March The magazine of the 2010 Rotary Club of Alnwick

March 2010
The magazine of the
Rotary Club of Alnwick
March 2010
The magazine of the Rotary Club of Alnwick
Membership
Presidentially
Good Causes
My year of office is disappearing fast but as I
look back over the Rotary calendar there are
many things we have done as a club to help
local good causes, national charities and
international relief. The strength of Rotary is
in the ability to make quick decisions and get
basic aid into remote areas of the world through
Shelterbox and Aquabox, schemes set up by
Rotarians. We have given £1,000 to
Alnwick International Music Festival
to help them with fundraising to buy
new beds for visiting entertainers
and for use in the event of local
emergencies.
Rotary Day
To mark Rotary Day in February we
had a week of activities including
a full page advertisement in the
Northumberland Gazette informing
everyone what we do, visits to many
business premises, a display in the
window of Greaves Grindle and, on
the final Saturday, a sponsored bag
pack at Sainsbury’s.
2
We have welcomed new member Martyn
Tuckwell and transferee Diane Pearson to
our numbers. We hope that they will enjoy
membership of our club and help to bring us
new ways of looking at how we operate.
Sadly we have said farewell to two members
in Bobby Kidd and Peter McIlroy and their
contribution is recorded elsewhere in this
publication; we mourn their passing and send
our sincerest condolences to their families.
Golf Competition
Our next major fundraising effort
will be in June when we run a
charity golf competition at Foxton
Hall to raise money for three very
worthwhile causes, the Great North
Air Ambulance, Macmillan Nurses
and Asthma UK. There are still one
or two team spaces available so,
if you wish to enter a team please
contact Terry Long. If you are able
to offer sponsorship or advertising
in the competition handbook, please
contact Ken Moore. Your contribution
would be greatly appreciated.
Jim Thompson
President
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Martyn Tuckwell
New Members
Diane Pearson
Diane Pearson has recently transferred to our
club from the Rotary Club of Gozo (District
2110 - Sicily and Malta). She and her husband
Martin (already a member of the Alnwick club)
were very involved in supporting the new
Mediterranean club of Gozo when it was set up
in 2007.
Diane has a long association with the Maltese
islands as all her Cornish and Devonshire family
were in the Royal Navy and, at some time or
another, most of them were based in Malta.
As a teenager Diane attended the Malta Royal
Naval School. A long career in education
followed, gaining a B.Ed degree at Sheffield
University, and later a B.Phil in Education and
counselling at Newcastle University.
She
specialised in teaching and lecturing in the full
spectrum of special needs education.
Diane has combined having a family with
holding various interesting senior management
positions in education. These include deputy
and acting head teacher, LEA officer, lecturing,
training, teacher assessment and ‘Ofsted’
inspections throughout UK. One particular
interest has been to inspect theatre schools in
the North of England and Southern Scotland.
Now retired,
D i a n e ’s
interests
include travel,
painting and
photography.
• • •
Martyn Tuckwell became a qualified social
worker in 1968 and subsequently worked in
a variety of places including Coventry, Tower
Hamlets, Cambridge, and Newcastle.
He
specialised in mental health law, community
care, and the relationship between the two and
in 1992 he completed extra training in this field
at Lancaster University.
He finished his mainstream career with
“voluntary” redundancy from Newcastle City
Council in 1999 when he was the operational
manager for a
large mental
health team
( h a v i n g
started there
as Principal
Social Worker
at St Nicholas
Hospital in
1985).
He
still
does
some work as
an Associate
Hospital
Manager and
frequently hears appeals and holds reviews
for patients detained under the Mental Health
Act, a role which helps to maintain his life-time
interest in mental health matters.
Martyn has three children from his first marriage
and have two teenage grandchildren. He has
been with Jan since 1984 and, after 22 years
living in Prudhoe, they moved to Shilbottle in
September 2006.
Martyn confesses to being a “birder” and is
currently taking photography lessons. Scuba
diving is a summer interest. He is learning to
play the piano, and also likes to play guitar,
marginally better than the piano.
• • •
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
3
Toma
Martyn Tuckwell
RVI - New Teenage Cancer Unit
President-elect Terry Long and I, along with my
wife Jan, visited the new teenage cancer unit in
the RVI at the invitation of Andrea Thompson,
whose son Jordan died of a cancer-related
illness in September 2007. The Unit cost £1.7m
to build and much of the extra fundraising was
for special equipment beloved of teenagers;
laptop computers in every room, computer
and games consoles etc. Special beds and
equipment were also needed to nurse very sick
people.
The ward is magnificently fitted out with
touch-screen lighting controls in every room,
“wet” shower rooms (with music) and folddown beds where parents can stay with the
youngsters. There are seven individual rooms
and one room for three recovering patients.
There is a quiet room and a kitchen area as
well as a magnificent juke-box (donated by
Metro Radio) which also uses MP3 and IPods
as sources. The décor in the unit is young and
noisy.
We did not meet any current sufferers as they
were being treated elsewhere and it wouldn’t
have been appropriate. We did however get a
chance to talk to some of the recovered cancer
patients who said that this is a place they could
visit to give support to current sufferers. An
important part of the treatment and recovery
process is being able to talk to other past
and present sufferers so it is vital that those
who have been through the system feel able
to return to it as volunteers. They were very
enthusiastic about the unit.
Jordan David Thompson (known to his mates
as “Toma”) was a lovely active young man who
had a trial for NUFC. The family thought he
was recovering from cancer until a massive
infection hit him.
His parents, Andrea &
Davy Thompson, set up the Toma Fund in his
memory to raise funds for the new unit. The
extended family are also involved and it was
great meeting them all again.
There are twelve such units in the country to
date, some still be under construction. The
RVI unit in Newcastle covers, Middlesbrough,
Sunderland, Stockton, Berwick and Carlise to
name a few, so they have patients from quite
far afield.
Martyn Tuckwell
Terry Long, Andrea Thompson & Martyn Tuckwell
4
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
The Rotarians
of Alnwick
Peter McIlroy
Later in this edition of Alnwickdotes we
feature an obituary for Peter McIlroy. It
is especially poignant therefore that the
very first contribution submitted for this
edition should have come from Peter
himself. This doggerel, as he termed
it, reveals the fun side of the man - and
his deep affection for “The Rotarians of
Alnwick”.
One False Start . . .
The Rotarians of Alnwick­
Are a cheery lot of men
Interruption - by Past-President Margaret T. ”What about us ladies?”
Reply - by poet: “Wait and see. I’ll start again”.
Then off we go . . .
The Rotarians of Alnwick
Are a cheery lot of chaps;
And before you start to panic
Just consider this, perhaps.
In law and verse, a fellow
Embraces female too;
So the lovely Lady Members
Needn’t get into a stew.
• • •
The Rotarians of Alnwick
Said: “Let’s raise some revenue
From the lovely lady shoppers
In the supermarket queue.”
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
But the lovely lady shoppers
Said: “You’re doing it all wrong,
And, what’s more, you’ve got a problem.
We don’t fancy Terry Long.”
• • •
The Rotarians of Alnwick
Said: “Let’s organise a quiz;
Fred Dyson knows the answers;
Whose brain is good? It’s his.
He’s good at metaphysics
But not at saxophones,
So, what’s to do? It’s simple,
We’ll send for Alan Jones”.
• • •
The Rotarians of Alnwick
With money as their aim
Arranged another Golf Day,
That Royal and Ancient game.
Ken Moore controlled the car park,
Bill Bell had all the fun,
But one man went and spoiled it...
He had a hole in one.
• • •
The Rotarians of Alnwick
Said: “We’ve nothing much to lose,
When George books up a voyage,
We’ll join him on his cruise.
We’ll insist he takes his cap off It’s enough to make us sick And with Dennis D against him,
We’ll trump each knavish trick”.
• • •
The Rotarians of Alnwick
Are a cheery lot of chaps
Who go about their business
With the minimum of flaps.
They eat their lunch with relish
And never give a hoot;
They just raise the dough with gusto
And give away the loot.
• • •
Peter McIlroy
January 2010
5
Club Meetings
- some random memories
17th December - Christmas Message
The Club’s Christmas Lunch was followed by
some Christmas songs in a debut performance,
from Bill Bell, Marion Long and Colin Bradford
(a.k.a. “The DeadBeats”).
nip and, of course, haggis, tatties[1] and neeps.
The event was a great success and is sure to
become a permanent fixture in the Club’s
calendar.
18th February - Teapot Mkandawire
John Tarbit, the man behind the nom de plume,
outlined (in a talk which was all too short
for the subject matter) the background of
colonisation and development in Malawi
(known colonially as Nyasaland).
We were
introduced to brothers, Fred and John Moir
(shown opposite), who were the first European
managers in that area, and to the significance
of river transport
John also talked about the current work of
Nkhudzi Bay Community Trust which has, as
its key objective, the furtherance of education
and vocational training for the children of
Mwenyama Village, in the Mangochi district of
Malawi.
Bill Bell, Marion Long and Colin Bradford
Orphans of Mwenyama Village
28th Jan - Burns Lunch
Another debut - this time the Club’s first Burns
Lunch, complete with the Selkirk Grace, a wee
Pipe Sergeant Andy Grant pipes in the haggis.
John Tarbit and the artist, John Harris, have
published a book of historical vignettes and
short stories called “Kazembe’s Kabudula”.
This is a large format book (ca 25 x 22cm),
designed by David Harris and fully illustrated
with original watercolour paintings by John
Harris. The book costs £20 per copy plus p&p
1
6
Overheard in Morpeth recently... “Aye, and then they sent iz off ti King Edward’s.
That’s where they larnt iz to spell taties with a “p”!”
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
£3 (UK or £5 elsewhere) and
revenue from sales will go to the
Mwenyama Village.. For further
information and to order copies
contact John on tarbit379@
btinternet.com.
John Tarbit
John was born and brought
up in Northumberland.
His
postgraduate
degrees
in
Zoology
from
Newcastle
University took him into tropical
fish research and development
for the governments of Malawi,
Tanzania, Kenya, the Seychelles
and Burma. He subsequently
returned to Whitehall as the
Senior Fisheries Adviser and
head of Natural Resources
Research at the UK Government
Department for International
Development which took him
to such diverse destinations as
Bolivia and Tristan da Cunha.
Retirement has seen John
indulge his interest in the history
of south central Africa and the
welfare of its peoples especially
the fishing community of
Nkhudzi Bay on Lake Malawi.
25th Feb - The Chillingham
Wild Cattle
Philip Deakin, the Chairman
of the Chillingham Wild Cattle
Association, came to the Club in
February to give us a fascinating
talk on the Chillingham Cattle[1]
and the work of the CWC
Association.
Philip Deakin
The photograph below shows
the curved horns and red ears
which are so characteristic of
these animals.
John Tarbit’s talents and efforts
were recognised with an OBE in
1998 and then also in 2006 with
an Honorary Doctorate from
the University of Stirling - in
recognition of his contribution
to international development
and particularly for his guidance
on the Advisory Committee of
the Institute of Aquaculture.
• • •
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
1
No doubt many of us in the
room shared the Editor’s regret
at never having made a visit to
Chillingham Park to see these
magnificent creatures. Perhaps
a group visit might ensue?
7
4th March - Rob Murray John
With understandable pride, Mike Dean
introduced to the Club his son-in-law, Rob
Murray John. Rob is the managing director of
S2SI (Sky2SeaInternational) a company which
delivers all location, expedition management
and safety needs for film and TV, corporate
challenges and specialist bespoke expeditions
around the world.
Mike Dean and Rob Murray John
Rob was formerly the founder of Trekforce
Worldwide and managing director of the
charity, Trekforce Expeditions. His career has
spanned over eighteen years of operational and
management experience within the expedition
and media field, specialising in conservation,
project-based and challenging expeditions
throughout SE Asia, Borneo, Central and South
America, the South Pacific and North Africa.
A comfortable lunch in the White Swan was
quite inadequate mental preparation for
what followed as Rob’s photographs took us
on a dizzying tour around the most extreme,
uncomfortable and dangerous environments
in the continents of the world.
From an early age Rob Murray John was
exposed to travel in distant lands as he grew up
in Japan and spent his early years in a Japanese
kindergarten, living in Tokyo, Switzerland and
America before moving back to the UK to
complete a degree in Tourism and Planning in
the early 90s. As a young adult he travelled
Europe and then in his gap year volunteered
as a jackaroo[1] in Australia; fresh out of public
school, castrating calves and cleaning freshly
shorn sheep fleeces was a little distant from
what he was used to but quickly became the
norm! “All my peers were partying their way
around the east coast” he said “I wanted the
real Australia and, by heck, I found it!”
1
Jackaroo (or Jillaroo), a young man (or woman) in
training to become a stockman (or stockwoman).
[email protected]
8
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Having completed his degree he volunteered
with a youth development charity whose
focus was to use worthwhile conservation
expeditions and English language teaching
placements as a vehicle for youth development.
His first assignment found him in Indonesia,
helping to save endangered Sumatran rhinos.
With very limited rainforest experience (he
was lost by himself for 24 hours at one point
in the jungle with no food or water) he was
lucky enough to have Bruce Parry (now famous
for the BBC2 TV series: Tribe and Amazon),
the ex-marine forces commando and fitness
instructor, as his mentor. Three years later,
seven expeditions and a few leeches later he
had gained a lot of experience in grass roots
conservation projects, youth development and
leading in the rainforest environment.
Pam Emery
One of the
participants
in the Don
Leslie Memorial
Charity
Walk
organised
by
Ken Moore last
October
was
Pam
Emery
from Warenton.
Pam
decided
that she would
raise money for
the walk by getting her friends to sponsor
her - not for the walk but by giving up
drinking wine for three months[1]! This
she duly did - and raised a very creditable
£350 in the process. Pam was the guest
of the Club on the 18th February where
she was recognised for her efforts.
1
Ken Moore, in curmudgeonly mode, asked:
“But how do you check on this?”
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
At this point he was asked to set up a new
operation in Belize, Central America. However,
to get there he was to fly to the USA, buy a
cheap 4x4 and drive there. Joining a chain
of trucks and having been lost and spat out
of Mexico City in a large Ford F150, he arrived
in the lush country of Belize, a country that
was 80% forested and has the largest living
reef in the world. Starting in 1998 with six
volunteers, Rob left Belize in 2001 with 150
volunteers working on six concurrent projects.
It was this taste for travel and doing something
worthwhile that has driven him through the
years and since returning from Belize, he has
travelled throughout South America and SE
Asia, specialising in Guyana and Borneo. Oh,
and he is married with two sons. Rob’s wife
(Mike Dean’s daughter) was on an expedition
in Indonesia when they met. Famously on
honeymoon in Madagascar, canoeing down
the Mamambolo River, she asked Rob: “What’s
for dinner?” He replied: “Where’s your fishing
rod?”.
After setting up his own travel company Rob
has diversified his travel interests to the tribes
of Papua New Guinea, the deserts of Morocco
and the wide open plains of the Botswanan
Okavango Delta; taking the sons of wealthy
Russian oligarchs, completing short-term
consultancy projects and taking TV crews
from Channel 5 to BBC1 with the likes of Jack
Osbourne and Ben Fogle to distant lands.
Imagine these celebrities alone in the jungle
on your TV screen. Now imagine a team of
forty porters speaking eight different dialects,
carrying all the kit and two generators behind
the scenes - quite a logistical challenge to say
the least!
What has driven Rob throughout his travels
and professional life is a desire to experience
new cultures, to challenge himself and his
views; and perhaps most importantly to try
to put something back into the community or
country he is visiting.
9
Environment Group
Committees
and groups
Projects Committee
Congratulations to everyone involved with the
bag pack exercise at Sainsbury’s on Saturday
27th February.
We collected a
magnificent £774.35
for our charities.
Well
done
to
everybody[1] and thank
you to all partners and
spouses who came along to help. Thanks also
to Sainsbury’s who both locally and nationally
were very supportive of Rotary Day activities.
George and Lilian Stokoe
I will continue to collect unwanted mobile
phones until the end of April for the End Polio
Now – Mobile Phone scheme.
Anyone interested in helping with the Alnwick
“community orchard” fruit and nut scheme
should see me for contact details.
John Humphries
Foundation Group
President Jim Thompson was presented with
two awards for the Club at a recent District
1030 meeting.
The first was a certificate
signed by the President of Rotary International
for our contribution to polio eradication. The
second was a banner for our support for the
Rotary Foundation charity. Out of over 33,000
Rotary clubs in the world Alnwick were in the
top 1,500 in donations per head to the Rotary
Foundation. Well done!
The Alnwick club has always been a good
supporter of the Foundation and over the last
couple of years extra funding has come from
our “Good News” tankard. The idea for the
tankard came from my visit to Leamington
Spa Rotary Club when my wife, Lilian, was
part of the Alnwick bowls fours representing
Northumberland at the Ladies’ All England
Final (at which I was allowed to carry her bag).
Ken Moore reports that the water in St Michael’s
Pant is running again and that he will monitor
its stability with a view to reinstating the Rotary
wishing well.
Terry Long
1
George Stokoe has two photographs on this spread.
Finesmaster, please note!
10
The Tankard has become part of the fun at
our Rotary meetings and I would like to thank
everyone for their contributions. It gives
every Rotarian an opportunity to share their
good news with all at the meeting, be it a new
grandchild or a successful coffee morning.
I digress...
Some people have more “good news” than
others and I suppose it’s just a measure of how
you look at life. One example is the Rotarian
who forgot where he’d parked his car. Bad
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Club Service Committee
George Stokoe and
Jim Thompson
We seem to be having a good social year in
Rotary.
The Christmas Message was well
received and the Family Lunch was enjoyed
with a good meal. The Burns Lunch was a
highlight and could well become an annual
event. The next event this month is President’s
Night an event to enjoy with our guests from
our local Rotary Clubs. Make sure you’re signed
up for the 27th March.
news you might think? No, when he found it
a month later the good news was that he had
saved money on petrol and lost a stone in
weight from walking!
Another example which springs to mind was
the Sunderland supporter (not Cliff Pettit)
who said if Chelsea hadn’t scored seven goals,
Sunderland would have beaten the league
leaders two-nil.
George Stokoe
Youth Opportunities Group
The Group is planning to endorse two
candidates for the next RYLA[1] course and
Marion Long will send out application forms to
interested candidates.
Alan Symmonds
1
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards or RYLA is a
training programme for leaders and potential
leaders between the ages of 17 and 21.
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
We are looking into arranging another Thursday
Brunch, so I am interested in any feedback. Last
year’s brunch was a success so we will probably
follow the same structure.
Due to the weather the Talk
and Toddles have come to
a temporary halt, but now
that Spring is now officially
here we will resume the
programme.
If there are any other
social events YOU would
like to put forward then let
me know.
James Bateman
Membership Group
The Club has now bought
two very smart new pullup banners (see right)
and a supply of A4 trifold
membership pamphlets
for use in recruitment
exercises. The Club has
also booked a table at
the
Northumberland
Tourist Fair to be held on
19th March 2010 at the
Willowburn Leisure Centre.
Charles Jary
11
Public Relations Group
The Public Relations Group
can claim no credit at all for
one of the most effective
public relations exercises
ever carried out by the Club.
We can however offer our
congratulations to Terry Long
who organised, as one of the
activities to mark Rotary Day
on Tuesday 23rd February, a
full page “advertorial” in the
Northumberland Gazette on
Thursday February 18th. Terry
was able to include articles on
Shelterboxes, Aquaboxes and
the End Polio Now campaign
as well as on the activities of
Rotary generally. We also had
very good financial support in
the way of advertising from
local businesses. Thanks to
all who participated.
In the meantime the PR Group
is busy with the production
of
AlnwickDotes
and
has also started work on
the development of a
website for the Club. The
domain name of www.
alnwickrotary.org has been
registered and, if you go to
that web address you will
see our initial attempts at
creating the club website.
One of the good features
of the site (which is being
developed using an RIBI
template system) is that
pages can be added by any
member of the club - and
not just by whichever poor
soul is Webmaster. A trial
training course will be run
for the members of the PR
Group. Thereafter you can
expect a demo/training
session for the whole club.
Colin Bradford
Mock Trials
This year’s mock trials for
young people were held
at Bedlington Magistrates’
Court on Saturday 13th
March.
Children from
Cramlington
Learning
Village, Newminster Middle
School, Richard Coates
Middle School and the
Duke’s Middle School (With
support from the Rotary
Club of Alnwick) all took
part.
Students take all the
roles within a normal
trial. This year they each
defended once and acted
as
prosecution
once.
Cross-examination is as
real as it gets bringing
a commendation from
magistrate, Pam Wood,
who said that the children
were as accomplished as
magistrates who had had
months of training
The winners were once
again the Duke’s Middle
School who will now go
on to a regional final. The
Duke’s School won the
competition in 2007 and
2008 but were unable to
compete last year. They
took the title from last
year’s winners, Cramlington
Learning Village. This is
a competition worthy of
our support so we should
continue to do that.
Alan Symmonds
12
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Edith Humphries, Barbara Reid & Kathleen Bradford
Inner Wheel
News and Views
Margaret Thompson
Birthday Meeting
On February 11th 2010, the day of our 62nd
Inter-Club and Birthday Meeting, I awoke with
feelings of excitement and dread. Excitement,
because after all the planning and organising,
this special day had eventually arrived. Dread,
in case I was the one who might turn it into a
disaster.
However, on arrival at our birthday venue
the White Swan Hotel looked perfect.
The
Olympic Room and the tables were decked
out in the Inner Wheel colours of gold and
blue. The finishing touches were the beautiful
flower arrangements made by our members
and all the individual bunches of snowdrops[1].
Greeting the guests, I noticed they were as
impressed as I had been. It was now up to me
as President to carry out my duties and hope
my nerves did not overtake me.
The meeting proceeded by the lighting of the
candles by Mrs Margaret Moore, member of
the IW Council who also read out the objects of
Inner Wheel. By now I was relaxed and looking
forward to the rest of the meeting.
Greetings from District 3 were given by Mrs
Sandra Knowles who, attending her first
Birthday Meeting in an official District capacity,
1
A charming and long-standing tradition of the
IWCoA is that members meet on the day before
the Birthday Meeting at a secret location (Well,
Lemmington, since you ask) to pick snowdrops.
These are then used to make small posies for every
member and guest at the Birthday meeting.
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Sandra Knowles and Margaret Thompson
was as nervous as I had been, but she carried
out her duties admirably.
The birthday cake was beautifully decorated
with icing sugar snowdrops made by Mrs Marie
Cooke. The cutting of the cake was followed
by a Grace given by our Past-President, Mrs
Edith Humphries, which was both amusing and
original.
Lunch, served as always by the very professional
staff of the White Swan, was enjoyed by
everyone.
Midway through the proceedings the Rotary
Club of Alnwick visited us and gave a rendering
of Happy Birthday[2] along with a cheque for
our charities and flowers, both of which we
very much appreciated.
The afternoon was completed when the pupils
of the Duchess High School joined us by singing
songs old and new, which I must admit brought
tears to my eyes. They were a pleasure to listen
to: they ended the day perfectly. Yes, this day
will remain with me as a very happy memory.
Thank you everyone for a truly lovely day.
2
The Editor is very disappointed that this article
contains no specific reference to the beneficial
influence of the musical accompaniment on “Boîte
de Sqouize”.
13
Quiz
On Friday 19th February we held a successful
Quiz Night/Pie & Pea Supper in St Michael’s
Church Hall, Canongate in aid of the MacMillan
Cancer charity. As well as having an evening
of fun, frustration and quite a few laughs we
were able to raise a net sum of about £270 for
charity.
Rotary Club (a club which sadly folded in 2005).
After his move to Swarland Bobby transferred
to the Alnwick Club and was later awarded a
Paul Harris fellowship for his services to Rotary.
Sufficient hardy souls braved the snow to
enable seven teams to take part. The worthy
winners were a team from Berwick Rotary Club.
The “Brains Trust” team from Alnwick Rotary
Club survived the absence of Fred Dyson
and managed to come equal second. Edith
Humphries’ husband, John, did a superb job as
quizmaster, along with Margaret Moore as the
scorer . Barmen Alan Symmonds and Bobby
Thompson were able to practise their rarelyused skills as sommeliers.
Margaret Thompson
Bobby is seen above receiving his award
from Peter Lewis (President 2005-06)
Peter McIlroy
It is with great sadness that we record the
death, on 2nd March 2010, of Rotarian Peter
McIlroy.
Obituaries
Bobby Kidd
Rotarian Bobby Kidd died at his home in
Swarland on January 9th aged 87 years,
We will miss Bobby Kidd’s cheery face and
welcoming remarks as we arrive at our
meetings. Bobby was usually there in his place
in the foyer of the hotel as we arrived. He would
very often be handing out the magazines or
other information, a job he took great delight
in doing.
Bobby was originally from Wallsend.
It is
believed that Bobby joined Rotary in 1970 and
went on to become President of the Wallsend
14
Peter joined the Club in 1997 and from that time
right up to his death, he contributed a great
deal to the Club. He became President of the
Club in 2004-05 and we enjoyed his leadership
in that year. He immediately followed that by
taking over as Secretary from Ian Walker, who
was rapidly approaching his year as District
Governor. He remained Secretary until 2008
and during this period the Club was pleased
to honour Peter with a Paul Harris Fellowship
in recognition of his outstanding support for
Rotary, for the Club and for many worthy local
ventures.
Peter had a hobby of painting and he used this
and his connections with other artists to set up
an art exhibition and sale, the proceeds of which
went to the Sri Lanka tsunami appeal. His main
hobby was, of course, golf and in that field Peter
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
Golf Day
Don’t forget . . .
●● Thursday 10th June
●● Alnmouth (Foxton Hall) Golf Club
●● £80 per team of four players which
may consist of ladies or gentlemen
or both (Ladies receive five courtesy
shots), the best two scores counting
at each hole.
●● The proceeds will be used to support
the Great North Air Ambulance
Appeal, Macmillan Nurses, Asthma UK
& a number of local charities including
the Alnwick Stroke Club.
Peter McIlroy
along with others successfully represented
the Club at national golf competitions. This
interest also led Peter to introduce and support
the Club Golf Day which has become our main
charity fundraising event of each year.
It is difficult to remember a time when Peter
was not deeply involved in Club affairs and he
would, when necessary, analyse and challenge
what we were doing. His organisational skills
were of great benefit when he organised the
Club in stewarding and supporting the District
Conference in Leeds in 2006.
Reflecting on all Peter’s activities it can be
clearly seen why he will be a great loss to the
Club.
Peter, you have done your bit and more, now
you deserve to rest in peace.
Ian Walker
AnD thanks...
to o u r magaz ine spo nso rs
Al nwi c k Wedding C ars
07 546 - 443 494
TML Par tners
01 669 - 622 866
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010
●● Four prizes (value £25-£30 each) for
one of the winning teams;
●● Four prizes (value £25 each) for the
best team score at a nominated hole;
●● Prize for the longest drive at a
nominated hole (£50);
●● Prize for tee-shot nearest the pin on a
short hole (£50);
Sponsorship welcome . . .
●● Advertisements in the A5-size
competition brochure (£50 half page
or £100 full page);
●● Individual business advertisements
on the course;
●● Donations towards the cost of prizes.
If you feel you could help in any way
by sponsorship, playing in the event or
even suggesting a sponsor or someone
who may be interested in playing, please
contact Bill Bell on 01 665 - 577 661 or
email him on [email protected]
or Terry Long on 01 669 - 620 045 or
email him on [email protected].
15
C ontact I nfo
Coming up
March
Meetings
Every Thursday at 12:30
White Swan Hotel, Bondgate Within
Alnwick, NE66 1TD
01 665 - 602 109
[email protected]
President
Jim Thompson
01 665 - 510 417
[email protected]
Secretary
Ian Walker
01 665 - 604 375
[email protected]
Club
Website:
Club No:
District No:
www.alnwickrotary.org
18826
1030
●●
Thu 18th
Projects Committee (11.00)
Speaker finder: Michael Harper
●●
Thu 25th
Club Service Committee (11.30)
Speaker: Peter Tracey with Rotary
Ambassadorial student
●●
Sat 27th
President’s Night
April
●●
Thu 1st
Club Council (11.00)
Speaker: Rebekah Haughton, Energy
Savings Trust - Energy saving in the
home and sustainable transport
●●
Thu 8th
Business meeting
●●
Thu 15th
Speaker finder: Alan Clark
●●
Thu 22nd
Speaker: Jean Darby - Spitak Update?
●●
Sat 24th
Inner Wheel Coffee Morning
●●
Thu 29 Speaker: Andy Webber - Restoration of
St Lawrence’s Church, Warkworth
●●
Thu 6th
Club Council (11.00)
Speaker finder: Peter Lewis
●●
Thu 13th
Business Meeting and AGM
●●
Thu 20th
Speaker: Andrew Teasdale - Scouting
Today
●●
Thu 27th
Speaker: Ms Jagruti Dave - Restoration
and Renewal : Student Involvement in
a Sri Lankan Village
th
May
June
The next editions
The next editions of AlnwickDotes are planned
for July, October and January. Please give your
contributions to Diane Pearson by the end of
June, September and December respectively.
Colin Bradford, Editor
●●
Thu 3rd
Club Council (11.00)
Speaker: Colin Bradford - Club Website
●●
Thu 10th
Business Meeting
Club Charity Golf Day, Foxton Hall
●●
Thu 17th
Speaker finder: ?
●●
Thu 24th
Club Assembly
Speaker finder: Martin Pearson
Thu 1st
Club Council & Handover
Speaker finder: Cliff Pettit
July
●●
16
ALNWICKDOTES - March 2010