Category: Youth

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Young Citizen Award – Sophie Evans

Although its called the Wolverhampton Young Citizen Award nominations aren’t restricted to young people living in the City.

Finalist Sophie Evans lives just over the border in Sedgley but as her Grandparents live in Bilston many of her activities have always been in Bilston.

A member of the scouting movement from the age of 6 Sophie represented the Wolverhampton East District at the World Scout Jamboree in Norway in 2011 and as a member of Wolverhampton East District Explorer scouts has become a young Leader and, as of this year, an assistant Cub Scout leader and continues to give her time freely.

The scouting movement changes lives by offering 6- to 25-year-olds fun and challenging activities, unique experiences, everyday adventure and the chance to help others so that we make a positive impact in communities. The work which Sophie does helps children to reach their full potential by developing skills such as teamwork, time management, leadership, initiative, planning, communication, self-motivation, cultural awareness and commitment – helping young people to get jobs, save lives and even change the world.

Sophie now attends Halesowen College where she hopes to continue with Childcare, being motivated and aspiring to work with disabled children. In addition, she works with special needs youngsters, having given her time to support many fund Raising activities with a group who meet in Prouds Lane Bilston helping to raise the £2000 required each year to maintain and run the building. She consistently offers her help willingly and has a real passion for helping and supporting young people.

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Wolverhampton Youth Orchestras Pre Tour Concert 2015

The six Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton have been supporting the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Youth Wind Orchestra for 22 years now and the Orchestras annual pre tour concert has become a regular feature of our calendars.

The support which the clubs give to the concert together with the support of local businesses ensures that all of the Orchestras members are able to take part in their annual summer tour no matter their families financial circumstances..

This years tour sees the Orchestras taking part in music festivals throughout Central Spain.

An established part of the concert is the award of the various certificates of excellence which these talented young musicians have earned during the course of the year and special congratulations went to Wolverhampton Young Musician of the Year Antnio D’Souza.
Our thanks got to Conductors Keith Sedgebeer and Ian Brailsford and to all of the members of the Orchestras for a wonderful evenings entertainment.
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Help Support Our Youth Orchestras

Wolverhampton Youth Wind Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra hold their pre tour concert at the Civic Hall on Thursday evening,

It’s an event supported by all of the Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton and you can help by joining us for a great nights entertainment in support of their Summer Tour – tickets are only £7 and can be purchased from Alan Russell at Prontaprint in Chapel Ash – (01902) 771177.

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Young Citizen Award – Remembering Tom Warren

Since Rotary was established in 1905 the honour and responsibility of heading up this remarkable organisation has fallen to just five Rotarians from the UK.

One of these, Tom Warren CBE, was from Wolverhampton and tonight the five Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton joined together to honour his memory at our annual Young Citizen Award

Tom joined the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton in 1922, becoming the Clubs President in 1928, and serving as District Chairman in 1930 and National President in 1937.

As a Vice President of the International Rotary movement in 1941 his eloquent address to the annual Convention broadcast from an underground BBC studio in London, relayed to Long Island and from there on to Denver, is credited as one of the factors which helped to bring America into the war.

In July 1945 he was appointed President of Rotary International – only the second Briton ever to fill this role – and on stepping down became one of a small group charged with drafting what was to become the Charter of the United Nations.

Throughout this period, until he retired to take up his role as leader of Rotary worldwide, he served as Wolverhampton Council’s Director of Education. Tom cared passionately about young people helping to form the first ATC unit in the town, promoting the Scouting movement and running programmes to help  turn around the lives of young offenders.

In light of his commitment to supporting youth development it’s fitting that the City’s Rotary Clubs in association with the City Council and the Express & Star, supported by Waitrose and Wolverhampton West Magazine, should come together in his memory to stage the Wolverhampton Young Citizen Award recognising those young people in the City who demonstrate those same values of service to others that Tom exemplified.

The Award is made to a young person who has gone the extra mile – whose personal courage or contribution to the community should be recognised and celebrated.

A commemorative blue plaque was erected on the Brittania Hotel earlier this year in honour of Tom’s decades of contributions to the City. The plaque was unveiled by Tom’s grand-daughter Alison Sykes who we were honoured to have join us as our guest at this evenings Awards ceremony.

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The Rotary KidsOut Day Out

The first Rotary KidsOut Day Out took place in 1990 and since then Clubs from around the country have taken over 25,000 disadvantaged children on a fun day out every year.

The Day Out provides the children with an experience that brings both fun and happiness into their lives. This year the Club had the pleasure of treating a group of children from Penn Fields School to spend a fun filled day at the Drayton Manor Theme Park.

More than 100 venues and 1700 Rotary volunteers make the Day Out the success that it is and our thanks go out to Drayton Manor and to all of the staff there who gave such a welcome to the kids – we can only hope the armoured dinosaur has got over the shock of meeting the other dinosaurs who accompanied the children.

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Rotary Service Shield Award 2012

The moto of Rotary International is ‘Service Above Self’ and it’s not only a moto that Rotarians live by but an idea which we look to encourage in others. One of the ways that we encourage this service ethos is to recognise the work of others and this year we have presented Smestow School with the Rotary Service Shield to be awarded annually to the student who best demonstrates this quality.

This year’s recipient is Grace Wylde who received her award at the school’s presentation evening tonight. In addition to the engraved shield, Grace received a certificate from President Ian and was presented with a personal cheque and a cheque to be given to her chosen charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer by Dal Kalirai representing Midcounties Cooperative Society, who have kindly sponsored this years award.

Breakthrough Breast Cancer works to save lives through enabling and ensuring access to improvements in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Headteacher Martyn Morgan said ‘We recommended Grace for the award because she is a carer who managed to balance her responsibilities at home with participating in the life of the school and achieving good GCSE results with great determination and courage’.

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HRH The Earl of Wessex

The Royal School in Wolverhampton is proud of its long association with the Royal Family and today staff and pupils of the junior school had the honour of a visit from their patron His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO.

The entire student body turned out to greet HRH and they were joined by several members of Tettenhall Rotary Club who as part of their service to our community are involved with the work of the School.

Club members Harun Rashid and Sammy Chung, both of who are Governors of the School, were presented to HRH and Club member Bert Finch explained to HRH our involvement with the School’s new Interact Club and the excellent start which the Interactors have made.

Both the children and our Club members thoroughly enjoyed meeting HRH who subsequently unveiled a commemorative plaque which is to be placed next to an oak tree planted as the culmination of the 80th Anniversary celebrations of The Royal Junior School.

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School Dictionary Presentations

Early literacy training is critical to the success of a child’s later education and in 1985 Rotary recognised this by declaring basic literacy to be a pre-condition to the development of peace. Rotarians around the world now work with children, parents, and teachers on projects encouraging and building reading skills at an early age.

As part of  this programme the Tettenhall Club has been taking part in the Dictionaries 4 Life project and throughout July members have been visiting local schools to take part in Year 6 Leavers Assemblies and presenting graduating students with their own personal dictionary.

The project aims to help the children to  become good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary. By using dictionaries efficiently children can explore spellings, meanings and derivations with understanding. One of the most positive aspects of being able to use a dictionary is that it helps to develop autonomy and confidence in the learner — one of the core goals of education.

This year members of the Club have presented dictionaries to over 250 local school children. Over the years that the project has been operating the presentation has become an established part of the Leavers Assemblies with students using the Dictionaries as unofficial year books which are signed by their teachers and fellow students as a memory of their time together.

We wish each of the children success in their continuing education and hope that the Dictionary will help them in their schoolwork as awell as being a useful reference tool for all of the family.

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Wolverhampton Youth Orchestras Pre Tour Concert 2012

As young athletes from around the world converge on the UK to represent their countries in the London Olympics Wolverhampton is preparing a couple of teams of its own to send out into the world to represent the City.

Each Summer the Wolverhampton Youth Wind Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra take their show onto the road as they tour a different part of Europe. This evening saw their pre tour concert as they gave their supporters a gold medal performance of the music that they will be performing for audiences in Malta and Gozo over the coming weeks.



The Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton have been supporting the Orchestras Summer Tours for 19 years now helping to ensure that all of the Orchestras members are able to take part in the tour no matter their families financial circumstances. The support which Rotary and other sponsors give to the two Orchestras is more than amply repaid by the dedication and talent of these fine young musicians and an established part of the evening is the award of the various certificates of excellence which they have earned during the course of the year. Special congratulations go to Wolverhampton Young Musician of the Year Matthew Leach and for his wonderful performance of Horovitz’s Concerto for Euphonium. That so many of the musicians are able to reach such a high standard across several instruments is a testament to their own talent and dedication and to the invaluable support which the Wolverhampton Music School and Conductors Keith Sedgebeer and Ian Brailsford give to them.

One of the most important aspects of Rotary to the members of the Tettenhall Club is the fellowship within the Club and its wonderful to see that same spirit within the Youth Orchestras as so many former members who have gone onto Universities around the country make a point of coming home for these Concerts to show their support for the current members.


We wish all of the members of the Orchestra success in the Tour – they will be great representatives of our City.

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Fordhouses Air Training Corp

Tettenhall Rotary has been a long term supporter of the 1046 Air Training Corp Squadron in Fordhouses. In the past we’ve given financial assistance which has enabled the Squadron to purchase a minibus of its own and to undertake overseas trips to visit the battlefields of Normandy. Following the recent theft of field kitchen equipment from their base a donation of £750 from the Club has helped them to replace the stolen items. Club member Les Bouts works closely with the Squadron to assist with its activities.



The ATC aims to encourage a spirit of adventure and to develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship – aims which the Rotary movement shares and which are so evidently embodied in Cadet Warrant Officer Mia Webb who was our guest speaker at tonight’s meeting.


Mia initially joined the Squadron seven years ago and since that time she has risen to attain the highest rank available to a cadet and was recognised as the best cadet in the Midlands when she was appointed the Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet for the West Midlands. Membership has given her the opportunity to fly planes and gliders, to learn to shoot and to take part in expedition training camps and field trips to France – opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to her. The ATC works closely with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and many cadets work towards achieving these awards – Mia herself is just completing her Gold award.

Its clear that the Squadron’s activities are fostering valuable life skills in the Cadets such as team working, leadership and communication skills, self discipline and self reliance and an undoubted confidence in their ability – skills which will enable them to succeed in life whether or not they choose to join the RAF.

We look forward to continuing our support for the Squadron and our thanks go to Mia for giving us an insight into its working and to Flight Lieutenant Steve Baker and the other Staff members at the Squadron for all of their work with the Cadets.