Faringdon Rotarian F ebruary 2018

February 2018

Faringdon Rotarian The newsletter of Faringdon & District Rotary Club

www.faringdonrotaryclub.org @RotaryFaringdon

faringdon. rotary

Editor: Michael Bell

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello Everyone Isn’t it great to be part of an organisation that makes a difference to others?

When I reflect on my first 6 months as Club President, it’s hard to think about all we have achieved in a relatively short period of time. Maybe it’s because of that it seems the time has flown. It’s when we work as a team that great things happen, and I hope that ‘esprit de corps’ will continue strongly within the Club going forward.

With Christmas over, and the Lights On, and Thomas/Santa efforts completed, we gave great pleasure to many in the Faringdon and District catchment area, despite some snowy and frosty conditions. Thanks to all who braved the elements to make it another successful service to our community and collection. Also, our New Year party at the Woodman was a lovely evening, with good food, entertainment, and fellowship. Thank you to the Membership Committee for arranging.

When Assistant District Governor Frank Quinn came to visit us on 17th January, it was great to welcome Jodie and Dean Whittaker into membership. Frank was pleased to hear about our Club activities and encouraged us to ‘keep it up’.

It was especially good to welcome many guests from other clubs to our Nepal evening presentation on 24th January providing an update of the project works in Nepal and future plans. Working with other clubs, both in the UK and Internationally helps broaden our understanding of Rotary as a worldwide organisation; it’s scope and reach, including knowing that we can help folk many thousands of miles away with education, housing and sanitation (to name but a few key facts).

Thanks must also go to our Satellite Club having arranged a very successful and entertaining ‘Race Evening’ on 3rd February. I think there may be some budding ‘bookies’ there!

District Conference isn’t far away now, on 25th-27th March in Cheltenham. I am sure there are still spaces if you would like to come and hear some excellent speakers http://www.rotary1090conference.co.uk/programme/speakers/ I hope as many of you who can will be able to join Sharon and me for the President’s Evening on Friday 27th April at Sudbury House. We have got a good after-dinner speaker with links to Faringdon, whom I hope you will find interesting and humorous. Alan will be distributing details of the timings and menu selection which I hope will accommodate most people’s dietary needs.

Once again, thank you to all our friends and partners for your support, enabling Rotary to “Make a Difference.”

If any of our local non-Rotarian readers are interested in becoming involved email info@faringdonrotaryclub.org and become a friend of Rotary.

Tim Gerry

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS-ON Despite an overcast day with drizzle at times, the Market Place of Faringdon became a Festive area on Saturday 2nd December. The morning saw food stalls and Santa’s Grotto being set up and the Trailblazers, RotaKids and Satellite clubs arranging their produce for sale and Tombola. The traffic marshals blocked the streets from 12.30pm, the fair rides and pub stalls were constructed and the snow machines blew a veritable blizzard from the top of the Town Hall! The scene was set for the festivities to begin.

Santa and Thomas arrived at 2.30pm accompanied by Wantage brass band who entertained with carols and seasonal music. Santa’s Elves and a stray Snowman brightened up the square! Street players entertained with fire juggling, rhythm shows and comedy. Hot cider, punch and mulled wine, soup and hot dogs, rides, music...what more could one want?

The queues soon formed for Santa who was kept busy all afternoon, except for a slight lull during the excellent Punch & Judy show. A steady stream of delighted children climbed on Thomas and rang his bell. The Stagecoach performing arts company arrived at 4.45pm to prepare to sing festive songs just before Santa and our Town Mayor, Mike Wise, switched on the lights at 5.30p

A great afternoon! Many thanks to Glyn, his team and everyone who helped put the festivities together.

Tim Gerry

FATHER CHRISTMAS & THOMAS Thank you, Faringdon Rotary Club, for bringing Father Christmas and Thomas the Tank Engine down our street last night. It was truly magical and the kids were delighted!

Please pass on our thanks to all involved. It is massively appreciated! Ellie, Watchfield Thank you, you guys made my boy so happy, went to sleep with a smile.

Amazing effort all round. Hope you raise lots of money xx.

Hello, we have just moved to Shrivenham and my son is Thomas the Tank Engine mad! I've been told you are coming to Shrivenham and just wondered the best place to wait to see Santa: thank you. Claire (and later) 4 happy children! Thank you very much, they loved it.

Thank you so much for this evening!! We even shipped family in from Wantage because we love how magical you guys make the build-up to Christmas. The kids didn't stop talking about you all evening!! Thanks again x One of the best parts of December - thank you!! - Kate How heart-warming it was to spend yesterday evening with Santa and Faringdon’s Rotary Club visiting young and old and those in between...! Catherine Thank you very much for visiting Southmoor, our little people are super excited x Thank you so much for once again doing Santa rounds in Faringdon. Neighbours will once again be getting together for mulled wine and mince pies to mark the occasion.

Another year with Santa on Thomas: the children, faces of excitement was pure magical.

Thanks again for the effort you all go to by making the childrens’ Christmas truly magical.

My daughter was so happy to see you. Merry Christmas.

Thank you, Faringdon Rotary Club, for visiting my grandchildren in Watchfield tonight - it was an absolutely magical occasion for them! Only six sleeps to go.....!

An amazing evening and Father Christmas was fantastic as were his elves. Made the kids even more excited about Christmas and my daughter very happy she got to give her letter directly to Father Christmas.

Well done for again, making many children (& adults) smile

.. and a special visit with presents for AAA

Christmas Tree Recycling Saturday 6th January started at 8am for Roddy and Roger with removal and cutting up with chainsaw of the town’s main Christmas tree. Then, assisted

by Peter, Roddy removed the small trees from premises in town. During this process, Jodie was to be seen running to the market place with two of these trees at a time for their lights to be removed by Roger & Ray. As the day progressed, once again, trails of pine needles in Faringdon, Shrivenham and Clanfield showed the way to our recycling collection points where team Rotary loaded the trailers and gratefully received donations for Helen & Douglas House.

For many residents this has become a part of the Christmas celebration. Trees large & small, evergreen and browning arrive in car boots, on car roofs, in wheelbarrows, dragged along on rope by children assisted by dad or mum or both. One arrived as a passenger in a two-seater sports car! It truly has become an annual event which is made possible by the invaluable assistance and support we receive from Ross Muir.

Donations for Helen & Douglas House were generous resulting in ÂŁ1,205 raised: the largest amount in the 20 years club has been offering Christmas tree recycling points.

Mike Bell

RotaKids In January our RotaKids saw some of the stationery items they have funded for the Zambia classroom they have paid for - YES Faringdon RotaKids have actually paid for a classroom in Zambia!

“We have been busy writing up information about who we are, what we do and what we love about RotaKids to send to them. Also, our Rotary friend Mike came and took some really cool photos of us to let them know what we look like”.

Rotarian Colin visited RotaKids earlier this month to tell them about Shelter Boxes and how and where they go in the world to give temporary shelter to people who have been hit by disaster. They were amazed at what is in these boxes and how they save lives and are proudly supporting ‘Shine for ShelterBox’ - raising money for people who need light in their lives.

Our RotaKids are keen to raise enough money for the purchase of their own ShelterBox and are keen to be able to track the location of the box when it is dispatched to somewhere in need in the world.

Each box costs £590 and they would love to raise enough to buy one this year.

Satellite Club Race Night The White Horse Rotary Group organised a brilliant Race Night on Saturday 3rd February and were excited to report that the event raised £1,800: sufficient funds to purchase three Shelter Boxes and to support Sobell House Hospice in Oxford.

This was their first solo fund-raising event.

A great success but brilliantly organised.

The Cowlings go to Zambia It is now nearly a year since Linda was approached by Sue Pomeroy of Bourne End and Cookham Rotary Club to join the Wye Valley Zambia Project trip to Africa in March this year and we persuaded Sue and Mike Ware to let me join the party. To say that things have moved on apace since our decision to join the project would be a massive understatement and with only a few weeks to go, our excitement level increases by the day.

The trip itself is two weeks in duration, with the first weekend sightseeing at Mosi-oa-Tunya (“The Smoke that Thunders”) otherwise known as Victoria Falls and a safari to a local game park. After those two days of rest we work in the schools for the remainder of the trip.

Linda will be working with Sue to deliver two programmes, “Go Students” and “Go Teachers”, part of a programme of school-based Life Skills looking at health issues, effective communication skills and goal setting for young people. It is planned to deliver the courses to teachers and students and give the teachers the skills to continue with the programmes after our return.

I will be joining with Mike Ware to deliver the programme developed in 1090 for Interactors at City and Guilds Level 2 and endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management. The award combines project work with 14 hours of guided learning to develop leadership, organisational and communication skills as well as increasing team-working ability and self-confidence. Again, we also be working with local Youth Leaders so that they can continue running the programme in the future.

Apart from our work on these two programmes in Libala Secondary School, we will of course be involved in Kabwata Basic School, the school with which we are developing an ongoing partnership.

Back in the summer we decided that if we were going to join this project we wanted to set ourselves a specific target, something tangible that we could achieve in one of the schools. We selected Kabwata, it is apparently one of the poorest schools in the area and there was a programme to redecorate the 19 classrooms, only 4 of which had been completed. Linda and I set ourselves the target of raising the money to decorate the remaining 15.

The response has been fantastic. It is impossible to list here all of those who have donated, our own Rotary Club, our Trailblazers and Interactors, our incredible RotaKids club, individual Rotarians, nonRotarian friends and family, and even the 2nd Mudeford Brownies Group. Each classroom will be named after a donor and we are taking out plaques to be mounted on the entrance to each room.

The money raised far exceeds the cost of the decoration and so we will also be taking over £500 in cash with us and when there will purchase furniture for the Pre School room at Kabwata that has been refurbished by money from the Wye Valley Zambia Project.

The generosity and involvement of Rotarians, other friends and family has not stopped with these financial donations. We appealed at Christmas for donations of books and other educational material or stationery that could be useful. We were hoping to fill the two additional 23kg suitcases we are allowed to take. To date we have delivered 4 car loads (see photograph) of books and material to Sue Pomeroy for transportation in a container! We are holding back enough for the suitcases and have more material promised. One Rota kid last week admonished me for not putting all of their material in a suitcase and for putting some of it in the container. At that point I was struggling to lift the suitcase!

One thing that has been emphasised to us all the way through the planning by Sue and Mike has been the genuine gratitude and the commitment to what we are doing from the Zambian end. As a demonstration of this, on February 2nd we were invited to the Zambian High Commission in London where we met the Deputy High Commissioner and two First Secretaries. They wanted to hear about the plans for our trip, to thank us for everything we and our supporters are doing, and to ask if there was anything they could do to help. As a result, meetings are being arranged with the Ministry of Education in Zambia as well as other government officials and Naomi Riches, the Olympic Paralympic Gold Medallist who is joining the trip will be meeting senior staff in the Zambian Amateur Athletics Association. Everyone we met at the High Commission was delightfully charming and committed to the success of the project not just on this trip, but as a longterm partnership.

Just to say thank you to Rotarians, Interactors, RotaKids, friends and family for their support this far feels inadequate. We have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to make a real difference to the lives of young people in Zambia and the extent of that difference has been enhanced by your generosity.

I will of course give a full report to the club when we return in April and I am sure that these two weeks will not be the end of our association with the Wye Valley Zambia Project, nor indeed the partnership between the project and Faringdon and District Rotary Club.

Tim Cowling

NEPAL – BY CLAIRE BOOTH Our club connected with Faringdon Rotary (FRC) who already had links with Kopundol Rotary (KRC) in Kathmandu. I joined Gordon and Bjorn from FRC on a trip to Nepal in October 2017. Maheswor from KRC, who has been leading on school reconstruction projects, is also a tour operator and pulled together a packed programme for our two weeks stay.

We received a warm welcome at the KRC meeting. It began formally with a silence for peace and a recap of the Rotary 4-way Test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned? The club membership consists mainly of male professionals. One member commented that they were surprised to see a lady Rotarian!

FRC spoke of partnerships, projects and presentations. I winged a short and sweet introduction on our club culture and what had brought Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club (MBRC) to Nepal. I gave the President a gift from our club – a desk block with photographs of iconic places in Maidenhead including the Brunel Bridge.

HORAC Children’s Home We met Tej, the director of HORAC Children’s Home in the gardens of the Summit Hotel (our home for a week) on the day we arrived. I hadn’t even had the chance to unpack my mosquito repellent and was consequently bitten all over! Tej, an orphan himself, now runs the home with compassion, dedication and a strong vision for the future. He explained that the 32 children have come from Western Nepal and have been orphaned by war, disaster or given up by their families. London RC and Faringdon RC currently provide annual grants supporting with education.

Later in the week, we visited the home and were treated to performances of singing and dancing by the talented children. It was evident how hard they had worked and they took pride in showing us around the home. We met with Tej again and I asked about non-financial support. We will be discussing ways we might be able to help via our “Pimp my Community” scheme. More information about HORAC can be found here: www.horac.org Habitat for Humanity Site visit In 2012 a team from Faringdon Rotary were part of a Habitat for Humanity project. Bjorn and I travelled to the site in Dhulikel to see how the houses built had fared after the earthquake. The results were shocking, with only 2 or 3 of the 40 houses remaining. Bjorn is following up with Habitat.

Opening of Shree Tara School Faringdon RC was a major donor in 2015/16 for the reconstruction of the main classroom block which had been badly damaged in the earthquake. We were greeted by the teachers and children with garlands and prayer scarves. I was whisked away by some children to see their classrooms and I wrote my name and Namaste (greetings) somewhat illegibly on the white board. They all wanted individual photographs with me for which the Kopundol RC President’s daughter kindly obliged.

Saurpani Primary School Saurpani is high in the Gorkha hills and for many the journey would be insurmountable. We began by car and then transferred to a 4-wheel drive truck as we negotiated off road. There came a point where we had to abandon the vehicles and trek on foot. As I panted and sweated up the hill, I thought back to five years earlier when I last trekked in Nepal and realised that to maintain the same level of fitness you actually need to continue exercising!

After about an hour or so we came across a man with a tractor. After some negotiating by our Nepalese hosts, we found four of us plus driver squeezed into the front section with others standing on the trailer. I am pleased to say we eventually reached our destination.

Two lines of children greeted us, pressing small marigold flowers into our hands which we clasped together saying Namaste (also thank you). We surveyed the school and met with the school management team. Two buildings were completely destroyed in the earthquake. The school has 160 students, although 200 before the earthquake – many have moved out to the city centres for their education. There were a number of temporary learning classrooms that had been erected by social organisations. One building was being rebuilt with government funding and the school are now requesting funding for a 3-room building. At a recent club meeting we agreed to put £1,000 towards this project.

Claire What Next?

By the time this Newsletter is published, Claire and others will have joined us on 24th January for the presentation to club by Gordon & Bjorn and some of our members will have presented to Maidenhead Bridge on Sunday 4th February.

Faringdon Rotary plan to continue the work and to strengthen our partnership with Kopundol Rotary Club and to sustain Education support to HORAC Children. We plan to focus school reconstruction assistance on Saurpani Primary School (Stage 1 Agreed - £5,500) and to encourage other Rotary clubs to join us in the venture.

Our next Nepal Appeal Evening will be at Gulshan Brasserie, on Monday 12 March.

Tree Planting Rotary International President Ian Riseley, set one of his goals for 2017-18 that every Rotary member plant at least one tree and change the environment for the better by Earth Day on 22nd April 2018. The help of the public is very much needed. To add to this 1090 District Governor David Pope challenged all his clubs to plant two trees per member.

One of the most difficult parts of the goal, was to find a suitable site where Faringdon & District could plant at least 100 trees; so, when Rotarian Clive Clark was approached at a Clanfield Christmas event by Sarah Leedham of Adventure Plus, who was looking for volunteers to assist in a major tree planting scheme at their centre in Clanfield, it was seen as an opportunity not to be turned down.

Adventure Plus, based at Windmill Farm, Clanfield is the Adventure Youthwork & Outdoor Education charity that provides Adventure Holidays, Gap Year Training programmes & Internships, all in a positive Christian environment. Their tree planting scheme involved creating a boundary hedge at the edge of the charity's land.

On the wet cold miserable February 10th at 9:30 ten Faringdon Rotarians met in the Adventure Plus car park, suitably attired in wellingtons or strong boots, equipped with spade and flasks containing strong coffee. Rotarians Tim Gerry, Clive Clark, Tim Cowling, Douglas, Dalrymple, Ray Avenall, Dean and Jodie Whittaker, Roddy Benson, myself and the official Rotary photographer Mike Bell: one Clanfield villager, Nick Middleton, Sarah Leedham and two Charity Gap year students made up the planting team.

Several of us piled into the back of Sarah's Land Rover Defender, the rest into Ray's car, we set off for the far reaches of the Clanfield west boundaries where the last interruption to the prevailing winds were the buildings of Cheltenham. It was definitely wet and windy, we grouped around while Sarah gave us directions as to what we were going to attempt to achieve during the morning - the planting of 60meteres of hedge trees - and a brief outline on the safe use of the various tools. Then we were off planting.

Now the procedure to plant a hedge tree should be quite straightforward, that is unless you are planting trees in the heavy clay of West Clanfield. You would normally just push the spade into the ground lean it forward, slip the small tree root with its short support cane behind the spade, let sod flop back as you remove the spade and curl the rabbit protector around the root. In the Clanfield clay, you could not lean the spade forward, which meant that for each tree root a hole had to be dug, a hole big enough to accommodate the whole root. So, it was easy really, add to that the sticky clay clinging to the bottoms of our boots, increasing our heights by 3inches or so.

By 11 o clock, the Adventure Plus team had built a fire in a small adjacent copse, where we retreated to and enjoyed the hot coffee we had brought, together with an excellent selection of biscuits. One of the charity young gap year students briefed us on how the charity used the copse to learn county crafts and Sarah explained the charities plans for the field we were creating the hedge around which included a canoeing lake.

Coffee over, the weather eased a little, the sun poked its nose out and we all got back to planting and mulching the hedge.

Come 12:30, we were all patting each other on the back; a good job done well. 60 meters, 200+ trees planted, and mulched. Sarah, in thanking us for our help, couldn't help inviting us to join the Rotary Club of Witney in tree planting another 60 metres later in the week.

Somehow, we didn't have a similar enthusiasm.

I'd like to thank all the Rotarians who took part, I'm sure they all enjoyed it. There was great camaraderie even in the rain and wind. Goal met and exceeded!

Glyn

Do you know of a young adult aged between 18 and 25 who might be interested in taking part in our Rotary Youth Leadership Award?

Faringdon Rotary have sponsored one or two participants for the past few years who have returned full of confidence having had an amazing and fun experience. If you know of someone who would like to benefit, please contact Stuart Spencer now.

Three New Members Jodie and Dean have been regular guests at meetings and enthusiastic supporters of our fundraising and social events for some time. It was a delight at our regular Wednesday meeting on 17th January for them to be inducted and to welcome them into the Club.

Also very pleasing to report that RotaKids leader Amy Carter has joined Rotary. President Tim welcomed her to the satellite club White Horse Rotary Group team at their Christmas social on 16 December.

We extend a very warm welcome to you all and our sincere best wishes for a most enjoyable experience within our club and the worldwide Rotary family.

From the archive January 2006

Many thanks to Glyn, Gordon, Tim C & Tim G for their contribution to this edition Mike

Publication

The Faringdon Rotarian December 2017 The Faringdon Rotarian September 2017 The Faringdon Rotarian June 2017 The Faringdon Rotarian April 2017 The Faringdon Rotarian February 2017 The Faringdon Rotarian November 2016 The Faringdon Rotarian August 2016 The Faringdon Rotarian June 2016 The Faringdon Rotarian April 2016 The Faringdon Rotarian February 2016 The Faringdon Rotarian December 2015 The Faringdon Rotarian September 2015 The Faringdon Rotarian July 2015 The Rotarian Newsletter – Conference Special March 3rd – 6th 2015 The Rotarian Newsletter December 2014 – January 2015

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