What We’re Doing

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Doing Good with ShelterBox in the Phillipines

Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in the Philippines are now homeless and without clean water or food in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Their situation is desperate.

With winds of 195mph, the typhoon is the largest storm ever recorded to make landfall and current reports indicate that upwards of 10,000 people may have lost their lives. Further reports are filtering through of ‘utter devastation’ across the main city of Tacloban and the islands of Samar and Leyte. The need to get shelter and essential aid to those affected is immense.

Rotary’s Project Partner ShelterBox has moved quickly to put teams on the ground in the Philippines and they are moving emergency shelter and other vital aid already located in the Philippines and neighbouring countries to the worst affected areas.

The ShelterBox solution in disaster response is as simple as it is effective – they deliver the essentials a family needs to survive in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, groundsheets, water storage and filtration equipment, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

Rotary clubs throughout the world have been supporting ShelterBox in this vital work and this week President Sammy was pleased to hand Shelter Box Representative Gerry Walsh a donation of £31,270 to help those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

The scale of the contribution has been made possible by the generosity of a single anonymous donor, who recently gave the Club a donation of £30,000 to help our Disaster Appeal. With the Club’s support ShelterBox will be sending 53 additional ShelterBoxes to help people left homeless and destitute by the devastating effects of Typhoon Haiyan last week.

You can see the contents of a Shelter Box for yourself at the Tettenhall Christmas lights switch on event this Saturday, 23rd November at Tettenhall Green from 4 o’clock and we’ll be collecting more donations from members of the public to help ShelterBox carry on their vital work.

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Doing Good with Wolverhampton’s Youth Orchestras

The work of two Tettenhall Rotarians and their support for the work of Wolverhampton’s Youth Orchestras has been recognised by the award of special Paul Harris Fellow Sapphire Awards.

The Youth Orchestras provide children and young people throughout the City with an opportunity to learn to play an instrument and to perform. Many go on to reach high standards across several instruments, which is testament to their own talent and dedication and to the invaluable support which the Wolverhampton Music School and conductors Keith Sedgebeer and Ian Brailsford provide.

Thanks to the work of Rotarians David Cave and Alan Russell, along with Ken Dolman of the Rotary Club of Bilston, in promoting and supporting the Orchestras fundraising efforts each year the Orchestras have the opportunity to take the show onto the road – performing in a series of concerts throughout Europe.

Over £150,000 has been raised to support Summer tours to Malta, Italy, Spain and many other European countries since the Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton first started their support for these annual tours 21 years ago – providing hundreds of local youngsters with a  fantastic experience that otherwise would be out of the reach of many of them.

The Paul Harris Fellow Award is named in honour of the founder of Rotary and recognises the exemplary contribution made by individuals to further the Rotary’s aims. For both David and Alan this is the second time that they been honoured with the Award which was presented to them tonight by Rotary District Governor Barry Picken.

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Doing Good with the Midlands Air Ambulance

The Midlands Air Ambulance is the largest and busiest of the nation’s air ambulances flying 3,000 missions each year and an amazing 40,000 missions since the first launch in 1991.

Whilst the value of the service is beyond measure to the patients helped by the air ambulance each mission carries a £2,500 cost which is very much in the minds of those responsible for providing the service. We were joined this evening by CEO Hannah Sebright and Fundraising Director Jason Levy to give us an insight into the operation of the service.

The Air Ambulance receives no Government or Lottery funding and is dependant upon the support of the community it serves in order to raise its annual running costs of £6.5 million. In order to ensure that this vital service remains available a five year plan for sustainability is being implemented which has already helped them to extend the Air Ambulances flying hours with the aim of moving towards the provision of night flights.

To date Tettenhall and other Rotary Clubs with the charity’s area have donated over £1,000,000 to help keep the Air Ambulance flying but its not only by donating money that we help. Working with Club member Simon Maddox the Air Ambulance has recently moved into a new headquarters building in Lye. As well as providing improved working conditions which have helped to raise staff morale the move has resulted in a reduction in operating costs of 50%.

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Charity Valuation Day

If you loved the Antiques Roadshow when it visited Wightwick
Manor in Wolverhampton then it’s time to dig out all of those treasures you’ve
got hiding around the house because we’ve teamed up with local auctioneers Fellows & Sons for a special valuation day at the Royal School Wolverhampton on the
29th September between 11 and 3.

Established in 1876, Fellows & Sons Ltd is one of the
United Kingdom’s oldest and most respected firms of Auctioneers and Valuers and
their specialists will be on hand on the day to provide you with a valuation of
your items.

All we’re asking is that you donate at least £1 for each
item that you have valued in order to help us raise as much money as possible
for Help for Heroes and Compton Hospice – and who knows you may find that you have
your very own Turner hiding in a drawer.

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Doing Good in South Africa with the GOGO Project

Thanks to the contacts which Club member and Foundation Chairman Ivan Hill has developed with the Rotary Club of Knysna in South Africa we’ve recently been able to work with that Club on a project to provide some much needed welfare to vulnerable and needy children in the nearby communities.

Knysna have been involved with the “Gogo” project for some years. “Gogo” is ‘grandmother’ in Xhosa and pronounced ‘gorgor’. The Gogo project is a nationally run welfare scheme which effectively puts trained social workers (Gogo’s) in direct contact with needy and vulnerable black children.

The focus of the Gogo workers is on both education and welfare, with particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS. Each Gogo is allocated up to 20 children who are at risk – childheaded households, single HIV patients deserted by their spouse due to fear of AIDS, or single parents who have had to leave their homes due to alcohol abuse, physical violence etc.

The Matching Grant funding for the project of R.110,000 (£7,500) will fund Knysna’s Gogo activities for a year and will be spent on clothing (mainly warm underwear for the cold summers, May to August, and School Uniforms), food, health and sanitary requirements, with a very small payment to the Gogos to help them with buying shoes, as they have to walk several miles every day.

Currently, there are 6 Gogos involved, looking after 140 children with the support of Rotarians from the Knysna Club whotake turns at purchasing the week’s necessities and delivering the produce to the soup kitchens and the supplies to the Gogos.

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Doing Good in the Phillipines

Rotary’s Group Study Exchange Program has over the years provided thousands of young business people with the opportunity to visit other countries and to experience the host country’s culture and institutions, to observe how their vocations are practised abroad, to develop personal and professional relationships, and to exchange ideas.

The relationships formed continue long after the visits end and Bob Cliff of the Rotary Club of Burslem and the members of the group that accompanied him during the GSE visit to the Philippines in 2006/7 have continued to work with the Rotarians they met delivering projects such as the Sight Savers initiative which have made a real difference to the lives of people in the area.

Whilst in the Philippines Bob became aware of the damage caused to the Atimonan coastline and fisheries by years of overfishing and by fishing methods which had involved the use of dynamite and cyanide and tight mesh nets which had destroyed the marine environment.

In order to tackle the damage and to help to revive the fishery the members of the Rotary Club of Atimonan Sunrise have been working with Rotary clubs around the world to develop a system of artificial reefs and with Bob’s assistance Tettenhall and nine other local Clubs came together this year to help fund work on a further four reefs.

Made of concrete and steel modules these artificial reefs promote coral growth, give shelter to marine life and serve as a fish nursery and are the basis for a future sustainable fishery and tourist/scuba diving attraction. Bob joined us tonight to report on the progress which has been made and on plans to designate the whole coastline as a Marine Sanctuary to be owned by the local community and to be patrolled by the Coastguard and the local community to ensure that the previous methods of overfishing do not recur.

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50 or Over? Then Help to Save a Life or Five

Polio has declined rapidly since 1985 when Rotary launched its PolioPlus project with the aim of ridding the world of Polio.  Back then polio was endemic in 125 countries with over 350,000 cases per year but now thanks to the work of Rotary volunteers and their supporters there are only 3 polio endemic countries with fewer than 230 cases reported in 2012.



We’re nearly there but the fight to end this crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease isn’t over yet. It costs just 40p to vaccinate a child against polio for life. If we don’t finish the fight right now, more than 10 million children under the age of five could be paralysed in the next 40 years.

If you are aged 50 or over then there’s a simple way that you can help Rotary to raise money to make sure that every child has access to the polio vaccine. Saga Holidays have promised to support Rotary’s PolioPlus fundraising by donating £2 for each of its questionnaires completed by Rotarians and others, aged 50 or over.

Remember it costs just 40p to vaccinate a child, so by completing Saga Holidays questionnaire you can help protect five children for life against polio without it costing you a penny.

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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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Wolverhampton MS Therapy Centre

It was a pleasure to welcome back Peter Williams of the Wolverhampton MS Therapy Centre to our meeting this evening.

The therapies offered by the Centre, are based on guidance from research into Multiple Sclerosis at hospitals both here and overseas.They include nutritional advice, physiotherapy, reflexology, hyperbaric oxygen treatment (H.B.O.) which consists of breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised chamber for regular hourly sessions, all designed to alleviate some of the more distressing symptoms of the disease and to help sufferers to cope a little better with everyday life.

Peter explained how the Centre’s therapies are now offered to sufferers of other diseases such as cancer where they have been found to have beneficial effects – effects which the Centre is now working with researchers from the University of Wolverhampton to more fully understand.

The work of the Centre is only possible due to the support of volunteers such as Club member Brian Barnwell and new volunteers are always welcome – if you think that you could help in the Centre’s work then contact Peter at the Centre.

Brian joined President Ian in presenting Peter with a contribution of £2,000 from the Club to allow the Centre to continue providing their much valued services.

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Midlands Air Ambulance – Saving Lives by Saving Time

The Midlands Air Ambulance operates three air ambulances which help to save lives throughout the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Shropshire by making sure that patients reach hospital within 60 minutes of injury (the vital ‘Golden Hour’) which sees their chances of survival dramatically increased.

With over 38,000 missions flown its one of the busiest air ambulances in the country but receives no Government or National Lottery funding and the £6 million which is needed each year to keep its three Air Ambulances operational is donated entirely by the public and local businesses.

Tettenhall Rotary has been a regular supporter of the Air Ambulance’s work and President Ian was joined recently by Club members Chris Kraushar and Gerry Turner in a visit to their Cosford base to see their operations at first hand and to present a further donation to help the Air Ambulance to continue their vital work.