Club Speakers 2014/15

Tue, Jul 1st 2014 at 12:00 am -

Club Speakers 2014/15.
Visit this link to view the club speakers in this current Rotary year.




Club Speakers 2014/15

Paul as part of the Administration committee is the club speaker finder for 2014/15


On Mon 13th July the first club Speaker Evening of President Jerrys year took place at
Healds Hall Hotel.
Guest speaker was Town Crier Laurie Gilbert who gave a talk on his career..

Laurie here pictured with
Birstall Luddite Rotarians
Robert Jackson
and Bill Hildred,
at the Birstall Summer Fair.


(Photo courtesy of
Luddite Rotarian John Logan)

Laurie is 67 years of age and has been Town Crier for only four of them.  He took up the hobby
to keep his mind active,
and importantly, to reinstate a sense of civic pride as well as keeping alive the history, heritage,
and the pageantry involved in this tradition.
Laurie is deaf and finds that Town Crying is the perfect hobby as only one person speaks at
once, and usually quite loudly!
Laurie has been awarded second place three times in Town Crier contests. Third place,
also three times, including last year's British Championship and has been
awarded Best Dressed Crier also three times
as well as winning  Best Content of Cry three times. He has been awarded Best
Ambassador once.
Not bad for a crier who has only been active four years.

Link to Laurie in competition  

Mon 11th Aug
Club Speaker was Luddite Rotarian John Broadhead who gave a talk on

"The Great War
And The Part My Father Played in it"
John and wife Jo gave a very
Interesting and moving talk
giving an insight into
WW1 through the war
experiences of
Johns father.

Left Madam Vice President
Margaret Arthurs thanks John.

"John Broadhead, assisted by Jo Broadhead, gave a talk about his father's
First World War experiences. John based his talk on a diary of 1916
kept by his father, George William Broadhead.

 George Broadhead enlisted in the 18th West Yorkshire Regiment
(known as the Second Bradford Pals) in March 1915 and served in the Army until his
discharge in June 1919. George saw active service in Egypt and
France and was present at the Battle of the Somme when his battalion suffered
70% casualties in the attack on 1 July 1916.   

 John illustrated his talk with a selection of contemporary and current day
photographs and maps and extracts from the diary were read to highlight
notable events."


Club Speaker Mon 29th Sept.
John Mitchell

 
Educating Yorkshire Headmaster
John Mitchell the Thornhill
Community Academy
Headmaster gave a talk to
Rotarians,
partners and friends
.
John talked about
the Channel 4 production
and the effect the filming had
on the school,
  pupils and local community.
Luddite Ian Blamires on
behlf of the club thanked John
for his very enjoyable talk
and wished him and his school
continued success.
Thanks to Paul Barnes speaker
finder.
John Mitchell with President Jerry.  

Club Speaker Mon 20th Oct
Paul Gee

Our speaker on the 20th October was Paul Gee who has
had 20 years experience as a fireman working in the
Humberside Fire and Rescue Service. He now runs a
company called Blaze Fire Safety which specialises in
fire safety training, equipping employees
in a workplace with the skills required to be a
fire marshal. He talked to the our members about
 fire awareness and safety in the home
. Using a video he showed us how quickly a fire
can spread in the home. He informed us
about the most common causes of house
fires and outlined some basic precautions we can
take to
keep us safe.
He also showed us a new style of fire extinguisher which,
although is water based, can be used on most kinds of fire,
including electrical.


Club Speaker Mon 19th January
Rotarian Issy Sanderson from Rotary Club of York Ainsty.

International Chairman Rotarian John Logan through his District connections welcomed Issy to the Club.
The talk was a partners
evening where Issy explained her role for the  "Days for Girls" Project.

York Ainsty member Issy Sanderson, coordinator of the workshops says "These kits change lives! We are proud that our Rotary club is supporting these workshops and thereby promoting education and equal opportunities for girls in Nepal"


Issy Sanderson


Days for Girls International works to get washable feminine hygiene kits into the hands of those that would otherwise go without. We advocate and partner with NGOs and agencies to teach women and communities to create their own. We work to raise public awareness, educate regarding AIDS and preventable disease, and health and safety all programmes that are saving lives, helping girls stay in school and balancing the scales for women. Days for Girls International has reached women in 21 countries on 5 continents

LINK -- Days for Girls   
LINK -- Rotary Club of York Ainsty  


Club Speaker Mon 26th January Bill Powley RNIB volunteer

Bill Powley pictured with President Jerry.
Bill Powley who is a volunteer for the Institute for the Blind, came to the club and gave a talk about his
work fund raising for the RNIB.

Bill talked of his life in Brazil and his work with the speaking newspaper and speaking books.
He then showed how the club could help with a pedometer challenge. This involves a virtual walk
John o 'Groats to Lands End with teams of five doing the challenge.
He talked about the forty
thousand book titles and how each book is sponsored and the costs of sponsoring new books.
Rotarian Paul thanked Bill for his talk on behalf of the club.
LINKS RNIB


Club Speaker Mon 2 Mar 2015
David Keaton
David's talk to the club was based on his work for the English Partnerships Land Stabilisation Programme. There were 51 sites throughout the country  that were considered as projects. 34 were funded for the sum of 300 million pounds the scheme ended in 2011.
This led David to driving thousands of miles visiting sites all over the country.
He gave an insight into three projects that he managed.
The Roman Gravel lead mines at Minsterley. The Northwich Town Centre Salt mines and Wheal Ayr Terrace St Ives Tin Mine subsidence.
David explained the difficult tasks involved in all three projects and how they were successfully completed.
He then talked about the Combe Down stone mine excavations under the streets of Bath. This was a very large difficult  project, the 40km of underground tunnels had been worked to produce all the stone which built the impressive period buildings that make up Bath today.

David talked of the problems with the Greater Horseshoe bats and even being allowed to enter the tunnel workings for safety.

Above Luddite Vice President Bill with David  
Picture on left is to illustrate how the underground workings were only two meters below the properties and streets of the town of Combe Down Bath. Above the workings were 760 properties, a primary school, a nursery and three Church's.
David explained how they stabilised the tunnels and eventually filled them with a honeycombed concrete. At its peak it was the
largest consumer of concrete in Britain larger than even Terminal 5.

   
David showing how they had rebuilt properties under the tin mine subsidence at
Wheal Ayr Terrace in St Ives.

Of the Minsterley Lead mines project David found that his Gt Gt Gt Gt Grandfather was one of the first to work in the tunnels and he was part of the team closing it for ever.

Big thanks to David for a very interesting talk which impressed all.
His ability to manage such important large and complex work is a credit to him.

LINKS Combe Down Project
Northwich Town Centre Salt Mines
Wheal Ayr Terrace Tin Mines
Lead Mines Minsterley

 
Club Speaker Mon 23rd March
Tracey Fillan - Fairfield School.
 
Tracey did a very good slideshow of the school & children using the equipment. She spoke how technical equipment such as computers ipads have change disabled children's lives they can access things themselves such as music, games & even help them speak making them more independent. How the school as to raise money to fund some of the special equipment they have to use. At the moment the school is hoping to raise money for sensory lights for the hydro pool. She brought along some toys to show our members what they use in school & she spoke how she converted them by by passing the switches to a push button pad so children with no movement in their fingers could play with toys themselves. Asking our members if there was anyone able to help with that for she had lots of toys that needed converting. She spoke about the cafe in post 16 & asking our members call in any Tuesday. She thank our members for continued support for Kids Out & how much the children enjoy it & the Santa sleigh visits at Christmas & how much the children & staff enjoyed it & hope that it would carry on many years to come. She hoped would we arrange a day in the future to visit the school for the members to have a look around. ( Thanks Helen for the speaker update)
 
   
   Club Speaker Mon 8th June
Paul Smithson -  Alzheimer’s Society.
Paul visited the Club to give his talk about Dementia.
Paul is services support manager of the Bradford branch of the Alzheimer’s Society, and says the aim is to help people with dementia to ‘live well’.
“It’s about inclusion. This is the start of the process to make Bradford a dementia-friendly district,” he says. “Our goal is for organisations, services or individuals to sign up to the Dementia Declaration – to sign up to being inclusive, with a plan or charter setting out how they can work with people with dementia.”

“Being diagnosed doesn’t mean the end to someone’s life. People with dementia can live well for a long time.

“There are more referrals coming through, and more support systems being set up. Bradford is doing a lot of work in areas such as memory clinics and the dementia advisory service, which is working well in South Asian communities.”
Paul explained dementia is an illness that that attacks the brain. It is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease or a series of strokes.
Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way.

President Jerry with Paul

Alzheimer's disease - This is the most common cause of dementia. Brain cells are surrounded by an abnormal protein and their internal structure is also damaged. In time, chemical connections between brain cells are lost and some cells die. Problems with day-to-day memory are often noticed first, but other symptoms may include difficulties with: finding the right word, solving problems, making decisions, or perceiving things in three dimensions.
Vascular dementia - If the oxygen supply to the brain is reduced because of narrowing or blockage of blood vessels, some brain cells become damaged or die. This causes vascular dementia.The symptoms can occur either suddenly following one large stroke or over time through a series of small strokes or damage to small blood vessels deep in the brain. The symptoms vary and may overlap with those of Alzheimer's disease. Many people have difficulties with problem solving or planning, thinking quickly and concentrating.

Paul thanked Paul Smithson for his interesting talk and Rotarians asked questions about the Alzheimer's Society and dementia that affects so many people and families.

 

  LINKS - Alzheimer's Society

Alzheimer's Association - Explore Our Global Alzheimer's‎

Alzheimer's Society SHOP


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Speaker Paul Smithson

more Work of the Alzheimers Society

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