Rotary Club of Gloucester

FROM toddlers to teenagers, children in Gloucester have been rallying around to support the club's aquabox appeal to provide vital life saving equipment to people in areas hit by natural or man made disasters.

A small team headed by the indefatigable Peter Nesbitt has undertaken the project. It set itself the target of completing 150 aquaboxes over a three year period following a plea from RIBI's HQ after every aquabox in storage had been sent to areas - particularly in India and Sri Lanka - hit by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

The project was launched in The Citizen last autumn but such has been the generous response of the schools and public in Gloucester that the club has already successfully completed more than 90 boxes

To date nine local primary schools - Calton, Coney Hill, Finlay, Hempsted, Heron, Linden, Longlevens, Moat and Robinswood - and five secondary schools - Barnwood Park, Beaufort, Chosen Hill, Crypt and Kings - have been engaged on the project and this term both Sir Thomas Rich and Ribston will be involved.

All have either filled boxes or provided cash for doing so - or in some cases - both.
Their efforts have ranged from the toddlers at Intoplay Children's Nursery at Longlevens filling three boxes to the students at Beaufort who raised a commendable from a non-uniform day.
The school's wonderful response had been added to by 00 from the public, by from Rotary club members themselves and a further from club funds.

A delighted Peter said he had been both astounded and delighted with the response - the schools and their pupils in particular had been absolutely fantastic.

In addition to the life saving water purification equipment (enough to supply four people with 10 cups of clean water a day for four months) the boxes also contain, hardware, hygiene, cooking and educational materials as well as clothing.

More recently - and again thanks to publicity in The Citizen - a group of Girl Guides in Cinderford have raised for the appeal.

THE Entente Cordiale - at least that between the Rotary clubs of Gloucester and Rodez - is very much alive and well. That's the verdict of the 17 club members and their wives who visited our French friends recently.

The visit began on Friday, April 28 with an official reception in the Lycee Carnus - Bourran where our party was treated like royalty after which they enjoyed delicious French cuisine in local Rotarians' homes.

For those taking party in the annual golfing encounter the second day began on the beautiful golf course in the scenic mountain location of Mezerac while the less active joined them for a splendid three course lunch at the golf club house after browsing around the market in Rodez or doing their "own thing"

Alas, we failed to bring the golfing trophy back, but came a close second!! Howard Johnson and his player Valerie (borrowed from the French team to even out numbers) were our only success story of the day ..... a member of the French team commenting that the British could only win with the help of the French!!

In the afternoon a brand shiny new coach kindly driven and provided by a Rotarian owning a coach company (why don't we have one?) transported everyone to the picturesque castle ruins of Chateau de Calmont d`Olt.

Here some Rotarians dressed in chain armour while their wives fired missiles from a giant catapult. Then it was off to the town of Espalion in the Vallee du Lot and a reception in the town hall before returning to Rodez for yet more delicious food in Rotarian homes and gratefully to bed.

The village of Couvertoirade - a 12th century settlement of the Knight Templars on the Larzac plateaux - and a superbly conserved example of early French rural life was visited on the third and last day of the visit. Lunch was at the nearby Auberge and was delicious.

This was followed by a visit to the fantastic Viaduct de Millau. Designed by a British architect Norman Foster in collaboration with Michel Virlogeux, it is higher than the Eiffel tower and almost two and a half kilometres long spanning the River Tam.

The evening event consisted of a lavish meal with wine at a location outside Rodez with a Western theme. Festooned with Stetson cowboy hats and buffalo horns, the bar provided a French karaoke as entertainment.

A few brave English Rotarians and wives made valiant efforts to join in but there were no language concessions - all the songs were in French!!

The presentation of a cheque by Rodez club President Jean Michel Verdu to President Howard Johnson for 1,500 Euros sums up the friendship and co-operation between our two clubs.
This generous donation will be added to our club's own money for the provision of fresh water, proper toilet blocks, and teaching materials for three schools in Ecuador.

We give thanks to our friends in Rodez, for this magnificent donation, and for a most enjoyable visit.

Long may our visits continue and we look forward to seeing them next year in Gloucester!!

The Ivan Houston trophy is always a keenly contested but friendly evening of skittles between Gloucester and its daughter club at Newent. This year the coveted trophy was won by Barry Freeman seen here with Newent club president Chris Drury.

Do you know of a young professional who would like the trip of a lifetime? District Rotary clubs are being asked to nominate members for a Group Study Exchange team to Buenos Aires in Argentina next year.

The trip will leave the UK on Feburary 26, 2007 and return on March 26.
During this period those selected will have the chance to broaden their vocational knowledge by visiting similar professions in a foreign country as well as immersing themselves in a totally different culture and family life as they will be staying with local Rotarians and their families.
The entire cost of the scheme - apart from purely personal purchases - will be funded by Rotary International and an incoming team from Argentina will be visiting this area in March/April of next year.

Earlier this year a Group Study Exchange team comprising four successful district candidates, including Stephanie Preece, then news editor of The Citizen, visited the Mumbai (Bombay) area of India. She reported back to the club recently (as has been reported elsewhere in this publication).

In addition to acquiring knowledge the candidates also developed their skills in public speaking, leadership, team building and media presentation.
Applications are invited from young professionals preferably in the 25 - 35 years age range who must have been in employment for at least two years. The closing date for applications is July 31st 2006 and interviews will be held in early September.

Application forms and further information are available from Past District Governor and the current District Foundation Chairman, Paul Charter of the Newent Rotary club.

FOR an immensely modest person, the numbers at her memorial service and the richness of the tributes would have embarrassed Iris Lewis.

St Andrew's at Churchdown was packed for the service of thanksgiving and celebration and many lingered long after to share their memories of an extraordinarily gifted lady.
Her passion, energy and enthusiasm infected all who made her acquaintance and her legacy will be one of laughter, love and zest for life

Among the 300 who attended was an excellent turnout of members from our club - itself a tribute to the many ways in which she and Rotarian Roy have enriched and progressed our work over the years.

It was fitting that among the many events recalled in Iris's extremely full and active life was their work in Africa where she and Roy led a successful Rotary project to refurbish a village school they first visited on a safari ....and never forgot.

This was typical of many other instances of Iris's generosity of time, resources and spirit which have been so generously made available to both Rotary and Inner Wheel over the years.
We grieve with Roy for what he has lost, we celebrate with him for what he had and we remember with him a truly remarkable lady who shared her joy with all.
May she rest in peace.

This month we also mourn the passing of former club member Michael Holmes, who was head of the city's Crypt School from 1969-1990.

IT'S difficult to create enthusiasm over possible local government reorganisation but if anyone can stir our interests then it has to be Gloucester City Council's chief executive Paul Smith whose presentation at club was informative and amusing.

First came the facts.
• Only 12.3% of council tax goes to district councils (of which Gloucester City Council is one). A similar proportion goes to fund the local police service. The remainder (about 75%) goes to the county council apart from a very small amount which is precepted by parish councils.
• Most homes in the city are in the lowest council tax bands A and B.
• While the population of the city is around 112,000 probably another 50,000 live in its immediate environs (Innsworth, Brockworth, Hardiwicke etc) and look to Gloucester as a focus.
• About 7-8% of the city's population comprises minority ethnic groups and there are about 100 mother tongues spoken.

Paul said the last big change in local government was in 1974 when the city lost its unitary authority status. This year could well be another watershed with a learned report due in the autumn and a White Paper even earlier.

He spoke of the ways in which Gloucester was proudly different from other local authorities in Gloucestershire. Its differences - and indeed its special needs - were the result of its long history and Paul warned that should there be a move to disband district councils (or reduce their powers) then this could dilute Gloucester's special issues and needs. It was vital that there should be local accountability and that councils should be close enough to their constituents to engage their involvment. Bigger authorities might have the advantage of scale but were not necessarily better.

IT was one of those spontaneous gestures, which etches itself in the memory. It also drew a line under one club member's experiences during the Second World War.

Rotary Ambassadorial scholar Shingo Hirata from Tokyo was answering questions at the end of a presentation to the club when Roy Lewis rose to his feet.

He explained he was the only current member who had served in the UK armed forces during the war and had fought against the Japanese in Burma. He now offered Shingo the handshake of peace.

It was a moving moment when the old soldier and the young academic sealed their friendship. It was unexpected, it was spontaneous and it was priceless.
It was also of typical of big Roy's openhearted generosity.

Shingo, who is studying economics, at Bristol University having already obtained a first degree in his home country, gave members a swift oversight of Japan's history and explained the work he was currently doing in this country.

He also explained that, as a Rotary Amassadorial scholar he had had a lot of interaction with British people - in fact our club was the seventh Rotary club he had visited.
Shingo said that he had learnt much of our cultural heritage but most of all enjoyed the British sense of humour.

He had been brought to the club by Bristol Breakfast member Andy Clements, who has an oversight of the four ambassadorial scholars at present studying in Bristol. These include two ladies - one from the USA and the other, a totally deaf student from Belgium, and two Japanese men, one of whom was Shingo.

Andy explained that the Rotary Foundation - the largest independent charity in the world - distributed in the region of 100 millions dollars a year. A third went to humanitarian causes (such as Polio Plus), a third to matching grants (from which our club continues to benefit) and finally a third to educational casues.

These included university courses in peace studies, grants to teachers to study overseas and some to ambassadorial scholars to enable them to contine postgraduate studies in a foreign country. Each scholar cost 26,000 dollars - repayable by the scholar in the event of failing their course.

Andy added that worldwide there were 1,000 scholars a year of whom there was roughly 100 in the UK. Most funding for the scheme came from the USA and Japan.

Together Andy and Shingo gave us an insight into an aspect of Rotary's worldwide remit, which few of us had encountered before.

STEPHANIE Preece, the most recent in the club's long list of successful nominees to District Group Study Exchange teams, spoke of her experiences in Mumbai (Bombay) in India at a lunch meeting at the end of April.

Stephanie, who was news editor of The Citizen when her group visited India in January, has since transferred to a similar job in her home town of Worcester.

She explained that Mumbai (renamed as such in 1996) comprises 170 sq miles of land and 18 million people - 60% of whom live in slum conditions.

Communication was no problem since although most locals speak Marathi, English is widely spoken and understood.....which was just as well since she attended eight Rotary meetings and a district conference.

Stephanie said Mumbai was a city of contrasts between immense wealth and squalor ....with high tech, engineering and Bollywood at one end of the spectrum and open sewers and slums at the other.

During her month's stay, Stephanie lived with eight different families and received warm welcomes wherever the team went - even if these visits were to families in areas of extreme poverty.

On a vocational level, she visited the biggest newspaper in the world 'The Times of India' and was reassured that the problems they faced there were similar to those here in the UK.
During her stay she experienced several Rotary projects which she subsequently highlighted in a series of articles in The Citizen. These included the Polio Plus immunisation campaign and the Jaipur Limb Project. She was particularly moved by a visit to the Helen Keller Institute for the deaf and deaf and blind. She said she had been incredibly impressed by the scale of Rotary's work in India.

Stephanie, who gave a vivid and eloquent presentation with slides, was introduced by Julian Farr who was on the panel who selected her and thanked by John Lovell who had persuaded her to apply in the first instance.