For those who would prefer to stay a little longer, our friend Burkhard Thost offers a walk through the Black Forest, organised by himself and his wife. Please let us know if you are interested.

The resulting reported recommended that we should emphasise the strong Family and Friendship benefits of membership, focus PR on action oriented community projects and promote a 50% attendance policy rather than a 100% ideal. Here’s hoping that the campaign produces results!

Finally Mary and I hope very much that you will be able to come to our joint "Summer Going Down Dinner" at The Dyke Golf Club on Friday, 25^th June. There will be gentle music in the background during the meal and then you will be treated to some really good local talent music. The first half will be a Bass/Baritone Soloist from Brighton Welsh Male Voice Choir singing a range of songs from the shows of yesteryear. This will be followed by a double act of young (to us) girls singing a range of hits of our age and there will be the opportunity to dance at this stage if the mood takes you. We can promise you a great evening of music that you know and love. Do come and join us if you can.

Brian.

2^nd. This being the first meeting of the month will mostly be devoted to a report on the previous night’s Club Council.

9^th. Our speaker today is David Beaken,son of our own Paul and son-in-law of your editor, who is running the London Marathon in April, raising money for Shelter, the charity that helps the Homeless.

16^th. Rtn Alan Pocock from Brighton Club is our speaker for today and he will be telling us all about District 1250’s Young Chef Competition.

23^rd. Another Rotarian speaking today, but it’s one of our own in the shape of Gordon Cummings who will be reporting on his "40 and a bit years in Rotary"

30^th. Today, our speaker will be Juliette Macpherson and she will be bringing us up to date on the Chestnut Tree Hospice.

33 Present – 31 of our own members and two non-Rotarian guests; Paul and Wendy Young, invited by Ray Tiltman.

Secretary Frances reported that there was a lunch for Paul Harris Fellows to be held on Sunday, 7^th March at The Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, 12.30 for 1.

President Bryan welcomed Bernard Greaves back to Club after a lengthy absence through illness.

Paul Young, the head man at "Off The Fence" was here today, accompanied by his wife, to receive a cheque from Ray Tiltman, on behalf of PortHove Charitable Trust, for £7,550.

Ray prefixed this by giving us all a short history of the PCT, telling us it all started with a chance remark by a little old lady who approached collectors at the Portslade and West Hove Christmas Collection site and asked the Club to get in touch with them to discuss her will. The lady turned out to be the widow of a Rotarian and she wanted to leave some of her money to Rotary. The lady subsequently died and the Portslade and West Hove Rotary Club were amazed to find out that she had left £30,000 but the money had to spent on the homeless of Portslade, Hove and Brighton (but not too far into Brighton!!). Consequently, since then the money has been distributed on a regular basis and Ray was so impressed with Paul when he came to speak to us last year that he decided to donate money for sleeping bags they give out in the area and for the seating in their Portland Road premises.

In thanking Ray, Paul said that this would make such a big difference and pointed out that there has been no headlines in The Argus, despite the coldest winter in 20 years, of people dying on the streets. This is to some small extent down to organisations like his.

There then followed a report on the previous evening’s Club Council.

Treasurer Bob Hinton reported that a cheque had been sent to the Music for Hospitals organisation in payment for the performance at the Martlets recently.

He then reported that we had four candidates for the RYLA week this year.

Bob then commented on the fact that our Charity Account money, some £14,000, that is deposited with Alliance and Leicester is realising the grand sum of £1.00 interest per month and he is now moving the money to The Charitable Foundation to obtain a better return.

Bob moved on to "Thanks for Life" and reported that he had addressed two more assemblies at Hove Park School and continued to be amazed by the response of the pupils to this project.

He also said that he was trying to get Blatchington Mill School involved at a later date.

There was also talk of the "Thanks for Life" day on 23^rd February and it was suggested that it would be a good idea to take over a vacant shop in George Street. It was also said that this may be an opportunity to publicise ourselves to prospective members.

John Austin to make enquries about three empty shops in George Street.

President Bryan said we are still looking for a Junior Vice President for next year.

Sport – Skittles this coming Thursday against Billingshurst at The Spur, Slindon.

It was said that the Mayor of Brighton and Hove has been invited to the Motorcycle Rally.

We are still waiting to receive details of the Evreux project.

There is to be two Croquet events this spring and autumn, details in other parts of this bulletin.

President Bryan announced that a Community Award Certificate is to be given to Adam Trimingham, our Honorary Member.

A donation of £500.00 for Hangleton Junior School, to help towards paying for a disabled toilet in the swimming pool changing rooms was okayed.

A further donation of £250 was agreed for Snowdrop, following on from the recent talk by the lady from that very worthy organisation. Finally, a cheque for £50 was given to a Danielle Garrett who is going to Jamaica to play cricket with a blind and disabled team.

International Chairman Peter Fowle reported that he hasn’t received costs of trip to Pforzheim from our German friends but will keep us up to date when possible.

President Bryan said that Bob Mulholland has had letter published in The Argus, pointing out that the Government is to set budgets for hospitals, taking into account donations made by outside organisations. President Bryan thinks we should take this up with District and RIBI with the aim of stopping all donations to hospitals in protest. Doctor David Henderson is also speaking to local medical commission on this matter.

30 present – 29 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Hugh Burnett.

Secretary Frances asked officers to send details of their duties to be included in a Club Handbook.

President Bryan informed members of success on the sports front with our quiz team overcoming Lewes Castle in the second round of the District Competition. The skittles team had also heavily defeated Billingshurst in the District Skittles Competition, winning by some 50 points. President Bryan also reported on an article in Saga magazine that depicted Rotarians as Captain Mainwaring type characters. He said there were other misconceptions in the article.

He also informed members that Ian Collington is busily compiling the PR for the motorcycle rally. He also announced that the date of the joint Presidents’ Night has been changed from the 4^th June to the 25^th.

Bob Hinton, on behalf of Yveline Milner, asked members to bring money they had collected in the "Spread and Save" jars.

Hugh Burnett, our speaker for today, is a former High Sheriff of East Sussex and he was here to tell us all about this very distinguished office. He told us that the High Sheriff is only in office for a year and the post is appointed by the Queen, there having been a High Sheriff in Sussex since before the Norman Conquest and a High Sheriff of East Sussex when the county was divided between East and West in 1974.

Hugh provided us with a really interesting bit of information about how the word "Sheriff" came about. Sheriffs were originally called reeves and these reeves were managers of the local community, and were mainly involved in settling local disputes, not only in their own community but with the reeves of other community.

Reeves originated in the 8^th century and part of their duties was to defend their village and they also made deals with the local Lord to receive military protection. This was done by bribes of produce and money. This worked so well that reeves were appointed reeves of the whole county and they were then known as Shire Reeves and this was eventually shorted to Sheriffs.

Later, the King of that time would travel round country, eating and watching and he would appoint sheriffs to run the county and they were called High Sheriffs. The first mention of this post was in the year 992, after the Battle of Malden, which took place against the Danes. The only way to get rid of the Danes was to pay them hostage money and Sheriffs were sent round by the King to collect 20 pieces of silver from each household to be delivered to the Chancellor in a leather bag and then the Chancellor would weigh the amount. Some of the coins collected had chips in them and these coins were melted together to be made into one coin.

This was also the beginning of the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, the latter word meaning the name of the table on which the money was collected.

Other words now in use, that derived from this practice was the word counterfoil. This came about because the tally stick, which was used to count the money, had a split down the middle of it so one half would go to the chancellor and one to the sheriff. This piece looked like a sword, so it was called a foil and the other half was called a counterfoil.

Over the centuries these tally sticks were kept and stored in the Houses of Parliament they caught fire in 1830 and the Houses of Parliament were destroyed.

There were many more interesting facts, too numerous to mention in this short report but he did tell us that the appoint of High Sheriffs is by a panel of people, consisting of a Judge, the Chief Constable, an ex Chairman of the County Council, the Lord Lieutenant and three past High Sheriffs.

He told us that the appointment by the Queen is a lovely tradition, with the Chancellor bringing a list to her on a great scroll of parchment. She then sticks a needle through the name of the appointees. This is tradition since the time of Queen Mary, who didn’t have anything to write with at the time and used her embroidery needle to denote the appointment.

Apparently, in the 19^th century it was a very unpopular job, with great expense and people tried to avoid being appointed and they were not told until the day before so they couldn’t come up with an excuse not to do it. One of the requirements then was that you had to be the owner of at least 235 acres of land. One legged people were also disqualified because you had to be able to ride a horse. You were also expected to look after the judges properly and if you neglected to make them comfortable on their trips round the circuit you would be very heavily fined.

Hugh said that he had a wonderful year in office, with 350-400 engagements and now knows the County and City very well and has learned enormous amount about them. He said he had visited hundreds of different voluntary groups around the county.

If you didn’t look after the judges properly you were fined.

It’s a wonderful year being a high sheriff and he had 350-400 appointments, now knows county and city very well and has learned enormous amounts about it.

Ken Jones performed the vote of thanks.

16^th February 2010.

27 present – 25 of our own members and two non-Rotarian guests; The Rev. Dr. Caroline Currer, a guest of Mike Peters; and Denis Bass, our speaker for today.

Yveline Milner has arranged two croquet outings this summer and details are in the Club Diary section. There was also talk of two prospect trips, one to Chatham Dockyard and a Canal trip, these to take place in April, May or June.

Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch had intended to attend today but has had a bad night and is not up to travelling. He also reported that Ron Loadsman is poorly with eye, ear and feet problems.

President Bryan confirmed that the joint Presidents’ Night is on Friday, 25^th June. He also mentioned that partners of Inner Wheel members will be attending the Inner Wheel meeting tomorrow (17/2)

He also congratulated Derek Clouting on completing his year in office as President of Hove Probus.

International Chairman Peter Fowle informed us that the project that we are sharing with Evreux is progressing, with plenty of communication between the two clubs. Many forms are being filled and the Rotary Club of Hove is donating £1,000.

Two letters received from France, firstly from the city of Nancy, from a boy who wishes to come over next week (short notice!) to learn English.

A similar request was received from Louis and Monique Payre, from Evreux asking if anyone could look after a 12 year old daughter of a friend who wants to come over in July to stay and learn the language and culture of this country. This would be in the form of an exchange trip.

Ted Bartup announced that he has put out envelopes to certain members, asking them to advertise their businesses in the motorcycle rally programme.

He also asked members to search their homes to see if they had any tabards or equipment that could be used on the day of the rally.

Denis Bass, our speaker, was here today to tell us all about the work of the MNDA, an organisation that supports and helps the sufferers of motor-neurone disease. He started off by telling us that he became involved in this organisation after his mother died from the illness some 20 years ago.

He also told us that he had been employed by the AA for 34 years, reaching the top in this huge organisation. He said he was pleased to be back in Hove today because many years ago he was in charge of the AA’s motorcycle patrol force for this area.

He then filled us in on the background to MND, which was first discovered and analysed in the 19^th century by a French Neurologist. Despite researching the disease for nearly 200 years , a cure has never been discovered.

In simple terms Motor Neurone Disease is a progress neurodegenerative disease that attacks the upper and lower motor neurones. Degeneration of the motor neurones leads to weakness and wasting of muscles, causing increasing loss of mobility in the limbs and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing. It is a fact that once motor neurone is contracted life expectancy is between two to five years. One person who has defied this prognosis is Stephen Hawking, who has suffered from this illness for over thirty years.

Denis said there are two types – like electrical switches – that either attack the upper motor neurone at the top of the brain or the motor cortex that travels down the spinal tube and these are known as the lower motor neurones. He described the early symptoms, that involved dropping articles, tripping and a failure to swallow. Special diets are needed to cope with the lack of swallowing and specialised beds are needed to sleep in and special adapted wheelchairs are needed to get about in.

There have been a few famous people who died from the disease, including David Niven, and Don Revie, the former England football manager. In fact, the "Thumbs Up" icon that is used by MNDA is taken from David Niven’s gesture in the final days of his life, his only means of communicating that he was okay.

He said that the disease was still a bit of a mystery to neurologists and doctors, despite those two hundred years of research. It is also a fact that more men than women contract it, mainly between the ages of 60 and 65. There are approximately 30 sufferers of the illness in this area and that number seems to have stayed constant over a period of 20 years or so.

Denis told us that all their funding comes from raising money and much fund raising has been done by local groups and there are nine volunteers in this area who supply care and support to patients. He then described the various means of fundraising that takes part, including two huge raffles ever year and a bike ride along the South Downs Way from Eastbourne to Winchester.

The vote of thanks was given by Howard Attree.

30 present – 28 of our own members, one non-Rotarian guest; Julia Seitz our speaker for today and one Rotarian visitor, PP Don Fowlds from Lewes Barbican.

Secretary Frances announced that are two Ambassadorial scholars arriving in this District this year and counsellors are being sought for them. Anyone interested should contact Frances.

President Bryan read out a very nice letter from the children of Hangleton Junior School, thanking this Club for it’s donation to built a disabled toilet at their school’s swimming pool.

Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 went to Chris Heath.

Bob Hinton reported on "Thanks for Life" with the non uniform day at Hove Park School (fuller details elsewhere in this bulletin).

Our speaker today was Julia Seitz, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, who hails from Germany.

She started off by explaining where in Germany she came from, and showed us a chart depicting the various Rotary Districts in her country. Her sponsor club is Ulm-Donaubrucke, which is not too far from our own contact club in Pforzheim. She is studying in the Institute of Development Studies and she posed the question "Why does she want to study development?" The short answer was that she had been visiting countries in Africa, primarily Ruanda and was intrigued and fascinated by the contrasts from one part of the country to the other, the difference between the richer and poorer people in that country and was most interested to help in the development of these poor areas.

Her aim is to become involved with some large organisation, particularly the United Nations Organisation. She enrolled in the IDS because of their past history and their ability to place their students in very high profile jobs on completion of their courses. She explained to us that the IDS was founded in 1966 and comprises of 100 researchers, 70 knowledge services staff, 65 support staff and about 200 students at any one time. It extends far beyond the university encompassing an extensive amount of network partners, former staff and students across the development community world.

Julia obviously knows what she wants to achieve in the future and this came across in a very forthright and informative talk.

The vote of thanks was given by George Robinson.

Last autumn I showed the RIBI Thanks for Life PowerPoint presentation to the School Council of Hove Park School. Two students from each year group represent their colleagues on the Council. The presentation had the same impact on them as it had on me the first time I saw it. They decided there and then that the school must give over one of its non-uniform fund-raising days to the appeal to save the rest of the children of the world not yet protected from the risk of contracting polio.

So, the day was chosen (12 February) and in preparation I showed the same PowerPoint to each year group in their morning Assembly. One way or another I have plenty of experience of making a case for something to groups of people but never have I seen such close attention by any group. They were riveted by what they saw and heard and I knew then that when the day came a very large number of them would bring in the £1 needed to immunise 5 more children in the countries where polio remains. I hoped we might raise as much as £1000.

Hove Park School is on two sites and in the one where Year 7 to 9 are the day happened to be the last day of their Carnival Week which meant that on the non-uniform day they were able to turn up in Carnival costume. The photographs show some of the colourful dresses that brightened the whole day.

The other picture is of year 9 student Chris Ward. When I arrived at the school that morning to share in the fun I was told how Chris’s mum had come in with him that morning to explain why he was handing in £45.42 that he had raised from his own money (e.g. by saving change from his bus fares) and from friends and family to help meet the Polio Challenge. He told me that hearing what we were all doing to try to eliminate polio and seeing the presentation had made a big impression on him. "Just 20p to save someone’s life is so significant" he said. "So I looked at what I had and asked friends and family and before I knew it, I had £45!"

So thanks Chris and all your fellow students at Hove Park School. I am told that at least £1200 has been raised which is very nearly £1 for every student in the school. All of this under our original plan would have gone to Thanks for Life, but for the sad fact that the Haiti Earthquake disaster created an equal demand for help. We in Rotary were very happy to split the funds as Rotary International and our Rotary Club of Hove are fully involved in the response to the suffering people of Haiti. However, the Hove Club is going to match the £600 which has been given to Thanks for Life with £600 from our Charity Fund so that the whole sum of £1200 will be going to the Polio Challenge of Rotary International.

Well done Hove Park School! Bob Hinton

Motor Neurone Disease Association - Following on from the recent talk the following is a note from Bob Hinton "I am sure that everyone who heard Dennis Bass give his moving talk about the Association on 16 February will want to know about and support the initiative taken by the Association which was publicised in The Guardian the day after Dennis’ talk. They have started an on-line petition to Parliament in favour of a national strategy to ensure a better quality of life and more dignified death for all who suffer from MND. You can add your support by going to the website www.mnd2010.org.  Whilst there you can listen to an interview on the Today programme with Chris Woodhead former head of Ofsted who was diagnosed with MND over 3 years ago."

Bob is also pleased to report that mention of this event was made in The Argus, bringing much needed publicity for "Thanks for Life" and Rotary in general.

ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

Monsieur le Président,

Messieurs les membres du Club de HOVE,

Mesdames, Messieurs,

Chers amis.

o Aide à la lecture, action menée par Jacques Rousseau qui y a consacré une

quinzaine d’années avant de passer le flambeau cette année à Alain Jean. Il s’agit

o Le Bridge, sous la direction de Claude Labadie.

o Le Prix de l’Action Professionnelle, avec cette année un record de dossiers.

o Le forum des métiers, 1ère expérience, qui, de l’avis général, s’est révélée très

o La sortie Papillons Blancs / BA105 organisée par Bernard Roy et Hubert Troslet.

o Les conférences : avec Stéphane Ranger.

o La communication : avec Louis Payre.

O Reading assistance, action taken by Jacques Rousseau who served fifteen years

before passing the torch this year to Alain Jean. It is an action of great

O Bridge, under the direction of Claude Labadie.

OThe Professional Action Prize which this year had a record number of files.

O The trade forum, an initial experiment, which, of the general opinion appeared very

O The White Butterflies outing : an air tour for disabled persons in a military

aircraft organized by Bernard Roy and Hubert Troslet.

O Conferences: with Stephan Ranger.

O Communication: with Louis Payre.

o Le concert annuel ;

o La conférence de District du 28 mars

OThe annual concert;

OThe District conference of March 28

o Le 70ème anniversaire du 17 Octobre 2008 du Club

o LE 75ème anniversaire de Hove du 2 Décembre 2008

o Le rallye touristique du 17 Mai 2008

o Le rendez-vous d’Oxford où nous étions très nombreux ! (30 participants).

O 70th birthday of the Club, on October 17, 2008

O 75th birthday of Hove on December 2, 2008

OThe tourist rally of May 17 2008

OThe Oxford meeting where we were very numerous! (30 participants).

En Octobre nous avons organisé un rallye pédestre interne au club pour apporter notre

En Décembre, cette semaine, une soirée est organisée au profit de l’Association Marie

En février concert de musique classique au profit de l’éradication de la polio (inter

En mars tournoi de bridge au profit de l’action professionnelle.

In October, we organized a pedestrian rally within the club to give our support for

In December, this week one party is organized for the benefit the Marie Helene

In February, a concert of classical music for the benefit of polio eradication (inter

In March, a bridge tournament for the benefit of the professional action.

 ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

Speaking to our Club recently we had two youngsters telling us enthusiastically all about the good work done by St John Ambulance Brigade. They were both full of self-confidence and clearly had a passion for what they do.

The week before we had a clever but modest young man who left the pharmaceutical industry because he was disillusioned with their work ethic. He now works for Age Concern and uses his annual holiday entitlement to fly out to Cambodia with the money he has raised and saved to spend on a group of children in an orphanage.

My own grand-daughter is currently out in Gambia for a second time working with some young children at a school, all paid for out of her part-time earnings. I am sure that you too could quote similar instances about your grand-children. It is all good news and runs quite contrary to the portrait of the youth of today painted by newspapers and TV. It "ain’t" all bad – there is a lot that is good out there.

Did you know that Inner Wheel recently celebrated their 75^th Birthday, quite a milestone in their long and distinguished years of service. Phyllis Howell, a widow of a former member of our Club, has been a member for 50 of those 75 years. She recalls how they all used to dress up in their posh frocks, hats and gloves and take tea and sandwiches at Forfar’s. She remembers how the room was always full of smoke from the cigarettes. Those were the days – how things have changed.

Anyway, well done ladies – stand up and take a bow. I think that if your partner is a member of Inner Wheel you should put down this newsletter for a moment and wish her a happy 75^th Birthday together with a big kiss. I hope that you get a good response!!

So pleased to hear that Mike Peters, despite the recent setbacks to his health, has agreed to steer our next Motor Cycle Rally again together with his wife, Patricia, who has done so much work behind the scenes.

We must all promise to give them our full support to that our major fundraising event of the Rotary Year is yet another resounding success for Mike.

Similarly, with our Christmas supermarket collection which is now only weeks away. We must support John Eaton who needs our support to make sure that all his preparatory work results in a record collection. John, too, is not enjoying the best of health so we must not let him down. We need the money so that we can distribute it to some of the many deserving causes in our City who are finding it so hard to keep their shown on the road in these troubled times.

Hope to see you all at our Annual Christmas Lunch where we all gather together as a Hove Rotary Family.

8^th. Besides the normal report from the previous evening’s Club Council there will be a talk from our own Gordon Cummings about his 40 years in Rotary.

15^th. Today is the occasion for our Christmas Lunch, when we will be entertaining not only our own wives but the wives of past members of this Club.

Please note there will be no Club Meetings on the 22^nd and 29^th December.

Peter Savage has passed on to me the amusing lyrics he came across recently which were used by Julie Andrews when she celebrated her 69^th birthday at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Maladox and nose drops and needles for knitting,

Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,

Bundles of magazines tied up with string –

These are a few of my favourite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts and hearing aids and glasses,

Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,

Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings –

These are a few of my favourite things.

When the pipes leak,

When the bones creak,

When the knees go bad,

I simply remember my favourite things,

And then I don’t feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,

No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,

Bathrobes and heating pads, hot meals they bring –

These are a few of my favourite things.

Back Pains, confused brains, and no need for sinning,

Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinning,

And we won’t mention our short shrunken frames

When we remember our favourite things.

When the joints ache,

When the hips break,

And eyes grow dim,

Then I remember the great life I’ve had

And then I don’t feel so bad.

For those of you interested in how this very worthwhile project is faring, you can get up to date with the latest quarterly report on it which is posted on another part of the Club website.

26 present – 25 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; David Roisier, a guest of Ray Tiltman.

Secretary Frances issued notice of SGM to be held shortly for electing officers for 2010/11 and for consideration of Club’s financial accounts ending 30^th June, 2009.

Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch is being admitted to hospital next Monday for a heart valve renewal operation and reported that Bernard Greaves is having chemotherapy five times a week.

First round of District skittles competition is taking place at the Black Horse, Findon on Tuesday, 24^th November. The ten pin bowling team, consisting of Ted Bartup, Bob and Neil Mulholland and Ted Bartup will be competing in the preliminary round of the District Competition at Crawley Bowl this Thursday coming.

There was a report by President Bryan on last night’s Club Council and the following items were highlighted:

Ken Jones has the tickets for Bob Hinton’s final performance in Orpheus in the Underworld. Secretary Frances has cleared up the equipment cupboard, Chris Heath, in charge of Christmas Collections, needs lots of names to man the various collection sites.

William Harmsworth from Redhill and Reigate club has been elected District Governor nominee for 20/10/11, President Bryan’s Gala Night will be held on 4^th June next year at The Dyke Golf Club.

The speaker’s programme is complete up to the end of this calendar year.

A speaker from the Starfish project, an organisation that helps people with speech defects, mainly stammerers has been booked.

Bob Hinton reported that Rotary’s polio eradication programme had been publicised at Hove Park School with a "PowerPoint" presentation and those pupils who had watched it were very enthusiastic and keen to help us out. He said that there had been a "stunned silence and then enthusiastic reaction."

Paul Beaken, together with Mike Nettell, has designed six pop ups and these can be looked at on Paul’s PC. The entire photographs are of good quality and they should come out well and all posters conform to that style. He remarked that Clubs all over the world have different Rotary motifs, with umpteen different Rotary wheels.

Membership Chairman Mike Nettell is to approach Legal and General with a view to getting pre retirement people to join Rotary. The Club bulletin has been posted on the club’s web site.

Club attendance was 68% last month, a 5% increase on the previous month.

Interviews for RYLA are proceeding at Portslade Community College.

Two Ambassadorial Scholars will be speaking at Club Meetings over the next few months.

Two donations, both for £150 have been made to the Hove Unemployed Group and Hove Methodist Church to supply Christmas lunches.

Two commemorative benches and a plaque to be installed at Rotary Point in memory of Wally Muggeridge, whose generous legacy was also reported on by Bob Hinton.

A donation of £250 was to be made to "Music for All" for a concert to be held at a venue to be arranged.

There was no speaker today

26 present – 25 of our own Members and one non-Rotarian guest; Alan Marchbank, our speaker for today.

Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch’s heart operation is taking place today.

Derek Clouting reported that John Ansell is concerned about picking up "bugs" and is feeling pretty low.

It was reported that President Bryan had laid a wreath on behalf of the club at the Cenotaph in Grand Avenue, Hove and Ray Tiltman had done likewise at Portslade.

David Burchell asked members to cut out the vouchers from The Argus that were going into a draw for a hydrotherapy pool for handicapped children at Barcombe. Please give the vouchers to David after cutting them out from The Argus.

Bob Hinton was pleased to say that 20 people or more from this Club are going along to see his farewell performance, which is a part in "Orpheus in the Underworld" later this month

Bob Mulholland reported on the success of the ten pin bowling team which had qualified for the finals night of the District Competition on Tuesday, 17th November. He also told members that the quiz team consisting of him, Ian Collington, Paul Beaken and David Henderson had soundly beaten a team from Seaford in the District Quiz Competition. Finally, he asked members to think about sending Christmas greetings to each other through the pages of this bulletin’s December edition. Each entry will cost £10, the money going to the Club’s Charity Account.

Our speaker today, Alan Marchant, used to work in the pharmaceutical industry and took a year out in Cambodia, a country that has often been in the news, particularly during the time of that evil Dictator, Pol Pot.

Alan so fell in love with the country that he eventually set up his own charity, calling it Cambodian Futures Foundation. On coming back from Cambodia he resumed his work in pharmaceutics until March 2005 and then left this work for good, returning to Cambodia in June of that year. Whilst in Cambodia this time he worked for several organisations.

Alan is a truly remarkable chap. He raised money in this country, mainly from family members before returning to Cambodia once again to continue his work for the foundation.

The main work of the Foundation is supporting an orphanage that houses some 25 children. This is supported by various means including the production of silk products, produced by Cambodians that is sold to tourists and also brought back by Alan to this country to be sold at various market places.

If you want to learn more about Alan and the remarkable work he does in this field I suggest you look him up on www.cambodianfutures.org.uk or "Google" Cambodian Futures Foundation.

The remarkable thing about Alan is that, as President Bryan mentioned in his message, that all of his leave entitlement is taken up with going back and forth to Cambodia to look after these children.

During his talk told us stories about the various individuals in his care and how they had arrived at the orphanage in dire need of help

It certainly gives one food for thought and I think everyone was most moved and very impressed with this comparatively young man.

Questions were asked by John Eaton and Bob Hinton at the conclusion of the talk and the vote of thanks was given by Frances du Toit, who knows Alan quite well due to working with him at Age Concern.

26 present – 24 of our own members and two non-Rotarian guests; Siobhan Farrell and Mark Wilson, our speakers for today.

Secretary gave a short report on last week’s District Council, the highlights of which are as follows:

Thanks for Life project is contacting supermarkets in the area for permission to collect outside their premises.

Preview of next year’s conference in Stratford-upon-Avon was shown. Frances has registration forms and further details.

The 2011 Conference is to be held in Eastbourne, date unknown.

Howard Attree presented final accounts for year, approved unanimously. It was stated that District requires new personnel for Treasurer and Secretary for next Rotary year.

A Strategic Plan for district is being developed and will be sent to Clubs for their views. Membership is up 2% on last year and it was suggested that Thanks for Life should be used for recruitment purposes. There will be Thanks for Life DVD and posters. It was noted that the Indian Government has invested $6.57 million in the project.

It was reported that the District Trust Fund has £3,000 available for local projects and applications for this money are welcome.

PDG Clive Addis-Jones spoke of the 25 years in existence of the Jaipur Limb Project stating that they have supplied half a million limbs and aids have been supplied to users in India and 12 African countries. Clive is willing to speak to various Clubs on this matter.

Ray Tiltman then reported on Patrick Douch, who had been recovering well from his operation last week but unfortunately suffered a setback yesterday, when he sustained an irregular heartbeat and he will be back in the operating theatre this afternoon. Ray also informed us that Bernard Greaves is now in the fifth week of his course of chemotherapy.

President Bryan reminded members that they could post their Christmas greetings to other members through the medium of the Club Bulletin.

He was also delighted to say that next year’s Motorcycle Rally is definitely on and will take place on Sunday, 25^th April. He emphasised the need for many volunteers to help Mike Peters and his team.

We had two speakers today, Siobhan Farrell and Mark Wilson here to tell us all about the work carried out by the St John Ambulance Brigade. Actually, it turned out to be that there was only speaker, Siobhan, with Mark helping out on the technical side by making sure her visual presentation was working okay.

There was to have been a three minute promotional DVD show prior to the talk but this proved to be impossible to bring up.

Nevertheless this was made up by a very impressive talk by a very self assured 21 year old lady.

She started off by asking us what our impressions were of St John and all the answers reflected the general public’s knowledge that they were in attendance at most big public events and sporting occasions but didn’t really know the background to this wonderful organisation.

She told us that St John is the third biggest youth organisation in the UK and that they did many things behind the scenes. Siobhan also gave us a brief history, starting with their foundation some 900 years ago. The order was granted by one of Popes and they were charged with protecting the pilgrims on their journeys to and fro from the CrusThey were forced from Jerusalem, their original base, in the 1500s and relocated to Malta, hence the emblem of the Maltese Cross as their badge.

St John has branches in many countries, most of them being former Colonial countries and also with the British Forces overseas. She said it was not a religious organisation despite having been rooted in Christianity. It is the leading first aid charity in the UK

I was surprised to hear that there are 40,000 volunteers in this country and they run approximately 1,000 ambulances.

I won’t go into much more about the organisation because it was not too long ago when we had a previous talk about them by our own PDG David Burchell.

Suffice to say this was a most interesting and informative talk by a remarkable young lady who should go far in anything she wishes to tackle in the future.

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, there wasn’t an opportunity to ask questions but I felt that members were dying to know more about this very fine organisation.

If you want to find out more or wish to donate to St John I suggest you visit their website which is:

www.sja.org.uk

The vote of thanks was given by Derek Clouting.

Secretary Frances told members that she has hotel details for next year’s District 1250 Conference, being held at the National Motor Museum in Warwickshire.

She also remarked that there seemed to be no nominations put forward for next week’s Special General Meeting.

Ray Tiltman reported on Patrick Douch, saying that he is now at home and not doing too badly but he did have a slight relapse yesterday. Ron Loadsman is going to hospital on Thursday to have his ear problem sorted and he finally reported that Bernard Greaves is in his last week of chemotherapy.

President Bryan reported on the birth of Chris Heath’s fourth grandchild.

Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" Draw and the £25 cheque was won by Paul Beaken.

Our speaker today was our own Bob Hinton and he was here to tell us all about "Thanks for Life" a project that is making a "massive push" to get rid of polio from the last few countries it is endemic to. He told us that the original Polio plus programme started in 1985. One of the big differences now is that Bill and Melinda Gates, of Microsoft fame, have stated that they will match any amount, up to $100million that Rotary raises for this project. The main aim this time is to mobilise our communities to help us achieve our aim, particularly in regard to schools and it is also hoped that it will put us on the map during Rotary week next February. Another spin off may be the acquisition of new Rotarians.

Bob has started the school initiative in our area with a PowerPoint show with the school council at Hove Park School, where he was a governor until recently. They were very impressed with the presentation, so much so that they are designating one of their fundraising schemes to it.

Bob then went on to show the aforementioned PowerPoint show that started off by explaining to us what polio is – a virus that attacks the nervous system causing a withering of muscles and paralysis to many parts of the body. Unfortunately it mainly attacks children under five years of age. He also showed us quite striking photographs of sufferers in "Iron Lungs" a contraption which was quite common until the fifties and sixties.

There is no actual cure for polio but it can be prevented by immunisation.

The final part of the PowerPoint made a striking comparison of how widespread polio was in 1985 and how through the years has been eradicated in all but a few countries; India, Nigeria and Bangladesh being three of the remaining several countries left with the disease.

Bob asked members to approach local schools with "Thanks for Life" leaflets, inside of which contained details of a poster competition for age groups 4-6 and 7-11 years.

Bob then gave details of the poster competition. He ended by saying that a £1 donation will immunise five children.

There were questions afterwards from Chris Heath and Mike Peters and the vote of thanks was given by President Bryan.

It has been a fairly successful month for Hove in the sports field with victories in the District Darts, Skittles and Quiz competitions.

Our Ten Pin Bowling team also finished runners up to Caterham, a semi-professional team who play every week and even have their own personalised bowls. A very good effort by Ted, Bob M, John M and Neil Mulholland (our legitimate ringer!!)

As mentioned in other parts of this bulletin, the motorcycle rally for this Rotary year has been given the go ahead and will take place at Blatchington Mill on Sunday, 25^th April.

I’m sure it’s not really necessary for me to emphasise how much help we will need on the day but I would ask you to try not to arrange any holidays over this very busy weekend for the Club. I am told that some of the money may be going to "Thanks for Life" which means that any money raised on the day will be doubled because of the generosity of Bill and Melinda Gates.

CLUB MEETINGS.

Please note that there will be no meetings of the Club on the 22^nd and 29^th December, our last meeting being the Christmas lunch on the 15^th. Could you please let Secretary Frances know if you are coming, and if you will be bringing anybody else along because she has to let the hotel know our numbers for that particular meeting.

THE OLD HAM FROM OLDHAM.

I’m sure that you will all join me in wishing Bob a very happy retirement from his thespian life and thank him, and Sheila, for all their efforts with The Wandering Minstrels. It’s a crying shame that the company is disbanding because, judging by their efforts last week, performing "Orpheus In The Underworld" at the Pavilion Theatre, they are just as entertaining and professional as they have been throughout their many years of performances.

Ps. Sorry about the heading Bob, I couldn’t resist it.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

DAVID AND JOAN BURCHELL SEND CHRISTMAS GREETINGS AND ALL GOOD WISHES FOR THE COMING YEAR TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

Christina Rossetti

I was listening to a radio programme recently in which a panel sought to answer the question about which war throughout the years God had supported. A very profound question and many varying answers were forthcoming which gave me considerable food for thought.

I shall be representing the Club at the Hove Remembrance Service and Parade next week at which we shall once again be remembering all those brave soldiers who in the words of the Kohima Epitaph said to their mates "When you go home, tell them of us and say – for your tomorrow, we gave our today".

This has added poignancy today as we hear once again of the many young men and women who are giving up "their today" for us out in Afghanistan.

Let us all say "We will remember them" as we pause in our daily routine for a few moments.

On a lighter note but still pretty heroic we had an attractive lady speak at the Club about her fundraising activities which left us all absolutely breathless. She is a competitive international runner, cyclist and swimmer who has won a "sideboard" full of medals in only ten years involvement in her sports. The most frightening of all was the Iron Man which comprises of two and a half hours swimming, then 115 miles on her bike followed by a full 26 mile run. Each of those is thought to be the maximum an individual can achieve at one time and yet all three have been packaged into one continuous event.

Having just walked to Courtland’s for my lunch I was feeling rather smug over my achievement – not anymore!!

It has been part of my master plan to acquire a bicycle but this young lady has recently cycled round all 60 Clubs in the District, a distance of some 280 miles in a mere 20 hours. I would feel a little silly, puffing along the promenade – maybe Bob Hinton has the answer – get a bike and be forced to leave it in the garage because it has a puncture!

Christmas is now but a few short weeks away so I do hope that absolutely every member of the Club will make the effort to do a stint – however short – at tin rattling at our Christmas Collecting sites.

Chris Heath is a man of considerable stature and not someone to be trifled with so I do hope you will give in to his charming request for you to volunteer!

"Every little helps" your know

Finally I hope that the more cultured of our members enjoy being with Orpheus in his Underworld.

This is the Sheila and Bob Hinton’s final appearance with their troupe. They have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure over many years performing a catholic range of musical events. They deserve a rousing reception at the end of their last public performance although you may still catch a note of two if you happen to be passing the Drove Way at bath time!

3^rd. This being the first meeting of the month it will be devoted to a report from the previous evening’s Council.

10^th. Our speaker today is Alan Marchbank and he will speak to us about Cambodian Future/Orphanages.

17^th. Speaking today is Siobhan Farrell and she is representing St. John Ambulance.

24^th. No speaker allocated to this meeting to date.

24 Present – all our own members.

Frances du Toit informed members that her email address is francis.dutoit@ntlworld.com

(Before you write in, for some unknown reason Frances is spelt Francis in her address.

President Bryan’s new email address is bmten@talktalk.net and telephone number is Btn 776112

Ray Tiltman said that Patrick is seeing the specialist tomorrow and may have to go into hospital for an operation.

Howard Attree informed us that for the first time in the Club’s history we have more members than our Mother Club, Brighton. There membership has decreased in recent times from 43 to 36.

There was a Club Council Meeting last night and the following items were covered:

This Club voted for Douglas Price, a recent speaker at this Club, as District Governor Nominee.

It has been decided to make a big push with regard to polio plus next February and it was hoped that local schools will become involved. Ray Tiltman said there has been a "flicker" of interest from Portslade Community College. There was also talk of targeting Junior Schools in the area.

The President’s Ball will be on a Friday next June and will probably be held in conjunction with Inner Wheel and will take place at The Dyke Golf Club.

President’s ball will on a Friday in June.

A unified programme of events where we list all speakers and all other happenings is now in place and this is being collated by Ralph Harrison.

The Club Website was described as "a bit clunky" to the amusement of Howard Attree and needs updating with more information but this cannot be done unless people supply this information.

To encourage more people to access the website the Bulletin will only be available through this medium.

Attendance for September was 63.25%

A nice letter has been received from Tools for Self Reliance at Southampton, thanking us four our donations this year.

Newsletter - last bulletin to be distributed was October 2009 and in future will only be on website.

Equipment - bit of a shambles and tidying up needed with a more secure box which will be kept in cloakroom of hotel. Also new audit of equipment to be carried out.

Finances - Muggeridge bequest of £10,000, with a further £7,500 to come and possibly another £2,000 after that. Even beyond that there are further investments which will yield us £3,000 a year.

Two benches to be purchased in commemoration of Wally Muggeridge.

SERV are coming to talk next week and they will be presented with cheque. They helped us greatly at motorcycle rally.

Christmas Collection - Ralph doing great job and is collecting names for this important job already.

Music in Hospitals – lady who spoke couple of weeks and donation made of 250 for a concert at Martlets.

At the recent Jersey Conference most of those present were deeply moved by Starfish charity, an organisation that cures people with serious life affecting stammers. Three days of training cures these unfortunate people.

Harry Townsend, the wheelbarrow man is also to be helped and he will be contacted shortly with this in mind.

A party of members will be attending a Syd Lawrence performance on Friday, 30^th October.

There is to be a farewell performance by the Wandering Minstrels of Orpheus in the Underworld at the Pavilion Theatre from 19^th/21^st November. This will be last time that Bob Hinton will appear on stage

Shelter Boxes - recent disasters mean boxes are now depleted so we will be purchasing more. An Aqua water survival boxes has been ordered at a cost of £600.

RYLA – Interviews have taken place with a view to supplying four candidates for this worthwhile event that takes place at Easter next year. It was mentioned that a Pforzheim Rotarian is interested for his son to take part.

Mock Interviews – These will take place on October 21^st.

Speakers – Names of speakers needed, particularly to fill the spot on 27^th October.

An entertaining speaker is needed for the Christmas party meeting on 15^th December.

Display Stands – Pop Ups seem quite expensive and look fragile. Council authorised John Eaton, Mike Nettell and Paul Beaken to get on with purchasing something good and solid, particularly for outdoor display.

Bob Hinton rose to make a point about a Rotary day for schools and said that the student council at Hove Park School showed strong interest in the polio campaign.

28 Present – 25 of our own members, one Rotarian Visitor; ADG Tony Osman from Chichester Harbour and two non-Rotarian Guests; Joan Woodthorpe and Dean Wickham, our speaker.

Assistant Governor Tony Osman was here purely in an observational role, similar to his first visit at last year’s Club Assembly. President Bryan jokingly remarked that he hoped we received a better mark than Tony gave then.

Patrick Douch goes into Worthing Hospital shortly for exploratory operation to see if he needs bypass surgery or a new valve.

Adrian Ball reported that Mike Peters went into the RSCH last Thursday and had operation on Friday, but not as major as expected. Currently in intensive care ward because of heart problems. Reported to be tired and none too happy.

Paul Beaken spoke of his role as a guide at the Old Brighton Police Cells, located beneath Brighton Town Hall. He said that visits are free of charge and he hopes to raise a party from this Club to visit the cells in the near future. A group of ten would be ideal but all must be fit enough to go up and down many stairs and the visit also involves a lot of standing around. (To take place 3/11 at 10am.)

Paul Beaken also appealed to members to suggest an iconic badge or picture to do with Hove to use on our pop ups. He is also looking for ideas to tell prospective members what Rotary could give them if they joined. A decent cartoonist is also being sought for artwork on the pop ups.

Dean Wickham, our speaker today is Chairman of SERV (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers) an organisation, formed in 1981 who deliver emergency products, including blood, to hospitals free of charge. Most of the work is performed by motorcyclists and they carry out an average of 380 emergency calls a year in Sussex alone.

The main part of his talk was devoted to a DVD presentation taken from their website www.serv.org.uk

Most of their work involves picking up blood that comes from a central store in Surrey, with the blood transported firstly by a Surrey Volunteer to a pick up point, usually the Little Chef site near Chipstead, and then picked by a Sussex SERV volunteers for transportation to one of the many Sussex hospitals. All these trips are done by volunteers who give up their precious time and even pay for the petrol used out of their own pockets. It’s been worked out that they have performed over 16,000 hours of runs since their inception in 1981.

Dean also told us that their first ever bike was donated by a motorcycle company in Crawley.

He also pointed out that, even though these jobs were carried out in an emergency environment, they received no concessions from police with regard to traffic laws. All riders have proper reflective gear and look very professional, not like in the old days when riders just wore their ordinary motorcycle gear.

Dean was also pleased to say that they have never failed to deliver items in their 28 years and hospitals usually received their items within 2 hours of making calls, with an average time of about 90 minutes. All blood is carried in temperature stable boxes.

The organisation suffers from a lack of public awareness because most of their work takes place in the middle of the night, when hardly anyone is about. They have a distinctive livery, which is orange and yellow, just different enough to avoid the riders being mistaken for the other emergency services, but they still are!!

Dean said that they are lucky enough to receive some good sponsorship, most corporate, involving Honda, Yamaha, Rotary and Roadable Devitt’s who insure the bikes free of charge. Tom Tom Sat Nav also supply equipment for new riders before they become familiar with the routes involved.

They are also supported by Harley Davidson and P & H Motorcycles of Crawley.

SERV are also seeking more volunteers including riders for deliveries, Coordinators for managing calls, Fundraisers, Group Administrators and an Events Operation Manager. If anyone is interested in any of these jobs they should go to www.justgiving.com/serv

There were questions after from John Eaton and Tad Phillips/Filipowicz that Dean fielded expertly and pointed out that there was plenty of literature for people to pick up at the meeting’s conclusion.

The vote of thanks was given by Paul Beaken.

20^th October 2009.

I’m afraid I missed this one because of a trip up to sunny Manchester to see Michael Macintyre, currently the funniest comedian in this country but Peter Fowle supplied me with a summary of the talk about the Malawi Project by Kaytee Miller and Ben Ridle.

Their organisation is constructing buildings in Malawi to house 40 trainee students while they learn to be carpenters and tailors. There is also a series of business theory workshops to complement practical work. They also aim to provide start up capital and oversee the setting up of a profit making exercise to fund later cycles of the course.

I’m told that this was an excellent presentation and I’m only sorry that I was unable to be there to listen to it.

I’m afraid I’m not even sure who performed the vote of thanks.

PS I was delighted to hear that Mike Peters attended this meeting, so soon after his recent op!!

28 Present – 27 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; our speaker Sarah Jouault.

Paul Beaken confirmed that the visit to Brighton Town Hall prison cells will take place next Tuesday (3/11) at 10am.

Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch has seen a specialist but is still not sure what his future treatment will be.

Ray also reported that the Mock Interviews at Brighton and Hove High School were very successful.

Sarah Jouault, our speaker today, was a very impressive lady, who has been performing superhuman feats of endurance since 1998. She lost her husband to illness some 14 years ago and after a couple of years mourning she was encouraged by her children to get out and about and do something useful with her life. She certainly did that, and more, because ever since she has been going from strength to strength with her fundraising activities, and has raised over £70,000 so far. She was voted "Sportswoman of the Year" by BBC South last year for her efforts in athletics and fundraising.

As mentioned in Bryan’s message, she has just completed a tour of Rotary Clubs in the District, covering 288 miles or so in just over 20 hours.

Initially she started off purely as a runner, and found that she was good at it. The cold winters nearly put her off training but after hearing of a girl who had a serious illness she decided to run the Dublin Marathon. She was told during the race that she would hit the wall, and wondered what people were on about but after 23 miles of the 26 she knew what they meant and said she had never felt such pain, which made her cry, but then she thought of the sick girl, whose family had come to watch her, so she finished it.

Started running and found she was good at it. Cold winters nearly put her off but after hearing of a girl who had a serious illness she decided to run the Dublin marathon where she run her first marathon.

After this, she was attending a charity ball in Brighton and bumped in Sally Gunnell who offered to sponsor her for the London Marathon and she raised £5,000 for a special machine.

She eventually got bored with running and graduated to the triathlon, an event that involved consecutive swimming, cycling and running. She told us her brother constructed her first bicycle at a cost of £350, a sum she thought was quite high until she bought her latest bike at a cost of £4,000.

Her only handicap in the triathlon was her fear of being face down in water, meaning that she could only swim the breast stroke, which is not the fastest way of propelling oneself through water.

She made one big mistake in her first triathlon, trying to change her clothes between the swimming and the cycling event, which is forbidden. To complicate matters she also sustained a puncture during the first half mile or so of the bike ride. She finished last in this opening race and told herself that she wouldn’t do it again but went on to enter an Olympic type triathlon. Much greater success this time, winning the bronze medal for her age group, and more importantly still raising £6,000 for charity. She professed to crying on hearing this.

After this success in the triathlon she decided to push herself even further, entering her first "Half Iron Man" consisting of a two and a half mile swim, half a marathon and 50 miles on the bike. She actually succeeded in achieving her fastest half marathon time despite already having been swimming for the 2 and half miles before hand.

Due to lack of space I’ll have to finish now, but I confirm what Bryan said earlier by saying that I felt absolutely exhausted just listening to her exploits. A truly amazing woman!!

The vote of thanks was performed by Bob Hinton.

As the harvest time approaches, and all our subscriptions have been safely gathered in, the Club Council turned its mind to Bob Hinton’s Budget which may have been set on the low side this year. Increasingly other clubs and organisations are making small presentations of wine, chocolate and flowers to speakers. We have long told our speaker finder not to use anyone who wanted something more than a free lunch. But times are "a-changing" and the Council authorised Ralph to be more bountiful if it proved necessary.

Whilst on Club Service matters it was reported that attendance during this summer had been quite good although 20 members missed last month an excellent talk on Tuesday 9^th September an excellent talk from a guy who pushed a wheelbarrow the length of New Zealand!

Ian Collington agreed to keep an eye on any food/menu issues with the hotel and counselled us to focus any publicity drives at a more micro level than the Argus which is not focussed enough on our target market.

Michael Nettell has written to the other clubs in the Brighton area to see if we can co-operate better but I am afraid it has fallen on stony ground. So too has Soiree’s efforts to get a Rotaract Club again in Brighton. The only Rotaract Club in the whole of Sussex is in Chichester – what an indictment of both us and the youth of today. It is all a pretty poor show where Brighton Rotary Clubs’ co-operation is concerned and our Council have asked me to have a crack at getting things moving – don’t hold your breath! However as far as our Club is concerned we are getting things moving on the social side even involving ladies of Inner Wheel! There are plans for pub nights out playing skittles, darts and that sort of thing together with more theatre trips and days out. All these things are important if we are going to attract new members whatever age band we target.

I am just back from sunny Jersey after a great weekend of fun at the District Conference. We did not attend the formal dinners opting instead to use local hotel restaurants. There was lots of lively banter but I did not always hear the endings. Peter Fowle was telling a very interesting tale about when "he hit her back end with a mighty bang" and Adrian had some sort of story about "a big chopper" but sadly I missed out on the punch line.

We hired a mini-bus for a day and visited a vineyard and I actually saw Bob Mulholland throw away his red wine – that must be a first!

At the actual conference – we did go honestly – there were some moments that were better than others. The RIBI President told a joke about Yorkshire men – what does he know about us! He said we liked Cricket and Curry. At cricket we can beat Sussex any time and our favour curry is called "Geoffrey Boycott Curry". You get the runs after eating one but they come more slowly!

On the last night Dr. Henderson excelled himself with the full blooded renderings of excerpts from the old American musical shows such as "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Oklahoma". There is a bright future for him here when he has spent all his NHS allocated funds!

But to end on a serious note the absolute highlight of the Conference was the contribution from an organisation called Starfish, dedicated to helping people of all ages who have a serious stammer or speech impediment that prevents them getting their words out. Their leaders, a husband and wife team were terrific – absolutely inspirational but we were then shown a video of a before and after treatment of two young men, who then came on stage and told us their story. I cannot find words to tell you the effect it had on me but I am not ashamed to tell you that I could not control the flood of tears running down my cheeks. We must do something to help them expand their work. It is so worthwhile

Bryan.

Senior Vice Ian Collington presided over the meeting today as Bryan was holidaying in the Peak District.

27 Present – 26 of our own members and one non-Rotarian Guest, Yukako Hiraki, one of Rotary Foundation’s Ambassadorial Scholars and our speaker for today.

In the absence of John Eaton, who was feeling poorly, Ted Bartup outlined the arrangements for the function at Knowles Tooth this Friday. He appealed for members to donate raffle prizes and asked if there were any last minute applications for tickets to the event.

There was also a reminder that the coming Sunday is Bowls Day, in conjunction with the Inner Wheel Club. Any participants are reminded that they need for wear "flat" shoes.

John Eaton poorly so Ted Bartup has taken over the arrangements for the Knowles tooth function this coming Friday. He appealed for raffle prizes and any last minute applications for tickets.

Mike Peters was pleased to announce that there has been an addition to his family in the form of a third grandchild. All three grandchildren were born in China.

Those concerned were informed that there is a meeting of the Club Service Committee this evening; 8 o’clock at Ian Collington’s house.

Howard Attree reminded those members going to the upcoming conference in Jersey that there is no reciprocal health arrangement with our own National Health Service and it is necessary to take out private health insurance for the visit.

Our speaker was Yukako Hiraki, an ambassadorial scholar from Japan, who is being looked after by Campbell Boyce, a member of Brighton Rotary Club, who was unable to accompany her today.

Our speaker today is Yukako Hiraki.

Campbell

This was her final talk to a Rotary Club in this country because she is leaving for Japan this coming weekend

Yukako told us that she has an M.A. in Poverty and Development.

She is a very assured and confident lady, speaking terrific English and she started off by thanking Rotary Foundation for supporting her and would have been unable to come to the UK without their help. Here sponsor club is the Tokyo Koto Club.

According to Yukako here sponsor club is very active, doing many similar things to us but they also run a road cleaning programme and sponsor a local baseball team. They also help the elderly by making them familiar with the workings of a computer. Last but not least they also fund disabled students and Yukako showed us a picture of one of their Rotary meetings showing some of these students making a presentation to the club.

She told us that she has worked in the private sector in Japan and also for the peace building programme in Cambodia from 2004 to 2006 and then was a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) representative in Japan from 2006 to 2008.

Yukako related to us her experiences in Cambodia where she was involved in "Small Arms Management". This was a scheme that involved rounding up all the weapons held by many families after the wars in that area. She painted a rosy picture of Cambodia itself. She told us it was a beautiful country that had suffered from 30 years of civil war, which ended in 1991, and there was then internal strife until 1997. The whole project was funded by the Japanese government and the United Nations.

She finished her talk by showing us pictures of her friends at University, telling us that her group of 26 scholars represents 16 countries.

A very good talk from a most articulate young lady. Judging by the number of questions asked after it was very well received by all those present.

The vote of thanks was given by Ken Jones.

31 present – 29 of our own members with two guests; Rotarian Doug Price from Chichester Priory, accompanied by his wife Rosemary.

President Bryan gave out his new address which is: 10 Bath Court, King’s Esplanade, Hove BN3 2WP. Tel No 776112

He also thanked members for all their messages of good luck on his move.

A board was circulated for members to denote if they would be attending the evening meeting on 29^th of this month.

It was reported that Patrick Douch was in Castle Ward, Worthing Hospital with heart problems.

Ian Varley was back at club, with his arm in a sling, which he said was mostly for protection reasons. John Eaton returned to club after his recent bout of illness.

John also thanked everyone for their help at the Soiree at Knowles Tooth.

Our speakers today were Doug and Rosemary Price and they were here to tell us all about the work performed by "Hope and Homes for Children", a project well known to most of us because it has been supported by both District and RIBI for a number of years.

Most of their work is done in Africa but more recently there are helping orphaned and abandoned children in Eastern Europe, mainly Romania.

The aim of the project is to move children out of institutions into family based care and away from an environment affected by war and disease.

To save me going into great details about their work I suggest you log on to www.hopeandhomes.org for more information.

The talk was mainly given by Rosemary and then it was the turn of Doug to show us a six minute video, which I must say was very moving and couldn’t fail to tug at anyone’s heart strings, and hopefully purse strings.

The video itself was entitled "When the Cameras Leave"

One of the participants in the video presentation was a child called Anca who has been institutionalised all her life.

It seems such a huge problem that you can only think that it is impossible to combat but organisations such as Hope and Homes are helping in the best way they can.

The postscript to the video was that when the cameras leave – they stay.

A very good talk by two people that obviously feel most strongly about this project.

The vote of thanks was given by Gordon Cummings.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Doug Price remarked that our sound system was supplied by Speakezee Systems and he told us that this particular company is no longer trading and it may be hard for us to find spare parts.

20 present – 19 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Harry Townsend, our speaker.

Ray Tiltman reported that Patrick Douch was out of hospital and waiting to see cardiologist. It was reported that Ron Loadsman is in hospital for reasons unknown.

Bob Mulholland was saddened to announce that David Perrin, a frequent visitor to this Club in the past, and member of Brighton Rotary has passed away.

There was a slightly embarrassing moment when there were only fifteen members remaining when the speaker rose to speak owing to early leavers.

Harry Townsend, our speaker today was here to tell us all about his work as a fundraiser for

The Melanoma Fund.

The main part of his talk was about his walk, pushing a wheelbarrow, the length and breadth of North Island, New Zealand. He was, in fact, wearing a jumper advertising the fact that he was "Harry, The Wheelbarrow Man"

Harry told us that he became heavily involved in this charity following the death of his wife from this malicious illness. He has performed many endurance walks throughout the world, including a mega marathon in the Sahara Desert that coincided with his 70^th birthday. He told us that he raised the magnificent sum of £250,000 in the last ten years.

He told us of one very inspiring story, about a lady who organised a midnight sponsored walk, consisting of 157 walkers and they raised £8,000. The lady in question carried on with organising the walk despite losing her daughter to melanoma only three days before, and she called the walk "The Celebration of Katy’s Life".

He also told us of another pair of men who played 100 holes of golf in one day, raising £6,000. This was in memory of the best friend of a wife of one of the golfers.

One pair played 100 holes of golf in one day.

Thanks to all this marvellous fund raising a laboratory has been set up at Mount Vernon Hospital to carry out research on melanoma. The Royal Marsden Hospital is also looking at faulty genes because it is thought that there is a genetic aspect to this illness. A mole awareness unit has also been set up in Cornwall and people from this unit go round beaches and shopping centres to promote awareness of how easy it is to be afflicted by too much exposure to the sun.

Harry has also funded a skin cancer nurse in East Grinstead, where there is a memorial garden to his late wife.

A DVD for schools has been produced and skin cancer is on the GCSE science syllabus.

This was an absolutely marvellous talk by a really dedicated character and his total commitment to what he is doing shone through.

The vote of thanks was performed by Peter Fowle.

25 present – 24 of our own members and one non-Rotarian guest; Angela Hills, our speaker.

Ray Tiltman said that Patrick Douch had intended to come to Rotary today, after his spell in hospital but didn’t sound too good when he spoke to him this morning.

Ralph Harrison announced that there was a walk this Friday (25/9), commencing at 10am and a "Darts" get together at the White Horse on Monday (28/9). There is also a friendly(!!) skittles match to be played against the Inner Wheel on Monday 5^th October, both these at 7pm.

Ron Loadsman was welcomed back after a lengthy illness that included a stay in hospital.

President Bryan said that he was disappointed, on Sunday, whilst lying in his hammock at St. Brelades Bay in Jersey, that the weather on the mainland was the same as over there.

He also said that he enjoyed the conference very much but found that the drinks bill far outweighed the food bill. He also informed members that the District 1250 Conference is to be held at the National Motor Museum, with hotel accommodation in Stratford-upon-Avon.

He also told us that the District Governor has arranged a "Meet the Scholars" night on Wednesday 14^th October at the Chichester Park Hotel. This will of course involve meeting this year’s entire batch of Ambassadorial Scholars.

Finally, he asked members if anyone was interested in going to listen to Syd Lawrence and his Orchestra at Worthing on 30^th October. There was interest shown by quite a few people.

Angela Hills, our speaker for today is the event’s organiser for the Music in Hospitals organisation.

They do what it says on the tin really and organise music for various institutions including hospitals and care and rest homes. Once again if would be better for you to find out more about this organisation from their website the address of which is www.musicals-in-hospitals.org

She said that their mission was to improve the quality of life of people who have been confined to their beds for various reasons and let them listen to live music. She said there were over 300 musicians on their books and over 5000 concerts are held throughout the year and this included all types of music from classical to that from the shows.

Musicians are specially picked from those who are unable to handle the sort of situations that arise because some people like the intimacy and some people like to be touched on their shoulders and some people don’t like any of these and just like to listen to the music and the musicians have to be on the same wavelength as those listening to them. She also said that she liked her musicians to look smart and be willing to show their instruments to people.

Angela also told us that research has shown that music reaches the parts of the brain that cannot be reached by anything else and this has brought a response from those patients with Alzheimer’s.

It has also been proved that music can return the heart beat to normal of a child who has been listening to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and it also has the ability to raise or lower your moods.

She also quoted Ronan Keating, of the Boyzone boy band who said that he used to be able to smell odours from his childhood when music from his childhood was played by his mother.

The musical visits were also welcomed by long term patients in care homes who found that the concerts helped to break the monotony of the day to day routine.

Angela said that each concert costs £233 to stage and this money is provided by hospital trust with the rest being raised by usual fundraising methods.

She told us a quite moving story of a paralysed boy called Christopher, who spoke for the first time after being allowed to stroke the strings of a musical instrument. His mother carried at this response and gave her hope and strength in looking after him.

The Harpist stayed on for three hours to play for and with Christopher that showed compassion of the musicians who play for them.

There was another story about a boy that had a phobia about having his stitches removed and he was very distressed when the first lot were removed but the second lot were removed while he was listening to music and he never ever realised they had gone.

Angela finished by showing us a five minute film that illustrated the joy of people listening to the performances. Following on from this Angela said that if anyone raised £230 they would lay on a concert on their behalf.

The vote of thanks was given by John Mainwood.

As from next month, this bulletin will not be circulated by email to all those individuals who receive it presently. Instead it will be posted on the Club’s website, the address of which is www.hoverotaryclub.name

I hasten to add that this is by way of an experiment, to encourage more people to visit the Club Website, which is admirably maintained by Howard Attree and on which you can find lots of information about club happenings. I shall still circulate printed copies of the bulletin to those Luddites in the Club.

"I have left the phone off the hook," said Tom engagingly. "I’ve swallowed a fly," said Tom with bated breath.

"I will not explain any more nouns," Tom declined. "More cocaine?" Tom snorted.

"I must collect my car from the police," Tom expounded. "The South Bank Show," Melvyn Bragged.

"I am wearing my wedding ring," said Tom with abandon. "I’m sleeping with my gamekeeper," said the lady chattily.

"The election result is too close to call." Tom recounted. "There’s an insect in the lavatory," noted Tom aloofly.

"I manufacture table tops." Said Tom counterproductively. "What about the gold and frankincense?" Tom demurred.

"Look out! A golf ball." Tom forewarned. "No new direct taxes," said the Chancellor the Exchequer

"I shall not leave you a penny when I die," said Tom wilfully. dutifully.

"I burnt the food," said Tom with panache.

"Who discovered radium?" asked Mari curiously.

"It can’t be the circuit-breaker," Tom refused.

"Use the Newton-Raphison method," Tom iterated.

"Are you an alto or a tenor?" inquired Tom.

"Open the soup," said Tom cannily.

"It should have an apple in its mouth," said Tom pig-headedly.

"Yes, we have no bananas," said Tom fruitlessly.

"The ship is mine," declared Fletcher Christian bountifully.

"Eins, zwei, drei, funf," said Tom fearlessly.

"I’d like some lemon rind with my coffee," said Clare zestfully.

"I just rested it on the window sill," alleged Tom.

"I’m the world’s best phlebotomist," boasted Tom vaingloriously.

"I never know what to buy in supermarkets," said Tom listlessly.

"Send this back to the examiner," Tom remarked.

"MRI this insect," said Tom scandalously.

"We must get this patient a bed," admitted Tom.

"Anyone for a pancake?" asked Tom flippantly.

"Nice lorry," Tom articulated.

"Just parsley, sage and rosemary," said Tom timelessly.

Phew! What a busy month August has been for Mary and Me. Keeping all the balls in the air is no mean task when you get to our ripe old age. Every day Mary is clearing out drawers and cupboards whilst I drive to the Tip, a charity shop or our new flat with "stuff". Interspersed with all that has been weekly Rotarian meetings, the monthly Council meeting, "At Home" weekend to both our Club and Inner Wheel, farewell dinners to our neighbours and leading a Probus Holiday in the Derbyshire Peaks. My Advice is that if you have lived in the same house for, say 30 years, and your partner suggests moving, think twice.

I am only kidding – we are both quite sure that our move down to the seafront will be a dramatic change of lifestyle that we are both going to enjoy. No gardening, sweeping leaves, maintaining house and swimming pool sounds to me like something very close to paradise.

On the fun side of things we started out with a visit to hear Ken Dodd. The show started at 7.30pm and Ken finally allowed the doors to be unlocked at 12.50am!

Jokes came thick and fast but miraculously John Mainwood managed to make a note of some of them which I intend to drip feed to you when ever the Club is at low ebb. Can you imagine – five hours of jokes, many of which I am sure not even Chris Heath has heard before! A few days later Yveline Milner had arranged for us to be out in the warm afternoon sunshine at the National HQ of British Croquet. Mike Nettell, who, until recently, has been Club Treasurer for as long as he can remember, together with his wife, Margaret, managed to lose every match. His enthusiasm for the new found sport was such that he has been trying to persuade Yveline to arrange another session before the end of the season!

Speakers this month were again all very interesting. A young lady, and I mean young, told us all about community policing. It is radically different to the days when PC Plod clipped you round the ears if he caught you pinching apples. This was followed by Dr. Brian Baker, my neighbour, who had us all doing exercises as we stood for the loyal toast but exercises are not something some of us relish having to do. (Speak for yourself! Ed:)

Brian was followed by Paul young, the Ministry Director of the charity called "Off the Fence". Now superlatives tend to be rather over worked these days but I, and many others, I am sure that you too found his talk truly inspirational.

The guy had an appalling home life and education, then sleeping rough through his teen-age years. He then started "Off the Fence" with a yearly turnover of £3,000 which has grown in 10 years to just over £300,000. Amongst the many services they now provide are outreach services to those having to sleep rough, support for women who find themselves in difficult situations, clubs and after school projects for young people and safe houses for vulnerable homeless young people. What valuable work in a City such as ours and guess what – they have a waiting list of people wanting to be volunteers!

You will not be surprised to hear that Rotary responded magnificently to the recent typhoon in Taiwan, where they had 2.5 metres of rainfall in a very short time. Not surprisingly, high winds, flooding and mudslides left 50,000 people stranded and also flowing submerged homes in the Fujian Province in China and 13,000 in the Philippines.

Rotarians from Australia and New Zealand were on the scene very quickly and 224 Shelter Boxes were dispatched immediately. Well done guys and we will have to consider how we can replenish the stock for the next inevitable tragedy. We should thank our lucky stars that we live in a more benign climate – we should not complain.

Bryan.

International Chairman Peter Fowle has asked me to pass on the following letter, from Andreas Ruf of the Pforzheim Club, for your perusal:

"Dear Peter, I trust you are well.

Let me take the occasion to thank you again for the splendid weekend you organised for us in Oxford. Of course I knew of the history and the importance of Oxford in general, but we were most surprised by the magnitude of the attractions of this city, which is very much alive, by the architecture, the culture, the traditions and not least the nature to be admired on your fabulous Thames (or better Isis) trip. We were not surprised, though, by your hospitality because we had high expectations which were entirely fulfilled.

This is just a quick life sign before our summer break. Our club has unfortunately been hit by the loss of two long standing and extraordinary members.

On July 17^th our friend Paul Stahle died, a Rotarian since 1955, he served as President during 1970.71 and was awarded with a PHF. He was an entrepreneur for small items of daily use.

Another dear PHF died last week; Dr Hans Roth. He was born in 1923 and joined Rotary in 1966. He was head of a children’s home for many years and served as a member of our parliament for the CDU party for 20 years.

On a different note, a committee for the organisation of the next contact meeting in Pforzheim was formed. We agreed on the date of 18^th to 20^th June, 2010. Following the suggestions we were given in Oxford, we will be offering a meeting this time with a base in Pforzheim, so that new members can get an impression of our home town. In order to make the program even more tempting we will plan a day outing in Stuttgart, but return to Pforzheim for everybody’s convenience. The program will follow the new timetable; ie, starting on Friday afternoon and ending with a common breakfast on Sunday. We have also learned from you to leave some time open for individual plans, which will be Saturday afternoon.

We hope this program is appealing to our friends in Hove and hope you can make it in great numbers.

As in previous years I will send you the German address book of Rotarians, including all information on our Club. As you know our President is Thomas Wust, incoming President is Peter Rachel, Secretary is a quite recent member to the Club, Wulf Oppelt. Gerhard has officially handed over the duties of the foreign relations to me, but thankfully helps me on all queries.

In September we will receive a visit from the Incoming President of Evreux, who would like to discuss our future thoughts on the contact meetings and possible new contact clubs. We welcome the open discussion on these issues. I believe he has a similar trip planned to Hove. We will give all suggestions a good thought and discuss it both inside our Club and with our Contact Club.

I wish you a good summer. Personally, I will be leaving for two weeks holiday from tomorrow and will be returning at the beginning of September.

Kind regards.

Yours Sincerely – Andreas"

23 present – all our own Members.

Secretary Frances informed members that nominations have to be in the by the end of this week for the election of District Officers. Special General Meeting must be called in the first week of September.

President Bryan said that in a recent edition of Hove Factually there was a picture of our own John Mainwood, winner of the Hove Business Association Croquet tournament.

Paul Thrasher has spoken to Ian Varley who is still in some discomfort after breaking a bone in the upper part of his right arm. He is in good cheer and it was reported that he will not be back at club for some time. He is still hoping to go to Cornwall for his annual holiday.

Ian Collington gave publicity to bottle holders, ideal for walking trips, manufactured by Frances du Toit, which can be purchased for £5.

President Bryan reported on the previous evening’s Club Council.

Pop up displays were mentioned, with a view to purchase, but Bryan remarked that some were fairly cheap and other’s quite expensive, but you get what you pay for.

It has been decided to go for the better quality type because they stand up better than the cheaper versions. A subcommittee is being formed to deal with the design of the signs.

He reported that there was approximately £10,000 in the Charity Account with another five thousand on the way from a bequest. He remarked that just because we have extra we should not give it to the first people that ask and should seek for quality and need.

President Bryan reminded members of the coming together of the Rotary Club of Hove and the Inner Wheel Club of Hove this coming weekend. There will be two events. The first from 11am until "2ish" and the second, a soiree from 5.30 onwards. Bryan said he realised that this clashed with B & H Albion playing at home but "no Seagull shirts please".

Mike Nettell has written to the other Brighton Clubs with regard to the Polio Plus Day to see if we can mount a joint effort on this very important day in the Rotary calendar. John Austin is endeavouring to find a vacant shop in Brighton shop for PR purposes.

Ian Collington is to hold a meeting for all club service officers in the near future.

Frances du Toit suggested that coach excursions could be arranged and they do not need to be expensive and are only this if the coaches are not filled to capacity.

John Eaton well advanced with Christmas collection arrangements. Extra venue this year with sessions at the Co-op superstore in Nevill Road.

It was announced that £200 had been given to the Girl Guides for the upcoming centenary camp at Blacklands

£200 has also been donated to the 6^th Hove Scouts Drums and Bugles Band to help them take part in a musical competition in Holland.

John Eaton also reported that the social event being held at Knowles Tooth on 4^th September is being well supported and tickets should be available next week and they will cost £10, a real bargain because this includes all food and drink.

President Bryan also reported on the visit to Worthing to see Ken Dodd, remarking on the fact

That Ken was on stage for some four hours. Paul Thrasher read out a few samples of Mr. Dodd’s jokes.

There was no speaker today.

27 present – 26 of our own members and one non-Rotarian visitor; Dr. Brian Baker, our speaker.

It was announced that there was to be another "Bowls Day" at The Drive Bowling Club and this will take place on 6^th September commencing at 2pm. Jane Cummings is the organiser and tickets for this event will cost £8 including high tea.

President Bryan said that he hoped that everyone enjoyed the get together of Rotary and Inner Wheel at chez Meakin last Saturday

Bryan also remarked on last week’s croquet session, saying it was most enjoyable. He commented on the fact that Mike Nettell is keen to repeat the experience to prove he is not as bad at the game as he appeared to be. It was suggested that a repeat of this outing could take place in the spring.

John Eaton stated that he has tickets for the Knowles Tooth soiree on 4^th September.

Ray Tiltman thanked all those who kindly supported him on his recent sponsored walk, stating that he had raised £265 in all.

Our speaker today was Dr. Brian Baker and he gave a very informative and amusing talk about looking after oneself in the later stages of life.

He handed out copies of a survey giving reams of statistics about how you can extend your life by x amount of years by keeping to five basic things. The five are exercise, caring, humour, being care for and touching people (no, not in that way!)

He told us of when Spike Milligan went for a medical, with the doctor saying "Get undressed and lie down on the couch" and Spike replying "Shouldn’t you take me out for dinner first?"

Dr. Brian also said that when one wakes in the morning you should stand in front of a long mirror and do a little audit: what’s tongue like? Am I losing or gaining weight, anything grown in the night such as moles and suchlike. He also suggested that you should get a friend in to help with the bits you can’t see in the mirror. One tip he came out with was to check the colour of your urine, remarking that it should be the colour of a good Chardonnay!

The talk carried on in this vein and Brian had us all chuckling, despite it being a very serious subject.

It was also essential to go to your local GP for a health check on a regular basis

He finished by saying that if you stay healthy you don’t become a burden to others.

This was a brilliant talk by an almost professional after dinner speaker.

The vote of thanks was given by Dr Michael Barley, he remarking that in his opinion the talk was "absolutely priceless!"

26 Present – 25 of our own Members and one non-Rotarian guest; Paul Young, our speaker.

It was announced that fifty tickets had been sold thus far for the Knowles Tooth event on 4^th Sept.

Paul Young, our speaker today, is the founder and leader of a very worthwhile organisation called "Off the Fence".

This project performs innumerable good works to help those unfortunates in Brighton that have fallen on hard times leading to their being homeless.

He started off by saying that the local media gives off miserable vibes, saying such things as "My goodness! Brighton is going downhill." They don’t mention that there are plenty of ordinary people doing great things within the community in this fine city of ours.

When writing about our speakers it is often very hard to convey what sort of person the speaker is. Paul is the first to confess that he had a very bad time at school and his education suffered badly.

The truth of it is though that he is a most charismatic person and has a wonderful way of speaking, with his dedication and belief shining through in every word he said.

He is obviously very passionate about the work that "Off the Fence" carries out and his enthusiasm is obviously contagious because, as President says in his message in this bulletin, there is a waiting list of volunteers for his organisation.

Off The Fence have teams out on the street, six nights a week in the winter, making sure that no one dies on the street. Any homeless who are in trouble or need medical help are fast tracked by the Off the Fence Volunteers.

Besides these teams there are also various premises dotted around the city, for people to drop in to, including an advice centre in Portland Road that is used by twenty-five to thirty people every day.

The ironic thing about this centre is that they had trouble from the authorities in getting a "change of use" order for the premises because it used to be a "Massage Parlour!"

Another section of their organisation is a programme called "Wise Up" and this is for schoolchildren who are on the edge of exclusion. If these children didn’t attend this programme they would most certainly have been excluded from school.

I could go on for a lot longer about the work they do but I suggest that if you want to find out more you should go on to www.offthefence.org.uk

This was a superb talk by a very sincere and driven man and the vote of thanks was given by Adrian Ball.

24 Present – 22 of our own members and two Rotarian Visitors, Don Bristow from Brighton and Richard Skinner, our speaker, from Titsey and District.

In the absence of President Bryan and Senior Vice Ian it was left to Junior Vice Ralph Harrison to chair today’s meeting.

Today was the occasion of the "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 was won by Howard Attree.

Sports Officer John Mainwood informed members that the entry forms for all the District Competition have arrived and this included those for the District Quiz Competition, John remarking that we could maybe field a team of four this year. The team can include one non-Rotarian.

Richard Skinner, our speaker today was here to tell us all about the good work being carried out, on behalf of Rotary, in Sierra Leone.

Unfortunately I am pushed for space and cannot do justice to his talk but we have heard about very similar worthy projects and the format for all the fundraising and the carrying out of the good works, such as building a school house and latrines was pretty much self explanatory.

I am sure that if you log on to the District 1250 Website you will find out much more information than I would have been able to give you.

For any members that are attending the District Conference this month in Jersey there will be a

comprehensive display of the project in The House of Friendship.

The vote of thanks was given by John Ansell.