Rotary Club of Gloucester

Ladies - are you feeling a bit jaded after the winter and looking for something new to wear for the summer?

Come along to the "Look Good Feel Great" Evening on Friday 2 June. This will include a fashion show by Just In, which has shops at Churchdown, Winchcombe and Stow on the Wold where they stock clothes with sizes from 8 to 24.

We shall also have a number of trade stands for jewellery, health and beauty. Clothes, jewellery and beauty products will be on sale on the night so give yourself a treat and bring along a friend for a "girls night out".

The venue is St Andrew's Church Centre in Churchdown and the evening starts at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £7.50, to include a glass of wine and there will be a bar for refreshments during the interval. The evening will be in aid of the president's charity, Acorns Children's hospice.

THIS is the Group Study Exchange team from the Philippines who visited a club meeting at the end of March and is pictured with President Howard Johnson.

Maria Corazon, a banker and a past president of her Rotary Club in Quezon City led the visiting team. Maria, a former GSE student who visited the USA in 1987 has served Rotary in many capacities and has also attended RI Conventions in Singapore, San Antonio and Chicago.

WHEN fundraising consultant and Rotarian David Morris arranged to visit Peter Lacey little did he realise he'd finish up as our guest speaker.

Only 24 hours earlier President Howard had phoned Peter to remind him that he was due to do friend and grace duties - although as yet there was no speaker to befriend!
Cue Rotarian David from the evening club at Cambridge.

Completely unphased by the occasion David gave an excellent presentation during which he spoke of how fundraising had increased in sophistication and magnitude over the past 20 years. Today's campaigns were run with military provision and often included corporate sponsorship as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

However, David stressed that the underlying principles of fundraising were unchanged - know what you want and why and then inspire people to follow.

He said that the most successful campaigns had to have a vision which would appeal to both the heart and head. A team captain who could both command respect and influence was essential to persuade others.

David spoke of how the motivation to give had changed over the years but stressed that today the biggest driving factor was the possibility of making a difference and the feel good factor which this engendered.

Both the President and Bob Short congratulated David on an erudite and extremely humorous talk.

Perhaps we might be able to invite other such speakers from the Lacey's guest list in future

IT was one of those happy co-incidences that Penny Krucker, Gloucestershire's Head of International Education, came to speak at a lunchtime meeting on the same day we also hosted the Group Study Exchange team from the Phillipines.

Only 12 local education authorities can boast of having an International Education unit and of these, Gloucestershire's is acknowledged to be the best.

Much of this is down to Penny who was appointed on a one-year contract 17 years ago from her job as deputy head of Rednock School at Dursley. Apart from initial enthusiasm, she began with only a desk and a clean slate.

Since then she has since created a a vibrant organisation which has created opportunities for county schools - both primary and secondary - to foster understanding and co-operation throughout the world.

Her first big success was an international conference which attracted representatives from every country in the European community, plus some countries not then members. It also had representatives from Cheltenham's twin town in Russia.

From this point Penny began to build connections with schools and education authorities all over Europe, a task which was helped by a growing willingness within the ECC to fund such links.

But Penny didn't stop there. She has now expanded her vision to include links throughout the world. It is a mission which has also given international insights to many Gloucestershire teachers who have had the opportunity to visit other countries and see how they tackle such questions as how to cope with over and under achievers.

Penny also gave a fascinating insight into why Finland is top of the international education league tables - a story made all the more intriguing since children there are not assessed, not tested and are not taught to read until the age of six. She also highlighted how the Finns tackled a national problem of obesity through a countrywide programme of education of healthy eating in the schools - a programme which also had the interesting side effect of reducing behavioural problems.

In a thought provoking presentation she also spoke of lessons of patience and sharing which had been introduced from the Third World, of the expanding role of teaching foreign languages in primary schools, and of how Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and even Polish were now appearing in school curriculums alongside the more familiar foreign languages being taught.

Appropriately she was thanked by David Lamper, head of the city's Crypt School who congratulated her on creating opportunities for co-operation between countries which clearly resonated with the ethos of Rotary.

The colourful scene at the end of the club's annual party for senior citizens at King's School. Appropriately, since it was held on St George's Day, there were rousing renditions of 'Land of Hope and and the event finished with three cheers being offered by guests to the club. A report and more pictures on page three.

On the right Fran Winterbourne, regional fundraiser for the Acorn's Children's Hospice receives a cheque from President Howard Johnson which takes the club's donation to £6,500.

Once again Rotarian Robin Morris has sponsored this In Gear.

A record number of 180 guests attended the club's senior citizens' party at King's School on St George's Day and apart from a few glitches everything went brilliantly thanks to the organising genius of Jeremy Keck.

As in previous years the club turned out in force to set up the venue in the morning and then to ferry guests to and from the venue during the afternooon/evening....and once again the club is indebted to our friends in Inner Wheel for their tremendous contribution of refreshments and support.

A special vote of thanks too to the King's School both for the venue and for the support of a helpful group of senior students.

This year talented thespian friends of President Howard Johnson did an Old Time Music Hall spot with songs from yesteryear which proved just what was needed to get the occasion off to a great start.

The second half, as always, belong to Mike Westbury, whose enthusiasm brought the guests to their feet with Land of Hope and Glory and whose ready wit and humour were evident in the tradtional games of Bingo. It was great to see him back at club and firing on all cylinders.

Odd spot - Unsolicited publicity in The Citizen and on the radio encouraged two 80+ year-old ladies to gatecrash the party without invitations..and just for the record they've invited themselves back next year!!!