August 2015 Newsletter

News
www.kingstonrotaryclub.org.uk
2598
Founded in 1922
Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames
August 2015
Super heroes
raising money for charity
Kingston Rotary Club’s biggest event
of the year, our annual Dragon Boat
Challenge, has grown and grown until
it has become, arguably, the biggest
Dragon Boat event in the UK. We
started 15 years ago with just 15
teams. This year we had 55, all of
them racing for their chosen charities.
Last year £70,000 was raised. This
year we expect much more so every
team is a winner! Thank you to all our
super heroes who took part, organised
or came as spectators. It was a lovely
sunny day after early rain, a wonderful
atmosphere and something to be justly
proud of in our community. Let the
pictures speak for themselves—is that
our Pauline with one of her seven
Born Too Soon Teams below!
In this issue
Club

Visit to Warren House

Visit to Guildford Club
Community

Dragon Boats

Military Wives Choir

Satro Business Game

KidsOut summer draw
District

RIBI 2016 conference
International

Southborough School project

Rotakids & End Polio Now

Vision Aid

Lend with care
Diary and lunch meetings
News from Kingston Riverside Club
Inner Wheel News
Kingston Rotary Club meets every Thursday at 12.45 to 2pm at the Antoinette Hotel, 26 Beaufort Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 2TQ
Dragon Boat Challenge 2015
The Winners
1st: Ubunye Unity Men (above left)
collecting for educational projects in South
Africa. 2nd: Born Too Soon Team 6
(middle left) supporting the Neo-natal department in Kingston Hospital. 3rd: Rochills
Rockets (bottom left) supporting Kingston
Young Carers. Ladies: Ubunye Unity. Best
headdress: Sick Children’s Trust
Thankyou from President John
Photos courtesy of Phillip Holt, Chris Burchell,
Chris Frost and the Editor.
Well done and thank you to Rotarian Simon
Leo and his team for so ably coordinating a
great club effort for Dragon Boats. For me
the day worked so well through the unstinting
and uncomplaining work of club members and
club friends from the collection of equipment
on Saturday through to Sunday’s early start
and on to the clearing away in the evening.
Dragon Boat Teams, stall holders and the
public will have experienced a fun and happy
day when everything happened entirely seamlessly. A big thank you to all who helped
including our friends in Kingston Riverside,
New Malden, and Surbiton Rotary Clubs,
making it a truly Borough-wide Rotary event!
You know who
your Friends are!
KidsOut 100 Club
Linda & Kes
Heffer (left)
willingly acted as
‘waste operatives’
at Dragon Boats.
The summer draw took place at our
lunch meetings on 9th July. Well
done to C Hard who came first and B
Butcher who came second—both
members of New Malden Rotary
Club. The autumn draw will be held
at Inner Wheel’s October meeting .
Thank you to all
our Friends who
helped on the day
Laurie Chandler
Lend With Care: Alice Phiri, Petuake, Zambia
Following a vote at Club lunch we have made our next entrepreneur loan, helped by a donation
from one of our Club members. This is the entrepreneur we chose:
Alice Phiri is 49 years old married with five children. Two of her children go to school. She runs a
market stall selling tomatoes, oranges and dry fish. She started her business to be able to provide
food for her children and to send her children to school. She is asking for a loan to grow her
business capital so that she will be able to order more stocks of tomatoes, oranges and fish, she
also wants to order items which are currently not on her stall like dried vegetables and ground
nuts. She is happy that her business will expand once given this loan. She hopes to send all of her
children to school and to help her husband at home. Alice needed £248.22 to complete her loan,
through Kingston Rotary Club Alice is now fully funded. Pauline Colley
The Power of Words
With love and care, St John’s and King
Athelstan Schools said goodbye to the
children leaving this year and wished
them well. Each child had something
good told about themselves and had a
clap from their peers, teachers and
parents. An emotional and joyful time.
We played our part by giving each child a
dictionary and a reminder that words have
the power to create love or hatred, happiness or fear, arguments and their resolution and to choose them carefully. Two
lovely schools and sets of children. Well
done Doreen for organising our part so
well. John Cannon
SATRO Junior Business Game
Another Junior Business Game took place on Wednesday 8 th July at King Athelstan Junior School and
this was a combined event for Year 6 children attending both King Athelstan and St John’s schools.
The teams were made up of a mixture from both schools and the children very quickly made new
friends. The object of the game is for each Team to become a Book Mark manufacturing business for
the day, the children chose which role they wanted to play, so for example we had a Managing Director, Accountant, Sales Director, Quality Control Manager, Head of Marketing etc with all the team
being production staff. Book marks were designed, produced and sold and the winning team was the
one that produced the most profit. The day was fast and furious (just like the real world) and hugely
exciting – for the students and those mentoring adults who were there to advise the teams.
I was the mentor for Team 6 and as it so happens we were the winning team, so I too had a winner’s
certificate, very proud!
Probably the best people to explain how much the students enjoyed the day are the students themselves
and the following is a sample of some of their reviews:
“I learnt about how a company works and about banking, money and filling in a cheque. I thought
it was great fun.”
“I learnt that if you want to work well as a business, you have to use teamwork and communication.
Using a production line also helps to do things quicker.”
“I learnt that you always get things done faster as a team. Never give up and believe, inspire and
achieve!”
Finally it was a case of stepping back in time for me as I am an old girl of King Athelstan’s. I mentioned to a little boy that when I entered the building it was a case of déjà vu and asked him if he knew
what that meant, he replied “yes it means you have done something before” I explained that this was
because I used to be a student at the school, he looked at the little boy next to him and said “how old is
this school”? he then asked “is the Head Teacher the same”! Pauline Colley
Connections near and far
We now have connections with another overseas
Rotary Club – the Rotary Club of Jalalabad.
Southborough High School teachers, with help
from us and the British Council, visited the MC
Academy in Sylhet, Bangladesh to exchange ideas
and develop art and media teaching in both countries. Through us making connections, Richard
Crooks and Louis Botha of Southborough brought
our greetings to members of the Jalalabad Club
and discussed their work and Jalalabad’s ideas of
Global Scholarships. Back in Southborough the pair created, with the boys, an international arts
festival that Jeremy and Jackie attended. They visited our club and told us what a difference the trip
had made to their thinking and how it had resulted in improvements to the quality of learning both
in Kingston and in Sylhet.
And the story continues
With a commission from Doreen Johnston, our KidsOut coordinator, boys from Southborough have
made a DVD of KidsOut. Louis Botha will be back in the autumn with the boys who made it. They
will show us their work and tell us why such a commission is so important to them. Look out for
that lunch; there will be a good story told. President John
More Connections
An email from former Kingston Rotarian, Nigel Horrocks
Hélène, the daughter of the late Georges Hourtoule of the Rotary Club of Poissy has been
in touch with my daughter Sarah for almost 40 years. They did an exchange when teenagers and have been visiting each other ever since.
Recently Hélène visited Sarah and told her about her charity in India. Some of her people
near Agra needed some spectacles so I was able to get the required spectacles from
Vision Aid Overseas which have now been sent. This is a long term connection with the
two clubs which has produced another useful contribution.
Best wishes Nigel Horrocks www.sunrisefranceindia.com.
RotaKids work hard for End Polio Now
Working all day at the King Athelstan fair, RotaKids raised awareness
of polio, sold crocuses, painted donors’ fingers purple and produced a
giant purple crocus with the finger prints. Creating and running a busy,
lively base, the children patrolled the other stalls with collection trays,
found others to fill the whirlpool collector and told the story of Rotary’s
campaign. Their confidence and skills were boosted along with the
coffers. They raised £113.15. Well done RotaKids!
President John
South London Military Wives Choir
President John recently visited the South London Military Wives Choir which is based
in Kingston and handed over a cheque for £300. This will help with the hire of a
rehearsal hall together with the hire of a pianist and choir master. Unlike other military
choirs which are based in military barracks where halls are generally available, this
choir has no such facility at The Kingston Keep so our help was greatly appreciated.
The South London Military Choir (one of 76 other choirs across the country and abroad)
was formed as a result of the success of the Christmas single Wherever You Are
performed by the choirs of Plymouth and Chivenor Military Wives. The choir supports
wives and families of serving members of the Armed Forces from Kingston, Putney,
Twickenham and West Byfleet, especially vital during the festive period.
Phillip Holt
Weekly Host duties
Due to the kindness of the hotel in preparing the room for us in advance, please note that we now
only need three hosts on the weekly rota: the cash host and two others—one for the microphone
and greeting our guests and one on general duties. This will start in September and we hope this
will make the rota easier for everyone. Editor
Making a difference
Keith Waller and I recently visited our ‘Mother’
Club, Guildford Rotary Club to attend a lunch
where Past RIBI and RI President John Kenny
was speaking, following his retirement as Chairman of the Rotary Foundation Trustees.
Past President John explained how important it
was for the work of Foundation to continue, especially with regards to End Polio Now which is
now so very close to achieving its objective.
Club members will recall that John and his wife
June were RI representatives at Keith’s District
Conference in 2010 and gave an excellent speech,
which included the Starfish story that I have never
forgotten. It epitomises what we do in Rotary all
the time
“Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are
doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up, and replied
“Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has
washed them up onto the beach and they can’t
return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”
The old man replied, “But there must be tens of
thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid
you won’t really be able to make much of a
difference.”
The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish
and threw it as far as he could into the ocean.
Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a
difference to that one!” Paul Hickson
Once upon a time, there was an old man who
used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had
a habit of walking on the beach every morning
before he began his work. Early one morning, he
was walking along the shore after a big storm had
passed and found the vast beach littered with
starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in
both directions.
Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small
boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused
every so often and as he grew closer, the man
could see that he was occasionally bending down
to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The
boy came closer still and the man called out,
Hidden Gem
Right on our doorstep in Kingston but tucked
away in a private road, historic Warren House,
now a conference centre, has a fascinating
history of famous owners and distinguished
guests since the 1860s. But more than that, the
grounds are associated with the famous Veitch
family whose Coombe Wood Nursery collected
and marketed important new species of plants
from all over the world. To celebrate this 150
year connection, Warren House has created a
new garden containing many of the plants once
researched by the Veitch family including the
rare Davidia involucrata (Dove tree) pictured
on the left. Twenty-nine of us enjoyed a most
informative talk by owner’s daughter and house
historian Vicky Good and distinguished garden
designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin and some of us
enjoyed a delicious meal afterwards. A most
enjoyable visit. Anne
Inner Wheel District Handover
It was a great honour for me to attend the Inner Wheel District 14 Assembly on 10 th July
at Chertsey Halls, as President John’s representative, to witness the handover of the
District Chairmanship to Liz Davis.
Elizabeth Davis is a member of Kingston upon Thames Inner Wheel Club so I was
particularly delighted to give her, and the assembled 100 plus Inner Wheel members
from all over the District, our greetings and best wishes for a successful year— along
with a bouquet of flowers!
Although I didn’t have time to circulate to any great degree, it was good to meet again
many people I knew already as well as others who were new to me, giving me a great
opportunity for future fellowship.
Thank you, especially, to Bobby Child, who with her untiring energy got me there and
back in one piece, and to the ladies of Kingston's Inner Wheel who made me—the only
male there— so welcome. Phillip Holt
District 1145 Conference 2nd - 4th October 2015, Bournemouth
Come to Bournemouth for the first conference of the new District of RIBI: it would be great to
have a presence matching the high membership of our club. The draft programme includes speakers
from a variety of backgrounds which should be both stimulating and inspirational. The programme
will include the Mayor, the Inner Wheel District Chair, one or two club projects and the coffee
breaks of course!.
The usual Golf Competition will be held on the Thursday which, with the amalgamation of the two
Districts, should make for a much larger and more interesting competition. There will be a formal
dinner and dance on the Saturday evening. This will be the first District Conference of the new
enlarged District 1145 and it is hoped as many members as possible will attend to make it a
success.
Registration (cost £40) is open at
http://www.rotary-ribi.org/districts/homepage.php?DistrictNo=1145
Speakers to date
Friday - Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. The Commissioner of the Met Police
- Robyn Christopher Chief Technologist of @AbiltyNet
Saturday - Col Mark Raynor of the Army Benevolent Fund
- Ravi Singh - Sikh of the Year working in Iraq and Syria
- David McAuley CEO of The Trussell Trust
Sunday - David Crossweiler CEO of @Where Ever The Need
- Rtn Dave King of Hearing Link
- Jan Meek - Adventurer, Traveller & Mum
A number of rooms have been booked at the Royal Bath Hotel, a few minutes from the conference
venue, at a cost of £100 per room (£90 single) per night. Please contact Ramesh Kapadia if you are
able to attend or need any other information. VP Ramesh Kapadia
Successful fundraising!
Our Concert in aid of ShelterBox in July was hugely
entertaining. Our musicians, Eszther Schütz and Anna
Cassú Serra, were absolutely delightful and played
beautifully. It was a lovely way to spend a summer’s
evening ~ and I’m pleased to say we raised £335 for
ShelterBox, a great result. We hope they might come
again next year!
We have also had a superb High Tea Party at Dorly’s and
raised a significant amount towards our Mary Preston
Holiday Guest sponsorship; and yet again, the sun shone
for us. And by the time you read this some of us will
have enjoyed a Pizza evening together.
As you will all know, our President’s Garden Party is on
Saturday, the 22nd August at Pat Wingett’s house ~ 2.30
for 3 p.m. This is always a wonderful event with tea and
scones, a Raffle, a Silent Auction and some Home
Produce for sale ~ all the profit will go to our President’s
Charity, which as you all ALSO know, is Momentum; we
had a very moving talk and videos from the charity at our
July meeting. You are all invited for the 22nd, so do
please join us ~ just let one of us know you’re coming so Liz will bring youth, enthusiasm and her own inimitable
we can make sure we have enough scones (but please style to the job, which will hopefully encourage others to
come forward. She is being supported by Denise de la
bring your own garden chairs).
Perrelle of Banstead Club in what is a “job-share” –
Our September Meeting is on Tuesday the 8th Septem- potentially a way forward for all sorts of “jobs” in Inner
ber, when we will be presenting a cheque to last year’s Wheel at all levels.
President’s charity, BagBooks, and our speaker will be
Harvey Howlett. The title of his talk is intriguing: “From And as for me, well, after my own stint as District Chairthe Bible to Mills & Boon ~ How we Read What we man, followed last year by being District Membership
Read”. Come along and hear him ~ you are very Officer – and including lots of conversations with Paul
welcome; you just need to book in with Betty Griggs Hickson at various airports, etc., I seem to have developed quite an interest in membership (and that applies to
(details in your Directory).
Rotary as well as Inner Wheel), so I have volunteered to
In Kingston Inner Wheel, we are definitely doing our bit sit on our National Membership & Development Comfor the bigger organisation. Our new District Chairman is mittee as an “ordinary” member, i.e. one from the ranks!
our own Liz Davis, who stepped up at the last minute I’ll let you know how I get on.
because we were, again, struggling to find a Chairman
for this year. We will try not to make a habit of it (as I Yours in friendship, Bobby Child
did exactly the same myself two years ago), but we know
New Beginnings
Many more activities are being planned and all
members are encouraged to put forward their
own ideas on what they would like to organise,
or suggest projects that may benefit from the
assistance of the Club. For more information,
please e-mail us at
[email protected].
The provisional Kingston Riverside Rotary
Club, set up earlier this year, meets on the
2nd Sunday and 4th Wednesday of every
month, at the Bishop Pub located on the
Riverside Walk in Kingston KT1 1PY. We
currently have 12 members and will need 20
Alison Webb
to become Chartered.
Following the same principle of ‘service above
self’, the aim of this particular Club is to attract
people who may have expressed an interest in
joining Rotary but felt that attendance at weekly meetings was not viable, due to work or
family commitments.
By holding our Sunday meetings at 10.30 am
and Wednesday meetings at 6.30 pm, it is
hoped that this will widen the opportunity of
attracting new members to an organisation
which offers the ability to participate in fundraising projects, help the local community,
whilst at the same time forming friendships
through social events.
Meetings on a Sunday are primarily to discuss
Club business, whilst those on a Wednesday
are mainly for review and up-date purposes, so
are generally quite brief. Despite being only
several months old, the Club has met the
Mayor and Mayoress at the Born Too Soon
Graduation Party and, disguised as Mickey
Mouse, helped to entertain the children; we
have taken part in the 25th celebration of Kids
Out, dressed as various characters and greeted
the many hundreds of children and adults arriving at Chessington World of Adventures; and
we helped in various ways at the Dragon Boat
event, by setting up gazebos, rowing, and helping in the Membership tent, whilst at the same
time raising over £200.00 on a tombola for the
Born Too Soon Charity.