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Rotary Club of Aberdeen October V2
Dear Rotarians
What a busy couple of months since the last newsletter. We were very lucky with the weather at the beginning of September and so were able to hold our fundraising tea outside in my garden. The sun shone and we all had a very enjoyable afternoon and raised £720. Thank you to all those who attended and also to those who provided tea sets and tablecloths. We are looking to hold a couple of big fundraisers this year and I would like to hear some of your ideas as to what would be good events to hold. Please let me know by e mail and I will bring them to Council. On the 11th of September our Swedish friends from the Rotary Club of Gothenburg came for a 4 day trip to visit our club. A very busy schedule of events took place over the 4 days: Lunch at Deeside , A supper at Bruce and Maureen’s, A visit to Castle Fraser, RNUC Rotary Dinner, Art Gallery visit, tour round Aberdeen City Chambers and supper before the theatre evening. We all had a ball and hope our friendship with the Gothenburg club flourishes for many years. It’s been really good to see our member Alan Duthie attending lunch this past few weeks after his recent stay in hospital. We wish him better health.Page 2
When someone loses their sight, Guide Dogs Scotland is there to make sure they don’t lose their freedom as well. The charity’s Edinburgh, Forfar and Glasgow teams provide life-changing mobility services to adults, children and young people with sight loss throughout Scotland. The Forfar Regional Centre is a world- class training school. It features an outdoor area where dogs can get used to different paving types, traffic lights and obstacles such as bollards and road signs. The centre can train up to 160 dogs per year, who go on to be valuable guides and companions to people not only in Scotland, but all over the UK. There are approximately 45 staff and over 150 volunteers who support the community. Fundraising Relationship Manager Anne Rowse said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to the Rotary Club for their incredible support and generous donation of £2,000. “£125 could buy a starter kit for a new guide dog owner, containing everything they need to start life with their new dog, so the amount raised by the club is phenomenal.Page 3 “We rely on donations to continue our life- changing work, so we are extremely grateful to everyone for getting behind this fundraiser.” Please let me take this opportunity to thank you and your fellow Rotarians for all the help and support you have provided Guide Dogs in recent years.
As you will recently all have contributed to our Club’s allocation of tickets for the annual Rotary car raffle, I thought I would use this newsletter to remind Club members, particularly those who are new or who couldn’t attend my lunchtime talk a few weeks ago, of the background to this. Anercclots is an acronym for Aberdeen and North East Scotland Charity Lottery Society. Although only Rotary Clubs can be members of the Society it is independent of Rotary in that the Society doesn’t have to liaise with/ Report to District etc. Some of you may remember a campaign supported by our local press in 2000 to raise money for a new children’s’ hospital. Through the regular meetings of the Presidents of Clubs in the then District it was agreed to jointly support a millennium project to raise funds for the Archie Foundation which is the official Charity for the new hospital. Various fund raising efforts, including a car raffle resulted in nearly £21000 being donated to the Archie Foundation. Given the success of this venture the organising committee decided to continue with the car raffle with tickets being sold through Clubs to their members, at events, and in the Bon Accord Centre for 6 weeks prior to Christmas. Archie continued to be the supported charity for several years but thereafter the Charity was selected by the Bon Accord Centre tenants and is now chosen by the management team. Initially, all money raised was donated to the nominated Charity but in 2004 a system was devised whereby participating Rotary Clubs received back a percentage of the amount raised by them through Club sales and a fixed amount for Bon Accord Centre attendance. This year our Club received more than £600 for our own “good causes” but some Clubs received well in excess of £1000 – so as you can see the more we sell the more the main Charity and our own chosen ones benefit. Since its inception the only year that no car or other raffle (in the Pandemic we chose smaller prizes in case sales were too low to support the purchase of a car) took place was 2008. In 2007 the Gambling Act came into force and despite our Lottery being entirely charitable it is now, in most respects, subject to the same regulations as , for instance a Bookmakers . The organising committee decided to form an unincorporated association capable of being accepted by the Gambling Commission as holders of the necessary Operating Licence. A Constitution was devised and by 2009 we were “up and running “ again. To date sales have raised more than £993000 so this year it is hoped that the one millionth ticket will be sold. From this Rotary Clubs have received back more than £265000! The major beneficiaries have been Archie, Clan, Marie Curie, Macmillan Roxburgh House, Ucan, Childline and Charlie House. I think we should all be very proud of what Anercclots has achieved and I look forward to your support for our days manning the sales desk at the St Nicholas Centre and your assistance with sales at any external event!
Camphill Tools Aberdeen refurbishes tools for “Tools For Self Reliance”(TFSR) and the Scottish “Global Concerns Trust”. For over 20 years tools have been donated by various Rotary Clubs and individuals from Aberdeen and the North East. All types of hand and other tools of any trade as well as power tools and sewing machines are accepted for refurbishing. Also, any portable electrical equipment (in other words anything with a cable and plug attached) will be accepted for dismantling and recycling. In the past we have sent toolkits to Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia and Sierra Leone. For the last 15 years the Scottish Tools For Self Reliance workshops in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Kinghorn and Tools for Solidarity Belfast have also, in agreement with TFSR, supplied toolkits to the “Global Concerns Trust”. The “Global Concerns Trust” project in Malawi is funded by the Scottish Government. It offers training for people with disabilities in carpentry, furniture making and tailoring. The trust has produced a film about this project, which can be viewed on their website.
https://clicktime.symantec.com/3WmkBKfdn3mEuPPaMJCtc3A6H2?u=www.globalconcernstrust.com
We take any tools and items you want to give to us. Don’t worry about rust…we deal with that. Deliveries can be made to Newton Dee in Bieldside AB15 9DX. Please contact our club member Rainer Reinardy on 07824 346047 before you deliver items so he can organise onward transport to the tools workshop.
Last month several members took part in a walk from Aboyne and round the loch organised by Jimmy Hutcheson and Gavin McEwen
On Saturday 2nd Sept we had an afternoon tea in Mollie Mennie’s garden at Rubislaw Den North. This resulted in enhancing the Charity Account by £720.
Sunday 3rd Sept Jennifer Stewart had a stall at the West End Farmers Market in the grounds of Cognito at the Cross and selling bric-a-brac, plants, etc in fact anything that was saleable.
At the Council Meeting on 24th October the policies on Health and Safety, Dignity, Equality, Protection of Children and protection of Adults recommended by District were adopted. It is necessary for all members to be aware of these policies and be aware of their requirements.
Speakers
Our club meetings welcome and enjoy talks from visiting speakers or talks from our
own members. Please help our speaker convenor Alan Towns by trying to provide more
speakers. No topic or level of oratory skills fail to captivate and create a smile for our
members.
Recent Talks
Mervyn Donald – Aberdeen and the Seven Incorporated Trades
Donald Montgomery – Scottish Ambulance Service
Arthur Winfield – The Open Space TrustPage 7
Bryan MacKay – The Prince’s Trust
Joe Ochei – Water Drilling in Zimbabwe
Apple Store have been in touch to say that classes have been arranged for the following dates and times - (Contact President Mollie for details)
Captain Ewan Rattray, 37, from Aberdeen, is among 11 new recipients of the Merchant Navy Medal for promoting seafarer safety after suffering a career-ending injury. His career as a shipping pilot was halted in 2019 when his leg was crushed while climbing a ladder to board a vessel.
The Shoe Box time is upon us again with boxes distributed to members of the club. Arrangements are in hand to purchase further boxes for distribution to various schools and other orgaisations.