Caroline was recognised for her with Beatsabar, a project music workshop based at Newhampton Arts Centre, helping disadvantaged and disenfranchised young people.
As a volunteer with the project Caroline leads groups in songwriting and music making activities helping them to increase their confidence, raise their self esteem and to help make positive changes in their lives.
The judges recognised Caroline as a true leader who is making a difference in her volunteer work through her compassion, commitment and attitude.
Annette was recognised for her commitment to improving outcomes for young people in Wolverhampton.
An active member of the City’s Youth Council, Annete was previously a member of the Whitmore Reans Youth Ambassadors which is a group who meet to highlight local issues affecting young people to decision makers in the City.
As Chair of the Culture and Diversity Forum she has helped to frame sexual health and healthy relationships content in the Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) curriculum.
Annette has also represented the City at the West Midlands Police Youth Summit as well as being part of the Dying to Talk project which seeks to spark conversations and disseminate knowledge about death, dying and bereavement amongst young people.
She has been an amazing representative for young people in Wolverhampton.
Ramandeep was recognised for her display of an outstanding level of kindness and commitment to helping others.
As a volunteer with the Midland Langar Seva Society, a charity for the homeless, she has supported some of the most vulnerable in the local community.
During Covid she was involved in the ”Spreading Kindness” project, regularly sending letters and pieces of artwork to elderly residents in care homes, helping them to feel less alone during those difficult times.
As an anti-bullying ambassador at Wolverhampton Girl’s High School Ramandeep has helped develop projects around the positive use of social media, how to deal with peer pressure and positivity challenges in order to support the mental health and well-being of students. She has also led and assisted with several fund raising events in school to support Save the Children, Islamic Relief and the Ukraine DEC appeal.
Molly was recognised for her volunteer work and as a volunteer with the Royal Life Saving Society helps to deliver weekly life saving skills and first aid training to young people in order to keep themselves and others safe.
During the 2020 lockdown Molly became a founding member and one of the leaders of the local NCS – National Citizen Service social action group where the numerous projects included collecting donations from the local community to help the more vulnerable and marginalized members of society to see them through the winter. She collected over 200 essential items which were donated to the Good Shepherd Shelter.
Molly’s passion for helping others has seen her work with Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation “Feed Our Pack” project, where she made and distributed over 250 food packages to the people of Wolverhampton who were most affected by the pandemic, and on projects to support the homeless.
Louis was recognised for his outstanding fundraising and volunteering work. In the last 11 years he has raised over £48,000 to help charities such as Birmingham Childrens Hospital, Compton Care and the Mayor’s Charity.
Despite facing ongoing health issues of his own, his volunteering work has and continues to help the elderly and the vulnerable in his community.
This week saw the award of Rotary’s Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award celebrating the personal courage, care for others, achievement or contribution to the community of some of the City’s most inspiring young people.
The event was hosted by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Sandra Samuels with Guest of Honour Lisa Webb, who was given Freedom of the City for both her charity work and her incredible bravery as a young teacher when she protected children from a knifeman at her school in 1996.
We’re taking the opportunity to recognise each of our finalists and to express our thanks to them for the difference which they are making in our community.
The four Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton would also like to extend our thanks to the Award patrons whose help makes the Awards possible:
Following the heaviest recorded summer rainfall for over a decade Pakistan has been hit with floods which have affected over 33 million people, over 15% of the country’s population, with at least 1,136 people losing their lives since the monsoon season began in June.
Early estimates from Pakistan’s planning minister, Ahsan Iqbal, put the cost of the damage at £8.5 billion, with remote communities cut off, communication lines damaged and 150 bridges destroyed.
Around 1 million homes in the affected areas have been damaged or destroyed, leaving behind millions in need of urgent shelter.
Tettenhall Rotary Club has made a donation to ShelterBox, Rotary’s global partner in disaster relief, who already have people on the ground.
Shelterbox are focusing their attention on the most affected areas of Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The charity has a huge amount of experience supporting communities affected by flooding having responded to flooding at least 75 times since 2000, providing emergency aid and support to tens of thousands of families around the globe.
The work of the charity – which was founded in Helston, Cornwall, UK by Rotarian Tom Henderson, OBE, with the support of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard – recognises that recovery starts with shelter. Having somewhere dry and warm to sleep, to prepare meals and be with your family is vital in helping people start the long process of rebuilding their lives. Emergency shelter offers privacy and helps to preserve dignity. It offers protection from the elements, animals and disease. It helps keep communities together. It can help to bring back a sense of normality, allowing children to go back to school. Most importantly, it empowers families to start the process of getting back on their feet.
In addition to tents and tarpaulins each Shelterbox contains essential items such as water purification equipment, tools and cooking utensils to help those affected recover and to rebuild their homes.
From Cameroon to Syria, all the way to the Philippines and the Caribbean, Shelterbox have provided shelter to over 2 million people so far. You can help to support their work by donating now at https://shelterbox.org/donate/
Wolverhampton’s four local Rotary Clubs and the James Beattie Charitable Trust have teamed up to offer small grants to local groups.
We’ve got a fund of £10,000 available to help individuals, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise groups working in our community to overcome problems arising from deprivation, poverty, disability and lack of opportunity.
This new fund follows on from similar schemes in earlier years which have demonstrated how small grants can have a big impact, helping individuals and groups through challenging times.
Groups and individuals who are established in their communities can apply for grants of between £250 and £500.
Applicants will be expected to demonstrate how a grant would make a difference to the well-being of local people and open up opportunities for them to develop their abilities and skills.
We’ll need to know the number of people who will benefit from the grant and the extent and duration of the impact on them and the community. People benefiting from the grant must have a connection to the Wolverhampton area in terms of living or working in the City, or receiving services from an organisation based there.
Complete and email your application (as a Word attachment) to rotarysmallgrants@gmail.com by no later than 10th October 2022. Please quoting CFS22 in the subject line followed by the name of your organisation.
What happens next?
You’ll receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application will then be evaluated by an assessment team, who may need to contact you to ask for further information by email or telephone.
By 1st December you’ll be receive an email from us telling you whether or not your application has been successful – payments to successful applicants will be made very shortly afterwards.
Are you a young musician? Do you want the chance to perform in front of an audience and get feedback from experienced judges? The Rotary Young Musician competition will be held at Wolverhampton Music School at 2:30pm on Sunday 5th February. Any amateur young musician can enter providing you’re in full time education and no older than 18 on 31st August 2022.
You’ll need to sing or play two contrasting pieces of any style and your programme mustn’t be longer than 10 minutes. You can be an instrumentalist or vocalist of any level, and you can enter individually or through your music teacher. You’ll be performing in front of experienced judges who will be giving supportive feedback to help you develop – and you might win!
Rotary believes that education is a right for all and that it strengthens our communities – because of this promoting literacy in one of our core areas of focus.
The annual cost to the UK economy alone of adults leaving school without being able to read, write and communicate successfully has been estimated at £2.5 billion. That problem is likely to have been made worse in recent years as school children have been denied the education they deserve due to the impact of the Covid pandemic.
In order to provide a safe environment for its pupils the Kings Church of England School in Tettenhall had to disband its library during Lockdown and once restrictions were lifted it became a priority for the School to open a proper library to help encourage a love of reading.
Tettenhall Rotary Club has been working with the School and its pupils to help re-open their library and to stock it with a diverse range of books from authors from a range of cultures and heritages reflecting the diverse backgrounds of the School’s pupils. The library has been designed to nurture the love of reading among all of the School’s pupils, many who may be without access to books at home.
With the help of The Rotary Foundation £4,000 has been donated to the project – a project which the School knows will not only improve pupil’s reading skills, but will also help to deliver better exam results. When we improve pupils’ literacy skills and help them to achieve better results, we create opportunities for them to continue in education, gain further qualifications and to access more, and improved, opportunities.
