The Year of President Tony Taylor (2025-26)
Diary July 2025 - June 2026

1st July 2026. Changeover Night — Rosemary Varley becomes President 2026-27

The club gathered at a special changeover dinner, joined by District Governor Annette Ramsden, to mark the end of Tony Taylor's year as President and welcome Rosemary Varley as the new President for 2026-27. Rosemary, who previously served as the club's first female President in 2021-22, received the chain of office to warm applause from fellow members. John Andrew was installed as Vice President, and will succeed Rosemary as President in 2027-28. In her address, Rosemary outlined her aims for the year ahead — ensuring all members feel valued and included, raising awareness of what the club does in the community, and continuing to dispel myths about Rotary membership.

22nd June 2026. Upper Eden Strike Gold at District 1190 Ten Pin Bowling Championship

The Rotary Club of Upper Eden claimed victory at this year's District 1190 Ten Pin Bowling Championship, held at Soul Bowl in Morecambe, seeing off a strong challenge from Carnforth Rotary to lift the trophy.

Upper Eden set the tone from the very first frame, taking a 35-point lead in Game 1. But it was in Game 2 that the team truly found their form, surging to a commanding 132-point advantage and putting the result beyond doubt.

Across the two games, Upper Eden posted an impressive combined total of 1,159 pins — 554 in the opening game and a season-best 605 in the second — a performance that reflected real improvement and team spirit as the match progressed.

Much of the credit for that second-game turnaround went to team coach Ivor Allonby, whose half-time rally proved decisive. A few well-chosen words of encouragement between games sparked a marked lift in performance, with the whole team raising their game to close out a convincing win.

It was a fantastic evening of friendly competition and fellowship between the two clubs, and a great advert for the camaraderie that Rotary is built on. Congratulations to everyone who took part in representing Upper Eden, and a well-deserved win for the club.

Roll on next year's rematch!

9th June 2026. District Webinar — World Environment Month with Gloria Bennett, the Weird Fish Lady

Club member Tristan Fowler was scheduled to speak this evening, but instead the club joined a District Webinar for World Environment Month. Gloria Bennett — known as the Weird Fish Lady — is an ocean expert, underwater videographer and award-winning author who delivered a fascinating and informative seminar. Twenty-eight members assembled an hour earlier than usual and, with the technology cooperating on the night, enjoyed what proved to be a thoroughly engaging session.

19th May 2026. Fred Hayllar Farm talk & a visit from Sunny Akuopha

Fred Hayllar gave us a very interesting insight into the different complications associated with farming in Australia compared with the UK. Using footage and stills from his grandson's farm out there, we saw how necessary it was to dig out the clay underlying the top sand layer and mix it with the up to 3m depth of sand elsewhere just to get the land to hold enough moisture. Added to the size of the properties and the time it takes to do these things, it really illustrated how hard these farmers need to work just to remain viable.

PDG Sunny Akuopha of Rotary District 9101 visit is primarily to promote his book “The Pink Ice Cream Van in the Sahara” which provides his imaginative version of involvement in the Plymouth to Bamako Rally, Roger Frank and John Taylor’s story of 2008 and the subsequent consequences, the history of the Rally and Sunny’s reminiscences of his various visits to the UK.

14th April 2026. New Kirkby Stephen PCSO - Fiona Goodman

Fiona joined us to give us an update on her new role as our PCSO for Kirkby Stephen. She talked us through her duties and her role. Thank you Fiona.

March 2026. George Boustead new member

Preseident Tony Taylor welcomed our newest member George Boustead. Proposed by Geoff Wall and welcomed by all at Upper Eden. George has already been helping out at Christian Head and looking forward to participating in more Rotary projects!

March 2026. Paul Harris Fellow - Ivor Allonby

At the weekly meeting of Upper Eden Rotary Club, club member and past President, Ivor Allonby, was presented with a “Paul Harris Fellow” award. Ivor is chairman of the Community and Vocational committee, and this was in recognition of the work where he oversees and liaises with the local community on various on-going projects. For once, Ivor was nearly speechless, which came as a big surprise to all that know him. Many congratulations to Ivor.

March 24th 2026. Daisy Rocke

At the weekly meeting of Upper Eden Rotary Club, club member and past President, Ivor Allonby, was presented with a “Paul Harris Fellow” award by Ray Thornton. Ivor is chairman of the Community and Vocational committee, and this was in recognition of the work where he oversees and liaises with the local community on various on-going projects. For once, Ivor was nearly speechless, which came as a big surprise to all that know him. Many congratulations to Ivor.

March 17th 2026. Ian Udale talk on origin of words and their changed meanings

Having had his interest piqued as to the origins and change of usage of words, Ian Udale gave us a quick run through some key elements of the last two millennia. His main focus was on the impact of incoming cultures that brought with them their own language: especially with respect to Cumbria. Ian swept through Roman, Viking (reaching us via Ireland) and Norman influence on many day to day words and place names before talking about how several terms have completely swapped their meaning over time. Of course, Shakespeare got a mention (well known for just making up words and phrases) and having started the talk with "goodbye", he ended it with "hello". I am pretty sure that everyone learned something new this evening.

Febuary 24th 2026. Job talk from Group Captain ‘Grim’ Grimshaw OBE BSc MA MPhil RAF (Retd)

Grim gave a fascinating talk from his first days learning to fly "for free" to his last job in NATO writing the withdrawal plans from Afghanistan. 20 moves in 35 years of postings around the world gave Grim plenty of stories often with the word "trouble" in them! David Prince gave the vote of thanks.

Febuary 17th 2026. Crosby Garrat Play Area for World Rotary Day

Club guests this evening were Jo Morley and Richard Sewell, who came along to talk about the plans for the refurbishment and update of Crosby Garrett Play Area. The plans also include modification of the play area to provide accessibility for children with mobility issues. Upper Eden Rotary has held two very successful garden parties at the home of Upper Eden Rotary member Carl Hallam and his wife Clare, who also live in the village. From funds raised at these events, it was decided to give something back to the village with a donation toward the play area. Another Crosby Garrett resident and member of Upper Eden Rotary, Lawrence Cowin, presented the cheque to Jo and Richard.

January 27th 2026. Burns Night Supper

President Tony Taylor welcomed our guest Dr Ken Mills to address the Haggis. An execllent address to the Haggis was enjoyed by members and partners. The Haggis was addressed by Ken before being dramatically stabbed in a traditional style! We all enjoyed the Neeps & Tatties whilst Treasurer David Garrick kept the drams of whisky flowing.

January 13th 2026. Red Squirrels Talk

George Pailor introduced our former Red Squirrel Ranger to talk to us. On the 13th of January, we were fortunate enough to be presented a talk on Red Squirrels by someone who, not only had many years of experience but was also a clear enthusiast. We are all aware of the need to help support these iconic animals but it was chilling to see just how the population maps of the red and grey squirrels had changed in such a relatively short period of time. Learning more about the differences in habit and habitat did clarify much for many of us but hearing about the success of certain projects in not only protecting but even expanding some Red Squirrel populations was an indication of what could be possible given the right circumstances and intervention.

December 16th 2025. Interpol

Ray Thornton introduced Alan King, a retired Met police office for tonight’s talk. Alan gave us interesting talk on Interpol, his second career, after retiring in 2012 from the Met. His main role at Interpol was as the Counter Terrorism Coordinator. Who knew that originally Prince Albert of Monaco failed to create a version of Interpol in 1914? Interpol was formally founded in 1922, in the USA following WW1 reparations and rebuilding making its 2nd attempt more enduring!. The name comes from their Telex address in 1956 and stuck. Their mission is “ Connecting Police for a Safer World” and it’s neutral and a-political Alan explained how active operations are led by “Sherpas” with “Yaks” and “Sub-Yaks” on large scale investigations. We saw footage of raids on criminals dealing in Radioactive materials for dirty bombs. A fascinating career which include meets with President Obama as well as today’s Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Tony Taylor gave the vote of thanks.

December 2nd 2025. Flood of 1977

Rosemary Varley treated us to talk about a sea breach that took place in Fleetwood in 1977. Very topical given the amount of rain we have had recently in Cumbria! Rosemary's family home and streets were surrounded by the sea as the tide rolled into Fleetwood. Even her partner George remembers the event albeit they didn't know each other then. Attached the final slide of Rosemary Training which gave us all a good giggle. President Tony Talyor gave the vote of thanks.

November 9th 2025. Pencil sorting for Christmas shoeboxes

On a slightly chilly, November Sunday, a group of Upper Eden and Appleby Rotarians gathered to sort out a host of colouring pencils! The background to this is that, through a contact, we had been able to source a large number of pencils which we then split into mixed bundles of 12 in order for them to be placed in shoeboxes as part of the annual appeal. In the initial stage of the process, they were separated into several colour groups which led to the amusing queries about whether a particular shade was this or that. The fact that one section was simply called "pastels" might give an idea of our proficiency in that area. Whilst no-one actually counted the exact number of pencils involved, it was certainly into several thousand which will, hopefully, bring some children a little joy .

October 28th 2025. Bryan White tells us about his South Pole Trip; New member Richard Grimshaw joins.

Bryan White gave a great talk on his trip to the South Pole. Fascinating pictures and videos. Ben Lyon gave the vote of thanks.

President Tony Taylor welcomes Richard Grimshaw OBE, who was proposed by Club Secretary, Dave Prince into UERC. Welcome Grim as he is known to the Fellowship of Rotary.