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March 1st 2010

 

                On Wednesday evening the Foundation Committee organised a quiz night that was held at the Burlington Hotel. With 16 teams taking part there were some surprises when the favourites to win came fifth.  This event was most  enjoyable due to the hard work of the organising committee   raising £267 for their current project..

                 Richard Delf introduced this weeks quests who were  Teacher Emma Horne, pupils Francesca Thrower and Dan Smith (both 14 years of age ) from Acle High School. The two pupils are part of a group of 13  who are supporting a  project in Jericho , a town in Kenya which is helping the Stereheh School for boys. They are raising money that will allow them to take books, sports equipment pens, pencils and similar items to the school whist helping them with their studies  during their visit. They are hoping to raise enough money to supply the children  with porridge every day for a  year. They explained how this project was  started and with the aid of a slide presentation members were able to see the area and the smiles  on the children's faces  during the 2009 trip. During their visit they would have the opportunity to go on a safari which would no doubt be something not be missed.     Dan explained that  each pupil has to raise £1200 to cover their travel and accommodation. Francesca gave an overview of how they were  managing to achieve this amount by way of Coffee Mornings, Tributes Nights and other sponsored events. Rotarian Leslie Seabert wished the pupils every success in meeting their gaol and felt that it would be a most memorable trip,. Rotarian Bill Cook will be arranging  next weeks speaker.  

 

February 22nd 2010

 

                          At this weeks meeting Rotarian Colin Brooks introduced Bridget Lowe, a committee member of East Coast Hospice. This project is to build a ten bed hospice to be called the Margaret Chadd House with a building and landscaped gardens which will inspire hospitality, care and well being to patients, staff and their families. It will play a vital role in supporting people with incurable illnesses as well as their family and friends. A local independant charity run for the local area. She explained that this is a project needed for the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area. The East Coast Hospice formally known as Yare Hospice Care was formed in 2007 as a result of The Marie Curie Delivery Choice findings that there was a need in this area for in-patient care, and would be different from the Palliative Care East project currently at the James Paget Hospital. The ECH is a charity and is not funded by Government and the funding to be raised would be up to £5000000.  The aim to build an in-patient hospice combined with a day care centre between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Already 2 charity shops are run in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston and a further one to be opened in Lowestoft.
Bridget gave a brief history of Hospices, starting in the 11th century ,known worldwide as places of refuge and for care of the dying. The first in London in 1892 was St Josephs, quickly followed by others, offering a holistic approach both mentally and spiritually. A very interesting and informative talk, thanked by Rotarian Des Sadler on behalf of the club. Any support and information can be obtained from their website www.eastcoasthospice.co.uk . Secretary Terry has further details if more information is neded.
 

 

February 15th 2010

 

                         Rotarian Jack Thorpe and his wife Jean hosted a Curry Evening at their Hemsby home on Friday which was well supported by the members and their wives raising £425 for the Foundation Committee.  Vice President John Burroughs thanked the hosts for organising the evening and opening up their home to the members.  More info here....

                         On Monday the club speaker was Jessica Hiscocks who is a Community Fundraiser for the East Anglia ’s Children’s Hospice.  Jessica outlined the services provided at the Hospices including short break care, specialist play and music therapy, end of life care and bereavement support for all the family members.  EACH is a registered charity which relies on public support for 75% of its required income of around £5.5 million per year.  Jessica explained that they have recently opened a Charity shop in Lowestoft and planned events for the coming year include a Sponsored Cycle Ride and a Toe Dip at Lowestoft .  This was a moving presentation which reflected the struggle of young children and their families when life threatening illnesses prevail.  At the end of the presentation the President Mike Erskine and Chairman of the Community Service Committee Bob Price presented Jessica with a £100 cheque together with proceeds from the ‘Heads and Tail’ fundraiser held during lunch.  The club has acquired a mini  hoist, suitable for a large estate car, MPV or similar vehicle.  The owner has requested a donation for the hoist which cost just under £1000.  For more information about the hoist including fitting arrangements then please contact Rotarian Robert Lovick 01692 670

 

 

 

Alan Carman arranged for Jessica of EACH to talk about the hospice.

President Mike presents the cheques to Jessica, with Community Services Chairman Bob Price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 8th 2010

 

                      

                       It was the recent disaster in Haiti that was featured in this week’s presentation by Gary Francis from the organisation called the ‘Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters’.  Gary has just returned from the earthquake area and gave an overview of the work undertaken by his team.  Gary has been part of the group for 14 years and with regular training was given leave as a serving Metropolitan Polices Officer to  travel firstly to Santo Domingo and then onto Port-au-Prince.  His group was one of the first teams to arrive in the Dominican Republic as they were unable to fly directly to Haiti .  Due to the fact that there was no official reception centre Gary and his fellow members undertook the task of co-ordinating the deployments of other teams until the UN Officials arrived.   Having been relieved from this deployment they were quickly assigned to sectors and their work could finally begin.  Due to the fact that one of his team members could speak Spanish and French they were able to communicate with the local residents who were desperate to find family members thought to be buried under the rubble.  Gary was able to show the members several slide pictures of the area especially the devastation and the dangers they faced entering buildings that were badly damaged and with the thought that further after shocks could occur.  As a registered charity they get no state funding and on average each deployment costs about £20.000, so they have to raise money from public donations. It was pleasing to hear that many of the shelter boxes sent by Rotary Clubs had been seen in use and he admitted that equipment such as tents and generators taken by them were left for the local people to use.  Rotarian Brian Potter gave the vote of thanks.

 

 

February 1st 2010

 

                       

                      On Wednesday ( more info ) the Club held a fund-raising event  at the Yarmouth Greyhound Stadium and organiser Bob Price would like to thank all the sponsors who ultimately made the evening such a success. 

                      This Monday it was Rotarian Mike Butcher who gave a presentation which incorporated his visit in 1995 to Antarctica .  However the talk began with a brief resumes of the explorer Edward Shackleton who in 1914 tried to navigate the Antarctica route but his ship became stuck in the thick polar ice and eventually broke up and sank.  The group had to use the lifeboats for shelter and continue the rest of expedition by boat and on foot.  Part of the final root back to civilisation taken by Shackleton was undertaken by Mike and the rest his group while visiting the area and especially the section where they slid on ice to Stromness which was exactly what the ‘Boss’ Shackleton did as they completed the last part of the journey.  Sadly Shackleton died in 1922 during his final expedition and is buried in South Georgia .  Mike then did a power point slide show of his visit which included stunning views of the landscape including Aicho Island , Paradise Harbor and Salisbury Plain.  Naturally he included the breathtaking icebergs and many different types of birds, seals and penguins that kept the visitors company throughout their stay.  Robert Parker thanked Mike for sharing his holiday experience and giving the members a short insight into one of Shackleton's explorations.

 

January 25th 2010

 

                        At this weeks meeting Rtn Bob Price introduced his guest , Rev. Chris Terry , the new rector of Great Yarmouth.

Our speaker ,introduced by Rotarian John Clark was Dr David Watson. He is associated with the Christian Charity, “Fields of Life”. This charity is in the UK and Ireland, established in 1995. The original vision to pioneer a training farm developed into a needs based response to build a primary school for the local community. Over 55 schools have now been built with over 20000 children receiving education and offering an opportunity for survival and hope for the future.

Dr David illustrated his talk with slides and explained his passion for his school “ School of Sure Foundation” in Uganda, which he has helped to build and provide education and medical care. This was built for £40000 and educates 300 children, mainly orphans and the impoverished. Leprosy is still a big problem there and also many need reading glasses which he always needs as donations from the general public. He is particularly interested in helping the many disabled children. Once mobility can be given , this leads to schooling and then ultimately to being a useful citizen in the community. Families live in very crowded small houses and scabies and lice is a very big distressful condition.

Dr David’s latest project is to build adjoining accommodation with in-house boarding facilities both for boys and girls. He also was concentrating on drilling bore holes in the school grounds to enable everyone to have access to clean water. He loved Uganda and the people, who always appeared happy with obvious hardship.

A very informative and interesting talk and Dr David was thanked on behalf of the Club by Rotarian Graham Plant.

 

January 18th 2010

 

                       A business meeting today when Committee Chairmen gave their reports to all members , following a Club Council meeting last week.

 

Haven Rotary Club Sends Aid to Haiti

Great Yarmouth Haven Rotary Club were pleased to announce at their Monday lunchtime meeting that the club would be sending 10 Shelter Boxes to the humanitarian disaster at Haiti as a result of the recent earthquake. Such purchases are only possible due to the generosity by the general public who support many fund raising events throughout the year. 

These shelter boxes are usually packed with one (sometimes two) ten-person tent(s). Other items can include insulated sleeping mats and thermal blankets, water purification tablets, water purification kits, water containers/carriers, a trenching shovel, a multi-fuelled cook stove, eating utensils and plates, a children’s' activity kit and other essential items.  Many shelter boxes have already arrived in Port au Prince and you can experience how the boxes are helping the humanitarian effort by visiting the Website at www.shelterbox.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Mike Erskine and Vice Chairman Ian McCreadie of the International Committee discuss the Haiti disaster and the help being given by Rotary Clubs throughout the world.

 

 

                      

January 11th 2010

 

                      The club members always look forward to a sparkling presentation from a formidable speaker namely Rotarian Peter Bondi and they were not disappointed with his talk.  Peter has a passion for food and enjoys cooking and entertaining which gives him the opportunity to spoil his guests and for them to enjoy the experience.  His talk related to ‘Lunch’ and how for him it is a very important part of the day, to be enjoyed and embraced for all the right reasons.  He then explained the great evolutionary leap and how some 1.9 million years ago man became distinct from other primates that existed at that time and what lunch had to do with it. 

Having talked about the many changes to our bodies it was the early humans who started to cook which eventually changed their digestive system and caused the development of the brain.  So by some 200,000 years ago anatomically mans body shape was to all intense and purposes the same as ours.  For Peter lunches are not a chore and with his career in hotel management spanning back some 30 years he was able to share his belief that there is no better way of winning new clients than to allow them to be entertained over lunch at his hotel.  Peter then produced a bottle of ‘Poire Williams'  eau de vie with the pear inside that had been given to him by a Frenchman over 20 years ago.   He explained how the pear is grown inside the bottle and the expense in keeping the pear covered with the Poire Williams, which somehow seems to evaporate very quickly in his house at Potter Heigham. Once again Peter incorporated some interesting facts flavoured with humour which delighted the members.   The vote of thanks was given by Rotarian Ian McCreadie and was in subject terms ‘An Excellent Choice.’

                       Next Monday’s meeting will be dealing with business matters.

 

 

January 4th 2010

                     After the Christmas break the club enjoyed a good attendance with only a few absent members.   Rotarian Mike Spalding introduced this week’s speaker Gordon Bailey who is the brother of club member Norman.  Gordon’s talk related to his passion for the game of ‘Bridge’ and how it changed his life style for several years after he had retired.  It was while he was on a cruise celebrating his Silver Wedding and enjoying a game of’ ‘Bridge’ that it was suggested to him that as he was so skilled in the game he should consider sending his CV to the Cruise companies, with a view to giving lessons on board the ships.  He gained further qualifications and then successfully applied for a position with Saga and was soon off on his first working cruise.  This meant that he travelled to many countries including Dubai. Dakar, the Caribbean and Greenland.  His wife Val accompanied him and although she played the game she was never meant to be part of the group with Gordon but on one occasion she had no choice and by all accounts she was a formidable player.  Gordon then went on to talk about some of the countries that had the opportunity to visit and made the statement that for him ‘life certainly did start at 71’.  Junior Vice-Precedent Robert Lovick gave the vote of thanks.

Rotarian Peter Bondi will be next week’s speaker.

 

 

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Updated: 03/03/2010

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The club meets every Monday (except Bank Holidays) at  Burlington Hotel, North Drive, Great Yarmouth at 1.00 p.m. 

 

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