KEYWORTH AND RUDDINGTON AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLAR CELEBRATED WITH CAKE

District 1220 outward-bound Ambassadorial Scholar, Jenny Blackman, gave a confident address to the club shortly before her departure for Sydney, Australia. Val Lindley, District Foundation Chairman, Terry Leivers, Ambassadorial Scholarships Coordinator and Jenny's parents attended the meeting.

In a short address Val told the club how the Foundation Committee had considered Jenny to be an outstanding candidate to represent Great Britain and Rotary International. She will be studying Sports Science and Rehabilitation followed by Media and Communications so District Clubs can expect some interesting presentations about life and study down under on her return. Her UK counsellor is JVP Martin Clarke. He and PP Frank Trout had arranged a T-shirt and a giant cake as parting gifts for Jenny. She promptly shared the cake, for everyone to enjoy. It was then a case on the evening of "let Rotarians eat cake." Andrew Bulmer

KIRKBY IN ASHFIELD
CLUB'S ACTIVITIES

The second half of our Rotary year has been equally as busy as the first six months. Our monthly Disco of Soul and Motown Music has proved very popular, and they are now making a useful contribution to our Charity account. The Raffle last month along with a further amount is being donated to the Rainbow Fund, when they visit our Club to give a talk.

On Friday April 2nd we had an Organ Concert in the local Festival Hall by Phill Kelsall, the resident Organist at Blackpool Tower. This was an excellent Concert and very well attended. February 13th we held a very successful Tombola Stall in the local Cooperative Store. February 27th we had a very pleasant Annual Games evening with the Sutton-in-Ashfield Club.

I won't embarrass the Sutton Club by giving the result.

Wednesday March 25th we held a Turkish Evening in a local Restaurant. 59 members and friends attended and enjoyed a performance by a Belly Dancer. This was in aid of Aqua Boxes.

Plans for our Annual Spring Carnival are now well advanced to take place on Bentinck Miners Welfare Ground on Sunday May 9th with fun and games for all the family. We are hoping that the weather will be kind to us. Gordon Sugg 

LONG EATON
RED ARROWS FLY INTO CLUB MEETING

More than 100 Rotarians and their guests attended a very special meeting of our Club on Monday 16th February at West Park Leisure Centre to see and learn more about the UK's most famous formation team, the Red Arrows.

Speaker for the evening was Flight Lieutenant Dan Simmons who flew in position Red 4 in the 2003 flying display season and has been selected to fly as Red 7 in the 2004 season. Illustrating his talk with an action-packed video and a most informative Power Point presentation, Dan Simmons covered everything one ever wanted to know about the 

The vote of thanks was given by Past President Rotarian and Flight Lieutenant Keith Hall MBE RAF Retired. Keith recalled his time in 1946 when he himself was in a formation team and the engine of his plane cut out with no starter button available!

Joining the Rotarians for dinner were a group from the Long Eaton Air Cadets and who are seen in the accompanying picture with President Roger Alton and Flight Lieutenant Dan Simmons. Graham N Smith MBE

MATLOCK
LITTLE ANGELS HOME

John Bent and his wife Anthea handing over the cheque to Phillip together with Mrs Audrey Ball, Matlock Inner Wheel, who had made the visit to see her daughter and who also handed over a cheque.

Our Club has donated £250 to the little Angels project, and the Club decided that as Past President John Bent and his wife Anthea were going to South Africa it would be nice to get some first hand information on the way the money is helping them. 

On first meeting Phillip Rensburg one is immediately struck by the sheer determination of the man to make this dream a reality. He has fought against all the red tape that the authorities could throw at him. 

A former bank manager Phillip and Pat decided to start this care home in the Western Cape to help the victims of Aids. They now look after 30 orphans and many children are free from the HIV virus and therefore Phillip can foster and indeed place children for adoption and offer them a new opportunity in life. 

This couple's care and inspiration is wonderful to see at first hand and the money donated was put towards the cost of a new kitchen for preparing the babies food.

NEWARK CASTLE
ALL OF A QUIVER

The visit to King Stand Farm for the archery competition on January 13th was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. I, for one, had no idea that this venue even existed, the home and work place of Ken, the only real bow maker in England, on our doorstep at Rufford, in Robin Hood Country. Ken made the bow that was used to win Gold in the Sydney Olympics. 

The first two of our groups received instruction from Christine, Neil and Adrian on the technique of archery at their indoor archery gallery. At the same time the other two groups watched a video showing the distortion of the arrow during flight and hearing from Ken, a real craftsman, on the art of bow making. Later the activities were reversed.

In the gallery each of the "archers" had nine arrows practice before starting the competition. Hitting the target allowed scores of 1,3,5,7 or 9 per arrow. The highest scores in each group were:

Group 1 : SYP Allen with 9,9,5; 9,9,7 and 5,5,7 totalling 65. Group 2 : Stuart with 9,9,7; 7,7,5 and 5,3,7 totalling 59. Group 3 : Geoff with 7,9,7; 7,7,9 and 7,9,7 totalling 69. Group 4 : Derek with 7,7,5; 7,7,3 and 9,7,7 totalling 59. 

The "Top Score" trophy went to Geoff (Robin Hood) Woodward with the "Runner Up" prize going to SVP Allen. A small bow was presented to Naomi and Sam Slack to reward them for their excellent efforts on the evening.

A meal at the Robin Hood Pub aptly finished off an excellent evening, where the presentations were made : Dave Gregson 

RETFORD
 EDUBOX

Dr Jo Walker and Colin Walker have many connections with South Africa as Colin is the European Director for an African charity called Educate Africa. They, with our club, have done much work with the Charity and also direct to schools in South Africa. One of their concerns was that many schools outside built up areas or small towns lack even the basic facilities, but may have a hut or room available.

The idea of the Edubox is to despatch in one box, (Aquabox Size) enough equipment to start up a class of 40 or so children in primary education. The boxes will be distributed by larger secondary schools who will act as mentors for these fledgling village schools, even taking some of the students later into secondary education. 

Each Edubox contains enough equipment, everything from pens and pencils, files, paper, crayons, rulers, calculators plus things for use by a teacher, chalk, textbooks, etc, to allow a class to be started and run for one year 

The targeted school's area or village would be decided by the local sponsoring School, their local knowledge in this area is vital for the success of the project. South Africa initially has been targeted because of the connections that already exist.

Clearly if the project is successful it could be rolled out anywhere where Rotary Clubs exist and a need can be identified. It is however, vital that the box is supported with frequent contact from the sponsoring organisation. 

Edubox is not a "Classroom in a box". The box cannot be simply sent to a remote area and expect the school to start on its arrival. Support, simple or complex is needed to ensure its success.
Bob Stockdale

SOUTHWELL
CHRISTMAS RAFFLE

Despite the awful weather on the first ticket selling day, in the Market Place, tickets to the value of £458 were sold. The following Saturday’s collection at the Co-op produced £405. Members bought or sold the rest. Thanks especially to two remarkable salesmen the total of £2,400 was achieved, which is better than last year. This is before expenses, which will be light because all 30 prizes were donated, including the first prize of £200 which was donated anon by a Club member and won by someone outside the Club.

This is a reflection on the effort that members have put in over recent months and the money will now stand the club in good stead for the remainder of my year and give Bill a good start to his. David Steel

SUTTON - IN - ASHFIELD
AN EGGSTRE EVENT

L to r President Peter Ford, Immediate Past President John Thompson & Past Presidents John Pearce, Phil Bustin and Koshy Mathew at the Clubs stand.

At last years Ashfield Show our Club, in conjunction with the local ASDA store, held a competition to guess how many eggs were held in an egg transport container, as seen in the photograph. The three prizes on offer were of course eggs, which were supplied to the winners by ASDA on a weekly basis. The competition was very well supported and resulted in the Rainbows Hospice being presented with a cheque for £500 by President Peter at the ASDA store.

WEST ASHFIELD
CREATING KERALA CONNECTIONS

The Rotary Old People’s Home and Hospital in Trivandrum

The visit came about because the current IW District 22 Chairman, Judith Turner, was invited by her counterpart in IW District 321, Jaya Chandrahassan, to attend that District's Conference. (Judith in turn invited Jaya to attend the IW District 22 Rally on 23rd March.) This year's IW President Pat Walker and IPP Doreen Taylor joined the Kerala trip and Rotarians Turner and Walker went along to carry the luggage. It proved to be not only the trip of a lifetime for the five Britons, but also important for the two West Ashfield Clubs in strengthening existing Inner Wheel connections and creating new Rotary ones.

For many years the IW Club of West Ashfield has enjoyed a strong association with Trivandrum, principally through the British Club’s provision, via their Indian counterparts, of funds for the education and housing of Priya, a girl who was born without arms. It was a moving and humbling experience to meet Priya, now in her twenties, and to see her write with her foot a thank you message in English for the ladies to bring home to their fellow members. 

One of the purposes of the trip was to see the establishments set up and supported by the IW Club of Trivandrum, but we were also able to visit two maintained by the city’s Rotary Club. First was an old people’s home, housing dozens of aged men and women who would otherwise probably be living on the street or at the least in considerable poverty. The home was founded by the RC of Trivandrum and is funded by them. The manager is a Rotarian. We asked, “How long do they stay here?” The answer: “Till death”. 

The individuals who stood in the doorways of their cell-like rooms, giving us the traditional hands-together “Namaste” greeting, may have been pathetic but they had great dignity. At first we kept our cameras hidden, out of respect for the residents’ privacy, but when we were told that they would be pleased to have their photographs taken, we unhesitatingly obliged. The hospital next door, a deserted building seemingly out of the 19th century, is used as a day clinic.

That evening we attended the first part of the weekly meeting of the Trivandrum Rotary Club. Most of Rotary and Inner Wheel business in India is conducted in English. We were given the usual Rotary welcome but invited to opt out of the second part, which unusually was a talk in the local language, Malayalam, on safer roads. In fact the speaker was delayed by a traffic jam! 

On arrival at the school we were treated to a drink of coconut milk (in the coconut), then to a tour of the various classes and workshops. Among the products from these are carrier bags made from old newspapers, and stick chalk. In honour of our visit, five of the girl pupils performed an intricate folk dance and one sang an unaccompanied song. We were indeed honoured! We were also very impressed with the size and scope of this on-going programme, which we felt our own Rotary Club could help support. 

One of the two nights away from our base at the beach resort of Kovalam was spent at Kottayam (pronounced Kottem), a five hour drive to the north, as guests of the local IW Club. Judith and David stayed in the town and the rest of us at a rubber and spice plantation a few miles away in Ullayam. As Doreen, Pat and Ron were being shown round the plantation, a gaggle of children approached on their way to the nearby upper primary school. Our host told us the cause of the children’s embarrassed giggles was that they had never seen westerners before. Later the Head Teacher invited us into the school and we showed each of the three classes the locations of England and India on the map – and their relative sizes. Here again there is the opportunity for both Inner Wheel and Rotary in West Ashfield to make a positive contribution to the life of this remote village school by helping to fund the badly needed extensions to the humble buildings and to increase the stock of the modest library. 

To describe adequately the wonderful hospitality, official and personal, given us everywhere we went, the exquisite beach-side location of the Rockholm Hotel in Kovalam, the fascinating similarities and differences of Indian and British styles of Inner Wheel and Rotary (especially the conferences), the exotic variety of Kerala’s vegetation, the bare-back elephant ride, the dinner with two princesses, etc, etc, would fill this magazine. But over-spanning all this, we have made lasting friends and colleagues in a country thousands of miles away, yet sharing the same aims and ideals. And if that isn’t Rotary at its best, what is?
David Turner and Ron Walker 

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

2005 members for 2005 is the Membership Service Committee's slogan and membership target for the Centennial and Club's are responding well. The snapshot taken of the District membership during the November/December census with the help of Club Presidents indicated that there were 1957 members with 34 about to be inducted within a month. 

Providing these potential members actually joined and deducting losses of 25 the membership at the beginning of March should be 1966. Clubs also informed us that there are a further 70 possible Rotarians in the pipeline but with the usual end of year losses of approximately 50, the net gain is likely to be 20 giving a predicted membership total of 1986 if all goes well and we all strive to find new members. 

This would give us a good springboard to launch a major membership drive in July to achieve our 2005 membership target to celebrate 100 years of Rotary Service. Stephen Kitch's Extension drive is progressing well with The Lace Market, Nottingham Queens, Drone Valley and Chilwell beginning to take off and hopefully they will swell our numbers for the Centennial. Members of the Committee are available to talk to clubs about membership topics, so please contact us. Our details are in the District Directory pages 9 and 10. 

Charles Tyrie - District Chairman Membership Service Committee 

BURTON

Sir Stanley Clarke formally launched our Clubs Cancer Ward Appeal at the Bass Museum, Burton on 15th December and said how delighted Lady Hilda and he were to accept the role of Patrons. It was clear to all present that the project is very close to Sir Stanley's heart and his enthusiasm gave a tremendous boost to members. 

In our area there are many people suffering from various forms of cancer - some will be treated at Queen’s Hospital, Burton upon Trent, others as far away as Manchester and Liverpool. After treatment they return home. 

Many patients then need "emergency" hospitalisation, because of infection or side effects of the treatment, and they are taken to Queen’s, irrespective of their treatment centre. There is no dedicated area for such emergency admissions with consequent difficulties for patients and specialist staff. 

The object of the appeal is to raise a minimum of £50,000 and to establish a dedicated ward at Queen's Hospital providing specialist oncology/ haematology in - patient services for patients suffering from cancer and leukaemia. 

President Peter Merrick, DG Elect John Kirkland, Sir Stanley and Lady Clarke and Sir Henry Every

This project will provide a ward with dedicated beds immediately accessible to specialist resources and in the most appropriate surroundings. This facility was specifically requested by the Queen’s Hospital and is being given their fullest support. 

Sir Henry Every, Hospital Trust Chairman accepted the first contribution to the fund of £10,000 and expressed the gratitude of Queen's Hospital for the work being done by the Club and he reminded everyone that this project was of vital importance to the wellbeing of cancer suffers in East Staffordshire.

Currently the appeal has raised the sum of £31,000. At our Charter Dinner on 19th March 2004 the Club bestowed honorary membership on Sir Stanley and Lady Clarke for all the support that they have given to the project.

DISTRICT OFFICERS FOR 2004/05.  

JOHN TUNGAY
ROTARIAN OF THE YEAR (TWICE)

I have tried to piece together information on a man I recently was privileged to meet. A man who stunned Rotarians to silence for 45 minutes with his talk at Keyworth and Ruddington Rotary! John is not in the flush of youth but is a human dynamo. In his younger days he edited one of South Africa's leading newspapers and was a very senior broadcaster. Reading partially between the lines he played a major part in the demise of apartheid and was badly beaten up by the Apartheid police requiring four operations to restore his sight. But, undeterred he has spent his life in trying to help those in need in Kwa Zulu, Natal. As well as being involved in the Hilton and Howick projects (see other article) he is a very accomplished musician. He has trained the Drakensburg Boys Choir to be world champions and is now working to produce three more orphan choirs to go on World Tours to celebrate the centenary of Rotary. A few years back, to raise emergency funds for a village that had lost its school and community buildings in a storm, they arranged with Anglo-American to set up a world challenge for the longest continuous organ playing. He won - having played continuously for 7 days and 5 hours It is John who is co-ordinating the Wilderness Adventure for our two District 1220 award winners. They go to South Africa on July 9th and they will report back to us on return. Graham Wallis

DISTRICT QUIZ

West Ashfield - Winners

In a tightly fought contest, the Rotary Club of West Ashfield emerged as the new champions and winners of the 2003/4 District Quiz, held at The Embassy Rooms, Ilkeston on the 2nd March. The runners up were the Rotary Club of Southwell, who narrowly beat the 2002/3 champions, the Rotary Club of Bretby in a penalty shoot-out. District Governor Neil Sharman thanked Quizmaster Rotarian Charles Tyrie and his wife Hilary for their hard work in running the quizzes and presented the District Quiz Trophy to the winning team together with individual engraved cut glass whisky tumblers. 

The runners up also received commemorative whisky tumblers and Pam Cox from Southwell a fun mug for being the guest with the highest score of 26, which was higher than the Rotary Club of Bolsover's collective team score! The results were Bolsover 23, Chesterfield 31, Bretby 33, Long Eaton 30, Carlton 32, Southwell 33 plus 1 from the penalty shoot-out, West Ashfield 35 and Matlock 29.
Charles Tyrie

73rd ANNUAL ERIC POTTER DISTRICT 1220 GOLF COMPETITION

This event started in 1931 and, with the exception of the war, has been played every year since.

The event this year is being held on Wednesday 2nd June 2004 at Cotgrave Place Golf Club, Stragglethorpe, near Cotgrave Village, Nottingham NG12 3HB. 

The cost is £38.00 per person and includes coffee and bacon roll on arrival, 18 holes on the Masters Course, prizes and a meal in the evening. The tee is booked from 2.00pm until 3.00pm. 

Last year Beeston successfully took the cup from Wollaton Park and they hope to hang on to it! We had 24 players last year and hope to increase the numbers again this year. For further information and an application form please contact : Bruce Liddle (RC Beeston) Telephone : 0115 9431251

ROTARY WITH SLEEVES ROLLED UP

When John Tungay announced he was to come to the U.K. to organise a fund-raising concert tour I knew we had to ask him to speak to my club and any other interested visitors from local clubs. Why? 

I had previously attended a performance of the Young Zulu Warriors on an earlier RIBI sponsored tour and this summer had met his counterpart from God's Golden Acre ( an AIDS Orphanage and outreach project ). Heather Reynolds and I had heard of John's many exploits! 

He belongs to Hilton and Howick Rotary Club near Pietermaritsburg. A club of seventeen members of whom a number belong to the zimmer frame brigade. To give them legs they have formed six ; yes six, Interact Clubs to help them carry out the most amazing programme of support to their local community. What about this for putting Service Above Self. They run: 

• A daily emergency feeding programme, co-ordinated by Rick Barrata a 77 year old ex- New York cop, for hundreds of starving people
• An outreach programme into the Valley of a Thousand Hills where an estimated 100,000 people need feeding and medical support
• A Department of Home Affairs for the government - one Rotarian has taken over the governments role locally to supply birth certificates to orphans to allow them access to education. She has provided 1500 children with this service this year. She now is working on training locals to provide paperwork for other aspects of social need.
• A programme to train ladies in creating a sewing business to allow them to provide for extended families.
• Assisted with the orphanage and hospice at God's Golden Acre 

All this from 17 people and 6 Interact Clubs!!

The Nottingham Emergency Fund Raising Concert in support of Rotary's Orphans in South Africa, as they are locally referred to, will be held at the Nottingham Boys High School on Saturday 3rd July starting at 7:30 pm. Tickets priced at £10 each can be obtained from:-

Graham Wallis, Keyworth & Ruddington RC
Paul Christie, Sherwood Sunrisers
Leonard Gelblum, Nottingham 

Graham Wallis - Youth Chair 1220 

Rick Barrata with his truck loaded with food

RAVENSHEAD
BYRON 30 CHALLENGE WALK 2004

The Byron 30km challenge walk, starting and finishing at the Ravens Lodge Scout Headquarters (SK 566554), next to 'The Little John' public house on the B6020 Ravenshead will take place on Saturday 15th May 2004.

An 18km walk and a short 5km family walk will also take place at the same time and in the same area as the 30km walk. 

The walk takes in part of the beautiful rolling countryside around Lord Byron's ancestral home of Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. The walk passes through Harlow Wood, Thieves Wood, Nomanshill Wood, Newstead Abbey Park, Papplewick, Papplewick Moor, Burnstump Country Park, Sansom Wood, Blidworth Bottoms, Old Blidworth, Rainworth Water, Harlow Wood before returning to Ravenshead. 

The walk will be marshalled at key points and a number of checkpoints will be provided. Complimentary tea, coffee and squash will be provided for competitors at some of the checkpoints, food and a selection of other drinks can also be purchased if required.

A comprehensive route plan will be provided on the day and emergency support will be available, should this be required. On receipt of an entry form an acknowledgement, with details of the venue and an entry number, will be posted, or e-mailed, by the end of March 2004. 

The entry fee of £5 per individual or £10 per team of four includes:

• complimentary drinks at the start and en-route
• a certificate to all finishers
• a prize for the individual raising the most sponsorship

For more details and entry form please contact : Paul Craddock

Rainbows events

WARSOP
NATIONAL THREE PEAKS CHALLENGE

SPONSORSHIP is required for a team of five walkers who are going to attempt the National Three Peaks, 24 hour challenge

Saturday 29th and 30th May to 2004

Saturday 29th May 2004 at 5:00 pm climb Ben Nevis - Scotland
Sunday 30th May 2004 at 3:00 am climb Scarfell Pike - England
Sunday 30th May 2004 at 1:00 pm climb Snowdon - Wales

All proceeds to Rainbows Hospice For further information and to sponsor the team please contact : Steve Lunn of Warsop

WOLLATON PARK
CHARITY BIKE RIDE

The Rotary Charity Bike Ride will take place on Sunday 23rd May 2004 starting from the Stick and Pitcher pub on University Boulevard from 9:30 am. 

There will be three routes, of 5, 10, and 25 miles. The 5 and 10 mile routes are largely off road. All routes will start and finish at the STICK and PITCHER pub where there will be BBQ, bar food and drink available to purchase throughout the day. 

The money raised will go to local charities and Cancer Research, Family Care and the Education Centre at Attenborough Nature Reserve. 

The entry fee of £5 per adult and £2.50 per junior includes: • a certificate to all finishers 1st prize of £50, 2nd prize £25 and 3rd prize £10 

For more details and entry form please contact : Andrew Taylor  E-mail via contact centre

KEYWORTH & RUDDINGTON
HOPE AND HOMES TRIPS -2004

Following the success of our trips to Paris and Prague last year Hope and Homes for Children benefited by over £6000. 

We continue to support this charity for our sixth year with visits to Amsterdam and Barcelona and hope that you will join us in support of the foundation of the Marion Bates home in Rumania.

Amsterdam – July 30th to August 2nd
Price £169 per person

Surely one of Europe’s most beautiful cities with lively café society and exciting nightlife, cosmopolitan Amsterdam boasts a fantastic variety of restaurants and cuisines. It’s world famous museums and art galleries, historic buildings, cafes, flower markets and diamond houses border a picturesque canal system. 

Travel by luxury coach and ferry to your comfortable 3* Novotel on Friday and arrive in the evening in time for a short walk and dinner at a restaurant of your choice. 

On Saturday morning we will take you on a comprehensive tour of the city. You will see almost every famous landmark in the city as well as visiting Coster Diamonds, the exclusive diamond house who polished the famous Koh I Noor. The afternoon and evening are free for you to explore Amsterdam at your leisure. 

On Sunday morning we visit the Koller-Muller art museum situated in the De Hoge Veluwe National Park, world famous for its collection of works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Gaugin & Monet. From there a short drive takes us to Arnhem, scene of the tragic World War 2 battle depicted in the film “A Bridge Too Far”. 

During the afternoon we visit the Palace of Het Loo, former summer residence of the Dutch Royal Family. The evening is free for you to choose your own entertainment from the many and varied range that Amsterdam offers. 

Further information from John Witham
E-mail via contact centre
Website : www.keyrudrotary.org

Our November trip to Barcelona will feature in the next issue of Rotary Review.