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Following the combined local Rotary Clubs of Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmouth
Haven and Gorleston 's very successful Carol Service at Christchurch on
December 14th, the Organising Committee of John Roper, Robert Lovick and
Mike Getvolsden were delighted with the collection of £516 on the night.
John Roper of the Great Yarmouth Rotary Club, , who had accompanied the
singers and congregation on the organ throughout the service, explained that
over 15 years since he had been involved , this year was one of the most
successful with a capacity attendance in the Christchurch church. The St
Mary's Primary School choir were a credit to their school and the Calver
family were truly excellent with their musical renditions. The proceeds
would be shared between The Salvation Army and The Palliative Care East
Appeal at the James Paget hospital. There is a lot of planning undertaken
for this event for the pleasure of the members and public and special thanks
must go to the small committee ,who made everything possible and made it
such an enjoyable event for young and old. It is already in the calendar for
next year.
Great Yarmouth Haven Rotary Club
Because of Xmas and New Year holidays there will be no
regular meeting until Monday January 9th.
December 25th 2011
December 19th2011
Our regular meeting was held in the evening. The Presidents Ladies Xmas Dinner. This was well attended and once again The Burlington Palm Hotel presented a splendid 4 course turkey dinner. President Robert's wife Roberta kept the evening running with some interesting rhyme and also a fascinating photo competition which kept everyone guessing until the final results. Robert also arranged for a local singer to entertain us.
Her name was Katrice Copland and she is 19 years of age.
In 2008 she was part of a local all girl group called EFX who managed to reach the finals of ‘X’ Factors Boot Camp and is
currently in her first year at the Bird College of Dance, Music and Theatre Performance
in London. She
sang beautifully and will be assured of a bright future. After this
everyone ( or most ! ) joined in a sing song of Xmas carols accompanied
by Des Sadler on piano. Thanks to Bob Price and Robert for all the
arrangements to make it such a successful and enjoyable Rotary meeting.
December 14th 2011
The Rotary Three Club Carol Service took place at Christchurch on Wednesday
14th December commencing at 7 30pm. Once again we were
delighted to have the St Mary’s Primary School choir singing a
variety of medleys, under the direction of Matthew Hardy. Again the
audience welcomed back Maxim Calver , accompanied by Terry Cunnane
on the piano ,playing the cello and for the first time his sister
Evie playing the violin accompanied by their mother Stella performed
a wonderful trio. These performances were brilliant and
entertaining. The congregation sang a variety of Christmas carols.
Rotarian Brian Blake of The Gorleston Rotary Club was the compere
for the evening and introduced the items throughout the evening. An
amusing address and blessing was given by Lt. Rob Symonds of Great
Yarmouth Salvation Army. Special thanks to John Roper of The Great
Yarmouth Rotary Club who accompanied all the congregation and singers on the
organ throughout the evening.
Monty Spandler had very kindly agreed to supply the mince pies for
the concert and sweets for the children and tea and coffee was
available free of charge on the night. This invitation extended to
family and friends. There was a collection afterwards and the
proceeds ,would go between The Salvation Army who do a wonderful job,
especially at Xmas time and The Palliative Care East Appeal at the
James Paget hospital. There is a lot of planning undertaken for this
event for the pleasure of the members and special thanks to the
small committee Robert Lovick, John Roper and Mike Getvolsden who made everything
possible and made it such an enjoyable event for young and old.
December 12th 2011
Our own Haven Rotary golf tournament took place last Wednesday at Caister
and Great Yarmouth Golf course.Despite gale force winds and cold conditions
, seven hardy members took part and finished at the 19th hole with a well
earned drink and turkey and tinsel dinner. Alan Carman took the best score,
with runner-up Alan Spinks. The Haven Golf team were given a cheque for £260
from winning the District 1080 Knockout Challenge cup last month , and the
team of Alan Spinks, Bill Cooke and Alan Carman all agreed that this would
go to The East Anglian Childrens Hospice at Quidenham.
Our guest speaker at this weeks meeting was Ian Bruce , a well known
solicitor in the town and a member and Past President of the Great Yarmouth
Rotary Club. Introduced by Tony King, Ian talked of his early Rotary years
and the problems and recollections of the twinning of his Rotary Club with
that of The Rambouillet Rotary Club in France. The arrangements and
subsequent return trips of exchange visits did not always go to plan and Ian
recalled many humorous events that had happened over the years. He was quick
to point out that many friendships had been developed through these exchange
visits. Whenever Ian visits our club we are assured of a most riveting,
entertaining and interesting talk. Alan Spinks thanked him for this on
behalf of the members.
December 7th 2011
Haven's own Golf Tournament took place today....full report click here...
December 5th 2011
Once again a very successful evening at Jack Thorpe's house last Friday,
when a Curry and Merango party was held to raise funds for The Rotary
Foundation. This amounted to £295 and a further £33 was raised with a heads
and tails raffle for a bottle of wine at Monday's meeting. Special thanks to
Jack's family and helpers and the support given by the members.
Jack also introduced his friend Clive Jermany as this weeks speaker. Clive
looked back on his memories of early radio programs. In the late 50's and
60's there were so many popular radio shows with examples of 2 Way Family
Favourites, Billy Cotton Bandshow, The Navy Lark, The Clitheroe Kid, Round
the Horne to name but a few. His early passion was listening to Radio
Luxemburg and Radio Hilverson, since the BBC was unwilling to broadcast
music which the younger public were demanding, and hence sprung up some
pirate radio stations off the coast of England. Clive described many of the
shows and who took part in them , many of whom become favourite TV stars
such as Ronnie Barker. A most interesting trip down memory lane and Clive
was thanked for his talk by Peter Gethin.
Next week Ian Bruce will be guest speaker of Ian Tilley.
Our newest member..... Welcome Craigh Page..
November 28th 2011
This meeting was given over to a recruitment drive to introduce possible new members to the Club. Presentations were made to invited guests by Peter Gethin, Ted Witton, Peter Bondi and Richard Coller who described their experiences of joining Rotary.
Presidents report..........Haven
embarked on a promotion theme on Monday when it
organised a Rotary Presentation to an invited
audience. With the total number totalling 46
including members and guests there was a good
response to this initiative and hopefully the
guests had a better understanding of Rotary and
how it functions. Rotarian Peter Gethin put
together a very professional power point
presentation which covered all aspects of the
organisation.
Three other club members namely Ted Witton,
Peter Bondi and Richard Coller all spoke on why
they joined Rotary and what it meant to them to
be a member of Haven Rotary Club. . It was a
fitting moment for President Robert Lovick to
install new member Craigh Page an Architectural
Designer based in Gorleston. Craigh then
addressed the members and guests commenting on
how committed he would be to Rotary and to
embrace good fellowship in the true spirit of
the organisation.
Jack Thorpe will be organising a speaker for
next Monday’s meeting.
November 21st 2011
The club has in the
past organised a literary lunch where members
would either compile a short story a poem or
just read something that they felt the members
may enjoy. Ken Ward a former member instigated
this idea several years ago so it was
appropriate to name this the ’Ken Ward Literary
Lunch’ The club is indebted to Tony King for
reintroducing this session and he was delighted
by the number of entries that were submitted.
The President read out the first poem by
Wendell Holmes which had a seafaring theme
followed by John Westgate and then the Senior
Vice President Bob Price who read out a piece
from a book written by Norfolk journalist and
author Keith Skipper. There were also entries
from Wally Ladmore , Des Sadler and John Wiseman
whose humorous quotations brought much laughter
to the proceedings.
Charles Lewis talked about his
passion for poems written by R S Thomas and then
read out two pieces from the book ‘The Welsh
Landscape’. This was a most enjoyable meeting
especially when the members had taken the time
to undertake research in selecting their
nominated pieces to entertain the members. John
Burroughs thanked the participants and expressed
his gratitude for their contributions on behalf
of the club . The meeting next week will be
dedicated to membership and guests will be
visiting the club where there will be a
presentation about Rotary and how the clubs
functions.
I will hopefully remember to take my camera next
week when I induct the new member.
November 14th 2011
Our guest and speaker introduced by Monty Spandler ,was the eminent
Horticulturist and Judge of The Royal Horticultural Society, Bill Boardman.
He recounted his childhood interest in horticulture and after school days
went to study at Writtle College in Essex to obtain his Diploma in
Horticulture. He did a years practical training with Daniel Brothers of
Norwich before being called up in the army. In 1964 he started his own
nursery , and was soon exhibiting at The Chelsea Flower show. In fact since
1964 he has only missed 3 years attendance. He was sent an application to be
Horticulture Manager for The John Innes Institution, and here the emphasis
was on more technical and scientific methods, such as plant tissue cultures
and the genetics of growing peas. In 1976 he was invited to join the RHS
committees and judging panels and has enjoyed working as a judge ever since.
Now he is one of the judges for " Anglia in Bloom" and this entails all
aspects of the community and meeting residents of many villages and towns.
Bill's talk was most fascinating and Tony King thanked Bill on behalf of
all the members.
November 7th 2011
Congratulations to the Haven Golf team of Alan Spinks, Alan Carman and Bill
Cooke ,who have won the District 1080 Rotary Knockout Challenge Cup. The
final was played at Bawburgh Golf Club against Brandon Rotary Club. The team
will decide on a suitable charity to donate the winnings.
Haven's Golfers win The District 1080 Knockout Challenge Cup ! The Haven golfing team of Alan Spinks, Alan Carman and Bill Cooke won the prestigious Rotary District 1080 Knockout Challenge Cup in the final played at Bawburgh Golf Club on Wednesday November 2nd. On a lovely day for November , the team beat the finalists from Brandon Rotary Club by 2 matches to 1. John Barton ,the organiser of the annual tournament and a member of the Brandon golf team, congratulated Great Yarmouth Haven on having had a splendid seasons golf, defeating last years winners and some strong teams in the previous rounds. The final was played in true Rotary spirit and the day was thoroughly enjoyed by all. This was a great ending to our golf season as Bill Cooke had previously won the District 1080 Golf Tournament earlier in September at Thetford Golf Club.
This weeks meeting was a business meeting but also a special presentation
was made to the winners of the Corporate race of the annual Duck Race held
in September. Richard and Jackie Allen of The Chateau Hotel, North Drive
,received the unique duck race tankard specially commissioned from the
pottery of Ernie Childs. This years race raised over £5300 for mainly local
charities and benevolent gifts.
This month our Community services committee had allocated funds to The
Herring Trust, The Alzheimer's Society, Crossroads and a family in need.
Next week Monty Spandler would be introducing Bill Boardman on the topic of
horticulture.
October 31st 2011
At Mondays meeting, President Robert Lovick gave a special certificate to
Alan Hall one of our founder members in 1981, to become an honorary member.
Alan had found it increasingly more difficult to attend regular meetings and
relinquished his membership at the end of this years Rotary Year, but would
be very welcome in future whenever he was able to attend.
Bill Cooke introduced this weeks speaker, Matt Garrod, the Operational
Manager for Housing and Homelessness of The Benjamin Foundation, a
registered charity located from North Walsham.
Matt explained with the help of a slide presentation that The Benjamin
Foundation was founded in 1994 and exists to help people in Norfolk deal
with many of the challenges that life throws at them; whether ‘everyday’
issues such as childcare or heartbreaking problems like abuse and
homelessness. Working with a number of key partners, they provide a range of
practical services and support which all aim to empower people and give them
back a sense of hope and control.
The Benjamin Foundation’s
history goes back to
1994 when, following a family tragedy, the Charity was set up by Richard
Draper MBE in memory of his son Benjamin. From humble beginnings which
started with family outreach services in North Norfolk, their work has grown
to meet the needs of families and young people right across the county.
Today, they run four supported centres, specifically for 16-25 year olds,
working in partnership with district councils, borough councils and housing
associations and ‘move on’ accommodation centres for homeless young people,
provide crisis intervention through their resettlement programme, have a
team of Parent Support Advisers working with families, supply one-to-one
support in schools through their Time for You service, provide youth cafes
and drop in centres, a nursery, crèche and after-school clubs, a holiday
club and Youth bus - not to mention two social enterprise schemes, Restore,
a furniture restore scheme and Kidstore , a scheme taking in kids toys and
furniture and then recycling for resale, generating much needed finances for
the Foundation. Matt explained the dilemma of more than 1000 young people
are homeless in Norfolk alone and was very proud of the Aspire Young Persons
centre in Great Yarmouth situated in the old Brett Warehouse. This Grade 2
listed building contains 17 units of accommodation for single young homeless
people aged 16-25. This was setup in 2009 in partnership with Orwell Housing
Association and Great Yarmouth Borough Council. A dedicated support team
work closely with individual residents to help them address any issues they
may have and gain the necessary skills to live independently.
Their newest project is " Heart and Home". In August 2010 The Benjamin Foundation launched a recruitment drive with a difference. The Norfolk Charity began a search for families in North Norfolk who were prepared to open up their homes to a young person with nowhere to live. Twelve months on and the Heart & Home Supported Lodgings service is well underway but more families are urgently needed to provide a homeless young person, usually aged 16 or 17, with a room of their own in a family home. After a successful start, the scheme is now being expanded and host families are being sought throughout the county. The young person could stay for a couple of nights or a couple of years; it depends on the needs of the individual and the family. For the future there is a planned project for a children's home in Great Yarmouth, hopefully by the middle of 2012. Peter Gethin thanked Matt for his in-depth presentation and the dedicated work he was doing for The Benjamin Foundation.
October 24th 2011
This weeks meeting was slightly different from previous weeks ,in that our
Club member Peter Howkins conducted his own "Antiques Roadshow". Members
were asked to bring along any item of a suitable size for evaluation and a
description of its origin. Peter is a well known local antique dealer and
valuer and showed his considerable knowledge and experience while inspecting
many varied objects, His explanation and presentation was fascinating to
listen to, and Bob Price thanked Peter for giving an insight into the world
of antiques.
Next week Bill Cooke would be introducing a speaker.
October 17th 2011
Our guests this week at our Monday meeting were Rachael Hardie and Tony
Rozier from The Great Yarmouth Community Trust. This voluntary Charity is
based at The Priory Centre. They have just celebrated their 10th
anniversary. Rachael is the Ageless Opportunities Project Coordinator. For
the last 5 years a directory of social activities for those over 50 ( but
not exclusively ) across the Borough of Great Yarmouth has been produced..
It is intended to appreciate and understand why it is important to be active
and be in contact socially with other members of the Community, which
ultimately will encourage and inspire to add years to your life and life to
your years. The directory contains over 50 activities that can be assessed
if you want to join a group or activity or just have some fun. This is FREE
and can be obtained by going to the Priory Centre at Priory Plain or
telephoning Rachael on 01493 743000. The activities range from Arts, Crafts
,Dance, Disability, Exercise, Learning, Social, Sport, Bowls, Support ,
Transport and Volunteering. Rachael is part of the adult division and
advises on all aspects of life such as Nutrition, Weight management,
Exercise, cooking , food hygiene, and the value of foods, and a learning
division teaching computer skills and ESOL courses.
Tony explained his role in the Charity which is partly funded by the
national Lottery but was becoming increasingly more difficult to carry on
with the present economic situation. He talked about P.E.N. The Priory
Employment Network. Essentially an agency to help people to acquire skills
and fully track them into employment. The centre had a close relationship
with businesses and could advise and put forward suitable candidates for the
right job. Volunteers for the Charity were always required and they would be
welcome anytime at The Priory Centre. Special mention of the HAPPI Project,
which stands for Healthier Active People and Promoting Independence, which
helps to support people across the Borough, who may not be able to go out or
meet people on their own. Peter Howkins gave the vote of thanks for a well
constructed and interesting talk.
Next week Peter Howkins will conduct his own " Antiques Roadshow" for
members to bring along small items for interest and valuation.
October 11th 2011
Fourteen members of Haven enjoyed a guided tour of Woodforde's Brewery at Woodbastwick on Tuesday 11th October. This was followed by a meal at the Fur & Feather Public House adjacent to the Brewery. The Brewery was established in 1981 at Drayton, near Norwich, and was named after Parson Woodforde, a noted 18th century Norfolk Clergyman whose diaries reveal his passion for good food and ale - which he often brewed himself. In 1989 the Brewery moved to its present Broadland location and in 1992 the Fur & Feather Inn was opened in what originally were two cottages. Members tried most of the eight beers available, including five award-winners, which are all given their distinctive taste using water from Woodforde's own spring.
October 14th - 16th 2011
Our Honorary member Past President Michael Woods, now living in Kuching , Sarawak and President of The Kuching Jaya Rotary Club, was visited by PP Alan Spinks on his recent visit to Cambodia and Malaysia. Michael has had his own house built and is active both in the local churches and the Rotary activities.
October 10th 2011
October 3rd 2011
It was Rotarian Ted Witton's turn to find a speaker for our meeting on Monday 3rd October but as he was unable to obtain a suitable speaker he decided to revive an old Haven Rotary favourite of yesteryear "Scroby Island Discs" in which he talked about his favourite music choices and illustrated them with recorded excerpts. They contained amusing pre-war comedy recordings by Peter Lynd Hayes and Frank Crummit, followed by a rousing organ piece and Mario Lanza's Student Prince. His favourite performers and songs included those by Elvis Presley, Eva Cassidy, Jeff Beck and Frank Sinatra. Charles Lewis gave a very apt and entertaining vote of thanks Next weeks speaker will be Philip Young from the Charity 'Water Aid'. The vote of thanks will be by Peter Howkins.
September 26th 2011
Congratulations to Bill Cooke for winning The RIBI East Anglian District
Rotary Challenge Cup. This was held at Thetford Golf Club. Seven of our club
participated and Mike Self was successful with a "nearest the pin "Prize and
John Clark was in the 3rd place team prize.
At this weeks meeting there was no speaker as a
business meeting was conducted. President Robert returned from his trip to
Canada on a Rotary Fellowship exchange. He had visited 4 Rotary Clubs and it
had been a wonderful experience.
Each committee reported their discussions and
as a result Haven Rotary through the Community service would be donating
over £1500 to some local charities. The International committee had also
pledged £1000 to an eye hospital in Sierra Leone. The matching grant with
the Rotary Club of Panaji in Goa India had also been approved by Rotary
International and reports and follow up would be forthcoming in the near
future.
Next week Ted Witton would be organising a
speaker.
September 22nd 2011
Today was the Rotary District 1080 Golf Tournament at Thetford Golf Club. Seven members took part....Alan Spinks, Bill Cooke, Alan Carman, John Clark, Mike Self, Wally Ladmore and Ian Tilley. Scores were varied giving the difficulty of the course but CONGRATULATIONS TO BILL COOKE , with a score of 38 points was the overall winner of the trophy. This is 28 years after Alan Spinks won it in 1983 ! Mike Self excelled himself by winning the nearest the pin at the short par 3 third hole, and John Clark was part of the team that was placed third. Bill's team also won the best team score. A very enjoyable day out with a fine meal and fellowship afterwards. It is incumbent on Haven now organising the competition for next year !
September 18th 2011
Our annual Duck Race at The Waterways on Sunday was a great success. The
weather was kind and many spectators enjoyed the 3 races. It is hoped that
around £5000 will be raised for our Rotary Charities. The Haven Rotary Club
would like to thank the general public for their support and sponsorship
also from local businesses.
This week at our regular Monday meeting, Alan Spinks introduced Nao
Iwashita, a Rotary ambassadorial scholar from Japan. Nao has been studying
at the UEA for the last year. She gave a very good presentation of her stay
in Norwich and compared live in rural Norfolk to her home in Matsudo City
near Chiba area of Tokyo. She told of how she had been one of 6 scholars to
be granted a rotary scholarship from the Rotary clubs in her area. It had
been a hard examination to take and also 3 interviews before being
successful. Before coming to England Nao had worked for 10 years with the
Japanese TV station NHK. Here she was a coordinator of an early morning news
programme. This career she enjoyed ,although getting up at 2am every day to
go to work , severely hampered her social life as she mostly had to go to
sleep during the day. It was most interesting to hear Nao compare a wide
range of subjects such as newspapers, TV, animals, food ,which she had
encountered here in the UK with that which she had been used to in Japan.
Nao brought with her a rotary banner from her sponsor club of Matsudo Chuoh,
and was presented with the Haven banner by Vice President Bob Price. After
many questions Nao was thanked for her presentation by Mike Erskine.
Next week will be a business meeting and President Robert will return from his visit to Canada on a Rotary Friendship Exchange.
September 12th 2011
Our Haven Golf team reached the final of the 1080 District Golf Knockout
Tournament by defeating the Ipswich East team at Purdis Heath Golf Club at
Ipswich. To reach this final stage the team have defeated last years winners
and the favourites.
At this weeks meeting ,final plans were
discussed for our annual Duck Race at The Waterways on Sunday September
18th.
Our speaker was Derek Robertson and introduced by Brian Potter. Derek is the
owner of Premium Wine Collections , an independent fine wine merchant and
importer. He spoke of his passion and hobby of association with wine and
particularly the Rhone Valley in France. From leaving school he had various
jobs taking him to London with Oddbins and the wine department of
Selfridges, Telesales from which he was made redundant and then went to
Australia. He emphasised none of the jobs fully satisfied his passion for
the wine industry and felt his future would be dealing and learning all
about all the wines of the World. His Company in Norwich ,source, taste,
approve, then quickly deliver fine wines from around the world to discerning
palates across the UK. Founded in 2002 , Premium Wine Collections have been
supplying great wines to some of the top eateries in the UK from some of the
best vineyards in the world. They now sell their wines to collectors and
wine connoisseurs across the UK and put together mixed cases for all to
enjoy. Derek's talk was fascinating and interesting and his great knowledge
sparked many questions from the members. An added bonus was a wine tasting
of a particularly tasty Rhone Valley vintage. George Ermini thanked Derek
for his splendid presentation.
Next week Alan Spinks will be introducing
Rotary Ambassadorial scholar Nao Iwashita from Japan, who has been studying
at the UEA in Norwich for the last year.
Robert and Brian enjoying a fine wine with Derek Robertson of Premium Wines Collection, after the Monday lunch. September 8th 2011 Our Past President Mike ( 2002 - 2003 ) was remembered at the service for the celebration of his life at St Andrews Church Gorleston on Thursday 8th September. The church was full for the service conducted by Reverend Arthur Bowles. Many sincere tributes were given by Ian McCreadie, Michael Woods, Barry Coleman, Hopton Parish Council, Brandon Lewis and the Family of Jeanette, Aaron and Shane. Three songs of Queen were played during the service reflecting Mike's character and enthusiasm for any project he had in mind. His work and love for his family was clearly evident from the montage of photos and videos played on the big screens at the reception afterwards at Potters leisure Resort. Rest in Peace , Mike ,and you will be sadly missed !
Haven Golf Success !
Our team of Alan Spinks, Alan Carman and Bill Cooke have reached the final of District 1080 Knockout Golf tournament. The match was an away fixture at Purdis Heath Golf Club in Ipswich. Last years winners and the favourites for this year have both been knocked out by our team and they now await the Brandon RC . The Final will be on a neutral golf course.
September 5th 2011
August 29th 2011
August Bank Holiday...... No meeting.
August 22nd 2011
August 15th 2011
August 13th 2011
Haven Canaries invade Wigan
To celebrate the return of Norwich City to the Premiership a coach load of
Haven Rotarians, wives, families and friends traveled to Wigan to see
their team start tie 2011/12 campaign against the Lattics at the DW
Stadium. An early start did not daunt the trusty band and with pick ups
along the way and a full breakfast on the A17 arrived in good time at the
venue.
Friendly stewards and ushers directed the
party to the ground via a bar (much appreciated). The Norwich fans
completely filled the North Stand (4500 of them) with the Haven contingent
taking a full part in the proceedings. Any independent observer would have
thought it was a Norwich home game if they heard the noise generated by the
masses from Norfolk.
A good game ended as a 1 - 1 draw. A fair
result which received favourable reviews in the National press.and on TV the
next day.
August 8th 2011
Haven's Golf Team were successful in the quarter final of the District Knockout Tournament against Holt Rotary Club's A Team. August 8th. Congratulations to Alan Spinks, Bill Cooke and Alan Carman.
Today was a business meeting following a Club Council meeting last week. All members will have received a copy of the minutes from Assistant Secretary Mike Self. Committee chairmen outlaid their plans for the forthcoming Rotary Year. Next week Ian McCreadie would be introducing a speaker.
August 1st 2011
Our Monday meeting speaker was introduced by Jack Thorpe. Mr David Spokes,
an ophthalmic surgeon, came to present an illustrated talk about the work
his friend ,an opththalmologist, does at a sponsored run charity hospital in
Sierra Leone. The hospital in Freetown is run by the Charity CBM ,the
overseas disability charity.
CBM supports more than 800 projects in more than 90
countries.
July 25th 2011
Our International Committee wished to remind Members that our Annual Duck
Race at The Waterways on September 18th was well in hand and should prove as
popular for spectator viewing as has been so in previous years.
At our Monday meeting, our speaker introduced by Wally Ladmore, was the
Editor of The Yarmouth Mercury, Anne Edwards.
Anne spoke of the statistics of The Mercury since she
had been editor, and praised her small body of staff for the devotion to
their task of getting the newspaper out every Friday. With sales in excess
of 17000 per week, it was one of the most popular weekly local newspapers in
the country. Anne had always stressed that her priority was to make the
newspaper a community paper and to that end , it was essential to obtain and
print as much as possible from the local community. The village news and
that of local groups ,such as the two local Rotary Clubs, was now much more
reported, and well over 50 photos sent in by the public were published every
week. The focus was on the community and consequently more people were
buying and reading The Yarmouth Mercury. The website was very well viewed as
was the Facebook page but the website provided more of the main stories and
the Mercury concentrated on local stories and community issues. Anne felt
she still had a lot to give to the increased popularity of the paper and
hoped she would achieve where and how the paper would go before her
retirement. She was faced with many questions from club members, showing the
interest that she had generated in her talk. Richard Fiddy thanked Anne for
her very interesting views and thoughts on the subject of The Yarmouth
Mercury.
Next week Jack Thorpe would be introducing David Spokes.
WE were sorry to hear that Founder member Alan Hall had decided not to renew his membership for the new Rotary year.
July 18th 2011
Last week our annual Car Rally was a great success with record numbers
turning out. After the arduous task of finding the clues, we enjoyed a
lovely meal and get together at the final destination. Over £200 was raised
for Rotary Foundation Charity and special thanks to Jack Thorpe and Leslie
Seabert for organising the event. Equally thanks to Bill and Diana Cooke for
allowing a fellowship garden party at their home last Sunday, which was
enjoyed despite the inclement weather.
At our lunchtime meeting on Monday, our own member Charles Lewis was the
speaker. Charles interest in collecting ,had started in his early youth and
was particularly interested in fossils and mineral specimens. Much of his
collection had come from areas in the Lake District, the volcanic regions of
Iceland and naturally around our local area of Norfolk, ie. Caister by
Norwich and Burgh Castle.
His searches could be anywhere but as the Romans occupied our region for
100's of years , many old pottery fragments and parts of Roman buildings
were of particular interest. Our coastal beaches often washed up objects and
items which could date back 1000's of years. Charles showed samples of his
collection and many had been classified by the experts in Norwich Museum. As
always a fascinating and interesting talk from Charles and John Clarke
thanked him in his usual manner.
Wally Ladmore will introduce next weeks speaker.
July 11th 2012
Before this weeks speaker at our Monday meeting, Alan Spinks updated the
Club about the donation we had committed to the disaster in Japan. With the
emphasis on having a personal touch , The Tokyo Asakusa Rotary Club had been
contacted by Richard Spinks, now living in Japan, as this was his host club
when he was a Rotary Exchange student in Japan, and they after their
Directors meeting had proposed a project to help a small Rotary club, The
Rotary Club of Yamada City which was a city in the middle of the earthquake
and tsunami area. It is hoped the local school children would benefit from
our donation.
Our guests this week were
Judy and Claire Simmance. Judy came to talk about the charity she had
started in 1994 which was based at Hickling, and was The F.A.I.T.H. Animal
Rescue Centre. A very suitable name which is " For Animals in Trouble
there's Hope ".
The centre provides a
rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing service for abandoned dogs, cats
and other animals. Although running costs were high and the charity
entirely depended on donations and fund raising, there was a clear
policy to care for the unwanted animals and give them a social
environment wherever possible with communal exercise areas. The emphasis
was on a vigourous neutering policy for both sexes of cats and dogs,
hence trying to stop the endless flow of unplanned and unwanted kittens
and puppies into the centre. The Centre was sponsoring a scheme with
North Norfolk Councils to adapt a neutering project having been left a
legacy with which to use in a positive way for animal welfare. The
Centre welcomes visitors to socialise with the animals with special
needs people particularly finding the touch with animals to be very
comforting and rewarding. Next year the Centre will be promoting a
F.A.I.T.H's Animal Olympics with the aim of raising £20012.Any help ,
donations and information is available on their website
www.faithanimalrescue.co.uk.
Alan Carman thanked Judy
for an enthusiastic and interesting talk.
Next week our own Charles
Lewis would be the speaker.
July 4th 2011
This week sees the installing of new Rotary Presidents across the world throughout the Rotary Organisation. At our Monday meeting, Robert Lovick was installed as the President of the Great Yarmouth Haven Rotary Club, from outgoing President John Burroughs. John arrived in a vintage Bentley car arranged by Richard Coller. Special guests were Peter Poole ,new President of Great Yarmouth club and Sunder Gopaul , new President of Gorleston Rotary club. Also a very welcome guest was former Rector of Great Yarmouth, Michael Woods, who had come to visit all the way from Kuching in Sarawak, where this year he is President of the Kuching Yaya Rotary Club. He presented his club's Rotary Banner to President Robert. Firstly outgoing president John thanked all his committees and the members for giving him a wonderful year and reflected how quickly the year had passed. Having installed Robert as the new president, Robert gave his inaugural talk to the members reflecting on those members that were no longer with us and his plans and ideals for his year in office. His motto would be " its not what Rotary can do for me but what I can do for Rotary ". Next he installed Robert Price as Vice President, who endeavoured to support Robert throughout his year. Both guests Peter Poole and Sunder Gopaul wished Robert a successful year and were of the opinion that further progress should be encouraged by all 3 Clubs to jointly promote the Tri-Club activities. Finally Michael Woods related some of the problems of the poor Sarawak peoples and how it was easy to see much quicker the way that Rotary worked in his local community. Next week Tony King would introduce 2 ladies from The Faiths Animal Trust.
June 28th 2011
VP Robert, Jack and Secretary Terry attended
Hotel Victoria at Lowestoft today to meet the RIBI National President-Elect,
Ray Burman.
He spoke to representatives of the 3 Lowestoft
Clubs, Haven, Gorleston, Yarmouth and Beccles about Rotary in general.
Some of us then went on to Oulton Broad to view
Rotary Sailability in action.
President-Elect Robert in photo at Oulton Broad Yacht Club. Jack Thorpe also present.
June 27th 2011
This week was a business meeting. However a new member Malcolm Loveland, classification "property development" was inducted by outgoing President John. Incoming President Robert read out the Rotary requirements for membership.
June 20th 2011
At this weeks meeting, our two guest speakers were Erica Sayers and Karen
Travers, both County welfare officers for The Royal British Legion,
introduced by Richard Fiddy, himself a Caseworker providing emotional
support and practical assistance in the local community. The Royal British
Legion provides financial, social, and emotional support to millions who
have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces, and their
dependants. Karen and Erica explained that there was much more welfare
organised than most people realised, and The Legion, formed in 1921 was one
of the country's largest membership organisations both here and overseas.
Welfare to the value of £200,000 per day was handed out , directly helping
16,000 veterans not just of World War 1 and 2 but also the Iraq and
Afghanistan conflicts.
For many today, one of the biggest problems was debt, and much help was
given to those who could not pay electricity and gas bills, Community tax
etc. Besides providing for their own charity dependants , Funds were also
given to other service charities particularly such as St Dunstans. The
Legion is one of the most effective campaigning charities in the UK,
lobbying on a wide range of issues, including mental and physical health,
housing and homelessness, employment, community and adult care, disability,
skills development and debt. They are custodians of Remembrance and
responsible for the 2 minute silence on Remembrance Sunday, and the generous
support of the Poppy Appeal, ensuring those who gave their lives are always
remembered and that their sacrifice is never forgotten. One aspect of
welfare , very important for the local community is Poppy Calls which
provides a free dedicated handy person service to those unable to carry out
small repairs and minor alterations to their homes.
This was an enlightening and interesting talk and Bill Cooke thanked Karen and Erica for the splendid work they did for the unfortunate war veterans and their dependants.
June 15th 2011
This years Gourmet Night at Ambitions
Restaurant, G Y College was supported by 36 members, wives and guests. The
evening is organised by the Vocational and Youth Committee to help the local
students hone their catering skills ,give us Rotarians a good night out and
raise some funds for the club. The food was again of a high standard and
although we had to bear the cost of pre-meal prosecco (as the college have
allowed their Drinks licence to temporarily lapse), and the cost of most of the
exceptional raffle prizes, £330 was raised for the club. Well done Mike. June 14th 2011
Our club Golf Rotary Knockout at Great Yarmouth and Caister Golf club against a team from Rotary Club of Woodbridge Deben. Team ... Alan Spinks, Bill Cooke and Alan Carman.
Result....a fine win giving shots all round ! Who's next ?
June 13th 2011
Congratulations to our Past President and Secretary Tony King and his wife
Margaret on celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary last week.
Also last week was the Kids Day Out project at Pleasurewood Hills .John
Tomalin and his helpers deserve special thanks for all the hard work in
organising this special day for hundreds of children with disabilities and
being less unfortunate with their everyday lives.
This weeks Monday meeting was our Club Assembly. The elected chairmen of the
various committees gave their idea's for the next Rotary year starting on
July 1st.
Incoming President Robert Lovick gave his thoughts for his year and
introduced Assistant District Governor East Elect, Hugh Davies who brought
greetings from the District team.
Rotarian of the Year..Michael Muskett ADG East Hugh Davies attends our AGM.
The Foundation Committee would be holding their Annual Car Rally on July
13th.
Next week Richard Fiddy would be introducing two speakers from The British
Legion.
June 6th 2011
Great Yarmouth Rotary Club and Gorleston Rotary Club joined our Monday
meeting for an annual TRi-Club lunch at The Burlington Hotel. A good
attendance enjoyed the fellowship and Haven's members , Terry Ashbourne and
Alan Spinks, presented a slide show of their recent visit to Goa in India.
As a result of attending a meeting at The Rotary Club of Panaji , they were
conduced on a tour of schools in which The Panaji club had a project to
supply computers, projectors and software to 15 local schools. Haven Rotary
club were invited to form a partnership for a matching grant, funded by both
clubs and a contribution from Rotary International. The slide show held the
attention of all the attendees and Ted Witton thanked Terry and Alan for a
fascinating and interesting look into Indian life.
Next week will be The Club Assembly.
May 30th 2011
No Meeting...Bank Holiday. May 23rd 2011
Last Friday ( 20th )over 70 members and guests attended a garden walk around
The How Hill Trust gardens of How Hill Farm. The event was organised by
Community Services Committee. The weather was perfect for the garden walk
through the grounds of rhododendrons, azaleas and ferns up to the river and
the windmill. After this it was back to the barn where a sumptuous cold meat
buffet was prepared. Many Rotarians also supplied salads and food as well
as raffle prizes to enable the evening to provide a good profit for
charitable funds. After the raffle President John thanked all those involved
with organising such a popular evening , especially to Richard Coller and
his family who helped with selling and supplying the wine, supplying the
cold meats and the use of the farm land for the walk. Special thanks to Bob
Grimmer and his team in Community service and all those that came to make a
very enjoyable evening. President John pledged £250 from the proceeds to go
to The How Hill Trust.
At Mondays meeting, our speaker was David Steadman who spoke of his work at
Bletchley Park as a guide and of the use of the Park during WW2.This was the
historic site of codebreaking in WW2 and the birth place of the modern
computer. He told of the secret work carried out there , coding and
decoding messages with particular emphasis on The Enigma machine. The Enigma
machine was an advanced electro-mechanical cipher machine developed in
Germany after World War 1. The Enigma machine was used by all branches of
the German military as their main device for secure wireless communications
until the end of World War 2. Several types of the Enigma machine were
developed before and during World War 2, each more complex and harder to
code break than its predecessors. The most complex Enigma type was used by
the German Navy. In addition to the complexity of the Enigma machine itself,
its operating procedures became increasingly complex, as the German military
wanted to make Enigma communications harder to code break. The German
authorities believed in the absolute security of the Enigma. However, with
the help of Polish mathematicians who had managed to acquire a machine prior
to the outbreak of WW2, British code breakers stationed at Bletchley Park
managed to exploit weaknesses in the machine and how it was used and were
able to crack the Enigma code. A fascinating talk by David and after many
questions , he was thanked by Peter Bondi.
There will be no meeting next Monday due to Bank Holiday.
May 16th 2011
At this weeks Monday meeting we welcomed the Mayor Michael Jeal and
Mayoress Paula. This was the last public engagement of the Mayoral year of
office and Michael talked of his wonderful year of commitment to the
Community and Borough. Michael was born in Great Yarmouth but his family
soon moved to the North to Newcastle. His aim throughout the year was to
concentrate on visiting as many small charitable organisations as possible,
many of whom are rarely in the spotlight but do tremendous work for the
community.
It had been a fantastic experience to be Mayor and was sure his 3 main
charities would benefit. They were The Royal Anglians Benevolent fund, Smart
Kids for autistic children and Faith Animal Charity.
President John pledged the Club would give £250 to the Mayors Charities. Bob
Price gave the vote of thanks.
Next week our speaker will be David Steadman talking about " The Enigma
Machine" introduced by George Ermini.
May 9th 2011
Following 2 weeks of Bank Holiday Mondays and no meetings ,it was good to
return to our regular Monday lunchtime meeting. This week Jason Delf from
The Burlington Hotel was our guest speaker. Jason is a crew member of the
Caister Life Boat, and gave a fascinating account of why and how he joined
the crew and proceeded to relate in graphic detail , some of his experiences
while out at sea on a rescue mission. A wide range of people are members of
the crew at Caister, but they all work together as a team, take risks for
the safety of others. Some of the call-outs are needless and a waste of time
but all calls must be honoured as one never knows what to expect once the
lifeboat is launched. Jason had always had ambitions to be with the Caister
crew , even from childhood and it was his enthusiasm for fund raising that
first got him connected to Caister Lifeboat. Eventually when there was a
shortage of crew members , Jason applied to join and fulfill his desire to
become part of the volunteer community of saving lives at sea.
A most interesting talk giving an inside view of what it is like to be part
of an institution of the history of Caister Lifeboat. Ted Witton thanked
Jason on behalf of the members.
Next week Mayor Michael Jeal will be our guest fulfilling one of his last
engagements in his term of office.
May 2nd 2011
May Day Bank Holiday.... No meeting.
April 25th 2011
Easter Monday.....No meeting. April 18th 2011
AGM.
April 11th 2011
April 4th 2011
Last Friday the Past Presidents of Great Yarmouth haven Rotary Club had
their annual dinner at The Burlington Hotel. It was a special night hosted
by PP Mike Butcher and new Past President ties were available to each
member. With various fines being imposed on the night PP Alan Carman
declared the Club was in a healthy financial position.
This weeks guest at our Monday meeting was no other than Rodney Howells the
District Governor of Rotary District 1080. Rodney expressed the need for
communication to Clubs and the general public and thus his monthly
newsletter was part of his enthusiasm to reach as many Rotarians as possible
with up to date news and topics. It was also essential for all Rotarians to
continue to look for new members as world wide numbers were on the decline,
and Rotarians could change the lives and conditions of so many people both
in the local community and at International level. Rodney was thanked for
his visit to our Club after answering many of the questions that were
topical put to him by the members.
Next week Mike Taylor will be guest speaker and his subject will be " Indian
Railways ".
An alternative report of the day !
March 28th 2011
Several members gave up their time last Saturday to make a bucket collection
outside Tesco Stores. The collection of just over £300 was for the Japanese
Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Fund. The Club was making this up to £500
and Alan Spinks had been asked to contact his son Richard in Japan with a
view to a direct donation to a Rotary Club near where he lives, to enable
that Club to use the donation most efficiently in the disaster area.
At Mondays meeting former Norwich City star, Jeremy Goss was introduced by
Bert Collins. Jeremy firstly gave a very shortened resume of his career in
football ,remembering some of his memorable moments, such as his goal scored
in the defeat of Bayern Munich in the Uefa Cup run of 1993 and what it was
like to play under the management of some famous coaches as Ken Brown,
Martin O'Neil and his association with Paul Lambert, the present Manager of
Norwich City.
However his talk was to emphasize his present role as the Events Fundraiser
for the NNAB, the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind. His desire
and commitment is as strong as ever to make a contribution to the lives of
some 20000 blind and partially sighted in Norfolk, and to that end, besides
organizing Charity Balls and Golf day, he has set himself a strenuous
challenge on a cycle. " Gossy's Back to Bayern Challenge ". This starts on
3rd August and is a punishing 1300- mile cycle ride from Norwich to Munich
and beyond to Inter Milan where the Canaries dream came to an end. He hopes
to cover about 100 miles a day. Jeremy delivered a most interesting talk
punctuated with lots of humour. John Wiseman thanked Jeremy in the usual
way.
Next week will see the visit to our Club of the District Governor of Rotary
District 1080, Rodney Howells.
Quiz Night at the Town Hall Friday March 25th. Great Yarmouth Rotary Club held its annual Charity Quiz in the Assembly Room of Great Yarmouth Town Hall . Haven were represented by Robert Price, Tony King, Terry Ashbourne and Charles Lewis, and the team came a creditable third in the Club & Societies grouping. Thanks are due to President John and the Apollo Public House for sponsoring the cost of team entry.
March 21st 2011
This week John Clarke introduced the well known Journalist and Broadcaster Tony Mallion. Tony firstly outlined his career in the newspaper industry and his role at Radio Norfolk, but essentially came to the Club for the third time to talk about his role as Editor of "Places and Faces" magazine. Places&Faces® is the glossy lifestyle magazine dedicated to luxury and the best things in life on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast - a showcase for the ultimate in luxury from fashion and cars, to watches, art, theatre, wine food and holidays. The magazine is monthly and distributed free to the very executive and exclusive homes located from Ludham on the edge of the Norfolk Broads to the picturesque Southwold on the Suffolk Coast. More recently this has been extended to the Norwich area. Its target audience is exclusively aimed at successful business professionals who have above average levels of disposable income. Tony paid tribute to Colin Huggins whose idea and vision this was ,for such a magazine to acknowledge the good things in the Waveney area and beyond. The magazine is high quality and is never less than 100 pages. Advertising comes in from all over Norfolk and Suffolk, the first edition was launched last April. There is a Suffolk edition and more recently a youth magazine " Expose" has been launched aimed at a younger audience and hence distributed mainly through colleges. Tony says "We live in a wonderful part of the world, complete with its vast skies and open spaces. From the delights of the coast, be it with summer sun or crashing waves, to the rivers and Broads we've got places of real character and people who are characters too". Jack Thorpe thanked Tony for a most interesting, informative talk ,delivered with his usual humour. Next week will see the visit of former Norwich City footballer Jeremy Goss.
March 14th 2011
Acting President Robert welcomed Rotarian guest Rachel Farrow from the Aylsham Rotary Club.
Before our guest speaker was introduced, Alan Spinks
gave an update on the situation in Japan where his son Richard now lives
about 300km from the centre of the quake, and confirmed he and his Japanese
family were save. The International committee would be meeting to discuss in
what way our Club could help the victims of the terrible disaster there.
Victor Ling was our guest speaker at Mondays meeting
and came to talk about his favourite charity. This was "Red Balloon Learner
Centres ".
The aim of Red Balloons is the recovery of bullied
children. The nearest branch is in Norwich.
They provide an 'intensive care' full-time education
for children aged between 9 and 18 who are unable to go to school because
they have been severely bullied. At least half of the students they take
have attempted or seriously considered suicide.
They promise the students whom they accept a safe
environment with clear boundaries for behaviour, and an individual full-time
academic, pastoral and therapeutic program. Once the students have regained
their confidence and are able to cope academically and socially, they
support them in their return to mainstream school, their entry to further
education or to employment.
Victor read out a moving account from one of the
students who had been severely affected by bullying at 2 schools and how he
had found the Red Balloon centre had been such an influence on his future
life.
On a personal level Victor had entered the London
Marathon to run for the Charity and was halfway to acheiving a goal of
raising £1000. He detailed his training regime and how hard it was to
prepare for the 26mile course but had achieved one of his goals of losing 2
stone in weight.
Ian Thomson on behalf of the Members wished him every success in his marathon venture next month.
March 7th 2011
A business meeting when Club Council and Committee decisions were conveyed to the Members and votes taken on the proposals.
Last Friday, Members and Guests
attended a quiz evening organized by Jack Thorpe of the Foundation
Committee, at The Burlington Hotel. Some 54 contestants took part .
The atmosphere was relaxed and people had a good time with lots of chatter
and laughter. A raffle was held and a surplus of some £200 was made on the
evening which will be added to the Foundation Committee target of £750 to
help relieve Polio world wide.
Mondays meeting was devoted to business
matters, and proposals were accepted by members to approve the donations to
some worthwhile good causes, from our Charity accounts.
£250 was pledged to Magdalen House toward a
potting shed for people suffering from Alzheimers disease. £250 was donated
to the local branch of The Salvation Army for their general fund, following
a talk given to the Club by SA Captain Bob Symonds. £250 was donated
to St.Johns Ambulance for their general fund.
The International Committee was pleased to
support a new Rotary Charity namely " Calls for Heroes ", which will give
extra call time for British troops in Afghanistan by the purchase of
Paradigm satellite phone cards. £500 was donated .Finally it was considered
that £250 would be donated to the Namisu Project (orphan village ) in
Malawi, which was outlined in a recent talk to the Club by Brenda Taylor. A
further pledge of £180 to cover the transport costs of single parent Ms.
Louise Ferguson to get her seriously ill daughter to Great Ormond Street
Hospital, for which the Great Yarmouth Mercury is coordinating support for
the family.
Next weeks speaker will be Victor Ling talking
about his favourite charity.
March 4th 2011
Great
Yarmouth Haven Rotary
Club held its annual
Quiz Night Friday, 4th
March, at the Burlington
Palm Court Hotel.
Some 54 contestants took
part of which 20 were
visitors and/or friends
of members.
The atmosphere was
relaxed and people had a
good time with lots of
chatter and laughter.
Terry and Pat
Ashbourne set the
questions and conducted
the quiz which covered a
wide range of
interests. We had a
break for a very nice
supper of hot chicken
and vegetables with
appropriate liquid
refreshment! The first
team were rewarded with
bottles of Bubbly, the
second with bottles of
wine and the third team
received boxes of
chocolates.
A raffle was
held and a surplus of
some £200 was made on
the evening which will
be added to the
Foundation Committee
target of £750 to
help relieve Polio world
wide."
February 28th 2011
This week’s speaker was Lewis Roberts who is an associate and researcher of Brandon Lewis the Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, but for those members who thought he would talk politics (heaven forbid, we don’t do such things) they were in for a surprise when they saw a state-of-the-art racing bicycle displayed in the dining room of the Burlington Palm Hotel. Lewis Roberts decided it would be more entertaining to give us a talk on his hobby of cycling and his membership of the Great Yarmouth Cycling Club and his illustrated talk turned out to be just so, he first learnt to ride a bicycle at the age of four but his real enthusiasm for the open road did not come until he was nine years old when he went on a cycling holiday to Suffolk with his parents pedalling 20/25 miles each day culminating in a sixty odd miles final day trip from Ipswich to Great Yarmouth. The cycling bug had really bitten by the time he was in his late teens an d he with a couple of friends cycled to Paris and since then numerous other trips to France and Italy. He is extremely enthusiastic about the Great Yarmouth Cycling Club and the various activities to help local residents to get involved in cycling. Our member Richard Coller then gave a demonstration on the cycle but soon complained of a sore rear! The vote of thanks was given by Monty Spandler.
February 21st 2011
A special meeting today with no guest speakers. Vice President Robert outlined a discussion on recruiting new membership. Several interesting ideas were put forward and there was a lively response from the members.
February 14th 2011
Our guest speaker this week was well known local ex mayoress Brenda Taylor.
In 2006 our Club donated £250 to Brenda to help an orphan village Namisu in
Malawi. With this a chicken hut was built and stocked with 500 chickens.
This has now been increased to 2 chicken huts housing over 1000 chickens.
Before this project the children were getting little protein and now can
have eggs every week and also have excess to sell in the market and become
self sufficient. Last November we donated another £150 to her appeal and
today ,Brenda told us of the purchase of 2 cows thus providing fresh milk
for babies. A fish farm was also established which has now started to
produce the right size fish for consumption. Benda's association with AQUAID,
a company that produces water containers and who donate generously 10p per
bottle sold, to Christian Aid, enabled the village to set up a centre for
disabled children, which immediately was filled with children from miles
around. Now these children have love and care which before they had never
had. What a blessing to each have a mosquito net of their own ! Brenda's
talk was fascinating and interesting and delivered with her usual enthusiasm
for her projects. After many questions, Mike Self thanked Brenda and wished
her well with future donations to Malawi.
February 7th 2011
Our guest speaker this week was Captain Brian Dyson who talked about the decline of the Merchant Navy. Brian who is now retired worked for several shipping companies moving through the ranks to become Chief Officer with the Furness Withy Shipping Company who are still operating to this day. Brian explained that with each appointment it meant a different cargo which brought new challenges and the chance to visit different countries. He also took up pilot duties which meant docking many different ships at several ports throughout the world which on occasions commanded very special skills in seamanship. It was while he was in Ecuador that he met his wife and they have now settled back in Norfolk to a much quieter life. Brian exploits gripped the members especially talking about those moments when very bad weather meant every body had a role to play and his nerves of steel would always come to the forefront in any emergency. His work took him too many countries and a life that many can only imagine but one which was very rewarding and equally demanding. The economic climate and the vast container ships have mainly been the cause of the decline and there is no doubt that we will not experience the level of shipping that once sailed the seas. There were many questions from the floor which showed the level of interest in Brian’s talk. Leslie Serbert gave the vote of thanks.
January 31st 2011
Captain Bob Symonds of the Salvation Army was introduced by Vice President Bob Price. Captain Symonds moved to Great Yarmouth about 18 months ago. He is a native of Lancashire and his posting to Great Yarmouth was his first as a fully-fledged Salvation Army Officer and he succeeds Captain Nigel Byrne who was at one time a member of our club. His wife is also an officer and they have 2 young children, the youngest being born soon after their arrival in Great Yarmouth. He gave a very interesting talk on the work of The Salvation Army, both locally and nationally and internationally. His mission features strongly on helping disadvantaged people in a practical manner and he is working closely with local authorities and the voluntary charitable sector. One particular service he has introduced at The Salvation Army Citadel is the provision of showers so that people without access to hot water can have a regular bath. They also provide food parcels and even sleeping bags to the needy. The vote of thanks was given by Des Sadler.
January 24th 2011
Our Club Member John Wiseman gave a very topical talk at this weeks meeting.
His subject was "The History of Bowls".
The indoor World Bowls Tournament had just
finished at Potters Leisure Resort at Hopton, so John had researched how the
sport had evolved and the change in the manufacture of the bowls and the
rules over centuries. It seems the Egyptians and Romans were playing a type
of similar sports maybe 7000 years ago. There are records of a club in
Southampton which was formed in 1299 and is still going strong today. In
1892 rules were drawn up in Scotland and in 1903 The English Bowls
Association was established. It is the second most popular sport in the
world next to Angling and is played all over the world. The depth of John's
talk was most fascinating and interesting, and followed many questions from
the members. It was fitting that Brian Potter of Potters Leisure Resort gave
the vote of thanks and added a few thoughts of the recent World Bowls
Tournament.
Next weeks speaker will be Rob Symonds from The
Salvation Army.
January 17th 2011
This weeks meeting was a business meeting.
A return visit of one of our
original Rotary Exchange students was Richard Spinks. Richard exchanged with
a Japanese student Michiko in 1991 and spent a year at a top Tokyo High
School in Japan. Following his studies at Sheffield University, he returned
to Japan to teach English in high schools. He now lives in Japan with his
wife Kazumi and has an important job in the Narita Airline Business College
teaching English to Airline staff, Immigration officers and Air Traffic
control personnel.
Next week John Wiseman will
speak on "The History of Bowls".
January 10th 2011
Regular meetings resumed this week at The Burlington Hotel. Our guest
speaker was John Lucas talking about his involvement with Great Yarmouth
First Responders. This scheme originated in America. After an emergency 999
call, the Ambulance service is usually about 8 minutes, but Norfolk being a
rural area , this may be more difficult ,hence often critical time is saved
if a Community First Responder can get to the patient first with life-saving
equipment.
A Community First
Responder Scheme is made up of groups of volunteers who, within the
community in which they live or work, have been trained to attend emergency
999 calls received by the Ambulance Service, providing potentially
lifesaving treatment and first aid until an emergency ambulance arrives.
Responders are members
of the community who are trained to use an Automated External Defibrillator
(AED), O2 and other lifesaving equipment to assist ambulance crews, and
maintain patient stability until the arrival of the Paramedics.
The Great Yarmouth First Responders scheme was setup
in May 2010 by John, who is also the SOS Responders coordinator.
The Great
Yarmouth First Responders scheme covers all areas of Great Yarmouth
including Gorleston and surrounding villages.
They were allowed to go
operational in December with borrowed kit due to weather conditions. They
are funded by voluntary donations.
The Great Yarmouth First
Responders attend as many community events as possible throughout the year
to raise awareness of the First Responders and to fundraise.
A very interesting talk
followed by many questions. John was thanked by Dr John Dawson.
Next week is a business
meeting.
January 3rd 2010
No Meeting.... New Year's Holiday.
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