Digital Bulletin No 98

September 2026

From the editor’s desk

When I sat at my desk to start preparing this issue it was raining gently. It was raining when I got up. I’m taking encouragement from this change in the weather. It’s the first worthwhile rain we’ve had for months. Plants that were drooping are now standing upright again.

As we approach our centenary year, can we make changes that will secure the future of Rotary in Chelmsford? Some Club members are full of ideas. We just need to embrace and implement them.

Words from the President

August 6

Business meeting on Zoom and one more change!

The rising cost of wine and the falling number of members at meetings mean that the weekly raffle makes very little impact on our fundraising efforts. At Club Council we determined that the cost of the raffle had been £1 for at last the last 30 years. A quick Google search indicated that £1 in 1996 would be the equivalent of £2 to £2.40 today. Accordingly, we proposed an increase to £2 per ticket. The motion was carried.

August 9

I represented the Club at a fundraising garden party at Keene Homes in aid of the Mayor of Chelmsford’s charity. I was accompanied by daughter, Emma, because she knows Mayor Lynne Foster from her time with Chelmsford Theatre Workshop. One of my ex-clients, Nikki Peach, was part of the entertainment for the afternoon. It was a lovely sunny afternoon with excellent tea and cakes organised by District Governor Gloria Nichols. It was a good time to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

August 13

Today we were back at Ivy Hill and the increased raffle price prompted my opening quote from Prince Philip. “Change does not change tradition, it strengthens it. Change is a challenge and opportunity, not a threat.”

I commented that if nothing had changed since 1996 the men would all be waiting for permission to take their jackets off and the women would be nowhere to be seen. In fact, it was a very hot day. No one was wearing a jacket and only Francis was wearing a tie. How times have changed.

Our speaker was Sally Medd, deputy CEO of Chelmsford CVS. CVS stands for Council for Voluntary Service. Chelmsford CVS works to support, develop and grow 322 charities in Chelmsford and South Woodham Ferrers through partnership and collaboration, leadership and advocacy, capacity building, and volunteering. They host forums to get all charities in a sector together such as all the homeless charities in Chelmsford.

Disappointingly, Sally said that volunteering in the UK is declining and our ranking has dropped from 5th in the world in 2018 to 57th now. This trend is also reflected in the fall in membership in Rotary, Lions and other such organisations.

Sally went on to outline the benefits of volunteering which include building self-esteem and self-confidence, boosting physical and mental health, and fostering a sense of purpose. It can also enhance career prospects.

It came as no surprise that retirees are the largest volunteer cohort but numbers have been affected by the increased use of “granny daycare” by the younger generation.

August 20

There were 15 of us at the Running Mare in Galleywood for our monthly fellowship meeting and it was lovely to welcome back John Knott after a long absence and Phil and Janice Goodman. The food was delicious and the service was reasonably prompt so I think we will be back there before too long.

August 22

Stephen and I took Emma and five year old Felix along to the barbecue organised by the Rotary Clubs of Colchester Camulos and Colchester Forum in the grounds of Jon O’Neill’s home in Great Tey. Emma and Felix took advantage of the indoor swimming pool and the garden games scattered around. Felix also enjoyed looking at the resident goats. This was a very enjoyable social event organised by the two Clubs which also raised money by means of a raffle and a “name the teddy” competition. We didn’t win a prize in the raffle and the teddy’s name wasn’t Felix so we didn’t win that either.

August 27

My opening remarks at Ivy Hill reflected the passing, earlier in the week, of Dolly Parton. Dolly believed every child deserved the chance to fall in love with reading. Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library she collaborated with Rotary, and other voluntary organisations, to expand access to books and support young readers one story at a time. In North Carolina my grandson received a book almost every month from the time he was one month old until the age of five. Dolly was an honorary member of two Rotary clubs in the US and the Rotary Club of Cleethorpes here in the UK.

This led on to my thought which came from Roald Dahl. “I think kindness is my number one attribute as a human being. I’ll put it before any of the things like courage or bravery or generosity or anything else… Kindness – that simple word – it covers everything, to my mind. If you’re kind that’s it.”

After the meal I talked about the catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet. I thought about our dear friend Chuda and how he would have been urging us to respond. We will be considering this in more detail at our Council and Business Meetings at the beginning of September.

Today’s speaker was Sarah Watson, CEO of Hearing Help Essex which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. The charity now supports over 7,000 people annually with hearing aid maintenance issues, home visits, information advice and guidance, and deaf awareness training. They also have a resource centre which loans out equipment so you can try before you buy.

In addition to six trustees there are six paid outreach workers and 67 volunteers. It is estimated that 11 million people in the UK have hearing loss but only 2 million have hearing aids. 250,000 have dual sensory loss so the charity also works with sight loss services.

Sarah talked about the emotional and practical impact that hearing loss can have and said it can take up to ten years for people to accept their hearing loss. Advances in technology mean that digital hearing aids can link to phones via Bluetooth - a far cry from the cumbersome ear trumpet that Sarah showed in her first slide.

Recently we have been offering to run a quiz for our charity speakers and I’m delighted to report that Sarah has accepted our offer. A quiz can raise anywhere from £800 to over £1,000, which is more that we could otherwise donate, and is a good way for us to make a difference. Details to follow as soon as we have fixed a date and a venue.

Random jottings

If you’re happy and you know it, it’s your medication.

I wanted to buy a camouflage jacket the other day but couldn't find any.

How does a lawyer sleep? First he lies on one side, then he lies on the other.

What did one flag say to the other? Nothing, it just waved.

Maybe oxygen is killing you but it just takes 75-100 years to work.

If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

I’m old enough to make my own decisions, but no longer young enough to remember what they were.

Rotary Foundation

Keith Otter

Early days

The first Rotary Club was the Rotary Club of Chicago, founded by Paul Harris in 1905. “Rotary” because meetings rotated around the members’ business premises. It appears to have acted mainly as a networking group for professional and business men.

Rotary expanded rapidly and quickly embraced the idea of helping others. The motto “He profits most who serves best” was adopted at a Rotary Convention in 1911. “Service about self” was also approved at the same Convention and became the primary Rotary motto in 1989.

At the 1917 Convention Arch Klumph suggested the formation of an endowment fund “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” It was started with an initial contribution of $26.50. In 1928 the Fund became the Rotary Foundation.

Numerous donations flowed into Rotary International following Paul Harris’s death in 1947. These were used for the Paul Harris Memorial Fund which was in turn used to build up the Rotary Foundation. The Foundation established its first programme, Fellowships for International Study, which later became the Ambassadorial Scholarships.

Programmes

Other programmes followed, including Matching Grants in 1965-66 and Health, Hunger and Humanity (“HHH”) Grants in 1978. The first HHH grant was used to fund a project that immunised 6,000,000 children in the Philippines against polio. Eight years later the PolioPlus programme (now End Polio Now) was set up with the aim of eradicating polio worldwide, an aim which will be achieved when no one in the world contracts polio. In 2026 so far there have been just 26 cases: 23 in Afghanistan and 3 in Pakistan.

Today the Foundation has six Areas of Focus:

1. Promoting peace: Each year the Foundation sponsors 100 Peace Fellowships in conjunction with universities around the world.
2. Fighting disease: The End Polio Now project is but one example. The aim is to provide low-cost and free health care in developing countries. Many of the projects ensure that medical training facilities are available locally.
3. Providing clean water: Helping communities to establish and maintain sustainable water and sanitation systems.
4. Saving mothers and children: Particularly through immunisation programmes and the provision of antibiotics.
5. Supporting education: By enabling local communities to set up their own local programmes.
6. Growing local economies: To facilitate decent and productive work for all.

Paying for it

All this requires donations from Rotarians like us. The Foundation has come a long way since that original donation of $26.50. Our own Club encourages members to make a donation to the Foundation, via the Club, when they renew their Club subscriptions.

The Foundation has various levels of recognition for those making direct donations. (In our case donations can be made to the Rotary Foundation of the United Kingdom, a registered UK charity which can recover Gift Aid.)

• Sustaining members are those pledged to donate at least $100 a year. Our Club includes several Sustaining Members.
• Paul Harris Fellows (“PHFs”) are those who have made lifetime donations of at least $1,000. Multiple Fellowships are possible. (PHF pin pictured. PHFs can also be nominated by Clubs which have donated $1,000,
• which was the standard route in the British Isles until fairly recently.)
• The Paul Harris Society is open to those Rotarians who commit to donations of $1,000 per year.
• Major Donors are those who have made lifetime donations of at least $10,000. There are various levels of recognition depending on the level of donations.
• The Arch Klumph Society is for those who have made lifetime donations of at least $250,000, again with various levels of recognition.

There is also recognition for those who pledge to leave the Foundation a legacy of at least $10,000.

Our draft Club Handbook for 2026-27 lists 23 full members and and six Honorary Members, of whom four were formerly full members and one is the widow of a former member. Of the 29 members and Honorary Members, 19 are Paul Harris Fellows.

Compiled from online Rotary resources.

Happy Birthday, Geoff!

Congratulations to Geoff Dickman on reaching his 85th birthday. The photographs are from his birthday celebrations on the Bluebell Line. [I’m fond of old railway rolling stock - and old enough to remember the Golden Arrow. Editor]

Forthcoming meetings

September 17: Fellowship Meeting
At the North Weald Visitor Centre
Organiser: Graham Furnival

September 24: John Spence: Local government reorganisation in Essex
Venue: Ivy Hill Hotel
Vote of Thanks: Keith Dabbs

October 1: Fellowship Meeting
On Zoom

October 8: Val Chiswell: Becoming a magistrate
At the Ivy Hill Hotel
Vote of Thanks: Peter Kemp

October 15: Fellowship Meeting
Venue: TBA

October 22: Freya & Mayer: Support Dogs
Venue: Ivy Hill Hotel
Vote of Thanks: TBA

October 29: Joint Clubs Meeting
At the Royal Tiger, Rettendon
Organised by the Rotary Club of Chelmsford Mildmay
This is an evening meeting

November 5: Business Meeting
On Zoom

PDF Archive

Bulletin 78: November 2024
Bulletin 79: December 2024
Bulletin 80: January 2025
Bulletin 81: February 2025
Bulletin 82: March 2025
Bulletin 83: April 2025
Bulletin 84: May 2025
Bulletin 85: June 2025
Bulletin 86: July 2025
Bulletin 87: August 2025
Bulletin 88: September 2025
Bulletin 89: November 2025
Bulletin 90: December 2025
Bulletin 91: January 2026
Bulletin 92: February 2026
Bulletin 93: March 2026
Bulletin 94: April 2026
Bulletin 95: May 2026
Bulletin 96: June-July 2026
Bulletin 97: August 2026