The Year of President Rosemary Varley (2021-22)
Diary July 2021 - June 2022
Due to constraints imposed by Coronavirus it was decided that 2021-2022 officers would take up their appointments from July 1st. A belated official Change-Over Night happened on July 27th.
May 24th 2022. Peter Jones: Confessions of a Football Referee
Introduced by Geoff Wall, Peter first learnt and qualifies as a referee at Elland Road, Leeds. After learning his trade in Leeds, he moved further south, where he had to be retested. Some of his games were at Broadmoor, where the team could only play home games and the referee had to share the dressing team with the home team! Over thirty years in South Bucks, he achieved to become a Level 3 referee. He explained that referees do not always get it right and at times they have to review the situation before making a decision, this could be down to bottling it and/or not always knowing the laws. Peter also explained that to be a good referee, they have to be fit and keep up with the play. The vote of thanks was given by Ivor Allonby who also shared his experiences as a player.
May 7th 2022. Kibera Fund Raiser at Winton Park Gardens
A Pimms and Strawberries event was held at Winton Park Gardens. The event, organised by Upper Eden Rotary was to raise funds for the Kibera Girls School in Nairobi, Kenya. To compliment the refreshments, there was also an auction of promises and a brief presentation about the school and what they are doing. This was given by Tim Coburn who has been involved in the project for a number of years. There was also wine tasting with the wine provided by “Berry, Grape and Grain” a new shop in Kirkby Stephen. The gardens were also open for the visitors to walk round and admire. Thanks go to Janet and Anthony Kilvington for allowing Upper Eden Rotary to use their grounds for the event.
May 4th 2022. Bowls Night at Appleby
Before Storm Desmond in 2015 which flooded the Appleby Bowls Club, this was an annual competition between the clubs, held on the indoor mats in the club house. This year, the competition was resurrected and played on the outdoor greens with Appleby Rotary the winners. Questions still need to be asked about the scoring process! Fortunately, the weather stayed dry, plus it was an evening of fellowship and fun, followed by supper in the clubhouse. Thank you, Appleby Rotary for entertaining and hosting Upper Eden Rotary and here’s to next year.
April 19th 2022. Mark Keefe: Bluebird, the Final Attempt
Our speaker for the evening was local man and part time Kirkby Stephen historian, Mark Keefe. His talk and presentation for the evening was about Donald Campbell and his attempt at the world water speed record. Mark described how Campbell had used the Bluebird K7 boat and fitted it with a Bristol Orpheus jet engine before carrying the record attempt on Coniston Water. The weather was terrible, then parts of the air intakes collapsed and damaged the engine. This was followed by fuel problems which meant the engine could not develop full power. When the weather did improve, Campbell took the boat out on its first run down the measured kilometre. Without refuelling, Campbell decided to make the return run immediately. It was on this return run that problems occurred with stability and Bluebird carried out a nearly complete backflip before plunging into the water. The boat then cartwheeled across the water before coming to rest and the impact broke K7 forward of the air intakes (where Campbell was sitting) and the main hull sank shortly afterwards. A very interesting talk with the vote of thanks given by
April 17-18th 2022. Easter Commercial Vehicle Rally
Following two years without the annual Easter Commercial Vehicle Rally, it returned in 2022. Upper Eden Rotary again had a presence in the market selling programmes and running an information service from the Rotary gazebo in the market square. With a rota of members manning the stand, everyone enjoyed the excellent weather, watching the classic vehicles and buses and talking with many of the visitors to the area. A very enjoyable weekend.
March 19-20th 2022. Bucket Collection for Ukraine
With the upheaval in Ukraine, both Upper Eden and Appleby Rotary Clubs got together to hold a bucket collection weekend at Tebay Services on M6 motorway. Appleby took the Northbound side and Upper Eden had the Southbound side. With flags, banners and posters showing why we Rotary Club members were there, the travelling public gave very generously over the weekend. A true weekend of fellowship, not just promoting the disaster that is happening in Ukraine, but also promoting Rotary. Late on the Sunday afternoon, the car in the picture below came by to charge up the battery, picture show the car with club members in the background. Over £2700 was raised by Upper Eden over the weekend.
March 10th 2022. Dave Prince: Carers UK and Rotary
The Kirkby Stephen “Thursday Club” at the Parish Church invited Dave along to give a talk and presentation on the link-up between Rotary UK and Carers UK, a national charity who help and give advice to carers. Dave is one of three Rotary Ambassadors in District 1190, Lancashire and Cumbria, plus team leader Welma Robinson. Across the UK today 6.5 million people are carers, supporting a loved one who is older, disabled or seriously ill. That’s 1 in 8 adults who care, unpaid, for family and friends. Carers hold families together, enabling loved ones to get the most out of life, making an enormous contribution to society and saving the economy billions of pounds. Carers must juggle work, with family life and often do not have time for themselves. Following the talk, this created much discussion between everyone attending. Thank you to the club for allowing Dave to speak.
March 5th 2022. Helping Clear Jubilee Park
Jubilee Park at Kirkby Stephen was enclosed from common land in 1856 and was named to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887. Recently, the park has become overgrown and required some clearance and cutting back of the saplings, ivy etc. The morning saw members of Upper Eden Rotary along with scouts and other members of the community helping to clear and cut back some of the growth. This is an ongoing project headed up by Kirkby Stephen Town Council.
February 22nd 2022. Andrew and Rachel Marston: Memories of Lambing Live
Introduced by Geoff Wall, Andrew and Rachel gave a presentation about their experiences during the “Lambing Live” television program back in 2011 when their farm was virtually taken over by the BBC during lambing time. All the family were involved including the children and Andrew’s parents.
February 15th 2022. Club Valentines Social Evening and Pantomime
The meeting this week included members and their partners and was a celebration for Valentine’s Day and a belated Pantomime with various members of the club taking part. See the evidence in the attached pictures. Two other events also took on the evening, one was the induction of new Upper Eden Rotary member, Bradley Christie and the second was the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellowship Award to club treasurer David Garrick. A thoroughly entertaining and rewarding evening was had by all.
February 1st 2022. Sarah Featherstone: Sailing on a Tall Ship
Our first guest after another covid shutdown, was local student Sarah Featherstone. Sarah talked about her trip sailing on the Tall Ship “Tenacious”, run by the Jubilee Sailing Trust. Tenacious is the only sea-going tall ship in the world designed, built and sailed by a mixed ability crew. They set sail from Leith in Scotland and travelled down the east coast of Scotland and England, calling at various ports. Sarah explained that it was not just a sailing cruise, everyone took part in cooking, cleaning, hoisting the sails, climbing the rigging and watch keeping. One of the highlights was after they passed through Tower Bridge in London, it became stuck open for 12 hours, which made the national news. Sarah felt she gained a lot from the experience and recommended that anyone who had the chance, that they go for it. Diana gave the vote of thanks.
December 14th 2021. Raffle Presentation at Kirkby Stephen Co-op
Upper Eden Rotary Club were once again able to sell raffle tickets at the Co-op Supermarket in Kirkby Stephen. Funds raised help to fund the purchase of Christmas gifts for residents aged eighty and over in and around the area, plus care home residents at Christian Head and Stobars Hall. This year, over 210 gifts were distributed. The High Sheriff of Cumbria, David Beeby, drew the winning tickets at the recent Kirkby Stephen Christmas Lights ceremony held on the 26th November. Winners were presented with their prizes at the Co-op in Kirkby Stephen by Chair of the community committee Ivor Allonby. Winners were Hayley Hodgson, Heather Smith, Maxine Bowness and Andrea Berta. The Rotary Club of Upper Eden wish to thank the Co-op manager Michelle and all the staff for their help and support. A big thank you also goes to everyone who supported the raffle by purchasing raffle tickets. Over £1,800 was raised and in addition to buying the gifts, £300 was sent to the Winter Warmth Appeal organized by Cumbrian Community Foundation.
November 9th 2021. David Morland. Butchering at Tebay Services
Ivor Allonby introduced Dave Morland. Dave works for the Dunning family as the supervising manager in the butchery department at Tebay Services. You may have seen him in the recent television program about Tebay Services. He has previously worked in abattoirs processing various livestock. He then moved into being a meat inspector at abattoirs. In his present job, where he has been for 15 years, he oversees the butchery department, this includes the buying of lambs, beef and pigs. He works with local farmers and on average they process about 35 lambs per week, 12 of those will be Herdwicks. He is also responsible for the training of apprentices and so far, has had ten trained and five are still employed with the Dunning family. Whilst giving his talk, he and his on-site manager Mark Patterson demonstrated how to butcher a full lamb where everything is used, nothing is wasted. An interesting demonstration and talk.
October 26th 2021. Richard Carman. My Life in the Book World
Tonight’s speaker, introduced by Geoff Wall, was Richard Carman. Richard gave a presentation and talk about his 30 year career in the publishing industry. Richard got into the publishing business through a sales opportunity and his first job was as a Saturday boy in a book shop where he was asked to look after Sophia Loren at a book signing. After a while he left the bookshop to move into publishing where he worked at Penguin, Hodder and Stoughton and Dorling Kindersley to name a few. During this time, he met many stars of television and film, including Roy Castle, Molly Sugden, Torvill and Dean. He then met renowned artist David Shepherd. This is when Richard learnt to paint and he is now recognised as an artist in his own right. The talk was an interesting account of his life in publishing. Diana Fothergill gave the vote of thanks.
October 24th 2021. World Polio Day
With just 2 Worldwide cases of wild Poliovirus being recorded so far this year we are getting ever closer to eradicating this horrific disease.
Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign has been a major contributor to its’ elimination and one of our Past District Governor’s ( Arthur Jones ) came up with the idea of walking a mile on World Polio Day for £1 in order to raise additional sums and awareness.
Taking up this challenge a group of Upper Eden Members and partners led admirably by Ben strolled around the alley ways of Kirkby Stephen, ascending to the cairn on Hills Bottom before following the river Eden North returning via the Sawmill and the Church yard.
Picture: The high point of the World Polio Day walk.
October 19th 2021. Pencils for the Annual Shoebox Giving
October is the time of year for the preparation and packaging of gift filled Christmas shoeboxes across Cumbria for delivery to overseas children who live in abject poverty. In 2020, Boxes of Hope Cumbria, prepared and delivered some 7600 such shoeboxes to needy Children in Romania.
Upper Eden Rotary being in a position to source slightly off specification pencils and crayons from the Cumberland Pencil Factory ( via our fellow Rotarians in Workington ) are happy to support this worthwhile cause.
Nine large boxes of Seconds were collected from Workington and 11 Club Members and partners assembled to sort out the useable pencils and crayons into their individual colours – quite a task due to the estimated 50,000 quantity.
Once sorted a picking line was established and 800 bundles of 10 different crayons and 2 pencils were prepared suitable for individual shoeboxes. These have now been distributed to local schools and throughout Cumbria for inclusion in this year’s boxes.
October 1st 2021. Upper Eden Rotary Club 42nd Charter Night
Friday 1st October saw Upper Eden Rotary hold their 42nd Charter Night at The Inn at Brough. With a total number of 55 club members, partners and guests, it was really great to get everyone back together again. Club President Rosemary Varley welcomed everyone to the evening. Attending to represent District 1190 was PDG Welma Robinson and John McGill. The guest speaker for the evening was retired local GP Ian Tod who gave a very enlightening and entertaining talk about his time serving the community in years gone by. An excellent evening. Thank you to David Muscroft of Wensleydale Rotary for the pictures.
September 28th 2021. Allen Williams. Drones and how they are used in Marketing Property
Allen Williams from local estate agent PFK was introduced by Dave Prince. Allen brought along a small drone and explained the workings of the unit, including the camera. Allen talked about how a license is required from the aviation authority and how, before filming property, a risk assessment had to take place and then recorded with the CAA. Before any flying, notifications have to go the Air Ambulance and Military units in the area. Drone footage is used in the promotion of properties over £600k in value on the raw footage if then edited and spliced into a formal digital presentation. Allen did show some presentations he has worked on, including one of Haweswater Reservoir.
September 14th 2021. Dave Prince. Rotary and Carers UK
Upper Eden Rotarian Dave Prince gave a talk on how Rotary has teamed up with Carers UK. In District 1190, there is a team of “Ambassadors” led by PDG Welma Robinson. The object of the role is to focus on raising awareness and providing information and support for carers plus letting carers know of the help that is available from Carers UK. According to the last census in 2011 there was 6.5 million carers. However even before the COVID-19 pandemic Carers UK predicted the number of carers across the UK was nearer 8.8 million. So, a carer is described as someone who cares, unpaid, for family or friends who have a disability, illness or who need support in later life. This could be looking after an elderly parent while managing their full-time job, or have had to give up work in order to care for their disabled child or had their lives change overnight when their partner becomes ill. Carers provide essential support every day to family members and friends and make an enormous contribution to society, saving the UK economy £132 billion a year which equates to the same as a second NHS. There are many Rotarians who themselves are carers and Dave talked a little about his personal experiences as a carer. John Andrew gave the vote of thanks.
August 31st 2021. Tim Coburn. Kibera Schools Update
Tim was introduced by John Andrew, who remarked that Tim had previously given a presentation on Kibera back in February 2011. Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, is still the largest slum in Africa with between 250,000 and 1 million people living there. There is one toilet to 50 homes, water comes from standpipes and there is no state funded health or education. The outlook for women is pretty-grim, as, if families do have any money, it is spent on the boys. However, with the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, founded by Abdul Kassim, who was born and grew up in Kibera, there have been improvements. There is now fund raising through the KGSA foundation which helps with school uniform, school meals and learning resources, plus, a student dormitory. Finance does come from various Rotary Clubs in the USA, however, Upper Eden Rotary Club is the first and still the only Rotary Club in the UK to support KGSA. A very thought-provoking talk. Tony Taylor gave the vote of thanks. Some slides below show the facts and figures.
August 3rd 2021. Jonathan Brook. Leader of South Lakeland Council
Introduced by Geoff Wall, they have known each other for 30 years. Jonathan explained that he was first elected as a councillor in 2006, he has served a deputy Mayor and then Mayor of Kendal about 10 years ago. He gave a few facts about Kendal, it has a population of about 30,000, Kendal takes its name from the river Kent and is a chartered market town and for many centuries, was known as Kirkby Kendal. As a Councillor, Jonathan has an interest in the fact that potholes have existed for many years, going back to 1703 when an order was made to make the roads good for the passage of coaches, carts and carriages, similar to the same problems today. Kendal is not only known for mint cake, it is also renown for snuff, where it is still produced today. Kendal, also known as the gateway to the Lakes, has its own Mayor’s parlour, which distinguishes Kendal from most other parishes. Jonathan was deputy leader of SLDC for 5 years and took over as leader in May 2021. He finished by saying that in less than 2 years, we will have the new unitary authorities, so more changes are afoot. An interesting talk by Jonathan on his experiences in local government.
July 27th 2021. A Delayed Presidential Change-Over Night
Due to covid restrictions, the formal presidential change-over was delayed till restrictions had been lifted. This was the first formal club meeting since March 2020 and was attended by members and partners and was a celebration in more way than one. The Presidential jewels were handed over from outgoing President Carl Hallam to incoming President Rosemary Varley, the clubs first lady president. Rosemary handed on the Vice President jewel to Geoff Wall. Following the formal presidential hand over ceremonies, more awards took place to various club recipients for service to the club, these were the “BOUERCs" – "Bastion of Upper Eden Rotary Club". President Rosemary presented a bouquet of flowers to Carl’s wife Claire. A great evening of formality, fellowship and fun.
July 20th 2021. Inter Club Crown Bowling, Upper Eden v Appleby
Team members from both Rotary clubs assembled at the crown bowling green in Kirkby Stephen for the first round of District 1190 inter-club competition. It was a warm balmy evening and for a change "no midges". After very intense competition, Upper Eden came out on top by winning all the games. Following an exhausting evening, everyone retired to the Bay Horse in Winton for some very welcome refreshments. A lovely evening of competition and fellowship.
July 13th 2021. Talk by Tim Farron: MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale
Tim was welcomed by President Rosemary. Tim has been an MP for 16 years and has no desire to step down as an MP. He explained that MPs are not experts in everything and it is a continual learning process. He went on to say that he was concerned that rural areas, especially hill farmers, do get overlooked and something needed to be done. He has fought for medical services in South Lakeland to ensure that hospital cuts do not take place and that Kendal does need a radiotherapy unit. Listening to constituents is an important part of the job and he explained that he will always listen to the local people he represents as he is their duly elected MP. He enjoys fell running (when he has the time), plus he is also interested in space exploration and the universe. Finally, Tim said that you shouldn’t take yourself seriously, however, take the job seriously. A very interesting talk, Geoff Wall gave the vote of thanks. Photo credit: Tim's website.
