Secretarys Blog
Secretary Peter's notes on our Club meetings
31 January 2012
Today we were delighted to welcome Lisa Lepperd from the Neo Natal Unit based at Princess Anne Hospital here in Southampton. She explained that they have 36 cots and that they care for premature babies as small as only 24 weeks and for sick young babies. Lisa is the Sister in charge of Family Support and told how that in some cases the babies can be in the unit for up to 10 months. This can result in traumatic disruption to the family life as well as a financial burden. She quoted one instance where a family from one of the Channel Islands spent £6000 over a period of ten weeks in travel and boarding costs. Much of the support they need to give is not provided by the NHS and they have a Charitable Trust to raise money to provide equipment which is extremely expensive as it is all specialist in a captive market. Even the tea and biscuits have to be paid for from the Charitable funds.
Responding to Lisa, President James thanked her for her interesting and enlightening talk and presented her with a cheque for £250 towards the Charity.
ADVANCE NOTICE
Next week (7th February) we shall be welcoming the Mayor of Eastleigh (Cllr Wayne Irish) together with our Friend of Rotary the CEO (Bernie Topham). Members are asked to be early so that a prompt start can be made, and that Rotary Regalia should be worn.
Did you see it?
Earlier this week I circulated the RIBI Newsletter, how many of you got to page 8 to see that RI have achieved the Gates Challenge and raised $200m earlier than the target of June 2012. As a result the Gates Foundation have awarded a further unconditional $50m to the Polio Plus Project. Did you also notice that India has recorded its first year of no new Polio cases in 2011.
Please spread the word whenever you can.
Our friends from Hedge End Breakfast Club drew our attention to their next big fund raising event SWING INTO SPRING on 16th March in aid of the Rainbow centre. Full details and a booking form are on page 4 of the 'Notices' e-mail I circulated recently.
Peter
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24 January 2012
Scott McDermott, our speaker for today, outlined the work of the Countess Mountbatten Hospice. He gave statistics which showed that they are one of the largest Hospice in the area having upto 25 beds for about 170 sq.m in an arc around Southampton from Gosport, up to Winchester and across to the Eastern edge of the New Forest serving a population of 720,000. Apart from their in patients, they provide support to many others in their own homes. They also are a training establishment having prepared Doctors and Nurses for two other local Hospice. Scott also said that without their 180 volunteers they could not function
So how much is an hour of life worth, for the patient with terminal cancer, everything, but for Countess Mountbatten about £100 which is approximately what they need to raise each hour to reach their target of £1m per year to fund their work. At the end of Scott's talk, Rotarian Lionel Jacobs thanked him for coming and reminded members of the help which our own Tony Labram received in his final days from Countess Mountbatten. President James presented Scott with a cheque for £250.
Next week we look at the other end of life with a speaker from Southampton Neo-natal unit.
Advance Notice: our meeting on 7th February will be our Eastleigh Civic Visit when the Mayor and the CEO will be with us. Please make a special effort to be with us and get there early so that we will be ready to make a prompt start.
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17 January 2012
At today's lunch meeting, the proposed Administrative Structure was approved with some minor amendments. The Immediate Past President was added to Council membership, and Sports Officer and P.R.& Communications Officer were added to the Other Officers. The Quorum for Council was increased from 3 to 4 and the words following the title 'Other Officers, regarding attendance at Council were removed.
The Audited accounts for 2010/11 were approved Nem Con
President James Hallum has agreed to continue his Presidency for 2012/13 and, on the proposal of John Baker the following were elected as Officers of the Club for the year 2012/13:
President: James Hallum
Snr Vice-President: Richard Taylor
Jnr Vice-President: Peter Swinburn
Secretary: Peter Hoadley
Treasurer: Chris Morton
Next weeks Speaker is Scott MacDermott from Mountbatten Hospice Charity.
Peter
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10 January 2012
Are You Borred with the Olympics Already?
Then you should have been at Breakfast this morning. Our guest speaker was Hannah Adkins from Hamble Sports College, she has just been on a visit to see the Olympic Park and was so full of enthusiasm at the quality of the Park that it showed. She almost ran out of superlatives to describe what she had seen, and concluded that if the Olympic Stadia and associated buildings are anything to go by, July will be a showcase of all that is good about Britain, not least our organisational ability.
Acting President John Baker, thanked Hannah for her inspiring talk on behalf of the 14 members present.
Secretary Peter
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20 December 2011
Today's breakfast meeting was attended by 15 members although at one point (7.30 am) there were only 4 of us. After feeding our faces and the usual bits of business our sailing fantic Liz Robinson delighted us with her postponed talk. We can now see why the talk needed the pictures! John Baker, our IT technician nearly didn't get any breakfast, what with power supply problems and computer compatibility. Liz took us through her sailing career with her husband from their first yacht which was a one class 707 called 'Bangers n' Mash' through their second boat a Humphreys 30' named 'Hot Rats' which apparently was a real downwind flyer, to their present Beneteau 35 also named 'Hot Rats'. It seemed that the question of whether the boat had a toilet figured in the choice of craft. What ever the specification below decks, Liz and Robbie seemed to be able make it perform, as the picture of their silverware trophies clearly showed, and that was without the Trafalgar Cup which they were not allowed to take home. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to seeing you at our next meeting, at Breakfast on 10th January 2012.
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8 November 2011
22 of us sat down to the usual excellent breakfast on Tuesday morning. Vice President Peter guided us through the usual business, welcoming Tomas Hulob our Ambassadorial Scholar, and Mira Howard a prospective new member.
John Lawrence reported on the Shoebox appeal and Barry Wright on the Christmas Collections - both could do with your help.
We congratulated Richard Taylor on his birthday on 11th November in the usual fashion.
Liz Robinson then gave a trailer for her forthcoming talk, which had to be postponed to a later meeting due to a technology malfunction (someone forgot to bring the necessary kit). She explained she will be giving an illustrated talk on her sailing experiences -we can look forward to this with great expectation! Watch out for confirmation of the date.
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Having made the 13th December meeting into an evening meeting (have you booked your place with Bill Adams? - 42 have already) we are negotiating with RSYC to see if the 20th could be a Breakfast meeting.
Please watch out for confirmation!
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At next week's lunch meeting you will hear reports on this week's Council Meeting, but one item needs to be progressed before that date. Council want to hear your views on the future development of the Club. To this end they have devised a Questionnaire which is attached. However if you prefer next Tuesday (15th) , John Lawrence (Acting Secretary) will have some hard copies available if any one either has difficulty printing off the attachment or does not have access to e-mails. Alternatively you can print it, fill it in, scan it as a .pdf file and return it to Secretary Peter by e-mail. Some of you may be clever enough to fill in the word document and return that. It really doesn't matter how you do it, but we really would like as many responses as possible. Please try to return hard copies no later than 6th December and electronically by 13th December (The sooner the better). We hope to be able to make a report to Council on 20th December.
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REMINDER; the 01489 660188 number is not just for apologies but for additional numbers of guests as well. Please don't tell the Secretary and expect him to pass it on.
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1 November 2011
6 visiting Rotarians bolster our numbers for yesterday's lunch meeting.
Visiting Rotarians, 4 from New Forest RC, 1 from Southampton and 1 from Huddersfield Pennine swelled our numbers to 22, for an illuminating talk from John Simpson about the work of the Samaritans both nationally and locally. He wished to dispel the assumption that the Samaritans only work with the suicidal, in practice they try to help people in distress from many causes. They are always on the look out to recruit new volunteers, about 30 a year, but of those applying only about 25% get accepted for training. They do not give advice, but practice an ‘active listening' approach. It is for their clients to make up their own minds about what they should do to relieve their problem.
Bob Bax makes a virtual trip to Brazil
At a recent meeting, attended by students from Brazil, Bob was presented with a banner from the Rotary Club of Parobe in District 4670.
NEXT WEEK's MEETING - 8th November
As usual on the second Tuesday of the month we will be meeting at 7.30am when our speaker will be our own Liz Robinson giving her members talk, including her experiences of Cowes Week.
We are also hoping to welcome our Ambassadorial Scholar Tomas Holub to our meeting as a guest, he will be returning in two weeks to speak to us.
Also as usual, Council will meet following Breakfast, will all committee chairmen provide written report if they are unable to attend.
Looking ahead
Our Christmas meeting, when family and friends will be welcome, has been arranged as an evening meeting on 13th December at RSYC. This will be in place of the Breakfast Meeting which had been scheduled for that date. More details will be issued as they become available.
Christmas Collections
You should have all had a letter from Barry setting out the dates which have been arranged for collections on the run up to Christmas. There was a good response to filling the 90 slots yesterday, but if you were not there please contact Barry direct to book your slot.
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25 October 2011
Skittles
At Lunch on Tuesday, Bill Adams was pleased to report that we had WON the latest Skittles Match against New Forest RC. Apparently it was all square after 3 rounds and we won by 2 shots in the fourth. Well done to our team. They can't have been too upset as we are looking forward to welcoming at least 2 and possibly more of their members next week who will be sailing to us from Hythe.
Shoebox appeal.
John Lawrence reported that an alternative storage facility has been made available to us at Unit 4B, Chalcroft Distribution Park, Burnetts Lane, West End, SO30 2PA. Dates and other timings are as previously advertised. Boxes and any questions to John please.
Council Report
President James gave an outline of some of the matters which had exercised Council at their meeting last week:
Membership Evening: - 42 people attended including 6 potential members. James is thinking about a more informal follow up get together to try to answer any questions they may now have thought of.
Committee Structure:- Discussion on the future of the committee structure lead to a suggestion that we ask YOU the membership by way of a Questionnaire. The Secretary agreed to draft the paper and would welcome any comments on the sort of questions which might be included.
Finances:-Chris reported that he has now received a donation of £1000 towards the Sportathon/Swimathon expenses with a further donation of £350 promised.
8 members have not paid their Foundation Contribution. A letter of thanks has been received from the Totton Christian Centre for our donation of £100.
Christmas Collections;- Good News for all those who are going to help this Christmas with our collections, John L has obtained a nearly new Father Christmas outfit and 10 NEW BEARDS. Barry Wright will be looking for volunteers in the near future, so bring your diaries to Club!!
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15 members had an excellent lunch today and were fortunate to hear a fascinating talk by Danny Haywood of the Marine Accident Investigation Unit which is based in Southampton. Danny explained that they investigate all Marine accidents within the UK 12 mile limit and all those worldwide on ships which fly the red ensign. It was interesting to hear that they have more powers of investigation than the Police but that they do not prosecute and their remit is to ensure that any accidents are not repeated.
We also heard about the Group 6 proposed 'GARDEN DINNER' to be held on 23rd November in aid of Kids Out. Please think about whether you and your family would like to attend in what promises to be a very informative evening and there will be 10% discount on all purchases made.
URGENT NEED - Yes, it really is URGENT
I'm sure all of you are aware of the excellent SHOEBOX Appeal every Christmas and co-ordinated for us by John Lawrence. The boxes are already coming in but District have nowhere to store, collate and prepare them for shipment. At the last moment ABP have told Rotary they can no longer provide the warehouse space we have always had. So there is a desperate need, John already has 90+ boxes and we are expecting in excess of 27000 (no I haven't added an extra nought) across District.
Nick Barrett (District Co-ordinator ) is looking for warehouse space of around 20000sq.ft, which ideally should have access for Container lorries and fork lift truck facilities. There are enquiries in hand, we only need the space for about 6 weeks, any one any ideas!!!! Please contact John Lawrence or myself if you have any suggestions.
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20 September 2011
In secretary Peter's absence I am sending a short report on today's meeting.
In addition to our regular visitor, Howard Waters and the President's wife Bronia 16 members welcomed four other guests who all addressed the meeting. They were as follows:
93 year old Bill Mintram who raised the magnificent sum of £900 in sponsorship at the Swimathon thanked the Club for inviting him and said that he had plenty of inspiration as the money raised was going to good causes. He said he hoped to take part again next year.
Chris Tickner a member of Southampton Magna Club and Governor of Hamble College thanked the Club for the work done in conjunction with the College all of which was reported to the Governors.
Jamie Waterman, who is in charge of the sports centre at Hamble College said that he appreciated the help and support from Southampton East and looked forward to the association continuing next year.
Tony Singh, assistant head at Ferndale School, thanked the Club and Bob Bax personally for their support. In conjunction with Hamble Interact Club and a District Simplified Grant, the Club had raised enough money to provide a new girls' changing room at Ferndale School. Boys and girls at the school had previously had to share a changing room which meant that one group had to wait until the other had finished in order to use the room. Now than can both change at the same time. Some of the money had also been used to repair and re-equip the library which had been damaged in an arson attack.
Past President John Baker reported that Tomas Holub the Ambassadorial Scholar would be arriving next week and that he hoped to bring him along to the membership meeting on 4 October.
Jeff Nolan
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13 September 2011
At our breakfast meeting this morning we welcomed Gerry Halley-Gordon and 7 members of staff from Hamble Sports College, together with 3 of their children, to say a big thank you for their help with the Sportathon/Swimathon event. Gerry spoke to express her thanks to the Club for their support and expressed her desire for the continuation of the event as an important part of the School year, not only for the College, but also for the community of feeder schools and Springwell School.
Judging by the hub-bub of talking over the meal a good time was had by all.
In place of our lunch meeting OCTOBER 4th is our membership drive evening. This will be a buffet meal at £15.00/head starting at 7.15pm for 7.30 at RYSC. Please feel free to bring your partners but more particularly anyone you might see as a potential member. Bill Adams is anxious to know if you intend to attend and how many others you may be bringing, please contact him if you have not already put your name(s) on his list.
Have you ever wonder what goes into a SHELTER BOX, find out that evening as there will be one on display that evening.
The format of the evening has yet to be finalised, but we are thinking about a rolling picture display of our events, display panels about Rotary, possibly some relevant speakers, and many other items of interest, but most importantly we need YOU as existing Rotarians to talk to the potential new members to say what it is you get out of Rotary.
President James is organising the evening, please contact him if you have any suggestions of ways in which we/you can put over the Rotary Message.
Please note the Secretary will be away for the next 4 Tuesdays. John Lawrence will be looking after the 27th September and 11th October and Jeff Nolan the 20th September and 4th October. If you have any matters to raise please contact John or Jeff or the President.
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7 September 2011
16 of our members together with 3 from Locksheath Club were inspired and challenged at the Annual visit of our District Governor, Caroline Millman to our Club yesterday. In her opening remarks she said she was proud to be a member of the Largest Service organisation in the World, and went on to list many other parts of the Rotary organisation which are world leaders, including the largest Charity in the world (Foundation). She asked if we, like her, were proud to be Rotarians. However she then went on to suggest that we must not rest on our laurels but should be always looking to 'Aim higher by pushing the boundaries' and to sometimes take risks. But can we do better?
'Reach within to embrace Humanity' is the Rotary Theme for 2011 (see article on page 5 of Rotary Today) Caroline suggested that this does not mean we will just continue the good work we always do and asked 'where is the heart of Rotary?' To which the answer from the floor was us - the Club!. But the heart needs to be strong and beat strongly - 'How strong is your heart we were asked? and how would you test it?' Suggestions from members included the increase and retention of membership, with even more support from existing membership, - engagement with young people by making it relevant to them, - by raising our profile within the community.
Caroline suggested that some challenges may be risky and may require us to spend money!, be prepared for failure and that if we are too successful may mean we are unable to deliver or raise expectations beyond what we can achieve. She then congratulated us on our work with 'Our children our future'.
What should be Rotary's Legacy? what do we want to leave to our community? for example the eradication of Polio world wide, we must make sure we are remembered for the great contribution we have made. To promote this idea, she presented President James with an heart on which we are to write our Legacy Wish List, to be taken to the Eastbourne Conference and placed on a board in the House of Friendship.
The D.G. concluded by asking for questions/comments . Bill Adams was concerned that the cost of membership (about £650/year), especially in these financially difficult times, which is seen by some as a reason to not join. She answered that most of the cost is down to the club itself - especially the cost of meals. Only about £80 is a cost to RIBI.
Whilst membership generally in the UK is falling, District 1110 is bucking the trend by gradually increasing.
Words alone cannot convey the enthusiasm with which Caroline gave her talk, those who were not able to be there missed a great meeting.
REMINDER
Next week's meeting is a BREAKFAST MEETING at which we will welcome up to 8 members of staff from Hamble Community Sports College who helped to make the Swimathon/Sportathon a success. Please come if you can we don't want them to out-number us!
Council will meet following the meal.
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16 August 2011
Yesterday's meeting was a report back to members from the previous week's Council. Amongst the items reported were:-
The President intends to call a meeting of Committee Chairs to review the Committee Structure and to look for ways in which the Committees can be made more effective.
Chris Morton reported that there are still 18 tickets unsold from the 100 Club. This means that the income is greatly reduced, he suggests that we either leave the prize level as it is or reduce the value of the two prizes. Please let Council know your preferred option. Alternatively we can sell the remaining tickets - for any members who do not know, the proceeds of the 100 Club pay for the entertainment of our Twin Club of Cherbourg when they make their visits. So if you do not have a ticket or would like to up your holding, please contact Chris as soon as you can! You never know you might get your investment back in the first draw.
Chris is disappointed that only 9 members have so far made a contribution to FOUNDATION. Remember this is Rotary's OWN Charity, please contact Chris if you have forgotten.
Council agreed to the President's recommendation that we give £25 towards the running of the Youth Speaks Competition through Group 6.
We have provided a shelter box to the crisis in the Horn of Africa.
Following a visit to Southampton Football Club, President James has made contact with the Ex-Saints group who would be prepared to attend an event to help raise funds. The President and Paul Reynolds will be following this up.
John Lawrence reported that an invitation has been received for 10 Rotarians from District 1110 to go to Montenegro to see the effects of the Shoeboxes. All you have to do is to get yourself to Montenegro and you will be looked after for 10 days and get to see England play Montenegro at football!! Any takers talk to John Lawrence.
Swimathon/Sportathon - The Sportathon continues to be a successful event, and Bob reported that next year the children will be asked to raise sponsorship which couldn't happen this year. The Swimathon was a success but could have been better if the date had not clashed with other local sponsorship events. Consideration is being given to changing the date for the Swimathon to try to avoid this happening again.
Bill reported that the paperwork for our nomination of an Ambassadorial Scholar is almost complete.
Comments have been made that some of the traditional events of the Club seem to have fallen by the wayside over the past few years - viz The President's Dinner. Council have agreed to investigate this further under a general heading of 'The traditions of our club, a help or hindrance to the growth of the Club'. This is a matter for all to consider, if you have any thoughts, comments, enlightenments or anything you would wish to contribute, please let a member of council know.
Bob and Roy visited Poole to investigate an idea for a 24 hour Pedal/Go Cart event. They came back enthused with the potential, but that it will need at least 2 years to plan and promote it and that would need to be something organised by more than one Club, possibly Group 6.
Haskins Garden Centre have offered their premises on 23rd November for an event for up to 400, to include a buffet meal at £15/head, the centre will be open with a 10% discount on all purchases, talks and helpful hints throughout the evening. Further details from Group 6 in due course.
Forthcoming Speakers
23rd Malcolm Drodge - overcoming Prostate Cancer
30th NO MEETING
6th Sept District Governor - Caroline Millman - Please make a special effort to come as it is Our Club on show to the District, our recent average of 12-15 attendees does not fully represent your club.
If any of our newer members feel there is some part of the Rotary ways of doing things which they don't understand, please let John Baker know and as speaker secretary he will try to find someone to explain things.
