Rotary in London
In this issue babies can now smile Educating Syrian refugees have your say Membership surge Mish Mosh
CONFERENCE ROUND-UP Largest ever group of Rotary Scholars come to London DG Helen urges members to support Helivan, helping young people savour the experience of working for London’s Air Ambulance service Rotary Showcase stands are listed for future reference See pages 7, 8, 9 & 15
The Magazine for the Rotary Clubs of London, District 1130 of Rotary International Autumn 2016
contents
welcome
Membership rises
A MESSAGE FROM THE DG
Invite potential Rotarians to join your club, says DG Helen............................. 1 INTERNATIONAL
Club educates Syrian refugees in Lebanese camp......................................... 3 VOCATIONAL/COMMUNITY
Guatemalan babies can smile now............ 5 Christmas is coming… and Battersea Park Rotary raises £3K for Lunch................ 5 CONFERENCE/ROTARACT
London welcomes largest ever group of Foundation Scholars........... 7 Rotaracters gather to hear about success................................... 7 CONFERENCE
Conference remembers Aberfan........ 8 & 9 Rotary Showcase........................................ 15 CORRESPONDENCE
Have Your Say.................................... 10 & 11 Speakers’ Panel........................................... 11 AROUND THE CLUBS
Rotary Club of Leyonstone & Woodford celebrates its diamond............................... 13 Nat and Hammersmith Rotary are both 90..................................... 13 Ohio banner is kept safe........................... 13 LAST WORDS
PDG David welcomes membership surge...................................... 16 Mish Mosh................................................... 16
NEXT ISSUE The next edition of rotary in london will be the Winter issue. The deadline for submitting your copy is 19 January 2017.
rotary in london The quarterly magazine of the Rotary Clubs of London is published by District 1130 of Rotary International.
ASSISTANT EDITOR & ADVERTISING Margaret Cooper / ma_grooper@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 020 8505 5996 / Mob: 07542 020 616
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Cover photo: London Air Ambulance trainee Alex Grant describes to Conference the invaluable service LAA provides and explains its need for the Helivan.
Rotary’s club membership in London is rising, judging by the results of talking to Club representatives (page 16). The main problem with collecting this information was getting some clubs to respond! Three clubs failed to reply in the end, so we can assume that the final figure quoted on page 16 – 146 new members – is reasonably accurate. If the missing clubs come back to us and report that they have each recruited 20 new members we shall be only too delighted – if only! By the way, we have of course only listed clubs which have recruited members – otherwise we would have needed another three columns just to do that. Readers will note that in addition to the Rotary Club recruitment successes we have also listed the Inner Wheel and Rotaract Clubs. The dozen Inner Wheel Clubs have recorded two new members. There is no doubt that within recent years the recruitment base has shrunk because of women now being able to join Rotary, so it is very commendable that they are so active in carrying out their work at home and overseas. On page 8, Inner Wheel’s District 13 Chair Margaret Fairlie is briefly quoted as presenting, from the stage, a remarkable account of her District charity for this year. She is talking about a project for maternal and child health in Kenya. Rotaract Clubs, on the other hand, seem as first sight to have bucked all trends and managed to recruit an average of eight members each. Seen in context, however, one must bear in mind that two of those clubs were both chartered in the year under review, so the figures include the total number of members in the clubs at the start of their existence. Nevertheless, the total number of members joining some Rotary Clubs is very impressive. DG Helen, incidentally, tells Rotary in London that all the Rotarians that she has inducted joined because they were invited. And finally, many congratulations to District Membership Chair PDG David for his part in this achievement. Jane Hammond, Editor The views expressed above are those of the Editor only.
a message from the dg
Photo: Sydney Parker
Invite potential Rotarians to join your club, says DG Helen
DG Helen is seen with members of her family, clockwise from behind her: son Anthony Antoniou, younger son Christopher and Anthony’s children Kaia and her brother Syon.
Paul Harris, in a radio interview in 1933, when he was promoting and recruiting for Rotary, said: “Rotary is the door to friendship and service”. It was so then and it is so now. And for me Rotary is an amazing organisation: a global force for good. It is a worldwide club I chose to join because of its ethos and its diversity. In the same radio interview, Paul also said: “Rotary is an organisation where people from all over the world, from all religious and political backgrounds and diverse cultures, can sit together and in friendship become a force for good and peace.” And here we are today, a perfect example of the diversity he spoke about 73 years ago. His recruitment drive did not include women. But in 1987 Sylvia Whitlock became the first woman Rotarian and the first woman club president, joining only after repeated requests for her to do so. She was also black and was and is a very special Rotarian. A pioneer for all women to follow. We now have a woman Board Director, Jennifer Jones. It has taken this long for women to be on the board because they had to prove themselves and, as Jennifer said, “put in the time”. Half the human race are women. In America only 38 per cent of Rotarians are women, well under half, in RIBI overall, 19 per cent, less than one fifth, and in London, 26 per cent, just over a quarter – still a long way from half.
My goal is to increase the female membership to at least the same percentage as in America, if not more. Why? Because women make good Rotarians. Achieving the same percentage as in America will deliver 154 new Rotarians – we need them. I am pleased that membership in the District is growing (see page 16). We can grow it some more if we make the effort. You should be inviting potential Rotarians to join the same Rotary as I am inviting potential Rotarians to join in my club. We all have different clubs, but we all belong to the same ROTARY. We all have an important job to do so that we can continue Doing Good In the World: I want you to start work on that job today. Remember, Sylvia Whitlock was asked
over and over again to come to a Rotary meeting before she joined Rotary and became the first woman club President. The last excuse has gone. The Council on Legislation has given clubs flexibility and choice, making Rotary more relevant to its members and to the business professionals, the community leaders and the early retirees that it wishes to attract. With 154 new Rotarians, we will get much closer to our goal to END POLIO NOW and forever. That requires that we contribute to our Foundation, either collecting funds from the public or keeping up the pressure on Members of Parliament for Government support in addition to what we donate ourselves. That will lead to a growth in Rotary’s service efforts which are supported with Foundation grants. The six areas of focus will provide the concentration we need. Strengthening and supporting our commitment to youth programmes and young leaders will help further with our membership numbers for the future. Almost every young person we help is impressed by what Rotary does for them, and that makes them and their families potential Rotarians. This year we have an abundance of milestones. I will name just one: the Centenary of the Rotary Foundation. This presents a good reason for a party, but it is also an opportunity to find new Rotarians, to strengthen our brand and the public’s awareness of Rotary. Getting a single brand for Rotary is expensive, I know; the Rotary International Board spent US$2m retaining one of the world leaders in brand management. We have got a brand that will enhance our public image and our public awareness. It is so important to put the work that we do on My Rotary. Use 21st century on-line tools to tell our story and allow our progress to be recognised. Be proud of our brand: it tells the public who we are and what we do . “This is a changing world: we must be prepared to change with it. The story of Rotary will have to be written again and again,” said Paul Harris in 1935. We know what we have to do. With members, with branding, with public awareness, with additional humanitarian service, we will truly be “Rotary Serving Humanity”. Helen Antoniou, District Governor Autumn 2016 • 1
support
rotary foundation
exhorts DG Helen
100 years of ‘Doing Good in the World’ the rotary foundation expenditure
For the eighth year running our Foundation has received the top rating from the Charity Navigator, an independent organisation, which evaluates
programmes
charities in the United States. The Foundation funds only projects and initiatives worldwide with active Rotarian involvement. This year the Rotary Foundation will…
92%
K Fund 35 Rotary Scholars
coming to our District K Enable clubs to apply
for funds via the Global Grant Program K Be the prime mover in
the final push to eradicate polio from the world As DG Helen reminds Rotarians: “We support so many outside charities, but often forget to support
6%
FUNDRAISING
our own Rotary Foundation. Without such support, our projects and programmes will suffer.”
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International
Club educates Syrian refugees in Lebanese camp
Photos: Maya Masri
Maya Masri, President of the Rotary club of Islington, Highgate & Muswell Hill, visited Lebanon last December. The plight of Syrian refugee children begging on the streets of Beirut so affected her that she persuaded fellow club members to get involved. She describes what happened next. Education is the best tool for Syrian refugee kids to be able to get over their poverty. Lack of education limits future opportunities they may have and makes them easy targets for manipulation. Most of the half a million refugee children in Lebanon are still unable to attend school. So to start with, we focused our attention on the camp of Ketermaya, where there are 133 kids of school age and is about 19 miles (31 km) from Beirut. We teamed up with members of the Rotary Club of Chouf in Lebanon and our own sister club, the Dutch Rotary Club of Dorn. We aim to fund the building of a prefab structure which can function as a schoolroom, equip it with chairs and desks and provide books and stationery. In addition, we hope to employ a part-time teacher for a year to teach the kids and provide training to a few people in the camp who could take over this responsibility once the year is over. Any additional funds raised will go towards further education for individual kids. On a hill clothed with olive and fig trees, the makeshift tent camp of Ketermaya is home to over 50 families who have fled from the war-afflicted centres in Syria of Aleppo, Homs and Damascus. More than 400 families are hosted in the village itself.
Clockwise from above: children recite their ABC in the Ketermaya schoolroom, Nejmeh wants to be a teacher and Yousef a pilot, three girls play together, and an aerial view of Ketermaya Camp.
With a population of 15,000, the 2.8-hectare mountain village of Ketermaya is just a microcosm of Lebanon’s crisis. Lebanon hosts more than a million registered Syrian refugees, one in four of the population. Actual numbers are thought to be much higher and, unlike Jordan and Turkey, there are no formal camps, a lot of aid being provided mainly by civil society. President Maya Masri made a video which helps better illustrate the situation of the
kids living in the camp of Ketermaya. You can find it at https://vimeo. com/183148539. We have started crowdfunding for the project at https://www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/savethesedreams. We are now applying for a Foundation Grant for this International project. Any help with this project will be much appreciated, and we will be very happy to collaborate with other clubs on it. Autumn 2016 • 3
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Guatemalan babies Christmas can smile now is coming… and Battersea Park Rotary raises £3K for lunch
Photo: Liz Shaw
When London Centenary eClub member Chris Edwards and his Dutch wife Prieneke were holidaying in Guatemala in March 2014, they visited the village of San Gaspar Vivar, just outside Antigua, where another Dutch woman, Tessa de Goede de Ordoñez, has her offices and other facilities. She is the founder and director of the Dutch charity TESS Unlimited, which primarily arranges operations and other medical care for Mayan Indian children born with cleft lips and palates.
From left: DG Helen Antoniou is seen with (left) Battersea Park Rotary’s Senia Dedic (Christmas Day Co-Ordinator) and PP Vanessa Graham.
Clockwise from top: a young patient has a session with a speech therapist; Tessa de Goede de Ordoñez of TESS Unlimited poses with a mother and two babies; and Smile Train surgeons examine a young child.
Rotarian Chris was so impressed by Tessa’s work that he became the driving force behind persuading his fellow eClub members to support this work. Visiting teams from the Free to Smile Foundation of Columbus, Ohio, and Smile Train, are giving the children cleft lip and palate repair surgery and other treatments. However, additional expenses such as travel, accommodation, food, nappies and so on must come from elsewhere, which is where the eClub members have stepped in. They managed to raise £1,000 by their own efforts in 2015/16: this was doubled to £2,000 by a District Grant. A surprise second grant of
£600 paid for follow up care, including speech therapy, for the three boys and three girls helped by the first grant. The total raised by eClub members for this project in 2015/16 was £1,600. The village where TESS Unlimited is based is very close to Antigua, where the Rotary eClub’s of that name is based. London Centenary’s contact with the Antigua club is Alma Olson, whose mother was a Mayan Indian. Alma and her husband have retired to near Antigua to grow coffee. She was the first woman member of her club and its first woman president. Having members of the Rotary Club of Antigua involved in the project reassures London Centenary members that the project is being well managed. Cleft lips and palates occur when face tissues do not join properly as a baby grows, causing problems with feeding, speech and hearing.
Almost £3,000 was the magnificent sum that the Rotary Club of Battersea Park managed to raise at a fundraising event at Lambeth Palace in October. Members and guests took just three hours to get the money together for the club’s annual Christmas Day Lunch. It lays this on for 500 elderly people from the London Borough of Wandsworth who are alone on Christmas Day. Serving the lunch before the afternoon bingo will be 200 volunteers. Volunteers helped us serve tea and cakes for the 500 visitors who wanted to support the Christmas lunch. Senia Dedic points out: “ The Archbishop of Canterbury’s gardens at Lambeth Palace are only open to the public on eight days in the year. We are very pleased that ours was one of the eight charities privileged to raise the funds in the gardens.”
Autumn 2016 • 5
12 ads new_ad template 05/02/2015 Page 12 European Delicious fusion11:37 of African,
and Asian food brimming with goodness at affordable prices.
Photo: Sydney Parker
Conference / Rotaract
London welcomes largest ever group of Foundation Scholars Valerie Teller (fourth from left) with her audience. Club Vice-President Craig Simons stands right.
Rotaracters gather to hear about success In September 20 members of the Rotaract Club of Hampstead, Hendon & Golders Green and their friends gathered at the Roebuck pub in Hampstead. The occasion? The club had invited Life Coach Valerie Teller to speak about the meaning of success. As is typical for an HHGG meeting, the
informal pub setting helped turn the event into a lively discussion. While Valerie shared her inspirational life choices and her approach to defining success, club members and guests alike shared their thoughts on success to make the evening a candid and enjoyable experience.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Rotary Foundation’s Ambassadorial (now Global) Scholarship programme. London has welcomed the largest ever influx of Scholars this year, 36 of them from nine countries. Forty-eight Scholars wanted to come to London altogether; 12 of them had to go to other Districts. The Scholars came from Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan (for the first time), South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. They are studying at King’s College London, the London Schools of Economics and Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Royal College of Art and University College London. Here they are on stage, DG Helen and Stella Russell standing left and right respectively. Autumn 2016 • 7
CONFERENCE
Conference Remem Conference began on Friday, 21 October, with the usual two-minute silence to remember fellow Rotarians who had died. But this year, because it was the anniversary of the dreadful Aberfan tragedy, delegates gave an extra silent tribute to those who had lost their lives, with photos of the event on stage to remind them.
Medical Detection dog Ralph with his trainer Jonathan and colleague Christina Bowden at their stand; Foundation Chair Tom Hunt at his stand; Margaret Fairlie, District 13 Chair, talks about Inner Wheel’s charity; PDG Trevor Johnson and DG Helen (on right), pose in front of the Helivan logo with Alex Grant and Sara Jane Wood of London’s Air Ambulance. LAA’s Helivan is DG Helen’s chosen charity (see above); and David Hatcher describes his work with ShelterBox. 8 • Rotary In London
and that of London’s Rotary Clubs. With over 60 clubs sharing the load, the District can purchase this multi-purpose van. To find out more, telephone PDG Trevor Johnson on 07990 532 034 or 020 8505 5988. Margaret Fairlie, Chair of Inner Wheel District 13, talked about her charity for District 13, which is in Kenya. Twenty years ago, the rural community of MbarakaChembe had the highest infant mortality rates in the coastal region because of lack of clean water and basic medical care. Now there is a patients’ clinic, a house for the doctor, a maternity unit, a consultation room and a health centre. The children are healthier and living longer. In her keynote speech, RIBI President Eve Conway stressed this year’s partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society to further the work of Rotary Purple4Polio. She reminded her audience that in 1988 polio had been endemic in 125 countries with 350,000 cases, but it is now endemic in only three countries. David Hatcher described his work with ShelterBox. After a career as a police officer working for Kent Police, the Met and British Transport Police, he retired in 2004. As a
member of its Rapid Response Team, he has delivered humanitarian aid following natural disasters. Light relief came with London District’s Sport Chair, Paul Ziles. He led the audience an entertaining dance through the 29 variations of competitive sports clubs can choose to play during the year. They included energetic sports ranging from tennis and squash to billiards and snooker and sedentary ones such as bridge, chess and the District Quiz. The Rev Richard Coles closed Friday’s session describing how he played in a “a radical gay socialist pop band” before becoming an Anglican priest. After a spell at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, where his parishioners included the Duke of Wellington, he became Vicar of his present parish of St Mary’s, Finedon, Northamptonshire. District Foundation Chair Tom Hunt mentioned a particularly important birthday: that of the Rotary Foundation’s centenary. As well as its astonishing achievement in almost eliminating polio, Foundation’s many other achievements include funding a hundred Peace Fellows at Rotary’s six Peace Centres.
Photos: Sydney Parker
Eastbourne’s Mayor, Cllr Pat Hearn, and Rotary Club President, Paul Honney, welcomed London Rotary District members and guests to Eastbourne. Delegates responded with great enthusiasm to DG Helen’s announcement that the District will buy a Helivan for London’s Air Ambulance (LAA) service. LAA delivers an advanced trauma team to critically injured people in London, the only service providing doctorled pre-hospital advanced trauma care to its 10 million people. Based at the Royal London Hospital, LAA operates round the clock. The Helivan will contain a recreation of the helicopter cockpit – hence the combination of the words for “helicopter” and “van”, allowing young people to savour the experience of being a pilot, a paramedic or a doctor for LAA. The vehicle is needed by LAA to transport fund raising equipment, branded merchandise and tools that are too heavy or too big to be transported in their existing vehicles. The Helivan will help LAA’s risk awareness campaigns aimed at young people, such as road safety and reduction in knife crimes. It will give LAA the opportunity to publicise both its own work
CONFERENCE
mbers Aberfan
The Rev Richard Coles talks about his life.
Top: Paddy Rowe with Battersea Park Rotary members PDG John Lee and Akua Deaba (President); and above: PDG David Storrie (Greenford Rotary) with his wife Carole and DGN Mike Wren (Redbridge Rotary), are all seen at the Presidents’ Reception.
DG Helen with Walter Felman (Mill Hill Rotary) after she presented him with a Ruby PHF; on his left is RIBI President Eve Conway (Redbridge Rotary).
Jordan Morgan and Roopa Mehta talk about how the Drive Forward Foundation had helped them.
PDG Toni at the RYLA stand.
District Sports Chair Paul Ziles displays the variety of sports in which London Rotarians can compete. Carla Sateriale, District Rotaract Representative. Miranda Reilly of the Drive Forward Foundation holds the bottle of champagne she won in the draw arranged by Conference Sponsor Arvind Patel (right) and Maria Martyn, both of St James’s Place Wealth Management. DG Helen is seen with District Youth Exchange Specialist Di King.
District Vocational Training Team Chair Judi Stockwell presented the work that her team has done. Its most significant achievement has been the elimination of maternal deaths over the three-year period of Rotary’s Vocational Training Team’s programme in Jahwar, north of Mumbai. Walter Felman addressed the audience on the subject of his charity, Save a Child’s Heart UK. It works to improve the quality of paediatric cardiac care for children from 33 countries, as well as Gaza and the West Bank, who suffer from heart disease, and cannot get adequate medical care in their home countries. For his work, he received a Ruby Paul Harris Fellowship from DG Helen. Describing the work of her charity, the Drive Forward Foundation (DFF), Martha Wansbrough asked her audience to imagine, as children, being moved from foster family to foster family, maybe 12 to 15 times. Most of those listening to her, she speculated, would have had access to networks built from an early age. Young people in foster care do not have those networks, so DFF provides them. This year’s District Representative for Rotaract, Carla Sateriale, described the activities of London District’s six Rotaract Clubs. Carla is the Immediate Past President of Hampstead, Hendon & Golders Green Rotaract. Youth Exchange District Chair Di King spoke about the Youth Exchange scheme which seeks to develop leadership, selfreliance, independence and resilience. She mentioned London Youth Exchange student Ella, who spent a school year in Brazil, becoming fluent in Portuguese. On the Saturday afternoon, photographer Paul Goldstein presented the audience with a feast of his stunning photographs, including touching pictures such as ones of polar bears in the Arctic with their young. Dr Josephine Ojiambo, a Deputy General Secretary at the Commonwealth Secretariat, announced that discussions were in progress with London District Rotary to encourage Secretariat diplomats to train new Peace Envoys. Training will be arranged in due course through District’s International Chair. Eve Pollard, the UK’s second female editor of a national newspaper, rounded off the Conference with witty reminiscences of her days hobnobbing with the great and the good. PDG David Palmer is seen with Jenny Froehlich of Majesa Hats modelling the hats on sale on their stand. Profits from sales at Conference totalled £855 and all went to the fund raising campaign for the Helivan project. Autumn 2016 • 9
correspondence
Yosuke from Yokohama will welcome visitors When our Global Scholar, Yosuke Takeuchi from Yokohama in Japan came to bid us farewell in July, he told us how much he had appreciated the hospitality we showed him and very much hoped that we would all keep in touch with each other. He assured us of a warm welcome awaiting club members who visited Tokyo and wished us well with our club projects. Yosuke was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Yokohama Konan in Rotary District 2590 and I was his Counsellor. His scholarship covered an MA in Applied Linguistics at University College London’s Institute of Education. His response certainly demonstrated to us the value of Rotary’s Global Scholarship Programme in general and speaks well for our own Rotary Club. Hardev S Coonar Rotary Club of Mill Hill
Can anyone help Rob Gray? Can anyone in Rotary’s London District help me to find out more about Arthur P Bigelow and the early years of the Initial Towel Supply Company, which he founded in 1903? Bigelow was apparently a prime mover in establishing the Rotary Club of London in 1911/12, as I discovered from http://www. rotaryclub.london/the-history-of-the-rotary-clublondon. If anyone with access to archive material relating to Bigelow can tell me anything that sheds light on him as a person or his work in relation to the Initial company, I would be grateful. My research comes in the wake of my 2015 book The Pest Detectives, which charts the history of pest control firm Rentokil and, as Rentokil Initial plc, today owns Initial. I am now digging around to see if there is sufficient mileage in telling the Initial story. Incidentally, my reason for writing to you as Editor of Rotary in London in the first place was because you contributed to the Thought Leadership Essay series which I edit for the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). Having read about correspondence to and from Bigelow about Rotary’s Mission of Civic Internationalism, I am not surprised you make a plea for public relations professionals to address Rotary Clubs and District events about strategy and techniques. As a media and public relations industry ‘insider’, I am amazed that Rotary’s achievements over the years are not better known by the general public. This is why I was particularly impressed to read in your essay for IPRA that Bulgaria’s Rotary District has 10 • Rotary In London
managed to secure a pro bono partnership with a local consultancy in driving forward a wide ranging strategic programme. Let’s hope this is duplicated elsewhere – in London perhaps? If anyone out there can help me with any information about Arthur P Bigelow, late of the Rotary Club of London, please contact me at r.gray678@btinternet.com. I would be delighted to hear from you. Rob Gray Writer, Editor, Brand-Storyteller
Buy a shirt and give to Rotary I have some good news for readers. We have managed to get Wakefield Shirts, one of the biggest and oldest shirt manufacturers in the United Kingdom, to support Rotary. The company is offering Rotary members 10 per cent discounts off the prices of any of its products, provided they mention their Rotary connection. In addition they get free delivery in the UK on multiple units purchased. In its willingness to support Rotary, Wakefield Shirts will also give a further 10 per cent to the Rotary Foundation on all orders received from Rotary members. Isaak Donner established the Wakefield shirt company in 1940 and his family still runs it. As it was war-time, however, imported cotton was unavailable, so he decided to make viscose shirt blouses for the women of Britain who were replacing men in factories and farms. Later he applied for a patent for collar attached men’s shirts with a free spare collar and cuffs, hence the brand name Double Two. Wakefield Shirts sells four million shirts a year. The company also produces casual wear, trousers, ties and ladies’ clothing, exporting to 40 countries. The brand name Double Two is now famous round the world and was awarded the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2013. Peter German Rotary Club of St Marylebone
Club’s gift helps with cycling I have read with interest your coverage of Greenwich Rotary’s gift of the 36 cycles to Limited Edition Cycling. We really appreciate our relationship with the Rotary Club and are grateful for its support, but most of all we value its interest in local issues and willingness to get involved at a grass roots level. Over the past year Greenwich Rotary’s gift to Limited Edition Cycling has impacted considerably on the disadvantaged people of Greenwich. The bikes are being loaned out to younger members participating in our Kids Club and Junior Team
cycling projects on Saturday mornings. We have been repairing and maintaining other bikes so we can make them available to the people attending Unique, our all-ability cycling project. Among them are young people from families who can’t afford to buy a bicycle as well as people who need access to bicycles while they learn to ride. The highlight though was when the Rotary Club raised £3,000 to help us buy a wheelchair bike, something we had been trying to do for a long time. Now Limited Edition Cycling can really say it is making cycling available for everyone. Some young people volunteer at Unique as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. They have been able to help out with the maintenance of these bikes and learn some new skills while they do it. Greenwich Rotary’s donation has enabled us to reach out to more people in the area and help those most disadvantaged to enjoy the thrills of cycling. Martyn Robson Limited Edition Cycling
Rotary Club plans forest school In September 2019, if everything goes to plan, the Rotary Club of Edgware & Stanmore hopes to open the Rotary Forest School, a new free school, in the London Borough of Harrow. For the past four years, I’ve been a Trustee of Woodland Adventure in Harrow and have a Level 1 Certificate in Forest School leadership. I belong to a group which runs half-day courses in the woodland behind All Saints’ Church in Harrow Weald for local children. Those attending the Woodland Adventure courses enjoy finding out about the flora and fauna of the woods, playing games and listening to stories. They safely prepare and light a camp fire in the woodland, where they can prepare and eat food and hot drinks. They also build shelters from the branches and other materials getting the most out of their woodland experiences. Taking part are children ranging from those with behavioural issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and special needs, to those who are specially gifted. We also take Travellers’ children, as well as fathers and sons from the Somali community. The results have been remarkable. Children, teachers and parents unanimously appreciate the value of the experience gained. They appreciate
speakers’ panel
Keep your letters coming so that you can have your say on whatever subject you want. Rotary in London exists among other things to present Rotary and its work to the world, as well as spurring you on to debate important issues. We shall publish your letters wherever possible, reserving the usual right to edit. So keep up the correspondence!
Speakers’ Panel All organisations listed here are interested in sending speakers to Rotary Clubs in London. As we stressed previously, when launching this column in Rotary in London in autumn 2012, inclusion in this list does not indicate endorsement of that organisation or individual. We are merely putting you in touch with organisations or individuals, so that you can make further enquiries. However, you can rest assured that many of
the environment and learn craft and awareness skills. All children involved show improvements: educationally, physically and emotionally. It eventually became clear to me that these transformational experiences would be just as valuable to mainstream pupils, especially in the kindergarten and early years. The idea of establishing a dedicated forest school, a free school near a woodland, began, and Edgware Rotary agreed to sponsor the project. A Steering Group of 20 educationalists, Rotarians and other interested parties has been assembled. The Department for Education has encouraged us to make our bid to establish the school in Wave 14 of the submission rounds in September 2017. If all goes well the school will open in three years’ time. Selwyn Foreman Rotary Club of Edgware & Stanmore
Help me get to Africa I am a recent graduate in Politics and Modern History from the University of Manchester and hope to become a barrister so that I can pursue my interest in international human rights. I am particularly passionate about community building, international development and challenging global inequality. The UK’s International Citizen Service Programme, partly Government-funded, has chosen me to go on a placement in West Africa - in either Togo, Sierra Leone or Liberia. I will live with a local family in my host country, and will be working for Y-Care International on a community project. Y-Care’s local projects aim to improve the lives of young people suffering from poverty, inequality, and injustice. I would like to talk and give a presentation to Rotary Club members in London about my volunteering project (see right). To take part in the Y-Care project, I have to raise £800. So far, I have raised just under £100. I have run bake and car boot sales with my local community and held dinner parties with my friends and family. By the time this letter appears, I shall have carried out other fund raising activities, such as completing a 10-kilometre sponsored run. In December I shall be sky diving from 10,000 feet to raise more funds. Once I have completed my placement, I would very much like to come back to talk about it to Rotary Clubs. Grace Annesley
the organisations and individuals listed are well known to Rotary already. Do you yourself know of any organisation, however small, which would like to be better known? Or a speaker you can recommend? If you do, please let us know, including where possible the people to contact, with relevant email and telephone details.
Grace Annesley Please invite me to talk to your Rotary Club about my plans to participate in the UK’s International Citizen Service Programme, partly Government-funded. This will send me on a placement abroad where I shall join a Y-Care International community work project. To participate, I must raise £800. So far, I have raised just under £100. Grace Annesley – grace.annesley@gmail.com – 07446 733 543
The Hospice Biographers New charity to enable terminally ill people to record their life stories on audio so that that their families and friends will still be able to hear their voices and memories long after they’ve died. Today presenter John Humphrys will broadcast an appeal for the charity on BBC Radio 4. Barbara Altounyan – international@putneyrotary.org.uk – 07712 534 399
Keith Bartlett, Shakespearian actor Raises funds for Mary’s Meals by bringing to life his experiences as a member of Shakespeare’s Globe to Globe production of Hamlet, sharing the magic, the madness and the memories of touring 197 countries over two years. Audiences included President Barack Obama, 200 ambassadors at the UN and Pacific Island fisherfolk. Keith Bartlett – keithbartlett891@gmail.com – 07914 818 478
The Rotary Forest School Members of the Rotary Club of Edgware & Stanmore are working with fellow Rotarians, educationalists and others to establish a local mainstream nursery and primary forest school. This enables children to develop self-confidence through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland environment. Selwyn Foreman – forselwyn@hotmail.com – 07958 127 925
Smile International Smile International is passionate about helping to relieve suffering and poverty around the world through our Feeding, Educating, Empowering and Developing Programmes. We are dedicated to giving hope to those in need and providing people with an opportunity to develop emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually. Emily Morina – communications@smileinternational.org – 01689 870 932
Womankind Worldwide International women’s rights organisation with more than 27 years’ experience, supporting local women’s rights organisations to help women transform their lives. Lobbies governments and other decision-making organisations and individuals to bring an end to violence against women, enable women to gain economic independence and ensure women’s voices are heard. Debra Lillistone-Squires – Debra@womankind.org.uk – 020 7549 0360
Autumn 2016 • 11
TEA BAGS FOR WHEELCHAIRS The first recipient of a Wheelchair Foundation wheelchair purchased with bar codes from Yorkshire Tea products in District 1130. Please send the Bar Code & the Vouchers from the underside of ANY box of Yorkshire Tea to D1130 collection point to help purchase wheelchairs from the Wheelchair Foundation and support environmental projects. D1130 Collection Point:
Adrian Faiers, 15 Lovett Road, Harefield, Middx UB9 6DN This space donated by Rotary In London
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AROUND THE CLUBS
Rotary Club of Leytonstone & Woodford celebrate its diamond Forty members and guests of the Rotary Club of Leytonstone & Woodford celebrated its Diamond Anniversary in style. They enjoyed a superb lunch at the Auberge du Lac restaurant in the grounds of Brocket Hall, famous as the country estate of Lord Melbourne and his errant wife Lady Caroline Lamb. At lunch, President Alan Barnett presented IPP John Bracken with RI’s international Presidential Silver Citation, achieved during his year. Over its 60 years, the club has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for deserving causes. It has supported national and international Rotary projects such as the End Polio Now campaign, as well as helping the nuns of Chigwell Convent in their international work.
Locally, club members have built an ornamental garden and fish pond at Whipps Cross hospital, contributed to a water feature at Haven House Children’s Hospice and marked Christmas by giving parcels to the elderly and presents to children who would not otherwise receive one. They have provided transport for members of a partially sighted club, worked with the Salvation Army and run a monthly Memory Café for those suffering early dementia.
Club President Alan Barnett (left) presents IPP John Bracken with RI’s Silver Citation
Nat Barnett, Past President of Hammersmith Rotary, is seen at its handover lunch last summer with a birthday cake. He is sharing it with the club, which was also celebrating 90 years of existence this year. Nat has been Club President three times, the first time being in 1978. In 1977 he persuaded fellow club members to host its first Foundation Scholar; she came from the United States.
Photo: Alan Coleman
Nat and Hammersmith Ohio banner is kept safe Rotary are both 90 Nick Male (left), President of the Rotary Club of Elstree & Borehamwood, hands over the banner he collected on his recent visit to the Rotary Club of Talmadge, Ohio, to Club Secretary David Clout for safe keeping. Proving indeed, as the pop up banner in the picture states: “It’s Rotary in Elstree & Borehamwood and the world.” Autumn 2016 • 13
218 Grangewood House, Oakwood Hill Industrial Estate, Loughton, Essex IG10 3TZ
Rotary Youth Leadership course Rotary District 1130 trains young people in effective leadership at the Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre Harefield, Middlesex Tuesday, 18 July to Friday, 21 July 2017
Do you want to help make the RYLA course a success? If so, email shirleykirk0@gmail.com or telephone 07966 131 722 to find out more.
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CONFERENCE
Rotary Showcase Aquabox
Look Good Feel Better
enquiries@ aquabox.org • 01629 825 178
info@ lgfb.co.uk • 01372 747 500
Received In June 2016 the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service - the MBE for voluntary organisations. A standard AQUABOX comprises a rigid plastic container with a single filter and enough purification tablets to provide 1100 litres of clean drinking water.
The only international cancer support charity providing free skincare and make-up workshops for women and teenagers struggling with the visible side effects of treatment for any type of cancer.
jiabates6134@ gmail.com • 01323 520 580
Majesa
St James’s Place Wealth Management
A W Matthews Ltd
jenny@ majesa.com • 020 8203 0044
Arvind.patel@ sjpp.co.uk • 01959 500 488
The UK’s largest wholesale supplier of genuine Panama Hats, with unequalled knowledge in the industry of both the product and its country of origin. All profits from the sale of Panama Hats at Conference will be donated to the Helivan Project.
Creates and implements highly effective taxminimisation strategies, with a particular emphasis on reducing the liability of a client’s estate to inheritance tax. St James’s Place Wealth Management is proud to sponsor London District 1130’s Conference.
Mary’s Meals
Save a Child’s Heart
gerrard.mcmahon@marysmeals.org 020 7221 5745
walterfelman@ aol.com • 020 8458 4720
awm@workmail.com • 01634 853 020 Sells Rotary and Inner Wheel badges, brooches, bars, scarves, clothing and accessories; Rotary ties; Masonic regalia, jewels and gifts. Best quality guaranteed at very competitive prices.
Drive Forward Foundation miranda@driveforwardfoundation.com 020 7936 3685 and 07552 010 506 Supports London care leavers aged between 16 and 26. Empowers them to take control of their lives through sustainable employment, offering them tailored one-to-one support and intensive employability skills training.
Dyslexia Action bwhitman@dyslexiaaction.org.uk 01784 222 353 Has 40 years’ experience of providing support to people with specific learning difficulties, including dyslexia and literacy and numeracy difficulties. Provides assessments and tuition through its National Learning Centres.
Felsted Aid for Deprived Children / UK-Aid felstedaid@ hotmail.com • 01371 238 941 Supports Revival, a rehabilitation centre in the town of Chernihiv in Ukraine, which treats the very sick and disabled children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
The Honeypot Children’s Charity nicky@ honeypot.org.uk • 020 7602 2631 Enhances the lives of young carers and vulnerable children aged between five and 12 years old. Describes itself as the only charity in the UK providing respite breaks and on-going outreach support throughout a child’s formative years.
Lifebox Foundation info@ lifebox.org • 020 3286 0402 Makes surgery and anaesthesia safer around the world by working with local teams and global partners to provide essential monitoring equipment and training. These fundamental safety measures support hospitals in countries where anaesthesia mortality is up to a thousand times more likely than in higher-resource counterparts, and the risk of surgical site infection is more than double.
Provides children from some of the world’s poorest communities with nutritious daily meals, served at school. Now feeds over one million children every school day in 12 countries including Malawi, Liberia, India and Kenya.
Medical Detection Dogs operations@medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk 01296 655 888 Trains dogs to detect the odour of human diseases such as cancer, in samples such as urine, breath and swabs. The dogs are trained to detect minute changes in an individual’s personal odour triggered by their disease.
Mercy Ships UK
Royal National Lifeboats Institution, Eastbourne Provides, on call, a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service around the UK and Ireland, and a seasonal lifeguard service.
Supports Israeli doctors who combat congenital heart disease by training and equipping doctors from developing countries and who treat 3,500 children from 48 countries at no charge, half of them Palestinian.
Sense lydia.clark@ sense.org.uk • 03003 309 257 Supports people who are deafblind, those with sensory impairments and those with complex needs. Expertise in supporting individuals with communication needs benefits people of all ages, as well as their families and carers.
ShelterBox Shirley@ shelterbox.org • 07966 131 722
Operates the charity hospital ship, Africa Mercy, which provides free surgical treatment for patients without access to such care.
Provides emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities overwhelmed by disaster. ShelterBoxes contain items such as a disaster relief tent, cooking utensils, mosquito nets and water purification equipment.
Parkinson’s UK
Spinal Injury Association
hello@ parkinsons.org.uk • 0808 800 0303
e.wright@ spinal.co.uk • 07794 413 023
One person in every 500 has Parkinson’s. People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of a chemical called dopamine because some nerve cells in their brain have died. There’s currently no cure, but drugs and treatments manage many of the symptoms.
Leading national user-led charity for spinal cord injured (SCI) people. Supports all those affected by spinal cord injury by advising, educating and campaigning on their behalf.
info@ mercyships.org.uk • 01438 727 800
Pearl Parade and Images in Glass lesleyann@taylor24.eclipse.co.uk 01288 321 535 and 07737 015 902 The Pearl Parade handmade freshwater pearl and gemstone jewellery includes sterling silver beads and clasps. All jewellery can be custom made to fit customers’ requirements.
Purple Community Fund info@ p-c-f.org • 01489 790 219
Street Child rebecca@ street-child.co.uk • 020 7614 7696 Empowers vulnerable children through education in some of the world’s poorest countries, including regions recently beset by major natural or medical crises, like Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nepal.
Trade Aid info@ trade-aid.org • 01476 879 276 Supports Rotary Clubs and charities, mainly in Africa, who train members of the local community for a vocational trade and, by supplying them with kits of new tools, allow them to go back to their communities to set up small enterprises.
London’s Air Ambulance
Works to improve the lives of some of the poorest children and families in the Philippines. Now rebranding and expanding to enable it to work also with similar families in the UK.
yourhelicopter@londonsairambulance.co.uk 020 3023 3300
Purple for Polio
Operates an air medical service responding to serious trauma emergencies in and around London. Using helicopters by day and road vehicles by night, it functions as a mobile emergency department in life-threatening, time-critical situations.
tonysharma1905@ gmail.com • 07957 425 295
pamsutton@troopaid.info 07734 384 260 or 01217 117 215
Purple for Polio is the new initiative to eradicate polio, in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society. The Gates Foundation trebles all donations, so a donation of only £1 saves 15 lives.
Supplies GRAB BAGS for men and women who are service casualties admitted to hospital while serving their country. They contain toiletries, shower mules, socks, underwear, t-shirt, shorts and a mobile phone.
Troop Aid
Autumn 2016 • 15
last wordS
PDG David welcomes membership surge “Welcome to the 146* people who have joined our Rotary family in London in the last year,” says David Palmer, Membership Chair. “You are bringing us your energy and talents which will enable Rotary Clubs to continue to provide the valuable service they give to the community locally, nationally and internationally. I hope you will all enjoy your participation in London Rotary District’s life.” *Includes transfers from clubs in other districts
ROTARY CLUBS Barking Rosemond Alexander Hilton Idahosa Shailesh Shedbale
Barnet John Michaelides Simon Smith
Battersea, Brixton & Clapham Nayab Abassi
Chelsea Nathalie DuBois Claudia Giannoni Giovanni Iasevoli Daniel Munblit Christopher Nienaber
Chingford Philip James
Chiswick & Brentford John Matossian Ed Mullins Ivo Varbanov
City & Shoreditch Irmantas Brazaitis Ilaria Cardani Etta Carnelli Riccardo Crestani Demet Deniz Stefano Donati Marina Fazzari Fausta Fanatismi Alessandro Galtieri Mischa Lentz Michael Pinder Michele Porfido
Egbe Omorodion Karen Sayers-Irving
Edmonton Ann Adams Ian Langridge Andrew Ryde
Enfield Barbara Dean Alan Dean Francisca Madu Pembe Mehmet Alison Towndrow
Epping Nicola James
Golders Green Yasha Beresiner
Greenwich Hari Neupane Nellie Stepanova
Hammersmith Myra Fawcett
Hampstead Cristina Maso Marzia Serena Beverly Trippas
Hendon Adebayo Adeshina Olalekan Ajibola
James Oladapo Ogundara
Islington, Highgate & Muswell Hill Richard Rosen
London
Redbridge
Christopher Claxton Jacques Delacave David Formosa Fahima Gibrel Aaron Hales James Innes David Johnson Isabella Jones David King Marie Pierre Lloyd Makarand Oak Dogda Ozaveren Agnes Revel Sabrina Rieger Mohideen Rubin Rajiv Sabharwal Peeter Tamojja Jane Walker
Satish Gupta
London Centenary**
Wembley
Graham Ferguson Stamford Marthews
Loughton, Buckhurst Hill & Chigwell Josh Agdomar Paul Birmingham Carol Brady Ray Harris Alan Ingle Marilyn Ingle Paul Reynolds Joan Umeh
Northwick Park Siva Thaiman
Pall Mall
Lewisham & Penge
Iveta Altofova
Paul Robinson
Putney
Dagenham
Leytonstone & Woodford
Adeseye Oluseyi Adeniran
Ken J Driscoll
Barbara Altounyan Barry Rowe Gordon Vincent
Hendrik Puschmann
Roding David Hobden Julie Clemens Ros Dover
St Marylebone Margaret Pollock Stephen Thomas
Southgate Regina Henock Jeremy Rosen
Streatham Gloria Austin Keisha Smith
Tower Hamlets Iqbal Hossain Miazi Anthony Eboka Ken Ifie Samson Jesi Adora Okoli Rita Okwesa Satish Ramanandan Sandeep Kusnure
Westminster International Amedeo Claris Cagri Turkkorur
Westminster West Margaret Lesuda Josephine Ojiambo Naryan Patel
Woodford Green Brian Blake
Woolwich Donald Austen
**e-Club
ROTARACT CLUBS Hampstead, Hendon & Golders Green
Wandsworth
David Valente
Riaz Ahmad Johanna Bradford Agustina Gonzalez Calderon Matej Cicina Moïse Dakouri Viktor Gaydov Amila Soniran Lilli Uhlig
Dorka Voicu
Westminster
Svetoslav Zakhariev
Five new members joined
Bodil Isaksen Isabell Mülke Pia Shaper Diana Żoch
Raul Hurtoi
King’s College London
Medha Pal
Andreea Badiu Amanda Cheng Angelina Daneva Boryana Filimonova Sonia Gaman
16 • Rotary In London
Yosif Ivanov Luiz Kling Catherine Loesch Bella Stateva Stefania Steria
INNER WHEEL CLUBS Chelsea & Westminster Nirmala Gosalia
Friern Barnet & Whetstone Jean Halstead
Mish Mosh by “Schlepper”
A £40million+ redevelopment of the entire conference and tennis complex means that we cannot hold our annual binge in Eastbourne in 2017 and we will be unlikely visitors in 2018. With the exception of one-off years at Hayling Island and Bournemouth, we have been at the South Coast town continually since the Congress Theatre was built in 1963. For the following decade or so we filled the 1,700 venue to capacity. Our conference started on Thursdays. Bands marched down the Grand Parade and the District Governor waved to the crowds watching from the promenade (yes really!). Shops displayed notices offering discounts to conference delegates and it was a fight to procure accommodation in the bigger hotels. Until the mid-90’s there was a Ladies’ Session with a “suitable” non-Rotary type speaker to cater for “the wives”, as there were very few female Rotarians at that time. There were multiple social activities every evening. Entertainers included Ken Dodd, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Daniels and Bob Monkhouse at the peak of their fame. Two major dances on Saturday evenings were followed by a disco in the Cavendish Hotel, packed with Foundation Scholars, Rotaractors, and young at heart Rotarians. The proceedings were much more formal than in recent years with often the entire District Team on stage facing the audience and VIP areas during refreshment breaks. The pace of life changed. Membership throughout the developed Rotary world fell. This was reflected in our District and the numbers attending Conference. We switched to a Friday start, and instigated a full plenary session on Sunday. In spite of all the changes a strong thread links the old and new conferences: friendship. This great underpinning of Fellowship was as strong as ever in 2016 among the familiar sights of Eastbourne. I’m sure it will be as evident next year: wherever conference takes place.
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on e l is nd enc ate r lo fer d P so on vin pon ct C A r to s s t r i d Di ou ’s pr tary ro
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