The Year of President Geoff Wall (2022-23)
Diary July 2022 - June 2023

June 20th. Job Talk by Upper Eden Rotarian George Pailor

George gave an overview of his working life, covering both full time and part time jobs. He explained that “a job is something to do, to enjoy life”. Most of his career, following a technical apprenticeship, was in engineering, working in a variety of roles covering lathe turning, design engineering, applications engineering and engineering drawing using slide rules. In the early years he attended Battersea College, however, this was based in Guildford, Surrey. To help fund his studies, he washed football kit, worked in a men’s hairdressers, shampooing, and worked as a barman. At the end of his career, he felt he had had, a successful career and accomplished a lot. An interesting career covering many different aspects of engineering. Tony Taylor gave the vote of thanks.

June 16th. Visit of the K Shoes Male Voice Choir

The original visit was going to be in June 2020, sadly, the pandemic came along, and the visit was cancelled. Happily, the visit was re-organised for this year at the Kirkby Stephen Parish Church. It was a great evening with the choir singing songs from the shows, traditional, popular, folk and sea shanties. At the interval there was wine and soft drinks included for the choir and audience. A lovely evening on a summers evening in the cool of the church. Thank you to the choir and, also everyone who came along.

May 23rd. Interclub Crown Green Bowing – Appleby vs Upper Eden

Held at the Kirkby Stephen Crown Green Bowling club, the annual match took place with Upper Eden trying to regain the Eden Valley Trophy. After several very competitive ends, it came down to the wire with Upper Eden looking like they may win the match. Sadly, with some very aggressive bowls, Appleby took the match by scattering the Upper Eden woods and leaving their own close to the white ball. Appleby retained the trophy. Everyone then retired to the Bay Horse for well-earned refreshments and a good spot of fellowship.

May 16th. Reflections of a Past High Sherriff of Cumbria. Alan McViety

Introduced by Ivor Allonby, Appleby Rotarian Alan McViety gave an account of his time as High Sherriff of Cumbria. The Office of High Sherriff has been in existence for about 1000 years and its main object was to collect revenues and the enforcement of law and order. It is a non-political appointment, there is no payment, and the appointed Sherriff has to self-finance everything, including the purchase of the formal attire. Alan’s theme for the year was “Youth Opportunities”. He travelled all around the County visiting youth projects, refugees in Carlisle, art classes promoting wellness, care homes, Grasmere Sports (where he had to judge the best attired Cumberland wrestler!) and clubs where music was used as a means of therapy. He also had to make the Proclamation for King Charles. Alan felt he learned a lot about the problems that some people have and now understands more about community related issues. The vote of thanks was given by Club President Geoff.

April 29th, 30th. Tebay Collection for Ukraine

In conjunction with Appleby Rotary, Upper Eden Rotary members spent Saturday and Sunday collecting donations’ at Tebay Services, Appleby on the North bound services and Upper Eden on the South bound services. It allowed both clubs to again raise the profile of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and collect funds which will all go to help alleviate some of the problems in the country. Thanks go to Westmorland Services for allowing both Rotary Clubs to collect the monies.

April 25th. Whisky Galore. John Sibson

The evenings guest, introduced by Arthur Littlefair, was John Sibson from Appleby Rotary Club. He presented his reflections on managing a mine in Scotland in the 1970s at Lochaline. The mine produced, and still does, silica sand for the glass making industry. John had been working in Canada and was home for a visit when he saw the job advertised, he applied and was given the job. All the sand was transported by ship from a pier on the Sound of Mull. He gave glowing accounts of how the mine was in a remote community, that just happened to have a “Working Mans Club” in the vicinity, which created some amusing stories, especially around Hogmanay time. The mine was managed locally, however, owned by a large company. John related some amusing stories when he had to explain production problems, that were not machine related. An amusing account of managing a mine. The vote of thanks was given by Diana Fothergill.

April 11th. Adventure in Egypt. Rosemary Varley

Club member and past President Rosemary gave a talk and presentation on a trip she made to Egypt back in 2008 with two friends. On arrival at the airport in Hurghada, this is when things became “difficult”. There was no transport to the hotel in Luxor, so eventually they had to take a taxi along what was a road/track which afterwards, they found out was one of the most dangerous roads in Egypt. After arriving at the hotel, they found the rooms were double booked and the hotel was full of Russian soldiers. Fortunately, the next day, things got sorted and the real holiday started, along with a hired guide to show them round. The ride back to the airport was less eventful once they got going. An interesting account of a “once in a lifetime holiday” by 3 ladies in Egypt!

April 8th-9th. Easter Weekend: Kirkby Stephen Commercial Vehicle Rally

The annual vehicle rally was back in Kirkby Stephen. As in previous years, Rotary members had a gazebo in the market square selling programs, acting as an information point for visitors and promoting Rotary. There were many visitors to the town and a good selection of buses, tractors and commercial vehicles from near and far.

March 31st. An Evening of Wine and Cheese

The event was held at the Masonic Hall in Kirkby Stephen and was attended by sixty club members and guests. The evening was intended to introduce Rotary to potential new members. The evening included a presentation and talk from local business “Berry, Grape and Grain” with samples of four different wines along with a selected cheese for each wine. This was followed by a raffle and a presentation to attendees entitled “A Snapshot of the Past Upper Eden Rotary Year”. This explained some of the events and topics covered by the club, including inter club bowling, club talks, changeover night and club pantomime to mention some. A very enjoyable evening was had by all.

March 7th. Who Drives Change? Katy Newell Jones

Introduced by club President Geoff Wall, Katy said she had been working overseas for about 30 years, mainly in African countries. Tonight, she talked about two of these countries, Mozambique and their quest for literacy and Somaliland covering Female Genital Mutilation/cutting. Mozambique is one of the poorest world countries, literacy is very low. Katy explained that by working with local organisations, adult literacy could be improved by local people deciding what they wanted and was relevant to people’s lives. This was mainly women who would then teach children. In Somaliland, Katy explained that FGM is part of their culture and if girls do not undergo FGM, it can have consequences on how the family are treated and on business arrangements. Family health associations are now getting more involved to ensure these operations are more hygienic and the right care and medication available. Carl Hallam gave the vote of thanks on what was a very thought-provoking talk.

February 28th. Visit of DG Sunny Akuopha from Mali

The evening's guest, introduced by Roger Frank, was Sunny Akuopha of the Rotary district including Mali. Roger and John Taylor (from Appleby Club) first met Sunny in 2007 when they drove the Ice Cream van there. Sunny is DG for his district which covers ten countries, he has visited 92 clubs in nine of the countries. He described some of the projects they have been involved in, which are mainly sanitary related, he told us of a school with 1780 pupils that had previously had no toilets or hand washing facilities. Safety and security is not good in the area due to the insurgence of terrorist groups. He also gave thanks to the people involved the two trips to Mali and for the equipment they took with them. He presented to Roger and John; handmade models of the Ice Cream van. In answer to questions, he did say that the average age of Rotarians is 30 and in the satellite clubs, 24% of members are women. John Taylor from Appleby Club gave the votes of thanks and asked "What is next for Sunny?" A great evening with members and Rotary guests from Brampton and Longtown and Appleby clubs.

February 22nd. Indoor Bowls at Appleby

This was the first indoor bowls game between Appleby and Upper Eden Rotary Clubs since February 2015. This was due to Storm Desmond in December 2015 which caused the flooding of the bowls club. Following a supper of soup and sandwiches, the games commenced, teams were made up of members from both clubs, so overall, not Appleby vs Upper Eden. This was until the very last game of the evening when two teams made up of members from each club played for the "Eden Valley Trophy", donated by Upper Eden. Sadly, it was not to be Upper Eden’s night as Appleby took the honours. A great night, full of banter, fellowship and laughs.

January 31st. Ben Lyon. "Words" and the Trouble They can Cause

Tonight's speaker was club member Ben Lyon who not only talked about the use of words in different contexts, he, also talked about some of his vast experiences, right from being at Uni to the various places around the world he has been to. This included the rescue of a man who fell 1000 feet in Greenland and how the US army got involved! Ben has also been part of mountain and cave rescue teams and worked in outdoor activity centres in South Wales and then more locally, Dent. He also talked about his various expeditions to Borneo, China and Peru, again, mainly to do with caving. He finished by talking about a very good friend of his, Mike Meredith. Mike was very much involved in caving and had been employed by the Government of Sarawak as a Development Officer for the caves. Bob Davies gave the vote of thanks about a fascinating talk.

January 24th. Burns Night Supper

The evening saw 26 club members and partners celebrate the annual Burn's Night. Guest for the evening was Joan Houston who said the traditional grace:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Before the meal, Joan addressed the Haggis before plunging the dagger in. The meal of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties was then served followed by a desert of cranachan, a Scottish dessert made with oatmeal, cream, whisky, raspberries and honey. A small dram of whisky was then offered and served to guests and a bouquet of flowers presented to Joan. A great evening, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

January 17th. Bill Collinson. The Panama Canal

David Garrick introduced President of Appleby Rotary Club Bill Collinson who gave a talk on the history and updates on the Panama Canal to where it is today. The canal was originally started in the 1880s by the French man Ferdinand de Lesseps who developed the Suez Canal. Sadly, the Panama Canal did not have the early success he hoped for as the project was hit by disease and geological problems. The USA then took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914, it was handed over to the Panamanian Government in 1999. There are canal locks at either end to lift ships up and down to Gatun Lake. Work is still ongoing to increase the width and size of the locks in order to allow larger ships to transverse through the canal. It takes about a day to transverse through the canal and the cost per passenger on a liner is $125. Included in Bill's presentation, he showed just how little room there is for a liner to go through the locks. An interesting presentation and thank you to Bill for coming along.

January 23rd 2023. Upper Eden Food Bank Donation

UERC addressed food shortages at the Upper Eden Food Bank by means of a donation. In a letter of appreciation to UERC the Food Bank highlighted the need in Upper Eden: "It is a tough time for many families and individuals during the cost-of-living crisis that is affecting our country, and knowing that we have enough food and finance for shortfalls is very reassuring."

December 20th 2022. Generator Donation for Ukraine

In response to a national appeal by RIBI (Rotary International Britain & Ireland) 2 generators were privately donated by Club members to aid the needy in war-torn Ukraine. The Appleby Club had been active collecting warm clothing and funds for the same appeal and they generously agreed to deliver the generators in their consignment to the Rotary Nationwide collection point in Essex. The units have now been palletised and shipped to Ukraine where it is envisaged, they will be utilised to power village halls or equal. The picture shows Appleby PP William Patterson (second from right) assisting local Rotarians unloading the generators in Essex having driven the van load down.

December 13th 2022. Carl Hallam. An Expedition to the Pyrenees

Speaker for the evening was club member Carl Hallam. His presentation, entitled “RAID17: a little cycle ride through some hills” was organised by a retired Royal Marine General that Carl had previously served under. The expedition was to help rehabilitate soldiers and marines who had various injuries sustained in conflict, some were amputees with one or two legs. Carl was asked to go along as medical support. The aim, was to cycle from Biarritz on the Atlantic coast to the Pyrenees on the Mediterranean coast, a total of about 500 miles. The expedition was fully supported by the army with rest stops and provisions supplied along the way. It was not a flat route, it included climbs of 4000 to 5000 metre up into the Pyrenees. A very interesting account of a worthwhile expedition. Vote of thanks was given by Club President, Geoff Wall.

November 29th 2022. Co-op Raffle Presentation

Upper Eden Rotary Club once again sold raffle tickets at the Coop Supermarket in Kirkby Stephen. The funds raised go toward the purchase of Christmas gifts for residents aged eighty and over in and around the area, including care home residents at Christian Head and Stobars Hall. This year, over 200 gifts will be distributed. £300 has also been donated to the Cumbria Community Foundation’s “Winter Warmth Appeal”. Father Christmas drew the winning tickets at the Kirkby Stephen Christmas Lights ceremony held on the 19thNovember. Winners were presented with their prizes at the Coop in Kirkby Stephen by Upper Eden Rotary President, Geoff Wall. Attached picture shows three of the winners, Joyce Plummer, Rebecca Newby and Gary Robinson. Missing from the picture is another winner, Rob Paisley. Also pictured is Coop store manager Michelle Gill and Pearl Bibby. The Rotary Club of Upper Eden wish to thank Michelle and all the staff at the Coop for their help and support. A big thankyou also goes to everyone who supported the raffle by purchasing raffle tickets.

November 15th 2022. Dave Prince. Great Lakes of America

Club member, Dave Prince, gave a presentation on the Great Lakes in America and the St. Lawrence Seaway. He explained that there are five Great Lakes, Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Superior is the largest and deepest of the great lakes and Ontario is the smallest. Together, the five lakes cover an area of 95,000 square miles and form the largest connected area of fresh water on earth with Lake Superior being 600 feet above sea level. Dave also talked about the ships that sail on the lakes and that because it is not salt water, the ships last longer, the oldest one still working currently, is over eighty years old. Sea going freighters also visit the lakes, mainly to transport wheat and corn to Europe.

October 25th 2022. Speaker. Brad Christie

The evening’s speaker was club member Brad who gave the club an insight into his role with Sky Broadcasting, part of the American Comcast group. He has been with Sky for ten years, initially in customer services in Newcastle, then moved to three different locations in Scotland before moving back to Newcastle. He was head of service operations in Derry, NI and then, following an interview, was asked to go to Bulgaria to initially close the Sky office. The Bulgarian site is still operational and has increased the number of employees from 300 to 650, plus it is one of two sites that are the best in the company. Brad said he feels very attached to the Bulgarian site which services the UK market for customer services and technical support. Sky also allows employees to get involved in diversity, especially with people with hearing and vision problems. An interesting talk by Brad allowing the club members to get an in-site into the company. Ian Udale gave the vote of thanks.

October 12-18th 2022. Annual selling of raffle tickets at Kirkby Stephen co-op

Club members and partners and friends again rallied to man the stand at Kirkby Stephen Coop to sell raffle tickets. The proceeds going to fund the purchase of Christmas gifts for the over eighties in the Kirkby Stephen area.

October 11th 2022. Speaker. Andy Rorks

The speaker this evening; Andy Rorks, was introduced by Ian Udale. Andy is an ex-army commando who then joined the Humberside Police Force. His early days were in Panda cars, then the Operation Support Squad or Rot Squad. Following a selection process, he joined the “Underwater Search Unit” and underwent 10 weeks of training before becoming qualified. Andy described the different types of diving equipment, some with air bottles and some with umbilical hose fed with air from the boat. In many situations, the divers would be working in complete darkness, in these situations, finger touch becomes very acute. Some of the work covers recovery of cars, safes, evidence used in crimes and equipment used in drug smuggling. The vote of thanks for this interesting talk was given by Roger Frank.

October 10th 2022. 7,700 Shoebox Pencils

Following collection of the annual car load of reject pencils and crayons (courtesy of the Cumberland Pencil factory in Workington) a working afternoon was set up to sort them. 8 Rotarians and a couple of partners set about the task sorting the good from the bad and putting the various colours together. Later in the week they were bundled into elevens comprising of 8 colours, 2 pencils and a charcoal. A total of 700 bundles were prepared (some 7,700 pencils) and they have now been distributed to the various Christmas Shoebox charities with the vast majority bound for Romania via Boxes of Hope, Cumbria.

September 30th 2022. Upper Eden’s 43rd Charter Night

The evening saw 64 members and guests attend Charter Night celebrations at the Inn at Brough. The guest speaker was MP Tim Farron. Also attending was District Governor Kath Bromilow who presented a citation to the club for exceptional contributions to Rotary through the pandemic. A cheque for £1000 was presented to ADG Mike Esters who received it on behalf of Prostate Cancer Research UK. This money was raised at the recent ”On yer Bike” event organized by Upper Eden Rotary Club.

September 27th 2022. Tales of Para Franky: Roger Frank

This evening’s speaker was club member Roger Frank, who gave a talk and presentation of his recent trip on a “Clyde Puffer”. The Clyde puffer is a type of small coal-fired and single-masted cargo ship, built mainly on the Forth and Clyde canal, which provided a vital supply link around the west coast of Scotland and the Hebrides. The “VICs” (Victualling Inshore Craft), with an initial Admiralty order of 50, were built during WW2, VIC 32 which Roger was on, is the last remaining working boat of its type. Accommodation (be it a bit cramped) allowed for ten people and five crew. The route ran from Inverness, through the Caledonian canal, Loch Ness and Fort Augustus, a journey of five days which used 7 tons of coal. Passengers were given the opportunity to shovel coal into the fire to get a real feel of working on one of these Clyde Puffers. An interesting presentation showing transport of days gone by.

September 11th 2022. "On Yer Bike"

This day was the inaugural event of “On Yer Bike”, a fun cycling event offering the choice of two routes through the Upper Eden Valley. There were two rides on the day, a 50k Challenge ride ascending accumulatively to the equivalent of Great Gable in height, i.e., 899 Metres. An alternative route of 27k offered a more leisurely ride for those who prefer a shorter challenge. It was an event for people of all ages and abilities using any sort of bicycle, including electric bikes and started with a mass start at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School. It was marshalled at defined locations to ensure everyone’s safety. The event raised funds for Prostate Cancer and Rotary designated charities.

August 23rd 2022. James Clark, Integrating Criminals back into the Community

Fred Hayllar introduced James, a retired Church of England Vicar who mainly worked with deaf people. James now helps with a charity called “Beginning Again” helping ex-offenders who have been in prison re-start their lives. The aim is to offer stability in life, as most of them have had pretty chaotic lives. They all work under the guidance of a team leader and the object is to teach them new skills. Before the men can be accepted into the scheme, the Probation Service must be convinced that they are safe to do so. The scheme is only running in Northwest Cumbria at the moment, although they are looking to expand into other areas. Rosemary Varley gave the vote of thanks.

August 18th 2022. Brough Agricultural Show

Upper Eden Rotary again had a stall at the show with a “Spinning Wheel of Fortune”. Prizes were coconuts. Rotary club members also helped with car parking and working on the visitor gate, for which the show organisers were very thankful. Although it was an overcast day, the show attracted a high number of visitors.

August 9th 2022. Speaker. Stephen and Tina Hodgson

John Bainbridge introduced Stephen and Tina. Stephen had been a police office for 30 years and is now retired. He was a CID officer then moved into covert operations. Tina also has 30 years’ service, originally worked on the beat then moved into the intelligence section and also worked in the covert intelligence section. She has worked as an international liaison officer in conjunction with the Foreign Office and Interpol. Responsibilities included searching for missing persons, sorting out extradition and repatriation. Investigating gangs smuggling sex slaves, cannabis farms and drug mules. Nearly all crime is drug related. An interesting talk and both Tina and Stephen said they would do the job again.

July 19th 2022. Speaker. Diana Fothergill

This week’s Club speaker was Diana Fothergill who gave a talk on her experiences of being a “Family Court Magistrate”. Diana explained about how she became involved, the background checks, training and all the way through to being sworn in and taking the oath. Family Court Magistrates are expected to do thirteen days per year and quite often get asked to attend at short notice. Before each day’s hearings, there is quite of paperwork/emails to read. There are three Family Courts in Cumbria, Carlisle, Workington and Barrow and they are held in private, with the majority of people representing themselves. Diana has learnt to not judge by appearances, how many use drugs whilst holding down jobs, how complicated lives are and how difficult to assess the ongoing life of the child may be. Overall being a Family Magistrate is a worthwhile task. Vote of thanks was given by Rosemary.

July 12th 2022. Speaker. Tony Taylor

Tony Taylor kicked off the newly introduced club speaker program giving club members feedback from the Kirkby Stephen and Upper Eden Transport Development committee meeting, of which he is a member. The committee has been formed to look at issues around transport, to understand transport needs and explore new solutions. People representing various parts of the community sit on this committee. Topics covered included: better transport to the Kirkby Stephen railway station, improved bus services, rideshare, Uber style taxi services, car share and responsive buses. Tony distributed information sheets explaining the progress on all the topics. The club discussed many of these topics in depth, along with ideas for him to feed back to the next committee meeting.

June 28th 2022. Change Over Night

After another strange year due to covid, we arrived at change over night for 2022/2023, held at the Bay Horse in Winton. Outgoing President Rosemary thanked the club for supporting her during her year in office before handing over the President’s chain of office to incoming President Geoff Wall. Flowers and a bottle of wine were presented to Rosemary and George. A lovely evening of friendship and fellowship at the finish of one Rotary year and the start of the next.