At the conclusion of his presentation the floor was thrown open to questions and comments.

John Eaton was first up who remarked that ten years has passed since the last debate and a lot of things haven’t changed, but age now comes into it, but he felt that the Club still has a lot to give but thought that society doesn’t come to Rotary for help as it did in the past.

Ray Tiltman then sparked off a discussion on Christmas Collection sites.

This was followed by Clive Chapple, thanking Howard for putting his talk together, saying that he found it very interesting and most relevant. He spoke of chairing the committee responsible for forming the Hove Probus almost 40 years ago. He mentioned this because he felt that this Club was in danger of becoming Probus 2.

Bob Hinton made comment about the lack of candidates for President and said this was a very serious issue and commented that two or three Inner Wheel Club every year because of a lack of new Presidents.

Adrian Ball remarked on the fact that it was very hard to get enough volunteers for the various fundraising events.

He said that this was certainly the case when the Motorcycle Rally was up and running.

He also told members that the decision to close down the rally was taken by the committee, even before Mike Peters passed away, saying that it was always left to the "active few" to do all the hard work, particularly at the clearing up stage of the event. Adrian concluded by saying that despite a decrease of fifty percent in membership since he joined the Club he felt that the old days were brought back at the meeting last month when Ian Collington’s film was shown.

Howard harked back to the merger of Portslade with our Club, saying that many of their members were as active, if not more so, than a lot of our own members.

Peter Goodley, our newest recruit, who joined us from Hove Breakfast Club, said that joining the Rotary Club of Hove was one of the best things he could have done and he is very happy at hiw new Club, saying he has already volunteered to be Treasurer next year. He also thought that this Club couldn’t die because we all got along so well together.

Paul Beaken, who wrote a thesis about the Club a couple of years ago said that he didn’t have anything to say that hadn’t already been said but he did remark that he enjoys his work in Rotary, particularly his job as Treasurer of the Housing Society. He also said that if, because of age, we couldn’t do these things and we became a social club, so be it.

I think I’ll have to stop there but I will say that the general opinion was that Howard had done a brilliant job in mapping out all the pro and con points and has given us all a lot of food for thought.

The vote of thanks was given by President Ralph.

20^th September 2011.

Once again I apologise for missing this meeting but I was in a very hot and sunny Spain at the time, attempting to play golf.

I’m told that there was a very interesting film presentation about Emergency Water Boxes.

27^th September 2011.

26 present – 22 of our own members and four non-Rotarian Guests; Dr. Walter and Jean Mirocch, guests of David Henderson and Blay Whitby, our speaker, together with his wife, Sharon.

Members were informed by Secretary Frances that she can supply ID numbers for those who want to access the RIBI Website.

Adrian Ball brought greetings from Brighton Rotary, following on from last week’s visit.

Derek Clouting reported on the conditions of John Ansell and Ian Varley, the latter having been in hospital recently.

Peter Fowle informed members that the tickets for the The Tempest, at Stratford upon Avon next year, have been purchased and he will be seeking a £50 deposit of all those attending the contact visit. Peter Goodley will collect this money. Peter will also be collecting the money for the Safari Supper on 22^nd October.

Programme Secretary David Henderson is seeking speakers for November and December.

Yveline Milner distributed flyers for members to publicise the fashion show on 9^th November. She also told members that this week would be the last chance to order Rotary Foundation Christmas cards.

Today was the occasion of the monthly "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 was won by Clive Chapple.

President Ralph reported that 500 water boxes have been collected from Karachi Airport, to help alleviate the suffering of the millions of people in Pakistan who have been affected by the recent floods.

He then gave a short report on the previous evening’s Council meeting, a report which is repeated later in this bulletin.

He also said there was a walk, in the Chailey area, this coming Thursday (29/9).

Our speaker today was Dr. Blay Whitby, a philosopher and ethicist, concerned with the social impact of new and emerging technologies. His specific concern, and the subject he was here to talk about, was trans-humanism.

Trans-humanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+ (don’t ask!) is the enhancement of the human body, both mentally and physically by genetic or technological means.

For the third time in about six weeks I was completely lost as to what the talk was about after about five minutes and I was quite amused, on looking round the room, to see the majority of people looking as though they understood what was going on.

I did manage to gather that Dr. Whitby was mainly against trans-humanism, but I’m not even sure about that.

President Ralph gave the vote of thanks.

REPORT ON CLUB COUNCIL OF 26^th SEPTEMBER.

Adrian Ball reported that Zimbabwe project is underway.

Council agreed to purchase to World Water boxes.

Council agreed to donation of £150 to Vitalise, a charity that supplies breaks for disabled people and their carers. This was for a local lady, an osteoarthritis sufferer, who is to have a break in a designated respite centre on Southampton waterfront.

It was reported that the speakers’ programme is complete up to the end of October, but speaker names are needed for November and December.

Social Outings: There is to be a walk this coming Thursday and there is a possibility of a theatre visit to Chichester in the near future.

Bryan Meakin is looking into the possibility of attending a big band concert.

There was no news on the various District Sports competitions.

Membership now stands at 37; Ron Loadsman and Bob Green are no longer Members but have signed up as Friends of Rotary.

Mike Nettell made mention of a RIBI communiqué which stated that there was no need to fear recruiting new members who are not known to current members. Council were split over these sentiments.

It was suggested the Club pop ups should be on display at the Inner Wheel function at Davigdor School in December.

A projector has been purchased for the Club by Ian Collington at a cost of £200 (-1p).

Publicity – Simplified Grant money for St John’s hearing system should be here soon and it is hoped to have a special event for the inauguration of the system. George Deutsch, Ian Collington and Ken Jones will be at District Conference this weekend (1^st and 2^nd October) in the House of Fellowship and there will also be a short presentation to Conference.

Attendance 62.5% in August.

Christmas Collections – It was stated at the last Council that there would be only one collection site (Tesco, Hove) this coming Christmas but after some discussion it was agreed that we would also collect at Sainsbury’s West Hove for one weekend. It was felt that we should retain a presence in Portslade.

Safari Supper – 24 people are taking part thus far. The cut off day for booking is 11^th October and Chris Heath will let everyone know by the 18^th October where they will have to go for each course. This is taking place on Saturday 22^nd October.

International – Peter Fowle said that the Royal Shakespeare Society have been in touch and informed him that the play being performed during next year’s Contact Visit is "The Tempest".

Sixty six tickets have been ordered and they will be available after the 28^th September.

International -- royal Shakespeare society have been in touch and the show is the tempest.

Tickets will be available after 28^th September.

ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

I have contacted our new friend Stuart Mclaughlin, the Principal of Portslade Community College who has put me in contact with their head of the English Department with whom I hope to get things going at the start of the new school year.

CLUB PROGRAMME FOR SEPTEMBER.
Tuesday 6th Sept: "The Nine Cycles of the Underworld" John Mainwood VOT Pres Ralph.
Tuesday 13th Sept: Debate "Wither or Flourish" Led by Howard Attree VOT Pres Ralph.
Tuesday 20th Sept: Film "Rotary Water Box Scheme".
Tuesday27th Sept: Tran humanism" Dr Blay Whitby VOT Mike Barley.

WITHER OR FLOURISH.

As you can see from above, there is to be a debate on 13^th September, under the Chairmanship of Howard Attree.

The following piece is Howard’s original document from 10 years ago when a similar discussion took place at Club:

1.01 The Rotary Club of Hove received its charter way back in 1933 and over the past 68 years has been tremendously successful. It has stood the test of time with quality members and has been a major contributor to local society as well as embarking on international projects.

1.02 The formula has worked well and could continue to do so for the next 10 to 20 years but in my opinion will start to wither and decay during that period unless some remedial action is taken.

1.03 The reason being that as senior members leave the club for higher office then, without an influx of new members the club will wither and eventually die.

2.01 Rotary’s global quest for 2001/2 is a net increase of five members per club but I consider this to be unrealistic without change.

2.02 Hove has traditionally been a lunchtime club but it has to be recognised that in the 21^st century working members are no longer able to take 2hr lunch breaks. This means that without some change we will lose, without doubt, some existing members who find it difficult to attend lunchtime meetings and we will find it even harder to attract new members.

2.03 Some of our existing members feel strongly that the club has always been a lunchtime club and should continue to be so. For some it has become a way of life upon which they rely in their mature years. The club should recognise that possibly it has a responsibility to give something back to these members who have given up their time so freely over many years.

2.04 The issue is finely balanced within the club and any proposed change will cause conflict unless a compromise can be found.

3.01 The club has always been a lunchtime club and it is recommended that it should continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

3.02 However, in order to start to address the challenges set out in paragraph 2 the club makes use of the new rules on attendance approved by the Council of Legislation at their meeting in Chicago last April.

3.03 The 1998 Council extended the rules on ‘make ups’ to include attendance at a club service project. The 2001 Council has extended this further and it now includes attendance and participation in an authorised club sponsored community event or meeting, the club council or a service committee meeting.

3.04 This provides an opportunity to start to address membership issues as well as enhance the dimension of the club from a Tuesday luncheon club to a more socially active club.

3.05 This can be achieved by holding all committee meetings on the last week of each month (other than a Tuesday) at a different venue and format to the official weekly meeting. Members will have the choice of attending either or both meetings. Attendance will count at either but not both for the same week.

3.06 It is proposed that an attendance register will be taken at the evening committee meetings but the proceedings will be under the control of committee chairman and not the president. It is suggested that a suitable venue be found whereby committee meetings are held from say 7-8pm but then members gather socially and enjoy a meal together or perhaps play darts, snooker etc. The choice of venue is critical to the success of the proposed change and will need to be given careful consideration.

3.07 If successful the club should be able to move forward without compromising its traditional role for many years. Member’s choice should result in little conflict and hopefully the club will continue to flourish as it has in the past.

3.08 Your Club Your Choice.

H G Attree

Club Service Chairman

CONTACT VISIT – STRATFORD UPON AVON – MAY 2012.

International Chairman Peter Fowle has drafted a provisional programme for the contact visit next May 17^th/20^th and it is as follows.

P.M arrive at- The Legacy Falcon Hotel, Chapel Street, Stratford, Warwickshire, CV37 6AH.

Evening meal available in hotel dining room.

9.30 Bus with choice of visits

Charlecote Park (National Trust), Compton Verney (National Trust), Heritage Motor Centre. (Two of three are possible)

Warwick Castle (All day)

(In March next year I will need to know the venue(s) that people would like to visit so that we can buy the tickets)

Friday PM late guests arrive at hotel.

5.45 pm Buffet meal in private room at hotel.

6.45 Walk to Royal Shakespeare Theatre ( 200 to 300 Meters)

7.15 Play starts.

I have joined the RSC and will get priority booking. Once the programme is announced there are just 5 days to make our booking before the tickets go on sale to the general public. I will need to know how many people want to go to the play by September the 20th when the next summer programme comes out. As soon as I know what the play is I will let you know. Cost of tickets £35.

9.30 Guided visit to Shakespeare’s birth place.

Guided walking tour in Stratford

1.00 Lunch

P.M. free time. There are several places which you will be able to visit either on foot or with your

2- day bus ticket

e.g. Shakespeare’s grave, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Mary Arden’s Farm Museum

19.00 Reception followed by Gala Dinner

Sunday 20^th May

A.M. Meeting about joint Project.

Farewells

28 present – 26 of our own members together with F.O.R. Olive Hamilton and Robert Griffiths from Brighton and Hove Soiree, our speaker for today.

It was reported by Derek Clouting that Ian Varley is back home after a brief stay in hospital and seems to be in quite good spirits.

President Ralph informed us that we have been allocated 25 tickets for afternoon tea at Hangleton Manor on the occasion of the visit from the RIBI President. The tickets are available at a price of £5.50. He suggested that members either buy them or sell them on to others.

Our speaker today was Robert Griffiths who is Director of Funds at Martlets Hospice. Incidentally, Robert is the third member of the Soiree Club to speak to us in the last month.

Robert’s main task today was to publicise the Hike 4 Hospice walk, now well established, that raises funds for the four hospices that are on the route of that walk.

Robert remarked that he was to have been the junior partner in a double act with Mike Harvey but as Mike was unable to attend he had been promoted to the position of sole speaker.

The talk mainly consisted of a DVD presentation about the Hike and there was film of last year’s event, which was held on a very nasty misty and damp day. I remember it well because I volunteered to pick Paul Beak up at the conclusion of his walk that day and visibility was down to about sixty yards up on the Downs and everybody looked very damp and miserable but at the same time elated at finishing their leg of the walk.

Incidentally, once again Paul is taking part in a leg of the walk this year and all donations will be gratefully accepted.

At the conclusion of the film Robert outlined the aims of the Hike 4 Hospice project and the history of this comparatively new event. He told us that over £100,000 has been raised in the first three years it has been held and this year they hope to improve on this by a great deal.

He also briefly told us about his own particular hospice, Martlets, telling us that it was Brighton and Hove’s largest charity in the amount of money they have to raise just to keep the hospice going week by week. I suggest you visit the hospice website if you want to find out more on this matter.

An excellent talk by a very experienced speaker, enjoyed by all present.

There were questions at the conclusion of the talk from Philip Evans, Bob Hinton, John Eaton, Howard Attree, Ian Collington, Chris Heath and the vote of thanks was given by President Ralph.

28 present – 27 of our own members and one non-Rotarian Guest, Linda Goodley, wife of Peter.

A board was circulated for members to denote if they would be attending the evening meeting at the end of the month. This meeting will feature the premiere of Ian Collington’s much awaited film about the Russian Convoys during World War II.

Paul Thrasher reported that Ian Varley appeared to be in good spirits and who would soon be off to Cornwall for his annual family holiday.

Ken Jones announced details of the next Club walk, which is on the 25^th of August and would (conveniently for Ken) start outside Ken’s house in Peacehaven

It was the turn of one of our own members, Salah Sadek, to be our speaker today and he was here to give us his "My Job" talk.

Salah filled us in on his early life in Alexandria, telling us that he was educated in private and state schools and as a boy scout attended many jamborees, raising funds to hold holiday camps for orphans. He attended the University of Alexandria and obtained a special degree in Mathematics. Salah told us that he raised his own funds for University during the summer holidays selling Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola at holiday resorts in Egypt.

He told us the fascinating story of his life after University as a teacher, including a spell at one school, which had the distinction of having the "most unruly kids in the world" where the average

tenure of a teacher was about three weeks. This proved to be the case for Salah, who also lasted for that short time.

Through a series of opportune meetings with various academic staff managed to find employment at some of the best schools in Egypt but eventually finished up in Brighton at a school, now defunct, in the Queen’s Park area of Brighton. The school was then merged with Cottiesmore School in Hove, when it was found that Salah didn’t have the appropriate qualifications and was made redundant.

Salah then took a degree course at Brighton Polytechnic. On obtaining the degree he was then taken on secondment to a firm in Crawley, but in between times he had an offer to complete a PHD at Imperial College, London.

He did explain what this PHD involved but I’m afraid it was much too technical for a brain like mine.

It was about this time that I hoped Salah didn’t ask us questions about his talk because he lost me at this stage. Everyone present seemed to be fascinated by what Salah had to say but I think they were being polite because the subject matter was most complex and to pinch a vote of thanks speech from Alan Raggett many years ago "It might as well have been in Serbo-Croat as far as I was concerned".

It was at this stage that I hoped Salah wasn’t going to ask questions about his talk afterwards.

Salah completed his talk after telling us about his time at Falmer School.

The vote of thanks was given by President Ralph.

20 present – 19 of our own members and Elizabeth Hughes, our speaker.

Sports Officer John Mainwood is looking for bridge and snooker players for this year’s District Competitions.

It was reported that Ron Loadsman is still poorly and Bob Green is having difficulty with walking. Joan Burchell telephoned to say that she has had to call the Doctor in for David.

Bob Hinton has arranged for a tree to be planted at a ceremony to be held before our meeting of the 2^nd October. This will take place in Shirley Drive, further details coming.

Ken Jones told members that this month’s walk, on the 25^th, will commence outside his front door and will take in "the sights of Peacehaven", and will finish at the Telscombe Tavern.

Elizabeth Hughes, our speaker today, is the Sussex County Archivist and she was here to tell us all about the workings and contents of the Sussex Archives.

The Archives were established in 1947, but since 1981 they have been based at The Maltings, Lewes. Elizabeth told us that there are 5 miles of archives and they date from 1101AD or CE to the present day and they reflect the lives of Brighton and Hove and Sussex in general.

These records are sourced from many places with a big percentage of them having been dug out from basements, old houses, churches, stables and sheds.

Many of them are dirty or mouldy and have been damaged by fires, floods, insects or mice.

Maps from the 12^th Century to the present day are stored in a separate area and some of them are 15 feet in length

Elizabeth said that the whole operation is a miniature version of the National Archives at Kew and people, such as scholar and pupils visit quite often to research the history of the county. Architects also make use of the facility to see the history of various buildings, particularly with regard to where the drainage and pipes are located.

This was a fascinating talk and with the aid of slides she showed us various artefacts and some very interesting posters to do with the Theatre Royal, Brighton.

She even showed us the oldest document in their records, a grant from Henry the First to the Earl of Battle granting him permission to hold jousting tournaments on his land. She also showed us numerous other records, including those from schools and the police.

There were too many items to mention in full in this report but I suggest you visit their website, or better still visit their premises, to find out more about our fascinating County.

The vote of thanks was given by Adrian Ball.

27 present – 25 of our own members; one Rotary Friend, Phyllis Howell and David Diplock, our speaker for today.

Secretary Frances informed members that there is an Inner Wheel fund raising bowls day at The Drive Bowling Club on Sunday, 11^th September, commencing at 2pm.

Peter Fowle and Ken Jones have won their latest match in the District 1250 Bowls Competition. Ken Jones also reminded members that there is a walk this coming Thursday, starting outside his house in Peacehaven.

It was also stated that there are a few tickets left for the cream tea at Hangleton Manor tomorrow.

Our speaker today was David Diplock, who was here to tell us all about his trip on The Trans-Siberian Railway.

He told us that he and his wife take turn in selecting a holiday, and his wife always went to for the beach holiday in very hot holiday resorts so he decided that he would like to pick something that would be the exact opposite, hence the TSR.

His holiday took place in the mid 1980s and tourists were only allowed on the railway from after March 1^st each year. He was in a part of 20 travellers who set off from Moscow under the supervision of a Yugoslav guide and a Russian "minder". Unfortunately these two were not the best of friends. The party were situated in one carriage of the train, so the authorities could keep an eye on them. Each compartment of the train was shared by four people and David and his wife shared with a couple from Portsmouth, the husband being a fireman in that city.

David said that dressing arrangements were a bit fraught, having to dress and undress in front of two complete strangers.

The temperature was ten below freezing when they set off from Moscow, and surprisingly on couple on the trip were completely unprepared for the cold because they had booked their holiday without really knowing where they were going and hadn’t familiarised themselves with the likely conditions.

The rest of the talk was your routine travelogue, with some amusing stories, including the story about some German people in the group who decided to appear in their underwater to perform exercises on a frozen Lake Bikal, the biggest fresh water lake in the world. Apparently the exercises only lasted about five minutes before they beat a hasty retreat.

This was a really interesting talk about what must have been a memorable holiday.

The vote of thanks was given by Bob Hinton.

65 present – 25 of our own members, many of them with their other halves together with a whole host of Friends of Rotary. Also present was Bernard Jordan, a guest of Ian Collington, Bob and Dorothy Allen, guests of David Henderson. We also had three Rotary Presidents; Erroll Gampatsingh of Brighton, Lilian Harrop of Brighton and Hove Soiree and Susan Harrison of Brighton and Hove Breakfast who were accompanied by Roger Farnsworth and Tim Parker from Soiree and Jane Harrison and Chris Curzon, accompanied by Charlotte, from Breakfast.

President Ralph welcomed all our guests to this auspicious occasion and gave special mention to Bernard Jordan, whose reason for being here was that he was a survivor of the very same convoys that tonight’s film was to be about.

Derek Clouting reported that John Ansell appeared to be in top form, as did Ian Varley despite not being very well.

International Chairman Peter Fowle made an appeal for names of those intending to take part in next year’s contact visit to Stratford upon Avon because he needed to know how many tickets for the Shakespeare performances would be needed because they will be available for purchase shortly.

It was the occasion for a "40 Set" draw and the cheque for £25 went to Ian Collington.

Tonight’s meeting will be looked back on as one of those special nights in the history of the Rotary Club of Hove because it was the occasion for all of us present to be at the Premiere of Ian Collington’s long awaited, and in making, film about a cruise to Murmansk in the company of a party of sailors who had served on the convoys to that part of Russia during the Second World War.

Ian spent two and a half years in the making of this film and it was well worth the effort. Interspersing the current voyage with footage of the original convoys, and all the hardship that entailed, seeing the reactions and emotions of those very brave men, both on the voyage itself and in Murmansk, where they received a very intense welcome from both the Russian public and the media, in the form of numerous TV cameras and press reporters, who were more than eager to let those men know how grateful they were for all their heroic efforts in the forties.

I’m not a qualified film critic but I am sure that when it does actually go on air it will receive rave reviews.

Thanks are also due to Keith Upton for supplying a large cinematic screen for the showing, something that enhanced the film even more.

Thanks Ian for giving us the privilege of being the first audience of a great work of art.

At the conclusion of the film, Bernard Jordan gave us a brief talk about his time on the convoys, although he seemed more interested about telling us of his adventures in the USA.

The vote of thanks was given by President Ralph Harrison.

A laptop and project are to be purchased at an approx cost of £600.

A donation of £480 was agreed to help with transport costs of material for a charity in Zimbabwe.

Contact is to be made with the Head of the English Language Department at Portslade Community College in conjunction with a Numeracy and Literacy campaign.

The next Club walk, no date yet announced, will take place in the Chailey Common area.

Three darts teams have been entered into this year’s District Competition.

Bob Mulholland is organising a quiz team and Adrian Ball the skittles team.

IPP (and by default Fellowship Officer) Ian Collington would like communications improved with regard to people missing from club meetings for any length of time.

Ian also reported that there had been two pieces in The Argus on successive days regarding the Worthing Rotary Festival and thinks that The Argus is a bit more "Rotary Friendly" at present.

There were also two more pieces to do with the Family Fun Day at Hangleton Manor last week.

Community Service Chairman Chris Heath reported that the people at St John’s Day Centre were "thrilled" with their new Hearing Loop and there is to be a cheque giving ceremony there, when we hope to get even more publicity from the local media.

Bulletin will be out next week.

Christmas Collection – It was felt that this Club should concentrate all of its efforts on collecting at Tesco, Church Road, and that Tesco Portslade and Sainsbury’s should be discontinued this year.

Council agreed to leave it in Chris Heath’s hands to consult relevant people. This year’s charity will most probably be Macmillan Nurses.

International Chairman Peter Fowle said that a provisional programme is now in place for next year’s contact visit and told us that bookings for the Shakespeare performance will be needed much soon than thought and tickets will have to be purchased over an eight day window in September.

Yveline Milner said that the arrangements for the Fashion Show on 9^th November are well under way.

There will be a Macmillan Nurses Stand, supplied by this Club, at the District Conference in Eastbourne at the end of September and this Club has also been given a three minute ‘slot’ to speak on this subject on the Saturday morning of the conference.

ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

ROTARY CLUB OF HOVE

5^th. Our speaker today is Deputy Mayor Geoff Wells, who was Mayor of Brighton and Hove for the year 2010/11 and he is here to tell us about various happenings during his year in office.

12^th The somewhat enigmatic title of this week’s talk is "Signalman Jones" and it will be delivered by Tim Parker.

19^th Today sees the annual visit of our RYLA candidates, supervised by Ray Tiltman. As usual, we sent four young people on this very worthwhile project and it will be very interesting to hear of their ventures earlier on in the year.

26^th. Completing the hat trick of religious talks recently, our speaker is Imam Sajid.

I have no news of the various "Votes of Thanks" candidates.

This was an evening meeting, postponed for a week because many of our members were still in France, following the contact visit to Beaune.

28 present – 17 of our own members plus wives of members, and one non-Rotarian guest, Graham Albon, our speaker for this evening.

President Ian brought greetings from President Mathieu de Fossey, Evreux RC, and acting President Rainer Zimmerman of RC Pforzheim. He also showed all present the delightful gift of an embossed and engraved wine barrel lid. (A lot grander than it sounds!!)

President Ian reminded members to book for the Presidents’ night on 28^th of this month.

President Ian also welcomed Tad Phillips/Filipowicz back to the Club after a lengthy absence. This follows on from a severe bout of pneumonia, contracted on holiday, followed by his lady Halina having a nasty accident in the home, entailing an operation on her leg. Halina is still pretty much infirm and would welcome any phone calls (or visits!!).

President Ian also mentioned the forthcoming "raid" on the Shoreham and Southwick Rotary Club. This is on the 16^th June at the Amsterdam Restaurant in Shoreham.

I/C President Ralph told members that there was to be a visit from the RIBI President to this area on August 23^rd and there is to be some sort of event at the Hangleton Manor on that day. He will furnish us with more detail in the near future.

Our speaker today was Graham Albon and he was here tonight to tell us all about the life and works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It’s a little known fact that IKB started his education in Hove.

Graham started off by saying that there has been a relentless speeding up of transport throughout the ages and we take it all for granted and the government is even now intending to spend billions of pounds of our money on a high speed link to the North that will shave about twenty minutes off the journey time. He said that nowadays you couldn’t look at any major construction and say "Joe Bloggs built that", unlike in the old days when people like Isambard K Brunel designed and built the whole thing. He said there were many great old inventors who also had the skill to put these inventions into practice, people such as Thomas Telford, who built bridges and roads for the Industrial Revolution.

Brunel was of French origin, the son of another great engineer. He was educated in France and his first big project was the Thames Tunnel, his father having designed it and then put Isambard in charge at the remarkably young age of 20. During the building of this tunnel, he was almost lost to the world when he almost drowned in a flood in the tunnel.

At the still remarkable young age of 24 he won a competition to design and built the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which is still an iconic part of Bristol.

He then went on to design and built the Great Western Railway line from Paddington to the West Country.

With the help of slides, Graham took us through this construction stage by stage, showing us some really wonderful photos and illustrations of this quite romantic railway journey. There was also a picture of the great man himself, before he grew his magnificent beard.

This was a most interesting talk by a true railway "anorak". Graham has lived and breathed railways since a very young age, with particular interest in one of our greatest ever engineers, IKB.

Graham gave us a few depressing statistics, particularly on the number of fatalities incurred during the construction of this remarkable route.

I suggest you go straight on to Wikipedia if you want to learn a lot more about this remarkable Victorian who achieved so much in a relatively short life before he died at the age of 53.

All in all a very entertaining and informative talk, with questions after from many people.

The vote of thanks was given by Ken Jones.

24 present - 2 Rotarian visitors; Doug Price, from Chichester Priory, our moderator for today, and Robin Cotter from Southam 2000 Rotary Club, son-in-law of David Burchell. There were two non Rotarian guests; Joan Burchell and her daughter Margaret, wife of the aforementioned Robin Cotter.

The reason for the attendance of the Burchell Family was for them to take the opportunity of sharing David and Joan’s 70^th wedding anniversary with us all.

David and Joan also kindly treated all present to a glass of champagne to toast a very happy occasion.

Derek Clouting reported on John Ansell, who seems to be in better health at the moment and who sent his greetings. Not so good news about Ian Varley, who has been back in hospital again and has had another operation on his right arm but as far as Derek knew he was back home and Derek will take greetings to him later on in the week.

Tad Phillips/Filipowicz reported on Halina, thanking members for their telephone calls and cards. He also said she was seeing a consultant this coming Thursday with a view to further treatment.

Any payments for Presidents’ night to be made to Ken Jones in Adrian Ball’s absence.

President asked if anyone else would like to accompany him and his team to the "raid" on Shoreham and Southwick Club this coming Thursday.

It was then the turn of President Ian, and Doug Price, to pay tribute to David and Joan Burchell on their 70^th Wedding Anniversary, mentioning David’s sterling service to Rotary, having been a Rotarian for some 45 years, District Governor and twice President ( 1974 and 1994 (of the now defunct Portslade and West Hove Rotary Club. Joan’s long service to the Inner Wheel was also mentioned.

Following on from this, President Ian then gave his valedictory to the Club.

I couldn’t keep up with all he done during his year as President but I am pleased to let you read his notes for the speech, which are as follows;

"Keep it short. Reflect on speed that the year passed – thanks for everyone’s support particularly Sec. Frances and the rest of Club Council. Thanks to a number of our very experienced members for advice on route. Saw this as a year of maintenance – no great changes, but slimmed down committee structure to a team of dedicated individuals, who could call on help as needed. Generally pleased with the change.

Obviously membership and attendance a pre-occupation. Sad loss of Mike Peters, delight at gaining three new members. Sadness that because of illness of members or their wife’s poor health, attendance is often lower than usual. Delighted that there were so many of us on the visit to Beaune and clearly many will come here next year to Stratford. Keen to keep our exchanges going as such a feature of the year. Other clubs have lapsed.

Pleased about:

Regular walks/lunches, hopefully more events in our social calendar, such as ten pin bowling.

Tidied up our Xmas Collection, with the publicity pop-ups we look much better.

The Sussex Cancer Support Programme, now under way this coming Thursday, first of hopefully

a long series of Club Raids across West and East Sussex with George Deutsch to promote the

project. It is good to have a long term project running to give some continuity.

the links with St John’s Day Centre and supply of new audio/loop systems – going in on 29^th of

this month.

Friends, a welcome addition to our Club – although we have eleven now, would like to see some

of them more often.

Sad about|\;

Cancellation of Motorcycle Run, but happy that we had 13 successful years and we did not try to

carry on and have any failures. Hopefully the Motorcycle team under Adrian will turn to other

smaller projects, including the Cancer Support raids.

We need to consider our future – we have no President Elect to succeed Ralph. Understandable that members do not want to over commit themselves as we all get older. Hope that you will continue to give what support you can to events and activities. Never lose an opportunity to invite potential new members to a meeting.

Having had good link ups with other Presidents, believe in value of Clubs working together to a degree when possible. Increases our visibility in Brighton and Hove.

Wish Ralph every success and know that you will give him the valuable support that I have enjoyed.

Following on from his Valedictory, President Ian handed the meeting over to I/C President Ralph for him to oversee Club Assembly for this year.

Ralph started by welcoming our moderator, Doug Price, to the Club and then went on to mention his own induction that many years ago under the guidance of Tad Phillips/Filipowicz.

Ralph then mentioned the sterling work being performed by the Rotary Housing Society, with the prospective purchase of new premises in The Drive. He also was saddened at the demise of the Motorcycle Rally but was pleased at the continuation of the Club’s participation with the Cancer Support Charity. (

He also remarked on the fact that the club has three comparatively new members and hoped that we would be able to improve on this in his year. Ralph felt that we needed to find ways of informing younger adults of the work that Rotary does. He made special mention of a speaker at the Dublin Conference, a young African/American from Alabama who made the journey from poverty in the Deep South to the giddy heights of being a Presidential Aide at the White House.

Ralph is also keen that our Club should mentor a Rotarian Scholar this year.

Ralph went on to mention other various programmes being started by other Rotary Clubs, including those of Evreux and Pforzheim.

Unfortunately, many of Ralph’s team for next year were still out of the country, following on from the Beaune visit but Ralph was confident that they would carry on the good work of last year.

Speaker programme secretary David Henderson than spoke to us of his forthcoming programme of speakers and asked them to volunteer ideas for speakers at lunch time, to talk no longer than 20 minutes. He said that he found it easier to obtain speakers for the evening meetings, when they could expand on their subjects to a more satisfactory length.

Michael Nettell spoke about membership, mentioning that due to the loss of Michael Peters and two other long term illnesses, despite gaining three new members our membership is still stagnant at 38.

He suggested that we should publicise ourselves more, suggesting libraries and local websites as good outlets. He said we should also publicise the other clubs in the area, giving prospective members alternative meeting times. Michael also said that although he was very pleased with the "Friends of Rotary" project, he was disappointed by the fact that most of the 11 do not attend club on a regular basis. He is trying to determine why they don’t come to our meetings, bearing in mind that we have a speaker most weeks.

Community Chairman Chris Heath then rose to tell us his committees aim and objectives for the next Rotary Year, stating that they were almost identical to those of last year.

International Chairman Peter Fowle spoke about next year’s contact visit, which is in Stratford-upon-Avon, saying that details are already beginning to take shape. Peter also told us that he is now a member of the William Shakespeare Society and this membership entitled him to priority rights to book tickets for any plays at the time of the contact visit.

Foundation Chairman Yveline Milner reminded members that Rotary Foundation is our own charity and she very much hoped that we can find projects that are eligible for matching grants.

Younger Generation Chairman John Mainwood said that it had been a pleasure to chair this committee last year and he intends to carry out even more duties this year with the main event being the RYLA course at its new venue in Box Hill. He thoroughly recommends a trip to the final evening get together, usually held around Easter time. We have supplied four candidates for this even this last two years and we regularly supply more candidates than any other clubs in District 1250. The other event that will be reinstated this year are the Mock Interviews at the Brighton and Hove High School for Girls, these being held in November. Ray Tiltman and he will be attending the District 1250Young Generation Forum, normally held quite early in the Rotary Year.

There were no questions from the floor and Doug Price then summed up, saying that most points covered at PETS were covered, apart from the tree planting scheme that was due to take place this year. I/C DG Douglas Anderson is very keen planting trees in the district and has asked all Rotarians to become involved in this scheme. He quoted Chichester Priory Club’s efforts on the crocus planting project earlier on in the year when they involved all the schools in that city. They are now following this up by planting a community orchard, with land donated by the local authority. Youth projects are well worth developing and he said that clubs in Chichester had recruited five new Rotarians as a result of youth projects. Doug Price said that there are very exciting times ahead of us and charges are a good thing with one thinking of new projects.

He thanked Ralph and his chairmen for their presentations and look forward to them being developed.

28^th June 2011.

I’m afraid I was unable to attend either of these meetings due to family circumstances and I have had no feedback from anyone.

The only thing I can report is that Peter Goodley was inducted as our newest member at the meeting on the 28^th so welcome Peter and look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

The present holder of this very worthwhile job intends to stand down at the end of June 2012 and would like someone to take over this very satisfying post. Bob Mulholland has been the editor for some fifteen years now and feels he is becoming a bit jaded now. Membership of the NUJ is not a requirement.

The present holder of this very worthwhile job intends to stand down at the end of June 2012 and would like someone to take over. Tasks include; filling the seats at the top table with suitable candidates, appointing a member to say grace. Making various announcements, such as greeting the President and Members, announcing the Loyal Toast, Silence for the Secretary and ringing the bell at appropriate times. Bob Mulholland has also been performing this task for many years now and would like to be able to sit wherever he chooses every Tuesday without worrying about both jobs.

See next year’s President (when found!!) for further details.