Rotary Club of Gloucester

CLUB president Howard Johnson took a leading role in staging the Cotswold Savoyards concert in January which raised much needed money for the Acorns Children's Hospice which covers Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

As selector of the charity which benefitted, the seller of the highest number of tickets, a singer in the choir, occasional soloist, and raconteur throughout the concert, Howard is probably the person least qualified to write a dispassionate review of the Savoyards' concert but here are his personal reflections on what he enjoyed most about the event.

"FOR me, the highlight was the commitment shown by our club members, from Ian Stuart's selfless volunteering of his Youth Activities committee to organise it (and highly effective they were too), via the generosity of Graham Howell and Ian in covering the costs, to members' efforts in selling around 200 tickets.

"On the artistic side, from the stage the acoustics of the Bacon Theatre took some working out and in all honesty were not ideal. Behind the scenes in the run-up to the event, there were a number of enforced changes of programme and soloists as illness caused singers to drop out.

"The singing highlights, as far as I was concerned, were a delightful performance of Noel Coward's 'If Love Were All' by Lesley Hendrie, a fine rendition of the Pearl Fishers Duet by Geoff Ramshaw (who spoke to club recently about his climbing trip to the Himalayas) and City Councillor Mike Power, and the choral version of 'The Rhythm of Life' which closed the concert."
The event raised about 00. This together with 60 raised at the Sporting Dinner and at the Salvation Army Christmas concert plus a club donation will take the total provided to Acorns in my year to 00, in addition to raising Acorns' profile substantially within the city and county.
This has been a real highlight for us all. I am extremely proud of the Club's organisation of this concert ... thank you.

CLUB member Colin Eynon has received a Paul Harris sapphire award for all he has done to help the George Rotary Club in South Africa and the community which it serves.
The well deserved award was made just before Christmas when Colin spoke at the club on his experiences working with the CID here in Gloucestershire.

The award was made in respect of various projects Colin has been involved with, the most recent being the launch of a new resc

ue vessel which was handed over to the South African National Sea Rescue Institute.
The project to fund the boat was done by the George Rotary Club with the help of an international matching grant which involved a partnership with our own club as well as Gloucester North, Gloucester Severn and Wolverhampton's St George's Club.

The five clubs' contributions were matched by the International Rotary Foundation to make up the total needed to supply and equip the vessel.

George Rotary Club president Wilhelm van der Vyver praised the involvment of the UK clubs and said a matching grant was a highly potent tool to address a particular need in the community since substantial financial aid came into the area with only a fraction of the cost being borne locally.

In recognition of Rotary's recent centennial celebrations, the George club decided to name the vessel Spirit of Rotary 100. The handover was attended by leading lights both from the National Sea Rescue Institute and Rotary and included Colin who can be seen on the far right of our photo. Bishop Donald Harker blessed both the vessel and its crew.

? Past and current international matching grant projects by the George club (some of which have involved our own club) have included providing specialised equipment for the eye surgery programme at the George hospital, specially adapted wheelchairs for the children at a daycare centre for the physically disabled and computers for a primary school.

SIX Rotary Districts are the beneficiaries of the Rotary Children's Holiday Trust which has an investment portfolio in excess of a quarter of a million pounds. Club member David Seed is the trust's secretary/treasurer and puts us in the picture as to how the Trust originated.

He writes: "The club's long time involvement with the holiday home in Weston-super-Mare for poor and ailing boys is well documented in the club's history. In fact the club sent its first two boys there in 1925.

"The home became a District activity and the club appointed a representative to serve on the Boys' Home Committee. Our club raised funds to sustain the home and provided holidays for many boys from this area.

"When the first home became too small in 1949, Gloucester responded to an appeal to raised 000. This resulted in the purchase of a larger house for which equipment was provided. The opening took place in 1953.

"Due to parental reluctance to allow their boys to leave home, numbers attending dwindled and the home was sold in 1977 for 000. The sum was invested in a scheme called The Rotary Children's Holiday Trust and the endowment was boosted by the proceeds of a 1974 Jubilee Appeal.

"Each of the six Rotary districts which became involved appointed a trustee. These Rotarians comprise the Executive Committee. For nine years I have been the District Trustee and have just taken over the role of secretary/treasurer.

"The market value of the investment portfolio is now in excess of ,000 and the income is shared equally by six Districts each year. We only have one meeting per annum.

"The objectives of the Trust are to provide holidays for children in need, including the physically and mentally handicapped. The Trust interprets the word 'holiday' widely to enable such activities as outings to adventure centres to qualify for financial help.

"The clubs continue to apply for and receive an annual grant to assist in providing these holidays.

IT'S often a fact that redundancy is a spur to success. That was certainly the case for our newest Rotarian Rob Wallace, owner of Severn Signs who gave his job talk in January.
Rob, a former pupil at the city's Central Technology College, initially trained as an engineer after leaving school but was seduced into a life in sales and marketing by the promise of a flashy car and a big salary. To this end he even completed a 12 month diploma in salesmanship.

The next few years were anything but plain sailing. Starting with Helipeps Controls here in Gloucester he did various selling jobs all of which required extensive traveling. As the gloss of driving faded he and his wife Jackie ran a pub at Charlton King's for four years before he moved to work as an advertising rep at The Citizen in the mid-1980s.

Ironically it was a feature on a Stonehouse factory which Rob had masterminded for The Citizen which led to another career move ....to the very same factory Hanlon Brothers.
It was here that he first became acquainted with signage - although this wasn't a major part of the firm's portfolio. It was from here that Bob was made redundant and saw a national advert for a Leeds company selling a US computerised sign making machine under licence in the UK.

Bob's selling territory covered the entire south of England....no wonder he totted up 80,000 miles in one year alone behind the wheel. For four years Bob successfully sold and installed machine at a frantic pace until;, at the age of 36 he decided to have a go himself and in February 1990 his firm Severn Signs was born complete with a £600 old transit van.

Business was slow and the outlook grim until a call from his from former colleagues at the firm in Leeds led to a hugely profitable contract which launched his firm's fortunes.

SevernSigns which is now based at the Innsworth Technology Park now covers a range of work including exterior/interior signage, vehicle livery, banners and posters, exhibition and display panels and labels to name but a few and whose customers now include big names such as Westbury Homes.

Bob, who was thanked by President Howard, has been married to Jackie for 35 years. They have two daughters, seven grandchildren and live at Westbury-on-Severn.

CLUB president Howard Johnson took a leading role in staging the Cotswold Savoyards concert in January which raised much needed money for the Acorns Children's Hospice which covers Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

As selector of the charity which benefitted, the seller of the highest number of tickets, a singer in the choir, occasional soloist, and raconteur throughout the concert, Howard is probably the person least qualified to write a dispassionate review of the Savoyards' concert but here are his personal reflections on what he enjoyed most about the event.

"FOR me, the highlight was the commitment shown by our club members, from Ian Stuart's selfless volunteering of his Youth Activities committee to organise it (and highly effective they were too), via the generosity of Graham Howell and Ian in covering the costs, to members' efforts in selling around 200 tickets.

"On the artistic side, from the stage the acoustics of the Bacon Theatre took some working out and in all honesty were not ideal. Behind the scenes in the run-up to the event, there were a number of enforced changes of programme and soloists as illness caused singers to drop out.

"The singing highlights, as far as I was concerned, were a delightful performance of Noel Coward's 'If Love Were All' by Lesley Hendrie, a fine rendition of the Pearl Fishers Duet by Geoff Ramshaw (who spoke to club recently about his climbing trip to the Himalayas) and City Councillor Mike Power, and the choral version of 'The Rhythm of Life' which closed the concert."
The event raised about 00. This together with 60 raised at the Sporting Dinner and at the Salvation Army Christmas concert plus a club donation will take the total provided to Acorns in my year to 00, in addition to raising Acorns' profile substantially within the city and county.
This has been a real highlight for us all. I am extremely proud of the Club's organisation of this concert ... thank you.

On a bitterly cold afternoon, the final of the inaugural Gloucestershire Year 9 Girls' Football competition, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Gloucester, was played at Oxtsalls School between Brockworth Enterprise School and Whitecross School, Lydney.

The game had an explosive start. Brockworth intercepted the ball from the kick-off and within 30 seconds had scored a goal which was well taken by the Brockworth captain, Jenny Moyes. Whitecross settled down and both teams played excellent football with exciting goal-mouth incidents at each end. Whitecross tried hard to breakdown a strong Brockworth defence without success. In fading light and with only two minutes to the final whistle, Brockworth scored again to seal the game.

Rotarian John Smith, on behalf of President Howard, presented shields to the winners and runners-up, and thanked both teams for the sporting manner in which the game had been played.

He also thanked Kerry Dexter, Women's & Girls Football Development Officer Gloucestershire Sports Partnership, who refereed the game and organised the competition on behalf of the club.

Club stalwart Roy Lewis has sent a letter to President Howard expressing his sincere appreciation for a lovely bouquet of flowers sent to his wife Iris during her recent long stint in hospital.

He writes: "It was indeed a most kind thought and deeply appreciated. I would also like to thank Ian and Wendy Stuart for its purchase and delivery. May I also express our appreciation to all members of the club who have given us support in so many ways over the last few months."

Iris, who was hospitalised both before and since Christmas, is n

ow home at long last and in good spirits although Roy tells us there's still a long way to go.
The last few months have obviously been a traumatic time for them both and all our members continue to wish them well .Let's pray that with Roy's unstinting efforts and Iris's determination that it won't be too long before we all have a chance to enjoy their company together again.

FOR their annual quiz night, Newent Rotarians attracted 20 teams of six to eight contestants and there was a full house at Newent Community School. President Howard assembled a top of the range team with experts on a wide range of subjects including sport, fashion, current affairs, history, natural history and geography to name but a few of the subjects on the 10 different question papers.

Our picture shows - from the left - President Howard and his wife Joy, Peter and Jean Morgan, Ray and Heather Bell, Tess Rogers (whose husband Colin took the photo), Barbara Seed (whose husband David was helping to contribute to record bar sales when this picture was taken) and last, but by no means least, Tony Tetley.

The prizes were scheduled to be , and but such was the financial success of the evening that because there was tie for third spot it was agreed to give two prizes of ......one of which came to our club. Newent President Chris Drury presented President Howard with the cheque which will go to the Salvation Army's fund to help young underpriviliged musicians.

THE world of education has changed ..... just how much so was explained to members by Tony Trippet, head teacher of Maidenhill School at Stonehouse, a performing arts specialist school with 750 pupils.

In an inspiring and informative lunchtime talk, Tony, who has been a head for 25 years, outlined the incredible changes which had taken place during this time.

He said that a quarter of a century ago school turned out pupils capable of filling repetitive manufacturing jobs. These jobs were now done in the developing world so today's pupils needed to be more creative, adaptable and capable of I.T. skills.

He said that many and most changes he had witnessed were and are for the better. However he pointed out that constant central government initiatives and directives had stereotyped teaching and these combined with league tables were now considered more important than producing all-rounded pupils.

Commenting on his own school, Tony said that Maidenhill was a performing arts school where pupils were encouraged to be team players and become responsible pupils and team builders.
In conclusion Tony said education was what you had left when you have forgotten everything you learned at school. He ended by stressing the need to motivate today's young people to be the workforce of the future.

TONY Tetley, one of the club's most popular and respected members, is to be the new president for 2006/7. He has stepped into the breach following Patrick Daly's resignation as senior vice president and will take over the reins when current president Howard Johnson steps down in July. Rob Hall continues as junior vice president.

Tony's early days were spent in Newport where his dad worked as a structural engineer for national firm, Braithwaites, well-known for their water tanks and towers which are scattered all over the world. The company also did a lot of steelwork for buildings and this brought about a life change for the Tetley family when his dad was asked to go to Turkey where Braithwaites had won a large contract to build a factory for the government. For the next 10 years the Tetleys lived mainly in a beautiful city called Izmir and latterly in Cyprus during the Eoka troubles.

Living abroad meant no school for two years fpr Tony but eventually he was sent back to school at Monmouth after which he went into the RAF to fly but failed his navigation exams and chose to train for teaching at St.David's College. Here, according to Tony, he did very little work, played a lot of sport, drank a lot of beer and was lucky enough to meet his future wife Jo whose family lived in the town. After graduating he started teaching in Sussex where he learnt much by trial and error but also loved being with young people .

Continuing his own story Tony adds: "By this time Jo and I were married and broke so I had to start climbing the ladder and a move to Marlow was the first step. This was a great place to live but not for a very hard-up teacher. The school was a very traditional grammar school where youngsters not managing an Oxbridge entry were considered failures whereas all the students were very able youngsters. This experience made me convinced that comprehensive schools were the answer- a conviction I still retain today.

"My next move took me to a secondary modern school that had become comprehensive - it was a great place to work and rapidly became established as a very good school. Here I took a year off and went to Nottingham University to do an Advanced Diploma in Education.
"Then came the next big move to Beaufort at Tuffley, again a great place to be because it was full of dedicated people genuinely working for change and improvement. I had a great time there as deputy head and then as head but was not unhappy to leave - the shadow of Ofsted, league tables and more and more paperwork beginning to make me a grumpy old man!

"Subsequently as principal education officer I enjoyed moving the service into the 20th century but could not abide internal politics and was quite happy to get out.

"My time with G.O.S.W. was very interesting and working in the toughest parts of Bristol with all sorts of challenges was fascinating. I was lucky enough to meet some very inspiring people who were fighting to improve their communities against all the odds. My short time with the police and CCTV was interesting and left me with a lot of admiration for the young police officers who worked so effectively in difficult situations.

"Finally Gloscat has brought me back into contact with young people and has rekindled my faith in the future when I see so many positive things happening.

"My children have flourished. Jane, our daughter (the eldest), lives in Gloucester and is currently doing her PHD at the University of Wales while also being a mum to our three grandchildren Hayley, Emma and Elliott all of whom are in their teens and living life to the full. My son-in law Andy works in the fire service. Colin, my eldest son, works in the timber trade and lives in Cheltenham with our daughter-in-law Jane and our lovely little grandson Finn. Our youngest son David is currently living in Boston where he runs the American office of his firm Radstone Technology.

"My wife Jo still works in schools with young people who have problems - a job she very much enjoys. She is currently co-editing a book that has had quite a lot of success over the years and is being reprinted.

"My lifelong interest in sport is still with me though an arm injury ended my cricket playing days a couple of years ago. Now I regularly play golf with many Rotary friends and we get a great deal of fun though it's still very competitive as it should be!

"I also continue to enjoy National Hunt racing and Eifion Rees (former head of the city's Oxstalls School) and I are permanent fixtures at Ludlow Racecourse! Jo and I enjoy the theatre and cinema and have a close group of friends whose company we enjoy and have a lot of fun together. We are also lucky to have travelled a lot in recent years and our annual Majorcian holiday is very special.

"As far as what I want from my year?

"I want us to realise we're all in this together and all have a contribution to make towards the success of the club. I hope that at the end of the year we will have enjoyed ourselves and achieved some worthwhile things within the club and the community we serve. I have had a great response from members who have pledged their support for my year - I hope I live up to their expectations.