Rotary Club of Gloucester

Ten Rotarians plus one wife enjoyed a visit to Villa Park to watch Aston Villa play Liverpool (writes Chris Peak)

The organiser of this successful expedition was Rob Hall, who gave a virtuoso performance. He outplayed both Villa and the Reds, neither of whom excelled themselves in a lacklustre game. Rob obtained and drove the minibus; produced a good picnic for us, bought the tickets and, despite the efforts of two of the party, managed to get us there in back in one piece.

The range of weather conditions was extraordinary: strong sunshine, sleet and snow and swirling winds. Cleeve Hill could be seen whitenened with snow as we approached Gloucester on the motorway.

Our resourceful SVP also produced excellent Rotary fellowship, much appreciated by all.
After the game one of the Rotarians and the Rotary wife managed to get lost. This was the only mishap on what was otherwise a great day out that went like clockwork.

Nostalgia and holiday memories were rekindled at an evening meeting in Feburary when the Gloucester Cine and Video Club gave a presentation to a packed audience of Rotarians, partners and guests.

The club, which is now in its 45th year and frequently arranges film or video shows to groups in the area, has a growing archive of footage from which to choose and subjects chosen for their visit were a fascinating combination of old and new, local and afar.

After an opening promotional compilation of film on the Cotswolds (well worth buying) the evening began with shots of Gloucester in the 50s - a compilation which brought back memories to many of our more senior members.

The show then continued with a variety of subjects which included scenes from Gloucester Park in 1980, lovely footage of Venice and a tour of Gran Canaria.

But for most of us the highlight was a shortfilm which accompanied the hymn 'All Things Bright and Beautiful.' Here the exquisite selection of images reflected the words - in particular the selection of animals and birds which accompanied the stanza 'All Creatures Great and Small.' It really was a mini masterpiece and a true reflection of the film makers art.

We are extremely grateful to the team from the Cine and Video Club who went to great lengths to transport and set up all their gear for our enjoyment.......their efforts were certainly not wasted.

President Tony Tetley reflects on the result of last week's vote which decided that the club's lunchtime status should remain unaltered.

"So we have voted for the status quo and now have to get on and build the future of the club on this basis.

"Am I disappointed with the decision? Yes I am, not on a personal basis, but because I think we have missed a real opportunity to move the Club forward.

"I wouldn't change one word of what I said in supporting the proposal -we have to change the ethos of the Club so that it remains attractive to the present membership while at the same time being attractive to possible new members - I believe the proposal put would have done that!

"It was disappointing too to see the Club take little heed of the views of the next two Presidents.

"But that's all gone and we have to look to the immediate future. Now that we have made the decision we have to go out and seek new members on this basis.

"We already have a draft letter on the stocks ready to go out to potential new members and we do have a list of organisations and businesses where we feel there are possible members.

"However what we need all the members to do is name at least one person who they think might be a suitable Rotarian and let the membership committee know so that they to can be invited to a meeting when we will introduce them to Rotary in general and our Club in particular.

"I hope we could complete this process by the end of May with a view to induct new members before the end of this Rotary year.

"Today the membership took a decision that has a bearing on the Club's future, it is now up to all of us to actively work to make sure that there is a future for The Rotary Club of Gloucester."

IT'S good to see that the new dining 'club' organised by Bob Short is turning out to be a tremendous success.

One of its recent venues was the refurbished and upgraded Fostons Ash near Birdlip and our pictures reflect the evening's fellowship.

Everyone had a great time fuelled by lovely food and great fellowship - helped on this occasion - by senior vice president Robert Hall (accompanied by his delightful wife Heather) who offered by buy apperatives, all round which launched the evening in great style.

IT isn't only the Home Office that 'isn't fit for its purpose' as Rotarians heard when Gloscat's vice-principal Jeremy Williamson came to talk at an evening meeting in February.

Jeremy, whose boss Greg Smith addressed the club recently, outlined the problems which had faced the further education college at its two main sites at The Park in Cheltenham and at Brunswick Road in Gloucester.

At both campuses, college staff and governors were faced with buildings in need of major repairs and no longer fit for their purpose. They were also on sites that were inadequate for future development.

In an excellent powerpoint presentation, Jeremy gave a detailed explanation how adversity also offered the college the opportunity to rebuild and rebrand its image.

In Cheltenham the college has now successfully relocated across town to a new purpose built building off Princess Elizabeth Square near GCHQ.

Here in Gloucester the college is now in the process of moving to a new home at the Docks......a £37m project which has come in both on budget - and early.

But at its outset there were several hurdles top overcome as Jeremy explained.
In addition to the inevitable one of finance, these included archaeological remains, complex planning issues and heritage considerations.

But for once it seemed that all the powers that be which normally throw spanners in the works whenever a major Gloucester project is mooted, were in agreement. National, regional, county and city authorities pulled out all the stops to ensure the project's development.

Jeremy said that the site had been constructed on a brown field site formerly owned by British Waterways. Its success was one of the keys to regenerating a much neglected and run down part of the city.

The building would have a dual use - for students during the day and the public in the evenings and at weekends.

It was a thoroughly professional presentation and one which, combined with the talk given by Malcolm Wharton, principal of Hartpury College in January, ensures that further and higher education have a bright future here in Gloucestershire.

HAVING to sort through items of a much loved wife is a tear jerking experience as Rotarian Roy Lewis discovered when he came across these two lovely poems penned by Iris who died last year,

Roy writes: "Apart from her musical and 'talking talents' Iris wrote a number of one act plays, pantomimes, poems etc. Some 25 years ago she had a weekly slot on Severn Sound when one of her topical poems on items of local interest featured. The one I've enclosed 'I Was There' she wrote immediately after dashing to see the bore after hearing the commentary on Severn Sound and was read on the radio the following week.

"The poem entitled 'A Dream' I had not previously read and certainly bring tears to my eyes. I came across it looking through her writings as I have received a request for some of them to be published.

"I WAS THERE"
Working in my kitchen - washing up and cleaning the floor,
There I was with Severn Sound listening to the Bore
The tidal wave was coming I was there among the crowd,
Transfixed with bucket and mop I dare not make a sound
500 people waiting with cameras and 'our crew'
Surf boards at the ready and a man in a canoe
Now they're getting restless - is it really on the way?
Irene phone from Newnham, it's past here I heard her say
Yes! It's coming they could see it - I could hear it on the air
What a roar - what a spectacle - suddenly I went spare
I had to go and see it, be right there on the scene
No time to think - shall I comb my hair, am I reasonably clean?
I might just get there was my thought dashing out the door
My little car might make it to Over or Maisemore.
Oh the thrill and the excitement as I sped along the road
My old car engine throbbing - was it going to explode?
Over Bridge is now in sight - gracious what a throng
Perhaps this wild idea was silly, dashing out was very wrong,
Look at all the parked cars - wherever shall I go
I'll probably just squeeze in if I take it very slow,
Severn Sound is still with me - how fantastic they just said.
The Bore must be at Maisemore round the corner just ahead.
I'm parked though not too tidily - I've done better let's be frank,
Quick over the road, through the fence and on to the river bank,
Bore they are all shouting, I didn't have to wait,
There's the boat and someone surfing, he'll have a job to keep up straight
Wow! It's really hit us as the wave filled the river bed
The splashing and the roaring just like my radio said
.....I'm back in my car now....waiting to be towed
With all that rush and speeding my poor car did explode!
The lunch will not be ready - But my family will be proud
I was there, I saw the Bore - and I heard it on Severn Sound.

A DREAM
Sometimes when it's quiet, I have time to sit and dream,
All these years of married life, husband, children, how things could have been,
Maybe an air hostess flying off to foreign places,
Or a top flight secretary meeting well known faces,
And then I think of him and me and how the time has flown,
We started off in a two roomed flat - now - we have a palace of our own,
It's full of all our precious things, the life he's shared with me,
The good times, some - not quite so good, but it's plain to see
I wouldn't change a moment for any of that dream
And I thank God he chose ME, his housewife and his Queen.

BY now most members would have pencilled into their diaries the visit of our friends from Rodez, which is due to take place on the last weekend of this month.

While details of their stay are being finalised, it will almost certainly include the usual golf competition, shopping therapy, dinners with Rotarians and a sight seeing visit.

However, on Saturday evening, April 28th, Rotarians, their partners and their friends from Rodez are invited to a Soiree Musicale being organised by members of the Inner Wheel Club of Gloucester as part of their fund raising bid to provide an interactive plasma screen for Milestones School here in Gloucester.

The entertainment will feature Watership Brass - an ensemble led by Joy and Trevor Picken's son, which is based in Newbury....and which is now the town band.
There will also be guest appearances by other 'local stars' being hand picked by Joy impressario husband Trevor.

Joy is this year's Inner Wheel president and the Milestones project is her chosen charity.
The event will take place at St Andrew's Church hall at Churchdown starting at 7.30pm . The cost of the tickets - to include supper - will be a mere £10 each....a bargain at the price.

The fascinating story of how a hobby became a passion and then a business was told to members at a lunchtime meeting by antiquarian bookseller Christopher Saunders of Newnham-on-Severn.

Christopher, who was born in Bristol, began his life long love of cricket, both as a player and spectator, on village pitches in Somerset and at the county ground at Somerset.

It was an interest he continued at university and at one point he started his own team so that he could bat and bowl when he pleased. David supports Warwickshire and the West Indies and still plays cricket, his batting average in 2003 being 45.08

.When he set up in business selling second hand books in Wells in Somerset in 1978 he quickly decided to specialise in collecting cricketing books and memorablia. His shop there closed in 1990 and it then moved to the Forest of Dean.

His large stock of cricket books (including most years of Wisden), pamphlets, brochures, pictures, prints, postcards, letters, cigarette cards, scorecards, autographs and other memorabilia is now housed in a purpose built office/bookroom overlooking the river Severn.
Today he has a customer base of almost 3,000 people mostly in the UK but also in New Zealand, Australia, India, the West Indies and America.

Christopher said that he buys mostly from other collectors similarly obesssive about the sport as he is and he sells mostly at book fairs (around 40 a year), through catalogues and through a website which has no fewer than 8,000 items on it.

Some memorabilia can be extremely expensive. For example some editions of Wisdens have sold for thousands of £s.

However, in a light hearted and amusing talk Christopher also warned that it was difficult to prove the authenticity of certain historic items such as the ball with which Freddie Trueman got his 300th wicket, the ball Gary Sobers hit for six sixes and the ball which Bob Willis used when he got 8-43 in a test at Headingly.

Christopher will be at a Book Fair at the Biingham Hall in Cirencester on May 6.
It was a delightful talk from a man who evidently thoroughly enjoys what he does to the full.

DESPITE a very wet and windy night, a Desert Islands Disc Evening at Minsterworth Village Hall brought a considerable ray of sunshine to Inner Wheel's bid to raise money for Gloucester's Milestones School for disabled children.

After an extremely successful and intriguing evening, a very satisfying £850 will go towards the project which is President Joy Picken's chosen charity for this year.
Members, Rotarians and visitors were greeted with glasses of Bucks Fizz followed by Mediterranean chicken and rice and there were cheese platters on each table so that everyone could nibble during the entertainment.

Two Inner Wheelers and one Rotarian were chosen to pick three pieces of music each to take to a desert island. The three castaways were Joy Johnson, wife of Rotarian Howard Johnson - last year's Rotary President, Janet Hayward wife of Rotarian Tony Hayward and Rotarian Nick Bury, Dean of Gloucester Cathedral.

It was a fun evening conducted by Rotarian Trevor Picken, who superbly filled the role, originally created by the legendary Roy Plumley.

The choice of music was varied and most entertaining.
Nick Bury chose 'Hound Dog' by Elvis Presley, 'Death Shall Have No Dominium' by Dylan Thomas and 'Rejoice on the Lamb' by Benjamin Britten.

Janet's selection was 'On Days Like These' by Matt Munro, 'When a Felon's Not Engaged In His Employment' from Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance with Owen Brannigan as soloist and finally 'World in Union' by Kiwi Te Kanawa

Joy's choice was 'David of the White Rock' sung by Bryn Terfal, 'She Loves Me' by the Beatles and 'Nkosi Aikelele' by the Ladysmith Black Mambazo

The three castaways explained why they had chosen each piece of music, how they would manage on the island and what they would miss most. They were allowed a luxury item and both ladies chose a VERY LARGE jar of moisturiser while Rotarian Nick opeted for water colour paints and paper.

Members had been very generous is donating raffle prizes which comprised a really lovely selection of gifts.

Audrey Hughes, a past member and club president, travelled from her home in Winchester to be with us. Audrey is now a member of the Inner Wheel Club of Winchester. Another Inner Wheel member, a friend of Joy and Trevor, travelled from Northampton with her husband to join a delightful and memorable evening.

Club member David Corbett has recently returned from a visit to New Zealand during which he visited Fiji and a unique project with which our club became associated just a few years ago.

DAVID writes:- Fiji comprises two large islands,Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, plus several smaller islands. The main island, Viti Levu, is approximately 2,000 square kilometers and contains the capital and the main airport, Nadi. The town of Lautoka is approximately 20 miles north of Nadi.

The island's development is around the perimeter with small towns, industry and some beautiful hotels. Very few roads go inland and they are mostly unmade.

Inland are mountains, rainforest, forestry and farmland.The farmland does not produce much income for the farmers. There are also large areas of sugar cane.
Fiji's income is dependent on tourism,but what a lovely place to be a tourist.

In January 1985 part of Viti Levu was devastated by two major cyclones in two days. Thousands were left homeless and worst were the landless cane cutter families. They live in squatter shacks which are deathtraps in a cyclone and they have to rebuild after every cyclone. Fiji can experience one such cyclone a year.

In 1985 a remarkable man named Peter Drysdale of the Rotary Club of Lautoka (currently 10 members of whom 6 are considered to be active) decided to do something about it. The club designed a basic one room shelter that is cyclone proof. They are strong, wood framed, steel clad homes and over the years these have been adapted and improved.

In 2002, following a visit to Fiji by Colin Eynon our club became aware of this incredible project and raised funds to provide 12 homes.

In January I visited Fiji and was privileged to meet Peter Drysdale and spent three hours with him while he visited one of the villages.

Peter's whole life outside his business commitments is committed to rehousing desperate families. He rarely stops working and is the very worthy recipient of no fewer than four Paul Harris awards. A truly remarkable Rotarian.

He has driven the project from its inception and when I met him they had just completed 766 homes.

Peter and his team are now in the advanced planning stages of a village of 240 homes .... big enough to involve the Fiji government in all land matters, Rotary 3H grant for infrastructures, NZAID for the cost of homes and numerous donors.

It is quite a remarkable vision.I hope to have the opportunity,with the assistance of Colin to give an illustrated talk to the club about the Rotahomes of Fiji.

A TASTE of life in Mongolia was presented to members by local lady Jane Grendon who, with her sister Leslie have been visiting the landlocked Asian country as part of a charity effort to help disadvantaged women living there. She explained that although Mongolia is a large country - three times the size of France - it is one of the least densely populated with only 2.8m people of whom 30% are nomadic or semi nomadic.

Until 1990 it was tied very closely to the Soviet Union which it borders on the north but following the fall of Communisim it has adopted a new democratic constitution and tried to forge links with western countries including the UK and USA. Jane said that Mongolia contains very little arable land as much of it is covered by arid and unproductive steppes with mountains to the north and west and desert to the south.

About a third of the population lives in the capital of Ulaanbaatar which is where Jane and Leslie (a crafts teacher) have sought to help local women develop new skills - in particular making beautifully crafted quilts some of which have been shown at an exhibition at the NEC at Birmingham. Money made by selling these in the UK, the United States and increasingly in Mongolia, is being used to expand the scheme.

In an illustrated slide presentation Jane said Mongolia was a land of contrasts - both extremely modern and Third World at the same time. At then end of her talk she was presented with a £100 cheque by President Tony for the Mongolian charity with which she and her sister are involved.

THIS month three local businessmen will travel to Canada and then trek 50 miles to the start of a gruelling 350 mile race - on foot - to the magnetic North Pole - a distance of more than 300 miles.

Steve Jones and Richard Yorke, both formerly of Brockworth School, and Nick a former pupil at Chosen Hill have set themselves this daunting challenge to raise £100,000 for the National Star College based at Ullenwood near Cheltenham.

It is a race during which they will be walking 12 - 14 hours a day pulling their supplied behind them in temperatures which could fall as low as -50 Centigrade.

Steve, who is CEO of NE Solutions at Paulton near Cirencester, Nick of Evan Jones Surveyors of Cheltenham and Richard of Yorke Construction at Birdlip and Raging Bull of Gloucester, are all in their mid or late 40s and will be oldest team in the race.

They are under no illusions. In the past under 50% of those starting have completed the course. They anticipate consuming about 7,000 calories each daily - yet even so they are expecting one and half to stones by the end of their ordeal.

Quite apart from the hazards of trekking in sub-zero temperatures during which frostbite and exhaustion is a constant hazard, they also facing the challenge of navigating over ice and snow in territory which con tains the world's highest concentration of polar bears.
Despite their attractive appearances these magnificent animals are unpredictable and dangerous - even so the teams are forbidden to shoot the bears unless their lives are immediately threatened.

The trio have been in training for the past 12 months and earlier this year they visited Asustria for cold weather training, but were disappointed when the temperature which had been predicted to fall to -17C hovered between minus two and plus eight.

Of the trio only Richard and Steve were able to make it to the club for a lunchtime presentation during which they showed members some of the arctic clothing they will be wearing for their challenge. Many members also took the opportunity of sponsoring their efforts.

Jeremy Keck, who proposed a vote of thanks, summed up the views of most present when he said he admired their courage and commitmnent but didn't envy them their challenge.
The intrepid threesome will be filming their progress and it would make a fascinating subject for an evening meeting sometime in the future......in the meantime....the very best of luck.

Hartpury College's success story

IN 1984 Hartpury College looked set to be swallowed up by other Further Education Colleges or to close altogether. Yet against all the odds it has climbed to a pinnacle of success.
The college had begun life as the Gloucestershire Farm Institute in 1948 and for many years it flourished. However, by the 1980s it was threated by both a shortage of students and funds. It was time to sink or swim.

Today there has been an amazing transformation. From a mere 60 students 23 years ago it has now grown to 2,699 and its budget has increased from ,000 to more than .
The man mainly responsible for this incredible turnaround in the college's fortunes is its principal, Malcolm Wharton, who told an evening meeting of how the college had diversified into new curriculum areas such as sport and equine studies.

With success has come millions of £s of investment in a whole range of activities such as a new international indoor equine area, an international rugby academy and a national centre for modern pentathletes - and now negotiations are under way to relocate a Government agency, the Commission for Rural Communities, at the college.

Already many top equestrian stars from several countries have competed at an International Festival of Dressage and a Three Day Event held at the college and, as Britain's main equestrian centre, it will play a prominent role in the UK Olympics in 2012.

In a fascinating talk, Malcolm stressed that the college had to pay its way and to this end had created income from its trout lake, phesant shoots and from its farm with its 350 cows - soon to increase to 500. Continuing its policy of diversification it was also planning a 140 bed hotel to accommodate activity holidays.

Malcolm managed to cram 23 years of success into just 30 minutes .....but perhaps the icing on the cake for Malcolm was a recent comprehensive Ofsted inspection.

In it the inspectors praised the college commitement to build and improve facilities for learners, the inclusive and increasingly diverse learning community the college had created and the attendance and behaviour of its students.

Among the strengths the inspecting team had identified were improvements in student success rates over the past three years, the overall quality of teaching and learning and the robust quality assurance procedures and the college's strategic leadership.

As Malcolm comments in an article in the college's magazine Hartbeat: "To be rated so highly in many areas and ranked amongst the best colleges in England shows the dedication of all those connected with the college."