The year of President John Andrew (2010-11)
Greeting from Rotarian John Andrew, President July 2010 - July 2011 Building Communities Bridging Continents – this year’s Rotary theme.Rather a grand claim, so what can a small group of folk in the sleepy backwater of the Upper Eden Valley do to help? Firstly, a community is simply a group of people who happen to have something in common. How well that group function, and how strongly they identify with one another can be affected by many different things, not just what we have, how affluent we are, or how good our services are. We know these are things which can help, but there are also many intangible factors which make us feel happy in our community and make us want to be part of it. People who come to our Rotary meetings on a Tuesday night at The Black Bull, Nateby, do so for social pleasure, a good meal, entertainment, friendship, intelligent conversation, etc. They also get great personal satisfaction knowing that, as a group, they can and do achieve far more good for others in need than they can ever achieve alone. Service above Self is a Rotary motto, but by having fun giving service as a group we all benefit. Being stimulated by an interesting meeting with an inspiring speaker, or having a few laughs with friends, we go home on a Tuesday evening feeling a little happier than when we arrived, and we take that out into our community. Below and on the other pages of this fabulous web-site you will see dozens of examples of practical ways our members improve the lives of others, while having a lot of pleasure and satisfaction doing so in the company of like minded individuals. Much of this work helps build communities directly, but what we take back as positive, inspired, happy members of our own community also affects those we come into contact with on a daily basis. Be happy, lead by example – this builds community. Secondly, our sleepy little backwater has some surprising intercontinental connections. One of our members is also a member of a club in Australia where they spend considerable time each year – Fred’s bridge provides fertile ideas in both directions I suspect. The tales of the Pink ice cream van sparked off a mighty amount of international service, and enabled huge improvements in the communities touched by this service in Mali. You can’t beat having a direct connection with another community in need – if you give help, you know its targeted right where its needed. This year we are proud to give direct help to a local man, Tim Coburn, for his work with a girls school in the slum town of Kibera, Nairobi and also assisting with the efforts of local street boys to make a sustainable and worthwhile business. Tim’s work has bridged communities across a huge gulf, linking his work with big business directly to the community of the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy. Each year our pastime builds communities and bridges continents, and what a rewarding and enjoyable thing it is to do. Thank you to all our partners, friends and participants at our events for making everything we do possible. If you think you would enjoy being part of what we do, please make yourself known to one of our members and they will be happy to speak with you about Rotary. |
| Events July 2010 - July 2011 |
| 2 July 2010. Upper Eden Rotary Club Change-Over Night The annual change-over night was held this year at the newly re-opened Bay Horse Inn in Winton. A total of 43 members and wives attended and enjoyed a very good social evening. Retiring President Raymond Thornton outlined the highlights of his year, before handing over the presidential chain of office to incoming President John Andrew and Bill Barr and Lawrence Cowin received their vice presidential and second vice presidential insignia respectively from the new president. John thanked Ray for his time in office and presented him with two "mini hecklers" and requested that heckling be kept to a minimum in the forthcoming year, now that Ray was on the back benches!!! To complete the formal part of the evening, John presented Ray with a Paul Harris Fellowship, in recognition of his service to the club over the years. |
   |
| 4 July 2010. Three Counties Challenge Cycle Event The Kendal Rotary Club held their 4th annual "Three Counties Challenge Cycle Event". There are two routes, one of 60 miles and one of 125 miles, the latter passing through Nateby and Kirkby Stephen then with a checkpoint at Soulby Village Hall where riders stop for refreshments. As in past years, Lawrence Cowin has been the contact point when Kendal have requested assistance from Upper Eden Rotary Club. This year, in addition to Lawrence, Ivor Allenby and Dave Prince both helped out on what proved to be a very wet and windy day with the number of riders very much down on last year and several having come off their bikes due to the adverse weather conditions. All monies raised this year through the event will be donated to Morecambe Bay Search & Rescue, Rotary Charities and a Young Athletes Fund with the purpose of providing funding for promising youngsters in their chosen sport. |
| 6 July 2010. Wharton, Wetlands and Woods Rotarians and their partners were shown round Wharton Hall by Gillian and Mark Chippendale. Gillian gave us a brief history of the 14th century hall, built to supercede Lammerside Castle as a refuge from Scots invaders, and then Mark showed us the wetlands and woodlands created to improve the environment and enhance the number of insect species in the area. Will Ellis gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the club, and Gillian and Mark joined us all for dinner at the Black Bull. |
   |
| 12 July 2010. Slash and Strim Club In preparation for the forthcoming visit of the Britain in Bloom judges, the "Slash and Strim" club held one of the periodic get togethers to tidy up local areas. They started at Jubilee Park, cleaned up the weeds and rubbish on the road bridge, then moved down to the north end of town where the weeds and debris were removed and the area generally tidied up in preparation for the judges visit on the 15th July. |
| 13 July 2010. Upper Eden Rotary Club 'Design and Technology Award' Kirkby Stephen students produced award winning designs in this year’s Upper Eden Rotary Club Award. The winning work, which was designed and constructed by students was on display at this year’s Art, Design and Technology Exhibition held at the school, which was a huge success with great parent support. Head of D&T Kevin Gough and retired president of Upper Eden Rotary Ray Thornton are pictured with the winners and their work, Pat Hannah, Pat Bromfield and Callum Marston. |
 |
| 20 July 2010. Clays and Quoits at Fred and Judiths' Our annual Clay Shoot was held in torrential rain at Flitholme. Intrepid shooters hit orange clays (amongst other things!), and muddy quoits were thrown towards the clay target. Rotarian Barbecue chefs remained under cover as did most of the guests. The winner of the Clay Shooting was Paul Robinson, and Richard Todd won the Quoits. Lawrence Cowin thanked Fred and Judith Hayllar for providing the venue, the ladies for preparing salads and sweets, and running the bar, and visitors from Wensleydale who had come out to join us in atrocious conditions. |
   |
28 July 2010. Joint meeting with Appleby Rotary Club  Twelve members travelled to Appleby on Wednesday 28th July for a joint meeting with Appleby Rotary Club. The occasion was the attendance of the Albert Johnson, the recently installed Governor for District 1190. Following an excellent meal of roast pork and all the trimmings, DG Albert presented his vision and message for the forthcoming year. He quoted from RI President Ray Killingworth, i.e. to keep it simple and manageable and if it doesn't work, do something about it. For District 1190 goals, DG Albert wants to increase Rotary's capacity for Service, get clubs involved in a Literacy Project and to aim for 75% of clubs in the District to achieve a Presidential Citation plus for all clubs to have a net gain of one new member. Albert also presented to each club a pennant symbolising "Building Communities and Bridging Continents", Lawrence Cowin, Vice, Vice President received it on behalf of The Rotary Club of Upper Eden. A very good evening was had by all. |
3 August 2010. Cumbria Question Time Martin Stephenson, Cumbria County Councillor for the Appleby Division, and a member of Appleby Rotary club, addressed our meeting about Cumbria County Council. He handed out quiz sheets with 15 multiple choice questions about Cumbria for members to answer. Geoff Hastwell was declared champion, closely followed by Arthur Littlefair and both received bottles of Wainwright beer
for their efforts. Most of us scored more than the expected 5 out of 15 from chance answers, and off-comers felt satisfied that we knew so much about our adopted county! David Garrick thanked Martin for talking on a topic of interest to all of us, and the club responded in the usual way. |
10 August 2010. Chickens and Hartley Castle A party of Rotarians visited Hartley Castle to view and understand the workings of a free range egg production unit. The visitors were hosted by Sally and David Dixon who gave a very interesting overview of the unit. In purpose built premises, there are just over 8000 hens producing just over 50,000 eggs per week. It was very much an eye opener in as much as everything is automatically controlled and measured, that is the feeding times, amount and type of food and water, temperature etc. Output is measured against set parameters in a very controlled manner, temperature, food etc is adjusted to ensure the optimum output of eggs is achieved. We viewed the hens in their surroundings, only after Sally and David had knocked on the doors to alert the hens of our visit. Colin Jenkinson gave a vote of thanks on behalf of members after which we retired to the Black Bull for dinner along with Sally and David. |
22 August 2010. A Grand Day Out Upper Eden Rotary members joined by members of Appleby Rotary Club enjoyed a 'Grand Day Out' in idyllic sunshine as they spent the day roaming the Eden valley in a car treasure hunt. Setting off after coffee in Kirkby Stephen and pausing en route for a picnic at Shap Abbey all finally made it to the Black Swan at Ravenstonedale for well deserved refreshments. Winners were guests David and Annette Watt driven by President John Andrew in his vintage Morris 1000 car. |
| 24 August 2010. BBQ at Michael and Sally's The weather was kind and the evening was a great success as members once again enjoyed the warm hospitality afforded annually by Michael and Sally at their barbeque in Ravenstonedale. |
         |