Rotary Club of Hove
Founded 1933 RI No 3630 RIBI No 393
For previous year click on http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2005
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Founded 1933 RI No 3630 RIBI No 393
For previous year click on http://www.hoverotaryclub.name/2005
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ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN JUNE 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Fellows, I’m finding it very hard to believe that this will be my last message before handing over to the incoming President. As you know, Dr. David Henderson has decided that he will not be able to serve as President for this next year owing to complications with the eye operations that he had that were supposed to put right his detached retina, which he suffered some months ago. Our other Doctor, Michael Barley, has agreed to move forward a year in the pecking order and will now take over the Presidency for the next Rotary year. His induction would normally have taken place at the first meeting in July, but owing to the fact that he will be away that week the handing over ceremony will now take place one week earlier, on 27th June. We should thank Michael for agreeing to serve one year earlier than planned and I am sure that you will all give him plenty of support, It would help in some way if as many of you as possible could attend the Club Assembly, which will take place at the meeting of 13th June. Most of this month has been taken up with preparations for the Contact Visit and judging by the reactions of those I have spoken to since last weekend; it was well worth all those hours spent liaising with Paul Thrasher to ensure that everything went smoothly. Everything did go smoothly, apart from the first evening, when ten of the visiting Rotarians had trouble getting across the English Channel on time, owing to their having been trouble with one of the ferries the previous day. Nevertheless, those ten people were adequately fed by their various hosts despite their late arrival. The whole weekend was a great success and the visitors were most pleased with the arrangements on the Friday, with the trip to Wakehurst Place and the visit to the Jubilee Library in Brighton. There was also a quite comprehensive discussion on the Saturday when ideas were put forward about future contact visits. There was input from members of the three clubs which was collated most ably by Bob Hinton, our chairman for the day. A recording of the meeting was made by Bob and the Presidents of Evreux and Pforzheim have taken a copy of the proceedings back to their Clubs for further discussion. It was gratifying to hear from both the French and German Presidents that there was no chance of the contact visits being discontinued. The President’s night on Saturday was a huge success, with the majority of members attending with their ladies. During the evening I was able to spring a complete surprise on our own John Couch when I awarded him a richly deserved Paul Harris Fellowship. The memory of the look of surprise on his face will live with me for a very long while. Well done John and I am glad that everything you have done for the Club throughout the years has been justly rewarded. I would also like to thank all those who made the contact visit a great success, starting with Tad Phillips, Ted Bartup, Adrian Ball and Peter Fowle. I would also like to thank Ian Collington for arranging for Jeff Lloyd, an old friend and great pianist/singer, to finish the evening on such a marvellous note (no pun intended!) My final, and largest, thanks are to Paul Thrasher who worked far beyond the call of duty to ensure that everything was just so throughout the four days. Well, only four more meetings in charge and I must say that if they are good as the previous forty odd I will be very content. I’d like to finish by saying that even though I have thoroughly enjoyed my year in office; I don’t want to be the first President in Hove Rotary history to complete a hat trick of Presidencies. The only way we can guarantee this is that we must recruit new blood, and most urgently too! Thank you all for your kindness and support throughout the year. Yours in Rotary. Bob CLUB DIARY June. Mon. 5th Club Council. Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Sat. 10th Barbecue at Storrington. Further details will be announced shortly*** Tue. 13th. Club Assembly*** Tue. 20th. RYLA Candidates visit to *** Mon. 26th Club Councils (old and new) meeting at Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Tue. 27th President’s Valedictory and induction of President Mike Barley. July. Mon 3rd. Club Council, 6.15pm (venue unknown as yet)*** Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. Sat. 29th. Hove lawns –Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club Fun Day. Further details soon*** August. Mon 7th. Club Council; 6.15pm (venue unknown as yet)*** September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR JUNE Cash – George Robinson. Care of Visitors – Peter Savage CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JUNE 6th. this being the first meeting of the month, it will consist of a report on the happenings of the previous evening’s Club Council. 13th. today is the occasion of the Club Assembly, when incoming President Michael Barley and his team will tell us what their aims and thoughts are for the coming Rotary Year. 20th. today sees the various committees meeting for the last time in this Rotary Year. 27th Outgoing President Bob will perform his valedictory today and will then hand over the chains of office to me /C President Michael. CLUB MEETINGS 2nd May, 2006. 29 Present – 25 of our own members, 1 Rotarian visitor; Laurie Hillditch from Brighton and 3 non-Rotarian guests; The Mayor and Mayoress of Brighton and Hove and Ann Mulholland, wife of President Bob, invited along to act as chaperone to the Mayoress. There were reports on Malcolm Clayton, Patrick Douch and David Henderson from various members. Malcolm is still living at the Regency House Nursing Home in The Drive and would welcome visitors, Patrick’s health is very "up and down" at the moment and David Henderson is having more treatment to his eye, which has not reacted very well to previous surgery. Ray Tiltman informed members that he would be attending, on behalf of the club, the Marlins swimming club tournament at the King Alfred this coming Sunday. He also reminded members that there was to be a barbecue at Storrington on Saturday, June 10th. The speaker today was Cllr. Bob Carden, Mayor of Brighton and Hove, and he was here to tell us about his year in office. Actually, I spoke to him during lunch and he told me he had come completely unprepared and asked me what I would like him to speak about at this meeting. Anyway, without the help of any notes he commenced his talk by saying that the meal he had today was one of the best he had sampled during his year in office. A nice compliment for Courtland’s! He then went on to tell us about some of his work on the City Planning Committee and told us that he would probably be sitting, once again, on that committee when he has completed his Mayoral term, which is in about three weeks time. Mention was made of the fact that his first function of the year was one of Rotary, and that was as guest of Brighton Rotary Club and that he has also visited Brighton East on several occasions, mainly because their President, Ray Blackwood, is a former Mayor of Brighton. Continued
2nd May, 2006 The Mayor also informed us that he had attended some 562 functions during his year but there were also numerous other functions attended by the Deputy Mayors. One of the biggest things that had struck him during his year was the amount of musically talented children there are in the City. He told us of the many "celebrities" he had met during his year, although the names quoted were hardly worthy of that name. This was one of the more interesting Mayoral talks, given by a Mayor who roots are firmly planted in his local community, Portslade. He came across as a very caring public servant, who was very modest about his local governmental achievements. We also have to thank the Mayoress for helping the Mayor out with his talk, with her very useful interjections, particularly when he couldn’t quite remember the names of some of the people he had met during his term. The thing that struck me was that if ever Brighton and Hove needed someone to boost business throughout the land than Bob Carden is your man. The talk was obviously taken in with great interest because there were questions after from many members. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob 9th May, 2006. 25 present – all our own members. President Bob was disappointed to have to inform members that Dr. David Henderson regretfully has to stand down as President for the year 2006/2007. This is because of his ongoing eye problems. As you all know David has a detached retina and despite several operations it has not yet been attached yet. He felt it would be too much of a risk to take on such a busy office at a time of uncertainty about his future health. Dr. Michael Barley has agreed to "step up to the plate" by serving one year earlier than anticipated. President Bob commented that he was sure that everyone would give Michael as much support as possible. There were reports on the health of Malcolm Clayton and Patrick Douch, who are much the same as reported in previous weeks. President Bob then went on to report on last night’s Club Council, which was held a week later than normal because of the May Bank Holiday: 16th May, 2006. 26 present – 24 of our own members and 2 non- Rotarian Guests; Helen Attree, here as a guest of Howard, and Michael Wickham our speaker for today. President Bob wished a fond welcome back to Patrick Douch, who has been absent for quite a time through illness. President Bob also reported that a cheque for £1,000 from this Club was handed over to President Joan Kavanagh of the Inner Wheel Club of Hove at her President’s night in Ditchling last weekend. He also read out letter of thanks from Eileen Harrison, Inner Wheel Treasurer, thanking us for our generous donation. Mike Wickham, our speaker today, who practices as an Osteopath and a Naturopath, was here to tell us all about Kinesiology. The literal meaning of kinesiology is "the scientific study of human movement and it should not be confused with the pseudoscience applied kinesiology. Seeing that word ‘confused’ in the last paragraph, that’s what I was halfway through the talk. I followed some of the reasoning, and understood the demonstration Mike performed on John Eaton. This consisted of Mike holding certain parts of John’s anatomy down, and asking him to push upwards. He then placed different colours of transparent material in front of John’s eyes. Apparently John was at his strongest when confronted by the colour blue. Mike was able to deduce from this that John was lactose resistant and also was allergic to wheat products. This meant that if John was to colour the walls in his house with any colour but blue he would have much more energy. Well, I think that’s what was meant. Mike also told us that this treatment was used on animals, but he also pointed out that many animals were colour blind, so the treatment was useless to them. This was a talk that I just couldn’t get into. Looking round the room, I noticed that many members seemed a bit mystified. Questions were invited from the floor and the first one from Howard Attree was "How does it work?" and I’m afraid I found the answer much too complex to report on this page. Derek Clouting asked the question "Was it age related" and as far as I could gather, the answer was ‘No’! The vote of thanks was given by Dr. David Henderson. 23rd May, 2006. 30 present – all our own members. President Bob gave a special welcome to John Ansell and Ralph Harrison, both of whom had been absent from Club for some time. There were reports on Malcolm Clayton and David Henderson A reminder was given about the special meeting, this coming Saturday morning, in which Bob Hinton would be chairing a discussion on the future of contact visits. President Bob stated that it would be helpful if as many of our members as possible could attend. President Bob also remarked on the good response for next Tuesday’s fifth lunch meeting. He said that numbers were about 50% up on the corresponding evening meeting. Secretary David appealed to members to fill the vacancies of Fund Raising Chairman and Sergeant-at-Arms. President Bob volunteered for the latter post. Secretary David also stated that there were plenty of registration forms available to those going to Bournemouth in September. Ted Bartup then rose to speak about the forthcoming contact visit, reminding people of times of various activities. He also stated that volunteers are needed to take our German and French guests from the Courtland’s Hotel to the Dyke Golf Club on the Friday evening. Today was the occasion for the Club’s AGM, where reports are submitted by all the Committee Chairmen for members to read and digest. It was also the occasion for setting next year’s subscription which will be £100. All six places on Club Council have been filled, and these names will be printed in the club directory, which is due out at the beginning of next month. 30th May, 2006. 47 Present – 29 of our own members and 18 non-Rotarian Guests, consisting mostly members’ ladies but also including Andrew Hinton, son of Bob and Sheila Hinton, but also our speaker for today. Continued
30th May, 2006 President Bob was pleased to announce, particularly to those who were not at the President’s night that John Couch had become a Paul Harris Fellow and congratulated him on this well deserved award. President Bob also remarked on what he thought was a marvellous contact visit, which seemed to be much appreciated by our visitors from Pforzheim and Evreux. He gave thanks to Ian Collington for arranging such and excellent pianist/singer on the Saturday evening. President Bob also informed members that there were complimentary tickets available, in the VIP enclosure for The Rider for Health "Day of Champions" at Donnington Park, Derbyshire in late June. Secretary David reminded members that committee chairman for next year will have to come up with their ideas at Club Assembly, which takes place in two weeks time. He also said that there had been a letter of appeal issued by the District Governor with reference to the recent earthquake in Java. There was also a list of donations from clubs in that area. Ray Tiltman rose to remind members that the Fund-Raising Barbecue at Storrington was on Saturday week (10/6) and George Robinson was the member to see if tickets are needed. International Chairman Tad Phillips spoke on the recent contact visit, thanking all of his committee members, particularly singling out Paul Thrasher for all of his hard work, and giving mention to Adrian Ball, Ted Bartup and President Bob for their contributions which helped make it such a successful weekend. This being the last meeting of the month, it was time for the "40 set" draw and the cheque to the value of £25 was won by Peter Fowle. . Today’s speaker was Andrew Hinton, son of Bob and Sheila, who was here to tell us all about his adventures in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and taking part in the London Marathon just eight weeks or so later. He started off by thanking his mum and dad for "badgering" people to donate money for both tasks. The money raised all went to the charity "Hope and Homes for Children." Andrew thought he would open his PowerPoint presentation with a quick lesson in Swahili, the language spoken by the natives of the Mt Kilimanjaro area. He told us that there are three main peaks; Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. His expedition was to climb Kibo, the summit of which is called Uhuru (Swahili for ‘freedom’) which is some 5,895 metres high, which translates at 3.6 miles high. The equivalent distance, on the flat, would be from here (Courtland’s Hotel) to either the Brighton Marina or Devil’s Dyke. He then proceeded to show us some slides from his walk, which included some really spectacular views and also a vast number of stubby palm trees, the Latin name of which escaped me. One of the shots showed the clouds rolling in on Kibo in the late afternoon. Moving on, he then showed a short film of himself, commentating on a part of the walk, some four hours from his destination of that day. This was the penultimate day of the climb the last part was due to take part from midnight onwards. Considering the film showed him walking on the comparatively flat part of the walk, he seemed in some distress, owing to the lack of oxygen at such a high altitude, which caused him extreme breathlessness. The film was very helpful in telling us just how difficult the whole venture was. The final shot, of course, depicted him at the summit post. Andrews said he arrived exhausted and suffering from altitude sickness which causes nausea, and this is coupled with a marvellous feeling of elation. He said there was a beautiful clear blue sky when he arrived but within three hours the clouds had closed in with quite a heavy snowfall ensuring. Andrew then went on to mention, only briefly, his experience of the London Marathon, which took place some eight weeks later, saying it was a magnificent event, with some 32,000 people taking part, watched by a quarter of a million people at the roadside. He said that everybody he spoke to had a story about why they had do take part in the marathon. Many people had messages on their vests saying "I’m running for my Mum" or "I’m running for my Dad". He also said it’s a good idea to have your name on your vest because then you get loads of shouts of encouragement from the spectators on the way through. Andrew finished off a quite excellent talk by showing a short, but very moving, video of a "Hopes and Homes for Children Video" Unfortunately, owing to shortage of time, we were unable to ask questions of Andrew about his two endurance feats, but nevertheless it was obvious that everyone in the room had enjoyed the talk. President Bob performed the vote of thanks, and then presented Andrew with a cheque for £100 from this Club, which went to towards the grand total of over £10,000 Andrew had raised so far. THE VERY FIRST CONTACT MEETING. By the very strangest coincidence, because this occurred during this year’s Contact Visit, Howard Attree received an original menu at the "welcome" meal on Monday, 27th September, 1948. This was the first contact between Evreux and the Hove Club and it was brokered by the Rotary Club of Chartres. The menu came into the hands of Howard Attree courtesy of Tim Harrison, son of Ken Harrison, a former chief librarian of Hove, who was in attendance at the meal. Tim says that Ken Harrison mentioned names of past Hove Rotarians in his autobiography including Tom Pryde, Jack Blaker, Bruce Balfour-Jones, Leslie Bunker, Hugh Collins, Albert Dilley, Arthur Jolly, Sydney Smith, Harry Symes, and Arch Wilson are mentioned, I don't suppose any current members will go back that far (perhaps there is a Past Rotarians Club in Hove?) Anyway, here is a copy of the menu. You may need the help of a magnifying glass to see the finer detail.
JOHN COUCH. John is pleased to inform me that he now has a new e-mail address and it is: johnmcouch@btinternet.com
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN MAY 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Fellows, Good heavens, this is my penultimate message of the year to you. It only seems that it is my third or fourth one!! A very busy month, Rotary wise, kicking off with the Grand Opening of 29, Sackville Road, which was attended by the Cllr. Bob Carden, Mayor of Brighton and Hove, and District Governor Ian Swales, both accompanied by their ladies. Thanks to John Eaton for making this event such a huge success which was thoroughly enjoyed by all those present. The following week, once again, involved a visit from the Mayor. On this occasion, he attended the annual Fish and Chip Lunch, which is held simultaneously at two venues, Rotary Point and the old people’s club in Portslade. Ninety two lunches were served, and very nice it was too. Usual thanks to Ray Tiltman for organising it in with his usual professional manner. That self same evening saw Ray Tiltman, Roger Patterson, John Mainwood and me travelling to Amesbury for the gala evening of the Annual RYLA event. We had four candidates at this very worthwhile project and they laid on a super show for various Rotarians and relatives of those who had been on this week long course. Our four candidates, Zoe Mottershead, Lynsey Kent, Michelle Hackettt and Arainna Gheytash will be telling us of their experiences on the course sometime in June. The busy Rotary month continued with John Eaton and me catching a flight at Gatwick to attend the RIBI Conference this last weekend. We had a super weekend, despite both suffering with colds. John’s cold deteriorated even further and on arriving back in Hove discovered he was suffering from pleurisy. The venue for the conference was magnificent and it was a slight pity that the conference didn’t quite live up to it. I must admit it was most probably the liveliest one I have ever been to, which was down to a most controversial and vitriolic debate on financing a public relations exercise for Rotary. RIBI had their way and the cost of this was included in next year’s RIBI budget. I think they will go about it differently next time round! The reason John and I attended Conference was because we had been told that this Club was on the short list for an RIBI Community Award. This was for the work that our Housing Society has performed over the last 48 years. Unfortunately it was not to be but I wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world. Our enjoyment was enlightened by the hospitality that we received from friends and relatives of John who treated us most royally. Of course, because we were over in Belfast, we missed our biggest fundraising event of the year. I have been told that, despite the bad weather, revenue was well up, mainly owing to extra people coming through the gate, eager to have a look at the Engineerium for possibly the last time. I am sure we are very sad at the thought of its closure and I would like to thank Jonathan Mimms for his help over the years in making the Motorcycle Rally the success it is today. Details of how much was raised will be finalised in a couple of week’s time. The month continued to be busy even after that weekend with not only a club meeting on the last Tuesday of the month, but a housing society meeting straight after and then off to Ardingly for District Council in the evening. I’m glad that every month was not as hectic as that but I’m sure that it they were my year would seem to have passed twice as fast. I’m sure you all realise that at the end of this month our friends from Pforzheim and Evreux will be visiting us. There is a meeting on the Saturday morning of the visit, where the future of these yearly gatherings of the three clubs will be discussed. Please give as much support to the various events that will be occurring from Thursday the 25th to Sunday the 28th. Lastly, I am sure all our thoughts and prayers are with George on the tragic loss of Sylvia. Many of us attended the funeral service at The Portland Methodist Church last Wednesday (26/4) and what a marvellously uplifting service it was too. It was a wonderful tribute to a lovely lady who will be sorely missed by us all.
Yours in Rotary. Bob CLUB DIARY May 9th. Club Council. Hangleton Manor.6.15pm.*** Sat. 13th. 75th Anniversary Celebrations, Rotary Club of Pforzheim. Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Programme completed. Please make sure that you have returned forms to Peter Fowle enabling him to know numbers for the various happenings that weekend. June. Mon. 5th Club Council. Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Sat. 10th Barbecue at Storrington. Further details will be announced shortly*** Tue. 13th. Club Assembly*** Tue. 20th. RYLA Candidates visit to *** Mon. 26th Club Councils (old and new) meeting at Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Tue. 27th President’s Valedictory. July. Tues. 4th.. Inauguration of I/C President David*** Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. Sat. 29th. Hove lawns –Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club Fun Day. Further details soon*** September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR MAY Cash – Roger Patterson. Care of Visitors – Tad Phillips/Filipowicz CLUB PROGRAMME FOR MAY 2nd – Councillor Bob Carden; The Mayor of Brighton and Hove, will be visiting us today, and he will tell us all about his year in office. 9th. as Club Council was held a week late this month, owing to the Bank Holiday last week, this meeting will consist of a report of last nights Council. 16th. our speaker today is Mike Wickham and the title of his talk is "Applied Kinesiology. The vote of thanks will be given by i/c President David Henderson. 23rd. Today is the occasion of the Club’s AGM when reports of the various committees will be presented. The results of those elected to Club Council will be announced, and the treasurer will tell us what the subscription for the next Rotary Year is. 30th. usually this would be an evening meeting but, as announced
some months ago, it has been decided that we will experiment with a lunchtime
meeting for the fifth Tuesday. Like the evening meetings, ladies will be welcome
to attend. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN. Will all Committee Chairman make sure that they submit a written report on their activities for this year to Secretary David so that he can arrange distribution to members prior to the Club’s AGM on the 23rd May. JOHN COUCH CHANGE OF ADDRESS. Please note JOHN & BRENDA COUCH'S - "Change of Address & Phone No" as from 26 April. 20 Sovereign House 25-28 Grand Parade their new e-mail address is johncouch@btinternet.com BN21 3YP Telephone: 01323 431461.
I’m sure that you will all join me in wishing John and Brenda lots of happiness in their new home in "The Far East." I hope they don’t miss "vibrant" Hove too much! A NOTE OF THANKS FROM GEORGE ROBINSON. Dear friends and colleagues,
I would like to thank everyone for their help and support through Sylvia`s last illness and passing. My personal loss is great and the pain will take a long time to ease, but I am comforted by the tide of sympathy and goodwill that has been shown. I am writing separately to the Inner Wheel, where Sylvia had many good friends who gave immense practical help and support over the last few months. The Rotary family has shown its worth to me at this difficult time. I hope to be back with you quite soon. Yours sincerely, George ANDREW HINTON’S DOUBLE WHAMMY (CLIMBING MT. KILIMINJARO AND COMPLETING THE LONDON MARATHON) The following is an update from Andrew: Thank you so much for your huge generosity. Let me give you an idea of what Hope and Homes will be able to achieve with this money:- So thank you once again for making this possible. Between us we will transform the lives of many, many children, turning them from a future containing nothing but struggle and despair to a future holding the promise of love, hope and opportunity. CAN YOU HELP? I have received a letter from a postgraduate student from Luxembourg which is pretty much self explanatory: "Please permit me to introduce myself. I’m a native of Luxembourg, 23 years old and a postgraduate student at King’s College, London. I was recently awarded a scholarship from Rotary International District 1630 to help finance my Master of Arts in European Studies for 2005/2006. As a result, I am under the patronage of the Rotary Club of Schengen-Mondorf-Les-Bains, which is one of the eleven Rotary Clubs active in Luxembourg. In my MA Course I am studying the European institution, its politics and history. The programme is quite broad and it allows me not only to study at King’s College in London but also to spend a term (April-September 2006 at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. While there, I will be able to deepen my knowledge and acquire a better cultural understanding of the EU. I am currently preparing my final year dissertation entitled "European Business Culture in the EU: Britain and Germany". This dissertation topic is borne out of my interest to understand why, after forty years of the presence of a European Single Market, European nations do not yet have a common business culture. It is based on the questions of whether or not there has been some degree of harmonisation of business culture and whether or not we can expect any changes in the near future. It seems that differences between Member States still prevail, despite the Commission’s ambition to unify countries’ standards of economic development and their political ideologies. For this research I am administering a cross-cultural survey among German and British business cultures and so I am contacting the members of Rotary Clubs in the UK and Germany to ask for your kind participation. The questionnaire should take only 8 minutes to complete, and can be found on the website www.ehlondon.com I would be grateful if the members of the Rotary Clubs of the Rotary District 1250 would contribute to my research in filling out this short survey. Edith Hornick" THANKS FROM THE DG. The following letter was received from DG Ian Swales, as a result of his attendance at the Grand Opening of the Housing Society’s new property at 29, Sackville Road. "Dear John (Eaton) Thank you again for inviting Jan and me to attend the opening of 29, Sackville Road. It will stand as a great compliment to the Rotary Club of Hove, and I sincerely hope that the project is suitably recognised by an award at RIBI Conference in Belfast. Although you were too modest to draw attention to the tremendous amount of work you have done personally, I am sure that your club members and those present on Wednesday will be fully aware of it. On behalf of Jan, may I thank you for the beautiful flowers you presented to her – she is rarely at a loss for words but this was an exception! Congratulations, once again, and thank you for allowing us to be a part of the celebrations. Ian Swales" CLUB MEETINGS. 4th April, 2006. 28 Present – all our own members President Bob reported that Sylvia Robinson is still poorly, Richard Langley is in France and Malcolm Clayton is asking for visitors to see him at the Regency House nursing home in The Drive. President Bob has received a request from Nick Beck, President of Brighton and Hove Soiree for members to attend their meeting of 20th April, at which a speaker from the Fair Share project will be speaking. Unfortunately, President Bob is unable to attend because he will be in Belfast that week for the RIBI Conference. John Eaton rose to remind members that the Grand Opening of 29, Sackville Road is to take place tomorrow (5/4) and urged all to attend. He also gave a reminder to members that the Stroke Awareness programme is taking place this coming Saturday (8/4) and help is needed outside Hove Town Hall to hand out leaflets and suchlike to members of the public. President Bob then gave a brief report of what happened at the previous evening’s Club Council which was as follows: 4th April, 2006. Following this report there was a discussion and debate, chaired by Adrian Ball, on matters to do with our payments, mainly with regard to subscriptions and our weekly lunch. The first part of the discussion was one of deciding how much we should "tip" the staff at Courtland’s for their excellent service every week. Many ideas were muted but it was finally decided that the price of the meal should be increased from the present £10.50 to £11.00. The accumulated extra fifty pees would then be given to the staff on a monthly basis. There was then a proposal put forward that our subscriptions and meals should be paid for on a monthly standing order or direct debit, but after a lengthy discussion a show of hands was taken and the proposal, which needed a 60/40 majority to be passed, was defeated. 11th April, 2006. 28 present – 25 of our own members; 1 Rotarian visitor; Surenda Savley from Pune Tilakroad, India; and two non-Rotarian guests; Sandra Mulholland, a guest of her father, President Bob and Dr. Keith Chittenden, our speaker for today. Clive Chappell reported on Malcolm Clayton, saying that he had good news, because Malcolm is to have minor operation at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, which should make his quality of life much better. President Bob reported that the news was quite bad with regard to Sylvia Robinson, he having received a message from Gwen Reed asking that no one visit Sylvia at present because she is very ill. President Bob remarked on the fact that John Eaton has had a very busy week, what with organising the Grand Opening of 29, Sackville Road and then going on to organise the "Stroke Awareness Day" outside Hove Town Hall. (Or Hove Centre as they insist on calling it!) 43 people were given blood pressure tests and about five of these were advised to seek further consultation with their GP. Ray Tiltman reminded members that this (Good) Friday sees the holding of the Fish and Chip lunch for the elderly, and that everyone from the club is welcome to attend. David Knowles remarked that it is only a short time to the motorcycle rally and asked members to fill the manpower forms in, and return them with plenty of names on them, to him as soon as possible. Our speaker today was Dr. Keith Chittenden and he was here to tell us all about his role as Master of HMS Victory’s cutter. This was a fascinating talk, and Keith was an excellent speaker, who fed us with numerous facts and figures about this historical sea vessel. The cutter is crewed by 12 sailors and one master. He said that each sailor is like a Rotarian, individually you can’t do much but as a team you can move mountains and he congratulated us on the work we do. He told us of the various events that the cutter was invited do, including the waterborne celebrations at the 200th anniversary of Nelson’s birthday. Another one of their trips was to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, to celebrate one of Nelson’s landings, this one being one of his rare failures, owing to the presence of a large number of French soldiers waiting for him to land. Keith also told us more personal things about Nelson, noting the fact that he was the son of a parson and had lots of brothers and sisters, most of whom didn’t survive him. 11th April, 2006. As I remarked earlier, a fascinating talk, enjoyed by all those present. The vote of thanks was given by Dr. Michael Barley. 18th April, 2006. 25 present – all our own members. Prior to the saying of Grace, there was a short silence in commemoration of Sylvia Robinson, who passed away in the early hours of Easter Sunday. President Bob informed members that the funeral for Sylvia will be held at the Portland Methodist Church, next Wednesday, 26th April, at 2.30pm It was reported that David Henderson is still not able to see after an operation to right a detached retina some two weeks ago. He is seeing the special tomorrow (19/4) there were progress reports on Malcolm Clayton, Patrick Douch and Richard Langley, all three of whom are much the same as previously reported on. David Henderson is still suffering quite badly from blindness after an operation on one eye almost two weeks ago. He is seeing specialist tomorrow (19/4) President Bob reported on visit to RYLA last Friday, in the company of Roger Patterson, John Mainwood and Ray Tiltman. He also thanked Ray Tiltman for all his usual hard work in arranging the fish and chip lunch on Good Friday. 92 people were fed and the Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Bob Carden, attended both venues (Rotary Point and the WVS site in Portslade). President Bob reported on visit to RYLA to see our four candidates performing at the gala night last Friday. Both Adrian Ball and Ian Collington had various things to say about the upcoming motorcycle rally, mainly appealing for more people to come as it is the last time the Engineerium will be open to the public. The speaker today was Paul Beaken, a member of this club since January this year, and he was giving us a talk on "Media Education" which was a sort of "My Job" talk because this was the subject that Paul specialised in towards the end of his career in education. He had decided not to call it a "My Job" talk because he felt it would be quite mundane, owing to the fact that we have all been to school and there is not much to tell about being a teacher. He remarked that everybody thinks they know about education, everybody has been to school, and nothing will change our views about teachers We were told that he had read philosophical theology at university. After a fairly short preamble he went to his power point presentation. During the presentation he told us about his early life, starting with his birth in 1952, then skipping a few years to when he went to Fawcett School, an establishment that only had 350 pupils and then on to Lewes Tech for his ‘’A’ levels. He also told us then he was at school he found that he always had a ‘Pavlovian" amount whenever the bell rang. It triggered off a part of his brain that told him he either wanted a cup of coffee or a pee. Paul was quite cunning, because having told us at the beginning of his talk that he wasn’t going to tell us about teaching, managed to slip in quite a few facts about that very job. The media education part of the talk was a trawl through the various types of films produced throughout the twentieth century and the first part of this century, with some very interesting film posters and stills from film masterpieces. A really interesting talk, which maybe could have been better if given in the evening, when time would have been less off a problem. As it was the sergeant at arms had to ring the bell to end the lesson. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob. 25th April, 2006. 27 present – 25 of our own members, 1 Rotarian visitor, David Perrin, together with his non-Rotarian guest, Beryl Rae from Arizona. President Bob reported on conference, saying that we did not pick up the RIBI Community, for which we were short listed. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25.00 was won by Ian Varley. Bob Hinton explained the arrangements for the funeral, tomorrow, of Sylvia Robinson. Adrian Ball reported that takings were well up at the motorcycle rally this year, mainly owing to more members of the public attending this last big occasion at the Engineerium. Final figures will be announced shortly. It was also reported that a cheque for £2000 had been given to "Riders for Health" at the event.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN APRIL 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hello Fellows, No sooner had I finished the previous monthly message than the next one seems to be upon me. Quite a bit of this month has been taken up with preparations for next month’s Contact Visit and the build up to the Motorcycle Rally, which is only some three weeks away. It cannot be emphasised enough that we need as much person power (I’m so PC!) for this event. The amount of money raised depends on every post being covered on the day. Having said that, I’m afraid that I will be unable to attend because both John Eaton and I are off to the RIBI Conference in Belfast, the last day of which coincides with the day of the Rally. The reason we are going is that our Club is on the short list for this year’s RIBI Community Project Award. In his role as Chairman, John Eaton submitted our entry, citing the great work that the Rotary Housing Society has performed over the last fifty years or so. Harking back to the Contact Visit, there was a debate on this subject at the beginning of the month and various proposals were made, and forwarded to our friends in Pforzheim and Evreux. There were some very good ideas put forward and there will be a special meeting on the Saturday morning of the Contact Visit to discuss the whole future of these very pleasant social occasions. A party from this Club attended the performance of The Judgement of Edwin Drood last weekend and all agreed that it was a very entertaining evening and special mention was made of Bob Hinton’s excellent performance. Attendance, which is the backbone of all Rotary Clubs, has been excellent and long may it continue. I think a lot of this is due to the work of Ian Collington, who has supplied a steady stream of very good speakers, including two of our own, over the first nine months of this Rotary year. You will have noted that the 19th of April is the date of District Assembly, being held at The Forest School, Horsham. Please support Incoming President David most wholeheartedly by attending this very important occasion for all the incoming club officers for the year 2006/2007. It sends a wonderful message to David that you all intend to support him from July1st onwards. I remember now the satisfaction of seeing such a good turnout last year. I am sure it can be arranged if anyone requires transport for that night. I would like to finish by saying how much George and Sylvie Robinson are in my thoughts at this time and I am sure we are all thinking and praying for them during this difficult period.
Yours in Rotary. Bob
CLUB DIARY April Mon-Fri 10th/14th RYLA. This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Wed 5th. Grand Opening of 29 Sackville Road (Newest Rotary House) 2pm*** Fri. 14th Rotary Point Fish and Chips Lunch, participants welcome, see Ray Tiltman. Wed. 19th District Assembly, Forest School, Horsham. Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May 9th. Club Council. 6.15pm. Venue to be announced*** Sat. 13th. 75th Anniversary Celebrations, Rotary Club of Pforzheim. More details later. Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 3rd. Inauguration of I/C President David*** Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR APRIL Cash – Ken Jones. Care of Visitors – John Couch. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR APRIL. 4th. as is customary, the first meeting of this month will be devoted to a report on the business discussed at the previous night’s Club Council. 11th. our speaker today is Dr. Keith Chittenden and the title of his talk is "Master of HMS Victory’s Cutter" and the vote of thanks will be in the hands of his fellow Doctor, Michael Barley. 18th. our speaker today is the newest member of this club, Paul Beaken and he will be giving a ‘My Job" sub-titled "Media Education". The vote of thanks will be given by President Bob. 25th. the last week of the month sees the gathering of the various committees to discuss all sorts of matters. ENGLISH – LIKE WHAT SHE IS SPOKE ABROAD. (APOLOGIES TO BULLETIN EDITOR OF BRIGHTON EAST RC. In a Bangkok Temple (where women are not allowed) "IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN" In a cocktail bar in Norway; "LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR". At a Doctor’s Office in Rome: In a restaurant in Nairobi: In another restaurant: "OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS". In a cemetery: "PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES". In a Tokyo Hotel: "GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED". In a Bangkok Bar: SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR LADIES WITH NUTS". In the lobby of a Moscow Hotel across from a Russian Orthodox Monastery": "YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIETE COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY EXCEPT THURSDAYS" In a Zurich Hotel: BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE". In the Black Forest: "IT IS FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT, UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE". On a Main Road in Mombasa: "TAKE NOTICE; WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE". In a Bangkok Dry Cleaners: "DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS". And in a Rome Laundry: "LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME".
CLUB MEETINGS. 7th March, 2006. 26 Present – all our own Members. The "40 Set" draw was held over for a week until today and the cheque for £25.00 was won by Treasurer Michael Nettell. President Bob brought attention to the funeral of Phil Shingler, being held this coming Thursday 2.30pm at Woodvale Crematorium. He also informed members that the news of Sylvie Robinson was not good, she having been diagnosed with cancer of the bowel. Sylvie will find out this coming Thursday whether she will be able to receive further treatment. President Bob handed over £8 for the charity fund, this ‘magnificent’ sum having been recently won at the conclusion of the darts match against Brighton and Hove Southdown. Unfortunately the Hove team lost the main match. President Bob was also pleased to announce that a cheque for £500, to finance candidates for RYLA, has been received from the Osborne Charitable Trust. Thanks were given to John Eaton for this generous donation. It was announced that volunteers were needed to distribute leaflets, advertising our motorcycle rally, at the pioneer rally which finishes its run in Madeira Drive, Brighton, on the morning of 26th March. President Bob then read out a summary of happenings at the previous evening’s Club Council which was as follows: for use in their special project. Discussion on Contact Visits (Chaired by Bob Hinton). Bob started by giving a brief summary of what has been happening. It seems that the younger members of Pforzheim and Evreux are not disinterred in the visits but they find it difficult to attend. Pforzheim are asking how we can adapt to accommodate the younger element. There were numerous contributions and suggestions to how the format of the visits could be altered. These suggestions included making the visits every other year, changing the date from the customary Ascension weekend, changing the length of the visits. It was also suggested that maybe the venue for the visits could be changed and not necessarily held in Hove, Pforzheim and Evreux. Locations such as Canterbury, York or Edinburgh were mentioned. For the French visit it could be Lille, Lyon Rouen etc... It was pointed out that one of the most heavily supported visits in recent years was that to Berlin and Dresden a couple of years ago. It was agreed that the object of the visits should be kept, that of fellowship and understanding, although it was pointed out that this object was defeated on the Dresden visit when all three Clubs travelled in separate coaches most of the time. The financial side of the visits was touched on when it was pointed out that Rotary was getting more expensive and many of our members were on fixed income. It was also suggested that research should be made to discover how many clubs have terminated their contact visits. International Chairman Tad Phillips suggested that we ask both Pforzheim and Evreux to suggest something because we can adapt more easily than those two Clubs with their younger element. At the end of the discussion it was agreed that all our thoughts on the subject would be conveyed to both Pforzheim and Evreux and further discussion will be held during the Contact Visit this May, probably on the Saturday morning of the visit. 14th March, 2006. 33 present – 32 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Andrew Day, our speaker today. President Bob commented on the fact that many members of this Club and the former Portslade and West Hove RC had attended the funeral of Phil Shingler the previous Thursday. Members were informed that Sylvie Robinson is seriously ill, and has been released from hospital. David Knowles rose to say that manpower forms have been distributed and particularly asked everyone to think about the time they can and what help they could give. He also said it would be helpful if you could bring as many friends or members of families as possible. He also specifically asked for help on the Saturday, when a lot of the preparation work took place. Gordon Cummings informed members that Malcolm Clayton is moving into Regent House Convalescent Home, 107, The Drive (Tel: 220888). This will be while Molly has an operation on her hip. (continued) .Today’s speaker was Andrew Day, Chairman of Brighton and Hove Brass (band) He started off by listing all the various personnel of the band, including instructors, drivers, solicitors and members of the band, who came from all walks of life. One member of the band is a first class football referee; several are off road drivers, those anti social people who drive their four by fours over our lovely peaceful countryside. The band is based in Hove, and rehearses in St. Phillip’s Church, that’s the one on the corner of Richardson and New Church Road. Most of the band live outside Hove, with some coming as far as Hailsham and Sheen (London). The entire band are amateurs, holding down fulltime day jobs and they play throughout the year. He told us that there are three brass bands in Brighton and Hove and his band is the highest graded one, just above the Hangleton Band. Andrew then went on to tell us about the instruments, some of which he had brought along to show us. These included the cornet and the euphonium, his instrument of choice. .What sort of music do they play? He showed us sheet music of various operas, jazz, music from films, most forms of music and also some music which was specially written for the band. Andrew then went on to give us some idea of the cost of the instruments. A new cornet cost up to £1300-1400. One bright spark (me, I think!) asked if it cost extra with a flake in it! A new euphonium, which is obviously a much larger instrument, costs some £3,200 or so. He said the total cost of instruments for the whole band is approximately £60,000. Where do they play? Andrew said they sometimes play at The Ellipse, the bandstand on the seafront, opposite the Metropole Hotel. That is normally a free concert. They also play at Hever Castle and Brighton Pavilion Lawns. There are bands there most Sundays throughout the summer. One of the big events of their year is the march from Hyde Park to Whitehall in London for St. Patrick’s Day. They also perform at the Lewes Bonfire Marches which last from about six until ten thirty pm. A fundraising do where they play music at all of the important square on the Brighton and Hove Monopoly Board is another highlight of the year. They also take part in three competitions against bands from all over the country. One of the competitions consists of the bands playing the same piece of music. One must feel some sympathy for the judges, having to listen to the same piece all day! A most informative talk by a true brass band enthusiast. If you want to find out anything more about Brighton Brass you can log on to www.brightonbrass.com Interest was shown by the numbers of questions afterwards Gordon Cummings asked Andrew "If you play cornet, can you play the trumpet automatically?" Answer: "Yes, they are almost identical." Ian Varley commented on the fact that, at military parades, the musicians don’t appear to turn over their music sheets very often. How is this done? Andrews produced some marching band music sheets to demonstrate. Chris Heath asked if there was a problem if one or two members of the band failed to show up. Andrew said that the band can perform as long as 18 or more of the 25 members turned up. Peter Savage asked if you need to be qualified or can young musicians be taught. The answer was no and yes. The vote of thanks was given by Howard Attree. 21st March, 2006. 28 present – 27 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. President Bob informed members that Malcolm Clayton is now residing in the Regent House Convalescent Home, 107, The Drive (Tel: 220888) and has said that he would dearly welcome visits from anyone. Ray Tiltman reminded members that the annual Fish and Chip lunch is being held at Rotary Point on Good Friday and all members are welcome to attend. John Eaton informed members that "Stroke Awareness" is on 15th April and not the 9th as previously stated. I/C President David Henderson gave members a short insight into his experiences at the PETS (President Elect Training Session) on Sunday and told us that as from next year it will be known as PEIS (information instead of training!) He also told us that water programmes will be a priority next year. David also reminded members that District Assembly is being held at Forest School, Horsham on Wednesday, 19th April, 5.30 for 6pm. Our speaker today was one of own. Bernard Greaves was present to give us a "My Job" talk. It should have been "My Jobs" really because, as Bernard told us in his introductory remarks, he has had approximately 28 different businesses, some of which lasted less than six months. Members were also surprised to hear that Bernard has only completed five years of Rotary service, but as he pointed out, his service had been disrupted, both whilst he was a member of the former Portslade and West Hove Club and this Club. Despite such a comparatively short period of Rotary membership, he managed to squeeze in a year to serve as President of Portslade and West Hove. He described himself as a bit of a "mongrel" having had mixed race parentage. He has a mixture of Polish Jew Émigré, Yorkshire, Scottish and West Indian/African blood running through his veins. He told us that as a child he had a brother who was a bright academic, but he told us that he was a "Self-confessed thickie" and he struggled to come third from bottom of his class at school. He told us that things seemed to change after he was given a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s "If" and said that he took a lot on board from the message in that iconic poem, becoming very ambitious from about the age of seven. He had a quite complicated time during the war, and became a member of nearly every brand of the armed forces at one time or other but finished up in the army at the completion of war. Bernard said that he came home from Batavia at the end of the war, completely unqualified for any profession but, on going out with the secretary to The Chartered Institute of Accountants took his exams and despite failing one of them managed to gain his Charter. He didn’t have the best of starts in this profession because one of his first bosses finished up at The Old Bailey on tax evasion charges. His boss managed to get off because many of his records had been destroyed by German bombs. He even had some involvement with Oswald Mosley, the pre-war British fascist leader who lost most of his money whilst incarcerated for the duration of the war. The turning point in his life came when he pulled off a large coup on stocks and shares, which seemed to set him up for the rest of his business life. He has had such a varied he was unable to complete his talk in the comparatively short time allowed at lunch and it was suggested he comes back and gives us a talk at one of our evening meetings (if we have them again!). This was a brilliant talk and I had no idea that he had led such a varied and interesting life. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob 28th March 2006. 30 present – all our own members It was reported that Sylvia Robinson is still very poorly and our thoughts and sympathy were with her and George at this difficult time. This being the fourth meeting of the month, it was the occasion for the "40 set" draw and the prize of £25 was won by Tad Phillips/Filipowicz. President Bob reminded those taking part that there was a skittles match tonight, against Caterham RC, at the Royal Oak, Barcombe 7 for 7.30. Adrian Ball commented on the marvellous night out that he and his party had at the performance of "Edwin Drood" this last Friday, and congratulated Bob Hinton on a "superb" performance. Adrian also told members that he was seeking volunteers to host our visitors from Pforzheim and Evreux on the Thursday evening of the forthcoming Contact Visit. No speaker today because this was a meeting consisting of the gathering of the various committees to discuss various matters. MOTORCYCLE RALLY. Just a final reminder at the end of this bulletin to do your best and supply as many volunteers as possible for the day. Please try to get as many friends or members of your family to muck in on what is a very pleasant day out. Help is also needed the day before to erect all the various tents and paraphernalia
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN MARCH 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Fellows, I would like to start my monthly message by paying tribute to Phil Shingler, who passed away on the 24th of February. Phil gave outstanding service to Rotary for over fifty years and was the last remaining founder member of the, now defunct, Rotary Club of Portslade and West Hove. He had been very poorly for some time and I am sure his death was a merciful release. The funeral service is to be held at Woodvale Crematorium on Thursday, March 9th at 2.30pm. It has been requested that no black ties are to be worn. Another month, albeit a shorter one, has passed but there is still plenty going on. Just in the last week or so there have been two social events. Firstly, the trip to The Yew Tree at Arlington, on Thursday, 23rd February, where we were confronted with meals that were gargantuan. Thanks to Adrian for organising the outing. It was also very nice to see three former members of our Club, namely Chris Broadley, Mike Hedges and Peter Harries-Rees. Then we had a second trip out, this time to The White Horse Public House at Ditchling, where we took on the Ladies of the Inner Wheel at skittles. The men went into quite a healthy early lead but the resolute ladies pegged us back and eventually finished up winners by quite a margin. They then had the nerve to rub it in by winning the charity match. As you know, we were due to discuss a new method of paying for our subscriptions and for our meals, the idea being that a standing order scheme would be worked out. Unfortunately, this discussion has had to be postponed because it is has been preceded by a proposed discussion on the future or make up of the annual Contact Visits. Maybe you have your own thoughts on the subject and would like to put your ‘two pennorth’ in this coming Tuesday (7/3). I’m pleased to report that the Rotary "Welcome to Brighton and Hove" sign has been officially inaugurated, DG Ian and various Immediate Past Presidents and Presidents in attendance. Hopefully there will be some publicity from the event. The latest news about Richard Langley was not the best, but whilst reading out his latest report to the Club last week, I couldn’t help be impressed with his very positive attitude. I am sure it goes without saying that we are all thinking of him and praying for him in this very difficult time. I’m pleased to report that Patrick Douch appears to be on the mend, he having suffered somewhat after a far from successful operation. John Ansell is also attending club periodically and, if appearances are anything to go by, seems to be a bit more robust that a month or so ago. The news of Malcolm Clayton is not encouraging, as he not having been able to attend club for some time now. It has been said that he would welcome members for short visits but he would be grateful if you could telephone him first. Best wishes Bob CLUB DIARY 2006 March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) Mon. 20th- Wed 22nd Inner Wheel National Conference, Belfast*** Fri 24th. . Wandering Minstrels "Mysteries of Edwin Drood" FEATURING Bob Hinton April Sat. 1st. Musical Extravaganza, starring Richard Stilgoe, run by Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs of Cuckfield and Lindfield... Burgess Hill Girls’ School. Mon-Fri 10th/14th RYLA. This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Fri. 14th Rotary Point Fish and Chips Lunch, volunteers welcome, see Ray Tiltman*** Wed. 19th District Assembly, Forest School, Horsham. *** Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Sat. 13th. 75th Anniversary Celebrations, Rotary Club of Pforzheim. More details later. Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR MARCH Cash – Bob Hinton Care of Visitors – David Haycock. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR MARCH 7th. The first meeting of the month will consist of the usual report on the previous night’s Club Council. This will be followed by a discussion on Contact Visits. 14th. Our speaker today is Andrew Day and he will be talking about "Brighton and Hove City Brass Band", and the vote of thanks will be given by Howard Attree. 21st. Another one of our own today, with Bernard Greaves giving a "My Job" talk, but I suspect it will be a bit more than that. The vote of thanks, as customary, is given by the President. 28th. The last meeting of the month and it is, of course, the time when the various Club Committees go about their business. FOR LOVERS OF ENGLISH. Reasons why the English "langwich" is so hard to learn:- CLUB MEETINGS. 7th February, 2006. 29 present – 27 of our own members and two Rotarian visitors; Laurie Hillditch (Brighton) and Ken Guest, past president of this Club and now a member of Stourbridge. Paul Thrasher reported that Malcolm Clayton is not well but welcomes visitors but only for a short while. Members are also asked for telephone beforehand. Phil Shingler’s condition is much the same but he would welcome any written communication. Adrian Ball reported on the previous evening’s motorcycle rally meeting and informed members that Ian Collington had sent 130 e-mails to prospective advertisers for the rally programme. Adrian emphasised that every member should keep that day (23/4) free because as much help as possible is needed. Adrian also reminded us of the three social events upcoming, Yew Tree on 23rd February, Edwin Drood on 24th March and the Richard Stilgoe musical extravaganza on 1st April... Bob Hinton then rose to say that it will be a "good fun" evening on the Edwin Drood night as it involved some audience participation. Bob also informed members that he has produced a batch of marmalade to be sold to members under the "Spread and Save" scheme. He also mentioned his son’s charity venture of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and taking part in the London Marathon and said that he would be happy to receive sponsor money in advance to enable him to pay it straight into the Hopes and Homes website. Ken Guest, spoke about the major fundraising effort taking on by his club last year. A sponsored Bible reading which took four days and three nights of non-stop reading. The whole thing raised the amazing sum of £23,000. No doubt someone will take this on board in our area. I spotted Laurie Hillditch taking notes! Being the first meeting of the month it was the time for President Bob to give a summary of the previous evening’s Club Council. The Sergeant at Arms had recovered his money box and was determined to fine people today. He firstly fined SVP David Henderson for lack of a lapel pin and fined Ted Bartup for "ticking people off". He finally fined a number of people at the top table for not sitting nearer to the President. 14th February, 2006. 31 present – 29 of our own members and 2 non-Rotarian guests; Professor Fred Malaibet, our speaker and Helen Lefevre, the significant better half of David Knowles, who was here because of her interest in the speaker’s subject. President Bob mentioned the unveiling of the Rotary "Welcome to Brighton" sign, at Patcham, which takes place next Monday (20/7). He said that all were welcome. Bob Hinton informed members that there is one pot of "Spread and Save" marmalade left. Adrian Ball said that he was still needed more names to make up the party for the Yew Tree on the 23rd. Today’s speaker was Professor Mallardet, and he was here to tell us all about REMAP.(Rehabilitation Engineering Movement Advisory Panel) REMAP is a national registered charity that has, for 40 years, provided one-off technical aids which help disabled people of all ages to enjoy a better lifestyle. Every aid is given free of charge to the user. Remap operates through a network of 1,500 volunteers. The professional engineers, technicians and craftspeople – along with medical and paramedical staff from community services and hospitals – all belong to approximately 100 panels linked to regions across the UK, with Scotland and Isle of Man operating separately. Each year Remap turns out £2 million worth of individual aids that money just can’t buy. That’s because the charity only makes aids that are not available over the counter. It’s one of the UK’s most cost effective charities and their engineers also think ‘green’ when it comes to choosing materials for the job. A defunct dishwasher or some or car parts will, in skilled hands, often become components of aids that open up new horizons for many hundreds of disabled people. The Brighton panel of volunteers, one of 101, of Remap was formed in 1975 With the aid of slides, Fred showed us many examples of various pieces of furniture and apparatus that had been special adapted to accommodate various disabilities. There were special steps enabling people to get in and out of vehicles, and Zimmer frames fitted with elbow supports, these being particularly popular Many of the contraptions were made to help the disabled perform culinary tasks, including a portable platform for someone who was vertically challenged. He showed us his first invention, from 1975, which was a clamp that fitted on to the top of a cooker, enabling a one armed person to stir the ingredients. This particular invention was instrument in enabling this particular person to stay in his own accommodation. An absolutely fascinating talk by a mechanical genius, who had used his knowledge and inventive skills to help others less fortunate than himself. There were questions after from Chris Heath, Ian Collington and Ken Jones. The vote of thanks was given by Ralph Harrison. Because Ralph was a personal friend of the speaker, he was able to fill us into his background. 21st February, 2006. 25 present – 24 of our own members and one Rotarian Visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. President Bob reported on the inauguration of the Rotary "Welcome to Brighton" sign, which was attended by DG Ian Swales, ADG Mike Harvey and various Presidents and Past Presidents from the Brighton Area on a very cold and windy morning. President Bob’s lady, Ann, was also in attendance, because she needed a lift to the Nuffield immediately after the ceremony to have an operation on her right foot, which involved breaking and resetting. Owing to the recent directive from central government to cut down on the amount of street signage, the Mayor was unable to attend the sign ceremony. President Bob read out a letter from Peter Hill, thanking us for our recent donation to the Windmill Society. Paul Thrasher reported that Malcolm Clayton is waiting to be moved to a rest home, because Molly is due to have a hip operation shortly. President Bob also stated that the discussion document, with regard to paying subscriptions, etc, has been circulated, prior to discussion on Tuesday, 7th March. Adrian Ball informed members that a party of at least 17 will be going to the Yew Tree this coming Thursday. He also sought further participants for next week’s skittles match again the Inner Wheel, being played at The Royal Oak, Barcombe on Tuesday the 28th. He said there had been a disappointing response for tickets to Edwin Drood next month, only 12 thus far, and he was still taking bookings for the Richard Stilgoe Music Extravaganza on 1st April. Housing Society Chairman John Eaton told us all that there was to be an official opening of the Society’s newest property at 29, Sackville on 5th April, with the Mayor and District Governor in attendance. All members are welcome and further details will be furnished at a later date. Today’s speaker was one of our own members, Ron Knight and being long retired from his occupation gave us an account of his "Life and Times". Ron started by telling us that when he first joined Rotary, with the Lancing club many years ago, he hadn’t realised that he would be expected to perform a "My Job" talk. Consequently when he was asked to give one at very short notice he was pretty nervous. Though he was only 26 he felt he "got away with it". He went on to say that the trouble now, at his age, is that he has forgotten many things that have happened. He said he was going to give a brief résumé of his life. Born in Kensington, in 1932, he felt he had missed a year in school because his birthday was August 31st and he was always the youngest child in his year and found this a handicap in his early school years. He left school at 14 and being a practical person wanted to get his hands "dirty". Ron painted a fascinating picture of what it was like, growing up in the thirties and through the war years. He was called up for his National Service some five years after the War and after being demobbed he started up his own business, with a friend, who shortly decided that he didn’t need a partner. He said he thought that he thought the successful years in business were because of his emphasis on personal service, and drummed into his staff that they should always be courteous to their customers. He traded for over thirty years and only got out of business when trade dropped through the rerouting of bus routes through his trading street. He finished off by giving us his experiences of his early days in Rotary. He said that he had always tried to be an active Rotarian and has never looked on Rotary as just a dining club. As always, a very good and informative talk by one of our own. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob, 28th February, 2006. 25 Present – all our own members. Prior to this meeting, a two minutes silence was asked for by SAA Howard in remembrance to Phil Shingler, who passed away on the previous Saturday. President Bob read out an e-mail from Richard Langley, a progress report on his illness. The news was not great but Richard seemed to be in great spirits. President Bob commented that he was sure that all the members were thinking of and praying for Richard. Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch has had an operation to correct the apparent mistakes in his previous operation and seemed to be recovering quite well. Paul Thrasher said that he had spoken to Malcolm Clayton recently and he appeared to be in great spirits. President Bob congratulated Adrian on the outing to the Yew Tree last week. He remarked that he had never seen such vast portions of food in any other restaurants he had visited. He was also pleased to remark on the presence of Peter Harries-Rees, Chris Broadley and Mike Hedges, all past members of this Club, at the meal. The details of Phil Shingler’s funeral service were given as 2.30pm, Thursday, 9th March at Woodvale Crematorium. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton spoke on Rotary credit card, which benefited Rotary Foundation because not only was a fee paid over on the registering of a card but a small percentage of each transaction was also donated to Foundation. Bob was also pleased to report that Andrew, his son, had completed his climb to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, the first leg of his fundraising double! John Couch had great news, having managed to talk Legal and General into writing a cheque for £1,400 as sponsorship for the Motorcycle Rally. Well done John! Almost three times as much as last year. Adrian Ball said that this was the last day for tickets to the Richard Stilgoe event. No speaker today as the meeting was devoted to the various comings together of club committees.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN FEBRUARY 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Fellows, One would have thought that January would be one of the quieter months of the Rotary Year, but it certainly hasn’t proved to be the case this year. We have had record attendances at two of the five meetings held at the Courtland’s Hotel with an amazing 36 of our own members turning up to see Paul Beaken inducted as a member on 10th January. Well attended meetings always seem to generate their own great atmosphere and this meeting certainly was no exception. Welcome to the world of Rotary, Paul, and I am sure you will spend many happy years in this amazing organisation. The social life of the club is in very good hands at the moment with Adrian Ball announcing quite a busy schedule for the next couple of months. You can check up on these in the Club diary on the next page of this bulletin. Talking of social, many members of the club enjoyed a night out at The Royal Oak, Barcombe, to take part in a District Skittles match against the Breakfast Club, which, after a very close fight, we managed to win. The following morning saw many of us gathering in Goldstone Crescent, to catch a coach for the trip to The BBC TV Centre at Shepherd’s Bush and then on to the London Eye for a very enjoyable day out. Thanks to Ted Bartup for organising it all. It all went very smoothly, apart from a slight hiccup with the driver’s sense of direction when we reached West London. We are still very worried about our ‘invalids’ but there has been better news this week. Richard Langley is feeling a lot better, and has taken himself off to his house in France for a short period. John Ansell has attended club on a couple of occasions and was also seen at the Inner Wheel (Men’s night) meeting a couple of weeks ago. Ian Collington is to be congratulated on continuing his good work as Programme Secretary, with two very good speakers attending this month, Ash Gilbert from The Rocking Horse Appeal, and Peter Hill, who spoke to us about windmills in Sussex. Peter was an exceptional speaker who entranced us all with his presentation. As far as I can see, there will be plenty to keep us occupied over the next few months and I hope you will all give as much support as you can to the various events. Yours in Rotary Bob CLUB DIARY 2006 February Mon. 6th. Club Council, Hangleton Manor, 6.15pm.*** Mon 20th. Official unveiling of "Welcome to Brighton" Rotary sign, nr Black Lion, Patcham. 11am*** Wed 23rd. Social Visit, Yew Tree, Arlington. First come, first served!. See Adrian Ball*** Mon 28th. Inner Wheel/Rotary Skittles Challenge Match. Royal Oak, Barcombe £6.50 per person*** March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) Sat. 25th. Wandering Minstrels "Mysteries of Edwin Drood" April Sat. 1st. Musical Extravaganza, starring Richard Stilgoe, run by Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs of Cuckfield and Lindfield.. Burgess Hill Girls’ School*** Mon-Fri 10th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Wed. 19th District Assembly, Forest School, Horsham.*** Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Sat. 13th. 75th Anniversary Celebrations, Rotary Club of Pforzheim. More details later. Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR FEBRUARY Cash – John Eaton. Care of Visitors – Peter Fowle. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR FEBRUARY. 7th. The first meeting of the month will consist of the usual report on the previous night’s Club Council. 14th. Our speaker today is Professor Fred Maillardet and the title of his talk is "REMAP Equipment for the Disabled". The vote of thanks will be given by Ralph Harrison. 21st. One of our own today! Ron Knight is giving a talk entitled "My Life and Times" and as is customary, the vote of thanks will be given by the President. 28th. The last meeting of the month and it is, of course, the time when the various Club Committees go about their business. CLUB MEETINGS 3rd January, 2006. 21 present – all our own members. President Bob was pleased to inform members that Richard Langley appears to be responding well to his latest treatment and Gill told Bob that he is feeling a lot better, but still tires quite easily. Ray Tiltman reported that Phil Shingler has a nasty chest infection. Secretary David reported, via Ken Jones, that Howard Attree is still quite poorly and has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. President Bob thanked John Eaton for his magnificent efforts in making the Christmas Collection such a huge success this year. He also reported on the forthcoming 75th Anniversary celebrations by the Pforzheim Club, telling members that he would most probably attend the ceremony on Saturday, May 13th, and that any members would be welcome to accompany him. Unusually for the first meeting of the month it was the occasion for the various committees to discuss their business. This was because there was no fourth Tuesday meeting last month. (continued) CLUB MEETINGS (CONTINUED) 10th January, 2006. 37 present – 36 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor, Jenny Saunders, Hon Member of B & H Breakfast and Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary Club of Hove. Today saw the last of the raffles that have been held to boost the International Hospitality Fund. There were four prizes, Foundation calendars!!, and they were won by Tad Phillips, George Robinson and Derek Clouting with £29.00 going to the aforementioned fund. The meeting commenced today with the induction of Paul Beaken.(More on this in the President’s message) The remainder of the meeting was taken up with a report on last night’s Club Council, covered by the following summary; 17th January, 2006. 32 Present – 31 of our own members and 1 non-Rotarian guest; Ash Gilbert, our speaker for today. President Bob was pleased to welcome Phil Shingler back to club after a lengthy absence. Adrian Ball announced that there was to be a social visit to The Yew Tree at Arlington on Wednesday, 23rd February. Numbers are limited to 30 so it will have to be done on a first come, first served basis. He also stated that he is hoping to raise a party to go to see Bob Hinton taking part in The Wandering Minstrels "Mysteries of Edwin Drood". George Robinson informed members that two darts teams from this Club are playing against each other next Monday, at the Hangleton Manor. This is the first time for many years that this has happened. Our speaker today, Ash Gilbert, was here to tell us all bout "The Rocking Horse Appeal". As most people know, this is the fund raising charity connected to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital. (continued) CLUB MEETINGS (CONTINUED 17th January, 2006 (continued) This very worthwhile charity has been up and running for some forty years, but they have had to step up a gear lately because they need to raise £7 million to equip the new hospital that is being built on the site of The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road, Brighton. The original plan was to knock down the present hospital in Dyke Road, and build a new hospital on the site but this was proved to be too costly and it is now being built in the grounds of the RSCH. This work is progressing well, with the roof being installed just recently and it should be ready to be open in 2007. Ash then went on to the quite complicated politics of how they arrived at this stage of the project. Ash himself as only been in place as chief fundraiser for about three or four months. He was very pleased that they were able to move their offices, which were situated in a basement at the Children’s Hospital to more spacious, and brighter, accommodation in Prince Albert Street, in the centre of Brighton. He told us that the new hospital has been designed from the ground up, with children in mind. Even the bottom of all the windows are only two feet from the ground so that the children can look out. This was a very interesting talk by a consummate professional in his field, and I am sure that the target will be reached, if enthusiasm carries the day. He wasn’t even thrown out of his stride when his talk was interrupted by an announcement for someone to move their car. Questions were asked by various members at the end and the vote of thanks was given by Mike Peters. 24th January 2006. 30 present – 29 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton. President Bob reminded members that players were needed for the skittles match at the Royal Oak, Barcombe, against the Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club. It was also announced that two darts teams from this club had played each other in the District Competition and the team led by Mike Peters overcome the George Robinson Quartet. The two teams also played a charity game and the proceeds of £8.00 were given to Club Treasurer Michael. Further on charity, Bob Hinton then rose to explain this his son, Andrew, is to perform two fund raising feats in the space of about eight weeks. Firstly, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and to run the London Marathon. Bob handed out sponsorship forms and then played a very moving DVD presentation of Hopes and Homes for Children, who will be recipients of Andrew’s, hopefully substantial efforts. Today’s meeting, being the fourth one of the month, was taken up with the various committee prevarications. 31st January, 2006 (evening) 42 present – 24 of our own members and 17 non-Rotarian guests, mostly consisting of members’ wives, but including Margaret Cooter, daughter of David and Joan Burchell, and our speaker, Peter Hill. Today saw the occasion of this month’s "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25.00 was won by Roger Patterson. President Bob was saddened to announce the passing away of Joan Nightingale, wife of Immediate Past District Governor Peter. The funeral is being held in Guildford this coming Friday and Howard Attree will be attending on behalf of the Club. On a lighter note, President Bob thanked Ted Bartup for organising a very pleasant day out, visiting the BBC TV Studios in Shepherd’s Bush, and the London Eye last Friday. It was a super day out, which included lunch in a most hospitable pub somewhere in West London. Social Secretary Adrian Ball announced that there was to be a programme of events during the next two or three months. Firstly, there is the night out, with dinner, at the Yew Tree, Ardington on 23rd February. There is a limit of 30 places at this venue so it will be decided on a first come, first served basis as to who will be going. Then, some five days later, there is to be a "Challenge Skittles Match" between the ladies of Inner Wheel and our good selves. This will be at the Royal Oak, Barcombe on Wednesday, February 28th at a cost of £6.50 (including a very good buffet!). It is then hoped that we will have a very good party of us to see Bob Hinton performing in the Wandering Minstrel’s performance of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", which takes place on 25th March at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton. Last but not least is a "Musical Extravaganza" starring Richard Stilgoe, organised by the Inner Wheel and Rotary Clubs of Cuckfield and Lindfield, taking place at Burgess Hill Girls’ School on 1st April. Those of you who saw Richard performing at last year’s District Conference will know the treat that you are in for. Peter Hill was our speaker for tonight and the subject of his talk was "Windmills of Sussex" Peter started off by asking us if we had a problem with finding somewhere to go during our leisure time. He suggested that we visit an old windmill because no, they are not boring. Many people have spent a lot of time restoring these windmills back to their old glory. Peter then went on to tell us how windmills arrived on the scene. They arrived because of the natural progression of ways to grind and mill wheat and suchlike for our daily bread. The earlier methods were performed with hand driven grinding stones, some of which are still used in third world countries. The grinding stones became much larger and alternative means of power had to be found. Earlier stones were driven by animals followed by the invention, in Roman times, of the water mill. The water mill was the immediate forerunner of the windmill. Surprisingly, there are 80 windmills remaining in Sussex. He then explained the difference, with the aid of slides, of the various windmills. He explained to us the various means of making the windmill face into the head wind. In the earlier days this was done manually, but in later years this was managed by the use of a fantail. Peter then went on to tell us about the windmills being used to pass messages, particularly to British airmen to were trying to escape recapture when forced to land in Holland. The position of the blades of the windmill meant different things to them. Something like semaphore I suppose. This talk was a real ‘tour de force’, with Peter speaking for some fifty minutes. I don’t know about other people around me but it seemed like a quarter of an hour to me, and I could have listened to him for a lot longer. There were many questions asked of Peter at the end of his talk and the vote of thanks was given by Derek Clouting. EVENING MEETINGS. The meeting of 31st January will be last one to be held in the evening for some time because Council has decided, for the next couple of fifth Tuesdays, to revert to lunchtime. The number of Rotarians attending the evening meetings has been historically very low, particularly in the winter months. This last meeting was one of the better attended meetings, with 24 of our members present. This would most probably have been a lot more, but the meeting coincided with Brighton and Hove Albion playing at Withdean, which meant that at least four of our regular attenders were not present, although judging by the reports of that particular game, I think they wished they had gone to Rotary instead. Please do not hesitate to make your feelings known, either for or against, of the Council decision. WELCOME TO BRIGHTON SIGN. Those of you who have travelled down through the Patcham section of the London Road may have seen the very prominent sign, announcing Rotary in Brighton. This was jointly paid for by the six Rotary clubs in the Brighton and Hove area. The Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Cllr Bob Carden, has kindly agreed to officially ‘unveil’ the sign and this act will be performed on Monday, 20th February at 11am. A photographer will also be present so, hopefully, we should be able to get some welcome publicity in "The Argus". You will be very welcome if you wish to come along. JOAN NIGHTINGALE. I was very saddened to hear that Joan, wife of IPDG Peter Nightingale, passed away after a very lengthy fight against cancer, on Wednesday, 25th January. The funeral was held at Guildford, on Friday 3rd February and this Club was represented by Howard Attree. Joan last attended one of our meetings nearly a year ago, when she attended IPP Ken’s President’s night at the Dyke Golf Club. IPP Ken has written to Peter with a message of sympathy from us all DAVID KNOWLES. I am sure you were all pleased, and relieved, to hear that David Knowles has agreed to serve as secretary of this Club for the year 2006/2007 and that David Burchell has denoted that he will be acting secretary during that time. Thank you, both Davids, from all of us.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN JANUARY 2006 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Fellows, Another Christmas and New Year has gone. It certainly is a fact that the older you get, the quicker they seem to come around and flash by again. For most of us it is nevertheless a very enjoyable part of the year. This year all our Christmas celebrations were tinged with sadness and I am sure most of you thought of, and said prayers for, Richard Langley. I saw him two days before Christmas and he was in great heart but was physically very tired and in some discomfort despite the large doses of painkillers he has to take constantly. Well, what have we to look forward to this coming year? The coming month sees a trip, organised by Ted Bartup, to the BBC Television Centre. Ted does a very good organising these excursions and I hope you will give him great support. I was most heartened to see so many attending our Christmas Lunch on Tuesday, 20th December. Sixty four of us sat down for a very tasty meal and this was followed by a terrific video presentation by Ian Collington. Well done Ian, it was great. You may remember that in the latter part of the film, a presentation of a cheque for £1,500 was made by me to The Riders for Health Charity. Following this Ian has issued a press release on the subject of this charity and hopefully it will make the Argus or some other branch of the media in this area. Over the holiday I received a message from Andreas (Andy) Fuhrmann, President of RC Pforzheim. Apart from wishing us all a Happy New Year he also informed me that this year is the 75th Anniversary of the Pforzheim Club and they were marking it with a quite comprehensive programme of education projects. His message is published in full in another part of this bulletin. I haven’t the figures to hand with regard to the Christmas Collection but I would like to take this opportunity, on your behalf, to thank John Eaton for the sterling work he has performed once again in making the collection as successful as possible. Once again, he spent an obscene amount of hours at the collection sites. This together with having to haul the trailer from it’s resting place in Osborne Villas to George Street and Tesco made it a very tiring couple of weeks for him. This from Rotarian awaiting news of an upcoming double hip operation! Well done John! I am pleased to announce that we will induct another new member within the next two weeks or so. His name is Paul Beaken and I am sure that you will give him a very good welcome to the Rotary movement. The next two or three months are going to see lots and lots of hard work from our Motor Cycle Rally Committee. You all know by now that this is the most important fund raising event of the year, but it will only succeed if every able member buckles down and helps on the day. Please let the committee know if you wish to perform any specific task and I am sure they will be very grateful. Happy New Year to all of you and your families. Bob CLUB DIARY 2006 January Mon. 9th Club Council, Hangleton Manor. 6.15pm*** Fri 27th. Vocational Visit, BBC TV Centre, Shepherds’ Bush 3pm. Arrangements to be finalised by Ted Bartup*** March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Wed. 19th District Assembly, Forest School, Horsham.*** Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Sat. 13th. 75th Anniversary Celebrations, Rotary Club of Pforzheim. More details later.*** Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR JANUARY Cash – John Couch. Care of Visitors – Gordon Cummings CLUB PROGRAMME FOR JANUARY 3rd. As there was no meeting in the last week of December, this meeting will be of the various committees, prior to next week’s Council. 10th. a week later than normal, this meeting will be one of business and a report of the previous night’s Council. 17th. our first speaker for the New Year will be Ash Gilbert and he will be telling us all about "The Rocking Horse Appeal". 24th. The fourth meeting of this month and it is once again a case of back to normal with the gettings together of the various Club Committees.
MESSAGE FROM PFORZHEIM. Dear Bob:
CLUB MEETINGS. 29th November,2005. 42 present – 24 of our own members and 18 visitors, consisting mainly of Rotarians’ better halves and also included John Godfrey, our speaker for today. President Bob reported that he had seen Richard Langley earlier today and subsequently Richard sent an e-mail which read as follows: "Dear Bob, It was nice to see you and Ann again today, albeit briefly. We left you for my first appointment with Dr. Andrew Webb, a consultant oncologist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He confirmed my diagnoses, a cholangiocarcinoma, which in layman’s terms is cancer of the bile duct. I have secondaries in my liver and lungs, and the prognosis sadly is not good. The stent they have fitted to open the bile duct is working quite well and has reduced my bilirubin levels from 250 to 79 in a week. Normal is under 5! Dr. Webb is arranging for chemotherapy to be given, which may reduce the tumours, and that course is expected to start in about two weeks time. I should be seeing the chemo nurses shortly for planning etc., prior to the chemo itself. I am philosophical about my problems, and Gill and I remain positive that all is not lost. We have been hugely buoyed up by the many cards and notes received from our friends in Rotary, and elsewhere. Please thank everyone for their kind thoughts. I have just started seeing one or two people in the family for short periods, but I seem to get tired quite quickly. Let us wait another week or so before we consider visits from my friends in Rotary. With my best wishes to you and all in Rotary. Richard." President Bob said that he was sure everyone joined him in wishing Rotary and Gill well and that our thoughts would be with them at all times. Secretary David informed clubs that with one week to go before the Club’s SGM there were still no names being put forward to fill the positions of Club Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer for the Rotary Year 2006/2007. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25.00 was won by Tony Woodthorpe. Our speaker today was Dr. John Godfrey and the subject of his talk was "The Future of The South Downs" Dr. Godfrey has lived and worked here for over thirty years. He first came to Sussex University in the Sixties. He has since been Head of West Sussex Council’s Secretariat and for the last two years has been Clerk to the Sussex Police Authority. His doctorate was in Historical Geography, based on his research on the landscape and agriculture of the South Downs and he lectures and writes on Sussex History. He started off by saying that if you live in Sussex; The Downs are with you, a constant backdrop in our lives. Wherever we go we are conscious of these "voluptuous " hills. He said that lots had been written about them. He remarked that Rudyard Kipling celebrated Sussex as well as India and South Africa and quoted from Kipling’s poem on Sussex. No tender hearted garden crowns,
29th November, 2005 John also pointed out that there was a famous poster published during World War II which depicted the South Downs overlooking Eastbourne with a shepherd bringing his flock to the farm and asking people to fight for their beautiful country. He told us that he thought the South Downs are the essence of England. He then went on to explain the difference in topography of the Downs between the East and West which he put down to the fact that all the large farming estates are in the west with the smaller farms being located to the East. The agriculture to the West was far superior because of the richness of the earth there. This was even reflected during the Civil War when the West tended to side with the King and the inhabitants of the East were supporters of Cromwell. He also pointed out that Brighton and Hove is in Sussex but not part of Sussex. Many parts of the Downs were purchased by very important citizens of historic Brighton for the benefit of local people. The second half of his talk was devoted to what the future holds, with the creation of The South Downs National Park. He also mentioned numerous literary characters that had fallen in love with this area, including Laurie Lee (Cider with Rosie) and Hilaire Belloc It was a most fascinating talk by a very knowledgeable and articulate speaker. I wish I could have covered it in more detail. It was a most suitable talk for an evening meeting. 6th December, 2005. 23 present – 22 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor Laurie Hillditch, Brighton. Brighton rotary. President Bob was delighted to give a warm welcome back to Richard Langley. Richard then went on to win the weekly raffle, the prize consisting of a variety of greetings cards, designed and manufactured by Helen Attree. President Bob read out a summary, supplied by Secretary David, of last night’s Council meeting which was as follows. CLUB MEETINGS (CONTINUED) 6th December, 2005. Today was also the occasion of the Club’s SGM. This, of course, is the meeting set aside this time of year to enable us to vote for Club officers for the year 2006/2007. The officers for next year are as follows. President; David Henderson. Senior Vice-President; Michael Barley Junior Vice-President; Ron Knight Secretary; Not filled. Assistant Secretary; Not filled. Treasurer: Michael Nettell. Today was also the occasion for the presentation of the Club Accounts for year ending June 30th, 2005 but you may remember that these were discussed at the meeting of November 22nd. It was only left today to formally approve them and this was done. 13th December, 2005. 28 Present – 25 of our own members, one Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and two non-Rotarian guests; Paul Beaken, a guest of President Bob and Richard Lewis, our speaker for today. President Bob was pleased to give a warm welcome back to John Ansell, who has been absent for some time through illness. John thanked everyone for their cards and messages. It was stated that Tony Woodthorpe, still making recovery from his recent hip operation, hoped to attend our next meeting. Patrick Douch is back at work but is still in some discomfort. John Eaton pleaded with members to fill in the gaps on the Christmas Collection boards. There are still many hours that need covering. He reminded those involved that there was a Housing Society committee meeting immediately after lunch today and also invited all members of the Club to attend the tea party being laid on at this hotel for the tenants of the Housing Society. Our speaker today was Richard Lewis, from Hove Rugby Club. He started off by saying "hello" to Ian Varley who is a founder member of the Club. Richard himself has been at the Club for many years as a player, coach, committee member and chairman. He looks on rugby as a very special game, a real team game, a test of character/ He said that things don’t always go well in life and it is the same in rugby. He thought it was a good discipline for youngsters, particularly with regard to the respect for rugby referees whose word is law, unlike other football codes. He pointed out that there is a very mixed bag of people in rugby, stating that there were many "artisans" as well as professional people. He mentioned various personalities of the early days of the club, which was originally called Sussex Yeomen. The rugby club moved to Hove Park in 1971 and he remarked on the transformation to the appearance of the park caused by the 1986 hurricane, which destroyed many hundreds of trees in the park. There is also a women’s team which was formed in the 1990s. After a while they found the facilities at the park were hopelessly inadequate and it was suggested that the club should relocate. This took a further ten years (1992-2002) but it finally came to fruition. The National Lottery and Sports Grants provided the majority of the finance, together with money from private business, and with the amalgamation of the Brighton and Hove Councils it was decided to revisit the original plans, which had been turned down previously. Despite strong opposition, led by The Argus, the plans were approved for a move to Hove Recreation Ground in Shirley Drive. This involved moving cricket pitch and supplying car parking spaces in Shirley Drive. The club is thriving now and it consists of six adult teams playing on a Saturday, together with six groups between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. Among their alumni they include Alex King, who plays for England and Wasps. They also have the distinction of being the first club to introduce mini rugby and their women’s team have been Sussex Champions for some years now. The club has five hundred and seventy active members, with 800-1000 members in total. Richard stated that they are a family club and want to stay that way. He said they are still suffering from the bad press they received during planning process. On the advertising side, he informed us that club house is available for outside catering and a meeting place. (continued) 13th December, 2005. A most interesting talk from someone who is totally involved with something he loves doing. There were many questions at the conclusion of his talk from Ian Varley, Paul Thrasher, Chris Heath and Clive Chapple. The vote of thanks was given by Roger Patterson. 20th December, 2005. 64 present – 31 of our own members, one Rotarian visitor; William Bradford from Pau Bearn (SW France) who was accompanied by his wife, Gilly. There were also 32 non-Rotarian Guests, which included nine lady guests of the Club, widows of departed Rotarians. President Bob was pleased to give special mention to, Doris Edwards, who is well into her one hundredth year, Steven Peters, who was here with his mum and dad and Richard Langley, who attended today’s meeting with Gill. Richard told members that he had received a letter from Phil Shingler, stating that he was now unable to swallow or talk, and would be very grateful if members would write to him. President Bob also welcomed Tony Woodthorpe, making his first visit to the club since his hip operation. Tony thanked everyone for their messages of goodwill. Today was the occasion of a double "40 Set" draw. The first draw, for £50, was won by Chrissie Tiltman and the second for £25 was won by David Haycock. Prior to the meal, Ian Collington had distributed questionnaires to all members. This was a written quiz, mainly based on the year 1905, the year Rotary was founded. After lunch, Ian also showed us the video, previously shown at the President’s night in February. Not quite the same because he also included the various events that had occurred since, including the moves from the Dudley to the Cricket Ground and the subsequent move from there to Courtland’s. He also included the recent cheque presentation at the Riders for Health HQ in Daventry, carried out by President Bob with the able assistance of Michael Peters and Ian. The film was most entertaining and was enjoyed by everyone. I can’t remember another meeting where people have contacted me to say how much they enjoyed it. Everything was spot on, with great fellowship and good food. CHRISTMAS COLLECTION. An update to the President’s message. The final figures are in with regard to the Christmas collection. This year’s total was fractionally higher than last year with a sum of £2,630.00. A magnificent effort, helped by absolutely perfect weather for collecting and the usual Trojan efforts of Community Service Chairman John Eaton. Besides organising the whole thing, he puts in countless hours on the site and also performs the quite strenuous task of dragging the Rotary float from its garage at Jordan’s grandmother’s garden to the sites at George Street and Tesco’s Church Road. Thanks John and to Ray Tiltman for organising the Portslade sites. There is also a final thanks to all of you who turned up to rattle the tins. PUBLICITY. Good news again. Also mentioned in the President’s message this month was the fact that Ian Collington had prepared a press release with relating to our dealings with "Riders for Health". Well, it wasn’t a wasted effort because the "Argus" gave us a third of a column in the paper of Friday, 30th December. Well done Ian! ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
First of all, apologies for the delay in publication of this month’s bulletin. This was due to illness (injury) in the family. Last week I took Ann for a short break in Rome, as a birthday present. This didn’t turn out to be the happy occasion it promised because owing to Ann’s insistence at climbing the seven hundred or so steps up to the Cupola of St. Peter’s, she sustained an injury to her back, which entailed me working in the shop last weekend, leaving me no time to finish off this edition of the Hove Bulletin. I am pleased to report that she is making good progress and is approaching full mobility. On a happier note I am most gratified at the response from members of sending their greetings through this medium. It means that the Club’s Charity Account is now £160.00 better off. It is always a shame to hear of Members’ illnesses, but at this time of year it seems to be compounded. In all of my 20 odd years of Rotary I cannot remember when we have had so many ‘invalids’ at one time. The most serious of all is, of course, Richard Langley’s malaise. We were all very shocked when he gave us the news that he has cancer of the lung. He has been most brave in keeping us up to date on a regular basis as to his progress and it was with great joy that we were able to welcome him back to Club last week. Needless to say, I am sure that you will all join me in wishing Richard success with his upcoming chemotherapy. Other ‘invalids’ who are in our minds constantly are John Ansell, Malcolm Clayton and Phil Shingler. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Tony Woodthorpe a full recovery from his recent hip replacement operation. Community Service Chairman John Eaton is, once again, asking you all to put in an extra effort to man the Christmas Collection sites during these next couple of weeks. Please try to ensure that he hasn’t to put in some twenty hours or more, which has happened quite frequently. This can be done if each of you each volunteer for that extra hour. I am looking forward to our Christmas lunch on the 20th of this month, and there promises to be an excellent turnout with many of our ladies deciding to accompany their husbands to a meeting which looks like being plenty of fun, complete with a quiz and Ian Collington’s Oscar winning film, last seen at Immediate Past President Ken’s night in February. Ian has promised some extras tagged on to the end of this excellent presentation. By the time you read this I will have travelled to Davenry, Northants, with Ian Collington and Mike Peters to present a cheque for £1,500 to Riders for Health, that wonderful organisation that supplies motorcycles and spare parts to enable vital medicines and such like to be delivered to remote villages of various countries in Africa. The money, most appropriately, is of course the proceeds of our own motorcycle rally. Thanks you all for your great support in this first half of Rotary and I am sure I can count on it continuing in the second half. Ann and I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone of you and your families a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year. Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 December. Mon 5th. Club Council. Hangleton Manor 6.15pm. Tues. 20th. Christmas Lunch, with ladies, Courtland’s Hotel, 12.30 for 1*** 2006 January Fri. 20th Joint Meeting Brighton Area Rotary Clubs. Venue and Time to be arranged. Fri 27th. Vocational Visit, BBC TV Centre, Shepherds’ Bush 3pm. Arrangements to be finalisedby Ted Bartup*** Marchh Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Wed. 19th District Assembly, Forest School, Horsham.*** Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR DECEMBER. Cash – Derek Clouting Care of Visitors – Ian Collington CLUB PROGRAMME FOR DECEMBER. 6th. Today’s meeting will include the annual SGM when it is hoped that there will be enough nominations to fill the various Club Officer positions for the year 2006/2007. It should also have been the occasion for the presentation of the Club Accounts year ending June 30th, 2005 but this was brought forward and they were discussed a couple of weeks ago and hopefully be approved today. There will also be a report on last night’s Council meeting. 13th. Our speaker today is Richard Lewis and he is here to tell us all about "The Story of Hove Rugby Club". The vote of thanks will be given by Roger Patterson. 20th Today is the occasion for our Christmas lunch, when we will be accompanied by our own ladies and specially invited lady guests. Entertainment will be courtesy of Ian Collington who has arranged a Centenary Quiz and will be showing the Hove Rotary Film which was premiered at the President’s night in February.
BOB GREEN. Please note the following: Bob’s business address is now the same as his home address and his new business telephone number is (01273) 411077.
CLUB MEETINGS. 1st November, 2005. 29 Present – all our own members. Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" Draw, delayed because of administration troubles, and the cheque for £25 was won by Adrian Ball. He later gave £1 of it back to celebrate the arrival of a grandchild. The weekly raffle was won by Richard Langley, and it raised £19. There was no speaker today, the meeting being devoted to a report on the previous evening’s Council meeting at Hangleton Manor. President Bob gave a brief summary of what was discussed as follows: 8th November, 2005. 36 Present – 30 of our own members, 1 Rotarian visitor; David Perrin from Brighton and 5 non-Rotarian guests; Andrew Austin; son of John and here as a guest of John Eaton, Paul Beakon, a guest of President Bob, Bernard Greaves, a guest of Ray Tiltman and Colin Citrone, these last two visitors former member of Portslade and West Hove and a guest of David Henderson. The remaining non Rotarian guest was Paul Hughes-Barlow, our speaker for today. With such a large attendance it was no surprise that the weekly raffle raised £30 and the bottle of wine was won by Patrick Douch. President Bob reminded members that the following Sunday (13/11) was Remembrance Day and the Club would be represented at the service in Grand Avenue, Hove by himself and at Portslade Town Hall by Ray Tiltman. All members were welcome to accompany them at either or both ceremonies. Treasurer Michael Nettell informed members that he would not be at the SGM on Tuesday, 6th December and is asking members to have any questions ready with regard to the accounts year ending 30th June, 2005 ready for the meeting on November 22nd. Our speaker today was Paul Hughes-Barlow and he was here to talk to us about the Brighton and Hove Speakers’ Club. I was really looking forward to this talk, and judging by the amount of people attending, it looked as though most of you were too. I’m not usually critical of our speakers but I must admit to a feeling of disappointment at the presentation by Paul. (Continued)
8th November, 2005 (continued) I thought we were going to get loads of tips on how to speak in public, and God knows I could do with them, but Paul turned out to be about my level as far as articulating himself was concerned. He gave us an insight into the workings of the Hove Speaker’s Club, who meet once a fortnight where members take turns in speaking on various subjects. This is then followed by a discussion and a ‘post-mortem’ as to how the speech was delivered. One of the advantages of belonging to the Club is that it is affiliated to Toastmasters International, a non-profit self help organisation dedicated to the development of communication and leadership skills. In my introduction to Paul, I ended by saying "So let’s hear from Paul how we could polish up our presentation" Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out to be the case. The main advantage the club has going for it is that it does help increase confidence in one’s talking to large gatherings. He cited the case of one of their members, a lady, who after only a month as a member, attended a conference in Leamington and stood up in front of 400 and spoke most eloquently. If anyone is interested in joining, the club meet on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, 7.15pm at the English Language Centre in Palmeira Square. The vote of thanks was given by definitely our most accomplished orator, Ian Collington. 15th November, 2005. 32 Present – 31 of our own members and 1 non-Rotarian guest; John Riches, our speaker for today. President Bob had the very pleasant task of welcoming back as our newest member Bernard Greaves. Bernie was a former member of both Portslade & West Hove and the Hove Club but left several years ago to start a new business in Scotland. Bernie has now returned to live in the Brighton. It was a very brief and informal induction owing to Bernard’s former membership. Ray Tiltman was pleased to perform the formal introduction. Today’s raffle for the bottle of wine was won by John Riches, our speaker and raised the sum of £20.00 President Bob informed members that Tony Woodthorpe was due to be released from hospital either today or tomorrow following his recent hip operation at Eastbourne General Hospital. President Bob then read out the following letter from Richard Langley "Dear Bob. It is with regret that I have to ask for a period of Leave of Absence. As you know we went to Hong Kong on 2nd November, but when I arrived I was suffering from jaundice. Tests and scans were done in Hong Kong within a few hours, and I travelled back on 4th November. The tests have revealed that I have liver cancer, rather bad news as you may know. The tumour has now restricted my bile duct, thus bringing on the jaundice. I saw the gastroenterologist today, and will be having an endoscopic test (an ERCP) on Monday. They will try to put a stent in my bile duct to open it up, and as soon as a sample of the tumour can be tested, it is expected that I will have palliative chemotheraphy. For the moment Gill and I are concentrating on ourselves and the treatment I will start shortly. I am content for my news to be made public to Rotary and others who may be interested, but as a fairly private man, I do not want any visitors for the time being. I am still active, but do not know how long that will be for. However, if I feel well enough, I may just surprise you all and turn up at Rotary Lunch some time! Sincerely, Richard" Secretary David told members that he still needed a couple of more volunteers to man the registration desk at the upcoming District Council this Thursday. Adrian Ball rose to give details of the games night, being held at the Hangleton Manor on Thursday, 25th November. A similar event was held last year, which was very popular with most people there fascinated by the variation of board and parlour games. Last year’s event was entitled "Things we used to do before TV". The event started at 7pm at a cost of £4.00 which includes light refreshments. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton asked members if they would like to purchase a Foundation calendar as he only had a few left. Our speaker today was John Riches and he was here to tell us all about "Queenspark Books – a local history. It is a non-profit community publishing and writing organisation which publishes books about local peoples’ lives. They also run creative writing groups and courses and facilitate oral history projects. For the last thirty years QueenSpark has helped people in Brighton and Hove tell their stories. (continued) John explained to us that all the books published by QueenSpark are numbered and the their latest publication is number eightyfive. He also told us that they are part of a national organisation of local projects like this. He brought along a selection of books and gave us a flavour of a few of the books. He read out an extract from the first book, written by a chap called Albert Poole. He also cited an incident that happened shortly after he published his book when he received a visit from "Nationwide", which you may all remember from many years ago, which was a news programme on BBC TV. Apparently this visit was pretty chaotic because none of the houses in the area had electric points from which to power up all the TV equipment and they had to run electrical leads for quite long distances to enable them to broadcast. He then read an extract from "The Tale of a Boy Soldier" by George Parker, who signed up for the army in the First World War at the age of 15th. This book contained some quite distressing stories. Another book described the impact of the many wounded Indian Soldiers who were billeted at The Brighton Work House, which is of course now called Brighton General Hospital Another most fascinating book was one entitled "Take Him Away" by Ron Piper, a hardened criminal who wrote about his first sixteen years in prison. There were other books mentioned, one about the local fishing industry and a similar book about the Pullman craftsmen, who were famous for helping to make The Brighton Belle one of the most famous trains in the UK. John has also been encouraged by the explosion of people history recently and his organisation is finding that they are getting plenty of contributions, the latest one from a chap who had emigrated to Australia. He also informed us that Brighton Quakers’ Society, an organisation we were familiarised with through a speaker some six months or so ago, have asked them to compile a history of their 300 years in Brighton. There was a lot more detail in the talk, far too much for me to relate in these pages. If you want to find out more on this subject visit www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk This was a most fascinating talk, given by a true enthusiast, whose spoken extracts from the book were excellent. Once again, Ian has come up trumps as far as speakers are concerned. 22nd November 2005. 23 Present – all our own members. President Bob gave progress report on Richard Langley. Gill informs him that Richard is in a lot more pain than she thinks he should be considering the amount of painkilling drugs he taking. Still awaiting results of liver biopsy. Unable to have chemotherapy until his blood stabilises. Richard would dearly like to hear from members. President Bob then gave a report on District Council, held on Thursday, 17th November, from a summary compiled by Secretary David.
22nd November, 2005 (continued) President bob read out report on district council last week ( see summary!) Evening meeting with partners next week. Sgm 6th December. Not a single nomination yet. We need 2nd vice secretary, assistant secretary, assistant treasurer. 1250 new outside, nice picture of tea party inside. John eaton spoke o Christmas collections very short of personnel. 20th December, crossed off george street collection because of lunch. Michael Nettell started off by mentioning auditor Richard Langley. Copies had been distributed. Both darts team won their matches c team won at cuckfield and lindifled. B team beat brighton rotary club . George cuckfield by 3 to one double one on all three matches lost charity.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN NOVEMBER 2005 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows, There was a fairly unreal feeling about our last meeting. On the one hand we had Sergeant At Arms Howard announcing that jackets could be removed because it was so warm and on the other hand it was announced by Secretary David that the lists for people to volunteer for Christmas Collection duties were being circulated. We now seem to have settled down at our newish venue and everyone I have spoke to appears to be happy with life at The Courtland’s Hotel. Club Council have decided that the fifth Tuesday meeting in November will not be the traditional ‘ladies’ night and that the widows of Rotarians will instead be invited to our last meeting before Christmas. It was felt that this would be more appropriate, saving the effort of dragging the ladies out of their nice warm homes on what can be a nasty night weatherwise. At the time of writing three of our members, John Ansell, Malcolm Clayton and Phil Shingler are reported to be very poorly. I am sure that you all join me in wishing them a speedy return to Rotary. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to Ray and Chrissie Tiltman for leaving them off the list of delegates to the District 1250 Conference in Torquay. I promise to be more careful with my proofreading in future. Going back to the Christmas Collection lists, which were mentioned earlier, I make the annual plea of all Presidents that you support this worthy effort to your best ability. I realise that it can be cold and draughty in George Street but it is well worth the effort. Unfortunately we only have two Saturdays allocated to us for collection at Tesco, Church Road, which means that the majority of the collecting will take place in George Street. Unlike last year the street should be very well served with Christmas lights which hopefully will increase the amount of people shopping in the area. I’m sorry to say that I am struggling to fill the page this month because look back over the month I find that nothing much has happened for me to comment on. I know what, I will fill the remainder of the page by banging on again about membership. The first meeting of last month was devoted to membership with a visit by the District Membership Officer, who gave a very informative and thought provoking talk on that very subject. I hope you all took into account what he said and even now are wracking your brains on how to increase membership. Please try to think of any one you think would enjoy Rotary as most of you have these many years. It seems a sin to deprive people of the chance to join such a happy and satisfying organisation as ours. I know for a fact that it changed my life, for the good, completely and we should make every effort to introduce new faces to Rotary. Best wishes President Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 November. Tues 1st. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250. Thurs 3rd. Thank you dinner to IPP Ken Jones, Royal Oak, Poynings.*** Thurs. 17th District Council – Ardingly. 6.30 for 7pm Sat. 19th. "Evening of Humour and Harmony" in aid of Martlets Hospice Appeal. Church of the Good Shepherd Hall, 272, Dyke Road, Brighton 7-7.30pm Tkts £12 including glass of wine*** A Games evening is proposed for 24th November. ( details to follow) December. Mon 5th. Club Council. Hangleton Manor 6.15pm. 2006 January Fri. 20th Joint Meeting Brighton Area Rotary Clubs. Venue and Time to be arranged. March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR NOVEMBER. Cash – Ted Bartup Care of Visitors – Clive Chapple CLUB PROGRAMME FOR NOVEMBER. 1st. the usual report on the previous night’s Club Council. 8th. Our speaker today is Paul Hughes-Barlow of the Brighton and Hove Speakers’ Club and the vote of thanks will be given by Ian Collington. 15th. TSUNAMI APPEAL. The following is a slightly edited version of a note from Bill Paine, District 1250 Grant Committee Chairman. It describes in more detail than we have had before what will be achieved by the matching grant application into which we are making an input. Once again this demonstrates the value achieved when using our hard earned charity fund cash to attract extra funds from District and Rotary Foundation. This also shows why I consider it worthwhile to work hard to put money into Foundation THE Rotary International charity.
The Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean were devastated by the Tsunami wave in December 2005 and since then the Rotarians from District 3290 ( West Bengal, Nepal & Andaman Islands) have been supporting the islanders with food, clothing & providing shelters. District 3290 would now like to obtain support to help restore and re-equip the hospital in the islands capital Port Blair.
The Grant will supply new Diagnostic Equipment to the GB Pant Hospital and in particular new Telemedicine facilities , which will be linked daily to hospitals on mainland India.
The equipment allows the more junior doctors & surgeons based in the island hospital, through a live video link to effectively consult their senior colleagues and experts on the mainland, often with the patient present and visible. The Grant will restore this vital facility destroyed by the tsunami to the Andaman Islands main hospital.
At the September District Foundation Committee a donation of US $ 10,000 from the 1250 District Designated Fund was approved. I am pleased to say that currently the following Clubs have offered their support for the amounts shown : Guildford US $ 550 , Guildford District US $2,000, Hove US $1,000 , Worthing US $ 1,700. The District and Club contributions are in total so far US $15,250 which Foundation will match with US $ 12,625 making a grand total of US $ 27,875 . In addition the Chichester Club have indicated, subject to Council approval , another US $ 1,700 which plus the Trustees match brings the running total to US $30,425 .
I will undertake all the administration of the application so all the 1250 Clubs will be required to do is to sign the application form and then pay their contribution to Evanston. I will also prepare Press Releases for each Club to issue in their area , so trying to inform the public of what Rotary has once again achieved. I look forward to hearing from you .
I will also prepare Press Releases for each Club to issue in their area , so trying to inform the public of what Rotary has once again achieved. CLUB MEETINGS 4th October 2005. 27 present – 26 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor District Membership Services Chairman Duncan Anderson from Reigate. Bob Hinton spoke to members about Hip Hip Horatio, the musical event being held at Ditchling on Sunday, 23rd October. The bottle of wine in the International raffle was won by Adrian Ball. President Bob read out a summary of happenings at the previous evening’s Club Council: 1 No action has been recommended by RI RIBI or District of Katrina nor Niger. 2. Attendance for September was 68.59% but was boosted by attendance at the District Conference. 3. The programme to the end of the year has been distributed. Spares are available. 4. A Games evening is proposed for 24th November. There will be a Trafalgar show at the end of October and a play "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" will be at the Pavilion Theatre in March. 5. The newsletter was distributed today. 6. The equipment held at the Cricketers’ public house is being moved to the newly purchased garden shed at 30 Sackville Road. 7. A new plaque informing the public that our Club meets at this hotel, donated by Patrick Douch, has been erected on the entrance wall to the hotel. 8. The excellent barbecue, held at Storrington this weekend, raised the magnificent sum of £800.00 and thanks were given to everyone who made it such a success with particular mention to Ray Tiltman. 9. It was agreed that the Christmas collection should be used for the Pink Dolphin Appeal and the Nigel Porter Unit. 10 An application for a vocational award has been made to RIBI for the Housing Society. Another will be made for a District Community Award. 11. The programme for next May’s Contact visit is being prepared. Volunteers will be needed to host the visitors in homes for an evening meal on the Thursday. Adrian Ball will be organising the list. 12. Preparations are being made for Mock Interviews at the Brighton and Hove High School at the beginning of November. 13. Four places have been reserved for RYLA 2006. 14. The District Conference was enjoyed by all attending. There were 14 of our members and 10 ladies present, the 2nd highest attendance club attendance of the District. 15. The Christmas Lunch will be held on 20th December to which partners and widows will be invited. 16. There will be no meeting on 27th December. (continued) CLUB MEETINGS (CONTINUED) 4th October, 2004 (continued) 17. It was agreed that £1,000 from the Motor Cycle Rally takings should be passed to "Riders for Health" and that this should be one of our adopted charities. Publicity will be given in the programme (NB Donation increased to £1500 at EGM on 18th October). President Bob then introduced Duncan Anderson, District Membership Services Committee Chairman who was here to talk to us about this most important aspect of Rotary. He emphasised that membership development is for all members and not just for the membership chairman and the President of the club. He also spoke of how things have changed with regard to recruiting new members, many sources such as bank managers, small businesses and round table members, all these things seem to have dried up as far as membership was concerned. He remarked on the fact that the average age of his club members is 66 (Hove is 68!). he said there must be hundreds of people in this area who enjoy Rotary as much as all of us. Club membership would double if each member only introduced one member. He came up with a few ideas for finding new members citing the church or the local chamber of commerce as good sources. He also said that good publicity is very important and also that we should send letters to the local ‘rag’ to encourage public awareness. He said it took a natural disaster to perversely develop membership because of our fundraising efforts for the Tsunami last December. Club members should draw up a list of people they think would make good Rotarians. There are many classifications vacant and each member should go through their own personal telephone directory. He showed us a calling card that has been issued by Titsey and District Club which invited people to come along to a Rotary meeting. Let people know we are a professional networking organisation and also to remember the three ‘f’s’ Fun, Fellowship and Fulfilment which sum up what Rotary is all about. He said that a good venue is paramount, so people would enjoy coming along every week. This should also be accompanied by a good ‘buzz’ in the club and also good food of course. Once your have managed to recruit your new member you must make him/her very welcome, wear name badges and try to ensure that there are no cliques each week. Information is also very important, and this can be achieved by making sure the new member knows the structure of Rotary, how large and International it is. He/She should also be made to know what the financial cost is. A new member should also have one or two mentors and one of them should not necessarily be the sponsor but should be someone who has similar interests, either socially or in their business. He went on to state some even more obvious points for retaining members. This was an excellent talk and gave us all food for thought. It cannot be emphasised how very important it is that we recruit new members as soon as possible. The reason for this will be very obvious, particularly when we once again try to appoint new officers for the coming Rotary years in December. The vote of thanks was given by Membership Development Officer David Knowles. 11th October,2005. 29 present – 27 of our own members and 2 visiting Rotarians; David Perrin from Brighton and District Governor Ian Swales from Worthing Steyne, our speaker for today. SVP David Henderson appealed for members to volunteer for a quiz team to take part in the Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club Charity Quiz Night It was also announced that more members are needed to sign on for the "40 Set" draw for the coming year. Secretary David informed members that information is to hand regarding hotels and air fares for the RIBI Conference in Belfast next April. He also gave details of a musical evening which will be run by the Brighton club. It is called Harmony and Humour and will take place on 14th November at the Lady of Good Shepherd Church Hall. It was reported that John Ansell was still very poorly. Today was the occasion of the annual visit by the Governor of District 1250, here to tell us about his year in office, along with the usual messages from the Presidents of RI and RIBI. Ian thanked the Hove club for their wonderful support at this year’s District Conference in Torquay. The remainder of the talk was pretty much the same as that given by Governors in previous years so I will not go into any more detail. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob 18th October, 2005. 27 present – 24 of our own members, 2 non-Rotarian guests; Mervyn Weeks (speaker) and Bernard Greaves. and one Rotarian visitor, David Perrin from Brighton. I have nothing to report on announcements made at this meeting because I was unable to attend but I am told the talk on "Off The Fence" a local organisation that has been providing vital services to the most vulnerable and at risk in our community since 1994. The organisation is split up into four groups, which are Teenagers at Risk, Young People at Risk, Homeless at Risk and Families at Risk. The support given is most comprehensive. For teenagers at risk there is a Safe House, a five-bedroomed house that provides a short stay opportunity for teenagers at risk. Whilst they are in the house it allows Off The Fence to work alongside relevant agencies providing long term networking care. The am of this particular project is to provide young people with stability in order for them to mokve forward and to prevent homelessness. If you want to learn more about this worthwhile organisation they can be contacted as follows; PO Box 226, Hove, BN3 8LY. Tel: 01273 733 732 or e-mail office@offthefence.org.uk You can also visit their website which is www.offthefence.org.uk The vote of thanks was given by IPP Ken Jones. 25th October, 2005. 29 Present – 28 of our own members and 1 non-Rotarian guest, Bernard Greaves. Paul Thrasher reported that Malcolm Clayton’s health has taken a turn for the worst but he would welcome callers but only if they telephoned beforehand. Ray Tiltman reported that Phil Shingler is in Hurstwood Park Hospital where he has had an operation to his throat. He and Bernard Greaves will be visiting him this afternoon. Community Service Chairman John Eaton reminded members that the Christmas Collection List boards were circulating and asked for each member to put his name down for as many hours as possible. He informed us that we would only be collecting for two Saturdays at Tesco, Church Road, the majority of the collecting being done in George Street this year. He also asked for plenty of volunteers for the Christmas Eve collection in George Street because this coincides with a Farmers’ Market being held there that day. Secretary David reported that seventeen people from this club attended the concert to commemorate 200th anniversary of the death of Admiral Nelson, held at Ditchling Community Centre recently. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton announced the arrival of the Rotary Foundation calendars which are on sale for £3.00 each. DISTRICT CONFERENCE (CONTINUED) Here is conclusion of report from this year’s District 1250 conference held at Torquay. Firstly I would like to state that Ray and Chrissie Tiltman were part of the delegation and not Secretary David and Joan Burchell. This report covers the Sunday Morning, which consisted of a Servie of Worship led by Canon John Devereux. There were readings during the service by DG Ian and his wife, Jan. The music for the hymns was played by the Torbay Brass Band. The service lasted about three quarters of an hour. The collection made during the final hymn is for Rotary-assisted charities including Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. Then a coffee break was taken before we all filed back to attend the final session of this year’s Conference. The session opened with the DG welcoming delegates to this particular session. There then followed awards for various things, including the trophies for the golf tournament, which had taken place the day before conference commenced. There was also a presentation for best attendance at conference. This was won by Burgess Hill. This trophy is decided by the percentage of members from the club attending. You will be pleased to know that we had the second highest attendance in terms of numbers at this conference. The next item on the agenda was a presentation from the people behind "Hearing Dogs for the Deaf" This was an amazing presentation by Andy Cook and Clare Guest together with two dogs, one called "Dill" who was fully trained and reacted to every order with great discipline and alacrity, and another dog, son of "Dill", who was a novice at the game and had not been fully trained. The trainers gave us many demonstrations on how the dogs can help, with informing their owners of when the telephone was ringing to one case of when the owner unknowingly dropped his wallet. A really amusing and informative presentation. Next up was the RI President’s representative, PDG Gunilla Svanberg who said her fond farewell’s on behalf of RI President Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar. There was then a presentation by the Midhurst and Petworth Club to do with the improvements they had made to their town centre. Next on stage was Past President of RIBI Rodney P. Higgins who, in his own inimitable style, gave his impressions of the weekend and gave his farewell speech on behalf of RIBI President Mike Webb. David Langley followed Rodney on stage and he was here, as next year’s DG, to entice us to his District Conference in Bournemouth next September. He painted a wonderful picture of how hot it was going to be and also supplied us with some very impressive names of speakers, including Anne Widdicombe and Esther Rantzen. Sounds as though it is going to be another good one and we should support him in great numbers. One of the first things someone said to me at the beginning of the conference was that I shouldn’t miss the last speaker because he is absolutely brilliant. Well, I was not disappointed and from the moment Geoff Mackey came on stage to when it came for time for him to leave, he had us in stitches throughout. With the help of a lot of visual humour, by way of powerpoint, he kept us amused for almost three quarters of an hour. There was also a serious side to the talk, it being one of motivation, but it never really came through. Geoff is an amazing chap, larger than life and is totally committed to Rotary, being a member of the Audley RC. He has led a quiz amazing and varied working life, having been employed as a research scientist, sports coach, bingo hall manager, health and safety inspector, bounce4r, pr and media adviser and many other posts. He holds the post of International Chairman of RIBI. He has been sergeant-at-arms at both district and national level. He has been a GSE Scholar and Rotaract National Chairman. I was exhausted just reading his CV. If you ever get a chance to listen to him, please do. Well, it was a wonderful way to finish a very enjoyable conference and it now came to the time for DG Ian to ring the bell and close the conference with the message "See you in Bournemouth next year." All in all a very good conference with not one boring session. Two cracking conferences off the trot, what next!! INNER WHEEL CLUB OF HOVE NEARLY NEW SALE. This event is being held on Saturday, 12th November at St. Andrew’s Hall, Church Road, Hove, opposite Mulholland’s Off Licence (well, I’m allowed a little bit of free advertising!) It will be a Nearly New Sale of Clothes, Books etc. and will take place between 11am and 1pm. Refreshments will be available and there will be a charge of 50p for admission. DISTRICT NEWSLETTER. Most of you should be aware that the printed form of this communication has been discontinued, so here is information from District as to how you can read or download the electronic version. We attach below the link to take you to the FOURTH issue of our new 1250 District Communications Newsletter, 1250 Communiqué, for your information and onward distribution. Please forward to your members as appropriate and / or advise them that this and previous publications are also available on our District Web Site www.rotary1250.org.uk and will remain accessable or downloadable for the next 12 months. You may also wish to link this web site page to your own club web site.To view and/or download your copy of October Communiqué use the shortcut below or copy and past shortcut into your normal website browser to access document. http://www.1250.org.uk/doclib/22/imgs/october_communique.pdf
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN OCTOBER 2005 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows, Three months have passed in this Rotary year, and what a finish to that first quarter. I was overwhelmed by the support I received at the Conference in Torquay this weekend. Fourteen Hove Rotarians registered, and our party of 24 was the second largest in the District, even bigger than the DG’s own delegation from Worthing Steyne. The fellowship was absolutely great and I’m sure everybody who attended will tell the rest of you what a great weekend you missed. Everybody agreed that it was a truly wonderful conference, with a very well balanced programme, comprising of first class speakers. I didn’t envy DG Ian’s task in matching the superb happenings at last year’s conference in Bournemouth but to my great joy and surprise this appeared to be of similar quality. I know it is twelve months or so away but I urge as many of you as possible to support I/C President David at Bournemouth next year. We also have a second reason to attend because David Langley, brother of our own Richard, will be District Governor at that time. He has also arranged some outstanding speakers to attend, including Ann Widdecombe and Esther Rantzen, to name a couple Talking of District Governors, the present incumbent will be visiting our Club this month and it would be very nice if we could turn up in numbers to show him what a thriving outfit we are. Secretary David has also asked me to remind you with regard to attendance that you should let him know by the Monday at the latest if you are unable to attend the meetings on Tuesday. Just recently there have been some fairly poor attendances and it has been an embarrassment to him when he has to explain to the hotel management why there are so few attending. It may well come to the point where we have to charge the cost of the meal to who ever has not informed him of their intended absence. Most of you should have received the speakers list for the next quarter and I’m sure that you all agree that Ian Collington has come up ‘trumps’ once again with a varied and interesting range of speakers and subjects. The quarter finishes a week early, as there is no meeting on the 27th December, when Ian will be running a Christmas Quiz complete with an update to the excellent film he showed at IPP Ken’s evening in February. I am writing this a couple of days before the barbecue at Storrington and I’m keeping my fingers crossed because the weather forecast is not too promising. Over seventy people have stated their intention to attend so hopefully the Worthing Hospital Cancer Fund should benefit somewhat from our efforts. Membership rears its head this month, with a general discussion taking place at our meeting this coming Tuesday. I know every president bangs on about membership but this is because it is coming to the stage where we could perish if we don’t do anything about recruiting new members. I know this sounds a bit dramatic but it’s a fact of life. Yours in Rotary President Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 October. Sun 2nd Fund Raising BBQ at Storrington. Board being circulated from meeting of 6/9*** Mon 3rd. Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6.15pm Tues.4th Meeting of Brighton Area Presidents. Hangleton Manor. 7.30pm. Thurs. 6th Farewell dinner for GSE Team from District 3260, to be held at Mid Sussex Golf Club, Spatham Lane, Ditchling 7-7.30pm. £15.00 per head Tues. 11th, DG Ian Swales to visit Club Fri 14th. Welcome to Ambassadorial Scholars at Brinsbury College 7pm. Mon 31st. Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6.15pm. NB. This was to have been on Mon Nov 7th but has been brought forward*** November. Tues 1st. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250*** Thurs. 17th District Council – Ardingly. 6.30 for 7pm Tues 29th. Fifth evening meeting with Lady guests. Volunteers may be needed for transport*** December. Mon 5th. Club Council. Hangleton Manor 6.15pm. 2006 January Fri. 20th Joint Meeting Brighton Area Rotary Clubs. Venue and Time to be arranged*** March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly. September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth. New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR OCTOBER Cash – Michael Peters. Care of Visitors – Ian Varley CLUB PROGRAMME FOR OCTOBER 4th. the usual report on the previous night’s Club Council, but there will also be a general debate on membership, and hopefully we will come up with some ideas for recruitment of new members. 11th. today sees the annual visit of the District Governor, this year’s incumbent being Ian Swales from Worthing Steyne. He will most probably be relaying a message from the Presidents of RI and RIBI and will also most certainly report on his recent and excellent District Conference in Torquay. 18th. Our speaker today is Mervyn Weeks and he will be telling us all about "Off The Fence", an organisation that helps local people at risk. The vote of thanks will be given by IPP Ken Jones. 25th. the last meeting of the month sees the customary getting together of the various club committees.
CLUB MEETINGS 6th September 2005. 28 present – 27 of our own members and one non Rotarian guest, Andrew Austin, who was here to deputise for his father, John, at the housing society meeting which was being held immediately after lunch. SVP David Henderson gave details of hotel for delegates to the upcoming conference in Torquay. President Bob gave summary of matters discussed at the previous evening’s Club Council. They were as follows:- 13th September, 2005. 32 present – 31 of our own members and one non Rotarian guest; Keith Friar, a guest of Ian Collington. President Bob read out letter from Phil Shingler, the words of which were as follows: "Dear Bob, May I ask you, in your capacity as President, if you would, on my behalf, thank the members for all their kind cards and letters, and I am sure that all who attended the funeral would agree we saw Sheila off in fine style – truly a celebration of her life. I am going away for a few days but I look forward to being with the club very soon – especially in its new surroundings! Yours in Rotary – Phil." President Bob read out invitation to meet President of RIBI, Mike Webb, who is attending a lunch in Lewes on Tuesday, November 1st. President Bob said that unfortunately, this clashes with our own Club meeting, and he has sent apologies from this Club. Sports officer John Mainwood announced that all the District sports competitions are up and going. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton read out an invitation for all members to a farewell dinner for the GSE Team from India, which is taking place at The Mid Sussex Golf Club in October. Our speaker today was one of our own members, David Knowles and the title of his talk was "Brighton Rock – The Real Thing". This talk was nothing to with the Graham Green Novel, or the little sticks of confectionery bearing the name "Brighton". This talk was to do with chalk. As David pointed out, in his early days of cycling from Saltdean to Brighton, via the cliff underpass, all he could see was chalk and this got him to thinking about what it consisted of and where did it come from. With the help of a PowerPoint display he proceeded to explain it all to us. He pointed out that the cliffs, containing the chalk, spread all along the South coast, all the way to Dover and beyond. (continued) He explained that chalk is a sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of a Mineral called calcium carbonate ca/co3. David said that this chalk in some places is some 335 meters thick. He explained to us the working of the continental drift with the aid of a diagram and went through all the ages of existence explaining the evolution of chalk. He told us that chalk is made up of deposited carbonate materials typically calcite, dolomite and fossils. We were all amazed to be told that trillion upon trillions of marine organisms remove co2 and make shells, forming part of the chalk. He then went on to describe various fossils, including ammonites, which are now extinct. He finished his talk by explaining the long carbon cycle which is affected by global warming and said that at some stage in the future, millions of years hence, the chalk will be absorbed by some complicated method causing volcanoes to erupt. He said that 7 billion tons of co2 are put into the atmosphere each year from this planet and it is this which will cause this phenomenon. Who would have thought that a simple cycle trip would set ones mind in motion and motivate David to explore the origins of chalk. Initially, I thought this would be a pretty gritty talk (no pun intended) but it turned out to be very interesting, and sweetened by the gift of a stick of rock to each and every member present. The vote of thanks was given by President Bob 20th September, 2005. 25 present – 23 of our own members and one non Rotarian guest; Tim McDonald our speaker for today and one Rotarian visitor; Robin Cooter from Southam 2000 and son-in-law of Secretary David. President Bob reported that he, together with Secretary David, had attended the 25th anniversary dinner of Hove Soiree, held at the Cricket Ground on Thursday, 15th September. Today was also the occasion of a Special General Meeting, where members were invited to vote for nomination of District Officers. PP Howard Attree was nominated for the office of District Treasurer for the year 2006/7. This was proposed by Treasurer Michael Nettell and seconded by PP Tony Woodthorpe. The speaker today was Tim McDonald, who holds the post of Chief Executive of The National Talking Newspaper and Magazine Service. The charity, which is based in Heathfield, has been going for over 20 years. It’s mass of volunteers record audio versions of national newspapers and magazines on cassette, and in various digital formulas. Each year millions of these are sent all around the UK and internationally, but the problem is that, of the nearly three million blind or visually-impaired people in this country, many still don’t know about this every valuable service. Tim was formerly a BBC music producer and has been running the audio news operation for some years now. He started off by saying that one of the annoying things for his organisation is that they are confused with talking books and lots of people don’t know about the service. He said that even professional people have turned up at their stands at various exhibitions and confessed they didn’t know of his organisation’s existence. He pointed out the disadvantages that the blind have compared to people that can see, things we take for granted like getting up, reading ingredients on packages of breakfast food and knowing what bus to catch by reading the number. Tim then gave us a short history of his organisation, mentioning that they started 8in Aberystwyth of all places. The founder was travelling in Sweden and discovered people reading into a tape recorder in a library in a small town and found they were recording pieces of information for the blind people of their town. The first broadcast, a reading from a Cardiganshire newspaper, went out to 25 people. The first response was "Thanks very much, this is a lifeline. I can now instigate conversations about what I have "read" in the newspaper." Word of mouth spread for the next four years and in 1974 a membership organisation was formed and in 1990 they moved to a warehouse in Heathfield, which is now their headquarters. Tim then went into the different methods of how the blind can receive their materials, including downloading it from PC’s with the aid of voice software. Besides having to transform the stories into the spoken word, they have to correct the many mistakes made by the newspapers in question. One good thing is that because of their customer’s blindness there is no postal charge incurred. A most fascinating talk by a very good speaker. The vote of thanks was given by Paul Thrasher. 22 present – all our own members. The weekly raffle for bottle wine was won by Howard Attree. Today was also the occasion for the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 was won by Gordon Cummings. Bob Hinton reported that John Ansell was poorly, but there no further details of his illness given. There was an appeal given for raffle prizes to be taken along to the BBQ, which is being held at Storrington next Sunday. BBQ, STORRINGTON, SUNDAY, 2ND OCTOBER This last outdoor social event of the year was a great success, with over 70 people attending. The weather stayed fine, albeit a bit chilly, but people were able to keep warm in the barn which was heated most efficiently by a large stove. Speaking to many people afterwards, I was not surprised to hear that everyone agreed that a good time was had by all, with the added bonus that we managed to raise almost £800 for the Worthing Hospital Cancer Department, a charity which had been nominated by Ray Tiltman, who had first hand knowledge of the superb treatment received at their hands. Thanks are owed to Ray’s son-in-law for the use of his lovely home and grounds. He was also the chef for the day and the food was quite delicious. All this was topped up by some wonderful desserts, supplied by the ladies of Hove Inner Wheel. PLAQUE. You may, or may not, have noticed the lovely new plaque on the exterior of the Courtland’s Hotel. Made in a lovely black marble with gold plated writing, this was manufactured by one of Patrick Douch’s craftsmen and donated to the club by himself. Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, the owner of Courtland’s told me that he was only too pleased to have such a sign outside his hotel and had a workman put it in place almost immediately. HOSPITAL FRIENDS. I have received a letter from Hospital Friends, Friends of Brighton and Hove Hospitals, inviting all members to an event called "Doctor Talks". This talk is by Cardiac Consultants, Dr Adam de Belder and Mr Jonathan Hyde and they will be looking at "Choices in Treating Coronary Disease Now and in the Future." If any of you would like to attend this talk, which takes place on Wednesday, October 26th, 7.30pm and is being held at Audrey Emerton Building, opposite the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, please see me and I will let you have the form for applying to attend. DISTRICT CONFERENCE, TORQUAY, 23RD/25TH SEPTEMBER,2005. Registered delegates from Hove were as follows: President Bob Mulholland and Ann, IPP Ken Jones, Secretary David Burchell and Joan, SVP David Henderson and Christine, PP Patrick Douch and June, PP Howard Attree and Helen, PP Bob Hinton and Sheila, PP George Robinson and Sylvie, PP Peter Fowle and Pam, PP Peter Savage and Pat, PP John Couch and Brenda, PP Ted Bartup, PP Adrian Ball and PP Michael Peters, the latter three were not in the hotel, they stayed at a caravan site I know not where with their wives, Veronica, Hillary and Trish. The delegates who stayed in the Belgrave Hotel arrived on the Thursday, the day before conference was due to start. Most of us gathered for dinner in the evening and after a very pleasant get together many retired early due to it having been a long day, what with the long journey. Friday morning saw the delegates partaking of a late breakfast because conference was not due to start until three o’clock that afternoon. The majority of the Hove delegation arrived at the conference centre for the first session, the beginning of which consisted of welcome messages to various dignitaries and the delegates themselves. There was a welcome to Torquay from the Mayor of Torbay and this was followed by DG Ian welcoming all delegates and guests to the conference. There was then the annual handing over of the conference flag. This is kept for a year by the previous District Governor’s Club and was handed over to Worthing Steyne, this year’s District Governor’s Club. Next up was George Armstrong, a Rotarian from Helston/Lizard, Cornwall who told us all about "Shelter Boxes". This scheme has really taken off this year, with 11,000 boxes being shipped off to India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia following the Tsunami disaster last boxing day. The boxes ensure that people who have been made homeless do no have to sleep without a roof over their head in the time they are waiting to be rehoused. George was followed by a presentation from the GSE Team from District 3260 (India) led by their charismatic leader Rotarian Anoop Vincent Ambrose. He introduced the four members of his team; Mrs. Rupaleen Patgiri,Miss Arti Ratnakar, Dr G.A. Ghanshyam and Mr Sandeep Mishra. The two ladies demonstrated local dances of the area and the two men gave us information about their district. I thought it was a bit bizarre when they were played on to the stage with the Peter Sellers song, "Goodness Gracious Me" when they took the stage! This presentation was followed by an address by Dawn Hatley, Inner Wheel Chairman for District 25, and this was one of the better talks I had heard from the holder of this office. She set out her message very succinctly and it was very well received by conference. There then followed a presentation from the Horsham Club, to do with an African project, where they had raised many thousands of pounds to buy the equipment to keep a town in permanent fresh water. This was a marvellous water pump, which converted the dirty and dangerous water into drinking water. Our last speaker for the evening was Lord Geddes, who spent about three quarters of an hour explaining the working of the House of Lords to us. It was very interesting at times, but I thought it could have been a bit shorter. DG Ian was able to obtain a quality speaker of this sort because of friendship formed whey then they were both at Cambridge University. The session finished at about five o’clock which left about an hour before we all gathered in President Bob’s room for a few refreshments. We then had a really lovely dinner at a brasserie attached to the main concert building. where a variety show had been laid on that evening. Most of those assembled were dressed up in the style of "Chicago in the Twenties", with a preponderance of black shirts and white ties. There was a competition on stage before the entertainment for the best fancy dressed couple and this was won by District Secretary Michael Moore and Brenda. Some people enjoyed the show more than others, the comedian being first class but the musical part of it a class or two below that. Luckily enough, if one wanted to get away, it was no problem because our hotel was only a couple of minutes walk from the centre and there was no waiting for buses or anything like that. Saturday saw everyone down at breakfast a little bit earlier because the session was due to start at 9.30. First on stage, after all the opening formalities, was PDG Gunilla Svanberg, from Sweden who was here as a representation of RI President, Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar. She was a very pleasant lady and passed on the message from the RI President in a most efficient and amusing manner. Next to speak was Judy Polkinhorn, and she was here to tell us all about "Mercy Ships" a very worthwhile project. These ships are fully equipped to be a hospital and visit various ports in Africa mainly, although there is one ship based in the US at present. I suggest you get on to the RIBI web page and find out more about this fantastic scheme. When she had finished it was then the turn of Past President of RIBI Rodney Huggins, who was representing Mike Webb, the present holder of that office. He made a quite pointed remark about the previous speaker going over her time but made up for it with a brilliant speech, full of great humour, without losing the theme of what he had to say to us all. After a twenty minutes coffee break we came back into the hall to listen to one of best talks of the weekend. This was given by Tricia Stewart, one of the famous WI calendar girls. Her part, in the film of the same name, was taken by Helen Mirren. She spoke for about an hour on her experiences from when the idea of stripping for a calendar was formed, to the present, which has culminated in her writing a book of her experiences together with the fact that she now cruises the world on huge liners as a speaker on her experiences. This was a truly marvellous talk and she had the audience in stitches time and time again with her very droll delivery. Great stuff. The next talk was completely different and I didn’t envy Brian Jones, who was to tell us all about his adventures orbiting the world in a hot air balloon. He also spoke on his charity, Winds of Hope, which he got the idea for whilst passing over Africa on his epic voyage. This was the last speech of the morning and we broke up for the day, for there was no afternoon session although the ladies (and I suppose men!) were invited to a Flower Demonstration by Susan Wills-Pope. For most of us it was an afternoon free, discovering the shops and sights of Torquay before another half hour of refreshments in the President’s room before setting off for the conference centre where we were to have a dinner and dance. This turned out to be very good indeed. With excellent food and great music and everyone seemed to have a great time. Owing to lack of space (and time!) I will finish this account off in next month’s bulletin. ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 2005 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows, This Presidential lark doesn’t half make the time fly. I cannot believe that I am preparing to take my third council of this Rotary year later on today. It seems as though I have only been President of this Club for about five minutes. There has been plenty to keep me busy this month. On the first Tuesday in August I met up with the other Presidents of the Brighton Area where we exchanged thoughts and ideas about this current Rotary year. Out of this meeting came the idea to hold a joint meeting of all six Clubs, this to take place on Friday, 20th January. I hope to have further details when we meet again on Tuesday, 6th September. By the time you read this we will be meeting for the second time at The Courtland’s Hotel and let us hope we will settle down at this venue and meet there for some time to come. I think everyone was impressed with the food and service at the evening meeting last week and we hope this continues. Talking of last Tuesday, it was the highlight of my year thus far, welcoming all our ladies and guests. The only cloud on the horizon is that the number of Club members attending the evening meetings is very low and some members are questioning whether to continue the tradition of inviting our lady guests, or whether we should revert to a lunchtime meeting on the fifth Tuesday. A debate or decision on this is not imminent and we definitely intend to hold the traditional ‘ladies evening’ in November before this goes on the agenda at Council. Yesterday saw some forty five or so people attending the International Hospitality Lunch at Gill and Richard Langley’s lovely house in Woodland Drive. The weather was superb and the company was, as usual, very sociable and enjoyable. Our happiness at meeting up on such a wonderful day was tinged with sadness at hearing of the passing away of Sheila Shingler, and I am sure you will all join me in sending our sincere condolences to Phil, who has not been too well himself lately. It was most poignant to hear of her death prior to one of our get togethers because she was always the life and soul on these occasions and she will be sorely missed. I would like to thank, on behalf of you all, Richard and Gill for their wonderful hospitality and hard work in making this such a successful event. There was a more unusual happening last Thursday, when Brenda and John Couch threw the doors (door?) of their beach hut open and brewed up cups of tea for those attending. This was held in conjunction with the Foundation Tea Caddy initiative and I am told it was a great success, raising £50.00. John tells me that he managed to sell tea to a very inquisitive member of the public. Thank you John and Brenda. The next occasion on when I am leading my "troops" is towards the end of the month when some 20 or so of us are attending the District 1250 Conference in Torquay. I’ll tell you all about it in the next edition of this bulletin.
Yours in Rotary President Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 September. Monday 5th. Club Council, Hangleton Manor. 6.15 Sat 10th. Foundation Day Goodwood Races Tkts £14.00 Fri/Sun 23rd/25th. District Conference, Torquay. Registration forms now available, see President Bob October. Sun 2nd Fund Raising BBQ at Storrington. Board being circulated from meeting of 6/9*** Mon 3rd. Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6/15*** Thurs. 6th Farewell dinner for GSE Team from District 3260, to be held at Mid Sussex Golf Club, Spatham Lane, Ditchling 7-7.30pm. £15.00 per head Tues. 11th, DG Ian Swales to visit Club Fri 17th. Welcome to Ambassadorial Scholars at Brinsbury College 7pm*** 31st Monday. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250*** November. Tues 1st. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250*** Mon 7th. Club Council, Hangleton Manor. 6.15pm. Thurs. 17th District Council – Ardingly. 6.30 for 7pm Tues 29th. Fifth evening meeting with Lady guests. Volunteers may be needed for transport*** 2006 March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project. Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly*** September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth.*** New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR SEPTEMBER Cash – Michael Nettell. Care of Visitors – Roger Patterson. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER. 6th. This, our first lunchtime meeting at The Courtland’s Hotel is as customary for the first meeting of the month one of business, where there will be a report on the previous evening’s Club Council. 13th. Our own David Knowles is the speaker for today and the title of his talk is "Brighton Rock – The Real Stuff" The vote of thanks will be given by President Bob. 20th. Our speaker today is Tim McDonald and he we will be telling us all about National Talking Newspapers and the vote of thanks is in the capable hands of Paul Thrasher. 27th. The final meeting of the month and as usual it will be devoted to the meetings of various committees.
MEMBERSHIP SEMINAR, ARDINGLY, 18TH AUGUST. Together with Membership Officer David Knowles I attended this seminar and most interesting it was too. There was quite a good turnout with 57 Rotarians from the District attending this event which was conducted PDG Barry Hopkins, who is RI Zone 18 Membership Coordinator and Duncan Anderson, Chairman District 1250 Membership Services. The meeting started with an introduction by Duncan Anderson and this was followed by a short presentation entitled "Introducing New Members" by PDG Barry. The main body of the meeting then split up into 4 breakaway groups, representing the four different areas (SE,SW,NE and NW) of the District where we all were given an individual subject to tackle , our (SE) particular subject being How do we "sell" Rotary to potential members- Why become A Rotarian? Each of the groups then appointed a spokesperson who then reported back at the reassembly of the groups after about a quarter of an hour. There were four presentations of some five minutes duration. At the conclusion of this we then had another presentation by PDG Barry and the subject of this was Membership Retention. Once again we all split up into four groups and had another subject to debate and this time the SE Area discussed What Are the Responsibilities of Existing Members to a New Rotarian? Then it was the same as before with each group having a spokesman who summed up their own groups discussions for about five minutes. After a summing up by PDG Barry we all made our way home. Quite a few ideas came up at the seminar which David and I will be taking to Council for discussion and we will report to Club at the earliest opportunity. One thing that did come out of it and I thought was a good idea was the setting up of groups of four members in our Club to bandy names of possible prospective members and follow up any strong leads. This Club tried this scheme out some fifteen or so years ago with limited success but even so a limited success would be a lot better than we are doing at the moment with regard to recruiting new members. DISTRICT COUNCIL, 17TH NOVEMBER. ARDINGLY SHOWGROUND. Just a reminder that Secretary David will be seeking volunteers to help with duties at District Council On Thursday 17th November. It’s quite a simple task, mainly to do with helping delegates sign in on the evening. There is no money to handle, since the fee for attending Council was dropped in the last Rotary year. The call for this particular duty only occurs about once every fifteen years so I would be grateful for your cooperation. INDIA IMMUNUSATION DATE – NOT YOUR TYPICAL DAY! Here are a few facts out this amazing day that I thought may interest you. The dates for the next immunisation days will be held on 25th September 2005, 20th November 2005, 8th or 15th January 2006, 19th or 26th February 2006. The organisers say that if you are planning to visit India on any of these dates and would like to help in this enormous undertaking you can do this by contacting tajhosting@sanchernet.in or visit the website at www.geocities.com.tajhosting
CLUB MEETINGS. 2nd August, 2005. 27 Present – all our own members. President Bob was pleased to note that Malcolm Clayton had managed to attend for the second time in a short while and wished him continued improvement in his health. Most of the meeting was devoted to a report of last night’s Club Council with the main topic being the recommendation that the Club should move their meetings from the current Cricket Ground site to the Courtland’s Hotel in The Drive. A vote whether to move from the Cricket Club was unanimously passed and it was announced that the first meeting at Courtland’s Hotel would take place on the evening of 30th August. 9th August 2005. 27 Present – 26 of our own members and 1 non-Rotarian guest; Michael Jayston, our speaker for today. Secretary David reminded members that the last meeting of this month will be held at Courtland’s Hotel and a board is being circulated for Members to affix the names of those who will be attending. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton rose to speak about the Foundation Tea Caddies project. He explained that everything over 20p donated goes to Foundation and that there are tokens to be found inside each caddy which you can use to them to obtain items but if you give them back to him he can send them back to foundation and obtain something special with them. Today’s speaker was Michael Jayston, a well known figure in Hove, an actor of some repute who has appeared in many films, plays and TV dramas, notably "The Power Game" and "A Bit Of a Do". Michael has spoken to us previously and he is always very welcome. The topic of today’s talk was cricket, very apt in this most exciting of cricketing summers. He started off by saying that he was not going to bore us with tales of matches but he would tell us a few anecdotes about cricket and acting and quoted George Bernard Shaw when he said "The English have no sense of eternity so they invented cricket" He told us that Trent Bridge, home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket, was only a half mile from where he lived and won of his earliest memories was bunking off to watch the Australian test team, which included Bradman, Miller and many other great players. Unfortunately he was caught by his headmaster, a priest who was potty about cricket and was told to write a twenty page essay on Denis Compton’s innings. He then went on to tell us the story about Fred Trueman’s first test match, which was again India and in which Trueman had the amazing figures of 4-0 at one stage, the Indian’s having lost their first four wickets with the score still on nought. When one of the batsmen, Polly Umrigar, asked the umpire to move the sightscreen, the umpire said, "Where would you like it?" and the batsman replied "preferably between me and that bastard Trueman!" He also quoted the story of when David Sheppard, the late Bishop of Liverpool, and a former test cricketer for Sussex and England, where the reverend dropped a catch of Freddy’s bowling and Fred sarcastically remarked " I thought you were good at putting your hands together". He told us of a time when Don Bradman snicked a catch to the England wicketkeeper and was given not out by the umpire, and Wally Hammond accused Bradman of cheating and they never spoke to each other again. He also told us of when he heard Sir Laurence Olivier made derogatory remarks about Douglas Bader, the legless pilot, and when asked why Sir Laurence said that he was bowled first ball by Bader in a match and has never forgiven him. There was also a story about Brian Johnstone, that most famous of cricket commentators of when he was on duty as one of the commentators at the wedding of Charles and Diane when he said "Upstairs and into the pavilion, sorry I mean the Abbey, they go. There was also a special Asian dish he mentioned, this being a Boycott Curry. It has the same taste as most curries but you get the runs more slowly. This was a marvellous talk given by a supreme professional, who obviously loves his cricket, proven by the fact that he still turns out for one of the Rottingdean elevens and is also President of that Club. There were many questions asked afterwards, mainly to do with the pros and cons of 20/20 cricket. The vote of thanks was given by Bob Hinton, twelfth man in place of David Knowles.
16th August, 2005. 30 present – 28 of our own members and two visitors Harvey Gillmann our speaker and Bernard Greaves, past member of this Club and here as a guest of Ray Tiltman. Sharon, the lady in charge of our needs at lunchtime, gave time to say a sad farewell to us. She gave this today because she would not be here for our last meeting at the Cricket Club on Tuesday, 23rd August. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton announced that there was to be a fund-raising tea party at John and Brenda Couch’s beach hut (No. 222) on the Kingsway on Thursday, 1st September between 3 and 5 pm. Harvey Gillman, our speaker today, was here to give us a talk entitled "Who are today’s Quakers?" He started off by telling us that he was asked to introduce Quakers to a sixth form college in Kent and was asked if they were anything to do with Quaker Oats. He explained that this was not so and that the producers of Quaker Oats had chose that logo because they were looking for an image to market their products and Quakers had a reputation for wholesome proper living, and they thought they could sell more with that image. Ironically, there was a Quaker Man cartoon character who was a violent person, and this was completely opposite to the real thing because Quakers have a peaceful outlook on life. He informed us that there were a quarter of a million Quakers throughout the world, a very small church, although they do not use that word. The movement is split up into various tendencies. York was the venue for a national meeting attended by 1400 people, representing ten percent of all Quakers in the UK. People from all walks of life are part of the movement. They even counted a Tory Mp among their numbers during the Thatcher era. In the last parliament they had a Lib Dem MP from Guildford. Many Quakers belong to the Green Movement because many of the ideals of that organisation coincide with those of the Quakers. Apparently they are also regarded as the wild anarchists of the Christian church and have a motto of "Without a vision the people may perish". He told us that even though they observe long silences during their meetings they also have a hymn book but they are suspicious of conventional singing. With regard to the long silences at their meetings, he explained that this denotes "respecting the inner voice and inner person". He informed us that this year is the Bi-centenary of the Quaker Meeting House in Ship Street, Brighton. Harvey was a most passionate speaker and surprised me by the assertiveness of his talk, bearing in mind that we think of Quakers as quite gentle people. A most interesting and informative talk by a very devout person. The vote of thanks was given by David Knowles. 23rd August, 2005. 22 Present – 21 of our own members and one Rotarian visitor; Mark Bridgemount from Dunedin NZ. I’m afraid that I was one of the members that contributed to such a poor attendance at this meeting, which was also the last one we held at Sussex County Cricket Ground. Let us hope that attendance improves when we meet at our new venue. Thank you to SVP David for standing in from me in the Presidential Chair. There was no speaker today, the meeting be wholly taken up by the meetings of the various committees. 30th August. 2005. 46 Present – 22 of our own members and 2 Rotarian visitors; David Pierce President of Brighton and Chris Curson, from Limassol Berengaria, Cyprus. Chris was a former member of Brighton and Hove Breakfast Club. Also present were 22 non-Rotarian guests including Joan Kavanagh, President of The Inner Wheel Club of Hove a personal guest of mine. Also present was Bob Allen, former Mayor of Hove and past Member of Portslade and West Hove. Last but not least of our guests was Martyn Cook our speaker for today. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton spoke on the Tea Caddy project and also gave publicity for the tea to be held at Beach Hut 222, summer home of John and Brenda Couch, on Thursday, 1st September between 3-5pm. This is also in conjunction with the aforementioned Tea Caddy project. The evening was in danger of turning into the Bob Hinton Night because he also managed to win the "40 Set" draw cheque for £25.00 President Bob told members that he, along with David Knowles had attended a seminar for membership at Ardingly recently, where many ideas were discussed and these would be expanded on at the next Council on Monday. (continued) 30th August, 2005. Secretary David reminded members of council that next week’s meeting of council would be meeting, once again, at The Hangleton Manor. International Chairman Tad Phillips/Filipowicz informed us that 40 people had shown their intentions of attending the International Hospitality Lunch this coming Sunday at Richard and Gill Langley’s house. Today’s speaker, Martyn Cook, was here to tell us all about "Riders for Health". This is an organisation that supplies Motorcycles and motorcycle parts to enable medicines and suchlike to be transported quickly and safely to the more remote regions in Africa, those places where the roads and tracks can only be negotiated by motorcycle. He commenced by showing us two short films, the second one narrated by Ewan Mcgregor, star of many blockbuster movies. The organisation has been going since 1988. The aim of the charity is to keep motorcycles running, with the help of spare parts, because much of the transport in Africa is no use because of lack of maintenance. Reliable motorcycles were needed for transportation of medicines and suchlike to far flung villages. Motorcycles were the only type of vehicle that could get through some of the difficult terrain in that area. One country, Gambia has placed the whole of their hospital transport system in the hands of Riders, so impressed were they with their organisation. Their vehicles never break down and the medicine always gets through, helping beat the onslaught of Aids and malaria. Many of the motorcycles are fitted with sidecars which enable more supplies, as well as holding stretchers to transport serious cases back to the main city. Big motorcycle companies including Honda and Ducati have donated motorbikes and spares. He reminded us that the average life expectancy is less than 40 in those countries served by the Riders. If you would like to find more information on this very worthwhile organisation, you can by logging on to www.riders.org Martyn, with the help of a power point display, went through the details of their work in more detail. Princess Anne, patron of the Riders, said that the tyranny of distance is their main enemy so transport reliability is paramount. They have now graduated to four wheel vehicles, many of them used for polio plus projects in the third world. He went through a breakdown of the financial cost of each unit, including training of district nurses. A very worthwhile organisation which is being supported by this club, particularly by the motorcycle rally committee who are very keen to give a donation, the amount of which will be announced at a later date. It is also thought that we can use the publicity of our support for such a venture when it comes round to the next Motorcycle Fundraising Rally. It was fortunate that this was an open ended meeting because there were numerous questions afterwards, followed by the vote of thanks which was ably given by Adrian Ball.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows It doesn’t seem possible that a month has already been and gone since writing my first message of the year to you. Only five or six days into my Presidency I had the privilege of getting together with quite a few of you at Ralph and Eileen Harrison’s house in Ditchling for the first of two International Hospitality Lunches, the second being next month (4/9) at Richard and Gill’s house in Woodland Drive. Let’s hope that we are blessed with similar weather to that of 10th July, because it was an absolutely stunning day, and we were all pleased to be able to take shelter, from a very hot sun, in the two gazebos which had been erected in the garden. The food was first class and the drinks flowed making it a perfect way to spend a sunny summer Sunday afternoon. There was also the added bonus of raising some £350 or so, which will go into the International Hospitality Fund. My grateful thanks to Eileen and Ralph for the use of their house and garden, and to those of you who attended. My thanks also to Speaker Secretary Ian Collington who started the new Rotary Year with two excellent speakers. The subject of their talks were from both ends of the spectrum with Joanne Smith telling us of "Medical Aid for Torture Victims" and then on the following week former BBC Radio Brighton reporter John Henty giving an excellent talk entitled "The Max Miller Appreciation Society." I’m sure these two talks were just a taster for the year to come. I was also more than pleased to see Malcolm Clayton negotiating the pavilion steps recently, the first time at club for many months, after a lengthy period of illness and convalescence. Welcome back Malcolm. The International Service Committee have appointed a sub-committee with regard to the contact visit at the end of May next year and are seeking suggestions for any excursions you think may interest our friends from Pforzheim and Evreux. If you have any thoughts on this, please contact Tad Phillips/Filipowicz. You may remember that I stated that the target for membership is to make a net gain of one member by the end of the Rotary Year. With the resignation of Colly Coulson and the most welcome recruitment of Ron Knight we have a net gain of nil. Membership Chairman David Knowles and I are attending a membership seminar at Ardingly shortly and hopefully they will point us in the right direction as far as recruiting new members is concerned. Lastly, I was saddened to hear of the death of Philippe Fouche, a member of the Rotary Club of Evreux, who died whilst jogging in Sicily. Philippe was a very visible presence at the last contact visit and will be sorely missed by us all.
Yours in Rotary President Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 August. Mon 1st Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Sat. 20th. Mart let’s Fund Raising Lunch at Hangleton Manor*** Mon. 29thAugust Bank Holiday Fair, held by Rotary Clubs of Worthing and West Worthing. Steyne Gardens, Worthing. September. Sun 4th. International Hospitality Lunch, Richard and Gill Langley’s 12noon. Fri/Sun 23rd/25th. District Conference, Torquay. Registration forms now available, see President Bob October. Sun 2nd Fund Raising BBQ at Storrington. Details to be announced shortly*** 11th. Tuesday, DG Ian Swales to visit Club*** 31st Monday. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250*** November. Tues 1st. RIBI President’s visit to District 1250*** Thurs. 17th District Council – Ardingly. 6.30 for 7pm 2006 March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) April Mon-Fri 9th/14th RYLA . This club hopes to be sending four suitable candidates on this very worthwhile project*** Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day). All hands to the deck so please don’t book any holidays for this particular time! Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast. Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. July. Tues. 10th District Council – Ardingly*** September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth.*** New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR AUGUST Cash – Richard Langley . Visitors – Roger Patterson. CLUB PROGRAMME FOR AUGUST 2nd This meeting, being the first one of the month, will consist of reports from the previous evening’s Club Council. 9th Today we have a very distinguished visitor. Michael Jayston, star of stage, screen and Rottingdean Cricket Club will give a talk entitled "An Actor’s Cricketing Tales". The vote of thanks will be given by David Knowles. 16th. Our speaker at this meeting is Harvey Gillman and the title of his talk is "Who Are Today’s Quakers". The vote of thanks will be delivered by Bob Hinton. 23rd. As usual, this fourth meeting of the month sees the various committees getting together for discussions. 30th. The first evening meeting of this Rotary Year, hopefully at the Courtland’s Hotel, and the speaker will be Martyn Cook and he will be telling us of "Riders in Health". Adrian Ball will be responding on behalf of the Club. CLUB MEETINGS 5th July, 2005. 25 present – 23 of our own members and 2 Rotarian visitors; Laurie Hillditch from Brighton and Stephen Neiman, Past President of this Club and currently secretary of Brighton and Hove Soiree Today’s meeting commenced with the handing over of office from IPP Ken Jones and President Bob Mulholland. After these formalities, President Bob invested the Club Officers, namely senior vice President David Henderson, Junior Vice President Michael Barley and Secretary David Burchell with their chains of office. President Bob then gave a short address to the Club ending by thanking everyone for their good luck cards and messages. Today was the first day proper for the weekly raffle, the proceeds of which will go towards paying for the Contact Visit next May. The prize, which was a Rotary tankard, was won by Ray Tiltman. President Bob’s first meeting was to present a report of what happened at Club Council the previous evening, which were as follows: Paul Thrasher and Clive Chapple both reported that Malcolm was still making progress and it is hoped that he will attend club next Tuesday. Housing Society Chairman John Eaton was delighted to announce that the Housing Society had, just that morning, received a cheque for £85,000 from the Alex Clarke Foundation. This was greeted by a prolonged round of applause from members. 12th July, 2005 31 present – 28 of our own members and 3 non-Rotarian guests; Bernard Greaves, a past member of this Club and here as a guest of Ray Tiltman, Chris Edgeley son-in-law and guest of Howard Attree and Joanne Smith, our speaker for today. The international raffle was won by Michael Nettell and raised £19.50 towards our hospitality fund. The International Hospitality Fund was also swollen by some £350.00 as a result of the lunch, held at Ralph Harrison’s house this last weekend. President Bob reported on a very hospitable occasion and thanked Ralph and Eileen for their hospitality and asked members to take thanks back to those members of Inner Wheel that supplied some excellent "puddings". President Bob read out a message from the members of the Evreux Club, in which they sent their sympathy to the relatives and friends of the recent bombings in London It was also reported that George Robinson is very poorly, suffering from suspected food poisoning. It was then President Bob’s pleasure to induct Ron Knight into the Club. Peter Savage, his sponsor, then introduced Ron to the members present and President Bob then welcomed him to the Club, not having to go through the usual rigmarole because Ron having been a member of Brighton East until the end of the last Rotary year, was well aware what was expected of him a member of this Club. Today’s speaker was Joanne Smith, here to tell us all about The Medical Foundation, an organisation which was founded in 1985 for the care of victims of torture, providing care and rehabilitation to survivors of torture and other forms of organised violence. Joanne had many stories to relate of when she had met victims of torture and the tales of suffering they went through. She emphasised that the organisation is wholly reliant on private funding and with this in mind there is to be a huge art auction next March and she asked that if anyone had any paintings, drawings, sculpture or any other worthwhile pieces of art, would they please think of donating it to her organisation. Joanne’s speech was obviously quite well received by members, judging by the amount of questions asked (by Bob Hinton, Ian Collington and John Couch) afterwards. The vote of thanks was given by John Eaton. 19th July, 2005. 31 Present – 29 of our own members, 1 Rotarian visitor, Ray Blackwood, President of Brighton East and 1 non Rotarian guest, John Henty, our speaker for today. The international raffle, a bottle of Chilean wine, was won by President Bob. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton informed members that the tin caddies of Yorkshire Tea are available and would be for sale after the meeting. Members were told that the value of the tea was £4.00 but Taylor’s, the tea company, had donated it to Rotary for the price of £2.00 per caddy, so anything over and above the £2.00 will go towards Rotary Foundation. Sports Officer John Mainwood informed those taking part that District 1250 Ten Pin Bowling Competition is taking place this week and that the team from this Club, comprising of President Bob, IPP Ken Jones, Tad Phillip/Filipowicz and John himself needed to be at the Brighton Marina bowling complex at 6pm this coming Friday. Today’s speaker was John Henty, who in days of old was an announcer on the long while extinct Radio Brighton. John was here to tell us all about the Max Miller Appreciation Society. He started off by playing an old record of Max Miller’s signature tune, "Mary from the Dairy" and this was followed by a short routine of Max’s jokes. I hadn’t realised until listening to this record how fast Max delivered his jokes and how he rattled them off one after the other with hardly a breath in between. Nevertheless it had most of those present chuckling out loud. John informed us that the society, presided over by Roy Hudd, a great comedian in his own right, has some 5,000 members and meets on the last Friday of some months in Brighton. The society was instrumental in raising money for a statue of Max, which is in New Road, almost opposite the Theatre Royal. The statue cost some £30,000 and was the work of Peter Webster, a local sculptor. Among the celebrities who gave donations towards the £30,000 were Paul Daniels, June Whitfield, Russ Abbott, Eddie Izzard, Des O’Connor and Ned Sherrin. John was very generous in his praise of modern comedians, such as Ken Dodd, who he says has no equal on the modern stage, sometimes on the stage continuously for five or more hours, driving theatre staff and local transport personnel mad by keeping people in the theatre long after public transport has closed down for the night. A cracking talk by a true enthusiast. The vote of thanks was in the hands of Chris Heath. 26th July, 2005. 25 Present – all our own members. This week’s International raffle was won by Secretary David. The "40 Set" draw cheque for £25.00 was won by David Haycock. President Bob was saddened to report on the sudden death of Philippe Fouche, a member of the Evreux Club, who collapsed and died whilst jogging, in Sicily, on holiday President Bob also read out a letter from District Secretary Michael Moore, in which he asked for volunteers from this Club to act as hosts at the next District Council Meeting at Ardingly on 17th November. Duties will mainly consist of making sure that all those attending have signed their relevant attendance sheets. He also informed members that there would be a discussion at Council next Monday on whether it would be prudent to move from the Cricket Ground to a new meeting place at The Courtland’s Hotel. Foundation Chairman Bob Hinton made a final plea for volunteers to look after members of the GSE Team, visiting the Brighton and Hove area on 1st October. There appeared to be none forthcoming. He also reminded members that there was a special "Rotary Day" to be held at Goodwood Races on Saturday, 10th September, where admission to the track would be £14.00 instead of the usual £22.00. He also stated that the sales of Yorkshire tea were going very well and it was suggested that maybe various tea parties, possibly on site at John Couch’s beach hut west of the King Alfred. He also stated that anyone who was willing to pay £10.00 for a caddy of tea would go into a draw for a teapot. (Honest!!) Bob also said he was disappointed to find out that gift aid would not be applicable for this particular project because an item is being purchased which nullifies that particular mode of giving. He finished by saying that he was optimistic of continuing the spread and save of the last two years. Ray Tiltman rose to say a few words on RYLA. He said that they had hoped to put forward candidates who were acting as family carers for the remainder of the year but due to various reasons put forward by Social Services this would not be possible. He said that the fee for RYLA would be £320.00 of which £80.00 would have to be found by each candidate. ATTENDANCE. Here are the attendance percentages for the Rotary Year 2004/2005. Name Percentage Name Percentage Attree 96 Jones 100 Austin 58 Knowles 46 Ball 74 Langley 58 Barley 80 Mainwood 74 Bartup 76 Mulholland 94 Burchell 100 Neiman 20 (1 of poss 5) Chandler 58 Nettell 98 Chapple 48 Patterson 64 Clayton 50 Paulsson 36 Clouting 68 Peters 70 Collington 58 Phillips/Filipowicz 78 Cummings 66 Robinson 68 Douch 42 Thrasher 80 Eaton 84 Tiltman 82 Fowle 74 Upton 32 Green 68 Varley 54 Harrison 24 Woodthorpe 76 Haycock 76 Heath 74 Henderson 78 Ansell 76 Hinton 88 Couch 66 Coulson 64 INNER WHEEL LUNCH. On the following page there is a flyer for a lunch at The Hangleton Manor, a fund raising event being held by The Inner Wheel Club of Hove to benefit The Martlets Hospice. This is a pet project of Jennifer Saunders, and bearing in mind all the support she has given us in our fund raising efforts in the past, I think we should reciprocate by attending this lunch in good numbers.
ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE BULLETIN JULY 2005 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Fellows Yes, a new photograph in the top right hand corner of this page confirms that a new man is "in the chair". I appreciate that I have a very hard act to follow, for Ken has performed a wonderful job as our President this last Rotary year. He managed to attend every Club meeting throughout his year in office, only missing one Council meeting, having to attend a funeral in another part of the country that day. I’m hoping that his excellent time in office will rub off on me, and that is why I have retained most of his team for the following year. There is only one change to the chairmanship of any of the main committees and that is the replacement for David Henderson, who will be my deputy this year, with John Eaton as Community Service Chairman. Following on from the "continuity" them of the RI President, I will also be supporting the same charities that Ken so ably supported. Though this is my second time as President of this Club, I approach the job this time round with completely different sentiments. When I was President in 1993-94 I was honoured because I was selected by my peers to be your President. On the other hand, I have accidentally dropped into my current position, having said, in a weak moment "I’ll do it if you can’t find anyone else". Silly me! This doesn’t make the slightest difference in my attitude to the task in hand. I will serve you as President as conscientiously as I did those twelve or so years ago. All I ask is that you give me your best support, which will make my job that very much easier. Talking of support, I am told that the response to the International Hospitality Lunch on Sunday, 10th July, is pretty lukewarm, to say the least. Please try to see yourself clear to attending what should be a most convivial lunchtime at Ralph and Eileen Harrison’s. They have an extensive garden area and if the weather keeps fair we should be in for a wonderful time. Not only that, we need the funds raised at the lunch to help allay our expenses for the Contact Visit next May. I realise that what I have to say next is what every new installed President says, but it is becoming an extremely urgent matter that we try to recruit new members. Even the most naïve of us can work out that if we carry on as we are, this Club will wither and die within the next ten years or so, with the very youngest or members being well in their sixties. The RIBI President has set what appears to be a very conservative target for each club to increase their membership by one person in this coming year. That may seem a simple task, but if we suffer a loss of members, albeit through resignation or the final reason, it makes the task a lot harder. I wouldn’t like to end my message on such a sombre note so I will say nothing more than to take heeds of one of the Rotary Mottos of a few years ago which was simply "Enjoy Rotary" and thanks to everyone for your lovely cards and messages of good luck for the coming year. Yours in Rotary President Bob
CLUB DIARY 2005 July. Mon 4th. Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6.15pm *** Sun. 10th. International Hospitality Lunch. Chez Harrison, Ditchling 12 noon. More details later. Wed. 13th District 1250 Council, Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm. *** August. Mon 1st Club Council, Hangleton Manor 6.15pm*** Mon. 29thAugust Bank Holiday Fair, held by Rotary Clubs of Worthing and West Worthing. Steyne Gardens, Worthing. September. Sun 4th. International Hospitality Lunch, Richard and Gill Langley’s 12noon. Fri/Sun 23rd/25th. District Conference, Torquay. Registration forms now available, see President Bob November. Thurs. 17th District Council – Ardingly. 6.30 for 7pm *** 2006 March Sun. 19th. Presidents Elect Training Session. Ardingly (all day) *** April Sun 23rd. MotorCycle Fundraising Rally. Brighton and Hove Engineerium, Nevill Rd. (All day)*** Thurs-Sun 20th/23rd RIBI Conference – Belfast*** Tues. 25th. District 1250 Council – Ardingly 6.30 for 7pm *** May Thurs-Sat 25th/28th. Contact Visit in Hove. Details will be forthcoming later on in the year. *** September. Fri/Sun 8th-10th District 1250 Conference Bournemouth.*** New Dates *** CLUB DUTIES FOR AUGUST Cash – Michael Peters . Visitors – David Knowles CLUB PROGRAMME FOR AUGUST 5th. This being the first of the new Rotary year will see the induction of President Bob by P IPP Ken. The remainder of the meeting will be given over to matters raised at the previous evening’s Council. 12th. Our speaker today is Joanne Smith and she will be talking of "Medical Aid for Torture Victims" The vote of thanks will be given by John Eaton. 19th. John Henty, late of Radio Sussex will be speaking today of "Brighton’s Own Max Miller" and the vote of thanks will be given by Chris Heath, our very own club comedian. 26th. The last meeting of the month will, as usual, be given over to meetings of the various committees. CLUB MEETINGS. 5th July, 2005. 25 present – 23 of our own members and 2 Rotarian visitors; Laurie Hilditch from Brighton and Stephen Neiman, Past President of this Club and currently secretaty of Brighton and Hove Soiree Today’s meeting commenced with the handing over of office from IPP Ken Jones and President Bob Mulholland. After these formalities, President Bob invested the Club Officers, namely Senior Vice President David Henderson, Junior Vice President Michael Barley and Secretary David Burchell with their chains of office. President Bob then gave a short address to the Club ending by thanking everyone for their good luck cards and messages. Today was the first day proper for the weekly raffle, the proceeds of which will go towards paying for the Contact Visit next May. The prize, which was a Rotary tankard, was won by Ray Tiltman. President Bob’s first meeting was to present a report of what happened at Club Council the previous evening, which were as follows: Housing Society Chairman John Eaton was delighted to announce that the Housing Society had, just that morning, received a cheque for £85,000 from the Alex Clarke Foundation. This was greeted by a prolonged round of applause from members.
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