Lunchtime Meeting - 12.45pm - Business Meeting + Interact Presentation

On Monday 14th May a group of young people from Oswestry School Interact Club, all Sixth Formers, came to the Wynnstay Hotel to give the Rotary Club a PowerPoint presentation about their fund-raising efforts on behalf of the PDSA.  President Abbie, together with Treasurer Thomas, Secretary Ethan, Marketing Manager Luke, Erin, Valeriia and Niamh came along with teacher Kerry Wilkins and enjoyed a buffet lunch before beginning their presentation.

From January to Easter the Interact group organised numerous events in support of the PDSA. The first fundraiser involved the entire team in a ‘Send a Rose’ directive where pupils and staff could send a rose to their friends as a token of their appreciation for each other. Each rose was delivered personally by a member of the Interact team, along with a message, on the morning of 14 February and raised £80.  In addition there were bake sales and an own clothes day when pupils from Bellan House had an opportunity to dress up as their pet or favourite animal.  One boy came along as a dragon, which is after all an animal too! At the senior school pupils wore blue and pink clothes to show their support for the charity as these are the PDSA’s theme colours, and across both sites this raised almost £900. The activities culminated at the end of term with a showing of High School Musical.  Happy viewers were able to buy snacks, drinks and popcorn while they watched the movie.  PDSA education officer, Anna Baggott, received the cheque from the Interact group following an assembly to the pupils about the history of the charity and the work it currently conducts. Incredibly the final total raised was an astonishing £1075.81!!

The young people took it in turns to tell members what they had gained from the experience, and teamwork was the theme to which all returned, along with learning to compromise and improvise, listening to each other’s input, overcoming obstacles, learning organisational skills such as leadership and minute-taking and helping each other. They all felt they had grown as people and learned valuable life-skills.

President Abbie thanked Ms Wilkins for taking over as liaison teacher at short notice after previous teacher Ms Shooman left suddenly for a new job. She also thanked the Rotary Club in general for supporting them and Rotarians Sue Leonard and Ian Haigh in particular for their invaluable help in organising the events; the incredible success of the group would not have been possible without them.

Rotarian Jayne Middleton, thanking the students and their teacher for coming, added: “What you have said about working together as a team to benefit others is very much central to what Rotary is all about. The lessons you have learned through being members of Interact will serve you well as you go on into higher education and the world of work. Well done to all of you for your fantastic efforts.”