Our activities

President Martin’s Comments:

This year continues to amaze me with how quickly time seems to pass. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing October’s VFTB.

Firstly, a review of October..

I must start on the 30^th September with a talk by Rtn Graham Martin’s son in law, Owen Mace. Owen delivered a talk on recycling, linked to its impact on the economy. This was very much about how industry was adapting to the need for recycling; he covered many aspects that were new to me, such as traceability standards being introduced. I was heartened by the fact that more is happening than I thought, with more on its way.

The 7^th October saw a talk from Andrew Willig, who is employed by one of Loughborough’s cutting-edge technology companies (Intelligent Energy), based on the university campus. The subject was “The Future of Hydrogen Fuel Cells.” Despite some IT glitches (which hopefully have now been traced to a rogue cable - more of that later). Andrew gave a comprehensive run down of what his company is doing and the wider Hydrogen industry. One of my takes from the talk is that by using off peak electric generation to create Hydrogen, these fuel cells could help us at peak energy demand times. He was able to explain a future for these cells meaning less use of traditional fuels such as oil.

The 14^th October saw a talk by one of our own: Rtn Diane Williams on the C4K (Coats for Children) project; some of the statistics presented were genuinely thought provoking. Michael reports that last year “Rotary clubs in Charnwood collectively supplied 198 coats across 14 schools. Our plan this winter is to try to double that.” Diane demonstrated what and how the C4K team have been approaching this year’s needs for coats in the Loughborough / Coalville area. I am also pleased to announce that the team have just received grants totalling £3.5k. (As an aside, a big thank you to Diane’s partner Richard, who helped one Presidential IT Luddite out with fixing an IT issue!)

21^st October saw some of us attending both the lunchtime meeting and the evening session. The lunchtime talk was about LOROS and delivered by Debbie Thrussell. She outlined some of the changes that have taken place this year within LOROS, following the funding shortfall announced in early summer. They have been hit by the general cost of living, National Insurance, and Minimum Wage increases. They have also seen a reduction in legacies of £2m. Cost cutting has resulted in bed capacity being reduced from thirty-one beds down to 18 (closure of a wing / ward). Nevertheless, they have been able to maintain their work in the community.

LIG presented LOROS with a £500 donation at the end of the talk. I am pleased to announce that LOROS will be the main charity at our winter concert and 2026 Golf Day (NB Rainbows will also be supported by the Par Three Challenge).

In the evening, the second talk of the day saw the return of Jack Shaw who, in his spare time, is the Station Master at Quorn / Woodhouse Great Central Railway. It was an entertaining talk, covering many aspects, especially how they are trying to broaden the visitor experience to the GCR.

Unfortunately, we did have another smaller IT glitch. Many thanks to Rtn Roger Williams who has tried finding the underlying cause of the Projector / laptop interface issue. I know he has spent many hours on trying to correct an intermittent fault. As stated earlier we think a rogue cable has been the cause. This has been replaced. Roger has also been busy improving the front end of the Wiki page as well as going live with our internet “new” web page. Again, many thanks to Roger for his dedicated work in the shadows.

Not only was Friday 24^th October End Polio Day but also C4K Quiz Night. Longcliffe was filled with over 70 quizzers. I  am pleased to report that other Rotary clubs attended the event. Thank you to all those involved in the creation and running of the event. A good night was had by all.

Quizmasters Steve Delaney & Sandra Roberts

Michael reports that “net proceeds from the event were approx.£750, which will pay for new, warm coats for 30 deprived primary school children in Charnwood.” 

During the evening, sales of purple crocus corms were also made.

Well done to Diane Willams and Ros Severn as well as anyone else involved.

Batch 62 of the Home Starter Boxes was made on 23^rd October.

Our final meeting this month on 28^th October heard an entertaining talk by former Rtn and Charnwood Honorary Freeman Lez Cope-Newman covering his role as head of the Love Loughborough organisation which has been awarded significant funding from central government.

At the end of the talk, Lez was handed a Paul Harris Fellowship Award for his support of Rotary and charitable works in the area, Breast Cancer being amongst one of them as well as the delivery of enhancement projects within Loughborough.

It was also pleasing to see many “Friends of Rotary” turn out for the talk. Thank you, Lez.

At the end of the meeting members agreed, subject to DEC declaring an emergency over Hurricane Melissa’s impact, that the club would make a donation.

Turning now to what’s to come..

Now November is upon us, and December is not that far away, our thoughts turn to some other activities. The programme team have just about created a full Nov / Dec programme: thank you again to them. There’s a mixture of interesting talks and key Club Business meetings. These will be detailed in the Programme section of the VFTB. However, I’d like to single out a few here please.

Thank you to those who have signed up for marshalling the Seagrave / Wolds challenge on Saturday 8^th November.

On 11^th November, Baroness Morgan of Cotes will be visiting the club. We would like to send her away with positive thoughts about Rotary in Loughborough. If HSB and C4K teams are available to take her through what you are doing that would be great; we also need to get across our international work and End Polio will be a good one to facilitate this. DG Moira Penney and AG Janet Sinclair will also support the event.

Saturday 29^th November sees our traditional winter concert at Hodson Hall. Please do support this event, either as a volunteer on the night or by the purchase of tickets, or ideally both.

Andy Perkins has circulated December tin rattle dates:

• Co-op East Leake Saturday 13th December
• Tesco Shelthorpe Saturday 20th December
• Morrisons Gorse Covert 21st December

There will be a volunteer page on the Wiki shortly. Please keep those dates free.

Whilst the 9^th December seems a little way off, this is the Club’s SGM event. Firstly, we need to be quorate, i.e. 25% of ALL members need to attend in person. We are also looking for future presidents 27/28 and 28/29 as well as trustees. Again, please keep the date to hand and do not feel shy about volunteering for these roles. The agenda will be circulated shortly. One agenda item will be how and to whom some funds should be allocated: due to prudent budgeting and overachieving at fund raising, we have some funds that the club will need to decide how to allocate (NOT previously covered at assembly).

Please note the Rotary Christmas Dinner  booking page is live on the Wiki.

LOOKING BACK.. more memories..

Garner has once again raided the archives for some images to stir happy memories. This time, we go back to Handover 2008.

OUR COMBINED PROGRAMME FOR NOVEMBER & DECEMBER —at a glance: