Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Great conference in Torquay! What a shame only a few went from our club. We saw some effective presentations and had some good food (and wine) while we were there.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Chronical Dec/Jan 2009 Issue59
December/January 2009. Issue 59 (804 )
The Rotary Chronicle.
The Rotary Club of Southampton.
Di s t r ic t 1 1 10. RIBI No 21 . Founded 1918.
Max’s Musings
It has been a difficult month! I have worked
for Lloyds TSB for 40 years and have been
through a number of recessions but I have
never known anything like we have seen
over the past few
months. My principal
role has been in winning
new business but
it is fair to say that this
has changed now to
trying to save existing
businesses. We are all
aware of large corporates
failing - Woolworths
and MFI very
recently. But it is also
very sad to see small
family businesses that
have been built up over
many years suffering
and at the point of failure
largely as a result
of the present economic
conditions. I
am afraid that for
many people this will mean unemployment.
We in Banking are not immune where there
are huge numbers of people losing their
jobs. With Christmas approaching this is a
terrible time of year to lose your livelihood.
In many cases it is not just the loss
of income but the emotional stress and loss
of self esteem as well.
All incoming club
Presidents are given an
a c t i o n ma n u a l
“President-Elect Preparation”.
After the Objects
of Rotary and the
4-Way test there is “the
infallible rule”:
Family first, business
second and, if possible,
Rotary third.
On two recent Fridays
it had been my full
intention to attend Rotary
but emergency
work commitments as
a result of the economic
climate took
over literally at the
very last minute causing me to miss the
meetings. Thank you to SVP Conrad who
stood in with hardly any notice.
December/January — Family of Rotary Month.
A very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all our readers.
Page 2 The Rotary Chronicle.
I was sorry to miss those meetings because I have, like many other members, particularly enjoyed
the quality and variety of our guest speakers. Richard Strother has done an absolutely superb job
in attracting a wide variety including speakers on Rotary issues. I think my favourite to date was
Nick Barrett on 24th October who described himself as a family historian. Nick is a consultant
and researcher to the BBC programme “Who Do You Think You Are?” and his talk was exceptionally
interesting and brilliantly delivered. It was also a great pleasure to host the Mayor and
Mayoress of Southampton who are a charming couple.
Christmas is almost upon us. Once again there is great support and teamwork within the Club to
“tin rattle”. There are even new Father Christmas outfits. We have already sent a donation to
SCRATCH so that they can use it for Christmas. In these difficult economic times with increased
unemployment and real hardship the poignancy of “Service above Self” should be remembered.
We should also be proud of all of the people we will help through the Christmas Collections.
Thank you to everyone for their support.
I wish a very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year to all my fellow Rotarians and their
families.
President Max.
Note from President
Merle -
Inner Wheel Club of
Southampton.
My report for this edition of the
Rotary Chronicle is going to be
brief. November has been fairly
quiet so far, but our Christmas Coffee and Mince Pie Morning
with craft tables is now very close (See page—10). Our
speaker at our recent afternoon meeting was Janice Roper (New Forest Honey) who showed
us slides and also various items of equipment needed to keep bees and produce honey. She
also brought some jars of her honey for us to buy.
We had our District Meeting and Overseas Rally in Bournemouth on 12 November and it
was good to see several of our members at that meeting. It was a new venue – Carrington
House Hotel and they looked after us very well.
Many of our members have visited other Inner Wheel clubs; to name a few - Parkstone and
Poole, Locks Heath, Hamble Valley and Winchester.
May I take this opportunity to wish all my Inner Wheel members, Rotarians and families a
very happy Christmas and all health and happiness in 2009.
President Merle.
Thanks to the Hobbs family for their generosity in continuing to print The Chronicle.
Page 3 The Rotary Chronicle.
On following pages... , Christmas greeting—page 4, The Dream Conference—page 4,
Christmas Traditions—page 5, Update on Vermont School—page 6, Dear Mr Editor—
page 7, Christmas Jokes—page 8, Celebrations—page 9, Sports Report—page 9, Inner
Wheel Coffee Morning—page 10, Shelterbox News—page 10, Community, Vocational
and Youth—page 11,The Poetry Competition—page 12, RI Convention—page 12,
News of members—page 13, Christmas Draw—page 13, Gardeners’ Fayre—page 13,
Polio Update—page 14,Diary—page 15, And Finally—page 16.
From the RI President
Dear fellow Rotarians,
As a father of four and grandfather of five, I have been fortunate
to have spent many years in the company of children.
When raising our own children, my wife, Young, and I
worked hard to give them what all children need most: a loving,
safe, and stable home. Our children were our first priority,
and we made sure that they always had nutritious food,
appropriate clothing, quality medical care, and a good education.
We knew very well how fortunate we were to be able to
do this. We were grateful that we never had to say to our children,
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing to eat tonight,” or “I’m
sorry, but we can’t pay your school fees.”
When I was a child, Korea was a poor country, and there
were many children who went to bed hungry at night and had no school to go to in the morning.
As a Rotarian, I know only too well that there are still far too many children in the
world without the absolute essentials: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education.
And as a Rotarian who is also a father, I consider all of the world’s children to be my responsibility.
When I see my own grandchildren – happy, healthy, and enrolled in good schools – I cannot
help but think of the millions of children who do not have so many advantages. I think of
the children who have too little to eat and only dirty water to drink. I think of the children
who are sick with diseases that could have been prevented and those who will have nowhere
safe to sleep tonight. And I think of the children, millions of them every year, who won’t
live to see their fifth birthday.
December is Family Month. It is a time to focus on our families, to involve them in our Rotary
service, and to challenge ourselves to do even more for those in need. Because there are
so many families and so many children waiting for our help, we, as Rotarians, cannot look
away. We cannot and will not rest until all children, everywhere, have the chance for a long
and healthy life. We will not rest until we Make Dreams Real for every child in every home
where there is hunger, sickness, and want. As Rotarians, we can do no less.
Dong Kurn (D.K.) Lee
President, Rotary International
Page 4 The Rotary Chronicle.
Bill and Nanna Cox
John and Kathleen Lyon
Austin and Sheila Fitzpatrick
John and Gill Bronsdon
Brian and Hilary Follett
Andrew and Christine Huckett
Ken and Merle Ball
Bob, Janet and Jemma Jackson
Meg and Ian Ryves
Send Christmas Greetings to fellow members and their families.
Instead of sending cards, they will be making a donation to a
charity of their choice.
THE DREAM CONFERENCE.
The 84th RIBI Conference will be held in the vibrant Scottish capital city and Rotarians are
being urged not to miss out. “The Dream Conference” will take place at the famous Usher
Hall in Edinburgh on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 April 2009. This is only the third time the
conference has been to Scotland's lively capital city, the last time being back in 1930. The
city boasts plenty to see and do with a perfect balance between the traditional and contemporary.
Rotarians won't be short of things to occupy their time from world-class museums
and galleries, open-top bus tours, the city's zoo and top-class restaurants and bars.
PP Norman Woodford, who is organising the visit to this RIBI Conference, has details about
the conference and accommodation and requests that anyone considering attending speak to
him as soon as possible. (See also page 12—re the RI Convention)
Page 5 The Rotary Chronicle.
Christmas Traditions.
Mince pies are descended from Christmas pies, which contained a variety of meats as well as fruit
and spices.
Christmas pies were very much bigger than the tiny mince pies we eat today. One pie is recorded
as having among its ingredients; a hare, a pheasant, a capon, two rabbits, two pigeons, two partridges,
the livers of all these animals, as well as eggs, pickled mushrooms and spices. Sometimes
these pies could weigh as much as 220 lbs. with iron bands to hold them together while they were
baking.
As time went on, mince pies became smaller and smaller. Another name for them was ‘wayfarers’
pies since they were given to visitors during the Christmas holiday. It was thought to be lucky to
eat twelve mince pies in twelve different houses during the twelve days of Christmas to ensure a
happy twelve months for the year ahead.
Everyone loves to pull a cracker. It’s all part of the fun of Christmas. The originator of the
cracker was a man called Tom Smith who owned a sweet shop in London.
Tom had a good eye for business. He also had a sense of humour. ‘What people like,’ he used to
say, ‘is something new. And if it’s not new, the art is to find a way of selling it!’
During the 1840’s Tom found that people liked sugar almonds, but while he was on holiday in
France he came across a variety of sweets wrapped up in a twist of paper. These bonbons seemed
very popular, so Tom decided to copy the idea to wrap his sugar almonds. The new wrapping made
the sweets look rather special. They sold well. Then Tom noticed that young men were buying
them to give to their sweethearts. He began placing ‘love mottoes’ on small slips of paper inside
the sweet wrapping. This novelty sold even better than Tom had expected. People went out of
their way to visit his shop and buy this new kind of sweet.
In 1846 Tom turned his thoughts towards Christmas. Instead of sweets, why not wrap little toys
and novelties in the twisted wrapping? Tom experimented and hit on the idea of producing a wrapping
that could be pulled apart – just like the cracker as we know it today.
As he had hoped, the Christmas novelty was a success, but Tom was still not satisfied. One evening
he was standing idly in front of the fire. As he kicked a log into place there was a shower of
sparks and the log cracked and popped making Tom jump. ‘That’s it!’ he laughed to himself. ‘What I
need is something in my wrapping that will make a ‘snap’ when it is pulled open’.
For some months he worked with several chemicals until at last he found one that was safe, easy
to make, and would make a noise just loud enough to amuse his customers and not frighten them.
The new ‘crackers’ were a sensation and soon making them became a full-time business. Tom had
to open a factory to produce them. Today the Tom Smith factory sell crackers all over the world,
and the man who liked to amuse his customers would be amazed to know that his sense of fun had
started a Christmas tradition.
Extracts from www.christmas-time.com
Page 6 The Rotary Chronicle.
Action at Vermont School.
Around the time that the installation and opening of the playground at Vermont School took
place, Chris Davis asked for volunteers to help the school in a number of ways and I volunteered
to be a governor. My background (in Leeds) as a governor and later as chairman of
governors of a similar school, gave me some grounding.
There are 28 places in the school for boys of primary school age but presently there are a
number of spaces.
At my first governors' meeting I heard the head teacher say that the effect of the provision of
the playground was to radically reduce the number of violent acts of behaviour by the pupils.
She also thanked the Rotary Club of Southampton for their part in this provision and their
involvement with the school also on ROTARY KIDS’ OUT day in June.
A special meeting to try to improve the way that boys are enrolled into Vermont was held in
early November and attended by governors, staff, parents, councillors and a representative of
Southampton Children’s Services. It is clear that there are some legal problems but pathways
which have been blocked previously will gently be smoothed out, it is hoped. Again
Rotary was mentioned in this meeting as being one of the bodies which, without questioning,
gave assistance to a school, which provides education and care for some of the most
difficult and disturbed children in the area and often support for their parents. It is significant
that some of the children who are given support and teaching at Vermont, benefit so
much from the school that they are able to return to mainstream education, though this might
not take place until secondary school level. Some of this work is achieved by a small Outreach
Team who are able to move out of the school to assess children and help their parents.
By Southampton’s provision of Vermont School, children in most need are given the chance
to have a future; mainstream schools have respite from the behaviour of the most difficult
and possibly later the opportunity to welcome them back after they have benefited from a
very special group of people, who are the head teacher, the outreach team and the staff. It is
Rotary’s privilege to be able to give their service above self in this situation – we now look
forward to Rotary Kids Out which is another enabler to the children and the staff in the
school. Well done and thanks.
To this end I am hoping that it will be possible for the Club to invite head teacher, Jackie
Wilson, to an evening meeting (lunchtime meetings obviously being out of the question) to
meet Rotarians and talk about the progress being made by one of the most significant and
vitally important schools in this City.
PP Austin Fitzpatrick.
PS. Members may well remember that for Kids Out
in 2008, several members of staff had to use their cars
as there were insufficient of our own members.
PLEASE put the 2009 date in your diary now so that
we do not have to rely on the staff for assistance.
Wednesday 10th June 2009.
Page 7 The Rotary Chronicle.
Dear Mr Editor,
When I transferred to our club in 1969 I was horrified to be set upon immediately
and constantly for money in some guise or other. Because of
this I raised objections to Council pointing out that, because of this, a
number of members had resigned. I was, as a result, hauled before said
Council (not for the last time in my Rotary career as you will recall) and
asked for suggestions. The direct result was that the Appeals Committee was formed under
my chairmanship with the explicit purpose of being the SOLE fundraising committee of the
club; appeals committee would raise the money and the Council would decide how it was to
be spent with other committees going direct to Council with requests for finances. This had
a double benefit:
1) The club's efforts could be concentrated into say 2 or more major projects rather than dissipating
energies into a number of minor, less productive events.
2) Members could be sure that they could come to lunch or open their post without the fear
of being asked to support this or that committee financially; such requests can, at best, be
embarrassing to refuse and, at worst, quite unintentional of course as far as the ticket seller is
concerned, border on ''moral blackmail.
The original aims of appeals have long since sadly been forgotten, more the pity.
Fortunately, as again you well know, I do not embarrass easily and, because of that, I have
no hesitation in returning the raffle tickets, unsold. You are aware I am sure of Dale Carnegies
best seller ''How to make friends and influence people''. The attempt to sell raffle tickets
is, in my humble opinion, the antithesis of this. People will buy tickets from you because
they like you or feel too embarrassed to refuse, but certainly not because they want them.
In my own case, on this occasion, I will be flying to Greece on Friday Dec Nov 20th, 2 days
after receiving them and returning a day or so before the stubs are required back.
One more point that I feel is worth making; you refer to work colleagues and neighbours as
likely customers. It is superfluous for me to remind you that OAP's no longer go to a
place of work and I would not dream of asking (blackmailing?) my friends to purchase when
throughout the year I, and I am sure many fellow Rotarians of my vintage receive nothing
but kindness and help when needed. Embarrassing them into buying the chance to win a
hamper that they possibly (probably?) would not want anyway is a poor way of saying
“thank you”.'
Because the cause is worthy I also enclose a cheque, to cover my embarrassment?
Should you feel like quoting this, or any part of it in the magazine I have no objection; it
might be interesting to see if I am a lone voice in the wilderness or whether there are any
like minded members.
Bob Turner.
Bob has ‘thrown down the gauntlet’ - have any other members any comments?
Page 8 The Rotary Chronicle.
A few Cracker Jokes.
•What do monkeys sing at
Christmas ?
Jungle Bells, Jungle bells...... !
•Knock Knock
Who's there?
Wenceslas
Wenceslas who?
Wenceslas train home?
•Why are Christmas trees like bad knitters ?
They both drop their needles !
•What did the bald man say when he got a comb for Christmas ?
Thanks, I'll never part with it !
•What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree ?
A pineapple !
•What do you give a train driver for Christmas ?
Platform shoes !
•What did the big candle say to the little candle ?
I'm going out tonight !
•There was once a great czar in Russia named Rudolph the Red. He stood looking out the
windows of his palace one day while his wife, the Czarina Katerina, sat nearby knitting. He
turned to her and said, "Look my dear, it has begun to rain!" Without even looking up from
her knitting she replied, "It's too cold to rain. It must be sleeting." The Czar shook his head
and said, "I am the Czar of all the Russians, and Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"
•What do Eskimos sing when they get their Christmas dinner?
“Whalemeat again, don’t know where, don’t know when...”
•What did Cinderella say when
the Chemist lost her photographs?
Someday my prints will come.
The Right Worshipful Mayor
of Southampton, Councillor
Brian Parnell, who was a guest
at a November lunch meeting,
with President Max.
Page 9 The Rotary Chronicle.
Celebrations.
This Christmas many of us will be joining family and friends to celebrate Christmas. For
some, it will be a time of eating, drinking and generally having a good time, while for others
it will be a time, as Christians, to celebrate the birth of Christ. For those of other faiths, they
too have their own festivals for celebration—Hindus and Sikhs have Diwali (festival of
lights which generally occurs in early November), Buddhists celebrate the festival of Wesak
on the first day in May when the full moon occurs—it is a celebration of Buddha's birthday.
Muslims celebrate the Festival of Eid at the end of Ramadan with feasts and the giving of
presents while Jews celebrate, amongst others, the Festival of Chanukah—an 8 day festival
of lights with food and presents and Pagans celebrate the equinoxes and the solstices.
So, what have we as Rotarians to celebrate? Over one hundred years of service to our local
and international communities; many hundred’s of thousands of people in developing countries
who have received humanitarian aid; many thousands of people who have received basic
education thanks to Rotary; clean water supplies in hundreds of villages; educational
exchanges for thousands of young people; support for local charities and charitable organisations—
the list goes on and on. And for many of our members, it is the fellowship that
comes with membership of the world’s largest service organisation.
Therefore, as we all, in our own way, celebrate Christmas this year may we give thanks for
all that Rotary has done and will do in the future.
Whatever your beliefs, may I wish you a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
John.
Sports.
Our next skittles match against
Inner Wheel is on the 20th
January 2009 at the Ship
Pub, Old Redbridge and I will
be looking for members to play
on that evening.
The District Snooker results so
far:
In the pairs competition we lost
against Alton who were last
years winners of this event but there is better news in the Team
event where we beat Basingstoke Deane 6-3. We now will
play either Chandlers Ford & Itchen Valley or Basingstoke in
the next round .
Roger Hutchings.
Page 10 The Rotary Chronicle.
Inner Wheel Coffee and Mince Pie Morning.
We held our Christmas Coffee and Mince Pie Morning with a few craft tables at Chilworth
Village Hall on Wednesday 26 November and what a great success it was. We made a very
considerable amount of money for my chosen
charity - DebRA. The atmosphere was true
Inner Wheel Friendship with many of our
members working very hard - I thank them all
so much for helping to make the day such a
success. Many members from other Inner
Wheel clubs also came along, some travelling
quite some distance.
I also thank Ken, Stephen Prince and John
Parkhouse for helping to put up tables beforehand
and to John Bronsdon for taking photos
which we hope will appear in the Compass
Magazine at some point.
Merle Ball, President of the Inner Wheel Club of Southampton.
Leah Atkin—granddaughter of Wendy
Hutchings with President Merle.
Three hard working ladies in the kitchen
supplying endless cups of coffee!
The hall full of busy shoppers.
ShelterBox News.
•Response teams are in Pakistan following October earthquake—15,000 villagers displaced
and are now facing freezing weather with no shelter.
•Worsening humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras,
and Swaziland have stretched operations to the limit, ShelterBox representatives say.
•A response team also distributed 200 containers to residents of San Pedro Sula, Honduras,
after heavy rains and flooding forced 22,000 people from their homes on 22 October.
Funds urgently needed to replenish stocks.
Page 11 The Rotary Chronicle.
Community, Vocational and Youth.
Christmas Collections
We have had a good response from members and their families. Over two thirds of the rota
slots are already covered. We have asked John McGibbon and Mark Dewey to drum up
some support from Rotaract to help out as last year.
We have sent SCRATCH their cheque (£500) in good time for their busy time over Christmas.
I have made contact with our other Christmas Collection charities and asked if they
need funding before Christmas.
We already have a £200 donation towards our Christmas Collections.
We are looking for another volunteer Santa to help John Bronsdon and Malcolm Purvis as
we are looking to have a Santa at one of the supermarkets on the day we are collecting at
both Morrisons and Tesco.
Belleplates*
We are in touch with Great Oaks & Vermont Schools with a view to funding a set of Belleplates
to help their pupils with group music sessions. It may turn out that they already have
similar instruments. If they do we will look to find another worthy school which would
benefit from having the facility.
I met the new Rector of St Marys, Southampton recently and he was talking about the problems
some of the schools around St Marys have. One of these schools, I am sure, could be
idea for this project.
Dictionaries for Life
Our President, Max, is due to present Dictionaries to eight suitable children at Great Oaks
School and Vermont School in the next week or so. This will prove a good photo and publicity
opportunity for our Club and Rotary. Hopefully there will be a full report plus some
photos in the next Chronicle.
Annual Theatre Trip
John Baker and Malcolm Hudson are underway with the arrangements. The show this year
is Fiddler on the Roof and our dates are the 3rd & 4th February 2009.
Vocational
John Caldwell and Mark Pontin are making contact with David Matthews, the Site Manager
at RHM Solent Mills, to progress a visit to Solent Mills, and John tells me he has other visits
in mind.
Fairthorne Manor Youth Projects
Mark Pontin in pursuing potential projects that our Club can get involved in.
Philip Brazier.
* Bell plates (sold commercially as Belleplates) are metal plates that, when struck, ring with a strong
initial transient, followed by a nearly pure decaying sinusoidal tone. They are played like
hand bells but are rather cheaper and less loud.
Stoneham War Shrine and North Stoneham Park website is now up and running at
http://www.northstoneham.org.uk
Page 12 The Rotary Chronicle.
The Poetry Competition.
And the winner is...............
I'm afraid it's no use
There is just no excuse
I've tried every Almanac printed
With total energy unstinted
I have worked round the clock
But my mind is a block
For try as I might
There's no solution in sight
I can't find a word that rhymes with Stinchcombe.
Submitted by PP John Lyon.
PP John no rhyme could find, for our Presie’s illustrious name.
His perseverance and diligence no one can blame.
But all to no avail - since rhyme with Stinchcombe
Seemed as doomed as one who had been entombed in a catacomb!
So now a second go for all—both young and old.
A rhyme for Stinchcombe! Be bold -
Scour the internet, browse the web
Ask your friends, muse in bed
To find a name, and, thus for you instant fame,
That will rhyme with Max’s surname.
100th RI Convention.
It is not too late to register for the Convention. Thousands
of Rotarians from nearly 100 countries have
already registered.
Learn more about Rotary, hear about educational and
humanitarian programmes that WE are funding all
around the globe. Hear world class speakers including
Archbishop Tutu, Mia Farrow and many more
Be entertained by The Band of The Royal Marines,
the world famous “Little Angels Choir” from Korea
and Katherine Jenkins to name a few.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear about
Rotary In Action at a Convention “on our doorstep.”.
Visit the web site http://www.rotaryconvention2009.com/ or speak to PP Norman Woodford
who is organising our Club’s attendance.
Page 13 The Rotary Chronicle.
News of Members.
• Congratulations to Nick Vaughan who has been elected Senior Partner at Paris
Smith (formerly Paris, Smith & Randall LLP).
• Best wishes to Tony Parsonage who, having broken a leg, has had to spend two
spells in hospital recovering form a “sickness bug.”
• Almoner Mike Hobbins has been suffering from bronchitis but hopefully is now fully
recovered. (Almost a case of physician heal thyself!)
Christmas Draw.
For the final Polio Plus “push”.
Please ensure all money and
stubs are retuned to me by 19th
December at the very latest.
The draw will take place at the
Christmas Lunch that day.
My thanks to Waitrose, Asda
and Sainsbury stores for donations
towards the prizes; to an
anonymous donor for funding
the first prize and to members
for additional prizes but most
of all, to all of you who have
sold and are still selling tickets.
John Bronsdon.
Do watch the video clip of the 10th Gardeners’
Fayre, held in June, that is available on the web.
Richards Strother says, “Andy Low, a friend of
our Rotary club and also my next door
neighbour (a true 'Handy Andy'), has compressed the Solent Gardeners Fayre 2008
video produced by Kevin Murton of MMIV and put it on his website at
http://www.wentnet.com/strother/test_vid234.avi .”
Its takes about 6 minutes at 5Mbit/s to download and the video clip lasts about 15 minutes.
See if you can spot yourself! John.
Page 14 The Rotary Chronicle.
Rotary’s goal to eradicate polio is making progress in Afghanistan after polio vaccinations
were successfully carried out in areas controlled by the Taliban recently.
Stamping out polio has been Rotary’s number one goal since 1985 and the organisation is
the key private sector partner in the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI), working alongside
the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF
and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health workers recently vaccinated 1.8 million
children in the polio-affected provinces of Afghanistan
(Nangarhar, Kunar, Lagman, Kandahar,
Uruzgan, Helmand and Farah). In Afghanistan,
Rotarians and WHO representatives have worked
with religious leaders to gain access to areas previously
restricted by conflict and political
strife. The leaders recognise the importance of the
polio eradication initiative and link immunization
against the disease to the duties of parents to protect
their children, as explained in the Quran.
Ian Thomson, president of the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, said: “Our
members are hugely committed to the polio eradication initiative and we’re delighted with
the news that our efforts, and those of Rotary as a whole, are having an effect in the remaining
polio-endemic countries. It is heart-warming to know that when the welfare of children
is at stake we can work peaceably with other countries without politics and religion getting
in the way.”
National immunisation drives in Afghanistan aim to reach 7.5 million children under age
five. Approximately 50,000 public health staff and volunteers, including Rotarians, are currently
involved in the undertaking.
Dr. Tahir Mir, a WHO medical officer for the polio eradication initiative, said: “There is no
evidence of poliovirus transmission in all areas in Afghanistan that have been safely accessed
by polio vaccinators. Only areas that are inaccessible to our teams have reported polio
cases.”
Since Rotary helped launch the polio eradication initiative, polio cases have fallen from
350,000 a year to 1,315 in 2007; 125 endemic countries has been reduced to just four
(Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan); and two billion children have been protected
from the disease.
Rotary clubs in Great Britain and Ireland have donated £10.5 million (US$20 million) to
polio immunization initiatives to date, and many members have actually taken part in immunisation
days abroad. Rotary worldwide has contributed £376 million ($700 million) in total
to fund polio immunization activities.
To find out more visit www.rotary.org/endpolio.
Date Event Speaker/Venue Welcome/Contact
5th December Club Meeting. Stefano Leoni—A UK
Company in an Intern’l
Environment.
Chris Davis, Paul Delavault.
12th December Club Meeting. Business meeting—C, V
and Y update—Philip
Brazier.
Mark Dewey, John Donaldson.
18th December Tin Rattlers’ Supper. Stoneham Golf Club. Philip Brazier.
19th December Club Meeting. Christmas Lunch. Mark Dewey, John Donaldson.
13th—23rd December
Christmas Collections. Philip Brazier.
26th December NO MEETING.
2nd January Club Meeting. Rev Paul Firmin—New
Year Message.
Austin Fitzpatrick, Brian Follett.
9th January Club Meeting. Mike Jackson—Rotary
Fellowships.
Austin Fitzpatrick, Brian Follett.
16th January Club Meeting. Chris Hulme, MP. Terry Goddard, Bob Henry.
23rd January Club Meeting. Anthony Cann—
Changing Faces.
Terry Goddard, Bob Henry.
30th January Evening meeting Mark Bentick—Cockle
Shell heroes.
Michael Hobbins, Malcolm Hudson.
3rd & 4th February
Nuffield Theatre Visit Philip Brazier.
6th February Club Meeting. John Cummings—
Prostate Cancer—the
modern epidemic.
Michael Hobbins, Malcolm Hudson.
28th January Club Council. 6.15pm Secretary.
20th January Annual Skittles v Inner
Wheel
Ship Inn Redbridge. Roger Hutchings.
Forthcoming events and meetings.
With apologies for errors and omissions. Editor.
Page 15 The Rotary Chronicle.
I heard the bells on Christmas
Day Their old, familiar carols
play, And wild and sweet the
words repeat Of peace on
earth, good-will to men!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Next publication date—Friday 6th February 2009.
Copy to Editor by Monday 19th January at the latest. E-mail: Johnbronsdon@talktalk.net
Printing donated by Hobbs The Printers Ltd, Brunel Road, TOTTON. SO40 3WX.
Tel 023 8066 4800
Page 16 The Rotary Chronicle.
THE OBJECTS OF ROTARY
First: The development of acquaintances as an opportunity for service.
Second: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness
of all useful occupations and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his or her profession
as an opportunity to serve society.
Third: The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his or her personal,
business and community life.
Fourth: The advancement of international understanding, good will and peace through a
world wide fellowship of business and professional men and women united in the ideal of
service.
The Four Way Test;
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
The Declaration of Rotarians in Business and Professions.
As a Rotarian engaged in a business or profession, I am
expected to;
• Consider my vocation to be another opportunity to
serve,
• Be faithful to the letter and the spirit of ethical codes
of my vocation, to the laws of my country and to the
moral standards of my community,
• Do all in my power to dignify my vocation and to
promote the highest ethical standards in my chosen
vocation,
• Be fair to my employer, employees, associates competitors,
customers, the public and all those with
whom I have a business or professional relationship.
We’re on the Web!
RI – www.rotary.org
RIBI – www.rotary-ribi.org
District -www.rotary1110.org.uk
Club—www.rotarysouthampton.co.uk
PLEASE NOTE THAT MEMBERS WHO ARE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND A LUNCH MEETING AND
WISH TO APOLOGISE OR, FOR NON REGUAR ATTENDEES WHO WISH TO ATTEND, PLEASE
TELEPHONE (ANSAPHONE) AND LEAVE NAME AND MEMBERSHIP NUMBER:-
023 8021 9902 NO LATER THAN 11.00am ON THE WEDNESDAY PRECEDING THE MEETING.
The Rotary Chronicle.
The Rotary Club of Southampton.
Di s t r ic t 1 1 10. RIBI No 21 . Founded 1918.
Max’s Musings
It has been a difficult month! I have worked
for Lloyds TSB for 40 years and have been
through a number of recessions but I have
never known anything like we have seen
over the past few
months. My principal
role has been in winning
new business but
it is fair to say that this
has changed now to
trying to save existing
businesses. We are all
aware of large corporates
failing - Woolworths
and MFI very
recently. But it is also
very sad to see small
family businesses that
have been built up over
many years suffering
and at the point of failure
largely as a result
of the present economic
conditions. I
am afraid that for
many people this will mean unemployment.
We in Banking are not immune where there
are huge numbers of people losing their
jobs. With Christmas approaching this is a
terrible time of year to lose your livelihood.
In many cases it is not just the loss
of income but the emotional stress and loss
of self esteem as well.
All incoming club
Presidents are given an
a c t i o n ma n u a l
“President-Elect Preparation”.
After the Objects
of Rotary and the
4-Way test there is “the
infallible rule”:
Family first, business
second and, if possible,
Rotary third.
On two recent Fridays
it had been my full
intention to attend Rotary
but emergency
work commitments as
a result of the economic
climate took
over literally at the
very last minute causing me to miss the
meetings. Thank you to SVP Conrad who
stood in with hardly any notice.
December/January — Family of Rotary Month.
A very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all our readers.
Page 2 The Rotary Chronicle.
I was sorry to miss those meetings because I have, like many other members, particularly enjoyed
the quality and variety of our guest speakers. Richard Strother has done an absolutely superb job
in attracting a wide variety including speakers on Rotary issues. I think my favourite to date was
Nick Barrett on 24th October who described himself as a family historian. Nick is a consultant
and researcher to the BBC programme “Who Do You Think You Are?” and his talk was exceptionally
interesting and brilliantly delivered. It was also a great pleasure to host the Mayor and
Mayoress of Southampton who are a charming couple.
Christmas is almost upon us. Once again there is great support and teamwork within the Club to
“tin rattle”. There are even new Father Christmas outfits. We have already sent a donation to
SCRATCH so that they can use it for Christmas. In these difficult economic times with increased
unemployment and real hardship the poignancy of “Service above Self” should be remembered.
We should also be proud of all of the people we will help through the Christmas Collections.
Thank you to everyone for their support.
I wish a very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year to all my fellow Rotarians and their
families.
President Max.
Note from President
Merle -
Inner Wheel Club of
Southampton.
My report for this edition of the
Rotary Chronicle is going to be
brief. November has been fairly
quiet so far, but our Christmas Coffee and Mince Pie Morning
with craft tables is now very close (See page—10). Our
speaker at our recent afternoon meeting was Janice Roper (New Forest Honey) who showed
us slides and also various items of equipment needed to keep bees and produce honey. She
also brought some jars of her honey for us to buy.
We had our District Meeting and Overseas Rally in Bournemouth on 12 November and it
was good to see several of our members at that meeting. It was a new venue – Carrington
House Hotel and they looked after us very well.
Many of our members have visited other Inner Wheel clubs; to name a few - Parkstone and
Poole, Locks Heath, Hamble Valley and Winchester.
May I take this opportunity to wish all my Inner Wheel members, Rotarians and families a
very happy Christmas and all health and happiness in 2009.
President Merle.
Thanks to the Hobbs family for their generosity in continuing to print The Chronicle.
Page 3 The Rotary Chronicle.
On following pages... , Christmas greeting—page 4, The Dream Conference—page 4,
Christmas Traditions—page 5, Update on Vermont School—page 6, Dear Mr Editor—
page 7, Christmas Jokes—page 8, Celebrations—page 9, Sports Report—page 9, Inner
Wheel Coffee Morning—page 10, Shelterbox News—page 10, Community, Vocational
and Youth—page 11,The Poetry Competition—page 12, RI Convention—page 12,
News of members—page 13, Christmas Draw—page 13, Gardeners’ Fayre—page 13,
Polio Update—page 14,Diary—page 15, And Finally—page 16.
From the RI President
Dear fellow Rotarians,
As a father of four and grandfather of five, I have been fortunate
to have spent many years in the company of children.
When raising our own children, my wife, Young, and I
worked hard to give them what all children need most: a loving,
safe, and stable home. Our children were our first priority,
and we made sure that they always had nutritious food,
appropriate clothing, quality medical care, and a good education.
We knew very well how fortunate we were to be able to
do this. We were grateful that we never had to say to our children,
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing to eat tonight,” or “I’m
sorry, but we can’t pay your school fees.”
When I was a child, Korea was a poor country, and there
were many children who went to bed hungry at night and had no school to go to in the morning.
As a Rotarian, I know only too well that there are still far too many children in the
world without the absolute essentials: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education.
And as a Rotarian who is also a father, I consider all of the world’s children to be my responsibility.
When I see my own grandchildren – happy, healthy, and enrolled in good schools – I cannot
help but think of the millions of children who do not have so many advantages. I think of
the children who have too little to eat and only dirty water to drink. I think of the children
who are sick with diseases that could have been prevented and those who will have nowhere
safe to sleep tonight. And I think of the children, millions of them every year, who won’t
live to see their fifth birthday.
December is Family Month. It is a time to focus on our families, to involve them in our Rotary
service, and to challenge ourselves to do even more for those in need. Because there are
so many families and so many children waiting for our help, we, as Rotarians, cannot look
away. We cannot and will not rest until all children, everywhere, have the chance for a long
and healthy life. We will not rest until we Make Dreams Real for every child in every home
where there is hunger, sickness, and want. As Rotarians, we can do no less.
Dong Kurn (D.K.) Lee
President, Rotary International
Page 4 The Rotary Chronicle.
Bill and Nanna Cox
John and Kathleen Lyon
Austin and Sheila Fitzpatrick
John and Gill Bronsdon
Brian and Hilary Follett
Andrew and Christine Huckett
Ken and Merle Ball
Bob, Janet and Jemma Jackson
Meg and Ian Ryves
Send Christmas Greetings to fellow members and their families.
Instead of sending cards, they will be making a donation to a
charity of their choice.
THE DREAM CONFERENCE.
The 84th RIBI Conference will be held in the vibrant Scottish capital city and Rotarians are
being urged not to miss out. “The Dream Conference” will take place at the famous Usher
Hall in Edinburgh on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 April 2009. This is only the third time the
conference has been to Scotland's lively capital city, the last time being back in 1930. The
city boasts plenty to see and do with a perfect balance between the traditional and contemporary.
Rotarians won't be short of things to occupy their time from world-class museums
and galleries, open-top bus tours, the city's zoo and top-class restaurants and bars.
PP Norman Woodford, who is organising the visit to this RIBI Conference, has details about
the conference and accommodation and requests that anyone considering attending speak to
him as soon as possible. (See also page 12—re the RI Convention)
Page 5 The Rotary Chronicle.
Christmas Traditions.
Mince pies are descended from Christmas pies, which contained a variety of meats as well as fruit
and spices.
Christmas pies were very much bigger than the tiny mince pies we eat today. One pie is recorded
as having among its ingredients; a hare, a pheasant, a capon, two rabbits, two pigeons, two partridges,
the livers of all these animals, as well as eggs, pickled mushrooms and spices. Sometimes
these pies could weigh as much as 220 lbs. with iron bands to hold them together while they were
baking.
As time went on, mince pies became smaller and smaller. Another name for them was ‘wayfarers’
pies since they were given to visitors during the Christmas holiday. It was thought to be lucky to
eat twelve mince pies in twelve different houses during the twelve days of Christmas to ensure a
happy twelve months for the year ahead.
Everyone loves to pull a cracker. It’s all part of the fun of Christmas. The originator of the
cracker was a man called Tom Smith who owned a sweet shop in London.
Tom had a good eye for business. He also had a sense of humour. ‘What people like,’ he used to
say, ‘is something new. And if it’s not new, the art is to find a way of selling it!’
During the 1840’s Tom found that people liked sugar almonds, but while he was on holiday in
France he came across a variety of sweets wrapped up in a twist of paper. These bonbons seemed
very popular, so Tom decided to copy the idea to wrap his sugar almonds. The new wrapping made
the sweets look rather special. They sold well. Then Tom noticed that young men were buying
them to give to their sweethearts. He began placing ‘love mottoes’ on small slips of paper inside
the sweet wrapping. This novelty sold even better than Tom had expected. People went out of
their way to visit his shop and buy this new kind of sweet.
In 1846 Tom turned his thoughts towards Christmas. Instead of sweets, why not wrap little toys
and novelties in the twisted wrapping? Tom experimented and hit on the idea of producing a wrapping
that could be pulled apart – just like the cracker as we know it today.
As he had hoped, the Christmas novelty was a success, but Tom was still not satisfied. One evening
he was standing idly in front of the fire. As he kicked a log into place there was a shower of
sparks and the log cracked and popped making Tom jump. ‘That’s it!’ he laughed to himself. ‘What I
need is something in my wrapping that will make a ‘snap’ when it is pulled open’.
For some months he worked with several chemicals until at last he found one that was safe, easy
to make, and would make a noise just loud enough to amuse his customers and not frighten them.
The new ‘crackers’ were a sensation and soon making them became a full-time business. Tom had
to open a factory to produce them. Today the Tom Smith factory sell crackers all over the world,
and the man who liked to amuse his customers would be amazed to know that his sense of fun had
started a Christmas tradition.
Extracts from www.christmas-time.com
Page 6 The Rotary Chronicle.
Action at Vermont School.
Around the time that the installation and opening of the playground at Vermont School took
place, Chris Davis asked for volunteers to help the school in a number of ways and I volunteered
to be a governor. My background (in Leeds) as a governor and later as chairman of
governors of a similar school, gave me some grounding.
There are 28 places in the school for boys of primary school age but presently there are a
number of spaces.
At my first governors' meeting I heard the head teacher say that the effect of the provision of
the playground was to radically reduce the number of violent acts of behaviour by the pupils.
She also thanked the Rotary Club of Southampton for their part in this provision and their
involvement with the school also on ROTARY KIDS’ OUT day in June.
A special meeting to try to improve the way that boys are enrolled into Vermont was held in
early November and attended by governors, staff, parents, councillors and a representative of
Southampton Children’s Services. It is clear that there are some legal problems but pathways
which have been blocked previously will gently be smoothed out, it is hoped. Again
Rotary was mentioned in this meeting as being one of the bodies which, without questioning,
gave assistance to a school, which provides education and care for some of the most
difficult and disturbed children in the area and often support for their parents. It is significant
that some of the children who are given support and teaching at Vermont, benefit so
much from the school that they are able to return to mainstream education, though this might
not take place until secondary school level. Some of this work is achieved by a small Outreach
Team who are able to move out of the school to assess children and help their parents.
By Southampton’s provision of Vermont School, children in most need are given the chance
to have a future; mainstream schools have respite from the behaviour of the most difficult
and possibly later the opportunity to welcome them back after they have benefited from a
very special group of people, who are the head teacher, the outreach team and the staff. It is
Rotary’s privilege to be able to give their service above self in this situation – we now look
forward to Rotary Kids Out which is another enabler to the children and the staff in the
school. Well done and thanks.
To this end I am hoping that it will be possible for the Club to invite head teacher, Jackie
Wilson, to an evening meeting (lunchtime meetings obviously being out of the question) to
meet Rotarians and talk about the progress being made by one of the most significant and
vitally important schools in this City.
PP Austin Fitzpatrick.
PS. Members may well remember that for Kids Out
in 2008, several members of staff had to use their cars
as there were insufficient of our own members.
PLEASE put the 2009 date in your diary now so that
we do not have to rely on the staff for assistance.
Wednesday 10th June 2009.
Page 7 The Rotary Chronicle.
Dear Mr Editor,
When I transferred to our club in 1969 I was horrified to be set upon immediately
and constantly for money in some guise or other. Because of
this I raised objections to Council pointing out that, because of this, a
number of members had resigned. I was, as a result, hauled before said
Council (not for the last time in my Rotary career as you will recall) and
asked for suggestions. The direct result was that the Appeals Committee was formed under
my chairmanship with the explicit purpose of being the SOLE fundraising committee of the
club; appeals committee would raise the money and the Council would decide how it was to
be spent with other committees going direct to Council with requests for finances. This had
a double benefit:
1) The club's efforts could be concentrated into say 2 or more major projects rather than dissipating
energies into a number of minor, less productive events.
2) Members could be sure that they could come to lunch or open their post without the fear
of being asked to support this or that committee financially; such requests can, at best, be
embarrassing to refuse and, at worst, quite unintentional of course as far as the ticket seller is
concerned, border on ''moral blackmail.
The original aims of appeals have long since sadly been forgotten, more the pity.
Fortunately, as again you well know, I do not embarrass easily and, because of that, I have
no hesitation in returning the raffle tickets, unsold. You are aware I am sure of Dale Carnegies
best seller ''How to make friends and influence people''. The attempt to sell raffle tickets
is, in my humble opinion, the antithesis of this. People will buy tickets from you because
they like you or feel too embarrassed to refuse, but certainly not because they want them.
In my own case, on this occasion, I will be flying to Greece on Friday Dec Nov 20th, 2 days
after receiving them and returning a day or so before the stubs are required back.
One more point that I feel is worth making; you refer to work colleagues and neighbours as
likely customers. It is superfluous for me to remind you that OAP's no longer go to a
place of work and I would not dream of asking (blackmailing?) my friends to purchase when
throughout the year I, and I am sure many fellow Rotarians of my vintage receive nothing
but kindness and help when needed. Embarrassing them into buying the chance to win a
hamper that they possibly (probably?) would not want anyway is a poor way of saying
“thank you”.'
Because the cause is worthy I also enclose a cheque, to cover my embarrassment?
Should you feel like quoting this, or any part of it in the magazine I have no objection; it
might be interesting to see if I am a lone voice in the wilderness or whether there are any
like minded members.
Bob Turner.
Bob has ‘thrown down the gauntlet’ - have any other members any comments?
Page 8 The Rotary Chronicle.
A few Cracker Jokes.
•What do monkeys sing at
Christmas ?
Jungle Bells, Jungle bells...... !
•Knock Knock
Who's there?
Wenceslas
Wenceslas who?
Wenceslas train home?
•Why are Christmas trees like bad knitters ?
They both drop their needles !
•What did the bald man say when he got a comb for Christmas ?
Thanks, I'll never part with it !
•What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree ?
A pineapple !
•What do you give a train driver for Christmas ?
Platform shoes !
•What did the big candle say to the little candle ?
I'm going out tonight !
•There was once a great czar in Russia named Rudolph the Red. He stood looking out the
windows of his palace one day while his wife, the Czarina Katerina, sat nearby knitting. He
turned to her and said, "Look my dear, it has begun to rain!" Without even looking up from
her knitting she replied, "It's too cold to rain. It must be sleeting." The Czar shook his head
and said, "I am the Czar of all the Russians, and Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!"
•What do Eskimos sing when they get their Christmas dinner?
“Whalemeat again, don’t know where, don’t know when...”
•What did Cinderella say when
the Chemist lost her photographs?
Someday my prints will come.
The Right Worshipful Mayor
of Southampton, Councillor
Brian Parnell, who was a guest
at a November lunch meeting,
with President Max.
Page 9 The Rotary Chronicle.
Celebrations.
This Christmas many of us will be joining family and friends to celebrate Christmas. For
some, it will be a time of eating, drinking and generally having a good time, while for others
it will be a time, as Christians, to celebrate the birth of Christ. For those of other faiths, they
too have their own festivals for celebration—Hindus and Sikhs have Diwali (festival of
lights which generally occurs in early November), Buddhists celebrate the festival of Wesak
on the first day in May when the full moon occurs—it is a celebration of Buddha's birthday.
Muslims celebrate the Festival of Eid at the end of Ramadan with feasts and the giving of
presents while Jews celebrate, amongst others, the Festival of Chanukah—an 8 day festival
of lights with food and presents and Pagans celebrate the equinoxes and the solstices.
So, what have we as Rotarians to celebrate? Over one hundred years of service to our local
and international communities; many hundred’s of thousands of people in developing countries
who have received humanitarian aid; many thousands of people who have received basic
education thanks to Rotary; clean water supplies in hundreds of villages; educational
exchanges for thousands of young people; support for local charities and charitable organisations—
the list goes on and on. And for many of our members, it is the fellowship that
comes with membership of the world’s largest service organisation.
Therefore, as we all, in our own way, celebrate Christmas this year may we give thanks for
all that Rotary has done and will do in the future.
Whatever your beliefs, may I wish you a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
John.
Sports.
Our next skittles match against
Inner Wheel is on the 20th
January 2009 at the Ship
Pub, Old Redbridge and I will
be looking for members to play
on that evening.
The District Snooker results so
far:
In the pairs competition we lost
against Alton who were last
years winners of this event but there is better news in the Team
event where we beat Basingstoke Deane 6-3. We now will
play either Chandlers Ford & Itchen Valley or Basingstoke in
the next round .
Roger Hutchings.
Page 10 The Rotary Chronicle.
Inner Wheel Coffee and Mince Pie Morning.
We held our Christmas Coffee and Mince Pie Morning with a few craft tables at Chilworth
Village Hall on Wednesday 26 November and what a great success it was. We made a very
considerable amount of money for my chosen
charity - DebRA. The atmosphere was true
Inner Wheel Friendship with many of our
members working very hard - I thank them all
so much for helping to make the day such a
success. Many members from other Inner
Wheel clubs also came along, some travelling
quite some distance.
I also thank Ken, Stephen Prince and John
Parkhouse for helping to put up tables beforehand
and to John Bronsdon for taking photos
which we hope will appear in the Compass
Magazine at some point.
Merle Ball, President of the Inner Wheel Club of Southampton.
Leah Atkin—granddaughter of Wendy
Hutchings with President Merle.
Three hard working ladies in the kitchen
supplying endless cups of coffee!
The hall full of busy shoppers.
ShelterBox News.
•Response teams are in Pakistan following October earthquake—15,000 villagers displaced
and are now facing freezing weather with no shelter.
•Worsening humanitarian situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras,
and Swaziland have stretched operations to the limit, ShelterBox representatives say.
•A response team also distributed 200 containers to residents of San Pedro Sula, Honduras,
after heavy rains and flooding forced 22,000 people from their homes on 22 October.
Funds urgently needed to replenish stocks.
Page 11 The Rotary Chronicle.
Community, Vocational and Youth.
Christmas Collections
We have had a good response from members and their families. Over two thirds of the rota
slots are already covered. We have asked John McGibbon and Mark Dewey to drum up
some support from Rotaract to help out as last year.
We have sent SCRATCH their cheque (£500) in good time for their busy time over Christmas.
I have made contact with our other Christmas Collection charities and asked if they
need funding before Christmas.
We already have a £200 donation towards our Christmas Collections.
We are looking for another volunteer Santa to help John Bronsdon and Malcolm Purvis as
we are looking to have a Santa at one of the supermarkets on the day we are collecting at
both Morrisons and Tesco.
Belleplates*
We are in touch with Great Oaks & Vermont Schools with a view to funding a set of Belleplates
to help their pupils with group music sessions. It may turn out that they already have
similar instruments. If they do we will look to find another worthy school which would
benefit from having the facility.
I met the new Rector of St Marys, Southampton recently and he was talking about the problems
some of the schools around St Marys have. One of these schools, I am sure, could be
idea for this project.
Dictionaries for Life
Our President, Max, is due to present Dictionaries to eight suitable children at Great Oaks
School and Vermont School in the next week or so. This will prove a good photo and publicity
opportunity for our Club and Rotary. Hopefully there will be a full report plus some
photos in the next Chronicle.
Annual Theatre Trip
John Baker and Malcolm Hudson are underway with the arrangements. The show this year
is Fiddler on the Roof and our dates are the 3rd & 4th February 2009.
Vocational
John Caldwell and Mark Pontin are making contact with David Matthews, the Site Manager
at RHM Solent Mills, to progress a visit to Solent Mills, and John tells me he has other visits
in mind.
Fairthorne Manor Youth Projects
Mark Pontin in pursuing potential projects that our Club can get involved in.
Philip Brazier.
* Bell plates (sold commercially as Belleplates) are metal plates that, when struck, ring with a strong
initial transient, followed by a nearly pure decaying sinusoidal tone. They are played like
hand bells but are rather cheaper and less loud.
Stoneham War Shrine and North Stoneham Park website is now up and running at
http://www.northstoneham.org.uk
Page 12 The Rotary Chronicle.
The Poetry Competition.
And the winner is...............
I'm afraid it's no use
There is just no excuse
I've tried every Almanac printed
With total energy unstinted
I have worked round the clock
But my mind is a block
For try as I might
There's no solution in sight
I can't find a word that rhymes with Stinchcombe.
Submitted by PP John Lyon.
PP John no rhyme could find, for our Presie’s illustrious name.
His perseverance and diligence no one can blame.
But all to no avail - since rhyme with Stinchcombe
Seemed as doomed as one who had been entombed in a catacomb!
So now a second go for all—both young and old.
A rhyme for Stinchcombe! Be bold -
Scour the internet, browse the web
Ask your friends, muse in bed
To find a name, and, thus for you instant fame,
That will rhyme with Max’s surname.
100th RI Convention.
It is not too late to register for the Convention. Thousands
of Rotarians from nearly 100 countries have
already registered.
Learn more about Rotary, hear about educational and
humanitarian programmes that WE are funding all
around the globe. Hear world class speakers including
Archbishop Tutu, Mia Farrow and many more
Be entertained by The Band of The Royal Marines,
the world famous “Little Angels Choir” from Korea
and Katherine Jenkins to name a few.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear about
Rotary In Action at a Convention “on our doorstep.”.
Visit the web site http://www.rotaryconvention2009.com/ or speak to PP Norman Woodford
who is organising our Club’s attendance.
Page 13 The Rotary Chronicle.
News of Members.
• Congratulations to Nick Vaughan who has been elected Senior Partner at Paris
Smith (formerly Paris, Smith & Randall LLP).
• Best wishes to Tony Parsonage who, having broken a leg, has had to spend two
spells in hospital recovering form a “sickness bug.”
• Almoner Mike Hobbins has been suffering from bronchitis but hopefully is now fully
recovered. (Almost a case of physician heal thyself!)
Christmas Draw.
For the final Polio Plus “push”.
Please ensure all money and
stubs are retuned to me by 19th
December at the very latest.
The draw will take place at the
Christmas Lunch that day.
My thanks to Waitrose, Asda
and Sainsbury stores for donations
towards the prizes; to an
anonymous donor for funding
the first prize and to members
for additional prizes but most
of all, to all of you who have
sold and are still selling tickets.
John Bronsdon.
Do watch the video clip of the 10th Gardeners’
Fayre, held in June, that is available on the web.
Richards Strother says, “Andy Low, a friend of
our Rotary club and also my next door
neighbour (a true 'Handy Andy'), has compressed the Solent Gardeners Fayre 2008
video produced by Kevin Murton of MMIV and put it on his website at
http://www.wentnet.com/strother/test_vid234.avi .”
Its takes about 6 minutes at 5Mbit/s to download and the video clip lasts about 15 minutes.
See if you can spot yourself! John.
Page 14 The Rotary Chronicle.
Rotary’s goal to eradicate polio is making progress in Afghanistan after polio vaccinations
were successfully carried out in areas controlled by the Taliban recently.
Stamping out polio has been Rotary’s number one goal since 1985 and the organisation is
the key private sector partner in the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative (GPEI), working alongside
the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF
and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health workers recently vaccinated 1.8 million
children in the polio-affected provinces of Afghanistan
(Nangarhar, Kunar, Lagman, Kandahar,
Uruzgan, Helmand and Farah). In Afghanistan,
Rotarians and WHO representatives have worked
with religious leaders to gain access to areas previously
restricted by conflict and political
strife. The leaders recognise the importance of the
polio eradication initiative and link immunization
against the disease to the duties of parents to protect
their children, as explained in the Quran.
Ian Thomson, president of the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, said: “Our
members are hugely committed to the polio eradication initiative and we’re delighted with
the news that our efforts, and those of Rotary as a whole, are having an effect in the remaining
polio-endemic countries. It is heart-warming to know that when the welfare of children
is at stake we can work peaceably with other countries without politics and religion getting
in the way.”
National immunisation drives in Afghanistan aim to reach 7.5 million children under age
five. Approximately 50,000 public health staff and volunteers, including Rotarians, are currently
involved in the undertaking.
Dr. Tahir Mir, a WHO medical officer for the polio eradication initiative, said: “There is no
evidence of poliovirus transmission in all areas in Afghanistan that have been safely accessed
by polio vaccinators. Only areas that are inaccessible to our teams have reported polio
cases.”
Since Rotary helped launch the polio eradication initiative, polio cases have fallen from
350,000 a year to 1,315 in 2007; 125 endemic countries has been reduced to just four
(Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan); and two billion children have been protected
from the disease.
Rotary clubs in Great Britain and Ireland have donated £10.5 million (US$20 million) to
polio immunization initiatives to date, and many members have actually taken part in immunisation
days abroad. Rotary worldwide has contributed £376 million ($700 million) in total
to fund polio immunization activities.
To find out more visit www.rotary.org/endpolio.
Date Event Speaker/Venue Welcome/Contact
5th December Club Meeting. Stefano Leoni—A UK
Company in an Intern’l
Environment.
Chris Davis, Paul Delavault.
12th December Club Meeting. Business meeting—C, V
and Y update—Philip
Brazier.
Mark Dewey, John Donaldson.
18th December Tin Rattlers’ Supper. Stoneham Golf Club. Philip Brazier.
19th December Club Meeting. Christmas Lunch. Mark Dewey, John Donaldson.
13th—23rd December
Christmas Collections. Philip Brazier.
26th December NO MEETING.
2nd January Club Meeting. Rev Paul Firmin—New
Year Message.
Austin Fitzpatrick, Brian Follett.
9th January Club Meeting. Mike Jackson—Rotary
Fellowships.
Austin Fitzpatrick, Brian Follett.
16th January Club Meeting. Chris Hulme, MP. Terry Goddard, Bob Henry.
23rd January Club Meeting. Anthony Cann—
Changing Faces.
Terry Goddard, Bob Henry.
30th January Evening meeting Mark Bentick—Cockle
Shell heroes.
Michael Hobbins, Malcolm Hudson.
3rd & 4th February
Nuffield Theatre Visit Philip Brazier.
6th February Club Meeting. John Cummings—
Prostate Cancer—the
modern epidemic.
Michael Hobbins, Malcolm Hudson.
28th January Club Council. 6.15pm Secretary.
20th January Annual Skittles v Inner
Wheel
Ship Inn Redbridge. Roger Hutchings.
Forthcoming events and meetings.
With apologies for errors and omissions. Editor.
Page 15 The Rotary Chronicle.
I heard the bells on Christmas
Day Their old, familiar carols
play, And wild and sweet the
words repeat Of peace on
earth, good-will to men!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Next publication date—Friday 6th February 2009.
Copy to Editor by Monday 19th January at the latest. E-mail: Johnbronsdon@talktalk.net
Printing donated by Hobbs The Printers Ltd, Brunel Road, TOTTON. SO40 3WX.
Tel 023 8066 4800
Page 16 The Rotary Chronicle.
THE OBJECTS OF ROTARY
First: The development of acquaintances as an opportunity for service.
Second: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness
of all useful occupations and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his or her profession
as an opportunity to serve society.
Third: The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his or her personal,
business and community life.
Fourth: The advancement of international understanding, good will and peace through a
world wide fellowship of business and professional men and women united in the ideal of
service.
The Four Way Test;
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
The Declaration of Rotarians in Business and Professions.
As a Rotarian engaged in a business or profession, I am
expected to;
• Consider my vocation to be another opportunity to
serve,
• Be faithful to the letter and the spirit of ethical codes
of my vocation, to the laws of my country and to the
moral standards of my community,
• Do all in my power to dignify my vocation and to
promote the highest ethical standards in my chosen
vocation,
• Be fair to my employer, employees, associates competitors,
customers, the public and all those with
whom I have a business or professional relationship.
We’re on the Web!
RI – www.rotary.org
RIBI – www.rotary-ribi.org
District -www.rotary1110.org.uk
Club—www.rotarysouthampton.co.uk
PLEASE NOTE THAT MEMBERS WHO ARE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND A LUNCH MEETING AND
WISH TO APOLOGISE OR, FOR NON REGUAR ATTENDEES WHO WISH TO ATTEND, PLEASE
TELEPHONE (ANSAPHONE) AND LEAVE NAME AND MEMBERSHIP NUMBER:-
023 8021 9902 NO LATER THAN 11.00am ON THE WEDNESDAY PRECEDING THE MEETING.
Friday, 18 July 2008
Bags for Life
Back in early 2007 I went to the Southampton Seedy Sunday and Vandanamu Fair Trade had a stand displaying cotton bags made by a sewing unit in Tamil Nadu. Bernard and Francoise Carre (pictured on the right) set up the sewing unit after the 2004 Tsunami.I suggested to our Solent Gardeners Fayre Committee 2008 placing an order for bags to celebrate two events namely the 10th SGF and the 90th anniversary of The Rotary Club of Southampton. I was told that for once I had a great idea and with Bernard's expert assistance logos were prepared and bags ordered with "time being of the essence".
The bags all arrived in good time and the photos show us unpacking them. The Co- Operative Group kindly donated 1000 bars of Fair trade chocolate to place in the bags which we gave away at the 2008 Fayre.
The sewing unit is currently very busy making "a better bag for Romsey" and they are also busy on other orders from schools and local authorities.
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