West Ashfield 27th Charter celebrations

West Ashfield were founded by our daughter club Alfreton which technically made me the youngest Rotary Club president in District 1220, and yet the grandfather of the occasion as the rotarians of West Ashfield and their guests came together at the Derbyshire Hotel, South Normanton to celebrate their 27th birthday.

After the meal and formalities, we listened to the delightful tones of Female Vocal Harmony group "Another Dimension."

Focus on the Crocus (Part Two)

Hucknall Rotary Club would like to thank all staff and customers of Tesco who supported us by purchasing a fabric crocus over the weekend of 23^rd & 24^th February.  This appeal raised £ 317 towards Rotary’s ‘End Polio Now.’ Other outlets have taken the total to just over £ 400 and there are still some ‘End Polio Now’ fabric crocuses available from the Hucknall Branch of The Yorkshire Bank.

 

The timing of the appeal was to commemorate Rotary’s birthday on 23rd February when Chicago lawyer Paul Harris held the first meeting in 1905, Hucknall Rotary Club are placing their ‘Focus on the Crocus.’

 

Hucknall Beer Festival

Now in it's second year, Hucknall Rotarians were called upon to assist members of CAMRA in serving the waiting masses at the John Godber Centre who were anxious to try some of the 60 beers and ciders on offer.

Strangely enough, when I asked for voluntters I was overwhelmed with the response. of Rotarians willing to get involved.   I can't imagine why!!!   It was also pure coincidence that the cider ran out while the President was there partaking!!!!!

Rotary Club of Newark's 88th Charter

Newark Rotary Club were chartered in 1924, two years earlier than my own club and we share the same mother club, Nottingham.  I guess that makes us sisters!! 

It was a priviledge to attend their recent charter held at Newark Golf Club where the assembled guests and Rotarians enjoyed a traditional Roast Beef meal.

The speaker was a friend of President Peter and currently resides in Australia.  PDG Barry Philps who is Immediate Past President of Rotary Interenation Travel & Hosting Fellowship spoke amusingly of some of the cultural differences he had encountered whilst travelling the world on Rotary business.

Focus on the Crocus

To celebrate Rotary’s birthday on 23rd February when Chicago lawyer Paul Harris held the first meeting in 1905, Hucknall Rotary Club are placing their ‘Focus on the Crocus.’

The Crocus has come to symbolise a historic worldwide campaign, spearheaded by Rotary International, to finally eradicate Polio across the world.  These purple flowers represent the colour of ink dabbed on a child’s little finger to indicate they have been immunised against polio.  For more than 25 years, Rotary has led the way in the global effort to rid the world of this crippling disease.  Today, we are extremely close to eradicating Polio completely from the world with only 3 remaining endemic countries. 

In 2009, Rotary International was set the $ 200 Million Challenge.  A generous $ 355 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would be given to Rotary if the organisation could part match with $ 200m by June 2012, to be used in the fight against polio.

In January 2012, that challenge was met, nearly six months ahead of schedule.  Rotary members in Great Britain and Ireland and all over the world had succeeded in raising over $ 200 million.  As a result of the quick response, an additional $ 50 million was donated by the Gates Foundation.

The resulting US $ 610 million will directly support immunisation campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to infect and paralyse children, robbing them of their futures and compounding the hardships faced by their families.

Polio Eradication remains Rotary’s Global priority and you can support by purchasing a plastic Crocus which your local Rotary Club will be selling.  On the weekend of 23^rd & 24^th February 2013, Rotarians will be selling them in the Hucknall branch of Tesco’s.

Annual Sponsored Swim

The Rotary Club of Hucknall

Annual Sponsored Swim 2013

The Rotary Club of Hucknall invite you to take part in their 2013 annual swim at

Hucknall Leisure Centre

on

Saturday 9^th March 2013 4pm-6pm

All expenses are covered by the Rotary club, you just have to turn up and any money raised by you remains within your organisation.

You will need to provide your own lane counter if required. If you know anyone else who wishes to swim with you to boost your fundraising then they are most welcome.

In order to organize this year’s event we ask that you confirm if you will be attending.

The Rotary Club of Hucknall look forward to meeting you at this event.

All correspondence to

Rotarian Jack Gray

Email: jackmagray@gmail.com

Living with Cystic Fibrosis

Hucknall Rotary Club’s major project this year is raising £ 7,500 towards purchase 2 ultrasonic nebulisers and a Treadmill Tunturi T Track T90 which will be located in the new Cystic Fibrosis Unit being built at  City Hospital, Nottingham.  Several fund-raising events have already been held including a Charity Golf Day and particiticpation in a sponsored Dragonboat Race.  Mr John McClue captained the Hucknall Rotary Club Dragon boat team and was our invited speaker at our meeting on Tuesday 5^th February 2013.

John is married with two daughters:  Katie (aged 14) and Ellie (aged 8).  Within a week of Ellie being born, John and his wife were given news which was completely devastating and changed their lives forever.  Ellie had been born with Cystic Fibrosis.  John spoke very movingly of the impact that this had on the whole family’s life. 

Cystic Fibrosis (C.F.) is the UK's most common life-threatening inherited disease and the average age of survival is just 41 years.  People can carry the mutated cystic fibrosis gene without realising it.  If both partners in a couple are carriers of this gene, they are at risk of having a baby with cystic fibrosis. The chance that such a couple will have an affected child is 1 in 4.

John spoke of how his daughter Ellie needed constant daily treatment which included physiotherapy to unclog her lungs from thick, sticky mucus.  John had to administer this and failure to do this would lead to breathing and digestive problems.  Ellie also had to take medication prior to eating.  If Ellie did not take her tablets, she could not eat because the only way the food could be digested was with the aid of her medication.   John said he ‘could never take his eyes off the ball’ as everything had to be watched closely because immediate action was required. Failure to do so could have serious consequences.

Cross-infection is an issue of considerable concern for the CF community. Those with CF attract different bacteria or 'bugs' that grow in their lungs. These 'bugs' are rarely harmful to those who do not have CF but may be harmful to others who have CF but who do not have the same 'bugs'.    This makes it extremely difficult to organise CF self-support groups because of the fear of cross-infection.

The new CF unit at City Hospital, Nottingham is addressing this by building rooms  with Skype access etc, so that people using the facility can communicate with other users while they are there.

I was extremely moved by John’s honesty, openness and thanked him for his thought-provoking and heart-rendering presentation.

Maximising Publicity

When I became President of the Rotary Club of Hucknall I wanted to make the most of the opportunities offered me to promote the wonderful variety within Rotary. Writing a blog and utilising social media has enabled me to do this.  It has also allowed me to develop local media links which have been useful in communicating and sharing local stories of interest.

This blog, our facebook page, twitter feed and web site are all linked together in order to communicate our purpose effectively.  This has proved to be such a success that I have been asked by the Rotary District team to encourage other Rotary clubs to use social media.

The contacts that we have also established with the local media led to an invitation, along with other bloggers and community groups, to the offices of Nottingham Post.

I parked in Broadmarsh Car Park, going straight to the open roof level and took advantage of the photographic landscape before me.

In the meeting room of The Post were several other people I knew and we were presented with the new social networking capacities of their website.

Nottingham Post are re-launching their website as I write and are hoping for greater interaction from individuals and local groups.  This will provide one the opportunity of sharing their news, commenting on topics of interest, entering into debate with other users. Hopefully it will also lead to an increase in website traffic as the Nottingham Post readership may also wish to visit the blog or website of the ‘poster.’ 

Please visit   http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/

and register to use the site. 

Club Visioning arrives in District 1220

In October, I wrote about representing my Rotary District at RIBI as Club Visioning was introduced to Rotary in Great Britain.   As a follow-up to that event, District 1220 became the second district in RIBI to hold it's own Club Visioning facilitators training event  with RI Coordinator Peter Davey leading the seminar.  I was privileged that Peter asked me, along with David Morris of RC of Melton Mowbray (District 1070), to assist him in presenting club visioning to those gathered.   

The day went really well and District 1220 now have the nucleus of a District Facilitation Team to be one of the first (if not the first) RIBI Districts to go 'live' and take Club Visioning to Rotary Clubs helping them in their strategic planning.

A Club Vision Facilitation is a four hour evening session that assists Key leaders and interested members of a Rotary Club in achieving continuity, consistency and consensus. The facilitation session is intended for all interested Rotarians in the  club—from the newest members to the most tenured. The breadth and depth of the facilitation exercise is optimized when club leaders (past, present and future) and member opinion leaders participate. It is suggested that no more than 30 Rotarians are present

It is expected that:

• Attendance at the event by present council members, the current president, president-elect, president-elect nominee, immediate past-president, and two other past-presidents. Their collective involvement is essential.
• Participants to commit to the entire 4-hour exercise.
• The number of Rotarians committed to a session will be no less than 12 for the smaller clubs but no more than 30 (to maintain the time schedule and allow fair and full input from all present). Each Club requesting a Vision Facilitation will designate a "Coordinator" who will work with the District Vision Facilitation Chair providing all the information and direction individual Rotarians will need in preparation for the session. During the Vision Facilitation session, a team of facilitator will lead a process consisting of an overview presentation, a writing exercise, data collection, consensus voting and summary with action plan development. There are at least three measures of success for clubs that complete a Vision Facilitation:
1. An immediate measure of progress will be the members’ pledge and willingness to move the planning processes from a nice-to-do concept to meaningful growth programs for the club, its members and its community.
2. The second is that the output from this session is woven into the annually plans of the incoming and succeeding Presidents. It will be reflected in the continuity and consistency of programming and leadership of your Club.
3. Finally, the long-term mark of accomplishment will be at the end of three-five years when your club advances from where it is to where it wants to be.

Club visioning in itself is not a “membership drive initiative.” It was designed to help clubs develop a sense of direction and the structure necessary to achieve the club’s goals.  It is an exercise which strengthens the club and a byproduct of this is an increase in membership.

Club visioning is not something that is ‘placed’ on clubs from District.  Club Visioning Facilitation is by invitation.  The club invites the Facilitation Team in to lead a session.  It is important that the club ‘own’ the whole process, that the movers and shakers within the club are present, and that the club cast their own vision with the facilitators extracting from members what they really want for the future of their club.

Vision Facilitation is never carried out by an individual.  Districts are encouraged to build district facilitation teams, and depending on the number of attendees at a session, 2-3 Facilitators will be present working together as a team.  The facilitators are neutral, not imposing their ideas but drawing (extracting) from the members THEIR vision and THEIR ideas for the success of THEIR club.

Nottingham's Charter Dinner

The Rotary Club of Nottingham is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom and Friday evening saw Nottingham Rotarians celebrate their 95th Charter Anniversary at Mr Chung's Chinese restaurant in Mapperley.

The Charter was characterized with excellent food and fellowship, and moving away from the tradition and formality of some Rotary Charters, we were asked to bring our greetings in an amusing fashion with the winner being awarded a bottle of Champagne.   I thought my greetings were in with a chance, but I was 'disqualified' because I mentioned how I  made President Peter's chain of office disappear in July and it hadn't re-appeared yet !!

The rightful winner was President Martin of Selby, who had traveled from Yorkshire to the event along with his wife and were good friends of  Peter & Karen Lewis.