Rotary Club of Hove                                                                   

                         Founded 1933 RI No 3630 RIBI No 393

                                                                                                                    For previous year click on http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2005

june_communique.pdf

may_communique.pdf

april_communique.pdf

march_communique.pdf

february_communique.pdf

december_communique.pdf

january_communique.pdf

Is there a handy Rotarian in our Club? REMAP is seeking more Volunteers

The object of REMAP is to design and construct aids to meet the individual needs of handicapped people where such aids cannot be provided by any other means, together with the promotion of closer liaison between the Engineering and Caring Professions. Some 100 panels spread throughout the UK consist of volunteers – engineers, technicians, craftspeople, designers, DIYers and Health Professionals. The panels take referrals from any source and a visit to the client is made. The needs are discussed in depth, and any necessary notes and measurements are made. Provided that there is no commercially available aid and the clients safety will not be compromised, then the panel will usually agree to design and construct a solution, often using the home facilities and workshops of panel members. The equipment so created (which the client receives free of charge) not only satisfies the clients need, but gives panel members a real sense of achievement and reward for a challenge successfully overcome.

More than 3,000 jobs have been successfully completed country-wide during the past year. The main need is not so much financial – engineers are able to be very ingenious when it comes to reducing the cost of a design and re-using old materials – but in attracting more volunteers who are prepared to give a little of their time to this very worthwhile cause. Bureaucracy is kept to the absolute minimum throughout the organisation.

Please visit the REMAP website – www.remap.org.uk to learn more.

This is from Dr Fred Maillardet, until recently Professor of Physics and Engineering at the Uni of Brighton.  He is talking to the club in the new year about the work of REMAP

1250 Communiqué Monthly News Letter

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october_communique.pdf

ROTARY FINAL REPORT. FROM JULIA NEUMANN.

Time flies when you are happy!

During my year-long stay in Britain, I have experienced how true this English proverb is. This time last year I was still packing my suitcases - looking forward to my year in Brighton as a Rotary scholar. Now it is – unfortunately – already over!

Since I started studying at university, I wished to spend a year in England. As a future teacher I felt it was not enough to read Shakespeare and practice my "th". I wanted to experience Britain’s unique culture and history "on the spot" and also get to know everyday life in Britain. Since you can only get to know a country, its people and their way of life when you live there for some months, the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship offered a great opportunity for me.

When selecting my preferred place to study, I chose Brighton mainly because of the University of Sussex which has an excellent reputation for Linguistics and American Studies. In the daytime – especially during the summer months – Brighton is a lively and vibrant city. People meet at the beach, in a café or stroll through the Lanes, where dozens of little shops sell everything from vegetarian shoes to expensive jewellery. At night, however, I did not always feel completely safe in Brighton, because there are homeless people, drug addicts and some other weird people around.

I studied for nine months at the University of Sussex. I was registered there as a Visiting Student, because this was the easiest way to match my year abroad with my degree programme in Germany. As a Visiting Student it was possible to combine my two very different subjects English and Maths. Before choosing my courses at Sussex I sought advice from my professors in Germany to make sure that the credits I gained would all be accepted by my German university.

I have taken seven courses at the University of Sussex. This is equivalent to 126 ECTS credits (ECTYS + European Credit Transfer System) and is a bit more than the normal amount of 120 ECTSA credits.

In the Autumn Term I took the following courses:

A course in mathematical computer programming which I completed with a first class grade.

A course about North American literature until 1890. I wrote a 3000 word term paper for this course which was given a first class mark. My tutor Dr. Sarah Wood gave me the following tutorial report; ‘Evident passion for the subject, clear thinker and great writer.’ My third course in autumn term was a Linguistics course. In this course I received a first class grade for coursework and 4 pieces of assessed homework, as well as the following tutorial report; ‘Julia has performed well on this course. She has worked diligently and is always well-prepared for seminars. She has contributed well to discussions, and her written work is off a very good, sometimes excellent standard.’

During the spring and Summer Term I took four courses.

After having done a lot of computer mathematics during the last term, this term I went back (happily) to doing ‘real’ Maths. I took two courses ‘Functional Analysis’ and ‘Partial Differential Equations.’ Functional Analysis is a rather abstract course that looks at the properties of maps in different vector spaces. Partial differential equations, however, have real practical value, because one can describe almost e very process in nature, like waves, population growths or the cooling down of liquids with them. Both courses were assessed by unseen exams, but I do not have the results yet.

The Department of Linguistics at Sussex University has a very good reputation and so I decided to take another two Linguistics courses. I chose one course called ‘Semantics and Pragmatics’. These two branches of Linguistics look at how words, phrases or dialogues get their meaning and how people process and interpret language. I really liked this course. As a mathematician I usually like the formal and logical branches of Linguistics (like syntax or morphology) more than the communicative ones (like semantics and

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Pragmatics), but our tutor Dr. Lynne Murphy really taught exceptionally well and captured our attention. She was able to demonstrate how the meaning of a sentence and its formal structure were linked.

The courser was assessed by four pieces of written homework and a written exam. My pieces of homework were given a first class mark and I received the following tutorial report: ‘Julia did outstanding work on this course. Her contributions to discussions were insightful and welcome and her written work was absolutely first class.’ I do not know the results from the written exams yet.

My second Linguistics course was called ‘Historical Linguistics’, and, as you can see from its name, this course was about the development of different languages and if, and how, they are related to each other. I found it very interesting to learn how English has changed through the influence of Latin, French and German loan words. With that knowledge it is very easy to explain many special features of English, like the difference between spelling and pronunciation. However, overall I was a bit disappointed by that course, because it was almost like a lecture and I would have liked to spend more time in critically discussing the presented material. The final mark for this course is comprised of two presentations, a term paper and an unseen examination. I gave the two best presentations in this course. They were marked with 68 and 69 points and I got 65 points for my term paper. In this course we did not get a tutorial report.

I have really liked studying at the University of Sussex. The university put a lot of effort into making it easy for new students to adjust to life at university, especially at the beginning of Autumn Term. There were numerous introductory events, meetings and talks and we learned about everything from the computer labs to the cafeteria.

The University of Sussex differs in some aspects from my home university, the University of Konstanz. It seems to me that studying in Britain is similar to going to secondary school... It is established which courses you have to take and in which order you have to take them. Apart from the mandatory courses there are one or two electives, which the students can choose for themselves. Before term starts, the course coordinators put together an individual timetable for each student. If you want to change your courses or take additional ones, like I did, you always have to talk to your coordinator who will then authorize and arrange the changes. Attendance is compulsory in all seminars. If you have to be absent, you have to excuse yourself by writing to the tutor. One of my tutors even told us that if you are absent unexcused two times in a row; the university will call the student to make sure that they are all right.

At a German university students have to do a lot more things by themselves. They have to get the curriculum and the exam regulations for their subjects and then make their own timetable. Attendance is also compulsory in seminars, but if you miss more than two seminars, you simply will not get any credits for that course. It needs some discipline and a talent for organisation to study successfully at a German University. If you have already acquired those ‘talents’ and have already studied for some semesters, you might feel that the English system is a bit too much like secondary school.

Another difference between British and German universities is how tutors and students are addressed. In Britain, it is common for students and tutors to call each other by their first names. You do not say ‘Dr. Green, Professor Burnard or Mr. Kay’, but ‘Melanie, Matthew or David’. In return, I was called ‘Julia by them.

The University of Sussex puts a lot of emphasis on being an international university and takes very good care of its international students. At the beginning of term in September the university offered lots of events and sightseeing trips only for international students. This made it easy to find friends from all over the world. I also had a very international group of friends, with me being German and my friends being from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, the USA and Zimbabwe.

On the weekends we went on trips around Brighton or to London or just met at each others’ flats to cook an international dinner. On all these occasions our ‘official’ language was, of course, English. This sometimes led to funny misunderstandings, like the following which happened when we had a pizza dinner; In Britain the German sausage ‘salami’ is called pepperoni, the German ‘pepperoni’ is chili in English, German ‘Paprika’ translates into pepper, but the spice ‘Pfeffer’ is also called pepper. This was all still ok, but in Swiss German ‘Paprika’ is called ‘Pepperoni’ and there was the complete confusion! It took a while until we had sorted out what each of us wanted on our pizza.

But of course I also had English friends. I had an especially close friendship with a girl from my Semantics course. We sat next to each other in the first seminar and got along very well. We also really like the Semantics and Pragmatics course, mainly because of our exceptional tutor Dr. Lynne Murphy. When we learned that the University of Sussex was awarding a teaching award and that students were also allowed to nominate a teacher, we decided to nominate Lynne. Together we wrote a 2000 word recommendation, in which we gave reasons for why we thought Lynne was worthy of an award. We also collected signatures from other students on our courses to support the nomination. A few weeks later we received great news from Lynne. She had won the teaching award! It was presented to her at the Summer Graduation ceremony in July. My friend and I were also invited, but as I was already back in Germany, I was unfortunately not able to attend.

Even though studying took up a great amount of time, I also had the opportunity to meet British people and to get to know their everyday life. The British people whom I got to know do not correspond to the cliché of the stiff, formal and reserved Englishman. Everybody was very open-minded, friendly, kind and helpful. English people almost always have a little story to tell about each town, pub and (almost) every tree, hill or roundabout and they love to share those stories with you.

When we were in York, my friends and I had a very special encounter of that kind; when we asked a ‘Yorker’ for the way to the famous Minster, he told us to turn right before we reached the Minster into a small side alley, which runs behind the houses of the high street. There is a tiny church from the Middle Ages. It is hidden behind a row of houses and there is only room for about 20 people in it. It is the right place to find some quietness away from the bustle of the tourists and to feel the spirit of the past.

British people also have a great sense of humour. They are able to laugh about themselves and their country, without being ridiculous. Even if they sometimes complain about things, you always know that they love their country and that for them Britain is the best place to live. However, they do not see themselves as the centre of the world. On the contrary, British people love to travel and are interested in getting to know foreign cultures. Today, Britain’s past as a colonial power is still present everywhere. The many immigrants from the former colonies turn Britain into a (mostly well-functioning) multicultural society. For example, the Indian dish ‘Chicken Tikka’ is the favourite food in Britain and beats even hamburger and pizza.

However, in this multicultural society there are also many typically British features; old traditions and customs that the British have preserved for many decades and centuries, like, for example, driving on the left side or the British ‘tea time’. Some of these peculiarities may surprise or astound the foreign visitor. A good example is queuing. Wherever there are two or more British people they form a queue; at the bus station, in the restroom, in front of the lecture theatre. Even at the cinema, where each visitor gets a ticket with an individual seat number, they form a queue in front of the auditorium where the film is shown. The explanation; ‘Otherwise some people would never get in!!!’

My views on Germany have also changed during my year abroad. With distance one’s own point of view changes. I learned to assess Germany’s weaknesses more objectively, but I also recognized more of Germany’s strong points.

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A good example to illustrate this is German bread. There is no other country that has as many different kinds of bread as Germany. In my little hometown, Neuenburg there are as many as three bakeries that sell fresh baked bread every day. In Britain there are very few bakeries. You buy bread at the supermarket. There fresh baked bread is sold, but I unfortunately was not able to find real wholegrain bread with a crisp crust. The British each mainly toast and are very creative in concocting the most delicious sandwiches – a speciality which cannot be found in Germany.

As an Ambassadorial Scholar I had lots of opportunities to talk about Germany and especially my home region, the Black Forest, and the region around Lake Constance. Since one of my sponsoring clubs, the Rotary Club of Pforzheim, and my host club, the RC Hove, are contact clubs, there was a special link between them from the beginning. Both my counselors, Dr. Kohler and Mr. Fowle made it possible for me to get to know ‘life’ in a Rotary Club. Before my departure to Britain I introduced myself to my two sponsoring clubs, the RC Pforzheim and the RC Pforzheim-Schlossberg. Together with Dr. Kohler I also attended the District Conference in Ludwigsburg. There I met the other scholars of the district and we each presented ourselves to the audience with a short speech.

In Brighton Peter Fowle invited me in the first week to a club meeting of the RC Hove. A week later, all schools (2 Americans, 3 Japanese students, an Australian girl, a student from Trinidad and Tobago and I) were presented to the district. After that I was invited by different Rotary Clubs in the district to give a speech at one of their club meetings and to talk about Germany, my scholarship and of course ‘my’ Rotary Clubs and their projects.

I have always found these Rotary talks very exciting. It was interesting to visit the different clubs, for example a very small Breakfast Club with only about two members or a very old and rather conservative Lunchtime Club with only male members.

The Rotary Club of Hove invited me to many club events. My counselor Mr. Fowle and the club president Mr. Ken Jones in particular made it possible for me to take part in numerous activities.

One particular project I participated in was the commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of Rotary by walking the complete 100 miles of the South Downs Way. 1 mile for each year of Rotary! So every other Saturday I put on my walking boots and we walked 12 or 13 miles up and down the hills of the South Downs. These walks were an unforgettable experience. When you walk together along grassy paths for hours, clime steep hills or wade through the mud, there is a lot of time for conversation, with topics ranging from the British weather, pets, German and English economic policy to the Euro. At the end of the day you sit together in a pub, proud and happy, but also very tired. You enjoy being together and sharing a great experience.

In April there was another highlight in the diary of the RC Hove; the Motorcycle Rally.

Every year the RC Hove organizes this veteran motorcycle race. It is a very big and important fundraising event. But, of course, there is also a lot to organize. More than 300 entrants have to be ‘managed’ and have to be cared for on the day of the race, and therefore you need lots of volunteers to help. In the morning I helped at the registration desk where all participants had to sign in and then collect their welcome package with a map of the route, a programme and a pin. At peak times it got very busy there, but it was also very funny. When the first motorcycles went on the read, it calmed. At noon I helped to prepare the lunch for the riders, after that I went back to the registration desk, where all riders had to sign out after the race. After that I had some free time to look at all the different veteran motorcycles. In the afternoon, everyone helped clean and tidy everything. The Motorcycle Rally was a very successful fundraising event, with donations of more than £6,000 collected.

Besides these two "big projects" there were some other smaller RC Hove events to which I was invited.

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We spent a very entertaining evening in October with a Beetle Drive. The goal of the Beetle game is to draw a complete beetle. You throw the dice and each number corresponds to body part of the beetle, example the number 6 to a leg. Teams of two play against each other and against everybody else. The team that has completed a beetle shouts ‘beetle’ and the round is over. If you have won you move to the next table and the next round begins with a new partner and new opponents. I loved this game. Because you keep changing your team partners, I really got to know all members of the Rotary club – and everybody got to know me for a bit. Also, there was no team that could dominate the game and everybody had fun.

Another highlight this year was the trip to London which I went on with the Rotary Club of Hove. It was a vocational trip and we visited the Cabinet War Room, the underground bunkers in which Churchill and his cabinet lived and worked during World War II. After the war the bunkers were locked. Many years later they were ‘rediscovered’ and turned into a museum. Most the things there are still as they had been left after the wart, for example there is still a ration of sugar in one of the desks which an officer hid there from his comrades. Later we visited the Houses of Parliament, but unfortunately we could not see the House of Commons or Lords, because the Parliament was still sitting, which was very unusual on a Friday afternoon.

During my year as an Ambassadorial Scholar I have often talked to my friends and acquaintances about Rotary and I have noticed that many of them knew very little or nothing abo0ut Rotary. So I tried to explain to them the activities and goals of the Rotarian movement. The motto of Rotary is ‘Service above self’ and more than 1.2 million Rotarians in more than 166 countries act according to that motto. It is important to note that Rotary is free from any religious or political motivation. The goals of Rotary are world peace and a better understanding among the world’s peoples. Two very important projects of Rotary are the Polio Plus campaign to eradicate Polio and the International Youth exchange programme.

If somebody wants to know more about Rotary, I can tell them that Rotary was founded in Chicago in 1905 by the lawyer Paul Harris. The first Rotarian project was the provision of public toilets in Chicago. In the hundred years since its foundation Rotary has grown steadily and, through the never ceasing effort of its members in the different clubs around the world, has accumulated a lot of money to spend on welfare projects. I think it is very important to stress that Rotary is not an abstract cash machine, but that it is the individual members of Rotary and their clubs that collect money for humanitarian aid and welfare projects. After the Tsunami disaster, for example, the Rotary Clubs of Brighton and Hove spontaneously organized a combined fundraiser and collected over £10,000 in 24 hours!

Rotary’s youth exchange and scholarship programme is the biggest private programme of its kind in the world. As an Ambassadorial Scholar I was part of this programme and was very well cared for., my scholarship coordinator Elena Kranz from the USA and the scholarship officer from my host district in Britain Margaret Selby sent me lots of very helpful pieces of information about Rotary and about life in Britain. My counselor Dr. Christian Kohler provided useful information about the RC Pforzheim. In addition, he was always there to help, no matter if it meant writing a banking reference or sending Rotary banners. Before I left Germany I attended a Rotary Preparatory Weekend in Munster where I also met all the other German Scholars. Those who, like me, were going to spend their year abroad in Britain met again at the Link Weekend. At this very successful weekend, all ‘British’ scholars met in Leeds and got a first glimpse into life in Britain) when we stayed with our host families), in the history of Britain (on a treasure hunt through York) and into the British gaiety (at the Barn Dance on the last evening). When I finally arrived in Brighton there was already my counselor Peter Fowle waiting for me at the train station. During the first days in particular he was there to help with all matters of settling in. He and his wife Pamela, but also all other members of the RC Hove and their partners really made me feel welcome.

So what advice can I give to future scholars? Certainly the following: The Rotary Scholarship is a unique chance. - 5 -

Use it well and be open to everything that is offered to you. At the same time the scholarship is also a challenge, when completed successfully aids in personal growth. Through the scholarship a lot of things are given to you and it feel good to be able to give something back.

You also make lots of new friends. The challenge is to maintain these friendships. Finally, you have invaluable new experiences. The challenge is to use what you have learned.

I can imagine continuing to work in the spirit of Rotary. Whether in a Rotary Club, at seminars for future scholars or in everyday life – I do not yet know.

But one thing I do know: This year was fantastic!

1250 Communiqué Monthly News Letter

july_communique.pdf

august_communique_final.pdf

september_communique_a4.pdf

WINE TASTING

click on Wine Tasting Master A5 pdf.pdf

 WE HAVE MOVED

                                                     The Courtlands 
                                                      15 - 27 The Drive 
                                                      Hove 
                                                      East Sussex 
                                                      BN3 3JE 
                                                      Tel 01273 731055

With effect from the 1st September 2005 we now meet each Tuesday at the above hotel 1300 hrs (fifth Tuesday 1930 hrs)

PRESIDENT BOB INDUCTED

At lunch today the 5th July Bob Mulholland was inducted as President of the Hove Club for 2005/6. Bob had previously been President some 12 years ago. This was only the second occasion in Hove's 72 year history that the President had held the post before.

Click on photo to enlarge Ken hands over the Presidency to Bob

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Last modified: 07/04/06