Inspiring a Generation June 2014
Youth Service Newsletter
And the End is nearing The end of our Rotary year is ahead of us and its the time to review our progress and to evaluate if we are leaving the year in a better position than when we started, if its better then please let me congratulate you, if its the same then well done….if its worse….then was it that what we offered was not for your club this year? Whatever you feel, the feedback is valuable for the teams at club, District and National levels...so don’t be shy,..tell us how we can do better or even how we are doing well, this will help develop programs further and those new developments can only be beneficial for the youth in our communities. It is rewarding whatever we do to be helping so many Young people, good causes and charities in our communities and there are many great examples of joined up thinking as well as utilising the whole of our Rotary family in what we do. The family of Rotary is amazing and caters for a whole range of age groups beginning with RotaKids for 7-12 year olds, Interact for 12-18 year olds and Rotaract for 18-30 year olds. These clubs, together with our programmes for young people, make up our Rotary family. Our part as Rotarians is so valuable and its obvious that our communities need us to be looking for new ways of helping our youngest members but by doing so they in-turn help us help all generations and any idea or project is neither too small or too large if we look outside of the box and link with our committees and other local organisations….. So lets share good practice and ideas as well….if you have any great examples, share them with me in time for the last issue of the newsletter for this Rotary year. Any news items need to be with me by email by June 14th please. Send any of your articles or comments to Donna Wallbank RIBI Youth Service Chairman rotary@donnawallbank.co.uk
This 2014 national final put to bed once & for all the notions of those Rotarians who say that finals should be somewhere central & easy to get to. The Scottish hospitality shown to our generous sponsors, the participants with their support retinue and the Judges was spectacular. At the Entrance foyer of Dundee & Angus College we were royally welcomed by the Queen Mother’s favourite music – bagpipes. Long may the tradition of districts offering to host a final continue! The link to the local community continued with a 2D display of all yummie things edible from the Fife larder. Rotarian Michael Robins from the Rotary Club of Stonehaven welcomed everybody & made the introductions, before the 8 finalists began by setting up their tables before disappearing into the kitchens.
Those not in the kitchens’ hot house enjoyed coffee & fresh-from-the-oven pastries together with interesting demonstrations provided by some college chefs using ideas from the Filippo Berio recipe book. A delicious two course buffet lunch was prepared by the staff at the College & then when we’d eaten our fill the beautifully set tables began to be completed with 3 courses from each finalist & our mouths began to water yet again….. The Managing Director of Filippo Berio Walter Zanre who was one of the judges, said before the results were announced that without exception the plates would grace top class restaurants all over the world.
Valentine Warner agreed with him & last year’s Young Chef winner 15 year old Jordon Powell nodded vigorously…… Christopher Basten the Chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs explained that few points separated them but the simple things like hot food on plates & cold food on cold plates are important, together with correct seasoning. Highly commended by the Judges for her menu of blue cheese mousse, supreme of chicken & a tall tower of raspberries & shortbread was Cliona McCarthy sponsored by the Rotary Club of Nathan in Ireland. 3rd was 15 year old Lora Blackett sponsored by the Rotary Club of Skegness who cooked sautéed chicken livers & cream cheese mousse, baked cod loin and lime cheesecake.
Just pipped to the winning post was runner-up Roxanne Ryan, 16 years & sponsored by the Rotary Club of Cirencester who prepared stilton & asparagus tartlet, pork roulade & chocolate fondant.
And this year’s winner was unanimously proclaimed to be 14 year old Tom Hamblet sponsored by the Rotary Club of Horsham. His culinary delights were seared scallops, Gressingham duck, followed by ginger & honey cake.
RIBI President Nan McCreadie made the pilgrimage to this lovely Scottish town, and is pictured presenting the perpetual cup to a very proud Tom!
We all went home clutching bags of Filippo Berio goodies and a few pounds heavier. Thank you Dundee and Angus College- plus the Rotary Clubs of Dundee & Stonehaven—You all did A sterling Job. Sue Hind - S1ueh@aol.com
On Saturday 10th May 2014 representatives from Districts travelled to Maidstone to the National Youth Speaks Final, sponsored by Gandys “Orphans for Orphans”. We were not disappointed. This competition aims to offer young people an experience in speaking on a public platform as a member of a team, to formulate ideas on topical subjects, discipline in dealing with a topic in a limited time, learning and practicing high standards of expression, presentation and appearance. The topics chosen by all the Teams were all well researched allowed them to demonstrate their public speaking skills and Rotarians also found the choice of topics very educational.
The Intermediate Final was won by St Bede InterChurch School sponsored by the Rotary Club of South Cambridge with their chosen subject “The Best Day of Her Life”. Woking High School came second speaking on “Lost in Language” Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Woking. John Ogilvie High School Hamilton were third with their topic “What is Normal” sponsored by the Rotary Club of Hamilton.
The winners of Senior Final sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bury was Bury Grammar School for Girls, whose presentation was “The Father Christmas Myth”. The fact that Father Christmas is a myth disappointed many Rotarians. Second was Colchester County High School, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Colchester Forum with their presentation “Arousing Interest in Education” a fascinating presentation on the benefit of sex education and finally Concord College sponsored by the Rotary Club of Church Stretton whose subject was “Rats: the Last Among Equals asking why do we, a nation of animal lovers hate rats?
All the teams who participated were to a very high standard and all described by the adjudicators as “all winners” however there had to be one winner in each group.
The national final of the Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI) Young Musician competition took place on Saturday May 3 at Truro School. Hosted by District 1290. The two first prizes were generously sponsored by Harrods. The prizes were ÂŁ500 each of Harrods vouchers. Sixteen competitors took part from Tralee, Glasgow, Anglesey, Cardiff, London, Bournemouth, Rutland, Chelmsford, Leicester, Truro, Cheltenham and Bishops Stortford.
The Best Instrumentalist Award was won by Pianist Robert Cheung from Old Windsor, who played Liszt’s Liebestraume followed by Cat and Mouse by Aaron Copland. Vocalist Isabelle Atkinson of Bournemouth won Best Vocalist performing four songs demonstrating a mature vocal range. The event was compered by Daphne Skinnard of BBC Radio Cornwall
I have just spent the weekend sorting, collating, and preparing the entries for both Young Writer and Young Photographer. From a total of 29 District I have received the following submissions: Young Writer – number of Districts entered 24 Junior 20 Intermediate 23 Senior 18 Young Photographer – number of Districts entered 23 Junior 12 Intermediate 21 Senior 23 Whilst preparing all of material the standard appears to be outstanding, but we will await the judge’s decisions and comments. One of my main concerns has been the information (or lack of) on the associated entry forms, or District organisers not fully reading the instruction and guidance notes. Also I was still receiving entries directly from a potential competitor only the day before the closing date, which could be accepted because it had not been through and endorsed by their respective District. Results should be announced in next two weeks. Thank you for your support William Harmsworth
2014 We have much to celebrate with our Young Citizen nominees this year. They have all achieved great things and I hope the sponsoring clubs organised a suitable celebration for both them & Rotarians involved to remember. Not least the Rotary Club of Cannock who nominated a certain 19 year old from Burntwood in Staffordshire. His name was Stephen Sutton who had been diagnosed with bowel cancer when he was 15. Stephen initially wanted to raise £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust but as we were all told in the national media he helped to raise the amazing amount of £3 million. His philosophy about life was interesting too, the fact that a good one should be measured not by its length but by the difference it makes.
When the comedian Jason Mansfield offered to do a gig solely for this appeal, Stephen said to him “Don’t make people feel guilty because they might donate £3 – if you make them have a good time they’ll donate far more” And of course he was right. Rest in peace Stephen. Just to finish I have been asked whether there is ever any feedback regarding Young Citizen Award nominations. We feel every nomination deserves a certificate and a congratulatory letter from the RIBI President because, as mentioned in the first paragraph, all of them are spectacular achievers. It would be extremely difficult to give individual feedback on every nomination – I can only reiterate what I say in most newsletters – do support your nomination with other material if possible – newspaper articles, local radio interviews, websites, etc . And although the end of February 2015 is an awfully long time away why not use that time to identify and getting to know potential nominees in your community. Have no doubt – they are out there - so…….. Happy Hunting……..
Congratulations to the 37 RotaKids clubs who have received the RIBI RotaKids Presidential Citation. This is a tremendous achievement by the youngest members of the Rotary family. This is the first year of the new annual RotaKids award. Shelter Box is once again running an ‘illustration competition’. The closing date is 14th July. For more information www.youngshelterbox.org The winning entries will published in Shelter Box 5th disaster book The Woodland Trust has 4000 free tree packs to give away to schools and communities. The closing dates is 4th September, but as schools etc. will soon be closing for the summer holidays, submit your applications now, as supplies cannot be guaranteed nearer to the closing date http:// www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/in-your-community/
Many RotaKids are now working with other members of the Rotary Family to undertake projects Ninian Park Primary RotaKids Club working with Rotarians and Rotaractors on a community garden project The Cultercullen RotaKids Club D1010 has started communication with the newly formed Pitesti RotaKids club in D2240. This a very exciting venture for these young people, as most will not have written to people outside of the UK previously
Interact Congratulations to all the Interact clubs within RIBI who have been awarded the RI Interact Presidential Citation. Well done Tree packs are available to Interact clubs from the WoodlandTrust [see above]
The RIBI Interact Rally registration form and poster is available to download within the members section at http://members.ribi.org/committees/new-generations/ribi-programmes-for-young-people/ interact If you do not yet have an Interact club, send your potential Interactors to the RIBI Interact Rally. They will return to their schools and communities filled with enthusiasm to start an Interact club in your area.
The RIBI team are delighted to have been given a whole page in the April edition of Rotary Today with two articles linked around TT and Big Bang. Do please check out these articles on page 13 or read and enjoy the article on the RIBI web site Following on from the successful promotion of Rotary Technology Tournaments at the Birmingham NEC National Fair in March we as RIBI have been receiving numerous invitations to attend Regional Big Bang 'near me events' with the opportunity to showcase our TT offer to visiting school teachers, students and parents. These invites are ideally suited to local area Rotary club(s)) organising to take a stand and take the opportunity to promote this exciting aspect of youth service. William Harmsworth for example has liaised with the local Big Bang event coordinator for the South East event on July 1st and will be utilising the available RIBI pop up stand specially commissioned by the RIBI Secretariat Design Department to promote TT at such events. William can draw on available stocks of information leaflets for TT and the other youth service competitions available without cost (just P&P to pay) from the RIBI shop. The list of forthcoming Big Bang near me events through 2014/15 can be seen at this Dropbox link and if you need more information or help to get involved, please contact me directly. Here is the Dropbox link to copy into your browser to reveal the listing of events https://www.dropbox.com/s/ ydmrdn7cbjhvsbm/Big%20Bang%20regional%20events%20listing%20-%20Near%20Me.xlsx Thank you & best regards Tony Jordan RIBI TT Steering Group Chairman 07976 321942 01845 574084 tonyandtsm@aol.com
As seen at "The Big Bang" UK Young Scientist & Engineer Fair in Birmingham. The stylish pack consists of seven leaflets: Youth Competitions, Technology Tournament, RYLA, RotaKids, Interact, Rotaract and Youth Exchange. The perfect hand-out for schools, youth groups and other events aimed at interested youngsters and young adults. The items will be sent as self-assemblies, orders contain multiples of 10 of each leaflet + presentation folder and Business cards. Available in packs of 10 Free of Charge, only P&P applies.
Please note that the RIBI Shop is currently undergoing maintenance. We anticipate that this will be back online by May 28th. In the meantime, if you need to order anything please phone 01789 765 411 (and select the option for Shop) or email finance@ribi.org
An example of how we look outside of the box
Llanelli Rotary club has taken part in the Young Chef competition for the last two years, involving the main stream schools in our town. However, we felt that the youngsters in Heol Goffa school were missing out on an opportunity. There are 72 children in the school, from ages 3 to 19, all with special needs, and varying levels of disabilities. We targeted the older children in five classes, so nearly 50 children in total, and set them a challenge, to prepare a quiche and salad for the main course, and a cold dessert , using a budget of £10. We established some rules and scoring criteria similar to the Young Chef competition, and each class was to compete as a team. Over a three day period, nine of our Rotarians, plus local celebrity chef Anna Brown, attended the school. The competitiveness and secrecy amongst staff and pupils about what they were doing was amazing. The class teachers and support assistant involved every child in their classes. Class 5 for example, is currently studying the sea, so their table setting resembled a beach, with a crab and spinach quiche, salad presented in a conch shell, a tomato shaped like a crab, and a cucumber star fish ! Class 9 used their initiative by visiting Wrights Food Emporium near Llanarthne. They acquired a recipe for a sweet potato and pepper quiche, and rhubarb Eton Mess, and did a great deal by coming home with all the ingredients measured out for their £10! We also had classes with a table set like a football pitch, another themed on America with a hot dog quiche, and another who had made their own table mats. Our Rotarians assisted in making paper flowers, peeling potatoes, rubbing pastry, and cutting vegetables, as well as having a fun time with the children. The judges had an incredibly difficult job, as all the children were winners in their own right. Judging was done by Hywel past, our President Elect, Rotarian Alison Evans, Tegan Andrews and her Food Technology teacher Sarah Lewis. Tegan was the winner of our mainstream Young Chef competition. Every child taking part had a commemorative wooden spoon, and the pupils in the winning class, class 5, each had an apron , and the monkey chef trophy. They are now competing to name the monkey. It was a fantastic event , which was incredibly well supported by the school, who are now looking forward to doing it again next year. When I came home, I said to my husband....”that’s why I am a Rotarian”. Said Alison a member of RC Llanelli……
Around the Districts
Rotary Club of Margate has once again teamed up with Westwood Cross to host
the “Thanet Schools Young Artists Competition & Exhibition” Which ran for three days from Friday 9th May to Sunday 11th May. Twenty Six Schools exhibited 500 individual paintings, created by the pupils of Thanet of all ages. Tasked with this year's theme of “People”, the competition has showcased an array of vibrant and eye-catching artwork inspired by the young people’s interpretation. The official opening and prize giving took place on Saturday (10th May) by Ex BBC war correspondent turned artist Triona Holden. Triona Holden has an art studio “The Flying Pig” in Whitstable. The winners of the prize for most promising artists were Lucy Wu (Wellesley House School) and Peter Adepoja of St Anthony’s School. The year group winners were Reception, Mohammed L from Dame Janet Primary Academy. Years 1&2 Maria Piecuch, of Priory Infants School, Years 3&4 Savannah Day of Holy Trinity & St John Cof E Primary School, Year 5& 6, Honor Whiteley of Wellesley House School, Years 7&8 Jucy Wu of Wellesley House School, Years 9 & 10 Aaron Martin-Coles of Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School, Years 11, 12 &13 Ryan Jowitt of Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School Merit certificates were awarded to sixty nine young artists for outstanding work. Lovely’s Art Shop and Gallery of Cliftonville generously sponsored the event by supplying vouchers for all the winners and the offer of having their paintings framed. Following the exhibition the winner’s paintings are on show at the York Street Gallery Ramsgate.
Rotary Club of Margate President Keith Rumblo said it is a pleasure to see the Thanet Schools Young Artist Competition, now in its fifth year, grow to twenty six schools and exhibiting five hundred paintings. The standard of work gets higher and higher each year making the job of judging by our expert panel of Elena Preistley , Paul Moyse (Illustrator) , Mike Samson ( York St Gallery) as well as Dawn Morgan from the Thanet Decorative Fine Arts Society. Rotarian and Artist Brian Homewood was the head judge. We would like to thank Westwood Cross for giving us the opportunity to allow the Rotary Club of Margate to exhibit the artistic talents of the young people of Thanet and the schools for encouraging the students to take part. Meeting the public visiting the five marquees in the main mall of Westwood Cross and the encouraging comments were really appreciated. We hope that more schools next year will see this as an opportunity to promote the talent of Thanet’s young artists to the general public.
Contact: Ray Holdstock PR Officer Rotary Club of Margate. 01843 863553 or 07966273033
Around the Districts
Rotary Crocus in Schools and Youth Groups In November 2013 nearly 250 Schools and Youth Groups in the UK took part in the first Grow Your Own Crocus project. Over 7,500 children aged between 4-11 planted their own pots of crocuses, designed their own pot labels and learned about the End Polio Now Campaign and Rotary's pivotal role in it. By February the Crocuses were in full bloom and the schools set about fundraising for the End Polio Now Campaign. Funds have been pouring in to the Clubs who took part. Well done everyone on a fantastic project!
Many Rotarians made presentations to the Schools and Youth Groups about Polio and the End Polio Now Campaign using the specially designed Information Pack. Called 'Ridding the World of Polio' it's a simply written, clearly designed introduction to what Polio is, how it spreads, the global eradication programme, and some inspiring profiles of Polio survivors. A School Assembly version was produced and used by many schools. Both should be very useful for wider use with this aged group and can be downloaded in the Resources section of the Rotary Crocus website www.rotarycrocus.com/resources
National Artwork Competition We had a fantastic response to our National Artwork Competition for primary school children aged 5-11. The theme was 'Ridding the World of Polio' and we had so many wonderful entries that judging the winners was extremely difficult. Thank you to everyone who entered. We're delighted to announce the winners as follows. You can see the winning entries below: KS1 (ages 5-7): 1st Prize: Anna Strachan, The Community School of Auchterarder (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Auchterarder, Perthshire). Anna received a £50 book token and her school another £50 book token. 2nd Prize: Thomas Parr, Monks Coppenhall Primary School (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Crewe). Thomas received a £30 book token and his school another £30 book token. 3rd Prize: Kirstie Boyd, Park Royal Community School (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Macclesfield Castle). Kirstie received a £15 book token and her school another £15 book token. KS2 (ages 8-11): 1st Prize: Isabelle Strange, Parley First School (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Parley, Dorset). Isabelle received a £50 book token and her school another £50 book token. 2nd Prize: Emilia Anniss, St Mary's Primary School (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Dunmow). Emilia received a £30 book token and her school another £30 book token. 3rd Prize: Sam Jones, Parley First School (sponsored by the Rotary Club of Parley, Dorset). Sam received a £15 book token and his school another £15 book token. Thanks to everyone who took part for making this such a great event. Let’s build on this success by encouraging other Clubs to take part this year. Applications for this year's Project are now open: http://www.rotarycrocus.com/fundraising/schools/sign-up/
Ages 5-7: 1st Prize: Anna Strachan
2nd Prize: Thomas Parr
3rd Prize: Kirstie Boyd
Ages 8-11:
1st Prize: Isabelle Strange
2nd Prize: Emilia Anniss
3rd Prize: Sam Jones
Around the Districts Morriston Rotary Club is running a project to try to make a difference to school children’s lives overseas by sending them unwanted backpacks from British schoolchildren. Each is filled with paper, pens and similar learning materials and clean unwanted children’s clothing. A member of the Rotary Club visits a chosen school, identifies a staff member to lead on it, and supplies posters and information on the project. It is then hoped that the school will encourage its pupils to offer up their backpacks they no longer need since this year’s “newer model” is now in use – they are always a fashion item, even at such a tender age! We will also suggest that the school may wish to run a small fund raising event to enable it to purchase the school materials to put inside the backpacks. The Rotary Club also collects good quality unwanted children’s clothing and includes this in the backpacks. When they are available, the backpacks are collected by the Morriston Rotary and sent off to carefully identified schools in Africa via the Mary’s Meals charity. The project offers schools the opportunity to expose their pupils to the issues of education and hardship in developing countries. The in-school activity will be able to provide a valuable focus on related topics such as geography, economics and humanity, as well as bringing Rotary International and its youth programmes to the attention of staff and pupils alike. There is a website explaining the backpack project at www.backpackmrc.co.uk. The contact telephone number for the project is 07919 384752 and email at: backpackmrc@btopenworld.com
Thank you To our amazing RIBI Final prize sponsors and development of programmes support.
And to all Clubs who participated in all or any of the RIBI 2013-14 Competitions. By supporting what we offer we continue to offer opportunities and support the development of young people within the five countries RBI encompasses.