Welcome to Rotary Club of Dawlish Water
Rotary is all about bringing people together to make a difference and make connections
Protecting the environment
Rotary’s newest Area of Focus shows our commitment to protecting the planet.
Rotary on the brink of ending polio
The eradication of polio is Rotary’s most significant humanitarian goal.
About us
Dawlish Water is a very friendly club that welcomes new members - men and women - who feel they would like to 'put something back into the community.'
We like to have fun, combined with great fellowship and the satisfaction of helping others. develop new skills and make new friends.
We use our skills and enthusiasm to help others and raise significant amounts of money for those in need of help - practical or otherwise. Our club centres on Dawlish but extends to men and women from all walks of life in an area stretching from Teignmouth to Kenton.
The wide range of activities includes fund-raising events, interesting speaker evenings and fun activities such as boules, bowls or skittles. There are also regular social events including special evenings for members and partners.
Fundraising supports numerous local and Rotary charities - a twice-yearly pub quiz and other major events form the backbone of this. Regular support is given to ShelterBox - the successful emergency aid charity - Teignbridge Young Carers, Dawlish Community Transport, Assist Teignbridge, FORCE, the Children's Hospice South West,, Hospiscare, Devon Air Ambulance.
We have sponsored several major improvements at Strand Centre, the popular community hub in Dawlish, as well as other worthy causes. Substantial support is also given to other critical overseas projects such as polio eradication and provision of clean water and in recent times housing help for families made homeless by Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The club also maintain close links with local schools and each year donates cash prizes to schools taking part in the club's annual schools' quiz; and we liaise with schools to organise a Christmas shoebox collection for Moldova and Ukraine, and run a Young Chef competition to encourage local students keen on a catering career. Support continues to be given to local young people in many other ways.
If you would like to find out more about Rotary or membership, please contact: Ray Williams secretary, Dawlish Water Rotary email: secretary@dawlish-water.rotary1175.org
You can also find out more by visiting the Dawlish Water Rotary Club Facebook site.
Enter now for our great Mega Quiz
Dawlish Water Rotary Club’s next popular Mega Quiz will be held on Thursday, March 12. This attracts many Devon pubs and clubs bidding for top prizes in this great fun competition.
"The event is a big fundraiser for the club, which then is able to support a wide range of local charities already struggling to raise their own funds. We welcome more entries which then widen the scope of our charity support,” says Rotary organiser Peter Harrison.
“ The rules are simple and questions straightforward and for pubs and clubs it is an opportunity to hold a fun night that can even benefit their own particular charities if they end up on the winners list.”
Top prize will earn the coveted Heavitree Brewery trophy and £100.00 with further cash prizes spread among the top ten teams.
The event is strongly supported by the Heavitree Brewery and a number of other local Rotary clubs - Teignmouth , Otter Valley , and Crediton clubs - and attracts on average over 600 keen quiz players on the night.
For further details on this quiz please contact: Rotarian Peter Harrison on 07767 894737 or by email: peterharrison500@outlook.com
Details will also available on Dawlish Water Rotary Club’s Facebook page .
Drive for new members
Dawlish Water Rotary Club President Ed McLaughlin is a well-known figure in Dawlish, having run the Swan Inn for many years with his wife Liz.
“ In this last year I have continued efforts to establish a sound future for the club, which is one of the cornerstones of the local community.
“However, we need to keep on attracting new members to continue the survival of Dawlish Water Rotary and I am pleased that Robin Buchanan, who will follow me as President in he next Rotary year, §has taken on the specific role to increase membership. Many local organisations rely on our support and the recruitment drive is starting to prove successful.”
Chris White has the job of treasurer while Steve Marsh continues as head of community, Stephen Allen for youth activities and Gray O'Hanlon for International. Ray Williams also continues as secretary.
You can find out more about your local Rotary club also by accessing the Dawlish Water Rotary Facebook page.
The crocuses are the symbol of Rotary’s greatest achievement, tackling polio - their purple colour matching the dye painted on the fingers of children who have been immunised. Hundreds of the purple crocuses were planted along the lower half of the stream and in a large circular bed nearby in the form of the Rotary roundel.Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralysing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, polio would paralyse or kill over half a million people worldwide every year, including the UK.Rotary spearheaded the campaign at a time when there were over 1,000 polio cases a day in 125 countries, paralysing and even killing children. Today, the number of cases is down by 99.9% - an amazing achievement.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan but it is crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could affect as many as 200,000 children each year.Dawlish Water Rotary Club is continually supporting this worldwide effort through regularly fundraising for the Rotary Foundation.
BELOW: Just a reminder of the crocus display before the extensive sewerage works got under way.
CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR FOOD BANK
Dawlish Water Rotary Club has continued to actively support the Teignbridge Food Bank - and this work has become even more vital with the pressure of rising food and energy prices.
The local food banks also help people in poverty by providing additional support to help them resolve the crises that they face, and, of course, they rely on the support of local communities to provide these needs.
PROVIDING CLEAN WATER - AND IMPROVING HEALTH
Dawlish Water Rotary Club is the organiser of highly-successful initiative to deliver clean water to the drylands of Africa. The project started in 2012 thanks to the late Roy East, International Chair at the time.
Clubs throught Devon and Cornwall have contributed regularly since that time, raising over £40,000 which has been match-funded by various sources. The funds - with contributions from other Rotary clubs in the UK - have been used to sponsor eight dams to date.
These dams comprise a reinforced structure build by the local community across sedimentary rivers to catch the flood waters that occur once or perhaps twice a year. The sediment builds up behind the dam and the water naturally filters down through the sand and sediment to create a underground storage and potentially a lifetime of clean water.
The water is protected beneath a layer of sand and sediment and from it comes the name Sand Dam. The water transforms communities, allowing them to improve health and hygiene and grow crops and trees to improve the local environment. Moreover, children can attend school rather than previously having to walk up to 12 kilometres to collect poor quality water.
It is a great example of how ROTARY REALLY IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
SUPPORTING SHELTERBOX IN DISASTER AREAS
Dawlish Water Rotary Club has again been recognised for its firm support for ShelterBox - one of the most effective organisations for rapidly transporting emergency aid and shelter to disaster areas around the world.
The years of ShelterBox support headed by the late Bill Hande for 10 years and now by Rotarian and ShelterBox Ambassador Gray O’Hanlon, chair of Dawlish Water International, have led to total donations of more than £33,000.
It has also earned the club a Silver Award and two Bronze awards in the last three years.
“This is an amazing result and, in many respects, due to the generosity of the people of Dawlish and the surrounding area,” says Gray.
Currently Shelterbox has been particularly active helping thousands affected by a hurricane in Jamaica, conflct in Chad and by a typhoon in the Phillipines.
Meetings & Venue
Where and when:
We meet on Tuesdays at 18.30
(Meetings venues vary but 3rd Tuesday meeting is on Zoom For further details, please contact: secretary@dawlish-water.rotary1175.org)Rotary News
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