Digital Bulletin No 94

April 2026

Panel showing our Club's name, Graham's name as our President and the 2025-26 Rotary theme.

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April 2026

From the editor’s desk

I started preparing this Bulletin on All Fools’ Day, which made me wonder why it should be called that. No one seems to know although the association of 1 April with practical jokes appears to have started in the early Middle Ages, in either England or France.

I went on to see if I could find out why we use the name Rotary. Apparently it goes back to the very early days of the very first Club, when meetings would rotate around members’ places of work.

March meetings

March 5

This meeting was held on Zoom. Twelve members took part. Francis Whitbread joined from his holiday in Yorkshire.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. In the absence of Bob Booker, there was no Treasurer’s report.

Anne Moriaty reported on District activities. She had attended the District Final of Young Musician the previous Friday. Chelmsford’s Deputy Mayor presented the trophies. When Anne spoke to her she expressed an interest in coming to a Club meeting.

John Watkins has successfully repaired the Club bell and is happy for his expertise in this area to be publicised. John commented that the bell is made from a very old form of brass. It is nearly a hundred years old.

Two men wearing Marie Curie top hats We collected £260.69 at Morrisons for Marie Curie.

The quiz in support of the Wilderness Foundation will be held at Essex Young Farmers Club on 15 May. The Foundation will publicise the event. Some prizes have already been donated.

A speaker from Essex & Hertfordshire Air Ambulance will give the address at our President’s Lunch on 25 June. We hope to arrange a visit to their airfield.

Five members have volunteered to help all day at the forthcoming jumble sale. Another has offered to help in the afternoon.

The Senior Guests’ Summer Party will be held at the Chapter House on 4 July. It was agreed that we should arrange a bingo session this year instead of the usual quiz, in the hope that more of the guests would take part. Angela Dickman has acquired some bags suitable for the “goodie bags” and will look for suitable small bags of chocolates to go in them. We have booked five tables of eight each at the Chapter House.

Francis Whitbread has booked 25 tickets for the pantomime at the Chelmsford Theatre on 3 January 2027 for the Senior Guests’ Panto Visit.

The Club agreed to donate £84.95 to the Chelmer Village Pre-school to pay for a privacy screen and £100.00 to Chelmsford Scouts towards the cost of attending next year’s International Jamboree.

We debated membership of the End Polio Now Club. It was agreed that the Club should take out an annual subscription at a cost of £48. When Bob Booker returns we will discuss the possibility of members taking out subscriptions via the Club.

We also debated possible celebrations of Rotary’s 100 years in Chelmsford next year. It was suggested that among them the six Chelmsford Rotary Clubs arrange for 100 events for the 100th year, in line with the Wilderness Foundation Uk’s aim of holding 50 events to celebrates its 50th year. The normal events the various Clubs organise could be counted towards the total.

Peter Kemp is in touch with Farleigh Hospice with a view to siting the memorial bench to George Harris there.

March 12

Today we were joined by fellow Rotarian John Versey, who brought us up to date on Porridge and Pens. Previously we have been updated by the founder, Gemma Williams, but she has had to step back for a while.

John reminded us that Gemma founded Porridge and Pens after spending a gap year living with a family in Ghana. The family she stayed with were reasonably well off. They even had a slave to do all the housework. Gemma befriended the slave and saw for herself he problems of the poorer people. After she returned to this country she raised funds for a project to provide a school for the poor children in the area. She acquired the slave and freed her. She later became the cook at the Brightlingsea School in Ghana, which Porridge and Pens underwrote. It was opened with just 30 pupils and one teacher.

In accordance with local practice, as more funds were obtained the school buildings were extended with another floor being built on top of the ground floor. The school now has over 300 pupils and eleven teachers. As well as providing pupils who attend with education and uniforms, the school is also able to give them two cooked meals a day.

There is still work to be done. There are plans to extend the school further and to build a bridge over a local river that the pupils currently have to wade through to reach the school. John hopes that each Club in District 1240 will provide £500 towards the cost.

March 19

Today we met at the café in the Ingatestone Saddlery for the second time. It is not far from our regular venue, the Ivy Hill Hotel; we normally choose somewhere else for our Fellowship Meetings.

Three informally dressed people sitting one side of a long dining table We had a long table in the side room known as The Snug. You can just see in the photograph one of the pictures hanging on the Snug’s wall. We had a good number of members plus a couple of guests.

We ordered at the Café’s counter before taking our seats. The food was brought two orders at a time. The delay between the various orders appearing didn’t cause us any real problems; we urged everyone to eat their food as it appeared. There was no formal agenda but President Graham, back from his recent hip replacement, did go through a few formal points at the end. We were given a table in The Snug on condition that there were no speeches, so he kept what he said short and quiet.

The café is at the back of the Saddlery, which someone described as a department store for things equestrian. As we saw on the way through, that was not a bad description.

March 26

Our meeting on 26 March was held at the Ivy Hill Hotel. There were a few surprises before President Graham introduced our guest speaker. Importantly, following a discussion with Warwick Aldham he was able to confirm that Warwick has agreed to become 2nd Vice President, which means he will follow Anne as President in due course. We look forward to supporting and working with Warwick.

A man standing at the head of a dining table with a lady sitting on his left It was also an opportunity to award Paul Harris Fellowships to former Club Presidents Angela Dickman and Keith Dabbs and current President Graham Furnival.

Our speaker was Malcolm Noble, Chairman of the Essex Shire Hall Trust. A prominent Grade II listed Georgian building, the Shire Hall was completed in 1791 and stands as a landmark at the top of the High Street. For many years a county court, it has stood empty since 2012.

Malcolm explained that his Trust was not about restoration of Shire Hall but about what is going to happen once the restoration has been completed. Owned by Essex County Council, the building has two major drawbacks. There is no fire escape and no lift. Indeed two lifts would be required, one for goods and the other for people.

The Trust is working to secure a long term lease to ensure the Shire Hall serves the community, with educational and artistic purposes. Malcolm explained the layout of the building and how the various aspects could be used for community groups and workshops with room for a restaurant and cafeteria. Part of it could be let out to attract income. The county rooms could be used for weddings and functions.

Bell update

President Graham

A Rotary bell As previously reported, I visited several establishments in and around Chelmsford to get the Rotary International badge fixed to our Rotary Bell. It took me a full circle to discuss my adventures with Members of the Club when someone suggested John Watkins might be able to assist. I subsequently took the bell and badge to John and I must admit I was taken aback with our discussion. John knew the full history of the bell and had previously done some work restoring the bell and plinth. John confirmed the corrosion, which I was relieved about, and then set about considering what he could do in the way of repair. A week later and John presented the bell with the badge attached, fully repaired and looking stronger than it previously was. The bell and plinth had been polished and there is no way the badge and bell will be separated again over the next 100 years!

Well done John, a first class job.

Anagrams

You can rearrange the letters in the first word or phrase to get the second.

Astronomer: Moon starer

The eyes: They see

The Morse code: Here come dots

Dormitory: Dirty room

Slot machines: Cash lost in me

Election results: Lies! Let’s recount!

Thoughts for the Day

March 12, Anne Moriaty
First, think.
Second, dream.
Third, believe.
And finally, dare.
Walt Disney

March 26, Peter Kemp
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.
If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Purple crocuses

Our thanks to the staff, parents and pupils from the You and Me Preschool for sending us these photographs of the crocuses that were planted as corms. Thanks, too, to Geoff and Angela Dickman for arranging the distributions and for providing leaflets with the corms explaining the significance.

Geoff and Angela also provided the photographs in the “Unplanned visitors” item below, although we assume someone else took the photo which includes Geoff and Angela themselves.

A crocus flower among grass Hand holding up a flower pot with a sprouting plant in it

Jumble Sale !!!

Hands of a woman sorting through woolen items We will be holding our Spring Jumble Sale at Danbury Village Hall on Saturday, 25 April from 2:30 pm.

Can you help us? We want members to help not only in the afternoon but also in the morning to set up. If you can help, please tell President Graham and let him know whether you would like lunch booked for you.

And, of course, we also need jumble. Please deliver any jumble to the village hall in the morning.

Unplanned visitors

An ambulance team was called when Keith Otter was taken ill at a recent meeting. Keith is recovering well and grateful to everyone who helped him, particularly Mo Sadiq and Ajay Sinha for getting him safely home.

An ambulance with three crew members standing in front of it Ambulance with a man and woman standing in front of it