2009/2010 Club News

Black Country Night raises £1300

Friday 23th April marked another very successful Black Country Evening held at Heightington Village Hall which was enjoyed by over one hundred people, many of them regulars at this event. Organised by Konrad Nofer and his Fundraising Committee and with Bob Hill acting as host, the audience were entertained in excellent style by Bev Pegg and Dandy with three hours of top quality music and humour; many of the jokes topical to the election campaign and other current news stories.

Bob Hill also joined Bev Pegg in the delivery of several well know songs and both were warmly applauded for their treatment of these classics. A raffle on the night realised about £250 which combined with income from tickets and profits from the bar meant that the evening raised a magnificient £1300 for charities supported by the Rotary Club of Bewdley.

Well done and thank you to everyone involved prior to and during the evening for enabling such a success. Photos

Successful Youth Competitions

Club rounds of the Young Photographer and Young Writer Competitions took place in March. In both competitions the theme was 'The Environment' .

The Young Photographer competition  took place at Bewdley High School where President Dave and local photographer Colin Hill selected the winning entries. The students were required to produce four images and there were also prizes offered by the Club for the best single image in each age group. Shown in the photo by Colin Hill are winners Adam, Chloe and Eve with President Dave. Read local press report here.

President Dave along with local author, Jim Driscoll, and the Head teacher, James Hawthorn, judged a Young Writer Competition at Chaddesley Corbett Primary School. After much deliberation they selected one winner from the 21 entries to go forward to the District round. The winning entry entitled 'The Leaf Less Story', photos of a storyboard and a letter from 'Fireman Sam' which Jim arranged as prizes can be viewed here

The Odell Trust Raises Money for Shelterbox

So concerned with the plight of people in Haiti following the earthquake, the attendees at the Odell Trust Day Centre in Kidderminster made a collection among friends and family and raised £375 which they decided to give to Shelterbox. When Wyre Forest MP, Dr Richard Taylor, heard of the story he was so impressed that he added another £100 to the fund. This will enable one more Shelterbox to be sent to Haiti. On 25th February President Dave and four other members of the Club received the donation on behalf of Shelterbox.

International Chairman Tom Elliott explained that they will be able to track the number of the Shelterbox which will be purchased with their donations and find out when it arrives and possibly more. 

Well done everyone at Odell...a MAGNIFICENT achievement. Photos

20th Charter Anniversary

The Club celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a Charter Dinner at the Ramada Hotel in Bewdley. Over 100 guests enjoyed the evening including many past members, two of whom travelled from their homes in France for the occasion. Also in attendance were Dr Richard Taylor MP, who proposed the toast to the Club, and Councillor Derek Killingworth, Mayor of Bewdley.

During the evening Founder Member, Andrew Page, was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in acknowldegement of his work with Rotary Youth Exchange. 

The photo shows Albert Attwood, RC Yardley and Sheldon, District Extension Officer in 1990, with Malcolm Catherall and Bill Crook from RC Kidderminster, our Mother Club, all without whose efforts the Club would not have got off the ground. Photos

Bucket Shake for Shelterboxes to Haiti 

International Chairman, Tom Elliott, contacted President Dave a few days after the disaster in Haiti and suggested that the Club might do a bucket shake for Shelterbox. Dave agreed and Tom and his team set to organising everything. After many problems finding a location Vice President Terry convinced one of his many contacts to permit the Club to do the bucket shake in the Swan Centre, Kidderminster on Saturday 23rd January.

A demo Shelterbox was located in Wolverhampton and Tom and Roger Jones set off to fetch it. 'I never realised they were so heavy' said Tom. A large sign was quickly made and literature from Shelterbox arrived the day before. All this made for a very informative display and with the Shelterbox news item on the TV a few days previous it encouraged people to be generous.

A magnificent £1066.58 was collected. The Club will add an additional £400 approx. to fund 3 Shelterboxes for the disaster area providing shelter, tools and other items of daily use for around 30 people for up to 12 months. Photos

Pig Roast at Bewdley Christmas Market

After an early morning panic about bread rolls and serviettes, the stalls for the mulled wine and the pig roast were assembled and, by 12.00 noon on Saturday 5^th December, the pig and the bread rolls had arrived, thanks to Konrad's military style planning and regular reminders to Club members.

Trade was a bit slow to start with and there were concerns as to how much would be sold. However customers soon started to appear and the two carvers, ably assisted by various other members of the Club, managed to keep the hungry stream fed and wined. A great team effort but special thanks to Konrad for the organisation, Bambos and Michel for their culinary expertise, Rob Baker for knowing how things went together and Des Phillpots for the transport; it was 7.45pm before everything was unloaded.

All in all a successful day with close to £950 raised. Photos

Bewdley Club Welcomes Another Member

On 19th November President Dave welcomed Chris Onions as a member, the Club's second new member of this Rotary year.

Chris and his wife run their own business in Kidderminster specialising in integrated media and design and Chris will be a welcome addition to the Club's Youth Opportunities Committee.

Chris' sponsor is Bob Hill. They have known each other for many years as supporters of Kidderminster Harriers - however the Club didn't think that should be held against Chris.

Welcome to the Club Chris and enjoy Rotary

 New Member for Bewdley Club

Elaine James, a health and safety consultant, is the latest member of the Rotary Club of Bewdley. President Dave Tyrrell presented Elaine with her Rotary badge at the club meeting on 1^st October.

"I didn't know that women could become members of Rotary until I read an article in a local newspaper written by a female Rotarian." said Elaine who then visited the website given at the end of the article and emailed for details of evening Clubs in Wyre Forest. District Membership Services Chairman, Roger Phillips, then introduced her to Bewdley Club and the rest is history....

Welcome to Rotary Elaine.

Lord Coe stops by for a chat

On Friday 18th September a Business Enterprise Event was organised at the Ramada Heath Hotel to coincide with a visit by Lord Sebastian Coe and David Moorcroft OBE.

The Club decided to use the opportunity to join many commercial organisations in taking a stand to promote the work of Rotary locally, nationally and internationally with the possibility of generating interest from potential new members.

Lord Coe stopped at the stand and chatted with the members on duty. He was extremely knowledgeable, and very complimentary, of the work of Rotary. (Photo by Colin Hill)

More photos by Official Event Photographer Mike Matthews

Help for the Odell Centre

On 9th August Heinz and members of the Community Service Committee, Rob, Bob B and Mike, along with the President's son, Matt, set to repairing the storage shed at the Odell Centre on what was fortunately one of the best Sundays weatherwise for about three weeks.

The Odell Centre is a day centre for adults with learning difficulties and the Club has been offering practical support for many years including the creation of the garden at the rear of the building and more recently, with the assistance of a Rotary matching grant, resurfacing the area at the front.

More photos of men at work

Success in the Rotary Young Photographer Competition

After winning the District round in the intermediate age range of the Rotary Young Photographer competition Jessica Queenan's entry went on be commended in the national final. As part of her prize Jessica, a pupil at Bewdley High School, spent an interesting day with the official photographer at the Rotary International Convention in Birmingham.

Jessica is shown here in front of her succesful photograph, and other entries to the national final, with District Governor, Lorna Beedham, and District Youth Opportunities Chairman, Brian Carpenter who, at the Bewdley Club meeting on 16^thJuly, presented Jessica with her certificates and the prize money.(Photo by Colin Hill)

News Items from 2008/2009 Rotary Year

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