present, gave short written reports on what their various committees have achieve this last twelve months. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton remarked that he was very pleased to say that in the past this club has been suspicious of the value of Foundation but this is now long gone and he thanked us all for our support. He reported on the recent donation made to help with the restoration of a
medical communication system in the Andaman Islands. This only cost the club
some $550 dollars, owing to the strength of the pound. The club was also participating in the Ambassadorial Scholar scheme, with Bob himself acting as counsellor for Elizabeth Spofford, a quite regular attendee this year at various functions and also two or three Club meetings. Donations to foundation with Spread and Save and Foundation Calendars plus a grant to foundation, which will be looked at during the next Club Council. Bob has also composed a letter for all club members, which will be distributed shortly, pointing out the benefits of giving to foundation. Fund Raising Chairman Bryan Meakin was next up and he made special mention of the forthcoming fundraising event, in conjunction the B & H Breakfast and B & H Soiree, on May 31st at Pangdean Farm. This event is entitled "Bangers In The Barn" and all proceeds will be divided, proportionately, between the three clubs involved. Last up with a report was Housing Society Chairman Ted Bartup who reported on the healthy state of The Housing Society and informed those present that all members of the Club are entitled to be a shareholders in the society for the princely sum of £1. He gave special thanks to John Austin and his colleagues for his firm’s work as administrator of the various properties. He informed members that the Housing Society has opted to withdraw from The Housing Corporation because of various difficulties involved in being a member of that body. The last part of the AGM was devoted to a report and discussion of the Club’s budget for the forthcoming year. Treasurer Michael Nettell presented his budget with a recommended subscription for 2007/2008 of £104.00. Tony Woodthorpe proposed that we accept this and Chris Heath seconded and the proposal was carried unanimously. Bryan Meakin agreed to be auditor for the coming year. All business was completed at 2.15-m. 8th May 2007. 32 present – 31 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; Assistant District Governor David Hodge from Caterham club who was here acting as Moderator for the Annual Club Assembly. There was a plea from Club Secretary David for people to fill in the forms, obtainable at cash desk, denoting if there any changes they wish to make to their entries in next year’s Club Directory. There are also forms available for those who wish to pick their committee to serve on during the next Rotary year. A letter from Lewes RC was read out, which gave details of their annual Charity Golf Day, being held on Monday, 13th August, President Michael also read out a letter from Spinal Research thanking the Club for the cheque for £200 that was presented to them at the recent Motorcycle Rally, at which they had a stall Ray Tiltman gave details of the Marlin Swimming Club Gala; this coming Sunday at the King Alfred at 6.30pm. Adrian Ball informed members that Peter Hill, custodian of the West Blatchington Windmill, was very grateful for receiving a cheque at the Motorcycle Rally. At the conclusion of business it was time for President Michael to hand over the President’s Chair, for the day, to I/C President David Henderson for him to preside over the Club Assembly. I/C President David said how proud he was to be President of this club next year, emphasising that it is a strong club and President Michael would be a hard act to follow. He said that our lack of charity funds is a concern but fears that a change of venue for the Motorcycle Rally would affect takings had proved to be unfounded. He said that membership is also a problem throughout Rotary and is a hardy perennial mentioned at every Club Assembly I/C RIBI President Allan Jagger (no relation!!) is very keen to increase membership of ladies into Clubs David said he wants more cooperation with local schools in all types of projects and was impressed with the school in Horsham that permitted District to hold their Assembly there. He also wants us to extend our mock interviews projects to more school, particularly state schools. David was also very keen to continue cooperating with the other five clubs in the Brighton Area. He was also keen to make Rotary activities more fun. He remarked on the fact that this Club has a good team, good venue, good food, excellent speakers and many enjoyable events that should make it very easy for us to bring people along with a view to joining us. He particularly singled out Ian Collington for his excellent speaker’s programme this last few years. He said that Ray Tiltman is continuing to let us use his venue for the Barbecue on September 1st and he would like to have a President’s night at the Dyke Golf Club later on in his year. He is very keen that as many of us as possible attend the District 1250 Conference at Folkestone in October. Many fine speakers have been promised on this, the highlight of the Rotary District year. He finished by saying that RI President’s motto for the year is "Rotary Shares" (apparently a wag at the PETS day said "How much are they worth?") David then introduced David Knowles, who will be serving as secretary of the club and Environmental Officer, a new post for Rotary Clubs. David gave us a quick description of what this entails. He jokingly remarked that a good start is being made by the fact that Club Council meetings will, in future, be held in a windmill. District Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken, who is serving in this capacity again next year, outlined his hopes for next year, thanking everyone for their support in the last year and informed us that a review has already been circulated with regard to Christmas arrangements. He also announced that there was to be a barbecue, jointly held by Community Service and the Housing Society, at 30 Sackville Road on Saturday, 7th July at 6PM. He said he proposed to enhance our profile in the community and this is well in hand with some very professional photograph displays on the work that Rotary performs. He also intended to focus on supplying better information to Club members and to have better relations with Inner Wheel (this mainly to do with the Christmas Collection). He said there was a problem displaying photographs of pre school groups that the club supports and because of various aspects of The Child Protection Act we have to get permission from every single parent at the group to be able to display photographs of their children. He said he realises that the charity fund account is pretty low but takes comfort from the fact that we shouldn’t store money but give it out when we have it. There was then a long and confusing discussion about mock interviews and state schools that I will not go into in this media. Paul also stated that "Kids Out" was a problem because many of the schools were not cooperating, but Paul pointed out that we should put ourselves into the school’s position, because they have many reasons that are not aware of for lack of such cooperation. Roger Patterson remarked that his perception was that we should tailor ourselves to what the schools want. Bob Hinton said that Roger was right and that if we approach state schools with our proposals they will invariably cooperation. No proposal was official made at this meeting but it was felt that ADG David would take the message back to District. Peter Fowle, International Committee Chairman said that he aims to make it a fun year, which started With lack of material from District to say anything today. Peter Fowle international committee chairman said that he aims to make it a fun year, which started He intends to continue to carry on, as in the past and next year’s Contact visit will be hosted by Evreux. Most things will carry on as in the past and next year’s contact visit is due to be held in Evreux. He was keen to carry on with the aqua boxes project, with 17 still outstanding, still waiting to be filled up in various schools. He also hoped that the next contact in this country would be held in Oxford. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton gave his report, saying that this Club is a great supporter of Foundation, both financially and with the varied programs. Foundation does so much good, worldwide and locally. He said that 50% of what we give comes back three years later and is available for International and Local projects. He hoped that we would consider more support and hopes for more individual support by giving of donations to Foundation. He will be writing to all members, making suggestions to how this can be achieved. He also said that Matching Grants are not easy for an individual club and it is much better to cooperate with District. He said that joint projects with Evreux and Pforzheim are, hopefully, a proposition to be examined. He also mentioned Ambassadorial scholars and hopes we continue to support them. Finally, he mentioned that "Spread and Save" and the purchaser of Foundation Calendars will be the normal way to raise more funds in the coming year. . Youth Activities Officer Chairman Roger Patterson said he would be continuing with all the very good projects that we are already involved in, such as Mock Interviews and RYLA and he also emphasised that we must approach schools to see what they want us to do to help. He praised the candidates of RYLA for their commitment to the scheme, particularly as they have to pay a percentage of the cost of the course. There was no contribution on Rotary Housing because chairman Ted was absent, but a report had already been circulated prior to the upcoming AGM of the society. Following on from all these presentations, ADG David Hodge said he was impressed with the fellowship in our club and the fact that we all wear name badges, which he felt was a great help to visitors. He told us that his own Club, Caterham, has problems with state schools, but it is not understood how much pressure that the teaching profession is under and they most probably know better than us to what is involved. The meeting finish, very late, at 2.38. 15th May 2007. 30 present – 28 of our own members and two non-Rotarian guests; Nigel and Jackie Whitely. Nigel was our speaker for today. Secretary David said that notices are still required to denote if anyone wants to serve on a particular committee next Rotary year. There was a short discussion on whether to opt for a two or three course meal at the evening meeting on the 29th and it was decided that we would go for the two courses at a cost of £15.00 President Michael read out a letter from Ray Blackwood of Brighton East club who is trying to organise a weekend in Dieppe for members from all the Clubs in the Brighton Area on July 13th/14th. It was felt that this was too close to our own contact visit at the end of June. President Michael also read a letter from Nina Holland of Whoopsadaisy thanking us for our recent donation of £500 A poster was circulated, advertising the "Bangers in the Barn" event on 31st May at Pangdean Farm. Bob Hinton reminded members that "spread and save" money was due and would be grateful for any donations to be given to him as soon as possible. He also spoke of former Rob Hufton, a former member of this Club, who has just completed a walk to raise funds for his church, situated in Clapham, South London. Ted Bartup was congratulated on organising the visit to Spinnaker Tower the previous Thursday, which had been a great success, despite the bad weather. Our speaker today was Nigel Whiteley, who spends his time addressing various bodies as to what is going on nowadays at St Dunstan’s, that well-known landmark which looks out to the sea at Ovingdean. Nigel is a resident at St Dunstan’s and was struck blind after catching a severe viral illness whilst evacuating refugees from Beirut during the troubles there last century. The viral illness resulted in total blindness, which he suffered eight days after his wedding day. He started by giving us a short history, which commenced with its foundation by Arthur, later Sir Arthur Pearson, who at the time was the proprietor of The Daily Express. He came up with the idea after seeing a group of 16 blind soldiers in a London hospital and decided to have a hospital built, dedicated mainly to those who had been blinded while fighting for their country. Nigel told us that St. Dunstan’s is a charity that receives no help at all from central government. It was named after a church called St. Dunstan In The East, which was located in Fleet Street. He said that all the earlier patients were taught to touch type because it was felt that it would most hopeful when they came to work in business and that they would be able to type their own letters, orders and invoices. The first link with Brighton came in 1918 when the National Federation of Grocers donated a house in Kemp Town that is now part of the Royal Sussex County Hospital. In the mean time Sir Arthur had died tragically, when he slipped and drowned in his bath. Ian, later Lord, Fraser took over the reins. He was also blind, having been wounded at Passchendale in WW1. He took over in 1921 at the tender age of 23 and headed the organisation for many years. He was responsible for the introduction of the white cane, an American idea that was developed jointly by St. Dunstan’s and the Lions. Lord Fraser always said that there were only two good things that had come out of America and that were the white cane and Rotary. The organisation expanded somewhat when many ex-soldiers started to become blind because of the lingering after effects of mustard gas from the First World War and they moved down to the South Coast in 1935. It was never understood why they picked one of the windiest places in the country to erect such a building. If you were able to see the building from above you would see that it is built in the shape of an aeroplane. During the Second World War all the patients were evacuated and moved to Church Stretton, Shropshire with St Dunstan’s being taken over, for the duration, by the Royal Navy. All the officers were billeted, almost next-door, at Roedean School. Great play was made of the fact that the notice next to the bell in each bedroom stated, "If you require a mistress, please ring the bell"! 7000 people were trained during the Second World War in Shropshire, the ethos being that a blind person can be independent. Recruiting criteria was changed in the year 2000 with a wider scope of people being allowed to serve which included naval reserve, Territorial Army and similar parts of the military. The youngest St. Dunstaner is 18 and a half years of age and he was blinded when 14 and a half as a cadet, by a terrorist device. The eldest St. Dunstaner is Henry Allingham, who is 111. He then took us through the procedure of which anyone is accepted for entry. This started by having to see two doctors at their Headquarters in London. He told of being taught to cook. This with the help of speaking aids such as talking microwaves and cookers. He even has a machine that tells him what colour clothes he is picking to wear. He told of painters who are accomplished painters, one of them an 86 year old lady, formerly secretary to Guy Gibson, he of "Dambusters" fame. Nigel also told us that he is an expert archer, and in fact won a gold medal at the paralympics in Rome. He also said that there is even a skiing team for the blind and says he is told that it is a wonderful sight seeing them coming down the slopes together. He listed other achievements that had been achieved by the blind, including one chap who had performed helmsman duties on a 60-foot catamaran and another blind fellow who had achieved the world record speed, for a blind person, of 168.4mph on a motorcycle At the end of his talk, Nigel suggested that we should organise a trip to St. Dunstan’s, something this club has not done for many years, and the President took it on board. A really fascinating talk by a wonderful chap. As expected, there were many questions after and Nigel answered them all in his unique way. One question asked, by Howard Attree, was how long do the residents stay and Nigel replied that they can stay for as long as it takes to train them. He said that many blind servicemen do not take advantage of being able to join because they are too proud to accept charity and some servicemen don’t because they don’t think they are important enough. In answer to a question from Peter Savage asking if his other senses had been enhance due to his blindness, he answered in the negative. George Robinson gave the vote of thanks. 22nd May, 2007. 24 present – all our own members. There was a final call for people to submit changes for next year’s Club Directory. Tony Woodthorpe mentioned "Walking the Way" an exhibition by 50 local artists, exploring various walkways and pilgrimages, at St Mary’s and St Nicholas’s Churches in Shoreham. Bryan Meakin gave a reminder to members about the "Banger In The Barn" event at Pangdean Farm on Thursday, May 31st. This will be in conjunction with Brighton and Hove Soiree and Brighton and Hove Breakfast Rotary clubs and tickets will be at a cost of £10. You are very welcome to bring your own beverages along on the night. This will be an evening of music and dancing, and eating of course. All proceeds will be divided, proportionately, according to the number of tickets each club sells, between the three clubs. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton made a further plea for people to bring their money, which they had saved in their marmalade jars, into club as soon as possible. Bob is also sending a letter out to every member informing them of how they can contribute financially to Foundation, which will also tell everyone their status as far as giving is concerned. Paul Beaken spoke further on the barbecue being held for housing society tenants at 30 Sackville Road on Saturday, 7th July at 6pm. Further details as to cost will be forthcoming. 29th May, 2007. 30 present – 16 of our own members and the rest being made up members’ better halves, but including one non-Rotarian guest, Guy Hudson, our speaker for today. First impressions were that it was a very disappointing turnout of members, considering that it was only about a month ago when we decided that it would be a good idea to have a fifth Tuesday evening meeting in the summer. This was the worst attendance, by Rotarians, in the Club’s long history. This evening saw the "40 Set" draw taking place and Adrian Ball won the winning cheque for £25. There were no Presidential announcements so, after a twenty-minute comfort break, it was the turn of our speaker. Guy Hudson, our speaker, was here to tell us about his dowsing experiences in Zambia. A "dowser" is someone who uses a divining rod to find various elements, in this case water. Guy, together with Rotarians from Diss, Norfolk went to Zambia to help locate water sources to enable fresh water wells to be built. His talk, with the help of slides was quite interesting and took us through the procedure of actually finding the water and the building of the wells. He also gave us much information on the benefits of the new water wells, such as a halt to the procedure of women having to walk many miles to carry water, in containers, on their heads. These trips could take up quite a bit of their working day and must have been a terrible strain of them physically. There were also the usual benefits of having fresh water, free from contamination that led to an improvement in the general health of the local population. During the talk, he also gave us a geography lesson on the make up of Zambia. The town he visited was called Mongu and is some 500 kilometres from the capital, Lusaka. Since listening to Guy’s talk I have researched the art of dowsing and I must say that there is much cynicism about the practice. An extensive scientific test on some 500 dowsers was taken on in Germany a couple of years ago and the conclusion was that there most of it was either luck or guesswork and there was no scientific theory to back it up. If you want to see more, go to the Wikipedia site. Despite my cynicism at the time, I enjoyed the talk and it was obvious that Guy was a great believer in the art of dowsing, as was our own John Mainwood, who himself is a dowser also. The talk obviously created great interest because there were questions from the floor afterwards from Ted Bartup, David Knowles, Gwen, Ann Mulholland, and myself. As stated earlier, John Mainwood gave the vote of thanks.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN MAY 2007 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: Another month has gone by: April 2007 has had three high spots, one of which hasn’t actually happened yet. The first one that has happened was, of course, the RIBI conference in Bournemouth. Lavinia and I greatly enjoyed it. The hotel (Norfolk Royale, Richmond Hill) was very comfortable, the food was good, and we met up with a very pleasant couple from Llantrisant (fifteen members), Rtn. Rhoslyn Griffiths (education) and his wife Kerris. I have never been to a RIBI conference before: I was expecting something rather like the BMA conference (we call it the Annual Representative Meeting) which consists of four days of business – debating motions submitted by divisions up and down the country. Not bit of it. There was a business session on the Saturday afternoon with an agenda and debates, but mainly it was not so much an agenda as a programme: a series of presentations on various subjects. One most excellent item was given by one Chris Moon on the subject Adopt A Minefield. It had cost Mr. Moon an arm and a leg to come and address the meeting: he had lost his right arm and his left lower leg in a land-mine explosion. He was wearingartificial limbs, and the burden of his presentation was, instead of railing about having lost his limbs, what he could still do. If a few patients had had that attitude it would have made my job a lot easier. I was hugely impressed with him. But the business session was just like any other – one feature with which I am sure we are all familiar is that the amount of heat and acrimony generated by a given issue seems to be inversely proportional to its relative importance. This one was the proposed increase in the subscription – a matter of, as far as I remember, less than £5. (It was carried.) For the session there were about 1,000 delegates, of which around 250 were club presidents. The next high spot was last Saturday: Stroke Awareness. Southwick and Shoreham St. John’s provided an ambulance which was parked outside Hove Town Hall as usual. During 10 am and 2 pm David Henderson, the ambulance crew and I measured 104 blood-pressures, finding about a dozen significantly raised and another 20 or so borderline. It is here that we come up against the great imponderable. We hope that the significantly-raised people have now consulted their doctors and will be treated. But how can we possibly know now whether or not they would have had strokes at some time in the future if they had not been to us? All one can say that if just one stroke has been prevented, the exercise cannot have been in vain. Finally, the one that hasn’t happened yet but is due to happen on Sunday 29th: the Motorcycle Rally. This is the main fund-raising event of the Hove Club, and we all salute Adrian Ball and the Organising Committee for their hard work in connection with it. I am very sorry that I cannot be present for this event, and I am most grateful to VP David Henderson and Howard Attree for stepping in to look after the Mayor. I hope it is a huge success. Yours in Rotary, President Michael (2003 Kymco 125cc) CLUB DIARY 2007. May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. Tues. 8th. Club Assembly. Moderator ADG David Hodge. Thurs. 10th. Visit to Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth. Ted Bartup needs names Tues. 22nd. Housing Society AGM all shareholders entitled to attend.*** Thurs. 31st. Fundraising Entertainment Evening Pandean Farm, details forthcoming*** June. Mon. 5th Club Council, 6.30pm Burwash Road Surgery.*** Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. I/C David seeks company for this important weekend in the District 1250 Rotary year. New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR MAY Cash – Derek Clouting. Care of Visitors – Gordon Cummings CLUB DUTIES FOR JUNE Cash – John Eaton. Care of Visitors – Bob Hinton.. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR MAY 1st. This first meeting of the month is the occasion of the Club’s AGM when Chairmen of the main Committees will submit their reports for the Rotary Year 2006/2007. The budget for next year will also be presented and discussed, together with the seeing of next Rotary Year’s subscription. There will also be a report on the previous evening’s Club Council. 8th. The first Tuesday after District Assembly sees our own Club Assembly when Chairmen of next year’s Committees will set out their hopes and aims for 2007/2008. I/C President David will be in the chair and Assistant District Governor David Hodge will be moderator, giving us his impressions of our plans and passing the message from up high. 15th. Nigel Whitely is our speaker today and the title of his talk is "St. Dunstan’s, It’s History and Work Today". The vote of thanks will be given by President Michael. 22nd. This fourth Tuesday, as usual, will be devoted to the coming together of the various committees. 29th. An evening meeting, 7. for 7.30pm, the speaker being Guy Hudson, who will be talking to us about Water Divining in Africa. The vote of thanks is in the hands our very own dowser, John Mainwood. JACK WINGFIELD. As mentioned at Club recently, Jack has moved from his former nursing home and is now ensconced at Downlands Park, Isaacs Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 4BQ. 0845 644 1701 I am sure he would like to hear from you, or even welcome a visit. ANDAMAN ISLANDS. The following is correspondence to do with our Joint Foundation efforts with regard to aid for The Andaman Islands, which was one of the area most affected by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. "Bob , Thanks for your enquiry and I would suggest that you request your Treasurer to kindly send a cheque for £550 payable to RFUK to Jane Smith , Foundation Administrator at RIBI , Kinwarton Road , Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6PB . The letter must inform Jane that the money is to be credited to Matching Grant 61607 . I am surprised that you have not heard direct from Foundation , but as ever I can do their job for them . Please thank all your members for the support . Regards Bill Paine." DISTRICT 1250 DARTS. The final team from this Club left in the competition from this Club, captained by Adrian Ball, fought a gallant battle against Darts giants Caterham, going down 3-2 after a very exciting game. The team consisted of Adrian, Ken Jones, John Mainwood and Ted Bartup. Bob Mulholland was chauffeur and chalker for the occasion. All in all a very pleasant night, apart from the result, at The Bull, Shermanbury. This is what Rotary fellowship is all about!
JOHN ANSELL. Please note that John Ansell has moved house and his new address is 75 Nevill Avenue Hove East Sussex BN3 7NB Telephone:- 01273 736959
CLUB MEETINGS. 3rd April 2007. 35 present – 32 of our own members, two Rotarian visitors; Peter Cooper from Ilminster, Somerset and David Perrin from Brighton, together with one non-Rotarian Guest; Ambassador Scholar Elise Spofford, brought along to the Club by Bob Hinton, her counsellor for the period she is over here. David Knowles reminded those that hadn’t, to bring their "volunteer" forms for the Motorcycle Rally. It was announced that the Club’s AGM would take place on 1st May. President Michael then read out a report of the previous evening’s Club Council which was as follows: There followed a short discussion on the last item of the report, namely do we prefer to meet at lunchtime or in the evening and it was felt that it would be a good idea if the 5th Tuesday meetings should be in the evening during the light summer months and at lunchtime during the winter months. It was also agreed to explore further with regard to a wine tasting. This was agreed by all present which means that the next two fifth Tuesday Meetings, namely the one in May and the other in July will be held in the evening and the meetings of October and January (2008) will Be held at lunchtime. When Peter Cooper, our visitor from Ilminster brought greetings from his President, he also mentioned the fact that come May he will have been a Rotarian for the amazing period of sixty years. Clive Chapple gave us an update on Janet’s accident which caused her to sustain a double fracture at the top of her right arm. Clive thanked everyone, on Janet’s behalf, for the telephone calls and cards conveying good wishes. He said that it was anticipated that the arm would take some time to heal. Ted Bartup told members that there would be a visitor to Lorica St. Patrick’s to view the Pods that Father Sharp told us about recently. The visit will take place after Club on 24th April. He also commented on the very generous donation of £5,000 given to this worthwhile charity by Porthove Housing Association. I/C President David spoke to members, to enthuse them about attending District Conference in Folkestone on the weekend of 26th-28th October. Quite a good number of members denoted that they would be attending. Paul Beaken asked for volunteers to help out on Saturday, 21st April at our Stroke Awareness event, being held from 10am-2pm outside Hove Town Hall. Volunteers would be needed to distribute leaflets and encourage members of the public to have a free blood pressure test. Doctors Mike and David will be in attendance together with St John Ambulance personnel and their caravan. 10th April 2007 27 Present – 26 of our own members and one non Rotarian Guest, Bill Arliss our speaker for today. Notices of the AGM were distributed by Secretary David and all nominations for Council need to be in 24th April. Bob Mulholland reported that he had spoken to Shirley Ansell and she said that John Ansell’s condition remains much the same and he would not be able to attend Club in the near future. Ray Tiltman said a big thank you to all those who had turned up for the Good Friday lunch, reporting that 90 lunches had been given out. David Henderson gave a further reminder about the District Conference in October and also asked officers for the following year remain behind afterwards for a quick meeting. Ted Bartup reminded those that were going to Portsmouth on May 10th that it was now time to pay for that privilege. He also made a further plea for people to accompany him to Lorica St Patrick’s on Tuesday, 24th April, to view Pods. Bill Arliss was our speaker today and the title of his talk was "Croquet for All". Bill told us that he came to the world of croquet quite late in life, in 1989, and seven years later found himself chairman of the Sussex Croquet Assocation. He told us that it was most pleasant to be invited to lunch and then speak about something he feels about so passionately. Bill delivered his talk with the aid of a Powerpoint presentation, which worked!! He told us firstly of the history of the game, informing us that it started in the 1890’s or thereabout. In the beginning it was classed as a "Gentlemen’s Game" and it was reputed to have come from Ireland. He showed us a wonderful print of a Brighton croquet team, taken from the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic news journal dated 22nd September 1900. The first club formed in this area was the Southwick Croquet Club which can be seen from the train when approaching Shoreham from Brighton. Even in this day and age England’s national croquet team dominates the world scene, handing our heavy defeats to New Zealand, United States and Australia, sometimes by scores of 19-2. Bill told us of his introduction to the game, which was after he retired from his job which involved travelling around the world on many occasions, building power plants. His wife said they must do something together as they never saw each other and she dragged him down to the Southwick Club when there was an open day being held. He fell in love with the game away and the rest is history as they say. He then went on to tell us the dimensions of the croquet lawn and also went through the various sizes and weights of the mallets used in the game. Bill explained that the original croquet mallet was round at the end but now they are square shaped. He said that mallets vary quite a bit with added bits of metal at the end and carbon fibre shafts. He went on to explain the rules of the game and the significance of the different colour croquet balls. I must admit the rules sounded pretty complicated to me. He told us that it would take a beginner some three and a half hours to complete a game. .The Sussex County Croquet Club in Southwick is the larges croquet club in the world, comprising of 11 full sized lawns. The Club house originate from huts put up in World War I by American soldiers. The are many clubs in Sussex including three or four in Brighton, including Rottingdean, Preston and Southwick of course. Bill is going to try to arrange a day when any of us can go along and sample the delights of this quite fascinating and little known game. A really first class talk by a true enthusiast. The vote of thanks was given by Yveline Milner. 17th April 2007. 29 present – 27 of our own Members and two non-Rotarian guests; Pete Reeve, a guest of Bryan Meakin and Bryan Chattock, our speaker for today. David Knowles said he was still seeking more volunteers to help out on the weekend of the Motorcycle Rally. Bob Mulholland was pleased to announce that John Couch appears to have made a full recovery from his recent scare. Apparently it was something to do with irregularities in the dosages of his various drugs. President Michael reported that he had been very impressed with this last weekend’s RIBI Conference in Bournemouth. He was particularly taken with a presentation on minefield delivered by a chap called Chris Moon, who had lost an arm and a leg through having been blown up by a landmine. Chris’s positive thinking impressed Mike no end. ADG Mke Harvey is seeking someone to coordinate the Hike for Hospices walk for the Pyecombe area. Paul Beaken made a further plea for volunteers to help hand out leaflets at the Stroke Awareness site in front of Hove Town Hall this coming Saturday. Adrian Ball reminded members that the motorcycle event is only twelve or so days away and there were still plenty of volunteers needed to help with the preparation on the day before as well as on the day itself. Posters were available for giving out. Ron Knight reminded Chairmen of committees to submit their reports for the Club’s AGM on 1st May as soon as possible. Our speaker today was Brian Chattock, who is Chairman of Brighton and Hove National Trust Association. Brian started by filling us in on his background. It all started in 1949 when he went to Hong Kong to work for the Hongkong Shanghai Bank, now HSBC. He then tried to join the Armed Forces but because of his eyesight was unable to belong to the Army or Navy and finished up in the Army Pay Corps. He enjoyed life in the services so much that he served for 37 years, in Cyprus, Singapore, BAOR Germany, Hongkong before returning to Brighton where he commuted from Lewes Road Barracks to London for some years and then left the army, becoming a member of the National Trust soon afterwards. Brian then took on the job of Chief Finance Officer at Brighton Technological College in Pelham Street. He told us that the Brighton and Hove National Trust Association, like many other organisations, is having trouble hanging on to their membership. At the moment there are 300 members but this has decreased from 500 not too many years ago. He told us that there are 192 associations in this country and Europe and his particular branch hold approximately 12 meetings throughout the winter months, these meetings hosting a speaker most months. There is only a £7 subscription to cover their costs. Every other year they hold a "massive scrub bash" on Devil’s Dyke, which was purchased by the National Trust some ten years ago. Various fund raising events are held throughout the year including an open day at Saddlecombe Farm. The local branch was founded in 1972 since when they have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the National Trust itself. They also have a "200 Club" similar to our "40 Set" half of the profit going to the National Trust. The Association also organises many outings, including seven day trips to Falmouth, Cambridge, Oxford, York and Plymouth. He is coming to the end of his time as Chairman, having had to threaten to close the Club down unless a new Chairman was found. He remarked that this is all too familiar in this day age, trying to get people to take up various offices in all organisations. A really interesting talk by a very dedicated person. The vote of thanks was given by Ken Jones.
24th April, 2007. 30 Present – 29 of our own Members and 1 Rotarian visitor; Robin Coote from Meridian 2000, Warwickshire, who is also the son in law of David Burchell. It was announced that nominations are still being sought for Club Council, names as soon as possible please. Current Committee Chairmen were also given a last reminder to have their annual reports ready for next week’s Club AGM. President Michael was pleased to announce that Bryan Meakin has agreed to serve as Junior Vice for next year, and will be in the President’s Chair for the year 2009/10. It was also announced that the annual Paul Harris Fellowship lunch will be held on Sunday May 27th at Reigate Manor Hotel. Next year’s Club officers were also reminded that they were all expected to attend District Assembly, being held at Forest School, Horsham 5.30pm for 6 on Thursday, 3rd May. Roger Patterson informed us that our four RYLA candidates will be attending lunch on 19th June to tell us of their experiences at the upcoming RYLA course. Paul Beaken reported on a very "Stroke Awareness" day when the two Doctors and the St. John nurse tested just over 100 members of the public’s blood pressure. Six of these were referred to their own GP’s for a check up. As an added bonus we also managed to collect £75 in public donations on the day. He thanked all those who had attended and helped with this very worthwhile exercise. Adrian Ball reported on the gallant efforts of his darts team (see earlier in this bulletin!) He also reported that there were 270 entries recorded for this year’s motorcycle event which means that there will be some 375 visitors on the day. £3,500 has been collected in entry fees. He emphasised that we still need more volunteers, particularly for stewarding and marshalling duties. Ted Bartup reminded those that were going that there was a visit to St. Patrick’s Church immediately after this meeting and he also told us that there were a few vacancies for the trip to Portsmouth on May 10th. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 didn’t have to go too far because it was won by Treasurer Michael Nettell.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN APRIL 2007
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows:
Last month I mentioned that one of my favourite things was the nights drawing out, because it heralded such things as summer, long evenings, motorcycle rallies and similar good things. During the second week in March my wife and I were staying in a rented self-catering log cabin in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, the purpose of which was that my wife, who works for the Tote, could cover the Cheltenham Festival meetings. She commuted every day to the racecourse while I explored the surrounding area. One day I went to Stroud via Painswick, stopping in Painswick to look round St. Mary’s Church, which is surrounded by its famous yew trees. The striking feature of Painswick is the Cotswold stone of which most of the buildings, including, the church, are constructed. I then got to Stroud, where I walked around and found that the town hall is known as the Stroud Subscription Rooms. All this time I was blissfully unaware that my niece was in Stroud hospital having delivered her second child, a girl. If only I’d known! We have had another good month. On 20th, we had the pleasure of hearing Rev. Alan Sharp address the Club on the subject of the Lorica St. Patrick project and the excellent work they do with the homeless. Fr. Alan told us that they dealt with the homeless, providing a bed for the night, food and company. What these people really need is love, which can take many forms, including in, some cases, a kick up the backside. But most of them were genuinely deserving and trying hard to get themselves up on their feet again. He told us about the Sleep-pods, which are small units containing a bed, a door for privacy, and room to dress. These units can be fitted closely together, and indeed there is a Japanese version, which can be stacked vertically. I remember Arthur Hailey’s novel Hotel in which a hotel in New Orleans is threatened with takeover by a huge impersonal chain. The owner of the chain is telling the proprietor of the threatened hotel of his dreams for the future, which includes Sleep-pod-like accommodation in which business travellers in a hurry can spend a night. (In fact the takeover bid is unsuccessful.) The main problem with Sleep pods is that they cost around £5,000 each. There are five of them at St. Patrick’s. John Couch proposed the vote of thanks and then Ray Tiltman presented a cheque to Fr. Alan. We all wish this worthiest of causes in Hove every success.
Yours in Rotary President Michael
CLUB DIARY 2007. April. Mon. 2nd. Club Council, 6.30pm at Burwash Road. Tues. 3rd. Housing Society Meeting, Courtland’s Hotel. 2.30pm (please note this is a meeting that was to have been held on 27th February). Fri 6th. Fish and Chip Lunch – Rotary Point and Portslade Day Centre.*** Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. Sun 29th April. Motor Cycle Rally. All day. Venue: Blatchington Mill School. All hands to the pump for this important fund-raising event. *** May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. Tues. 8th. Club Assembly. Moderator ADG David Hodge. Thurs. 10th. Visit to Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth. Ted Bartup needs names June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. I/C David seeks company for this important weekend in the District 1250 Rotary year. New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR APRIL. Cash – John Eaton - Care of Visitors – Ron Knight. CLUB DUTIES FOR MAY. Cash – Derek Clouting. Care of Visitors – Gordon Cummings. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR APRIL. 3rd. The President’s report of the previous night’s Club Council takes up the bulk of this, the first meeting of the month. 10th Our speaker today is Bill Arliss and the title of his talk is "Croquet For All". Yveline Milner will give the vote of thanks. 17th. Brian Chattock, who is Chairman of Brighton and Hove National Trust Association will be talking to us of this very worthwhile organisation. Ken Jones will give the vote of thanks. 24th. Our last meeting of the month, and is customary, will be held over for meetings of the various committees. CLUB MEETINGS. 6th March 2007. 28 present – 27 of our own members and one Rotarian guest – David Perrin from Brighton. It was announced that Honorary Member Adam Trimingham has been invited to give the thanks at next week’s meeting, when the speaker will be the editor of Insight City News. President Mike welcomed Ron Knight back to the Club after his lengthy incapacity. He was also pleased to welcome back David Burchell after his recent bout of pleurisy. President Mike then read out a report from the previous evening’s Club Council, which was as follows: As this meeting finished on the early side, President Michael asked members if there was anything they wanted to talk about or discuss. Adrian Ball reported on news from a BT publication, which stated that the Christmas collection at the BT Concert in December, to which many of us attended, raised the magnificent sum of just over £11,000. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton reported on the latest news about Aqua boxes at Hove Park School. He informed us that 12 boxes were to be filled, and pupils had requested indeed 24. The liaison teacher at the school is Charmian Hartley, Head of Languages, who spoke to us at Club late last year. Each year group has been given two boxes to fill and Bob has been speaking to various assemblies at the school and said he had been pleasantly surprised by the eagerness of the pupils to help with this project. Ian Varley then rose to ask for an expansion on "stagnant funds" as mentioned in paragraph 2 of the report on last night’s council. President Michael said that this was referring to the money in the community and charity accounts and that we were looking for ways to replenish these two accounts. Treasurer Michael then went on to explain the history of these two accounts. 13th March 2007. 32 Present – 31 of our own Members and one non-Rotarian Guest – Lorraine Mullaney, our speaker for today. President Michael welcomed our Honorary Member, Adam Trimingham, to the meeting, where he was present to deliver the vote of thanks at the conclusion of Lorraine’s talk. President Michael welcomed Ralph Harrison, who for various work reasons has been unable to attend the club recently. He also congratulated John Couch on celebrating his 50th Wedding Anniversary last week. In reply, John thanked all members for the ‘gigantic’ greetings card signed by most members and members of Inner Wheel. He also told us of his big family party at the weekend with relatives from New Zealand and Canada attending. He also took the opportunity to present President Michael with a cheque for £1,400, their usual generous donation as sponsorship for the Motorcycle Rally at the end of April. Mike Peters informed those members who were distributing entry forms for the Motorcycle Rally at the Pioneer Rally this weekend of the arrangements for that day. He was also seeking volunteers to stay behind after today’s meeting to help with inserting a thousand or so entry forms into plastic sleeves. 13th March 2007. Our speaker today was Lorraine Mullaney, editor of City Insight News, the monthly publication under the Proprietorship of Mike Holland, well known to this club as the owner of The Engineerium, Newland’s School in Seaford and Stanford House among others. He is also sponsoring us to the sum of £200 and allowing us to use the Engineerium brand at our Motorcycle Rally Fundraising event. Lorraine started off by telling us that she has lived in Brighton for about a year and was given the job of editor after telephoning the organisation some two weeks after moving here, She told us that the publication was originally aimed at the very young, club goer type of Brightonian but now it is aimed more at the mainstream population. The first big scoop the paper had was the financial collapse of Newland School in Seaford, which was subsequently, as mentioned above, bought by Mike Holland. (No surprise about why the paper managed to get that particular scoop!) Lorraine explained that she changed the whole visual look of the paper as well as the content, concentrating on successful stories and ventures. She cited the good work that they had done with helping local businesses and mentioned Oliver Wu, tailors, who take measurements for suits, which are later, made to those measurements in Hong Kong. The paper was also very strong in helping with the volunteer side of Brighton with sections of the paper devoted to contact details of various charities and projects in the city. In fact, this month’s edition mentions a young lady who is going to India to help on a project and she needs funds. Lorraine also said she was seeking stories and would welcome contributions from any of us. They are also strong on local residents’ experiences, quoting a recent story such as the lad in Woodingdean who was chased home from school, during the war, by a German fighter plane. She was also looking for stories from people who had managed to turn their lives around, giving as an example a fellow who said he was "only two pay cheques from destitution". This man has since joined Marks and Spencer and how now been promoted twice and is training people such as he was. She finally told us of a reformed heroin addict who has his own website, giving away free self-help guides. A very interesting talk by a lady who I am sure we would like to become a member of this Club. There were questions at the conclusion of the talk, firstly by Ian Collington, who stated that free papers were numerous many years ago, a legacy of this being The Brighton and Hove Leader and he asked how does her paper fit into the local scene. Lorraine replied that her paper was unique in the fact that they concentrated on good news. Chris Heath asked about circulation figures, Lorraine informing us that 30,000 copies are published monthly, ten thousand of which are delivered and the remainder are distributed to Brighton Station, hotels, restaurants and street booths scattered throughout the City. At present this was all concentrated in the Brighton and Hove area but it they hoped to expand this to other parts of Sussex. Paul Beaken asked how decision is reached as to where they are distributed. Mike Peters asked if delivery areas are changed and Lorraine said yes, but should not mean deliveries have stopped indefinitely in those areas. John Eaton suggested that they should distribute copies from the library and Hove Town Hall. Adam Trimingham gave the vote of thanks, particularly praising Mike Holland for his entrepreneurial Activities. 20th March 2007. 30 present – 28 of our own members; one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and Father Alan Sharp, our speaker for today. Secretary David informed members that he had spare ‘volunteer’ sheets for the Motor Cycle Rally. Mike Peters thanked everyone who helped with the distribution of entry forms for the Motor Cycle Rally at the Pioneer Rally last Sunday. He also informed us that Bob Hinton is out reconnoitring the long route but Mike needs a volunteer to do the same with the short route. Our speaker today was Father Alan Sharp, of St. Patrick’s Church, Cambridge Road, Hove. It is now called Lorica St. Patrick’s and Father Alan was here to tell us all about the Sleep-Pod an innovation to help accommodate the many homeless of the City. This will be a new form of accommodation for these unfortunates. These pods will be installed one a time, forming a jigsaw like pattern in the area where they are installed. Each pod contains a single bed, individual heating and lighting controls, with smoke, fire and personal alarms together with secure storage behind the bed. 20th March 2007. The interior of the pod is coated with timber laminate, which makes it ‘robust’ and easy to clean, while the system allows for single panels to be replaced in the event of damage. The roof is semi-open, which ensures advance warning of smoke in the pod. There is also an internal intercom to staff and a porthole in each door, which enables staff to keep an eye on residents, without invading their privacy. Father Patrick said we would all have the opportunity to see the pods for ourselves when they go on display in Churchill Square sometime in May. These Sleep Pods have generated lots of publicity for St Patrick’s in recent months, culminating in a visit by the Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron a few weeks ago. Father Sharpe has spoken to us on a few occasions over the past couple of decades and everyone knows what a grand job his organisation does, despite losing their funding from the local council. Father Patrick said that this wasn’t as bad as it seemed because when money comes from just one source, that source inevitably wants to interfere more and more, asking St Patrick’s to account for almost every single penny. He told us that he thinks the issue with homelessness is as bad as it has ever been, and it is in fact on the increase at the moment. He quoted "lies, damn lies and statistics" because the official figure for homeless people in Brighton is ten; when it is obvious to most people that it far higher than that. . He also mentioned the fact that there are numerous agencies in Brighton that spend millions of pounds, a lot of it wastefully, in trying to help or solve the homelessness problem. He said that he hoped the idea of the pods would bring all the different agencies together, including the police and the drug agencies. He also mentioned a farm that is in Steyning where they offer farming apprenticeships to homeless people. He told us that some of these drug addicts were not just individuals but were whole families who suffered from it. He also spoke of the temptations that bring people down and said that weaknesses were exaggerated when you were homeless and they come to the surface. He said that his job is to encourage these people to come towards them and get themselves sorted. He also spoke of working too close with an individual political party because "backing the wrong horse" could be detrimental to future funding. A really cracking talk by a truly professional speaker, delivered with his usual passion and compassion. There were questions at the end of the talk from Yveline Milner who asked what happens to any homeless person if there is no room. Father Alan replied that this does not happen because they just open further facilities. In reply to John Eaton he said that at the moment they are in possession of five pods but the intention is to have 22 or 23. Ken Jones enquired of the cost for each pod and it was stated that, at present, they cost £4,000 but it is hoped to bring this down to £3,000 per unit. In answer to Gordon Cummings as to how Lorica St. Patrick’s is financed, Father Alan informed us that they rely solely on voluntary donations. When Mike Peters remarked that the Japanese versions of the pods could be stacked, Father Alan stated that this particular version would not. Chris Heath asked if there was a limit to how long an individual could stay in the shelter and the reply was that the Government does set limits but the various shelters mostly ignore these. Peter Savage posed the question of how does Lorica St. Patrick’s differ from other hostels for the homeless, and the reply was that LSP is a charity which follows its own principles, with a particular contribution to make and they can afford to make spaces and encourage people. Hostels are just what they say, accommodation only. John Couch gave the vote of thanks to this most admirable talk. Following on from the vote of thanks Ray Tiltman presented Father Patrick with a cheque for £1,000, a donation from Porthove Housing Association. At the conclusion Ted Bartup was fined by the Sergeant at Arms for wearing someone else’s name badge (Adrian Ball’s).
27th February 2007. 33 present – 32 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. John Eaton reported that Clive Chapple will not be attending meetings for the next six weeks or so because he is at home, looking after Janet, following an unfortunate accident over the weekend, which has left her somewhat incapacitated. Incoming President David, enthused no end after his PETS session at the weekend made an appeal for as many members to attend District Conference in Folkestone, being held on the last weekend in October. Bob Mulholland is to organise a hotel for a party from Hove to stay in. David said that the two main hotels are fully booked already. A letter was read out from Father Alan Sharp, the previous week’s speaker, thanking us for our reception of him. He also gave thanks for the cheque for £1,000 that was presented to him by Ray Tiltman in his role as Chairman of Porthove Housing Association. There was an abbreviated account of last week’s District Council Meeting which included the information that Asst. District Governor David Hodge has been voted District Governor Nominee for next year, which means that, all being well, he will be District 1250 Governor in the Rotary year 2009/10. The Handicamp Project, which was to have taken place later on in the year, has been cancelled due to lack of support. Only two letters of interest were received in answer to 180 letters posted. This is a great shame because the initial meeting that suggested this scheme caused great divisions in District and now it all seems to have been for nothing. This Club has given £200 to this aborted event so Treasurer Michael Nettell will be a very happy man when the money is returned, bearing in mind the paucity of our Charity account. Roger Patterson, chairman of youth activities, rose to say that following on from discussion about lack of funds for charity a few weeks ago, he thought he would let us know that as far as sending a full party of students to RYLA was concerned, it has only cost the club £20 in full because Osborne Charitable Trust, through the goodness of John Eaton, has put up £1,000 and the majority of the other 25% is paid for by the candidates themselves. I/C President reported further on PETS saying that he had been finding out all was expected to do during the next Rotary year and finding out what messages he has to pass on to us all. The motto, or message, for Rotary next year is "Rotary Shares". One wag at PETS shouted out "How much are they worth?" He also reported that the President of RIBI is to visit our District some two or three days before Conference, which is somewhat inconvenient to the I/C Governor Ray Tiltman reminded all members that the fish and chip lunch would be taking place on Friday week (Good Friday) and the two venues would be the Old Peoples’ Day Club and Rotary Point, as customary. International Chairman Peter Fowle said that he has received a letter from Pforzheim saying that will welcome nine of us coming but they would welcome many more if necessary. Apparently the party from Evreux numbers thirty at present. Paul Beaken, Chairman of Community Service, spoke about promotional posters, which will be displayed at The Motor Cycle Run, showing the general public what we are about. He was appealing for pictures any of us may have, which relate to Rotary activities. District Treasurer Howard Attree informed us that District dues for next year would be £13.25. The true figure is £16.25 but three pounds per member has been taken from District reserves. This could mean a larger than normal increase in District dues next year. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and this month’s cheque for £25 was won by George Robinson. CONUNDRUMS. Following on from my unsuccessful challenge on "Countdown" I thought you might be interested in the following interest conundrums. DORMITORY translates into DIRTY ROOM. PRESBYTERIAN translates into BEST IN PRAYER. ASTRONOMER – MOON STARER. DESPERATION – A ROPE ENDS IT. THE EYES – THEY SEE. THE MORSE CODE – HERE COME DOTS. SLOT MACHINES – ME LOST CASH IN. ANIMOSITY – IS NO AMITY. ELECTION RESULTS – LIES – LET’S RECOUNT. ELEVEN PLUS TWO – TWELVE PLUS ONE. and last but not least MOTHER-IN-LAW – WOMAN HITLER.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN MARCH 2007 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: There has been some talk about the new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. In the original film version Maria sings to the children in her charge a rather delightful song My favourite things, which I sincerely hope is included in the new version. One of my favourite things has always been the nights drawing out – and they are drawing out apace. We are almost in March now, with the vernal equinox falling on the 22nd – and it is at this time of the year that the nights draw out fastest, with their promise of long light evenings, bright days, summer, summer holidays….and things like motorcycle rallies and contact visits. The nights drawing out have been one of the few consolations of this particular February: it has been a month of coughs and colds that won’t quite go away, that drag on for weeks. When I stand in for my colleagues, a surgery literally never goes by without my seeing at least two people complaining of this ailment which has been hanging around for four or five weeks. I have found myself reminding them, with increasing frequency, as part of the general advice, of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s dictum "Can spring be far behind?" Another consolation is that the Rotary Club of Hove goes on as usual. We have had David Spurrell (related to a consultant colleague of mine) of the 1250 Rotary Youth Leadership Award Scheme address the 13th February meeting. I have particular admiration for this scheme because of the times in which we live. When people think of the "youth of today" they could be excused for thinking of hooded yobs behaving excessively – because they are still newsworthy. Perhaps this is reassuring in a way. Perhaps we should really start worrying when that sort of thing doesn’t get into the newspapers – when it becomes normal. I remember the Queen saying in a Christmas broadcast about 20 years ago that "good news is no news". Most of today’s young people are still very much useful members of society, and the youngsters who go in for the RYLA programme are examples – as Ray Tiltman so rightly said. in essence, some time ago. As ever, we wish them the very best of luck. I am sorry not have been present at the Meeting on the 20th February: I had to attend the funeral of the 100th British soldier to be killed in Iraq, 2/Lt Jonathan Carlos Bracho-Cooke, which has had considerable press coverage. Nobody really likes funerals – they are chilling affairs, even in summer – but this one came as near to being magnificent as one could expect a funeral to be. The coffin was piped in, and piped out again at the end. There were present many of Mr. Cooke’s fellow officers, some of whom acted as pallbearers. They were incredibly smartly turned out, and afterwards it occurred to me that here once again was the real youth of today. We extend our sincere condolences to his family. Yours in Rotary
Michael CLUB DIARY 2007. March. Mon 6th. Club Council. 6.30pm at 14 Burwash Road. Thurs 16th. Performance of Jane Eyre at Pavilion Theatre. Adrian Ball organising*** Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Mon. 2nd. Club Council, 6.30pm at Burwash Road.*** Tues. 3rd. Housing Society Meeting, Courtland’s Hotel. 2.30pm (please note this is a meeting that was to have been held on 27th February)*** Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. Sun 29th April. Motor Cycle Rally. All day. Venue: Blatchington Mill School. All hands to the pump for this important fund-raising event. *** May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. Tues. 8th. Club Assembly. Moderator ADG David Hodge*** Thurs. 10th. Visit to Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth. Details awaited*** June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR MARCH Cash – Derek Clouting - Care of Visitors – Bernard Greaves CLUB DUTIES FOR APRIL. Cash – Clive Chapple. Care of Visitors – Ron Knight. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR MARCH. 6th. This, the first meeting of the month will see a report of the previous evening’s Club Council read out to those present. 13th. Our speaker today is Lorraine Mullaney, Editor of "Insight City News" the journal owned by Mike Holland, and she will be talking to us of this comparatively new publication. It is hoped that Adam Trimingham will give the vote of thanks. 20th. the title of our talk today, which will be given by Father Alan Sharpe will be "Lorica St. Patrick’s, Sleep Pods and David Cameron". 27th. The fourth and last meeting of this month will, as usual, be given over to the deliberations of the various committees. VISIT TO BUS GARAGE. Thanks are owed to Ted Bartup for organising this vocational visit to Conway Street Bus Garage to find out everything you wished to know about the "Real Time" system that is used by Brighton and Hove Buses. The talk on this subject lasted some 90 minutes, which passed in a flash. The Brighton and Hove Public Relations Officer who gave the talk was a true enthusiast and I came away with the impression that he would have paid the bus company to do his job. With the aid of computerised maps of the Brighton and Hove Area he was able to show us where every bus on the road was at any given time. The system even gives a history of the punctuality or not of all the buses back to the very beginning of when the system started. This enables the company to adjust future timetables, all the benefit of their customers. Having become the fairly recent owner of a free bus pass, I can vouch for the fact that this "Real Time" system certainly works, and takes away any doubt as to whether the bus you want is ever going to arrive at your boarding point. A really interesting hour and a half or so, which was enjoyed by the twenty or so Hove Rotarians who attended.
LATEST REPORT ON THE POLIO-PLUS CAMPAIGN (COURTESY OF BOB HINTON. Dr. Margaret Chan of China, who was appointed WHO Director General in Geneva on 9 November 2006, has pledged to eradicate polio. "We must succeed," she says. "This is about delivering a perpetual gift to every future generation of children to be born". A week after taking office, Dr. Chan met with RI President William B. Boyd and our International Polio Plus Committee Chair, Robert Scott. "We were strongly encouraged by the personal commitment and organisational resources Dr. Chan clearly intends to devote to ensure we achieve our shared goal of a polio-free world," said RI President Bill. "It inspires us as Rotarians to maintain our efforts to overcome the final remaining challenges". Global polio eradication now depends on a more in depth engagement of the leaders of the only four countries which have never stopped polio; Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Eradication will only succeed with these countries having a strong political commitment. FOCUS Afghanistan has had no new cases in recent weeks but there has been an outbreak of polio in the Southern Region although it appears to be declining rapidly. India has had 23 new cases 17 of which were in Uttar Pradesh, although here again, the epicentre is waning. But there has been a spread to the Eastern part of the State and several polio-free states. Nigeria has had 14 new cases from the Northern States. Northern Nigeria continues to account for the majority of global cases – 1,004 out of 1,723 cases. Pakistan has reported 39 cases. Cross-border polio transmission between Afghanistan and Pakistan is currently sustained among populations to whom access is hampered, due to either insecurity or large-scale population movements. However, the Advisory Committee for Polio Eradication (ACPE) have highlighted that the monovalent oral vaccine will provide immunity more rapidly and that new diagnostic procedures can detail and confirm polio infection twice as quickly enabling a more rapid outbreak response. The poliovirus has shown its ability to travel great distances, causing distant importations by either sea or air travel. Countries are being asked to do more to protect themselves from re-infection. Full immunisation requirements of all travellers from any polio-infected area, may be necessary in the near future. Appropriate recommendations are already currently being explored. For example, the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia already recommends that all Hajj travellers from the remaining four polio-endemic countries, irrespective of age and previous immunisation history, be immunised with oral polio vaccine prior to departure for Saudi Arabia. All travellers from those four polio-endemic countries will also be required to receive an additional dose of the oral polio vaccine upon arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Of the 26 previously polio-free countries re-infected since 2003, only nine continued to report polio cases in the second half of 2006. In 2006, re-infected countries accounted for only 6% of all new polio cases worldwide, compared to nearly 60% in 2005. Polio Plus Partners helps Rotarians in polio-endemic regions obtain the tools and supplies necessary for polio eradication by targeting three critical needs Polio Plus Partners assist only in projects of the highest priority that have Rotary identification. Social mobilisation includes publicity for immunisation days, "inducements" to children and parents to obtain immunisation, and education of health care personnel. Assistance to Polio laboratories includes training laboratory technicians, health workers in surveillance management and operation, and educating parents in recognising polio symptoms Assistance to Polio medical officers/epidemiologists includes the equipment needed by medical field officers to perform their duties. The Rotary Foundation (TRF) is committed to polio eradication and it is the priority of the highest order for our District and its Rotary clubs. The distribution of this monthly Polio News in Brief is made in the hope that it will encourage you, your fellow club members, and friends, in more participation in Polio Plus and Polio Plus Partners. Why not obtain some participation in local businesses in our polio eradication campaign. But, in the meantime, PLEASE DO CIRCULATE COPIES OF THIS NEWSLETTER Our Polio Plus campaign of life-saving immunisations is truly our greatest gift to the children of the world.
CLUB MEETINGS. 6th February 2007. 26 present – 25 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor – Laurie Hillditch from Brighton. It was reported that Ron Knight is still in difficulty after an operation on his hand. Jack Wingfield’s son has requested that members visit Jack while he (the son) is away on holiday. A board was passed round with regard to the Bus Garage Visit on 27th February. President Michael then read out a report on the previous evening’s Club Council, which was as follows:
13th February 2007. 29 present – 28 of our own Members and one Rotarian visitor; David Spurrell, our speaker for today. Unusually so, there was no Secretary or Assistant Secretary in attendance today. The former was on holiday in Thailand and the latter was poorly with an as yet unknown illness. President Michael told us that he had spoken to John Ansell that morning and John said that he had numerous medical problems but sent his best wishes to all of us. President Michael also reported that David Burchell is not at all well and the doctor was called out this morning to attend him because of breathing difficulties. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton said that he was down to the last three jars of "Spread and Save" marmalade and these could be purchased for £1.50 per jar. Bob also told us that the tickets for the performance of "Jane Eyre" were going fast and if any one was interested in going they should see him as soon as possible. David Spurrell was our guest speaker today and David is currently RYLA Co-ordinator for District 1250 and he was here to tell us all about this most worthwhile Rotary project. The talk didn’t get off to the best of starts with, once again, trouble with the laptop that provides the PowerPoint presentation. He started off by giving us a brief history of the project, it having started, in Australia, in 1959, where Rotarians ran it on behalf of the Australian government. The first RYLA course held in England was in 1985 and David told us that he became involved in the scheme in 1997. This year’s RYLA week takes place from Sunday, 1st April until Friday, 6th April. Our own club has put forward four candidates, all girls, and it is customary for a group of Hove members to attend the gala night on the Friday evening, the party usually consists of the current President and the Youth Activities Committee Chairman, Roger Patterson, who has been serving in this capacity for some years now and performs an excellent job in getting together more candidates than any other Clubs in the District. Each candidate has to perform various tasks throughout the week, covering matters of Trust, Problem Solving, Initiative and Leadership. On the last morning of the week, they are told that they must produce entertainment for that very evening to put before about 150 visitors consisting of parents and representative of their sponsor club (see above.) It has always been said that RYLA instils bags of confidence in those students who attend. Ray Tiltman, who has interviewed many candidates, has remarked in the past that the contrast between the students before they attend and afterwards, when they came to speak to the Club is unbelievable. Most candidates also say that the week they were away has proved to be a life changing experience, making them much more rounded than they were before. The talk was not the best we have heard, but the subject was very interesting and David impressed us all with his obvious enthusiasm in his role as coordinator. Roger Patterson gave the vote of thanks, when he took the opportunity to present David with the cheque to pay for this year’s students. 20th February 2007. 30 present – all our own members. Senior Vice President David Henderson was in the chair today because President Michael had to attend St. George’s RC Church as organist for the funeral of Lieutenant Jonathan Carlos Bracho-Cooke, a soldier killed in Iraq. Ted Bartup reported that Ron Knight hopes to be back at Club next week but still has his hand in plaster. It was reported by Ray Tiltman that David Burchell is suffering from pleurisy, but is improving, and also hopes to return soon. Adrian Ball made a last appeal for those intending to go to the performance of Jane Eyre on 16th March. There was also mention of the trip to the bus garage, which is to take place the following Tuesday. John Eaton was our speaker today and most unusually there were no ‘early leavers’. John’s talk was a light hearted one, about the way "Health and Safety" matters have taken over in this modern age. His talk consisted of the things that one could get away with in the past and related to his own experiences in his many years at The London Clinic. He said that since The Factories Act in the early 1900s health and safety has been part of daily life but recently it seems to have reached new heights, remarking that even window cleaners, when climbing ladders, need a certificate and the thick yellow lines now painted on railway platforms to which the passengers must now stand behind. He also remarked on the need now for goggles to be worn by children when they were playing with conkers. John said that it was all so different when we were kids, riding our bikes with our trousers tucked in, getting the wheels stuck in the tram lines. . He then went on to give us examples of things they got up to in his place of work. It was normal practice then to repair surgical gloves, and sterilise dressings under steam. Surgical instruments were also sharpened on a regular basis. There were no disposable syringes then, being made of glass, sharpened on stone and put in soap to be used again. Rubber aprons were worn before scrubbing up. Cotton gowns were washed and used again. When the surgeon’s trousers were too bloodied during operations a (married!) sister was asked to step forward and remove them. Because there were many patients from the affluent Arab states, there were bodyguards stationed outside some rooms, fully armed with guns, swords or whatever else they needed. Chaperones were also on hand for various Middle Eastern lady patients and staffs were expected to eat with them to build trust and respect. John also quoted many other examples of procedure, which would be outlawed nowadays. The moral of his story was that despite all these so-called lapses in procedure, there were no alarming incidents of MRSA or other killer germs. Nevertheless, he said, health and safety is a very lucrative business today. A really entertaining talk by one of our members, giving me the opportunity to trot out the old, but true, cliché that talks by our own are invariably the best. The vote of thanks was given by acting President David. 27th February 2007. 27 present – all our own members. Adrian Ball reported on a recent visit with Ted Bartup to Jack Wingfield at a nursing home in Burgess Hill. Jack was very lucid and quite jovial but was hardly able to move. Ray Tiltman reported that David Burchell is still on the mend and hoping to attend club next week. Ron Knight still having problem with his hand but is also hoping to be with us next week. Gordon Cummings reminded members that the visit to the bus garage is taking place at 3pm today. He also mentioned that there was a proposed visit to the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and asked for a show of hands to denote interest. Judging by the number of hands shown there is a distinct possibility that the visit will take place on Thursday, 10th May. Details are forthcoming. Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken said that it is hoped to have a display at the Motorcycle Rally depicting what Rotary does for the local community and he asked for anything relating to this, mainly in photographic form to be submitted for him to put on publicity material and posters for the event. Adrian Ball reported that 155 entries had been submitted thus far for the motorcycle rally. He was also pleased to announce that Legal and General, thanks to the efforts of John Couch, has donated £1400 in the form of sponsorship. Mike Peters also reported that Mike Holland, owner of the Engineerium, has donated £200 and will be publicising the event, in the way of an article, in The City Insight newspaper. Ian Collington said that volunteers would be needed to distribute entry forms at the Pioneer Rally on 18th March. He also asked members if they could come up with speakers’ names to help him compile future club programmes. Speakers don’t necessarily have to represent an organisation. District Treasurer Howard Attree informed members that there would be approximately 600 Rotarians in Brighton this weekend for the RIBI Assembly. (There was a postscript to this piece of information when Tony Johnston from Soiree telephoned Bob Mulholland and asked if we could loan them our tabards because one of their members was letting the visiting Rotarians use his farm as a car park. I subsequently found out that Soiree raised £500 from this venture, the money going to Foundation. Nevertheless it put our club on the map because the tabards were very clearly marked "Rotary Club of Hove".) Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 went to Clive Chapple
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2007
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: It is nearly February and the nights are now really drawing out (this has always been one of my favourite things.) January has been a good month: of particular interest has been Michael Harvey’s attendance on 16th January to introduce the speaker, Jim Oliver, on the subject of the Hike for Hospices in Sussex. What struck me was the coverage of the organisation for this event. We need hikers, certainly; but equally we need marshals, transport, and much other ancillary support. We are also in need of officers for the coming year 2007-8 and 2008-9. As you know, apart from anything else we have to submit a return to the District Governor’s secretary giving details, and some of the positions are still unfilled. On Friday 12th January my wife and I went to London to see the Velazquez Exhibition at the National Gallery and had a most interesting day out. It turned out to be one of the most easy-to-look-at exhibitions I have ever seen. A major factor was Velazquez’ style (he was high Renaissance to early Baroque) with its bright, well-illuminated colouring; added to this was the booklet that was given out detailing all the exhibits in turn so that one didn’t have to get up close and peer at them. We came home and then went out again to a pre-PETS informal supper for incoming presidents that were arranged by assistant governor David Hodge at the Preston Park Hotel. I must say I had not realised that it was for presidents-elect rather than for presidents in post, but it was a very pleasant evening. There were about a dozen of us plus partners present, and I should like to thank David Hodge for arranging it. Finally, a family, personal note. Lavinia and I have our now 13-month-old grandson on two days a week, as his mother has gone back to work on those days. They live in Worthing. Last week, our son came over for the day as well, as he was off sick with an upper respiratory infection, and in the evening we took them both back to Worthing. We let ourselves into their flat; about two minutes later his mother arrived back home from work; and when the little boy saw her, the way his little face lit up is something I shall treasure for the rest of my days.
Yours in Rotary Michael
CLUB DIARY 2007. February. Mon. 6th. Club Council. 6.30pm at 14 Burwash Road. Tues 27th. Visit to Brighton and Hove Bus Co. Conway Street, Hove immediately after lunch*** March. Mon 6th. Club Council. 6.30pm at 14 Burwash Road. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. Sun 29th April. Motor Cycle Rally. All day. Venue: Blatchington Mill School. All hands to the pump for this important fund-raising event. *** May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR FEBRUARY Cash – Paul Beaken. Care of Visitors – Michael Peters CLUB DUTIES FOR MARCH. Cash – Robin Chandler. Care of Visitors – Bernard Greaves. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR FEBRUARY. 6th. This being the first meeting of the month, there will be a report on the previous evening’s Council Meeting. 13th. David Spurrell, 1250 RYLA Coordinator will be our speaker for today and he will be speaking about (what else!!) RYLA. Youth Activities Chairman Roger Patterson will give the vote of thanks. 20th. our own John Eaton is the speaker for today and the title of his talk is "What Health and Safety?" President Michael will give the vote of thanks. 27th. this, the fourth and last meeting of the month will be devoted to the ponderings of the various committees.
MALCOLM CLAYTON – A TRIBUTE FROM GORDON CUMMINGS AND PAUL THRASHER It was with great sadness, tinged with relief, that we heard that Malcolm had passed away on 26th November 2006, aged 86, after a lengthy and debilitating illness. The last year had been particularly difficult for him, when he was in and out of various hospitals and nursing homes. Malcolm was born in Ilford on 2nd March 1920. He served with the Royal Marines in Ceylon during WW2, obtaining a commission. On his return he qualified as a quantity surveyor and worked in Eastbourne, where he met his wife, Molly. He then moved to Coventry for 11 years and then returned to Hove and eventually went into partnership with a colleague in a quantity surveying practice (Clayton and Smith) with offices in London and Hove. Malcolm was a stalwart of the Rotary Club of Hove, having joined in 1962 and he became President in 1976/7. He was ever ready to serve and work for the Club and for his efforts and involvement over the years he was made a Paul Harris Fellow. He joined The Drive Bowling Club in 1978 and was a keen bowler until his recent illness precluded him from playing. He became a member of Hove Probus Club in 1991 and was their President in 2000. Malcolm was also interested and became involved in the work of the National Trust, for which he was Speaker’s Secretary of the local branch for some years. He is survived by Molly and his daughter, Lucy, her husband David and two grandsons, James and Edward. Malcolm was a kind and gentle person and we miss him. CLUB MEETINGS. 9th January 2007. 30 Present – all our own members. It was announced that the cost of lunch would increase by £1.00 to £12.00 commencing next week (16/1). President Michael stated that we were still seeking candidates for the offices of Junior Vice President, Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer for the Rotary Year 2007/2008. It was President Michael’s particularly pleasant duty to install Ron Loadsman, a former member of Portslade and West Hove Rotary Club as a new member. Bob Green, his sponsor for membership, introduced him to the Club. Ron thanked us for welcoming him to the club and said it was a joy to be back in Hove "Actually". President Michael then went on to praise Paul Beaken for all his very hard work in organising the very successful Christmas Collection. It was announced that there was to be a Motorcycle Rally fundraising event this year. It will be held at Blatchington Mill School and will be a ‘participants’ only event. It will still be called The Engineerium Run. Permission has been granted by the Engineerium owners for us to use their name. Although it will not be quite so labour intensive this year, it will still by necessity involve every member of the club if it is to be as successful as in previous years. Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken rose to thank everyone who helped with the Christmas Collection. His committee is reviewing the whole thing at the moment and is looking for suggestions on how to improve this very worthwhile community project. The "40 Set" draw, which was held over from last month, was drawn today and there were two prizes; The first, a cheque for £50 was on by Tony Woodthorpe, and the second, a cheque for £25.00 was won by Joan Burchell. Today’s meeting was given over the deliberations of the various committees. 16th January 2007. 33 present – 30 of our own members, 2 Rotarian Visitors, David Perrin from Brighton and Assistant District Governor Mike Harvey from Chichester Priory, who was accompanying our speaker Jim Oliver. It was reported that John Ansell is still quite poorly and he has stated that he is not up to coming to club at the moment. It was also reported that Hon. Member Jack Wingfield has had a nasty fall and is thought to be in Hospital. Bob Mulholland said he would try to find out further details on to how and where he is. President Michael then read out notes from the previous night’s Club Council which were as follows:
Our speaker today was Jim Oliver and he was here to tell us all about Hike for Hospices, the major fund raising effort being held in District 1250 this year. Assistant District Governor Mike Harvey introduced him to us. Jim is the coordinator for this very ambitious event, which if successful, is hoping to raise some £50,000 to be share by the four hospices on the Route of the walk from Lewes to Goodwood. The four hospices are St. Peter and St. James, The Martlets, St. Barnabas House, and St. Wilfrid’s. Misfortune befell Jim at the start of his talk when his laptop decided to pack up after a few minutes, which meant that Jim had to struggle along without his PowerPoint preparation for some time. Eventually the fault was rectified and he was able to continue. The Charity walk is taking part on the weekend of 18th and 19th August this year and will take part over four legs. The first leg starts at Lewes Leisure centre and finishes at either Pyecombe or Falmer, which are distances of 13 and 10 miles respectively. The second leg, the shortest of the four, will be from Pyecombe to Beeding that is 8 miles. The third leg will be from Beeding to Whiteways Common, a distance of some 15 miles and the final leg will be from Whiteways Common to Goodwood that is 11 miles. There is a possibility that the Whiteways part of the walk will be altered to the Amberley Working Museum which has a very good and extensive car park. Walkers can perform as little or much as they want with a maximum of 47 miles. With Jim’s background both in sport, as a rugby player, and in his career, having worked for multinational companies in training, human resources and public relations, it was felt that he was the ideal person to coordinate an event such as this. Jim said that Hospices are an extremely valuable function in our society and only receive a fraction of their funding from the government and are therefore highly dependent on contributions from whatever source. The money will be raised from registration fees, paid for by the walkers and from a percentage of the money they receive from their sponsors. He said that a steering committee, consisting of representatives from the four hospices involved, and Rotary Members. Rotary Clubs will be invited to assist with the planning and implementation, putting up signs, marshalling and all the other things to go with type of event. Mike Harvey is the key Rotary contact. A website is being developed which will give tips to walkers. Lewes Leisure Centre is also running a fitness course for walkers. All walkers will have to make their own way to the start of each leg and they will be encouraged to arrange to be picked up at the completion of their particular walk. There will be buses laid on for those unable to get a lift at the finish of each leg. How can you help? Sponsor the walk financially if you are unable to walk. Offer Products and Services to the walk. Deliver leaflets and posters before the event. An excellent presentation by a true professional. The vote of thanks was given by President Michael. 23rd January 2007. 25 Present – all our own members. There were no Presidential announcements today. It was reported that Jack Wingfield is recovering from a nasty fall, which has caused a temporary lack in the use of his legs. He is staying at The Firgrove Nursing Home, Keymer Road, Burgess Hill. Vocational Chairman Ted Bartup informed members that there is to be a visit to The Brighton and Hove Bus Co at Conway Street, Hove. This visit will take place at 3pm (after Rotary) on Tuesday, 27th February. The tour will consist of a presentation in the conference room and a tour of the bus garage. Today’s meeting was one of committee prevarications. 30th January 2007. 43 present – 25 of our own members and 18 visitors, consisting of members’ better other halves. This evening’s meeting saw the induction of Yveline Milner to the Club. Yveline is only the second member of the fairer sex to become a member of our Club. Derek Clouting introduced her to all present. It was reported that Ron Knight is incapacitated at the moment. He is recovering from an operation on his hand and is finding many routine tasks hard to handle. Ted Bartup reported on the outcome of two recent sports events. Firstly, he was pleased to announce that the remaining darts team in the District Competition had progressed to the next round. He was not so pleased to announce that our skittles team was eliminated from the competition the previous evening but they did manage to raise £30 in the subsequent charity game. The monthly "40 Set" was drawn this evening and the cheque for £25.00 went to Jan Patterson. Our speaker tonight was Dorothy Sheridan MBE, who is director of the Mass Observation Archive at Sussex University. This amazing organisation was founded by 1937 by three young men, Tom Harrison, Charles Madge and Humphrey Jennings who aimed to create an ‘anthropology of ourselves’. According to Dorothy, who worked with him for some time, Harrison was a real 19th century type adventurer, a polymath and larger than life character These three young men then recruited a team of observers and a panel of volunteer writers to study the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. This original work continued under the early 1950s. The Archive came to the University of Sussex in 1970. Dorothy is an Archivist by trade and she said she was only happy when he had props to accompany her talk. She said that it was really nice to talk to real people instead of her usual venue of a small studio at Southern Counties Radio when she cannot see whom she is talking to. She also told us that she has been doing this work for many years and feels that she takes for granted that everyone knows what she is talking about. One of the first large projects the Archive took on was an observation on Bolton, which at the conclusion upset the people of that town because they thought that the results should have been kept in Bolton for the use of future historians. Another project, which was quite controversial at the time, was a report on people’s sexual habits, which was carried out soon after World War II. This was inevitably called "The Little Kinsey Report". Asa Briggs, Vice Chancellor at Sussex University, who was an archivist himself, was the main mover in being able to have The Archive housed at its present home. One of the very first Mass Observations was carried out soon after the Abdication of Edward VIII, when thousands of people were asked what they thought of the crisis, and about the Royal Family in general. Apparently, the group was formed too late to come to any conclusion on this subject. Subjects involved in following observations were ‘Peoples’ Behaviour at War Memorials’, ‘The Aspidistra Cult’, ‘Motor Car Drivers’, ‘An Anthropology of Football Pools’, ‘Bathroom Behaviour’, ‘Anti-Semitism’, ‘Undertakers’ and ‘The Private Lives of Midwives’. Academics and students, who use all the data for anthropological reasons, mainly use the Archive. It is also open to schools and teachers. Margaret Drabble, the author, is coming to the University soon to give a talk, having made one of her characters in her latest novel a mass observer
Dorothy also mentioned that there was a survey, taking at the Streatham Locarno, which described the dress worn in the forties and fifties and how the dancers behaved in that environment. This would be of some interest to Peter Savage, who courted Pat at this self same venue. In 1981 The Archive managed to get hundreds of people to write about their own life which. This became a very useful tool for researchers enquiring about these times. Dorothy posed the question, "What can we (Rotarians)_ do for the Archive. Well, she said we can come and visit, for the Archive has to be available as part of their lottery funding conditions. Any one can come along and read, as long as you know what you are looking for. You can read about The Archive at you local library. She then showed us a selection of books that are directly taken from The Mass Observation Archive. She told us that it was possible to be a mass observer. At the moment they are only looking for males under the age of 40 to carry out the work. So many people want to take part that the University felt that they wanted to limit it to that particular group. The Archive is interested in any old letters and diaries, mainly from the war period, particularly if they are both sides of the correspondence. She also said that they needed help from people with business knowledge to advise the project as to how they can sell themselves. They also seek advice about copyright laws and other legal matters. They are also seeking help on fundraising matters. If anyone would like to become a major donor, they would even get their name engraves above the entrance to The Archive. A fascinating talk, but I felt that I would have liked to have heard one or two extracts from the Archive, giving us a taste of what it was all about. Tad Phillips/Filipowicz gave the vote of thanks. VISIT TO DIEPPE. IPP Ray Blackwood of Brighton East Rotary Club is trying to arrange a trip for Rotarians of the Clubs in the Brighton Area to Dieppe on the weekend of July 13-14-15 this year. This will include a visit to The Rotary Club of St Valery en Caux, some 20 miles outside Dieppe for their evening meeting. Transport will be supplied from Dieppe to St. Valery. If you have any interest in taking part in what should be a very entertaining Bastille Day weekend please let me know. QUIZ NIGHT. This annual event is held by The Rotary Club of Brighton, and is taking place at the Royal Albion Hotel, on March 1st. 6.30pm for 7. The cost of entry is £12.00 per head, which includes an excellent two course buffet supper. I am quite willing to captain a team but I need three others to make up a team of four. If anyone is interested, will they contact me as soon as possible. It should be a great night, particularly as I am a whiz at quizzes!! COUNTDOWN. Just to let you know that I will be visiting Leeds on Wednesday, 14th February to take part in this very popular Channel Four programme. It is not a live show, so the episode(s) that I will be appearing in will not be shown until a later date, probably sometime in March or April. I will be letting you know as soon as possible. Wish me luck!!!
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN JANUARY 2007
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: December 2006 was a good month. We collected a total of £2,315.00 at our customary sites around Hove – George Street, Tesco’s Church Road, Tesco’s Boundary Road and Sainsbury’s Benfield Valley; we have all generally been preparing for Christmas the way we all do individually. One thing that impressed Lavinia and me particularly this year was the profusion of fairy lights, which seem to grow more elaborate every year, on people’s houses. In Southwick, one evening shortly before Christmas, when the Seadown Singers, a choral group of which I am a member, went to an old-people’s home to serenade them, on the way there I saw one house in which the whole front garden had been filled with lights, with quite a spectacular effect of reindeer, Father Christmases, etc. A couple of days ago I went to see another patient in East Brighton, during the daytime. At this house there was an elaborate sort of vista or grotto structure with white lights, filling the whole front garden, on a framework of wood, which you have to walk through to get to the house. The lady of the house told me that it had taken a week to set up, and, after the Epiphany, would take about 24 hours to dismantle. All well and very fine – so long as we remember what it is all about. I personally find the Christmas story more moving with every year that passes. We have had two particularly good meetings. First, Adam Trimingham came and addressed us on a topic I have always found interesting: the names on bus fronts. In order to get your name on the front of a bus, you have to (a) be dead (b) have made a beneficial impact on the Brighton and Hove community. I can think of one or two names that I knew personally, who I thought particularly deserving of the distinction, and I can think of one or two others who are still with us, whose names I think should also be displayed in due course. The other, of course, was the pre-Christmas ladies’ lunch on 19th December, when we were serenaded by Geoff Lloyd on his piano. He has a most extensive repertoire and a fine singing voice and we all thoroughly enjoyed having him. I am now halfway through my President’s year, and I should very much like to thank everybody concerned for looking after us so well over the past year. First the dining-room staff at Courtland’s; the various Club officers, in particular Ian Collington for his good offices in arranging speakers and entertainments; and, finally, you Fellows of the Club, for your support. With best wishes for the New Year, Yours in Rotary
President Michael. CLUB DIARY 2007. January. Mon. 15th. Club Council. 6.30pm at 14 Burwash Road.*** February. Mon. 6th. Club Council. 6.30pm at 14 Burwash Road.*** March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year*** October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming*** New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR JANUARY Cash – Ted Bartup - Care of Visitors – Roger Patterson. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JANUARY 9th. as there was no fourth Tuesday meeting in December; this meeting will be one of Committees. With this in mind, Club Council has been held over until Monday the 15th of this month. 16th. There are two speakers today. Jim Oliver, together with Assistant District Governor Mike Harvey will be bring us up to date with the arrangements for the Hike for Hospices, being held later this year. 23rd. Two doses of Committee Meetings this month. Any decisions made at this round of meetings will be discussed at Club Council in February. 30th. We are reverting to an evening meeting for our fifth Tuesday this month and the speaker will be Dorothy Sheridan and she will be telling us all about the Mass Observation Archive. BT CHRISTMAS CAROL CONCERT – 20TH DECEMBER AT THE ALBERT HALL. Thanks are due to Ted Bartup and Adrian Ball for arranging this very pleasant day out on the week before Christmas, which gave the opportunity for many of us to do a bit of last minute shopping in the Oxford Street area. When shopping was over we were all taken by coach and dropped outside the Albert Hall, where we were privileged to watch a quite brilliant, and, at times, moving concert. Performances included those of Kate Ladner an impressive soprano who hailed from Australia, who also was very pleasing on the eye, The Blessed Voices, The Royal Choral Society, The New London Children’s Choir, The BT Band, The BT Melodians Steel Orchestra and last but not least, The London Concert Orchestra, conducted by David Firman. In between these performances, the audience were invited to join in singing Christmas Carols. A most pleasant evening, that seemed to be over in a flash. It was a very well organised day out, helped by the very able Brighton and Hove Bus Company driver, who got us all back safely to Goldstone Crescent almost on the stroke of midnight. I can’t finish this article without mentioning the wonderful beverage service, accompanied by a selection of biscuits, provided by Veronica Bartup and Hilary Ball, who were decked out in their Christmas stewardess uniforms. EVENING MEETING. Please note that the meeting on the fifth Tuesday of this month will be in the evening. Could you let secretary David know as soon as possible if you will be attending, either with or without guests, so he can inform Courtland’s with regard to how many lunches will be required.
CLUB MEETINGS. 5th December 2006. 25 present – 24 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; Laurie Hillditch from Brighton. It was reported that John Austin was unwell, suffering from a bout of shingles. President Michael read out the report of Council from last night’s meeting, which was as follows: Today was the occasion of the Club’s SGM, which consists of the election of Club Officers for the Rotary year 2007/2008 and also to approve the Club’s Financial Accounts for the year ending 30/06/2006. Offices for 2007/2008 President Dr. David Henderson. President Elect Ron Knight. Junior Vice-President No candidate. Secretary. David Knowles. Asst. Secretary David Burchell. Treasurer. Michael Nettell. Asst. Treasurer. No candidate. The accounts for 2005/06 were accepted by all present, proposed by Chris Heath and seconded by Howard Attree. 12th December 2006 39 Present – 31 of our own members along with 7 Rotarian visitors: Ambassadorial Scholar Rotarian Arran Magian from Los Angeles and Rtn Nino de Rosa from San Francisco and members from Brighton East; Rafaelo Cowan-Boscardi, Dougie Edmunds, David Mantan and Ray Blackwood; together with our Honorary Member, Adam Trimingham our speaker for today. Our one non-Rotarian Guest was Yveline Milner. Bob Hinton announced that he only had a couple of calendars left for sale and Paul Beaken informed Club of the final arrangements for the Christmas Collections. Our speaker today was our Honorary Member Adam Trimingham, retired as a reporter for "The Argus" but still writing articles on a freelance basis for that newspaper. Adam was here to tell us all about "Brighton and Hove Bus Names". We are all familiar with the habit that the Brighton and Hove Bus Company has of putting names on the front of their buses. The qualification for getting your name on the front of a bus is that you must famous and deceased. Adam told us that the only exception to this rule is he. His name is on one of the buses, despite him being alive and well. He was given this honour by Roger French, Managing Director of the company, at Adam’s retirement ‘do’ two or three years ago. The very first name on the buses was that of King Charles II whose claim to fame in Brighton was the fact that he made his escape to France right opposite what is now the Old Ship Hotel in King’s Road, Brighton. Many other Royal names subsequently joined his. Adam then went through many of the different personalities the names of who adorn the bus fleet. Adam commented that Queen Victoria’s name is not on any bus, but felt she should have been although she expressed a great dislike for Brighton as a whole. If you want to find out more about the names on the buses, I suggest you go to www.buses.co.uk and find out more. Ian Collington gave the vote of thanks. 19th December 2006. 69 Present – 32 members, 3 Rotarian visitors; Doug Edmunds, Rafaela Cowan-Brossard and K. Windup. non-Rotarian guests consisted mainly of our own ladies together with a special mention for 100 year old Doris Edwards and Steven Peters. President Michael announced that there would be no meetings for the next two Tuesdays, 26th December and 2nd January and the club would resume their meetings on 9th January with a business and information meeting. Gill Langley, on behalf of the ladies present, thanked President Michael for the invitation to this meeting and thanked us all for our first class hospitality. President Michael soon joined in the spirit of this Christmas Lunch by reading out a joke from his Christmas cracker. "What is the name of the oldest married woman in America. A: Mississippi (Mrs. Sippi!) Adrian Ball reminded those taking part that the trip up to London’s West End and the concert at The Albert Hall that the coach would be waiting for them in Goldstone Crescent, near the bottom end of Woodruff Avenue, at 11am tomorrow. He also informed members that they would not be able to take food or drink into the Albert Hall. Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken asked members (and their ladies!) to think about volunteering for the remaining days of the Christmas Collection. He also thanked those people who had attended the Sainsbury’s site, remarking on the fact that a record collection was made this year at that particular venue. There was no speaker today for Geoff Lloyd royally entertained us. Geoff is a wonderful singer and keyboard player. He played background music during our meal but after lunch he went through a whole range of songs before moving on a Christmas sing along, everyone present having been given song sheets beforehand. All in all, a lovely finish to the last meeting of 2006. MOTORCYCLE RALLY. As you have seen earlier in this bulletin, the Motor Cycle Rally is to go ahead, despite the loss of the Engineerium. The venue is to be Blatchington Mill School, a site that has great possibilities. As in past years, the only way that this event will continue to be a success is if we have enough manpower to help with the many and varied tasks that need to be carried out. Although there is no public admittance to the rally this year, it will still need to be fully manned as far as catering and stewarding are concerned. So, please put the weekend of 28th/29th in your diary because help will also be needed on Saturday, the eve of the event.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN DECEMBER 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: It has been a rather pleasant month. I had not set foot inside the Brighton and Hove High School until Friday 10th November when I was privileged to attend the School’s annual Prize-giving, the Rotary Club of Hove having provided Fellows to carry out mock interviews for girls considering various career options. It was pleasant to sit on the stage in company with local dignitaries, in the Assembly Hall, and watch the girls, with their bright young faces, as their names were called out, coming up and walking across the stage to collect their prizes and certificates. I was enormously impressed with the High School and found myself regretting, not for the first time, that I had no daughters. There was also the Remembrance weekend. I observed, that weekend, a total of ten minutes’ silence. It started at our church on the Thursday evening (9th), with the annual remembrance service of the Hove Air Training Corps. The roll of honour was read out, followed by the Last Post and two minutes silence; then on the Saturday morning, Remembrance Day itself, I was in the National Trust shop at Sheffield Park when 11 o’clock came, and I heard one of the assistants say "Oh...It’s the two minutes silence," and for two minutes you could have heard a pin drop. The shop was quite busy too. Then, on the Sunday morning, at church we observed two minutes silence just before the mass started; then there were the Rotary wreaths laid at the Remembrance Day parades in Portslade (Ray Tiltman) and Hove (your President), at which the Last Post was sounded and two minutes’ silence followed; finally we all marched up to All Saints for the Memorial Service at which the Last Post was sounded and two minutes’ silence followed. If I stand to attention for any length of time my left arm goes numb. In the 1930s a certain politician had exalted himself to such a degree that it took rather a lot of soldiers, sailors and airmen to humble him, and they had a little bit more to put with than their left arms going numb when standing to attention. Our thanks are due to the Royal British Legion for supplying the wreaths, for which the Club has made a donation to the Legion. On 14th November Isobel Robinson, from the charity Spinal Research, based in Surrey, addressed the Club on the subject of spinal injuries, the paralysis they cause, and the struggle to overcome it. This was a most interesting talk, not least for me personally: my son has just passed the appropriate driving test and become a biker, on a 600cc Suzuki Bandit formerly owned by one of his friends. So far he is intact. I proposed the vote of thanks. Our Ambassadorial Scholar, Elise Spofford, has taken up her place at the University of Sussex to study International Relations, and we had the pleasure, on 21st November, of hearing her address the Club on her work. Bob Hinton has very kindly taken on the task of acting as her mentor and Rotary counsellor. The vote of thanks was proposed by Ted Bartup. David Knowles, David Burchell, Ray Tiltman and I attended the District Council meeting on 22nd November at Ardingly. At the Club Meeting on 28th November your President read out to the Club notes on the proceedings. Yours in Rotary, President Michael
CLUB DIARY December. Wed. 20th. 18th BT Christmas Concert – Royal Albert Hall 7.30pm. Further details on back page of this bulletin*** 2007. January. March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year*** October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming*** New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR JANUARY Cash – Ted Bartup - Care of Visitors – Roger Patterson. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JANUARY Club Programme for January will be available soon but just to remind you that there is no meeting on the 2nd and the meeting of the 9th will be one of Business and Information. CONTACT VISIT – Fri/Sat/Sun 22nd,23rd and 24th June, 2007. Full details have now been furnished with regard to the contact visit in June. The official visit starts at 4pm on the Friday, where our friends from Pforzheim will meet us at the Park Hotel. They will then take us on a walk to Leopoldplatz where they will bid us welcome before taking us on a guided tour of "Schmuckwelten", which I understand is a museum devoted to jewellery and clocks. After the museum visit, it will be back to the hotel to change and be collect at 7pm by your hosts for the evening, who will take you back for dinner in their homes. On Saturday morning, there will be a joint Rotary meeting for the Rotarians of Evreux, Hove and Pforzheim, with a visit to the jewellery museum being organised for the ladies. At noon, we will all board a coach for an hours ride to Baden-Baden where we will check in at the Quellenhof Hotel. At 3pm there will be a guided visit to the Art Exhibition at the Frieder Burda Museum, arriving back at our hotel at 5pm. At 6.30pm a coach will arrive to take us to the Gala Dinner at Kurhaus "Runder Saal". There is also the opportunity for a free late visit of the Casino there. Our ride back to the hotel will take place at 11.30pm. On the Sunday, our hosts will say farewell to all of us at 9pm although there will be an opportunity to attend either the Roman Catholic service at 9.30 or the Protestant service at 10am. Although it is a much shorter contact visit than we are used to, it seems to be a very full programme and I am sure we will all be eager to attend in good numbers. I believe Peter Fowle is looking into the cost of air fares for this trip and further details will be forthcoming as soon as we have them.
ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE – SUBMITTED BY PETER SAVAGE (THE MAN WITH PERFECT DICTION). I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough Others may stumble, but not you On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through. Well done! And now you wish perhaps To know of less familiar traps. Beware of heard, a dreadful word That looks like beard and sounds like bird. And dead, it’s said like bed not bead. For goodness sake don’t call it deed! Watch out for meat and great and threat. (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt) A moth is not a moth in mother Nor both in bother, broth in brother. And here is not a match for there Nor dear and fear for bear and pear. And then there’s rose and close and lose Just look them up – and goose and choose And cork and work and card and word And font and front and word and sword. And do and go and thwart and cart. Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start. A dreadful language? Man alive! I’d mastered it when I was five. TAD PHILLIPS/FILIPOWICZ. At a ceremony in London recently, Tad was greatly honoured to be decorated by The President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski with The Order of Polonia Restituta Officer’s Cross, The Order of the Rebirth of Poland "Polonia Restituta" was established in 19021, as Poland’s second highest civil award for services to the state and society.
Well done Tad, you must be very proud.
7th November, 2006. 30 Present – 28 of our own members; one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and one non-Rotarian guest; Ron Loadsman, former member of Portslade and West Hove. It was reported that Patrick Douch is unwell and is to see a specialist. It was reported that Malcolm Clayton is in the Royal Sussex after being found unconscious at his nursing home. He is gradually improving and should be back in nursing home in a few days time. President’s announcements consisted of a report from the previous evening’s Club Council, which was as follows: 14th November, 2006. 31 Present – 28 of our own members, one Rotarian visitor, George Kaps from Beacon Bay, South Africa and two non-Rotarian guests; Isobel Robinson, our speaker for today and Ron Loadsman, former member of Portslade and West Hove. It was reported that Paul Thrasher had suffered a mild heart attack and after treatment in hospital is now recovering at home. It is anticipated that he should be back at Club within the next couple of weeks. It was reported that Tad Phillips is recovering from a sinus operation and is also expected to be back at club shortly. It was also reported that Tad has received one of Poland’s highest civilian orders (see previous report) Molly Clayton has returned the cheque for £50 that was sent to Malcolm in lieu of unpaid subscriptions and asked us to use the money for charitable purposes. She also thanked everyone for his or her kindness to Malcolm and herself. A letter from one of the Housing Society tenants was also read out, thanking us for the contribution we had made to her daughter, who is a refugee in this country, enabling her to furnish her new accommodation. It was reported that both President Michael and Ray Tiltman had attended respective Remembrance Day services at Grand Avenue, Hove and Portslade Town Hall. Skittle players were being sought for the match at Shermanbury on Tuesday, 21st November. Bob Mulholland (me!!) informed members that he would be publishing Christmas greetings from members to the rest of the Club. This was very successful last year, raising some £150 or so towards our charity account. He asked that if any members were interested, would they give their name and message to John Eaton, together with cash or cheque for £5 or £10, as he would be away Down Under for the next three and a bit weeks. The speaker today was Isobel Robinson from the Spinal Research Charity, which is based in Surrey. This very worthwhile organisation was founded in 1980 and they have developed into one of the leading international charitable organisations in the field of spinal cord injury research. Their research relies on fundraising and the help of their tireless supporters. 120 research projects have been funded which have achieved a number of groundbreaking changes in that field. The mission of the fund is a world free of the permanence of paralysis caused by spinal cord. Isobel bombarded us with figures to do with spinal injuries telling us that there are 40,000 paralysed people in the UK and 247,000 in the USA. More than 70% of these are male. She told us that the causes of spinal injuries were as follows Falls 46%, traffic accidents 39%, sports; including horse riding, rugby swimming diving, winter sports 8% and other means 7%. The most common age for these incidents is 19-20 although the average is between 18-35. Stewart Yesner, the founder of Spinal Research, was himself a victim, breaking his neck in a road traffic accident. Stewart had a vision that paralysis would not be a permanent state for those affected with spinal injury and there is hope for the first time that things will get better. Spinal Research is at the second stage of a planned move to the launch of clinical trials with paralysed volunteers. Isobel then went through the various ways that her organisation raised funds. A very interesting talk about an organisation, which is intent on helping victims of these terrible accidents, and judging by what Isobel said, they will reach their goal in the not too distant future. President Michael gave the vote of thanks. 21st November 2006. (report by David Burchell). 24 Present – 22 of our own members, one Rotarian Visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and Elise Spofford, our speaker for today. It was reported that Paul Thrasher was making good progress after his recent heart troubles. Our speaker today was Elise Spofford, the Ambassadorial Scholar from Minnesota, studying International Relations at Sussex University. She gave a talk on her experiences in Japan since 1997, where she was teaching English to 15 and 16 year olds in Honshu. The talk was illustrated with pictures showing various costumes from the festivals, winter north of Tokyo with snow, beautiful cherry blossom in Kyoto, and the only building left standing in Hiroshima after the H-bomb. The area around it has now been developed and is a modern city. She took part in running and football and appeared in a cookery programme on Japanese TV. It was an excellent and interesting talk. Ted Bartup gave the vote of thanks. 28th November 2006. 26 present – all our own members. Today’s meeting was one of committees and there was also a report on the recent District 1250 Council Meeting. Due to a shortage of space in this bulletin I will just pick out the bits that I think will interest you. ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN NOVEMBER 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: October 2006 has been a rather good month. We have had two excellent speakers. First, as a keen music-lover (and a very rusty AB Grade VII amateur pianist) I was particularly interested to hear Ivan Rockey, general manager of the Brighton and Hover Philharmonic Society for the last four years, at the meeting on 10th October, and he addressed us on the history of the Society and the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Orchestra. I didn’t realise how many names the Orchestra had had until the present time; whatever its names in the past, it is a first-class orchestra which I have heard many times and it is good to learn that its activities are expanding and that it has now made it onto BBC Radio 3. I found Mr. Rockey’s talk most interesting. He certainly has pretty good credentials, having looked after the English Chamber Orchestra – which I shall always associate with their recording, under Raymond Leppard, of C.P.E. Bach’s four sinfonias Wq. 183. Bob Hinton gave the vote of thanks. The second speaker was Charmian Hartley, who is International Director of Hove Park School, which had put a great deal of work into developing links and friendships with other schools throughout the world, and in recognition of this, last year was presented with the prestigious British Council’s International School Award. It was thanks to Charmian that Hove Park won a £5,000 prize in the Times Educational Supplement’s International School of the Year competition, which they were able to spend on their international work. She came and addressed us on the activities and work of Hove Park on 17th October, the vote of thanks being given by Howard Attree. It was also on this day that we had the pleasure of meeting Elise Spofford, who hails from Minnesota, USA, who has taken up her place at the University of Sussex under the auspices of the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship system. She came to the Club meeting on 17th October, and we wish her all the very best in her studies. Bob Hinton has very kindly consented to be her Rotary Counsellor. We look forward as ever to greeting our ladies at the Meeting on 31st October. I don’t know why people keep saying that Christmas comes sneaking up on us insidiously It doesn’t. It comes marching up, crashing and thudding; the hype is such that I sometimes wonder whether it is Christmas 2006 we are preparing for or Christmas 2007. Whatever, we Rotarians will be as usual collecting for various local charities at our usual locations. Rotary, as ever, is always there.
Yours in Rotary President Michael CLUB DIARY November. Wed. 22nd. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 6.30pm for 7. December. Wed. 20th. 18th BT Christmas Concert – Royal Albert Hall 7.30pm. Further details on back page of this bulletin*** 2007. March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. May. Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. June. Fri/Sun 22nd-24th. Contact visit in Pforzheim. Await further details later on in this Rotary year*** October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming*** New Dates*** CLUB DUTIES FOR NOVEMBER Cash –John Austin - Care of Visitors – Ken Jones. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR NOVEMBER 7th. This being the first meeting of the month, it will be the occasion for a report on the previous evening’s Club Council. 14th. Today’s speaker is Isabel Robinson and the title of her talk will be "Spinal Research" and the vote of thanks will be given by President Michael. 21st. A very welcome speaker today for it is the turn of our Ambassadorial Scholar, Elise Spofford to tell us all about herself and her impressions of here comparatively short time here. The vote of thanks will be given by Ted Bartup. 28th. This being the last meeting of the month, it will be devoted to discussions and decisions by the various committees. CLUB MEETINGS. 3rd October, 2006 31 present – 29 of our own members and two Rotarian visitors; Laurie Hillditch and David Perrin, members of Brighton. No reports on invalids. President Michael reported on the happenings at the previous evening’s Club Council which were as follows:
During the meeting, Ian Collington gave members some very useful tips with regard to microphone techniques. He also asked members to submit names for possible speakers in the future. Sergeant at Arms Bob fined President Michael for appearing at the meeting without his chain of office and various members were also fined for receiving calls on their ‘mobiles’ during the meeting. 10th October 2006. I’m afraid that I was unable to attend this meeting, having to suffer under the hot weltering sun, on a golf course in Spain on that particular day. I do know that there were 29 present of which 27 were our own members, 1 Rotarian visitor, David Perrin from Brighton and one non-Rotarian guest, Ivan Rockey, our speaker for today. I have no report of the talk to give you but I was told that it was an excellent presentation. I can fill you in on the speaker as follows (courtesy of Ian Collington> Ivan Rockey, our speaker today is the General Manager of the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Society. The Society’s orchestra first performed at Hove Town Hall in 1925. This very successful charitably based organisation has steadily grown over the decades and has a very large and loyal following. In fact it does not depend on chasing government, council, Arts Council or other public funding – as many other orchestras do. And it is enjoying gradual expansion to new venues and onto the airwaves of BBC Radio 3. Having looked after the English Chamber Orchestra in London, Ivan Rockey became the General Manager of the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Society four years ago. We now look forward to him taking us behind the scenes. Bob Hinton gave the vote of thanks. 17th October 2006. 29 Present – 27 of our own members and two non-Rotarian guests Elise Spofford, our Ambassadorial Scholar, and Charmian Hartley, our speaker for today. A board was circulated for the purpose of members to put their names down for the various Christmas Collection Sites. Gordon Cummings reported that Malcolm Clayton is very ‘down’ in both health and spirits, and is completely disinterested in everything and is looking very frail. He said that Malcolm wants people to remember him as he was and not as he is now. It was reported that Ron Knight is poorly, with an unspecified illness. Today’s speaker was Charmian Hartley, a teacher at Hove Park School, her title being Director of International Links. Hove Park is renowned for its first class language centre, having won awards in recent years for their work in that branch of education. Hove Park is the only school in Brighton and Hove to have been awarded specialist status as a Language Specialist School. This means that they are one of about 200 schools in the UK to receive substantial extra funds from the government to develop their expertise in teaching a wide range of languages and to promote international cultural understanding. Their aim is to impart to their students an informed views of the world and the skills they need to communicate across international barriers. They have a strong team of well-qualified staff (including several native speakers), expert in teaching two or more European languages each, support by Foreign Language Assistants, as well as specialists in our local community languages. They offer an exceptional range of languages, with their students taking two languages from year 7 onwards’ French with a choice of Spanish, German, or Italian. Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Japanese are taught in extra curricular extension classes and within the Sixth Form Enrichment Programme. The school has excellent facilities for language learning on both sites, The Nevill Road site includes a new £1million language Centre. The additional funding has also enabled them to invest generously in learning technology, creating three additional I.T. rooms, a digital editing suite and in providing more computers for the Hangleton Campus Library and Learning Support room – comprising an extra 110 PC workstations. Charmian went on to tell us more about her school, stating that the annual intake at the school is some 300 peoples, including students from as far away as Whitehawk, who now had to travel some distance to school on the closing down of the Comart Media College a couple of years ago. The school has the highest number of pupils on free school meals and the SEN (special needs) register. She also said that 36% of their pupils come from the bottom 30% of deprived families. She saw the school as a Premier League Football team who in order to maintain a steady flow of excellent players into the team have their own soccer academies to nurture, this being in the form of local feeder primary schools. She spoke of how they coordinate with local primary schools so the children are already proficient in foreign languages before they arrive at Hove Park. She also listed the various awards they had received, including one of £5.000 from the Sunday Times. Only just this year, the international students at the school entertained over 120 British Council Staff at the Jubilee Library in Brighton, resulting in national publicity for the school. I could fill about ten or twelve pages with the facts of figures she supplied but I think I’d better finish off now by saying that it was a very informative talk, and we should be proud that this school is in the forefront of the need for our children to learn a second, or third, language. Howard Attree performed the vote of thanks. 24th October 2006. 29 present – 27 of our members and two Rotarian visitors; William Bradford from Peau Beaune, France and our old friend, David Perrin from Brighton. Bob Mulholland reported on a visit to Ron Knight, who is, at present, in the RSCH, recovering from a gallstones operation. It is hoped that he will be back at club in the near future. Ted Bartup reported that the response to the Royal Engineers’ Museum trip has not been great, and unless there is any further increase in numbers, he will dispense with a coach and arrange private transport for the trip. Today was the occasion for the various committees to discuss and make decisions and therefore there was no speaker. 31st October 2006. 38 Present – 23 of our own members, 15 non-Rotarian guests, mainly consisting of our own lovely ladies, and also including Frances Gibson, our speaker for today. It was reported that Ron Knight is home from hospital, and as far as we know, he is recovering well. David Henderson is recovering from a recent operation on his eye and is seeing a specialist later on this week. "40 Set" draw today and Bob Green won the cheque for £25. Adrian Ball reported on a fine victory for his ‘B’ team in the District Darts Competition and was also pleased to announce that they won the charity game afterwards. It wasn’t reported at this meeting but I can tell you that the ‘A’ team, captained by John Couch, came second best in their match against Hayward’s Heath. The only one piece of luck that we had on the night was that the sandwiches were given to us "compliments of the house".
Club meeting 31st October 2006. 38 present 23 of our own members and remainder mainly ladies of members but including our speaker Frances Gibson. It was also a pleasure to welcome Lavinia, wife of President Michael. It was reported that Ron Knight is back home and as far as we know is recovering well. Today’s speaker was Frances Gibson, who is the regional representative of Independent Age. This charity was formed some 140 years ago and is devoted to helping older people live independent lives with dignity and peace of mind. As well as helping to stay at home for longer, Independent Age runs several nursing homes. One of them is "The Pines", situated in Furze Hill, Hove. Apart from spreading the word about Independent Age to groups such as ours, Frances looks after the team of nearly 90 volunteers in East Sussex and Kent. She recruits new volunteer helpers and keeps a caring eye on some 600 local beneficiaries of the charity. The charity was formerly called RUKBA but it was decided that a new name, to communicate its work better, would be advantageous, and this has turned out to be the case. Since changing their name, the number of enquiries has doubled and the numbers have increased of those they help. Frances told us that there two million pensioners living below the poverty line and that pensioners living alone who are dependent on state benefits are the worst sufferers. The population is ageing generally, with the ratio of older to younger people increasing all the time. The longer lifespan, which we are all having, is exacerbating the problem. In surveys taken from older people it turns out that their main priorities are to retain independence, have their own front door, stay in their own community, not to be institutionalised. The help from International Age is not only one of finance; they also supply mobile help friendship and moral support. The organisation, when it first started, helped people over 40 years of age, because of course that was quite a good age a century or more ago. All applicants for help must be resident in the United Kingdom or Eire. Frances went into the minutiae of all the workings of Independent Age, telling us that the Queen Mother supported them for some sixty years prior to her passing away. Their current patron if Princess Alexandra. Priority is given to those people who have contributed in any way to the community, such as nurses, teachers and volunteers for various organisations. One interesting fact was that 50% of any legacies to the charity has to be retained for interest only use of the money. Frances said that she found that her volunteers got much more out of their work then they put into it. She also remarked that many of the beneficiaries only turn to them as a last resort, because most of them have been used to giving rather than receiving, and they are very reluctant to ask for said help. A very informative talk, which gave us all an insight to the problems that many elderly people have, many of which are alleviated by this very worthwhile organisation. There were questions afterwards from Ian Varley, Isobel Thrasher and Paul Beaken. Paul Thrasher gave the vote of thanks. IN THE EVENT – (A CONTRIBUTION FROM PETER SAVAGE) The following is a list of in-flight announcements CHRISTMAS COLLECTIONS The boards will be circulating during the next few weeks, for you to put your names down for being on duty at the Christmas Collection sites which consist of Sainsbury’s in West Hove, Tesco’s in Station Road, Portslade Tesco’s in Church Road, Hove and the street collection in George Street. It’s pretty obvious that the more people on these sites mean more money for us to distribute to the many worthy charities in the area. So please chaps, do your best!! CHRISTMAS CARDS. You all most probably remember that last year, we started the idea of sending each other greetings for the Festive Season through the pages of this bulletin. This was to save sending cards to each other. The idea was that each member would make a small contribution and I would make sure your greetings were published in the December Bulletin. The average donation made last year was £10.00 and £140.00 was raised, which went into the Club’s Charity Account. If you would like to take part in this venture, could you please give your messages (and the money!) to John Eaton, for I will be away for just over three weeks and I will be publishing a truncated December Bulletin by about the 15th of December PS. I will be here on Tuesday, 14th November, when I will be quite happy to receive your contributions.
CLUB BULLETIN. I would be very grateful if anyone would volunteer to do reports of the meetings on 21/11, 28/11 and 5/12.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hi, Fellows: It is hard to believe that I am coming to the end of the third month of my term of office as your President, and now that I have returned from my Greek holiday I can give the Club my undivided attention. I don’t know how well you all know Greece, but I had never been there before. I had a Classical education, studying Latin, Greek , and Roman and Greek history, and I had always wanted to see those ancient sites about which I had had to write essays: Athens, the Acropolis, the Parthenon; Corinth, Sparta, Thebes, Marathon, Aegina, Delphi, etc. I have virtually no modern Greek: I can do the alphabet, and I can remember a few words of Classical Greek, but that is all, although I was amused by the fact that the Greeks even have a word for one-way street (monodromos). We were very lucky to have a Greek tour guide, a fearfully erudite and learned lady called Tania, who could lecture for hours without notes. The whole tour was directed at the classical places, and included the theatre at Epidaurus, the original Olympic stadium (and village!) at Olympia, where instead of lapping they ran up and down this track, one stadium (about 1 furlong) long. Fifty of these stadia made up 10,000 metres. We saw the canal at Corinth; I was rather disappointed to hear that there was nothing left of Sparta – just another small town with no remains. Aegina is an island in the Saronic Gulf opposite Athens, and in those days, around 500 B.C., there was no love lost between the two. I think they are on speaking terms now – just. We also saw Mycenae with its ruins – much older than the rest of what we saw. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was founded in 753 B.C., while Greece, like Topsy, sort of grew out of the mists of antiquity and mythology. Altogether, a wonderful holiday; we didn’t end up fighting the Peloponnesian War all over again, thank the Lord (in complexity it made the Second World War look like a bar-room brawl) but it was just right for us. It was good to have District Governor David Langley with us last week as speaker. The Club seems to be as busy as ever, with a full programme of speakers and other activities, and we are all grateful to Ian Collington for continuing to maintain it. We will be providing a counsellor and mentor to a Rotary Foundation Scholar who, although she hails from Minnesota, has been in Japan teaching English and is now about to come over here to take up a place at the University of Sussex. An excellent and most worthy cause. Yesterday I had to go to the funeral of the wife of an old school friend of mine. She had died suddenly. There were a large number of colleagues and friends there who had known her in the last 15-20 years, but I had known her since they became an item at the beginning of the 1960’s. I had written to him and had a rather wonderful letter back which he had ended "There is no support like that of old friends". I had never thought of that but it is absolutely true. Yours in Rotary Mike CLUB DIARY October. Mon. 2nd. Club Council. 14 Burwash Road, Hangleton. 6.30pm. Sun. 22nd. South Downs Walk. Details to follow*** Tues. 31st. Fifth Tuesday, lunch time with the ladies!*** November. Wed. 22nd. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 6.30pm for 7. December. Wed. 20th. 18th BT Christmas Concert – Royal Albert Hall 7.30pm. Further details on back page of this bulletin*** 2007. March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7. April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. May Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. New Dates October. Fri/Sun. 26-28th. District 1250 Conference. Folkestone. Further details forthcoming*** CLUB DUTIES FOR OCTOBER Cash –Tony Woodthorpe - Care of Visitors – Chris Heath. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR OCTOBER 3rd. This being the first meeting of the month, it will be mainly devoted to a report on the previous night’s Club Council meeting. 10th. Today’s speaker, Ivan Rockey, General Manager of the Brighton and Hove Philharmonic Society will be giving us a talk entitled "Musical Success". The vote of thanks will be given by Bob Hinton. 17th. Charmian Hartley is our speaker today and the title of her talk is "The International Work At Hove Park School". The vote of thanks will be given by Howard Attree. 24th. The fourth meeting of the month is one of Committees, when the various Club Committees will be discussing and decision making for all their worth. 31st. One of the four months of the year when there is a fifth Tuesday meeting and this one is being held at lunchtime. It was to be an evening meeting but the speaker for today was unable to speak to us in the evening owing to a prior engagement. The speaker for today is Frances Gibson and she will be talking to us about "Independent Age – Supporting Older People at Home". I’m sure you are all aware that this is an occasion for our ladies to attend. DIRECTORY CORRECTIONS. Please note that Bob Green’s email address is rbg@robertbgreen.co.uk It may look the same as the one in the directory already but if you look closely you will see that there is an extra ‘b’ between robert and green. Would you also note that his classification is "Property Management" and not "Property Development". as published. This also means that Donald Trump has nothing to fear! DISTRICT 1250 CONFERENCE, BOURNEMOUTH, 8-10TH SEPTEMBER. A party of 12 represented this Club at the annual District 1250 conference this year, and it was compiled of the following; SVP David Henderson and Christine, IPP Bob Mulholland and Ann, District Treasurer Howard Attree and Helen, PP George Robinson and PP Ken Jones (AKA George and Mildred). And PP’s Portslade and West Hove Peter Fowle and Ray Tiltman accompanied by Pam and Chrissie respectively. Bob and Ray decided to spend an extra night before the conference, travelling down on the Thursday. All of the party met up at the first session of the conference on the Friday afternoon, which turned out to be a very good, but short, opening session. The session was due to open at 3pm but was some ten minutes late starting, with DG David Langley’s official opening of the Conference. This was followed by the presentation of the conference banner by PDG Ian Swales’s Club, Worthing Steyne to DG David’s Club, Storrington. This was followed by a welcome to conference from President Ray Miles of the Rotary Club of Storrington. Next it was the turn of the Mayor of Bournemouth, Councillor Bob Chapman, to welcome us all to his home town. DG David then took the stage again, with his own welcome to all those present. Following on from David, it was the turn of the Chairman of Inner Wheel District 25, Mrs Gill Gibbons who gave a most succinct and amusing greeting. Following on from this, there was a presentation by two members of the recently formed Interact Club of Chichester, the first ever Interact Club in our District, explaining to us what they were all about. They were very enthusiastic about their club and this can only bode well for the future. The next half hour or so was occupied by Geoff Mackey, a member of Audley RC in District 1210. Geoff was the final speaker in Torquay, at last year’s conference and because many Rotarians at that conference missed him, it was thought to be a good idea to bring him back, in an earlier, spot this year. What an inspired move! Geoff kept us in stitches during his time on stage with his various observations on life, which were supplemented by various cartoons and pictures showing some very funny situations and happenings. He also managed to squeeze in the message of how proud we should be to be Rotarians, listing the many good things that Rotary brings to the world. Geoff was the last speaker of this session, and the afternoon finished with amusing? rhyming announcements from the Sergeant-at-Arms. The evening saw our party assembling in Bob and Ann’s room for drinks before departing to the BIC for the evening entertainment. This was kicked off by Simon Sands, a stand up comic who reeled off joke after joke, about fifty percent of which we had all heard, for about half an hour. We all then retired to a side room for the Mayor’s Civic Reception, which consisted of all of us standing round drinking beverages, both soft and alcoholic, courtesy of the Mayor. We, as a party, decided to give the remainder of the entertainment a miss, The Bachelors (remember them!!) not being our cup of tea. Not only that, we hadn’t eaten yet, and were all pretty peckish so we wandered around the vicinity of the BIC until we found a very acceptable Italian restaurant, where we all enjoyed fellowship until quite late in the evening. After a comparatively late and leisurely breakfast, it was time to assemble at the BIC at 10 o’clock for the second session of the conference. The first half of the session was devoted to addresses to the conference by RIBI President Peter Offer and District Governor David, which were both excellent, being most thought provoking and succinct. They were followed by a talk on "IMPACT", that most worthwhile International Charity that deals with eye problems in the third world. This was given by Lynette and David Moss, a married couple , both of whom are Doctors. David is a member of the Basingstoke Rotary Club and they are both Paul Harris Fellows. "Impact" has special significance this year because it is the chosen charity of RIBI President Peter Offer. This presentation was followed by a coffee break and when we all came back it was to listen to RI President Bill Boyd’s representative Rtn. Maurice Halliday PDG 1020 from the Rotary Club of Kirkcudbright, who set the tone of his speech by posting a notice in front of his lectern which said "English is my second language". Nevertheless he went on to give a very amusing and inspirational greetings from the RI President, albeit in a fairly heavy Scottish brogue. PDG Maurice was followed on stage by Melvyn Hayes ("Gloria" from "It Ain’t Half Hot Mum" who was here to tell us about ‘Barnardo’s’. Well, it was about the work that this very worthwhile organisation does but it was prefaced by about twenty minutes of non stop gags, delivered with amazing timing and humour, which had the audience ‘rocking in their seats’ (I love a cliché!). He did eventually go on to talk about Barnardo’s, not that he was a Barnardo’s child, but in his role as having adopted many children in his life. George Alagiah, the BBC newsreader and former overseas correspondent was our next distinguished speaker and the impression given was that he was going to talk to us about Fairtrade, that most worthwhile organisation that makes sure that manufacturers and growers in the third world get due reward for their efforts. Fairtrade was hardly given a mention because the bulk of George’s talk was given over to his problems in integrating in this country after arriving, as a young boy, from Sri Lanka. It was, nonetheless, a very interesting and eye opening talk on the problems of finding one’s feet in a strange country. The talk also turned out to be one big ‘plug’ for his latest book, of which he signed personal copies afterwards. After the usual sergeant-at-arms notices, the session finished and we all dispersed, ready for the evening’s entertainment, because we had the afternoon. Most of our party strolled around the town, looking for somewhere to eat, most of us finishing up in a fish and chip shop, taking advantage of the "pensioners’ special". It was very nice too! The evening saw us, in all our finery, the men in DJ’s and the women in their best frocks, assembling once again in Bob and Ann’s room for drinkies. We then made our way once again to the BIC where the room had been set out for about six hundred people to sit down for a dinner and dance. As this was the 25th District 1250 Conference, there was a lot of silver in abundance, with silver bow ties being the order of the day at most tables. It was a most pleasant night, with great fellowship, excellent food and first class entertainment. Sunday morning saw all the party down at breakfast, ready for the final session of the conference. It was also the occasion of your correspondent’s birthday, and he was pleasantly surprised to receive cards from all present. After breakfast we walked the short journey down the hill to the BIC to attend the Act of Worship, which is customarily performed before the final Sunday morning session. The service was conducted by Canon John Devereux, from the Rotary Club of Shoreham and Southwick. The collection raised approximately £2,000. Following the service, and after a short coffee break, we all assembled for the last couple of hours of the conference. This was kicked off by an explanation of the RIBI Marketing Plan, which was given the okay, after fierce opposition from the floor in Belfast earlier this year. Following this, it was then the turn of PDG Maurice Halliday to say farewell and thanks to the Conference, on behalf of RI President Bill Boyd. There was then the presentation of various trophies, including those of the pre-conference golf tournament; and the Attendance Trophy which was won, once again, by Burgess Hill. Next up was District Governor Elect, who was here to try to persuade us all to return to next year’s District Conference in Folkestone. This is being held on the weekend of 26th/28th October. It wasn’t the greatest bit of salesmanship I have ever seen. With only one hour of the conference to go, it was then the turn of Ann Widdecombe MP, to address conference and what a tour de force this was. She held forth on all manner of subjects and finished this off by a question and answer session which was also mightily impressive, she taking the questions in batches and proceeding to answer them out of turn. She is a very formidable lady, much enjoyed by everyone who was there. Unfortunately, this very last session seems to be the most poorly attended and many of the delegates missed one of the highlights of this most excellent conference. The conference finished with the final farewell from DG David. To sum up, as I said before this was an excellent conference, the third one "on the trot" that has reached a very high standard. I have come to the conclusion that the District Conferences are becoming much better value than the RIBI Conferences. I would also like to mention in passing how pleasantly surprised we were to see Gill Langley at the conference, she staying with DG David’s party which consisted of all the members of the Langley family, including Richard’s other brother, and sister. I heartily recommend that you should get in the habit of attending District Conferences, although I have my doubts about Folkestone! CLUB MEETINGS. 5th September 2006. 25 present – 24 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Ron Loadsman, former member of Portslade and West Hove. In the absence of President Michael, SVP David was in the chair. Today, being the firstTuesday of the month, it was the occasion for reporting on the happenings of the last Club Council and David reported the following:
Club Service Chairman Ron Knight informed members that the first meeting of Club Service will be held at Paul Thrasher’s house on Tuesday, 26th September at 7pm. 12th September, 2006. 30 present – 27 of our own members,one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and two non-Rotarian guests; Colin Citrone, former member of Portslade and West Hove, here as a guest of David Henderson, and Oliver Maxwell, our speaker for today. There was a brief report on the happenings at District Council, a fuller report of which is on previous pages of this bulletin. It was also stated that we should offer strong support to the Barnardo’s collections at Tesco stores on the 30th of September as this is the official charity of RIBI President, Peter Offer. Secretary David Knowles announced that District Governor David Langley is visiting the club next week and a strong presence will be welcome. Ted Bartup spoke of the barbecue this coming Saturday, and was seeking volunteers to help set everything up on the morning of the barbecue. International Chairman Peter Fowle informed members that the "40 Set" for this year is progressing well, but if members would like to buy more than one entry it would be very welcome. He mentioned that most of the former Portslade and West Hove members had purchased entries for their ladies. Bob Hinton gave a further ‘plug’ for the performances of HMS Pinafore, taking place on Thursday. Friday, and Saturday, 21st, 22nd and 23rd September at various venues. He also mentioned that there was to be a very unusual form of worship at Hove Methodist Church this coming Sunday, consisting of a theatrical group giving a performance depicting the story of Paul Michael Nettell said that the walk which should have been in September had been postponed because of bad weather and he was now trying to arrange a walk for sometime in October. Emails have been sent out to the usual culprits asking them for date preferences. Adrian Ball announced that has arranged a social event, taking place on 20th December, which will consist of a day out in London, maybe for Christmas shopping, culminating with a visit to The Royal Albert Hall, for the BT Annual Concert, an event that always sells out, and which he described as a "fantastic evening". It will be compered by Angela Rippon The concert is in aid of the Childline charity and the price of the whole day’s excursion will be £28.00 (cont)
12th September, 2006. Today’s speaker was Oliver Maxwell, representing The Brighton and Hove Business Community Partnership. Andrew studies anthropology and spent time in Northern Vietnam, in remote villages, studying manners and customs of Highland Tribes He says he finds his current job fascinating because he sees some similarity between the businessmen he deals with and the highland tribes he studied. He found that various voluntary organisations and charities have their own special customs and rituals. It was like having two different tribes working together and having to find a shared language to find out if they have any common objectives. The Brighton and Hove Business Community Partnership has many projects on the go including their ProHelp programme which matches private firms, consultancies and companies with voluntary and community groups seeking professional advice and service. There is also the "Routes to Social Enterprise" programme which is carried out in partnership with Brighton University and supports social enterprises in Brighton and Hove. This programme overcomes cultural barriers between enterprises and mainstream business through research, business support and training and is funded by Brighton and Hove City Council (us!!) and the Links Foundation. This was a very professional talk, given by a young man who is surely going places. There were questions after from Ian Collington, John Eaton, Tony Woodthorpe and Chris Heath. The vote of thanks was given by David Knowles. 19th December, 2006. 30 present – 25 of our own members , one Rotarian visitor, DG David Langley, our speaker for today and four non-Rotarian guests, Janice Langley, the DG’s chauffeuse for the day, Gill Langley, Yveline Milner and Ron Loadsman. It was reported that David Burchell was suffering from a bout of pleurisy but was recovering well and is expected back at Club shortly. Congratulations were given to Mike Peters on becoming a granddad to Ralph on 14th September. President Michael read letter out from tenants of housing society, sent in appreciation of the barbecue held at 30, Sackville Road this last Saturday. The event was highly successful, both socially and financially, with the sum of just under £200 being raised. Ray Tiltman informed members that the funeral of Margaret, widow of PDG Dudley King, formerly of Portslade and West Hove Rotary Club, was to be held at the Holy Trinity Church on Friday, 22nd September at 11.30am. Club Service Chairman Ron Knight reminded members that his committee would be meeting on Tuesday, 26th September, 7pm at Paul Thrasher’s house. .Our speaker today was DG David Langley, brother of our own late and lamented Richard, who was making the customary annual visit of the Governor to every club in the district. He started off by saying that it was nice to see two Past District Governors (Ian Varley and David Burchell) checking up on him. Unlike previous years, when the District Governor usually passed down the message from above to the members in his district, David’s talk was about changes which must be made in Rotary. He quite cleverly gave examples of what happens when changes are not made, causing various industries and organisations to suffer badly. He gave the supreme example of the French wine industry which done hardly anything at all to change their ways, despite taking a fearful hammering from the wine producers in the "New World" countries. He remarked that he has a book at home, called "Hugh Jonson’s Pocket Wine Book" and it is dated 1980 Forty percent of that book was about French Wines and with fairly lengthy mentions of Italian, Spanish, East European and American wines. There was only one page on Australian and South American Wines. Even at the onset of the Australian wine invasion, the French paid no heed, being quite stubborn and kept to their old ways, saying that there’s was the best method despite their loss of trade. Now they have been left behind. He also said how quickly the world was changing, remarking on how drastically things had altered since he joined Rotary, as a founder member of Storrington, in 1983. Only twenty three years ago and there were no mobile phones, a first class stamp was 12p, a pint of beer 49p and Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were the Tony Blair and George Bush of the time. He said that he remembered that everyone wore a suit, with collar and tie compulsory. He said that had all changed now with the dress rules being relaxed somewhat, saying that some of his members even wear trouser suits and dresses. He hastened to add that these were lady members. 19th December, 2006. Harking back to change, he also gave the example of Marks and Spencer, who became complace and arrogant about their business until people stopped shopping there. They didn’t take the usual credit or debit cards, only their own, and refused to open on Sundays and they were left behind, just like the French wine industry. He also quoted another example of how a group of young business people tried to form a new Rotary Club in Cuckfield and Lindfield. They gave up after about four months because of the following reasons. Firstly, the weekly attendance rule which would have been impossible for most of these young professionals to attain. Incidentally, some clubs in France, and also in Madiera, only meet fortnightly, showing that rules can be changed on an arbitrary basis. Secondly, the cost factor, taking into account the cost of a meal, with drink and raffle as well which can come to well over a £1,000 a year. These expenses don’t take into account other events, including conferences. The real cost is even higher because they are on a taxed income. It wouldn’t suit all clubs, but one club was stated has just having drinks, with "nibbles" on the table, and asking members if they want to stay on after the meeting for a meal. Thirdly, the dress code, stating that young people hardly ever wear ties nowadays, citing his daughter’s boyfriend who only possessed two ties, a red one for special occasions and a black one for funerals. Fourthly, the image of Rotary. These people told friends that they were thinking of joining Rotary and their friends said "Rotary is for old people". All of these examples given by David were leading up to the fact that Rotary must change in a big way or we were never be able to attract new, vibrant members. This also led to David bringing up the subject of the very contentious new marketing plan passed by RIBI at the Conference in Belfast this year, and which is costing us four pounds extra on our subscription. David thinks we should give it a chance and leave it for a year or eighteen months to see if the plan will make any difference. He likened the possibility of changes in Rotary was like trying to turn an oil supertanker round in midstream, to take on a new course. He then gave a quote about change, made by Paul Harris nearly one hundred years ago, which goes to show that even in those far off days it was thought that Rotary must change if it was to prosper. His final words were a mention about IMPACT, the eye charity, which is the favoured overseas project of Peter Offer, President of RIBI, saying that he had paid a visit to India recently and had even attended an eye operation in a hospital there. Speaking to members afterwards, they were all very impressed with this year’s talk, finding it very thought provoking. The vote of thanks was given by President Michael. . The meeting concluded with a special thanks to all members from Gill Langley, for all the love and support she had received since Richard passed away. She also wanted us to know that the donations in lieu of flowers at the funeral has reached the grand total of £2590.00 26th September, 2006. 28 present – 26 of our own members; one Rotarian visitor, Robin Cooter of Southam 2000, Warwickshire, and also son-in-law of David Burchell, and Yveline Milner. I think it worth mentioning that, to speed matters up, it has now been decided that the secretary will give his announcements out during lunch This week he announced that Club Council will be held next Monday, 2nd October, at Dr David’s surgery, at 14 Burwash Road, Hangleton, 6.30pm Paul Thrasher reported that he had spoken to Molly Clayton and she stated that Malcolm is very poorly. He has been moved from the Regency Housing Nursing Home and is now stating at The Bon Accord Nursing Home, in New Church Road. If anyone wants to visit Malcolm, it is advised that they ring the nursing home first. President Michael announced that President of RIBI, Peter Offer, is to visit the Brighton area on Wednesday, 29th November, and there will be a lunch at the Royal Albion Hotel, 12.30pm for 1. Lunch will cost £12.00 per head and members can take their ladies along. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton informed members that he was to be a counsellor for one of this year’s Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars. She is a 26 year old post graduate student from Minnesota. 26th September, 2006. Her name is Elizabeth Spofford and she will be studying International Relations. Elizabeth has recently spent three years in Japan teaching on the JET programme, the self same programme that Bob’s daughter, Ruth, took part in some years ago. Bob said he will be looking for the support of members, particularly in making her feel very welcome. President Michael also said that he was aware that it was a long way off, but reminded us that the RIBI conference is being held in Bournemouth in April next year, informing us that he had already booked his hotel. International Chairman Peter Fowle informed members that the dates of the contact visit next year will be different. Instead of the customary Ascension weekend, it was to be held from Friday the 22nd until Sunday the 24th of June. It will, of course, be in the Pforzheim area. Michael Nettell announced that the date for the re arranged South Downs Way Walk is on Sunday, October 22nd. Further details will be forthcoming. Today was the day for the monthly "40 set" draw and the cheque for £25 was won by Ralph Harrison. EXERCISE FOR SENIOR CITIZENS. (COURTESY OF JOHN COUCH) I came across this exercise suggested for senior citizens, to build muscle, strength in the arms and shoulders. It’s so easy, I thought I’d pass it on. The article suggested doing it three days a week. Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a 5lbs potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there for as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, then relax. Each day, you’ll find that you can hold this position for a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to a 10lbs potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. Once you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2006
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows: Another month has gone by, during which my wife Lavinia and I spent a most enjoyable week in a rented cottage at Bewdley, just outside Kidderminster, Worcs. We have been very much into self-catering since 1978, when we took a small chalet with our then two-year-old son. What is of interest is that we visited two attractions that may be of interest, if not to the Hove Club, to the Rotary Foundation as a whole from the point of view of support for charities. One was the Black Country Living Museum at Dudley, with its working canal, working tramway and resurrected shops, some of which were dismantled and removed from there original sites, moved bodily to the Museum and re-erected there (how many of us fancy the idea of moving house – literally?) The other was the Severn Valley Railway, which runs from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, with a stop at Bewdley. It claims to be the premier preserved railway in the British Isles (it isn’t – the Bluebell is). I am not sure of the charitable status or otherwise of this one, but nevertheless it deserves all support – including ours – as does the Black Country Museum. I must say I enjoyed Sean Clark’s address about the underwater filming of the West Pier. Having been a diving MO in the Royal Naval Reserve myself – although I never actually did any diving – I have enormous admiration for people who carry out this sort of work, as I have a certain knowledge of the dangers faced by any diver. I have just received from Peter Offer the details of the RIBI conference in Bournemouth, which will be 13th - 15th April 2007, the weekend just after Easter, Lavinia and I will be attending this important event.
Yours in Rotary
President Michael
CLUB DIARY September. Sat. 2nd South Downs Way Walk organised by Michael Nettell*** Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. Sat. 16th. Barbecue at 30, Sackville Road, Tkts £10. See Paul Beaken*** Tues. 19th. DG David Langley to visit Hove Club*** October. Mon. 2nd. Club Council. 14 Burwash Road, Hangleton. 6.30pm*** Tues. 31st. Fifth Tuesday, lunch time with the ladies!*** November. Wed. 22nd. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 6.30pm for 7.*** 2007. March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7.*** April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth. May Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR SEPTEMBER Cash –Ian Varley. Care of Visitors – David Haycock CLUB PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER 5th. the first meeting of the month is one of business with a report of the goings on at council last Tuesday evening. 12th. Our speaker today is Oliver Maxwell and the title (one of the longest ever!) of his talk is "! Brighton & Hove Business Community Partnership – Local Professionals Helping the Volunteers". Secretary David Knowles will give the vote of thanks. 19th. Today sees the annual visit of the District 1250 Governor. This year David Langley holds the post, brother of Richard, still fondly remembered by us all. 26th. The fourth and last meeting of this month, when all the hard work and discussion is performed by the various committees. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE CHANGE OF ADDRESS FOR PRESIDENT MICHAEL. Michael has asked me to point out that he is "moving house" from No 10, Queen
Alexander Avenue, to No. 10, Queen Alexandra Avenue. The postcode and telephone
number remain the same. JOHN COUCH’S E-MAIL ADDRESS. John Couch's E Mail address in latest Club Directory should read: johnmcouch@btinternet.com That's putting initial 'm' in between john and couch!!
CLUB MEETINGS. 1st August 2006. 31 present – 28 of our own members and 2 non-Rotarian guests; Peter Harries-Rees, former member of this Club and guest of Mike Peters; and Mike Holland, our speaker for today, together with one Rotarian visitor, Laurie Hillditch, Brighton. Paul Thrasher reported on a visit to see Malcolm Clayton, who was still very poorly, both physically and mentally, but he sent regards to everyone and said that visitors would be made very welcome. Secretary David informed members that a board is circulating with regard to the fifth Tuesday meeting this month, at which ladies will be welcomed to attend. Today’s speaker was Mike Holland, a very well known entrepreneur and benefactor to the town. Mike has recently purchased the British Engineerium in Nevill Road. He purchased it outright, including all the equipment and steam engines therein, saving it from being dispersed all around the globe. Mike arrived in Brighton over 40 years ago with just £5.00 in his pocket and has since built up a large property portfolio in the city and across the county. He is now involved in several projects around Brighton, one of the biggest being the opening of Stanmer House and turning it into a state of the art wedding and conference venue. Mike intends using part of the property as a base for children’s charity Whoopsadaisy, which was launched in 2005. He is also a major contributor to charities, including the Rockinghorse Appeal, the well-known Royal Alexandra Hospital appeal and Narconon, which helps rehabilitate former heroin addicts. He told us that he is only too glad to do things for the city, not only on a commercial basis. He also told us that Stanmer House is up and running with eight events being held there over a period of just ten days recently. With respect to his purchase of the Engineerium, he remarked that this came very shortly after his rescue of Newlands School, following on from a visit to the site, remarking on the fact that he couldn’t believe that the local authorities were allowing it to be closed and sold up. Arrangements to purchase the site were quite frantic and when he finally decided to buy it, he found that there was only 36 hours to get the money into place for the sale, which was by auction on one Wednesday morning. Despite the solicitor handling the sale being involved in a car accident on the morning of the auction, he achieved his aim with just minutes to spare. He said the most satisfying thing on the day was the huge round of applause that was given when it was announced that someone had brought the whole thing, despite many of the prospective purchasers having wasted journeys of many hundred, and thousands, of miles. He outlined some of the schemes he wished could be carried out in the city, mainly one of the main route into Brighton, namely London and Preston Roads being turned into a very attractive gateway. Listening to him speak, it was quite obvious that he really loves his adopted home town and feels very frustrated by the actions of the local council. He told us that he has no political affiliations, and tends to vote for personalities rather than politics. He told us that he became involved in the charity for former heroin addicts, following the death of three addicts in properties he owned in Brighton. He said he receives no help at all from the local authorities with regard to the drug problems, which he found strange, because the less drug addicts in the city would lead to a quite significant lessening of drug related crimes. It would have been a much better talk if Mike had taken up the offer of a microphone, because he didn’t have one of those voices that carried too far. Nevertheless, it was an excellent talk by a very enthusiastic and driven individual. I’m sure that he will only bring good to the city and more importantly, he has intimated that we will be able to continue the motor cycle event, at the Engineerium, in future years. President Michael performed the vote of thanks. 8th August 2006. 32 present – 30 of our own members and 2 non-Rotarian guests; Ron Loadsman former member of Portslade and West Hove, here as a guest of Bob Green; and Sean Clark, our speaker for today. Ron Knight reported on a visit he had made to Malcolm Clayton. Malcolm had just attended a barbecue at the rest home and was in good spirits at the time. He once again emphasised that visitor would be very welcome. Bob Hinton informed members that 12 Rotary Calendars, for members to purchase, have been ordered. He also stated that he was collecting money, the proceeds from the last "Spread and Save". It was also announced that a joint project, probably water related, with Evreux and Pforzheim is in the pipeline. This will hopefully be eligible for a Rotary grant. Council for the District Handicamp, being held in 2007, also agreed the sum of £200. A change of venue for Club Council was announced. The next meeting, on 29th July at 6.30pm will be held at SVP David Henderson’s surgery at 14, Burwash Road, Hangleton. Sports Officer John Mainwood informed members that the forms for the coming year’s District Sports competitions are available, and if any members wish to take part, please contact him. Michael Nettell is hoping to arrange a walk on either Saturday the 2nd September or Sunday, the 3rd and is emailing members about this. Community Chairman Paul Beaken rose to tell members that it is hoped that a barbecue can be arranged at 30, Sackville Road, one of the Housing Society properties, on Saturday, 16th September. Further details will be forthcoming. President Michael read out the highlights of the Council meeting on the previous evening. Some of these items are covered in the previous announcements, so here are the remainder. Our speaker today was Sean Clark, and the title of his talk was "Underwater Images – Filming Beneath the West Pier". He told us he first started diving under the pier, as a sportsman, in 1995 but in later years he was given the job of performing an engineering survey under the West Pier and showed us a video of his work at that time. He told us there was a "stunning" amount of wildlife beneath the structure and that the falling debris throughout the years of deterioration has formed a form of coral reef. He showed us a film of one of his fellow divers, complete with the vast amount of equipment that was needed. He passed round the room the various cameras that are used underwater, all of them amazingly quite small. He told us that visibility beneath the pier is fairly poor and consequently a lot of his work is done by touch but it was surprising how much marine life they had managed to find. The current brings the many different types of sea life here and the debris becomes a natural habitat. Conger eels are plentiful there and every inch of the bed under the West Pier is covered in marine life. The film he showed of the various types of sea life found was absolutely fascinating. He said that it was a shame that the general public were not able to see the extent of life at this most unlikely place. Some of the pictures were quite amazing and it is nice to know that some good has come out of the tragedy of the west pier. If you want to see examples of what the divers found beneath the structure then go on to their website at www.westpierphotos.com and you will see photos like this:
Sean won a photojournalism award for his work on this project. All present appeared to be fascinated by this presentation and questions were asked afterwards by Paul Thrasher, who asked how the pier could be helped on it’s final journey, a question that Sean didn’t have the answer to. Chris Heath asked him how his interest first started and Sean explained that in the early days of his amateur diving career people asked him a lot of questions as to what lay below the pier. Bob Hinton said that he was surprised that Sean hadn’t been able to market his videos and Sean explained that he was with a company at that time that was lax in publicising and he feels that he has missed the boat now. He also remarked that he was the only photographer allowed on the pier immediately after the final fire that destroyed it and he captured some very atmospheric images. (See below)
Ian Collington performed the vote of thanks.
15th August 2006 29 present – 28 of our own members and 1 Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. The meeting commenced with sergeant at arms announcing that he was discontinuing the custom of introducing the guests before the meeting, because they were introduced once again halfway through the meeting, which meant that visitors were being subjected to two rounds of applause, which sergeant-at-arms Bob thought was excessive. SVP David Henderson was in the chair today, in the absence of President Michael, who was away on holiday. David announced that there would be a limited presidential service due to the absence of Michael. Peter Savage reported on Malcolm Clayton, saying that he was "much the same", looking very fragile, and very depressed from time to time but cheers up somewhat when people visit him. Later in the meeting, Peter also informed members that he celebrated his 80th birthday recently. Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken confirmed that a barbecue would be held at 30, Sackville Road, on Saturday, 16th September, 5 for 6pm. Raffle prizes would be very welcome. Bryan Meakin, our newest member, was the speaker for today. He started off by thanking Ian Collington for "putting him up to this". Bryan’s talk took the form of a "My Job’s" talk, which started off with his very first job as a lowly clerk in the City of Sheffield Treasury Department. He told us that his Dad had always wanted Bryan to have the security of working in the Town Hall Treasurer’s Department. He joined the other 500 or so people there after a "glittering" academic record and found himself given the job of writing envelopes for all the recipients of the monthly bills. This "drove him crackers" after a while and therefore decided, one month, to have a different colour writing for each line of the address. This met with the disgust of the chief clerk and Bryan was not very popular with his workmates when they were given the job of helping him rewrite the whole batch of envelopes. It was not too long before he took another step up the ladder when he was given the job of putting the cheques in the envelopes. This was followed by even higher office, which involved him standing one pace back from the City Treasurer and blotting his signature after signing. He also told us about one of his pranks, which involved locking many of the staff in the toilet cubicles one April Fool’s Day, this only being discovered when they realised how short of staff they were on that particular morning. Bryan also mentioned that the City Treasurer had his own little toilet. Even this didn’t escape Bryan attentions because he managed to break the City Treasurer’s washbasin whilst cleaning his feet in it. He told the Chief Clerk about it, who was absolutely petrified. The reason that Bryan was in the office when the City Treasurer wasn’t there was because Bryan used to stay on, for studying purposes, until nine o’clock in the evening before going out on the town, bopping at The Locarno afterwards. In passing, Bryan mentioned a good pal of his, who Bryan didn’t think would go anywhere in life, and who is now Managing Director of one of the largest steel mills in Sheffield. They are still good pals to this day. (continued) Bryan’s career then took him on to Newcastle-Under-Lyme. Bryan said that this was a very pleasant part of his life because he found that the town consisted of very happy, lovely people. His boss was a great theatre lover and in the winter there was a theatre in the round of which Bryan was in charge of the box office. It was in Newcastle that Bryan joined Round Table He then moved to Bath, where he spent a long happy period. In fact it was so nice that on first arriving there he met the Director of Education, who was the youngest person to hold that office, and he maintained that Bath was so nice that it was the "graveyard of ambition". He said it was a very lively council and it was during this time that he first met Bob Hinton, when they both were in attendance on a course for budding local government officers. This was many years before anyone in the club knew Bob. Bryan said that it was a very easygoing town with lots of informality, mainly due to Round Table networking. During his time there, there was a period of reorganisation of government that all services were taken away from the town and Bryan was moved on to Avon Council which was a merger of Bristol, Bath and bits of Somerset. He was Deputy Treasurer, but initially didn’t have any office accommodation, and even had to go to local stationers to buy tools of the trade. He remarked that the transfer of data from the old authorities to the big new authority was a nightmare and he had to resort to James Bond type meetings at local service stations to obtain this data. In his capacity as Deputy Treasurer, he was also the County Bridge master, which meant he was in overall charge of the very famous Avon Bridge. Part of his duties also entailed him being the County Emergency Officer, an office that, hopefully, wouldn’t be needed in normal times, but would be a very busy post in the event of a nuclear war. He had to travel to York to find out how to deal with the incoming emergency and one consequence of this was the storing of corned beef and suchlike under caves in the Bath area. He said that they are still there to this day as far as he knows. Following on from Bath, he then moved to Brighton and worked for the Health Authority. He mentioned his friend and mentor Tony Trafford who gave him very good advice when he told him "if you were sick, never let a surgeon near you, only ever see a doctor". Tony Trafford eventually became Minister for Health and eventually Lord Trafford but, sadly, he died. He had a very tricky time in Brighton, because it fell to him to close down Chailley Heritage, not realising how much powerful opposition there would be, and it was finally decided by higher authority not to pursue it. He spoke briefly about the Children’s Hospital and then went on to tell us about his efforts in Hastings to try to build a new hospital. He told us of the amazing fact that it takes 15 years from start to finish to build a new hospital anywhere. This didn’t prove to be the case in Hastings and the hospital was built much quicker than that, and it is now known to us all at the Conquest Hospital. Went on to mention a certain member of the military, which I shouldn’t go into here but then spoke of the time when Paul McCartney’s daughter, Stella, was treated at the hospital and Bryan thought it would be a good time to "tap" Paul for money, a task of which he was very successful! He then finished work with local government and hospitals and went to work in London for the British Tourist Board, which is now called something grander. Bryan has covered his work in this area in earlier talks to us, but I couldn’t leave it without mentioning his stories about Bill Davis, a former Editor of Punch, who was his boss for some time. Because of Bill’s fondness for Champagne, Bryan had to make sure that all cheques and documents were signed first thing in the morning. Bryan finished up by saying that his wife, Mary, has been with him at all times, and he, Mary and their four children are very happy here. All in all, a very informative and humorous talk by one of our own. Acting President David Henderson gave the vote of thanks. 22nd August 2006. 26 present – all our own members. There were no reports on invalids. President Michael read out a letter from the Nigel Porter Unit thanking the Club for the donation of £500. They stated that they were raising funds for an ultrasound machine so this money will go towards this. A letter was read out from one of the housing society tenants, thanking us for her birthday gift (a plant!) Community Service Committee Chairman Paul Beaken confirmed the date of the barbecue at 30 Sackville Road on Saturday, 15th September, 5 for 6pm.
It was announced that this year’s "40 Set" draw will be starting shortly and all monies should be in within the next few weeks. Please give your cheques for £20 to Peter Fowle. Don’t forget, you can also purchase more than one share in the draw, maybe one for the "missus"? 29th August 2006. 47 Present 26 of our own members, 2 Rotarian visitors, Alan Pett from Lewes Castle and David Perrin from Brighton. There were also 17th non-Rotarian guests, mainly consisting of our own ladies and including Evelyn Milner, a guest of Derek Clouting and Chris Littledale, who was the speaker for today. Paul Thrasher reported that both Gordon Cummings and himself had visited Malcolm Clayton, who continued to be "up and down". Bob Hinton informed members that there was to be a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s "HMS Pinafore" performed by The Wandering Minstrels" Performance will be on Thursday, September 21st at Steyning Centre; Friday, 22nd September at Ditchling Village Hall and Saturday, September 23rd at Knoyle Hall, Knoyle Road, Brighton. All performances start at 7.45pm and tickets will be £6.50 (concessions £5.50). This will not be an organised outing for the club, so contact Bob if you need tickets for any of these performances. Bob also told members that Sheila has broken her leg but is bearing the pain pretty well. Community Service Chairman Paul Beaken rose to announce the details of the barbecue on September 15th, and also informed members that a board was being circulated today for members to denote numbers attending. Today, being the last meeting of the month, was the occasion for the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25.00 was won by the absent John Couch. Our speaker today was Christopher Littledale, the Founder and Director of The Brighton Toy and Model Museum. With a family background of a father who was a skilled model maker and a mother who was an avid collector of antiques, it is no surprise that Christopher finished up running his own toy museum. Over the years, his enthusiasm for collecting combined with his skill at restoring and making today, resulted in his gathering a large and unique collection of toys. He then thought he would love to share his collection with a wider public and he found the museum in 1990, together with a small group of dedicated friends and fellow collectors/model makers. The museum is situated in Trafalgar Street, Brighton, appropriately enough, below Brighton Station. Christopher came across, as one would expect, as a true enthusiast. He started off by telling us about his first, quite terrifying experience, of seeing and hearing a very loud steam train at Victoria Station. He found the noise quite scary but was very impressed with the silence when the valves were shut to stop the steam. Nevertheless, he thinks this was the trigger that started his enthusiasm for trains. He also professed a very keen interest in buses and trams, anything to do with public transport in fact. His enthusiasm for trains even impinged on his love life, because a French girl friend of his once remarked that she thought that Christopher was a reincarnation of "The Flying Scotsman"! After telling us of his early life, when he became an avid collection of not only trains and things, but also of objets d’art, he treated us to his impersonations of various trains, which included a goods train carrying some wagons and also, with what I thought was the piece de resistance, an impression of the Inter City 125, which was an uncannily realistic reproduction. He also gave an impression of a London tube train but this was not quite so effective. This would also have been perfect if Ian Collington had been in attendance to give us his legendary "mind the gap" utterance. Going on to his collecting days again, he told us of some of his purchases, the most impressive of which was a clockwork ocean liner, made in pre-war Germany. He went along to the auction with £7 or £8 to buy it, which was a lot of money in those far away days, and finished up buying a whole load of stuff. This meant that he couldn’t afford the taxi from salerooms to the station and he had to shuffle all of his goods, which took him a couple of hours or so, along the pavement. He taught himself to restore the items he purchased, and with the help of his dad, an eye surgeon, he built up a fabulous collection. He told us that he even found himself in debt with a finance company to help him fulfil his collection. Unfortunately, time was short, and Christopher was cut off midflow, as it were, but nevertheless I think everyone enjoyed his presentation. Tad Phillips/Filipowicz gave the vote of thanks.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN AUGUST 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows, Herewith my first message to you all in my capacity as your President. We have had, already, one excellent speaker – Derek Collins on 18th July on the subject of his experiences as a paramedic, and we look forward to hearing Mike Holland in due course. My wife and I went to the Meet-the-District Governor (David Langley) skittles evening at the Chalk Pits outside Lewes on Friday 21st July. My experience of skittles quâ skittles had hitherto been very limited – I remember someone giving me a set of skittles for a birthday present about 60 years ago. There were nine skittles, I suppose about 8" tall, and a wooden ball with which to knock them down from a distance of about 6 feet, and I remember them as being of surprisingly good quality considering that the war had only just ended. Until last Friday, I had never before seen a skittle alley in a pub and I was surprised at the length of it. It was great fun. The Elite Team beat us by about 2 points, and the booby prize was won by your President. I was expecting something like a banana skin (remember Bruce Forsyth and that open-the-box game?). Instead I was pleasantly surprised to get one of those Mag-Lite torches – one of the smaller ones. So far, so good. I made another interesting discovery yesterday. All GPs, principals or locums (sessional GPs, we are now called) are being issued with smart-cards for operating surgery computer systems, and this entails having your photograph taken, which is incorporated into the card. An official then brings it to the surgery and gives it to you – but you have to produce some ID first. He assumes that you are carrying your passport, as one does, but I had regrettably left mine at home, so I produced my photo-driving licence – and "well, anything else will do as long as it’s got an address on it." I rummaged through my wallet and then I came across my Rotary club directory, signed by Mike Nettell, which had my address in it. Saved. Yours in Rotary
President Michael CLUB DIARY September. Mon 4th. Club Council. Time and venue to be announced*** Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. Tues. 19th. DG David Langley to visit Hove Club*** October. Mon. 2nd. Club Council. Time and venue to be announced*** November. Wed. 22nd. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 6.30pm for 7.*** 2007. March. Tues. 20th. District Council, Ardingly Showgrounds, 630pm for 7.*** April. Fri/Sun. 13th-15th. RIBI Conference. Bournemouth*** Mon/Wed. 16th-18th. Inner Wheel National Conference, Bournemouth*** May Thurs. 3rd. District Assembly. Forest School, Horsham. 5.30pm for 6*** New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR AUGUST Cash – Ray Tiltman. Care of Visitors – Bob Green. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR AUGUST 1st. This being the first one of the month, there will be the usual report on the happenings at Club Council on the previous evening. We are also privileged to welcome Mike Holland who will address the club for some ten or fifteen minutes on his plans for the future. Mike Holland is the entrepreneur who recently purchased the Engineerium when it looked as though it would be sold piece-by-piece and scattered throughout the globe. He also came to the rescue when Newlands School, Seaford was in trouble. His latest venture is the opening, once again, of Stanmer House. At the time of writing, there has been no one nominated to perform the vote of thanks. 8th. Our speaker today is Sean Clark and the title of his talk is "Underwater Images – Filming Beneath the West Pier. The vote of thanks is in the hands of Ian Collington. 15th. the first "My Job" type talk of this Rotary year and it is being given by Bryan Meakin and is entitled "My Life and Times". The vote of thanks will be given by President Michael. 22nd. This being the fourth meeting of this month, it will be taken over by meetings of the various committees. 29th. A "Fifth Tuesday" evening and the experiment of holding them at lunchtime, accompanied by our ladies, continues. Our speaker today is Michelle Marriott and she will be giving us a talk entitled "Independent Age – Supporting Older People at Home" The vote of thanks will be proposed by Paul Thrasher. CLUB SERVICE. President Ron Knight, who is also serving as Club Service Chairman this year, thought it would be a good idea to remind members what Club Service is all about, so here goes: The purpose of Club Service is to foster the successful administration of a Rotary Club. It is regarded by many Rotary leaders as the most important part of the club mechanism, because without a well-functioning club, little else can be performed via the other three avenues of service. Club Service involves regularly attending club and committee meetings, sponsoring new members, participating in club fellowship, taking part in programmes, serving on committees and on the club’s board of directors (Council), and representing the club in outside activities. Rotarians have an obligation to strengthen their club; so all members should be encouraged to get involved in Club Service. CLUB SERVICE COMMITTEES All Club committee chairpersons, including sub-committee chairpersons, should maintain close contact with the Club Treasurer and the Sergeant=at-Arms. They are vital to the financial health of the club and the orderly progress of meetings. It is also recommended that you work with the club president on the programme of at least two club assemblies (meetings of club officers, directors and committee persons to appraise programmes, activities and ideas). The first club assembly, held soon after the start of the Rotary Year, focuses on the club constitution and by-laws. The second one on the overall picture of Club Service, including the responsibilities of club officers, the relationship of Club Service to the other Avenues, the club committee functions and the purpose and importance of District Meetings. CLUB MEETINGS. 4th July, 2006. 21 present – 18 of our own members and three visiting Rotarians, Philippe Noytell from Neuchatel Forges, together with David Perrin and Laurie Hilditch, both members of Brighton. SVP David Henderson was in the chair today, because President Michael was on his holidays. There were no reports on invalids. A letter was read out from Brian Kemp-Potter, thanking us for the District Community Award, which was awarded to him on the occasion of the last fund raising barbecue at his home in June. Besides thanking us, he informed us that we were quite welcome to continue using his premises for any future similar events. Secretary David (Knowles) informed us that there was a meeting of the District Council being held this coming Monday, 10th July, at Ardingly, 6.30pm for 7. He also told us that subscriptions for this new Rotary year are due, and Peter Fowle, in the absence of Treasurer Michael, was on hand to take everyone’s money off them. The new Club directories will be available next Tuesday. Speakers’ Programme Secretary Ian Collington was pleased to announce that Mike Holland, Hove’s well known entrepreneur, is visiting the Club, to say a few words, on Tuesday, 1st August, and it is hoped that there will be a pretty decent turnout of members. This was one of the shortest meetings on record, with the concluding toast being read at 1.50pm. Methinks the acting President had to get back to work! 11th July, 2006. 29 present – 28 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; William Bradford from Pau Bearne (France). President Michael reported that he paid a visit to Malcolm Clayton yesterday and remarked that he was not in a good way and is having many problems, including a missing stent and he was in some discomfort. He is obviously not fit to come to Rotary but would welcome visits from all of us. The President then read out a report of last week’s Club Council, which was as follows: Following on from this President Michael reported on District Council, the report of which was as follows: Following these reports there were announcements from various people. John Eaton stated that he has found a new home for the Christmas trailer (see above notes.) John Mainwood was pleased to report that the Hove’s ten pin bowling team, consisting of himself, Bob Mulholland, Ken Jones and Neil Mulholland finished as runners up in the recent District Finals night, held at Crawley last week. He said that "we were the top amateur team on the night" intimating that the winning team from Caterham play more than once a year, unlike all the other teams competing. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton, reiterated that a team leader and candidates were being sought for the GSE to District 1470 (Mexico) next year. Candidates should be aged between 25-40, and well established in their chosen profession. The trip will for about four weeks and Spanish-speaking candidates would have an advantage. The theme of the visit is thought to be related to water. David Henderson informed members of last year’s Club Council that the dinner for IPP Bob would be held at the Zamdani restaurant, which is situated at the corner of Church Road and Hove Street. 18th July, 2006. 29 Present – 26 of our own members; 1 Rotarian Visitor, Michael Winslow from Blandford Forum, here as a guest of John Couch and two non-Rotarian guests; Adrian Hilton, a guest of Bob Hinton and Derek Collins, our speaker for today. President Michael reported that Peter Fowle, who was to have performed the vote of thanks today, is absent due to breathing difficulties, caused by an infection in his lung. He did visit the Sussex County but is back at home now, resting. Gordon Cummings told members that Malcolm Clayton is very poorly, in much discomfort and quite depressed, but he would still welcome visits from members. Assistant Secretary David Burchell reminded members that we are expecting a visit from Mike Holland, the local entrepreneur who is reviving the Engineerium, at Club on 1st August and asked for a good turnout. Derek Collins was our speaker today and Derek, now retired, was one of the first members of the old East Sussex Ambulance Service to train as a fully-fledged paramedic. He then went on to become the very first paramedic to be attached to the Sussex Police Helicopter (Hotel 900), based at Shoreham Airport. He started off by telling us of his early involvement in the ambulance service and told us that the Ambulance Service in the Brighton Area was a pioneer in training up their staff to be paramedics. This was because of the involvement of Dr. Douglas Chamberlain, who was instrumental in this City having the first cardiac response units in the United Kingdom. This was taken a step further when the paramedics were trained Dr. Chamberlain also ensured that Brighton was the base for the biggest Emergency Life Support courses in this country, with 30-40 lectures a month taking place. All this activity started in 1969. Derek went on to tell us more about his work as a paramedic before he came to the more interesting part of his talk, which was his involvement with the Sussex Police helicopter. It sounded most fascinating and Derek showed by the enthusiasm of his talk how much he enjoyed his work. He also told us that he was one of the first paramedics to be taught some quite complicated procedures, including the injection, by needle, of adrenalin straight to the heart. He told us he became competent at this task after practising on the corpses of recently dead people, supplied by the local hospital mortician. Derek told us that this was the first time he had spoke in public about his work, but nevertheless it was a very well received address, which was shown by the amount of questions posed at the conclusion of the talk. Gordon Cummings gave the vote of thanks. 25th July, 2006. (report courtesy of Howard Attree) 30 present – 29 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Colin Citrone, former member of Portslade and West Hove Club, who was here as a guest of David Henderson. It was reported that John Ansell is not too well and that Malcolm Clayton, despite being very ill and not being able to attend the club for many months, has paid his subscriptions for the Rotary year 2006/2007. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 was won by David Haycock. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton reminded members that "Spread and Save" money was due and he would be grateful if members would let him have their various amounts as soon as possible. Most of the meeting was devoted to the getting together of the various committees, prior to reporting at Council next Monday.
GOLF INSTRUCTIONS. The following was seen at a golf club: IMPACT. (RIBI’s Preferred International Charity this Rotary Year) This very worthwhile charity was founded by Rotarian Sir John Wilson in the early 1980s and has had close links with Rotary ever since. Many of the volunteer surgeons who work in our projects are Rotarians and the support of numerous Clubs has helped to fund the programme. Clubs and Districts all over the UK can help IMPACT take the hospital to the people in innovative ways. There follows a short list of the various schemes that come under IMPACT. The Lifeline Express Hospital Train, which travels the famous Indian rail network restoring sight and mobility and repairing disabling cleft lip. This "Magic Train" is now so famous that it features in school text books as far afield as Australia! The Jibon Tari Floating Hospital – the ‘Boat of Life’, as it is known locally, traverses Bangladesh’s vast waterways, which cover much of the country, dispensing surgery and medical treatment to impoverished people living in remote riverside communities. Together with these there is also a sterile tented operating theatre, which is taken across difficult terrain in Nepal to help ENT and orthopaedic surgical ‘camps’ in hard to reach areas with few health facilities. In many countries of Africa and Asia, teams of doctors and surgeons travel into the countryside to hold treatment camps. Mobile clinics take healthcare into the heart of communities and provide education to help protect them. As Rotarians will know so well from the Polio Plus campaign, prevention is better – and more cost-effective – than cure so IMPACT also takes steps to protect people from needless disablement. Immunisation is one such tool. Others include growing and eating fruit and vegetables to ward off disability caused by lack of vital vitamins and minerals, training health workers to provide appropriate healthcare and screening for the early signs and ensuring people affected get timely treatment. SIR JOHN WILSON. The story of Sir John has now been told in a biography, written by Sir John Coles, It is entitled "Blindness and the Visionary" and is available at a discounted price of £14.99 before 31st December. Telephone 01444 457080 if you would like an order form. PAUL HARRIS (A POTTED HISTORY) Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, was born in Racine, Wisconsin, USA, on
April 19, 1868, but moved at the age of 3 to Wallingford, Vermont, to be raised
by his grandparents. ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLET JULY 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Fellows, I seem to remember saying, when I became a member of the Rotary Club of Hove late in 2002 that I should be proud to be associated with you, and I most certainly am. Little did I realise then that within less than four years I should become your President, and I really am most honoured that you should accept me as such for the coming year 2006-7 at comparatively short notice. I am sure that you will all join me in wishing David Henderson a swift recovery from his eye problem so that he can succeed me for the year 2007-8, and in thanking Bob Mulholland, who by the time you read this will have become Immediate Past President, for his most excellent, inspiring leadership over the past year, not to mention our Secretary, David Burchell, for all his hard work. I have the sort of admiration for both him and Bob of which only one who has held similar office is capable: for my sins I was Secretary of the Brighton Division of the BMA for about 16 years before I retired from my practice in Lewes Road in 2000, and during this time I did one year as Chairman. I will of course do my very best to preserve and continue all that he has done for the Club. Following his act, I can well imagine, will be no mean undertaking. We must continue the running of the Club with all its activities as before, and, as I said at the Club Assembly the other day, we must pay particular attention to Stroke Awareness and Riders for Health. Finally, as a member of the Youth Committee, I would like to say how impressed I was with those four delightful young ladies who honoured us with their presence at the meeting on 20th June. We really must maintain our support for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards; as Ray Tiltman rightly said, they are the real youth of today and it is a pity they don’t make the headlines more than they do.
Yours in Rotary,
Michael Barley CLUB DIARYJuly. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. Sat. 29th. Brighton & Hove Breakfast Club Fun Day – now to be held at Hangleton Manor instead of Hove Lawns – all day. August. Mon 7th. Club Council; 6.15pm. Hangleton Manor. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR JULY Cash – Paul Thrasher. Care of Visitors – John Couch CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JULY 4th. a change in routine this week, with committees being held a week later than usual because of last week’s Presidential handover and outgoing President’s valedictory. 11th. this second week, normally a meeting with a speaker, will be given over to a report of the first meeting of this Rotary Year’s Club Council. 18th. our speaker today is Derek Collins and the title of his talk is "Pioneering Helicopter Paramedic" and the vote of thanks will be in the hands of Peter Fowle. 25th. back to normality, with the usual meetings of Committees on the fourth Tuesday of the month. CLUB MEETINGS 6th June, 2006. 25 present – 24 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor: David Perrin from Brighton. President Bob reminded members that the Charity Barbecue at Storrington was this coming Saturday and any stragglers, still needing tickets, should see Treasurer Mike. Gordon Cummings gave progress report on Malcolm Clayton, stating that he would dearly welcome visitors. Gordon still waiting word from Molly, who is still recovering from her hip operation on when Malcolm can return home. Peter Savage informed members that a Service for military veterans was to be held at All Saints Church on 15th June at 7pm. President Bob, as is customary on the first meeting of the month, read out a report of the previous evening’s Club Council which went as follows: 13th June 2006. 29 Present – 28 of our own Members and one Rotarian visitor; Assistant District Governor Mike Harvey, here as convenor at today’s Club Assembly. President Bob reported on two telephone calls he had received. The first one had been from Molly Clayton, to thank all those members who had visited Malcolm during his illness, saying that she hoped we would continue to do so. The second call had been from Gill Langley, reporting on the fact that Richard is very poorly, and is in some discomfort. She asked that telephone calls be discontinued until further notice. Ray Tiltman informed members that the barbecue, which had been a great success, with great weather and better company, had raised the magnificent sum of £850.00 Ray said that an emergency Council meeting has agreed to donate £200 towards a memorial, most probably at Southlands Hospital, for Sylvia Robinson. Today was the occasion, as mentioned earlier, for this year’s Club Assembly, so President Bob handed over the remainder of the meeting to I/C President Michael Barley, who said he was honoured that he had been asked to become President of the Club but admitted he was taken by surprise when he was asked to step up a year early owing to Dr. David Henderson’s eye problems. He then gave those present his thoughts and hopes for the coming year. He said that he intends to keep the club strong and hopefully keep membership and attendance high. He intended to maintain interest of members by continuing the good and charitable work that this club is famous for. He also intended to continue to keep the club strong and keep attendance and membership high. He remarked that the "Riders for Health" charity impressed him enormously, and he had also been impressed with the film, on the same subject, shown at the recent President’s night. Stroke awareness is also going to be one of his priorities, having taken part in a couple of these exercises in the last year or so. Mike then asked his various chairmen to make their reports and these were as follows: Club Service – Ron Knight apologised for being slightly unprepared but was unaware that he had to make a report at this meeting but nevertheless went on to say that he has had previous experience, in his own club, several years ago and will make sure that the club runs smoothly, as is his job. Community Service – Paul Beaken asked, as a newcomer to Rotary, for members to excuse any naivety in what he says and reported that he has tried to find out what had been going on in the past as far as Community Service was concerned, and will do some brainstorming and get ideas from other members, He felt there was a need to reinforce the profile of Rotary in the local community. He remarked that trust was already in place for Rotary, which was evidenced by the fact that the general public gave money quite generously without even asking the collectors where their cash was destined for. Vocational Service – In the absence of Chairman Ted Bartup, it was reported that a list of vocational visits was being formed and sent round to members to ask them which ones and prefer and which ones they will support. International Service – In the absence of Chairman Peter Fowle it was stated that this Committee will continue with all the projects they are doing at present. Foundation – Bob Hinton reported that the matching grant was still on the go in conjunction with the District project to help islands that had been ravaged by Tsunami, by supplying medical equipment for the hospitals in that region. This is a quite large project which will have to go to RI for approval and the cost to this club will be $1,000.00. Bob also said that the usual things, like Rotary Calendars and "Spread and Save" will also be ongoing. He also reminded Community Service Chairman Paul that grants can be received from Rotary Foundation for community projects. Grants up to £500.00 are readily available. In closing, he said that he hoped the Club would this year’s giving which was about £1,000. Youth Activities – Roger Patterson said that he would be continuing with all the usual things next year, including Mock Interviews and the coaching of youngsters in customer interview techniques, prior to those youngsters leaving school. He said that specific requests from teaching staff will be taken on board. RYLA will also be a big thing this year. He informed members that this club has put 21 candidates through this scheme in the last six years, largely thanks to the help of Ray Tiltman, in his role as a governor of Portslade Community College. The second best performers in District 1250 have sent 14. He said that it was hoped to put four more candidates through in the coming Rotary year and the selection process will start in the last quarter of this calendar year. Roger reassured members by saying that, to protect Rotarians, all activities are taken under the supervision of teaching staff and no on is ever left alone with a pupil. He also said that there was no conflict in interest with regard to involving schoolchildren in any community project. At the end of these committee reports, members were asked if there were any questions and Ian Varley asked ADG Mike if there was an RI Presidential them this year and Mike answered by saying that it was "Lead The Way". Ian also asked if this club would be supporting Impact, the charity which is an RIBI Presidential project this year. The answer to this question would be supplied when International Chairman Peter Fowle returns. It was now the turn of our moderator, ADG Mike Harvey to make his comments on the meeting and he started by bringing greetings from DG Ian Swales and DG Elect David Langley. He then praised President Bob and Secretary David Burchell for both doing such sterling work throughout the year and congratulated us on our present venue remarking on the fact that he has addressed us at three venues during his time as ADG and moderator. He then singled out Paul Beaken, by remarking that he thought it was great that a new member had taken on such as job as Community Chairman as Paul had done and was sure that he would do a great job. He then went on to say that he understood that our Community Service Committee had lost out, quite narrowly, on an RIBI Community Service Award at the recent RIBI Conference in Belfast and wished us the very best of luck for our next attempt. Mike stated that he thought the club was in a quite healthy state but thought we should try to put as much emphasis as we could on trying to recruit new members. At the conclusion of the Assembly the meeting was handed back to President Bob who then gave the concluding toast "Rotary the World Over including Chichester Priory". 20th June, 2006. 32 Present – 28 of our own members and 4 non-Rotarian Guests – Arainna Greytasi, Michelle Hackett, Lynsey Kent and Zoe Mottershead, our RYLA candidates on the last RYLA week, who were here to tell us of their experiences. Before Grace was given, their was a period of silence in honour of Richard Langley, who passed away over the weekend. President Bob’s first job of the day was a pleasant one, because he had the privilege of inducting Bryan Meakin, formerly a member of Brighton and Hove Soiree, as a member of this Club. Unfortunately, John Couch, Bryan’s sponsor, was on holiday, but President Bob introduced Bryan to the Club before performing the induction. President Bob then reported to the club that he had attended the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Southwick and Shoreham Club. He had been invited to the event in his role as President, because Hove is their "Mother" club. The occasion was also honoured by the attendance of Mike Webb, President of RIBI and District Governor Ian Swales. The event was held at Worthing Golf Club. (Continued) President Bob reported on the death of Richard Langley and informed members that the arrangements for the funeral will most probably be available later on today and he would make sure everyone knew of those arrangements as soon as possible. He also promised that a tribute would be paid later on in this bulletin. Our speakers for today, as mentioned earlier, were our four RYLA candidates from this Rotary Year, Arainna Greytasi, Michelle Hackett, Lynsey Kent and Zoe Mottershead. These four young ladies were introduced to those present by Youth Activities Chairman Roger Patterson. He done this by reading out all their qualifications and hobbies, all of which were very impressive. Arianne kicked off the presentation by telling us about the first couple of days on the course, which was held in the Amesbury area in the week leading up to Easter. She went on to tell us about various iniative games they had to perform which helped greatly in helping to candidates to have a chance of early bonding. It sounded great fund with all these games doing the job they were meant to. Most of the tasks they had to perform were given to them at very short notice. Zoe was next up and she spoke about the happening on the Tuesday and Wednesday. Paintballing was the order of the day on Tuesday when they were split into two groups, one of which had to obtain a trophy without being shot by the other team. I must admit I had a bit of trouble jotting down what Zoe was saying because she spoke at a fair rate of knots. Michelle was third up and she spoke about the last two days of the course, which consisted of more tests designed to show everyone’s leadership qualities with lots of initiative involved. One of the tasks she found particularly difficult was one where they had to set off last, some two hours behind the other groups but she was amazed how helpful the other groups were on this occasion. She also spoke of the last evening of the course, the "Gala" evening, when four members of this Club; President Bob, Roger Patterson, Ray Tiltman and John Mainwood, were in the audience with many other Rotarians and relatives of the candidates. Lynsey was last to speak and she summed up their feelings about the whole course remarking of the changes that came about through taking part in it which was translated itself into a growing of confidence, evident even half way through the week. She said that by the end of the week they were all able to trust people that they had never met before. The vote of thanks was given by Ray Tiltman who has been involved in supplying RYLA candidates, both from his former club, Portslade and West Hove, and this Club for some nineteen years or so, having sent candidates on the very first RYLA course in 1987. After the vote of thanks, President Bob was very pleased to hand Certificate of Merit to all four candidates. 27th June, 2006. 28 present – all our own members. President Bob confirmed Richard Langley funeral arrangements as noon tomorrow (28/6) at the Downs Crematorium, Brighton. He then read out a (belated) letter from the Deputy Mayor of Brighton and Hove, saying how much she had enjoyed her visit to the Motor Cycle Rally in April, and expressed the sentiments that she hoped the event would continue for many years to come. President Bob also congratulated Ian Varley on his recent 80th birthday and thanked him for so kindly paying for members’ drinks at today’s meeting. It was reported that Malcolm Clayton’s health is much the same and made a plea for people to visit him. Secretary David said that there would be a membership service seminar at Ardingly on 23rd August, 6.30pm for 7pm, tickets. There will be a cost of £5.00 to cover refreshments. The rest of the meeting was devoted to an address by President Bob, giving us his report on his year in office He touched on most of the main things that had happened to him during his year and thanked every member of the Club for their magnificent support. I wont go into a full report of the speech because I am sure those of you who weren’t there can figure out what was said. IPP Ken Jones then performed the vote of thanks before President Bob performed the handing over ceremony, installing Michael Barley as the President of the Rotary Club of Hove for 2006/2007.
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