We always look forward to the first Sunday of July and the opportunity to join Tettenhall Round Table at their annual Summer Fete. it’s a great family event and a wonderful opportunity for the Village to come together on Upper Green. Supported by many of the Village’s societies the event regularly raises over £10,000 to benefit local good causes.
After a showery start it turned into a beautiful afternoon with more than 400 people visiting our Nok Em Off stall and helping to raise over £200 for Rotary charities.
As usual we were joined by the ladies from Tettenhall Inner Wheel raising money with their bric a brac stall and this year saw the first appearance at the Fete by President Rebecca and the other members of the Royal School Interact Club with their Human Fruit Machine. The Interactors are raising money for the Madina Basic Cycle School in The Gambia and for Compton Hospice.
The 43rd day of the Olympic Torch tour of the UK saw it visit Wolverhampton today. Many of the torch bearers are being recognised for the volunteer work which they undertake in their communities. The flame was carried through Wolverhampton by Jamie Ward a young athlete who runs for the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletic Club. Jamie encourages others to participate in sports and also raises funds for the athletics club and his local youth football team.
Today also sees the last day of the Rotary year and for President John the end of his Presidential year. John’s Club theme for the year was ‘Fun with a Purpose’ and he set out to build upon the already strong fellowship within the Club to enable us to significantly increase the support which we provide to our local community and in particular to support the new Rotary and Volunteer Suite at Compton Hospice. The hard work which John and his team have put in has certainly paid off with this year seeing the Club raise the second highest amount of charity funds in its history as well as having a great time in the process. The opportunity to hold the Torch as it passed through Wolverhampton was a great way for John to mark the end of such a successful year.
With the support of members of the Tettenhall Club eighteen students, between Years 9 and 13, from The Royal School Wolverhampton have today joined together to establish a new Interact Club at the School.
Interact Clubs are a service club for young people aged 12 – 18 giving them the opportunity to become involved in fundraising activities to support both local and international projects with the goal of furthering international understanding and good will. The new Club’s first international project will benefit The Madina Basic Cycle School in The Gambia and they have already raised £370 through the collection of reusable clothing.
Interact Clubs are self-governing and self-supporting, and through participation, students are given an opportunity to “lead, serve and connect” – to gain experience in developing leadership skills, holding positions of responsibility, developing personal integrity, helpfulness and respect for others by doing something meaningful and useful for local and international communities and to develop international links. Participation in Interact not only develops personal skills but the values of individual responsibility and hard work. Participation can also support elements of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and is highly commendable as an addition to a university or future job application.
Today President John had the pleasure of inaugurating the new Club and installing Rebecca Reid as its first President. President John welcomed the Club into the family of Rotary and went on to say: “Tettenhall Rotary Club is proud to be the sponsors of the new Royal School Interact Club. We pledge our continued support and encouragement for all you seek to do and wish you every success and much enjoyment in your future activities”. Rotary District Chairman, Barry Preen, joined us to present the new Club with its Charter and commended the new club members for their initiative and commitment.
In 1989 John Moores, the founder of the Littlwoods chain, came up with the idea of running an outing for local disabled children. The day was such a success that he looked to replicate it in other parts of the country and he turned to his local Rotary Club for help to turn it into a national event.
The event has now given birth to the Kids Out charity and every June Rotary Clubs throughout Britain and Ireland together with KidsOut take over 25,000 disadvantaged children on a great big day out. The children visit the seaside, theme parks, adventure playgrounds & zoos giving them all wonderful memories to cherish for a lifetime.
As part of this Tettenhall Rotarians palyed host today to 30 children from the Penn Fields School in Wolverhampton who joined us for an exciting day on the rides at Drayton Manor Park. All of the children had a wonderful time and our thanks go to all of the management and staff at the Park who helped to make such a great day for the kids.
As the current Rotary year nears its end Clubs around the country are holding their Assembly meetings giving their incoming Presidents the opportunity of setting out their objectives for the coming year and introducing the team who will help them to lead the Club in its fund raising and fellowship activities.
Local jeweller Ian Rigby takes over as President of the Tettenhall Club in July and at this evenings Assembly meeting Ian set out his own vision for the Club during his year of office. Ian will be concentrating on ensuring the already strong fellowship within the Club is strengthened further and will look to enhance the Club’s presence in the local community in the belief that Rotarians are never happier than when bringing happiness to others.
Ian will be assisted by:
Sammy Chung – President Elect
John Francis – Immediate Past President
Ernie Edwards – Junior Vice President and Treasurer John Margetts – Secretary
Les Boutts – Sergeant at Arms Ken Swash – Fellowship Roger Timbrell – Community Service
Chris Kraushar – Fund Raising Chris Bowyer – Sleigh
MikeUnwin -Programme
Brian Nicholson – Membership David Cave – Communications
Ivan Hill – Foundation
Doug Evans – International
Derek Evans – New Generation
Greg Instone – Attendance Stuart Herrity – Sport
Wasil Bucczkowski – Regalia
Bert Finch – Family of Rotary
Ian wants to make sure that every member feels involved in the operation of the Club and with that in mind each member has been allocated to work with one of the committee chairs. We’re grateful to all of the Committee Chairs who are helping Ian in the coming year and they can all be sure of our support.
Assistant District Governor Carol Reilly attended the meeting as the representative of District Governor Elect Trevor Davies and commended the Club on the work which it was already undertaking in the local community and on Ian’s plans to extend this in the coming year.
May is stroke awareness month Every five minutes in the UK someone has a stroke and more than 40% of these could be prevented if high blood pressure was controlled. It’s the highest risk factor for stroke.
Working with our NHS partners members of the Club today joined Rotarians from other City Clubs in Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Centre to help to tackle this statistic by promoting a Know Your Blood Pressure event and encouraging shoppers to take a range of simple tests including blood pressure, blood sugar and body fat tests to help establish if they were at risk of Stroke.
The event was a great success with over 500 people tested and in a further 10 venues across the greater Black Country area over 1250 people were checked. Over the 9 years the event has been taking place 13 thousand people have now been tested helping to save lives and to reduce the burden of this disease on the NHS.
Our thanks go to the management of the Wulfrun Centre for their help in staging the event and to the many NHS volunteers who gave of their time to administer the tests.
It’s always good to raise money to support our local charities but there can’t be many better ways to do that than by spending a day on the golf course in the company of friends.
28 teams of two competed in this years Tettenhall Rotary Golf Day taking part in a Stableford ‘better ball’ competition.
The day was hosted bySouth Staffs Golf Club – a Club well known to many of our members and which may help to explain the eventual success of winning Club member Don Crofts his partner, Nick Weaver. The ‘longest drive’ prize went to Martin Wooding and Ian Guest was ‘nearest the pin’ on the 6th Hole.
In all the event raised £2,400 for Compton Hospice and we’re grateful to all of our sponsors and to everyone who participated in and supported a wonderful days sport.
Local historian Roy Stallard has, as a former nurse himself, a keen interest in the history of the health services in Wolverhampton.
Roy joined us this evening to explain the role played by the Wolverhampton hospitals in treating wounded service men in the two world wars and the support which they received from community organisations and the citizens of the town to help the wounded in their recovery.
To some of the Club’s older members the talk was a trip down memory lane as they recalled as boys having watched the wounded being transferred into ambulances at Tettenhall railway station for the journey to the Royal Hospital.
Following the redevelopment of the Royal Hospital site by Tesco Roy will be maintaining a display on the site showcasing the history of the hospital. Our thanks go to Roy for helping to keep the City’s history alive and for sharing it with us.
President John joined Wolverhampton Mayor Councillor Bert Turner and local MP Gavin Williamson at Wightwick Hall School today for the opening of the school’s new Starfish Café.
The School has recently reviewed its curriculum to place a greater emphasis on workplace activity in order to better prepare its students for the world of work and the new café forms an integral part of this new skills based curriculum. The work which the school is undertaking with its partners aims to address the under-representation in the workforce of young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
Members of the Club have worked with the School for several years to help develop its annual business and enterprise competitions and we’re looking forward to supporting the students in this latest venture.
The Wolverhampton MS Therapy Centre has been helping local people affected by the disease for over 25 years now and Rotarians have been involved in its work from the very beginning.
The Centre operates a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber which helps to relieve the extreme fatigue which sufferers feel. It also offers a range of physiotherapy and reflexology services designed to alleviate some of the more distressing symptoms of the disease and to help sufferers to cope a little better with everyday life.
The Centre has recently acquired additional premises which it is in the course of developing to provide further support for its users. President John and Community Service chair Roger Timbrell had the pleasure of visiting the facility themselves today in order to see first hand the work which is being undertaken and to show the Tettenhall Club’s support by presenting Centre Chairman (and Wolverhampton Rotarian) Peter Williams and Centre Manager Brenda Smith with a cheque for £2,000.
The donation represents part of the money raised by the Club during our Sleigh collections over the Christmas period when over £6,000 was raised to support local charities. The Centre will use the money to buy additional equipment for their new premises.
