Rotary Club of Gloucester

Congratulations to popular past president Angela Seddon who is seen here proudly holiding the Rotary Foundation District Service Award for outstanding service in promoting The Rotary Foundation and its goal of world understanding and peace.

The award was for the Rotary Year 2005-6 and was endorsed by the then district governor Ken Corrigan.

ALTHOUGH our Kids Out event seems like ages ago, the following are the three winning entries of an essay competition run in conjunction with our annual trip to Cattle Country at Berkeley which, this year, involved more than 200 children from seven different city primary schools.

Organising maestro Andrew Hurley tells us there were 50 entries from children aged between nine and 11 years-old describing their experiences. There were three book token prizes of and

The winning entry - which is reproduced in full - comes from Jade Duncan of Linden School who writes.

"Our teacher announced we would be going to Cattle Country. I was so excited I was counting down each and every day on my calender. Finally the day came and when I got to school we got changed into out T-shirts and hats to represent which school we were from. We were ready to go, fot onto the coach, the driver started his engine and we were on the move.
"When we arrived I kinew it was going to be fun. All of us just ran off heading for the death slides. First of all me and my friends Katy and Zoe went on the small death side. Then we went on the Bucking Bronco and I only got 39 seconds. After that we went on the train and saw this massive buffalo. I think he got a bit mad because he ran up to the fence. We also saw some pigs as well.

"When we got back we went on the bouncy pillow. Next we walked on down to the maze but then we heard the whistle for lunch. We ran back and had lunch in a tent. There was also a barn down the bottom of the park. It had another death slide but with balls at the bottom. Finally the coach came and we sang all the way back to school."

Here are abridged versions of the second and third prize winning entries.

IN second place was Charlotte Morris, also from Linden
"When the coach arrived at Cattle Country we were so excited we ran straight to the death slide. At first me and some of my friends went down the small slide but then I saw my cousin Daniel and we went down the big slide together after which I got my friend Rebecca to go down the big slide as well......

"After a while we went into the dark maze screaming because two of our classmates were jumping out on people and scaring them....

"Later we went in the barn and seven of year five went down the bumpy slide, it was so much fun. We then went out of the barn onto the inflatable pillow and kept on pushing each other off. ...

"We then went back to the trampolines and then had some scrummy yummy food, it was delicious. After me and Shankhai and Sophie went on the bucking bronco, then on the trampolines again. We bounced as high as the stars it was amazing.

"We got off and ran up to the train. We waved to our class mates on the bouncy pillow and as we were going back Shankhai acted like the driver, it was funny. Then we for off and walked to get an ice cream.

"Then we went on the seats which fly about and Shaun, Bronek and Joe pushed us. After a while exploring we went on the death slides a couple of times before it was time to leave. Thank you so much for letting us come, it was so much fun."

RICHARD DENNERY (pictured above) is probably the city's favourite American. Erudite, charming and amusing....but also a great advocate of Gloucester.

This was evident when he came to update members on city regeneration plans
He spoke of the 'magnificent seven' regeneration plans to transform Gloucester - namely the Docks, the Railway triangle, the canal corridor, Blackfriars, Gloucester Quay, Greyfriars (including the soon to be redundant Gloscat campus) and King's Square and the bus station.
Richard said that regeneration would create a wealth of new jobs and that such jobs should go to local residents - to this end approaches had been made to the Learning and Skills Council to ensure that a pool of skilled people be made available.

In an upbeat presentation, Richard said that there had been a reduction in the number of empty retail units in the city, crime was down, tourism was booming and that more shoppers were now using the city.

Events such as the Blues Festival and the Antiques Roadshows from the Cathedral had also served to raise the city's profile throughout the UK and beyond.
Richard, the club's first official 'Friend' answered questions and, as always, was delightfully persuasive and compelling.

Let's hope his optimism in Gloucester's future is fully justified.

AT the end of July the club presented a community award to a remarkable woman whose tenacity was largely responsible for ensuring the future of Gloucester's Oxstalls campus for higher education.

Evelyn Christmas received her award from President Tony Tetley who said that the very existence of the Oxstalls campus of the University of Gloucestershire was a testament to her dogged determination - a fact of which he was only well aware since they had crossed professional swords in the past.

It was at the start of the 1990s that Evelyn took issue with the governing board of the Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education who intended to close Oxtsalls and move all HE provision to Cheltenham.

As a retired history lecturer at the college Evelyn was furious and helped launch a campaign in The Citizen. During the next seven years she conducted a high profile campaign to stop the college redeveloping Oxtsalls as a Tesco supermarket or for housing.

Her objectives were simple - to force the College authorities to rethink their HE policy and to halt the college's aspirations of University status until this had been achieved.
From one person and a couple of sympathisers, Evelyn's campaign gathered public support - initially in the Oxstalls area and then across the city to include the Civic Trust and cross party backing on the city council.

She fed The Citizen a never ending series of tasty stories, she demonstrated outside the Cathedral and was generally a growing thorn in the side of the college authorities.......so much so that they eventually capitulated and agreed to reopen Oxstalls as a campus of the new University of Gloucestershire.

The fact there is now a university campus at Oxstalls is down to her and just goes to show what an elderly lady's determination and tenacity plus a battered typewriter and an old bike can achieve.

Surely a glowing example of how one person can make - and has made - a significant difference to this city.

But her commitment to the city didn't end there.

She was one of the Civic Trust's early members and a member of its Council of Management since the early 1990s. She has served as the trust's representative on a variety of groups, committees and forums. These included the City Centre Management Forum, the Gloucester Partnership and the Gloucester Environment and Ecology Forum

. On a wider basis, Evelyn has maintained her interest in history as a member of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society organising their meetings for up to 12 years and of the Cheltenham and Gloucester branch of the Historical Association of which she has been both its chairman and secretary. A truly remarkable lady

THANKS to The Citizen, news of the club's project to fill 150 aquaboxes has spread beyond the city's boundaries and this delightful picture records some help we've received from the Forest of Dean

Here we see members of the Cinderford Brownies and Guides and immediate past president Howard Johnson when the girls handed over a cheque to sponsor their own aquabox. The money was raised when the brownies and guides held a tea party for their parents and friends.

Howard, who thanked them for their initiative, then spent some time talking to the girls about the work of the Rotary Club.

THE appalling condition of children's hospitals in St Petersburg in Russia came under the spotlight when a representative of a charity specifically established to upgrade conditions there addressed a lunchtime meeting.

Sean Friek said 'Neva Children' was a small UK based charity which has been working at children's hospitals in St Petersburg for the last 12 years.

Its 37 members are mainly craftsmen who give up their time and holidays to travel to St Petersburg to repair and rebuild hospital and hostel accommodation for orphans and other deprived children many with HIV.

Apparently their buildings are in a poor state of repair and many have not seen any improvements over several years. Bathroom and toilet facilities are especially poor.
Sean said that in post communist Russia the condition of hospitalised children was often too horrible to contemplate. He had been moved to support the charity having watched a TV programme detailing the plight of young babies and children and decided to use his expertise in marketing and promotions to raise the charity's profile.

At present the charity had set itself the target of raising 000
This money will be spent on refurbishing a dining room in Children's Hospital number 3, which is also used by the children as a playroom, school room and TV room. A room which is used as a treatment room would also be upgraded as would the corridor which linked the two rooms.
Colin Rogers says that Sean's talk was listened to in total silence by members who were moved by not only his vivid descriptions but also by the well illustrated desk top presentation.
The club dontaed towards the charity's work and wished it every success in future.

Rotarian Andrew Fox painted a fascinating portrait of life in a beautiful Scottish coastal village nine miles south of St Andrew's famous golf course when he spoke to members about his experiences in charge of Scottish Fisheries Museum.

The museum is based at Anstruher at the mouth of the Firth of Forth and from 1999 to 2002 Andrew was its director before transferring to a similar role at the English Fisheries Museum at Grimsby until 2004 when, fortunately for us, he became the Gloucester's heritage and museums manager.

In an entertaining and illustrated talk, Andrew spoke about the unique blend of parochialism and internationalism which permeated the host community which, in the past, had claims to fame for witchcraft, religious fervour and dissent.

Another fascinating historical fact was that in 1588 the town entertained Spanish seaman fleeing the Armada disaster - rather than killing or holding them hostage as did many maritime communities around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

Of his work in the museum, he explained how it had been granted national status by the Scottish Executive to acknowledge the importance fishing once had for the country's economy.
He spoke of how the museum had developed with the help of Lottery funding and of how it had attracted increasing numbers of visitors. He also spoke lovingly and with considerable expertise on some of the vessels which were housed there.

It was a first class presentation by someone who obviously loves his work - a fact acknowledged in the vote of thanks and by the applause at the end.

ONLY three ladies were unable to attend the Gloucester Inner Wheel garden meeting and tea party held at the home of newly installed president Joy Picken on August 8th but those who were there had a splendid afternoon of sunshine and friendship (writes Kathie Curtis).
Rotarian Trevor had enthusiastically decorated the garden (and much outside the garden) in a festive way and to add to the fun of the occasion there was a quiz, bring and buy and a raffle which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

After a short business meeting, members were treated to a a most wonderful tea mostly comprising no-calorie cream and chocolate cakes, wonderful shortbreads and many other delicious and tasty items all provided by the committee.

All in all it was a delightfully relaxing and enjoyable afternoon.....thanks to all who helped with the organisation.

JUST a few years ago our club sent a container load of walking aids including wheelchairs to the club of Sousse in Tunisia.....now where Gloucester leads RIBI follows.

This year as one of its preferred projects RIBI is supplying wheelchair aid to the continents of Africa and also Eastern Europe. Already deliveries have been make to Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland and South Africa.

Apparently just £50 supplies a brand new all terrain wheelchair......so why not give a Rotary wheelchair to someone in need at Christmas.?

For further details contact the Wheelchair Foundation Great Britain and Ireland direct at info.uk@wheelchairfoundation.org

The club's cricket team played The Citizen at the end of August on a dull and cloudy night at Down Hatherley Cricket Ground.

The Citizen batted first and scored 122 off 12 eight ball overs. Rob Hall and Ash Whitmore (our regular guest player) were among the wickets but a fine spell of bowling by John Smith was the highlight and everyone fielded superbly.

John Smith opened the batting with a young Down Hatherley player and was out to a superb caught and bowled. Ashley Whitmore top scored with 56 and the club ended 98 all out off 10 overs.

Special mention must go to Andrew Hurley who scored a useful 15 having not picked up a bat for over two years. All in all a good team batting performance in very poor light.

IT was a refreshing and wide ranging address which District Governor Ron McKechnie gave when he visit the club at the end of August. Often such talks are a 'call to arms' interspersed with a few jokes. The jokes were still there but Ron's common sense presentation also touched on some of the issues facing our club such as its lunchtime status and falling membership.

Ron, a former operations manager and managing director, said Rotary was not unlike a business and as such needed strategic planning and good budgeting although no one could tell individual clubs what to do. Freedom of choice, persuasion and goodwill were the keys to progress.

Continuity was also vital and should encompass a longer period that one president's term of office. "As Rotarians we are custodians of our clubs. No Rotarian has greater value than anyone else, we are all equal, but that also means equality of effort as well," Ron added.
Referring to the need to recruit more members, Ron said a vibrant club helping its community would be a success and as such would retain existing members and encourage new ones. He said it wasn't impossible to have successful lunchtime clubs - all would depend on the ethos of the club and its profile in the community.

Ron also touched on the need for better public relations and added that moves were afoot to provide a travelling caravan/roadshow in district which would spread the message of what Rotary was about.

Although Ron commented on such international programmes such as health and hunder, literacy and water management, he emphasized that clubs should not neglect their local communities.

Ron was congratulated President Tony Tetley who thanked him for 'reminding us why we are all here.'

GLOUCESTER Rotary Club emerged triumphant in this year's annual Three Clubs Golf Challenge.

David Seed picked up the Picken Trophy for the best individual score with a tally of 37 points and Chris Soane was runner up with 35 points. Chris also won the prizes for the 'Longest Drive' and the 'Nearest the Pin.'

The overall team prize was, as you would expect, easily won by our golfers with a magnificent total of 133 points - David Seed 37, Chris Soane 35, Ian Stuart 32 and David Corbett, 29.
Gloucester Severn came second with 117 points and North was last with 105.

So we won the coveted Gloucester North Challenge Cup and with it, of course, the opportunity to organise next year's event which Bob Short has already agreed to do on our behalf.
On the left we see a somewhat startled David proudly holding the trophies.

JUST about a year ago our club set itself the target of filling 150 aquaboxes over a three-year period. Thanks to a concerted effort already more than 100 have been successfully completed and Peter Nesbitt, who has masterminded the project, is quietly confident that the remainder will be filled and despatched before Christmas.

Several schools have already contributed with Ribston and Sir Thomas Rich's due to come on board this term to assist in a project which ensures survival in areas of man made or natural disasters - particularly where clean water sources have been compromised.
Pupils at Ribston and STR are expected to offer either to fill the boxes themselves or provide much wanted cash so the organising team can buy the necessary items.

Already on board are the staff and pupils at Coney Hill Primary School who have pledged to fill six boxes while those at Kingsholm are also due to chip in one as well.
Our resident doctor Ken Watson is also proving invaluable having taken 12 boxes to be filled by members of a choir with whom he sings.

In such ways Peter is hoping to complete his initial project of 150 boxes by the end of this year - but he and his team are not resting on their laurels just yet.
When they return the remainder of the 150 completed boxes into storage they will then take possession of a further 100 empty boxes and start all over again.

This time the team will be aiming their appeals at members of Women's Institutes and Mothers' Unions and undoubtedly club members will be turning their attention from giving talks on aquaboxes in schools to other more interesting venues.

As an added bonus, Peter still has more than £2,000 in the kitty to fund the project. And buy necessary items.

Another interesting aside is that one of the more difficult and expensive items included in an Aquabox is nappies. If anyone has any old towels which could be cut up and used for the same purpose please let Peter know.

DIANA Organ has had an illustrious past including being an MP for two parliamentary terms but now faces a new and equally formidable challenge as chief executive of 'Young Gloucestershire.'

In a moving address to a lunchtime meeting she highlighted the many tasks and programmes performed by an enthusiastic team under her charge.

These include working with the Prince's Trust enabling disfunctional young people to change their lives for the better. Youngsters can also take part in community programmes whereby they commit to a 100 hours of voluntary work at a rate of four hours a week - usually in deprived areas.

There are also six week courses enabling young people to gain literacy and numeracy skills and also basic communication and behavioural skills, thus improving their chances of employment.

Another facet of Young Gloucestershire's work is its leadership programmes that may involve rock climbing, canoeing, mountain biking and other activities.

In the time allowed Diana painted an excellent picture of the charity's important work which engages, enables and empowers many youngsters with a variety of opportunities, experiences, educational courses and projects.

A quiet man ..... a modest man.... a caring man .....a gentleman.
Former club member Ross Hughes (pictured left) who died recently, was all these things and a lot more besides.

For years Ross was the pillar of strength on which his wife Audrey - 'Gloucester's first lady of song' - could always rely.

His support for Audrey's theatrical career, which included a spell in London as well as years of singing with local musical societies, was both incalculable and invaluable.
As a member of our club Ross proved a dedicated and committed Rotarian for more than 20 years before stepping down in 2001.

Even after resigning Ross and Audrey continued to support club activities as well as those of Inner Wheel of which Audrey had been president three times.

A Gloucestrian born and bred, Ross was a respected pharmacist both at Longlevens and Churchdown for many years.

He and Audrey, who were married for well over 50 years, only moved from their Maisemore home to live closer to their daughter near Winchester, earlier this year.
Our thoughts are with Audrey, their daughter Lorraine and her family.

??We are also sad to record the death of Roger Clutterbuck. He was an active club member for only a short time before he fell victim to cancer and, after a long fight, died at the start of last month. He leaves a wife Sharon and two children both of whom are now in the first year of higher education courses.