2023 - 24 David’s year

2nd^h May 2024 Baby it’s cold outside  Gail Parkinson and Jim Gostick’s visits to Antarctica       

Gail started the proceedings explaining that she flew to Chile Santiago, travelling to Valparaiso to catch the Hurtigruten boat to Antarctica. They stopped at Castro, a small village with about 70 population in stilted properties by the water, noticing lots of birds en route. A day tour of Patagonia ensued, then on to the Magellan Straits towards Cape Horn and Drake passage with beautiful scenery although they experienced poor visibility and high seas.

On to Antarctica, where a number of landings were made in rubber inflated boats (Zodiacs) to various research centres (70 in total from 29 countries {5 from China}) Hygiene is critical on Antarctica, so they were fitted up with boots and suits and also managed a Kayak experience. They saw many penguins and Antarctic Shags (that migrate to the artic) and had albatross flying alongside the boat. They ended in Ushuaia, eventually flying up to Buenos Airies, consuming much steak and chips before returning home.

Jim travelled with his daughter and son in law on 16th January flying to Buenos Airies where they spent 2days with a guide exploring the city that boasts the widest avenue in the world with 8 roads along it and the Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. One building had the image of Lionel Messi projected on to it. In the old town most of the building are clad with corrugated sheeting painted in bright colours. The city has many beautiful buildings.

They then flew to Ushuaia on the Beagle Sound to catch the ship for the expedition South. In Tiera del Fuego they visited a Post office at the end of the Pan American Highway. Their ship was from Aurora Expeditions (Australian company) with 119 passengers and14 experts producing a daily news sheet that was very helpful and contained much useful information. The ships first call was the Falkland Islands and Port Stanley with its Cathedral and memorials to the Falklands War and a WW1 Sea battle. The harbour 4 miles long and a mile wide is a refuge for numerous fishing vessels. No natural trees grow on the islands but lupins flourished. The ship then headed to S Georgia with its jagged mountains glaciers and shores covered with millions of penguins and seals. They landed at numerous locations and climbed several hills to take in the spectacular views as well as the derelict whaling stations at Stromness Bay and Grytviken where Ernest Shackleton finish his epic voyage and which processed thousands of whales per year for their oil. From there the ship sailed to the rarely visited S Sandwich Islands that are all active volcanoes. The journey then headed West to the Northern tip of Antarctica to experience the severe cold and winds with huge ice cliffs and even more penguins and seals. Here some hardy souls even took a plunge into the icy water.

The ship then headed back to Ushuaia with a flight to Buenos Aeries and a stay at an Estancia where the French owner bread Polo horses before heading home after an incredible month’s holiday.

President David made the vote of thanks first asking the question as to why anyone would want to travel to such a cold and adverse environment, but then thanking them for their enthusiasm, and sharing their photographs and memories  and asked members to join him with a warm round of applause.    AR

11^th April 2024 The Antithesis of Local – Everything from 62 miles up (the defn. of where Space starts)  Shaun Livsey       

Shaun started with a slide showing the position of the planets: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune with relative sizes and showing how the Sun is very large compared with the rest.  But continuing to show that our Sun is not so large compared with Betelgeuse and UY Scutti stars, the latter being 5 billion times the size of our Sun!  However, Black Holes are by far the most massive individual objects in the Universe, but it all started with the ‘Big Bang’ 13.8 billion years ago which we know happened, but not WHY it happened.  There is a stellar life cycle: birth, main sequence, old age, death and renewal.  Gas (Plasma) from the Big Bang plus gas/dust from exploded stars and gravity does “its thing”, pulling diffuse gas together to create new stars which fuse atoms of hydrogen forming helium and spare energy. Black holes form at the end of especially large stars lives, when they run out of fuel and ‘supernovae’ (explode). With a super dense core, gravity is so great that even light cannot escape – a galactic vacuum cleaner! Visible only by their hot ‘accretion disc’, they are not uncommon and will be one of the last active objects at the end of time taking hundreds of millions of years to evaporate by a process called Hawking radiation. 

We were then shown a slide of the periodic table with the question: if the Big Bang gave us only Hydrogen and Helium, where do the other 88 elements come from? It transpires that the fusion process within stars can combine smaller atoms together to form bigger and bigger atoms up to Iron. At this point no more energy is created and stars collapse and explode with heavier elements being created as a by-product. It was noted that the gold in the ring on your finger was formed billions of years before our sun was created in the death throws of an ancient and long dead star.

Then a change to the recently discovered Dark Matter and Dark Energy which make up more than 95% of the matter in the Universe.  Looking far away is actually looking back in time. For example, light or radio communication would take 250,000 years to reach our nearest Galaxy and another 250,000 years for an answer back.

Distances are so great in space that new units of measurement have been created such as the Astronomic Unit (the distance between the Earth and the Sun- 150 million km) and the Light Year (the distance that light travels in one earth year- 9 trillion km). To demonstrate the vastness of space, Voyager 1 was recalled as being launched 47 years ago but has yet to reach a distance of 1 light day from Earth when the very nearest star is over 4 light years from Earth.

Many more amazing facts were touched upon to emphasis the vastness and age of the Universe we live in and constantly learn more about.

Shaun was asked: ‘Is there life out there?’, then referencing the Drake equation, the conclusion was “Yup” but it’s not going to be a quick-fire conversation!

Complimentary comments and questions flowed from our baffled members and Stan offered the vote of thanks saying that he found it difficult to understand how ‘something’ came from ‘nothing’ creating the Big Bang and everything that followed from that, but found the presentation thoroughly fascinating, but difficult to get ones head around and asked members to join him with an enthusiastic round of applause.    AR

28^th March 2024 Screveton Shed   Kev Bryant         

Kev started his presentation posing us three questions: ‘A tale of 3 Benches’ 1. Hardwood bench for Parish Council 2.  A Lottery funded Community project for 10 benches 3. Private request to save a church memorial bench. The questions to us were: Should they take it on? How to make them? And What should they charge? (their current costs are £200/month covering rent, insurance and utilities) He left that for us to ponder as he elaborated on Sheds in general, explaining that Sheds are a community base organisation to enable socialising, learning and collaboration. They started in Australia when it was recognised that once men in particular retired, they lost status and many friendships.  Perhaps hobbies they took on were personal and were OK for a couple of years, then a sense of isolation occurred. Age UK brought Men in Sheds to the UK some 20 odd years ago and today boast 1200 groups. Screveton Sheds was started by David Rose mainly to help his father Peter, who had suffered an injury and had to ‘retire’ from the farming. David bought an old Ferguson Tractor and set up the shed. For the first few years the shed looked after the tractor which needed some repairs, Kev joined the shed 5 years ago. Typically 6 to 8 blokes met up each Tuesday and Friday mornings, although most of the kit was ‘old and knackered’!, but they felt there was potential, but doing what? Then came ‘lockdown’, which created an empty shed.

Post Lockdown grants became available, which they applied for, enabling them to buy some new kit, which attracted new members and they then took on a commission: 1. With the Wildlife Trust to do with birdlife on farms, making Owl boxes, bird feeders and 2. With the Urban Worm Company (Anna moved to a barn on site and needed benches and insulated boxes for the worms.  So, they set up production lines under Kev’s guidance as ‘Shed Leader’, despite him knowing little about wood or metalwork, but it was more about people management. They needed to cover their costs, but felt it wasn’t a business, they were doing it for fun! Now there are 50 to 60 attendees each week. A big question for the shed is should they charge everyone the same? Businesses, community groups with funding and those without funding and private individuals, which he opened up for some interesting discussion. He wanted to make as ‘inclusive’ as possible, so opened up some evening sessions for those still at work and a ‘women in sheds’ session on Thursdays. There it is recognised that people like to work differently, on your own, pairs or teams and the work could vary: improving the shed, business /private commissions and community projects.

The benefits include social connections, skills development and mental well-being. Kev then took us back to the original question with the decision not to take on the hardwood bench, due to high material costs, the community bench project worked well with a standard design x ten, which also helped with the memorial bench, which was past restoration, but a new bench fitted with the original memorial plaque gave the satisfactory result.

They now turnover about £1k per month, have a healthy bank account and feel as though they are on the right track and happy to welcome new members, male of female.

Complimentary comments and questions flowed from our members and Twelly offered the vote of thanks saying that he found it absorbing and fascinating and thought that Screveton Shed was providing improved skills and a great social function, offering friendship and fun with members joining him with the enthusiastic round of applause.    AR

14^th March 2024 FarmEco   Professor David A. Walker         

David started by asking us if we knew our farmland birds and the monitoring of wildlife biodiversity. A couple of years ago he knew very little on such subjects, having retired as Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Oncology at The University of Nottingham, specialising in serious rare diseases in children. He then came into contact with David Rose, a third-generation farm manager at Screveton Farm, who is also a Woodland Trust Ambassador who actively participates in agroforestry research and so a new journey began. Additionally, FarmEco Community Care Farm, which is part of the wider Screveton Farm, connects people with food and farming. It provides a shared outdoor space for people to learn about farming, the environment, and develop new skills. FarmEco is a registered Community Benefit Society with a vision to build a sustainable farming model that benefits both the community and the environment. They raise funds through various means, including shares, donations, grants, and sales of apple juice and vinegar. Their mission is to reconnect people to the land and the environment. They have a ‘Sheds’ group, do walks, various workshop events generally to encourage wildlife recognition in this unique farming environment.

He gave out some encapsulated pictures of the many birds and some of their survey results in a form of skills assessment, trying to establish whether we had a ‘casual interest’, a ‘birdwatcher’ or even a ‘twitcher’. He played some birdsongs to see if anyone recognised the birds singing. He then posed a question relating to the reduction in bird numbers, to each of the three tables of our members: 1. Does it matter? 2. What has changed? 3. Can the trend be reversed?

He showed maps of the farm with sheep fields, Forest bathing labyrinths, agroforestry field with striped rows of apple trees, conventional farm fields, woodland area, water feature and ‘Miyawaki’ section, consisting of an area about 30 m. x 10 m. trees planted 18 inches apart, which apparently grow faster.

He mentioned a paper by a Ph.D. student, Tom Staton, of Reading University about the reduction in bird numbers, posing the question is it caused by ‘Species energy hypothesis’ relating to food, seeds and hedges or Environmental, temperature issues (which seems to influence bird numbers more0

 Alan Wilson gave a vote of thanks to David for his very entertaining and informative talk, having taught us, questioned us and we learnt about this fascinating subject which had been delivered with much enthusiasm.  Club responded in the usual way                          RG

7th March 2024 James Prior Ailish D’Arcy

Ailish gave us a talk on James Prior, Bingham’s forgotten author. She explained that James had been born in Nottingham but adopted Bingham as his home from 1891 until his death in 1922. His father had wanted to become a lawyer but he was determined to become a writer and studied for an English degree at London University. After marriage to his cousin, Lily Kirk, he arrived in Bingham in 1891 with his wife and two infant daughters. The family first lived on Fisher Lane where he wrote two novels before moving to Banks Cottage. His first major novel, Renie, opens in Bingham, which he called Bawton, and his subsequent novels were all set in and around Nottinghamshire. His most famous novel was “Forest Folk” published in 1901 which was set in Blidworth. All of Prior’s novels include many words and phrases in the Nottinghamshire dialect, very few of which are in use today, and Ailish gave many examples of these in her talk. Prior died in December 1922, was buried in Bingham Cemetery and is commemorated by blue plaques on the houses he lived in on Fisher Lane and the Banks.

Rob Gray gave a vote of thanks to Ailish for her very entertaining and informative talk and Club responded in the usual way                RG

22nd February 2024 The Friendly Bench   Lyndsey Young         www.thefriendlybench.co.uk

Lyndsey was operating as a ‘freelance’, working from home, no family locally and experiencing loneliness (as she also had as a teenager), so felt a community group to help with connecting with other people, learning new skills and getting some physical activities would help. Following discussions and research with local residents and established the first ‘Friendly Bench’ on Granby Drive, Bottesford in 2019. With its success locally, she decided to set up The Friendly Bench CIC (Community Interest Company) to spread the concept. M P Rachel Reeves took an interest in TFB as the Co-Chair of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, (spreading the word in the House of Commons, creating many enquiries). Each TFB is a community-led outdoor social space, 5m. by 3m. in size with sensory planting where a team of dedicated volunteers actively manage and run regular events to connect people to each other, places and nature. They connect with other organisations e.g. ‘Men’s Sheds’, the local Ramblers, garden groups, Knitter Natter groups, supported by a central team of Lyndsey plus, advising on marketing, promotion troubleshooting. Currently there are 15 TFB’s spread around the UK, Newcastle to Cornwall and spreading with publicity on BBC Radio 4, The One Show, as well as appearing in The Japan Times and New York Times. Lyndsey accepts that her idea has been copied around the world, but takes it as a compliment, as she firmly believes that being copied is a true testament to the value of her original and commendable idea.

She talked about specific case histories that had enjoyed the benefits such as Halesowen, Burbage, Bury and how it had developed as mutigenerational hub for communities.

Various questions and answers followed, mainly focused on the costs, practicalities such as vandalism, maintenance, insurance, grants and activities, with the Vote of Thanks from Allen, thanking Lyndsey for her energy, enthusiastic and informative presentation, with the possibility of seeing TFB’s or TFB Pop-Up versions appearing locally in Bingham, Radcliffe or Cotgrave, to which the members joined him with the usual round of applause                      AR

15th February 2024 The Ukrainian Culture Centre   Michael and Oksana Holod

The Ukrainian Culture Centre in Nottingham is run by the Nottingham Branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB). Both Michael and Oksana’s parents were ‘displaced’ to the UK, following the second World War and they were born as British citizens, but with other first, second and third generation Ukrainians try to keep alive the culture and traditions of their parents. For more than 70 years it has fostered a wide range of activities and groups including a Ukrainian language school, a choir, orchestra, dancing, theatrical and youth groups. Since the war on 24^th February in 2022, Ukrainians living in Nottingham have come together to offer unity, solidarity to support to try and alleviate the suffering of those refugees fleeing the Motherland. They have tried to empower these individuals, by acting locally as a co-ordination and information hub and a primary point of contact for new families. However, the generosity of the British people has been phenomenal and appreciated deeply and sincerely by every Ukrainian.

The success of their efforts has seen their Saturday school quadruple the number of its students, and about 80 people attend free ESOL courses set up with qualified teachers/volunteers to help new families overcome the language barrier.  They have established a series of employment and employability training aiming to equip new arrivals with specific skills required for the UK job market, although many arrivals are highly qualified professionals. They offer ‘drop-in’ sessions where representatives of various organisations attend to provide 1:1 consultation from the:  Home Office; DWP; NHS; school admissions; County and City Councils; Red Cross, Police and Fire services.

Their home is Clawson Lodge in Carrington and is a Grade 2 listed building, which comes with high maintenance costs at about £2k per month and although they have had financial support from the Council, it’s now coming to an end, so fund raising is becoming a high priority.

Various questions and answers followed, mainly focused on the relationships and activities of the centre and the volunteers, with the Vote of Thanks from Rob, thanking Michael and Oksana for their informative presentation (most of us were not aware that there existed a Ukrainian Cultural Centre), to which the members joined him with the usual round of applause                             AR

8th February 2024 Dove Hospice   Martin Quilter

Martin has volunteered for Dove Hospice over the last 9 years, starting as a driver, but now responsible for maintenance, any electrical issues and also becoming a Trustee, since the takeover by LOROS.

Dove Hospice offers palliative care (relief from pain and symptoms) to patients and helping their families cope with the trauma, covering a 10-mile radius. Their nurse and therapist (massage, facials, reflexology, manicure and pedicure, bereavement counselling) try to help patients live as actively as possible, until the inevitable end.          All the attendees have a terminal illness and without residential facilities they can only offer a three-day service, 10 until 3pm, with three buses for transport. They have 34, mostly part-time staff and about 130 volunteers, providing lunches and various activities. Following their £357k extension in 2012 (funded by NHS England) their costs predicted for 2023/4 are £740k with a probable shortfall of £172k. They have three Charity shops in Cotgrave, Bottesford and Asfordby, plus the one above the tea room in Stathern, to help them raise funds, as well as running a 500 club lottery, as well as running a tea room from their Stathern base.

Various questions followed, mainly focused on the relationship with LOROS  followed by the Vote of Thanks from Duncan, who is a volunteer, together with Mary, Gerry S and Peter thanking Martin for his informative presentation, to which the members joined him with the usual round of applause            AR

1st February 2024 The Fishtail Project   Rob Barron

Rob (RC Dronfield/Fishtail Fund Trustee) began by thanking the club for our support of a number of the students right from the inception of the project in 2010. There have been 5 students starting with Bibek at £30 per year ranging to Rajan in 2018 at £500 per year. The project is based in Pokhara and the reason it is called the Fishtail project is that there is a mountain called Machapuchare, famous for its fishtail shaped peak. Nepal is a very poor Country, which although it has a ‘caste system’ (tribal), they don’t fight, because of the poor conditions, but try to support each other. When Nepal comes into conversation, generally there are 4 reasons: Everest, the Gurkhas, Trekking and adventure and finally, the children.  Obviously, Everest at 6 miles high and in high profile since Sir Edmond Hilary conquered it in 1953, but latterly suffers from over use of the basecamp trekking in queues and trekkers paying around £55k to £60k for the experience....and 210 lives lost in 2019!

The Rotary District of D3292 has been operating for the last 56 years, with 114 clubs and 4000 members. The RC Pokhara Club partners with RC Dronfield as the contact for the Fishtail project.  With Binod Koirala as the main link with 7 others proactive in working the secondary schools. Laxi Thapa, a female Rotarian, a successful business woman from humble origins who has started up her own business for clothes manufacturing, is also a major player  The Headteachers at their schools identify suitable children, once nominated are interviewed and their family also gets a presentation, so they understand the commitment required. A typical primary school might have about 30 students, but this can reduce to about 4 at the secondary level due to economic pressures to leave and do jobs to earn the family money. (Carrying trekking bags, sewing clothes and even prostitution.  Fishtail do an Annual Cheque -giving ceremony and have policies to ensure that the sponsors money is safe from corruption: * no connection to Government agencies; * a dedicated Rotary account in Nepal; * interrogation of this account from the UK; All monies go directly to the student or headteacher; * running costs (such as credit transfers) are covered by Gift Aid; * the Fund is operated by volunteers at their own expense.

Following the great Earthquake in 2015, Pokhara RC built a new primary school and the Fishtail project, through the Dronfield RC sponsored the building of a secondary school (raising £5k through their local comprehensive school). This school now having water fountains and toilets. To date 94 students have been through this programme, started and driven by David Lumb of Dronfield R C, who was motivated by a quotation from Nelson Mandela about education being the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world and providing unbelievable opportunities for children from a poor background.

The members joined Gordon in the normal enthusiastic round of appreciation, having explained that we have supported this very worthy project, and better understand now the mechanics of the process and hope it continues to educate the children born into poor circumstances.                  AR

25th January 2024 Mining Memories   Stephen Wright

Steve first got his interest in mining on a school visit and went on to obtain his degree on a five-year apprenticeship, 6 months alternating with college and working in all departments at Gedling colliery. He particularly enjoyed the pit ponies, who worked every day except the two-week pit holiday, when they came above ground. He mentioned the miner’s safety Lamp (Humphrey Davy) that can detect methane gas at 1.25%, with the possible levels of 5 to 15%. He outlined that mining had occurred in medieval times, with Adit and Bell mines on Trowell Moor, owned by the Duke of St. Albans. He moved to Newstead colliery (which was sunk in 1895) after Gedling as Assistant Under Manager, then Under Manager for 3 years. It took 2.5 hours to reach the coalface, making short shifts working the face, and the rock coming out exceeded the coal 15 to 20, but they did achieve a record of 32 000 Tons per week. They also had a visit from Lord Robens when some ladies blocked the main road, diverting him down the back mud roads, which were tarmacked following the visit and bathrooms were installed in their terraced properties. Adjacent was Annesley colliery, who worked a different seam, but all the local pits (Kirkby, Newstead, Annesley, Hucknall, Linby and Bestwood) were all interconnected. Coal face machinery was planned to work 24 hours per day, with the winding engines kept clean and tidy. When Steve started in 1963 there were 40 pits in the East Midlands division and by 1991 non were left! He talked about underground diesel locomotives for transporting men, as well as conveyors also used as man riders. On to tunnelling with the changes from the 1950’s with shot firers and 15 yards per week, through the 70’s with rotating cutting heads(trepanners) to ‘retreat mining’ in the 80’s at 110 yards per week, but shearing the coal, making it smaller). Steve ending his time by closing Cotgrave colliery, which had deteriorated and he ‘pressed the button’ to demolish the Winding house, then filling the shaft with gravel from Hoveringham and concrete plugs, which felt like ‘the end of an era’! The members joined Doug in the normal enthusiastic round of appreciation, having reminisced about his time as an electrician for the NCB at Gedling, mentioning also the 100 ponies there, 200 miles of roadways and the vast quantities of coal mined in the East Midlands.        AR

18th January 2024 Shelter Box Glen and Andy Foreman

Andy explained that the Shelter Box disaster relief Charity was founded in 2000 through Rotary initiatives. During that time, they have provided disaster relief in 98 countries, with 429 000 people receiving aid from hurricanes, earth quakes, floods, conflicts and droughts. They are based in Truro, but have warehouses in 5 continents, so that the contents of the Green Shelter Boxes can be delivered by local Rotarians, quickly to the relevant sites. Europe 6000; Panama 2000; Middle East 6000; The Philippines 8000 and Asia 6000.  They showed us through the contents of the Green Boxes ( which are no longer used, as all the contents required now no longer fit in them): Thermal blankets, cooking pans, mosquito nets, water containers and filters, solar lights, basic and repair tool kits and axes for example.

Currently, they are working in Ukraine (100 000 supplied); Israel/Gaza; Libya floods; Yemen. There are regulations they have to conform to, such as if less than 200 000 people are affected, the country concerned will look after it themselves and they have to get permission to gain access, which can take a long time and is frustrating with the political and bureaucratic issues.

£3m is donated through Rotary each year with the ‘boxes’ costing £600 each; 80% goes directly for the boxes and the other 20% to engineers and administration.  The Rotarian ‘responders’ have to go through a training programme, with only, on average 3 people passing out of a class of 20

 The members joined Barry in the normal round of appreciation, having said that although we have heard Shelter Box presentations previously, it was good to get an update (particularly for or new members) and from a committed and enthusiastic couple.                             AR

11th January 2024 the Women’s Land Army Clare Wilkins

Clare started with a quote from the WLA song:

“To the farms and fields, we must go” So together with the Women’s Timber Core they kept food production and agriculture in order.  From 1939 to 1950 the WLA employed 200 000 women and from 70% imported food originally, they reduced it to 40% by 1943, despite the Nazi’s attempts to prevent supplies to the UK. They were paid 28 shillings for a 48-hour week paid by the farmers, compared with men at 38 shillings.

Lady Gertrude Denman  was chairman of the National Federation of the Women’s Institutes was asked to set up the WLA in 1938. Women came forward, mainly from the ‘working class. Clare based her talk on Joan Bottomore, pictured with her sister, Betty.

Joan was born in Hyson Green in 1921 and she worked in a hosiery factory and her father was a tobacconist. She and her sister wanted to make their contribution to the war effort and selected the Navy, but their office was closed, so as the WLA Office was close by, that’s where they finished. They were designated to a farm about 2.5 miles from Bingham, living with the Farm manager and his wife.  They had to be up at 06.30 every day, starting work at 07.00, looking after calves and various jobs with potatoes, wheat, barley. For relaxation they borrowed bikes and cycled into Bingham, listened to the radio, but went home at the weekend to do laundry. A Hostel was then provided on Tythby Road, consisting of 3 Nissen Huts to home 40 to 50 women.  Things were more sociable then, singing around the piano, or other music, organising whist drives.  They also went out in the village. The Hostel curfew was 10pm.There were about 10 airfields and an army camp around the area. There was a small Italian POW camp at the bottom of the road to Saxondale. Prisoners also worked on the land.  There is a newspaper report that 25 of the women went on strike because of a lack of heating in the Hostel. They got the bus to Nottingham. The situation was resolved. In 1944 Joan says that there was ‘an air of expectancy’. American forces were stationed at Langar from 1943 in the run up to D Day and would have suddenly left as 6^th June 1944 approached. On VE day 8 May 1945 when at a dance at the army camp on Nottingham Rd, the Commanding Officer announced the end of war. Joan says that there was jubilation then ‘work had to continue’. Joan worked till VJ Day in August 1945.

 On 7 December the Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, who was the patron of the WLA, held a party for 250 of the earliest volunteers to the WLA at The Mansion House. In her tribute she said ‘in the Battle for Freedom and through your endurance and your toil, you supplied the needs of the Island and sustained the life of the nation.’

Jane delivered a glowing Vote of Thanks to Clare, saying that the story of Joan was quite intriguing and we have all learnt more about the WLA, but wonder how women of today would cope with a similar situation? The members joined Jane in the normal round of appreciation.      AR

4th January 2024

 As the club’s usual hostelry at Ashmore’s was not available, the club decamped to The Piano restaurant in Radcliffe-on-Trent. The evening was a social event with 23 members attending to enjoy typical Italian fare. The clear favourite main course seemed to be lasagne while in the sweet section Banoffee Cheesecake came a close second the Poached Pear in red wine.

21^st December 2023 Christmas Party

Our final pre-Christmas event, well organised by Gerry S, well attended and the usual excellent standard of food from Mark, Jo and their team, for which they received our special Christmas tip. Twelly gave us an alphabetical Grace, acknowledging the contributions made by all the members. Chris Scholey had prepared an interesting quiz with answers displayed on a different grid for each table, so that the winners were the first to get a line, vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Table 2 produced the winning line, which was followed by an elimination process that resulted in Peter Jordan winning a ‘weekend break for 2’….which turned out to be two KitKats!

Steve C was congratulated for all his hard work organising and working on Santa’s Float operation, producing around £6k so far, with the Blue Diamond Weekend to come, so President David presented him with some Seasonal liquid prizes.

Rob and Adrian performed the Sergeant at Arms process, with a couple of notable outcomes: Maggie, Jane and Sue looking like 3 Minions with their yellow tabards and LED lights, as well as telling us about their exploits when on holiday in Majorca flashing their female chest elegance! Then there was the calamity at Hollygate, Cotgrave, when Santa couldn’t find his beard and had to hide in Keith’s car whilst Adrian was dispatched to Gordon’s to collect a spare Santa beard….who keeps a spare Santa beard?? There was a little girl with her parents about 15 yards in front of Keith’s car who was worried about Santa, “is he feeling poorly or just having a snooze?” Jane and I covered for Santa saying Santa was rather tired after 10 days roaming the streets meeting lots of children, he is getting quite old!

The evening was completed with a few seasonal songs and carols provided by Karaoke King Rob.

A great evening providing that warm glow of expectation for a relaxing Christmas.                             AR

30th November 2023 - SGM and Business Meeting

Prior to the formal meeting a £970 cheque presentation was made to Claire Caborn of Dove Cottage Hospice, for the purchase of Rotunda Transfer Platform. We have supported over many years with drivers, monthly presentations and a furniture painting project postponed until Spring 2024. The Hospice receives only 4% Government Grant towards their annual £700 000 costs, so they need all the support we can give them.  Claire gave a brief update and copies of their Newsletter and looks forward to working with us, as she has only just started in September as Marketing and Fund raising Officer.

The SGM and Business meeting followed.

23th November 2023 Upper Saxondale Ghost walk – Georgia Moore

Georgia started our walk at the top of Saxondale Drive, explaining that this was the old site of Saxondale Mental Hospital, built in 1902, referred to as a “lunatic asylum”. All the stories she was about to tell us are genuine experiences that she would be reading from her Ghost Walk book. It’s now a mix of old and new properties with a number of haunted places. At the original top of Henson Lane (former route to the main entrance) is a building called ‘top Lodge’, which previously housed staff, but is the residence of our first story for Susan. The scene was set by a former resident named Caroline who had seen a table, with a cloth and bread knife on it that was positioned between the dining room and the kitchen, but was not theirs and disappeared, but at a later time the ghost of a girl (thought to be about 13) with long straight hair, appeared through a door. Her daughter, Marianne became interested and wanted to try a Ouija board with her friend Sophie, which they did. But when Susan enquired about the results, Marianne said it was no good as it spelled out: ELLA, but Susan explained that was an old-fashioned girl’s name. When Marianne went upstairs to the bathroom, she was violently pushed over (not tripped!), so Susan decided to ‘talk’ to Ella and warned her not to harm her family.  This seemed to work although a cross stitch pattern disappeared, but mysteriously returned when Susan asked Ella for it back? Where is Ella now?

The Airman’s story- on 4^th October in 1939 at 11.15 an Avis Avro RAF flight from Scampton, crashed in a field on the left when coming up Saxondale Drive. Two airman, Brian Lesley Gordon Harper and Frank Leo McGurk were both killed. Although their graves are in Lincoln a memorial was established planting 5 trees in a crucifix form. At a later date, Chris Lee of the Old Farm House adjacent to the field, when playing as a child reported to his Mum seeing two men suspended in a tree, hanging from parachutes!

Lunatic derives its name from ‘moon’, as it was thought that the people’s insanity related to the different phases of the moon. Such an Asylum was established in Sneinton in 1808, specifically for paupers and a second one was set up in Mapperley as the demand rose, followed by Radcliffe Mental Hospital (Notts War Hospital). A ‘shell shocked’ manic depressive called ‘Private Whirldman ?‘ died in there in 1919, aged 29.

Some of the old hospital buildings have been modernised into homes, but the builders left many of the ‘ward walls’, but when you consider what some of the inmates suffered: padded cells, straight jackets, electric shock treatment, chained up, there must be some tales to be experienced!

Richard’s story- he lived in the ‘Tower House’ and often on the middle floor felt he was not alone and had one experience when seated oh the sofa with his wife, when she said “stop poking me!”, which he wasn’t. Also on one occasion when sleeping in the spare room, he heard a loud bellowing “ Let me go!”, accompanied by chains dragging.

Children’s story – Marianne, Sophie and brother Jack witnessed an apparition of a woman holding a young baby and later the same story was told by Chris Doyle and Joe (from the farm).  How did they know it was a ghost, they said it came out of a ‘whirlwind’

Finally, whilst we stood outside the old church, which had no burial ground (bodies were returned home or sent to Radcliffe) Georgia related a story of David Graham, a local photographer in the 1980’s, who took some photographs outside and inside the church, which when he developed them later, showed a ghost like figure playing the church organ. Doug insisted that I make reference to the fact that whilst Georgia was telling us the children’s story, we did experience increased wind activity (whirlwind!?)

President David thanked Georgia and her friend Joanne, for a very interesting walk and as she emphasised, they are true stories, but the recipients can make up their own minds! We all applauded their efforts on what was a dark, drizzly evening in the cold.

Once back at Ashmores we had the usual excellent meal followed by a Steve C mixed quiz, one musical one with 24 albums and artists to define (obviously set up for Rob, who was the only one who could afford albums in the ‘good old days’!) and the other a general knowledge quiz, but to Steve’s high standards. So Rob’s table won with 46 points and the other two tables languishing below 20, but the prize chocolates were shared as usual.                           AR

Saturday 18th November 2023

On Saturday 18^th November we held a 60’s, 70’s & 80’s evening in the Community Hall of the new Bingham Arena. The event was attended by 180 people who enjoyed the entertainment provided by The Maestros, a four-piece band from West Yorkshire. The band played hits from artists including the Beatles, the Searchers, Human League, Queen, Depeche Mode and many others. People were on the dance floor from the moment the band appeared and many stayed there for the entire evening which created a great atmosphere. In total the evening raised a total of over £2500 which will go to the many local charities that the Vale of Belvoir RC support. From comments we received both during and after the evening it appears that many people would like the event repeated next year. We shall see!   

Thanks again to Jane and Maggie for their organisation with the Raffle ,supporting Rob and  our thanks again for the support of our long term  sponsors Brewster’s Brewery     RG

Thursday Nov 16th 2023  - No Meeting - Committee week

9th November 2023 Foundation Awareness – Tony Beenham

Tony is a member of Church Wilne RC and serves on The District Foundation committee, responsible for awareness and training.  The primary objective for this evening was to provide a basic overview of Rotary Foundation and secondly dispel the fears of poor Foundation management, noting that all the information used is from the district website.

Our Foundation Fund was originally set up in 1917 by Arch Klumph and provides Rotary its core funding to support humanitarian projects at home and abroad. The fund itself is made up of member contributions deposited each year, invested for 3 years, then each year percentage of funds are allocated to the Annual Fund. These funds are then split between Global Grants, District Designated Grants, Disaster Recovery Grants, Global/Peace Scholars, Youth exchange and finally Polio Plus. 

Our Rotary request is “Every Rotarian Every Year” to contribute $100 equivalent to £72 + 25% HMRC relief (Gift Aid), alternatively there is The Sustaining Member Annual Direct Debit (approx. £18/quarter, again utilising Gift Aid).

For more information on District Grants contact Michael Longden (michaellongdon@sky.com). Applications are normally submitted by mid-May, with District Foundation committee reviewing submissions in July/August and distributes the funds in September.  

As a Club, VoB have done quite well with DDF grants for Dictionaries for Life project, Ukrainian project for example.

The Global Fund projects are more stringent with their conditions, cumbersome with lots of hoops/barriers to pass, making them more difficult to access, although apparently any project associated with Africa has a better chance of success.

 How is TRF managed, well for the 15th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, the independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
The Foundation earned the recognition for adhering to sector best practices and executing its mission in a financially efficient way, demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency.

Specialists manage the fund with Rotarian support from end to end, it has the lowest costs of any charity, where every £1 deposited, 9p is deducted towards its operating costs. The Foundation fund’s net assets are approx. $1.3bn, with each day approx. $1m is utilised by humanitarian projects with over $3bn to date providing life changing support around the world

Tony fielded a number of questions about Polio plus, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, how decisions are made on DDF’s, GSE’s

Rob thanked Tony for his presentation, clarifying the current situation with TRF.  It has suffered some disquiet in the past with the lack of transparency and we, as a club, have clearly benefited and he asked the members to join him in a round of applause to thank Tony.                            AR

2nd November 2023 Trains, Trams and Trolley buses – Steve Wright

Before Steve began his presentation Gerry announced that the initiative with the Co-op had produced a donation of about £1300 towards some equipment for the Memory café. Chris B then did grace in Latin, as they used to do at Oxford, dedicating it to his old University friend Joseph Prescott, who had recently passed.

Steve did a mining Engineering Degree at Trent Polytechnic, spending his career with the NCB, rising to a management role, with his interest in trains coming from his parents and grandparents. So, an introduction to public transport followed with lots of illustration and pictures. He informed us that photography was not available when it all started in the mid-19^th century. His suggestion was that it all began in the Sun Inn in Eastwood, in 1832, with the meeting of a number of men who owned mines who wanted a railway to get the coal to market, in Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, rather than the slow canal system in existence.

The first train ran on May 3^rd 1839, carrying 600 people from Derby to Nottingham in 30 minutes, under the banner of “Midland Counties Line”, quickly recognising the attraction of transporting people as well as coal. 1848 saw the new Midland Station, eventually extending the line to Newark and Lincoln. Then 1900 saw the second Midland station, followed by the 3^rd in January 1904. Then the “Great Northern Railway”, operating to London Road station took a line from Grantham.  The Victoria station built in 1898, was en-route for the fast line from Sheffield to London St. Pancras, until the last train emerged on 2^nd September in 1967. It was the 50’s and 60’s that was the “hay day” of the rail industry.

An Earlier development was Horse buses, a progression from stage coaches, followed by The Nottingham and District Tram Company in 1875, when Trent Bridge was the horse drawn Tram terminus. Obviously, for some of the slopes around Nottingham city centre the horses required help, which was provided by extra horses (called cock horses).  They then tried Steam Trams which proved too heavy for the road infrastructure, but 1897 saw Nottingham Corporation take over the operation and by 1903 there were 103 electric trams, going out to Bulwell and Colwick.  1927 saw the introduction of Trolley buses as the last tram operated in 1936, whilst the trolley buses continued to 1966.

Peter thanked Steve for his information packed historical presentation around the development of local public transport. It had reminded Peter of his young experience as a trolley bus conductor up in South Shields, where his rugby club colleagues insisted he didn’t charge them, to his embarrassment and consternation should the Inspector get on. He asked the members to join him in a round of applause to thank Steve.                AR

26th October 2023  Alternative meal

16 members turned up with the 'bring your own' alcoholic beverages to be looked after by the staff at the Yaadgaar restaurant. We were served poppadoms and various tasty pickles, followed by Chicken Balti and Lamb Bhuna, with pilau rice, plain and Peshwari Naan....with the exception of one 'Fish 'n' chip' man!?

A great social evening that we will, no doubt try again.

19^th October 2023 District Governor visit – Richard Vergette

Before Richard began his presentation he presented a certificate to Stan, our Club Foundation Officer, for our contribution to the Rotary Polio campaign. DG Richard then brought us greetings from his own Club, based in the Isle of Axholme (N. Lincolnshire, located between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough). He gave us some background, as most of us had never heard of it. Formerly Marsh or swamp land that was drained in the 17^th century by a Dutch engineer called Cornelius Vermuyden.

He then expressed his thanks to our club for: The memory café; 1^st Responders; Air Ambulance support; Art and Craft Fair. Then commented on the much-used phrase “Rotary has to change”. He went on to describe his own first experience of Rotary back in 1992, invited by his brother. A room with lots of long tables and headed by a raised top table full of dignified men (black tie do), whose length of speeches related to the size of their Chains of Office. Then came the entertainment with a comedian in the style of Bernard Manning with many tasteless racist jokes. So, his view was that Rotary has already changed, “just look at you lot and your attire, ‘scruff bags’”, all said in the best possible taste, with ‘tongue in cheek’!

DGs often tend to “beat Clubs over the head” about membership; Rotary lost 1700 members last year; lost 4000, but gained 3000 new members, emphasising the value of new members. Rotary is still evolving, we might be smaller in numbers, but active people, not RINOs (Rotary in name only)

Just ask yourself the question: Would we be missed if we were NOT here? He gave a few examples of how we would be missed: Val Leivers school in India; Great Green Read – championed by DGE Phil Wilbourn – focussing on Literacy Skills and Environmental issues; Kids against Plastic; White Ribbon; Royal Agricultural BI,

Please be visible, share your good ideas, Rotary is so much more than ‘fund raising’. A recent networking event for the EM Chamber of Commerce was hosted by Chesterfield RC. Hucknall RC did a demonstration of an Aqua Box at a Community Fair which was well received. Our first face to face District Council meeting is fast approaching – and will be held on 25 November at The Newstead Centre and on 10 February we are celebrating Rotary at the EM Conference Centre at the University of Nottingham. We want to be measured by what we achieve and our attempts to create ‘Hope in the World’

President David thanked Richard for his thought provoking and enthusiastic presentation and the kind remarks he had made about our Club and the members joined him in a rousing round of applause.                  AR

12^th October 2023 Vaccination: past, present and future – Shaun Livsey

Shaun explained that he was a retired biomedical scientist, having spent most of his time at Leicester Royal Infirmary, but also having done some VSO work in West Africa and the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. A bacteriologist rather than an immunologist and he would try to cover

• The importance to human society
• Early development
• How it works
• Future developments

Historically, what we died of 100 years ago:

1910: pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, infection related heart disease, diphtheria etc  resulted in 55% of the population dying of infection-related disease.

Whereas in modern times (2010) we suffer from influenza and cancer, but <4% die from such infectious diseases. Although antibiotics and improved living conditions have played a role, this major reduction is down to mass vaccination.

The 1^st vaccination was against smallpox in China in 900 AD, but it was called ‘variolation’ (after the variola virus); scrape the pustules and give the patient the small pox by blowing up their nose, which produces a mild form with 2 to 3% chance of dying compared with 20 to 80% without.

British variolation began in 1742 when the Constantinople’s ambassador’s wife, Lady Mary Montagu copied the process and they returned to Britain and trials were organised in Newgate prison. Edward Jenner in 1796 picked up on the complexion of milkmaids to use cowpox to prevent smallpox, inoculating his 9 yo gardeners’ son and months later exposing him to smallpox several times without problems, so published in 1801 and gradually vaccination took off, saving millions. 300 million deaths from small pox between 1900and 1980; 20%-60% adult fatality and up to 80% in children. Epidemics with high fever, fatigue, rash-extensive spots full of pus with survivors suffering scaring and possible blindness. The last natural case was in 1977 (Somalia)with the last outbreak in Birmingham in 1978, with Global eradication by 1980

Vaccine No 2 was cholera, in 1870 when a serendipitous accident by Louis Pasteur’s research assistant using a 4-week-old culture, developing the concept of a ‘weakened pathogen’, but only used on chickens.

Vaccine No 2 ctd. Anthrax-Bacillus anthracis- vaccine for cows and humans 1881.

Vaccine No 3 Rabies (Pasteur again) he infected rabbits to grow the virus and mixed their spinal cord with formaldehyde to create the vaccine.

Diphtheria anti-toxin 1894; Spanish Flu (no vaccine) 1918 to 1920, 20 to 50 million killed, 1^st vaccine in 1942 (Salk et al); BCG -Tuberculosis vaccination (Bacillus Calmette, Guerin) 1^st used 1921.

Shaun talked about the bugs antigen shapes and use of anti-bodies, white blood cells having memories and the 6 types of vaccines: live attenuated, inactivated, toxoid, sub-unit, recombinant and mRNA and the effect they have had on average life expectancy: in 1841 40 years whilst in 2020 it’s 80 years.

He touched on why some people are against vaccination and some of the modern diseases: Cancer; autoimmune; diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Shaun fielded questions on polio and Covid and Clive provided the Vote of thanks saying what a fascinating talk delivered with injections of humour and a very interesting subject which the members agreed with their normal round of applause.                      AR

On Thursday 5 October,

a dozen Club Members were invited to visit the Aquabox Depot in Cromford, Derbyshire. There, we were welcomed and hosted by our Club friend, Roz Adamson, who had spoken at our Club just recently. 

Roz briefed and escorted us into the depot, where we saw the very labour-intensive process of assembling the filters, before the packing of the Aquaboxes themselves with lots of vital survival equipment. Finally, we visited the storage, and delivery unit, where we had just missed a pick up of 250 Aquaboxes, bound for Syria, the last of 600 varied boxes to have left in the previous fortnight, some £112,000 worth.

Our Club has sponsored well over 100 Aquaboxes over the past 30 years, and we all left well impressed with what a difference our relatively small contribution has made to peoples lifes.

An excellent, and very humbling, visit.

AC

28^th September 2023 Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance – Sean Taylor

Before the meeting began President David read out a letter from Pam Richmond regarding ‘Trevor’s Fund’ having raised £2525 to fund wall art at the Nottingham Hospital.

Sean thanked the Club for its support and explained that he has been a volunteer since the end of March, when he retired from the Fire and Rescue Service for 30 years. He confirmed that LNAA get no government funding, so all the charity support they receive is much appreciated. They now provide 24/7 critical care, until 2am in the morning with Dr’s responding on average once per day.

They started in May 1994 and now have 5 helicopters, the original one a modified x-Police helicopter. The biggest differences in ‘trauma care’, where they like to ‘get them out’ of the accident environment within the platinum 10 minutes and the ‘golden hour’ to the hospital.  Open heart surgery (on one occasion talking to a London consultant by Facetime through the process) and full blood transfusions.  Originally when they ran out of money their service had to stop, so immense improvements.

Their impact in 2022 was:

464                       602                                      569                                                     146

RTC’s         missions in the dark      serious medical emergencies                     blood transfusions

His comment followed ‘trauma clinicians’ are exceptional people giving the professional delivery in fields, homes, inside cars and generally challenging environments. Which comes from his own experience as a Fire and Rescue officer, witnessing and sharing a number of events.  Their Ambi-copter is an Augusta 169 which can travel at 180 mph, 360 access, and giving an ability to get to a site within 20 minutes from their base at Waddington, covering the 3500 square miles. They have two BMW X5’s which carry the same equipment, to cover the darkness hours after 2am. IT costs about £4k per mission, meaning £8 million per annum. Sean fielded the number of questions admirably.

Mary gave the Vote of thanks, suggesting that Sean delivered an interesting and important subject without notes and his perspective as a former Fire and Rescue Officer with first-hand experience, enjoyed by the members who joined her in an enthusiastic round of applause.

President Davis then presented Sean with a cheque for £2360, their share of our Art and Craft Fair in July                               AR

21st September 2023 - Business Meeting

Before the meeting  Nicki and Louise gave a brief update on First Responders and also mentioning how they supported us at the Art and Craft Fair as well as last year's Christmas Float, both of which they thoroughly enjoyed.  Then President David presented them with a cheque for around £2300 for their share of the proceeds from the Art & C Fair.

We then progressed through the various Committee reports, perhaps in too much detail, as Past President Rob pointed out at the end. Committee reports should be taken as read and only matters of additions to budget need to be voted upon, such as the purchase of two new outside banners.            AR

14th September 2023 - Fun Pub Quiz - Gerry Short

Gerry began by re-organising the table distribution to give us 3 tables of 8 Rotarians to tackle this fun event, so our table gained two ladies with Gerry T and Gail joining our 'Top table', but rather than conducting the process like in the good old 'Trevor Quizzes', he gave out a sheet with  30 questions on.  This caused some confusion on most tables as there were probably 3 sheets per table and we never really amalgamated our results, but worked in splinter groups, otherwise we may have finished 2nd instead of 3rd!

The quiz started reasonably well, then we got such questions as "which British city is the UK's Dyslexia Research Trust", which turns out to be READING, which could be construed as being funny. Then "which planet was the first to be discovered by a telescope?" Uranus, need I say more! During World War II what nickname was given to the British women who worked felling trees and in sawmills": Lumber Jills.... and so it went on.

However, the winning Brains Trust table of Adrian. Alan F, Denis,Bill, Chris B, Barry, Gordon and Derek produced a great score of 18 out of 30.  We obviously haven't acquired, as yet, the same sense of humour as our Irishman, but it was a good night of fun, with Steve L congratulating Gerry on his time, effort and delivery of the answers in his vote of thanks, which as usual produced an enthusiastic round of applause.       AR

7th September No Meeting - Committee meetings week

31st August 2023 GP90 RBL Pilgrimage to Ypres, 5 to 9 August 2018– Louise Mote

Louise has been involved in the British Legion since she was 18, she was a bar maid at a pub in Ruddington and her boyfriend was a soldier. Back to GP90, the RBL’s recreation of the 1928 Pilgrimage, a decade after the end of WW1 to mark the centenary of the launch of the ‘100 days Offensive’.  1150 branches and 2200 people made the journey with a Standard bearer (John Pidgeon) and Wreath bearer (Louise’s role) from each branch. Louise raised her funds with a ‘Prosecco Tea Party’, so self-funded when off they set on Bus 911.

The Zonnebeke Museum, Passchendaele, in the centre of Ypres Salient, where one could experience the interactive design and descend into the dugout (underground shelter) and explore the reconstructed British and German trenches, noticeably so close together. Next the Tyne Cot cemetery with 12000 graves, 80% of which are ‘nameless.  There is a wall made of Portland stone with 35000 soldiers engraved identified, but all unnamed. Then Cloth Hall, It was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages, when it served as the main market and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth industry. The original structure, erected mainly in the 13th century and completed 1304, lay in ruins after artillery fire devastated Ypres in WW1. Between 1933 and 1967, the hall was meticulously reconstructed to its prewar condition. Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. 

In Menin Tour Square is a statue to represent the Christmas truce, the moment when British and German troopers stopped fighting for a game of football on Christmas Day, 1914. Blurton-born sculptor Andy Edwards carved a touching statue entitled ‘All Together Now’.. The Ulster Tower, Thiepval (the largest Commonwealth Memorial) commemorates the men of the 36^th Ulster Division and all those from Ulster who served in the WW1, plus 72000 British and S. African soldiers lost in the Battle of the Somme. The Arras Memorial is a WW I memorial in France, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, located in the Faubourg d'Amiens British Cemetery, in the western part of the town of Arras. The memorial commemorates 35,942 soldiers of the forces of the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand, with no known grave, who died in the Arras sector (also recognizing 1000 airman from the Royal Flying Core). The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras in the Pas-de-Calais department of France. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of the German 6^th Army. Louise then showed a short video of the parade led by the Band of the Royal Marines, what a spectacle.

Duncan gave the vote of thanks saying that Louise had given an inspiring presentation that reminded him of the ‘moth shrines’ (members of the tin hat society) for the Rhodesians from his time working in Africa. It was delivered with enthusiasm and some humour, so the members joined him in thanking Louise in the normal manner.                                   AR

24th August 2023 George Parr, International Cricketer from Radcliffe - Marion Caunt

1826 to 1891 George was one of 9 children, 5 boys and 4 girls with his father and brothers playing cricket for the village team at the ground on Wharf Lane. His father was a tenant farmer living in the Manor house adjacent to the Manvers Arms, but earning enough to send the boys to private school. George ousted his elder brother from the village team at 14 years old and featured in many of the matches between Bingham and Radcliffe. He progressed to play for Notts with his brother Samuel, initially at The Forest ground, moving to Trent Bridge in 1838, where after some years an elm tree which he kept hitting the ball at or over, was named after him.

William Clarke was the first captain of the All-England team as well as the Notts Eleven and George and brother Samuel both played for All England with George scoring 29 in his opening match.  He was highly regarded for his batting prowess and became known as “The Lion of the North”, scoring 4 centuries in his career. He became a close friend of John Wisden in the United England team and generally wore a top hat and all white clothing, signifying it as a ‘gentleman’s game’. When William Clarke died, he took on the Secretary and Captain of the All-England XI, mainly playing against County sides; on the occasion of his highest score of 130 a collection of £30 (in a coconut shell) was made for him (equivalent to £3k today)

In 1869 George and Richard Draft played at the Holme Lane ground in Radcliffe for the All England XI against the 22 of Radcliffe, although the match had to be abandoned for the All-England members to travel to Dublin for their next match. Travel in the UK was quite difficult in those times, but in 1859 the England team set of to tour Canada and America (15-day sea crossing), winning all their matches.  This was later followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1863 (a 61-day sea journey).  He suffered some injuries from the game and played his last game in 1871, scoring 38 not out and a bachelor for most of his life, but marrying his housekeeper, Jane Smalley in 1890, dying from influenza one year later.

Alan F gave the vote of thanks saying that Marion had shone a light on someone who had passed him by and suggested from his experience of team sport the 3 important issues were food, drink and travel. He commented that as usual with Marion the subject was meticulously researched and delivered with enthusiasm and some humour, so the members joined him in thanking Marion in the normal manner.                                     AR

17th August 2023 Annual Boules Competition Hosted by Alan Folwell

We were blessed with another fine evening of dry, warm weather to enjoy our Annual competition of Boules. I guess there must have been about 24 present, as we were split into groups for the preliminary round, spread at various locations around the splendid gardens of our host.  Everything seemed well organised by Alan, quite unusual for a Club event, but once allocated to a ‘team’ the rules were interpreted in a relaxed manner, noticeable by the fact that some competitors ensuring that they didn’t qualify for the final by some ‘wild’ throws.

The 6 finalists were then subject to an elimination process, just one throw and the furthest away ‘goes out’. Here is the list in the order they were eliminated: Allen R, Jim, Stuart, Bill and David V., leaving Denis as Champion, apparently for the second year!

This was followed by some Bingham special hot dogs, with additional Rob fried onions plus sauces accompanied by lots of banter and discussions as to the Lionesses chances in the Women’s World Cup final. A great evening of fun and fellowship.                               AR

10th August 2023 Site Visit to Nottingham Castle, Museum & Art Gallery– Tour Guide: Dave Young

Having had Dave’s talk to Club on 27^th July we were looking forward to seeing it on site! 19 members attended on a beautiful sunny day and Dave started by explaining that the Medieval Castle grounds originally covered 10.5 acres (cf. 6 acres on today’s site) this was spread over 3 ‘baileys’ which the levels had been modified over the years. The gatehouse was built by Henry III and the castle walls were twice as high as the current ones, with some deep ditches identified. The river Leen was diverted into the castle grounds. Dave pointed out the statue of Albert Ball VC, DSO & 2 BARS, MC who was a Nottingham born fighter pilot in the First World War. He also mentioned various archaeological digs that had taken place on site, one finding Edward IV’s fireplace under the rubble adjacent to the latrine ditch. He explained that Edward in 1461 was at the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire with 60 000 men fighting all day. Edward won and rode down to Nottingham Castle to declare himself as the 1^st Yorkist King. He spent a lot of his time at the Castle, building some Royal apartments. He appointed his brother Richard as Commander of the Northern Yorkist Army and when he was King, he based himself at the ‘impenetrable castle’, but Henry VII invaded and was heading South, so Richard had to pursue him and did so catching him at Bosworth Fields and losing his life and becoming the last English King to die in battle.

In 1642 King Charles raised his Standard at Nottingham Castle, starting the beginning of the 9 years of Civil War

When Richard Cavendish returned from exile after the Civil War, he gained the title Duke of Newcastle and took a shine to the derelict site of the castle grounds and built the Ducal Palace together with a mason called Samuel Marsh in the Italian Renaissance design. The last grand ball was held here in 1766. During the Reform Act Riots of 1831, the palace was ransacked and set on fire, burning for 3 days and nights.

The Nottingham Corporation took over the place in 1875, commissioning T C Hind to remodel the duke’s derelict palace into an Art Gallery and Museum, opening in 1878. The Art gallery at Nottingham is based on the design of the Louvre in Paris, but obviously on a smaller scale. Dave guided us through the art gallery, pointing out some of the famous local artists and the valuable paintings and Wedgwood pottery they have. He showed us the famous Nottingham Salt Glaze pottery, and Alabaster, fine grained, massive gypsum used for centuries for statuary, carvings and ornaments.

We thanked Dave for the very informative tour we had experienced and our party applauded him in the normal manner.           AR

3^rd August 2023 Site Visit to Veolia MRF – Lesley Taylor

Lesley had “talked rubbish” to the Club back in March 22, so the 10 members who attended this site visit had a repeat of the brief video and a quick reminder of the issues facing this Materials Recovery Facility at Forest Town, handling 85000 tons per annum, using a mixed recycling system. They take the waste from the 7 District and Borough Councils in Nottinghamshire and one of the greatest challenges is contamination (the wrong items or materials being put in household recycling bins, still between 10 and 20%) The ‘Recyclers’ to whom their products are sent have very demanding quality standards (e.g., 0.5% contamination levels for the paper bales)

She talked us through the process again with the aid of a wall schematic, identifying their 4 main ‘products’: Paper and cardboard (Trommel); Steel (Ferrous magnet); Aluminium cans and Aerosols (Eddy current machine) and Plastic (Optical plastic sorter).  So, we donned our PPE of high vis jackets, headphones and receiver (so we could hear Lesley’s commentary in the noisy environment within the MRF) and hard hats. So the tours started moving from the education block to the MRF, with us following Lesley like the ‘Pied Piper’, up the external steps then into the Facility. They have 80 staff who work a 2-shift system from 06.00 to Midnight, some working hard graft manually sorting the materials and others operating 360-degree mechanical handling machines, bale handling trucks etc. It is a big plant, but is well labelled and organised with the impressive statistic that it takes about 10 to 15 minutes for the lorry load of waste brought in to be processed into a bale going out (50% of their output is paper bales). I believe the thing that had the most impact for our members was the quantity of plastic bags, bin liners and ‘soft plastics’ that were creating the contamination previously mentioned, plus the quarter of a million ‘dirty nappies’ they received last year!

Other interesting items mentioned was the Lincolnshire company who were able to shred juice cartons into carpet underlay; The Energy Recovery Facility at Stafford that burns (850oC) about 300000 Tonnes per year delivered to Power stations and even the ash produced used in road aggregate; Overall less than 5% of waste now goes to Landfill.

A number of questions flowed and Lesley handled them all, so Rob gave a brief vote of thanks suggesting that the site visit complemented the talk we had experienced and our party applauded Lesley in the normal manner.     AR

27th July 2023 The Forgotten Castle! – Dave Young

Dave’s interest in Nottingham Castle started at an early stage when taken there as a 4-year-old by his Mum & Dad, but it became more serious over the last 10 years when he has been a volunteer at the Castle. There’s a lot of history involved, but he started with information about the ‘Ducal Palace’, built in 1679 by the Duke of Newcastle, as his city residence. His family seat was at Welbeck and Clumber. But Dave’s real story is about the original Castle built in 1068 and lasting until 1651 when, following the Civil War, the Parliamentarians, now as a Republic, decided on a strategy of destroying a number of the Royal Castles. The Civil War lasting from 1642 to 1651 had the worst ever death toll in relation to population, concluding with the execution of the King Charles I. Oliver Cromwell, as the Parliamentarian’s leader did not want Nottingham Castle to be destroyed, but he was overruled and they continued After Cromwell died his son Richard took over but was unsuccessful and they invited Charles II, who had been exiled in France to return and operate under shared rule, with many of the nobles returning from their exile in support. One of which, The Duke of Newcastle on his return to Welbeck spotted the Castle site and decided to build his Ducal Palace there.

In 1831 a mob broke into the Palace and ransacked it then set fire to it. It burned for 3 days and nights causing the lead roof to cascade down blowing out the windows, leaving it as a total ruin. The duke applied for compensation, but the £21k offered he felt was an insult and said he would leave the building ugly and empty, which he did for 44 years. (Dave compared it to the current situation with the Broadmarsh Centre project!) Architect T C Hind remodelled the Palace and it was opened by the Prince of Wales Edward and his wife Princess Alexandra on 3rd July 1878 as an Art Gallery and Museum, the first outside London.

Back to the history of why the mediaeval castle is the best kept secret in English history, one of the 4 most important Royal Castles: Dover, Tower of London, Windsor and Nottingham, Nottingham was the principal Royal Castle in the Midlands for 500 years, on its 10.5-acre site it was 3.5 times the size of Old Market square, which incidentally is the 3rd largest provincial town square in the UK.

But WHY Nottingham?

1. The River Trent, 1 mile away, was the border between the North and South in those days, making it a Border Castle, (the Trent is the 3rd longest river in the UK after the Severn and the Thames, also unique in that I flows S to N.

2. Trent Bridge (originally built in 920) carried the principal N/S route from London to the North.

3. In the middle of England, it was perfectly placed for any campaigns against Scotland and Wales, as well as close to London.

4. Built on a 130ft high rock it proved impenetrable, it was never taken by storm in its life.

5. The favourite Royal Hunting ground of Sherwood Forest (covering 1/5th of the area of Nottinghamshire) was literally at the back door of the castle. Nottingham was a mighty military stronghold, the Monarchs kept their Armoury there, they made it a Royal Palace.

Dave then moved on to the monarchs, starting with William I (The Conqueror, originally known as William the Bastard) and there was reference to King Harold (slaughtered by 4 Norman knights, not an arrow in the eye as suggested by the Bayeux Tapestry, at the battle of Hastings. There was a ‘succession crisis’ when Edward the confessor died and Harold was quick off the mark and got himself crowned at the brand-new Westminster Abbey (just one year after being completed). Even the King of Norway was going to put his hat in the ring, until Harold defeated him in Yorkshire. In the 20 years following the conquest the Normans built about 500 castles (90 of which remain today). They forced the people of Nottingham to build the Castle, and William proceeded with a scorched earth policy and genocide in Northumbria. It’s thought that 75% of the population died up there. Moving forward 86 years, Henry II (1154 to 1189) rebuilt the wooden built castle in stone. Henry doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves in history, being flanked between the more memorable battle of Hastings and the Magna Carta.

Henry’s son, King Richard I, the Lionheart (who introduced the 3 lions on his shield representing England, Normandy and Aquitaine), after his activity in the Crusades returned to find his brother John had declared himself as King with his supporters having taken over Nottingham Castle. He besieged the castle I 1194, placing his very large catapult outside the castle capable of hurling 350lb of stone up to 350 yards. John’s men ran for their lives when they realised that it was King Richard himself outside the Castle. At this time John was away in France. When Richard died in 1199 John became king until 1216. In the year 1212 he was holding hostage 28 sons of Welsh Barons and following a threat by Llewellyn, he hung every one of them from the castle ramparts. He died October 1216 following a binge out on peaches and cider! (Dave referred to a similar reported incident with another king, Elvis Presley!) He was forced by the Barons to sign the Magna Carta the previous year.

Moving on again to Edward III, the son of Edward II & Isabella of France, he carried out a coup at Nottingham Castle, overthrowing Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. Isabella claimed that the young Edward was too young to take the role of King, so she took over as regent. Mortimer assumed the role of de facto king! When Young Edward reached 18 years old Edward III, with the help of his friend William Montague, carried out a daring raid on the Castle and captured Mortimer, dragged him down a tunnel, known today as Mortimer’s Hole, before taking him to London for execution. Edward III reigned for 50 years and never forgot his friends at Nottingham castle frequently returning to it right throughout his reign.

Then followed Queen Joan of Navarre (Henry IV’s wife), Edward IV, Richard III (Battle of Bosworth Field), Henry VIII (stayed at Nottingham Castle in 1511 and reinforced it in 1536 following an uprising against him), and finally Charles I who chose Nottingham as the Royal Castle to raise his standard and announce the commencement of the English Civil War.

Dave had more to tell us, but President David had to close things down, due to time constraints at the premises.

Doug gave the Vote of thanks for this very interesting and informative presentation, congratulating Dave on the lost history and Royal facts about Nottingham Castle, which he delivered with clear enthusiasm and humour. However, Doug suggested the real reason this important Royal Castle was sited in Nottingham was more to do with the Troglodyte community living in the caves which had the perfect ambient temperature of 10 degrees for brewing beer! As usual we had enjoyed the presentation and the members and numerous guests joined him in an enthusiastic round of applause.             AR

20^th July 2023 Costa Rica Animal and Wildlife Conservation – Amber and Phoebe

Unfortunately, Phoebe was unable to attend, so Amber made a PowerPoint presentation alone, following their trip on 23 May earlier this year for which we had made a contribution to their fund raising. They flew to San Jose and had a long coach journey to their destination at Reserva Playa Tortuga, near Ojochal in the Puntarenas Province in the N E. This non-profit biodiversity Research institute was founded in 2009.

Their voluntary work involved watering plants, a night walk, putting cameras in the rain forest, observing Capuchin and Howler monkeys, working in a turtle hatchery, beach cleaning; the work is crucial in providing food, shelter and water for the wildlife. Unfortunately, the eating of turtle eggs is viewed as giving “good luck” by the locals, impacting on the turtle population and CR has 50% of the biodiversity of the earth.

The experience, as both have GCSE Spanish opened their eyes to new cultures and making friends locally and with other volunteer students from America and Germany. To complete their Duke of Edinburgh Award they have to complete a four-night camping and five-day walking exercise in the Lake District later this year.

Doug gave the Vote of thanks for this very interesting and informative presentation, congratulating Amber on the standard and the fact that she is only 17 years old. It proves what a great award the DoE scheme is and considering the Global Warming/Climate change situation he could not imagine a more appropriate volunteer activity. He commented that Amber’s ambition was to become a doctor and he foresees no problem in her achieving that from this evening’s performance. As usual we had enjoyed the presentation and the members joined him in an enthusiastic round of applause.             AR

13^th July 2023 Retired Military Dogs – Pam Farquhar

Pam explained that her background was as a nurse, both with the NHS and the Army, but what brought her to this interest was when her daughter became an ‘explosion dog handler’ who used 30 ft. of rope whilst her dog searched for IED’s, so naturally Pam gained a great respect for such dogs. She’s not the only one, General David Petraeus is quoted: “by all means of performance” military working dogs outperform” any asset we have in our industry”. The capability they bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine.

She then went through a range of pictures of various dogs, including Rin Tin Tin and mentioning that there is a statue of a military dog in the White House. Judy, a pointer, that was awarded the Dickin Medal and became the first dog to be taken as a ‘prisoner of war’ when their boat HMS Nas was captured. Another RAF ‘search dog’ that saved thousands of lives, then Trio, a Dickin medal winner for the work on ‘Daisy Chain explosives’, Australian Cattle dogs were used for sending messages, they had 2 handlers and the dogs were kept hungry so that they would go to the second handler to get fed and delivered the message.  Medical dogs, trained to find fallen soldiers and having to wear gas masks.

Inevitably, there are some countries (Russia) who trained dogs to feed under tanks, fitted with a GPS device, so that they could blow up the German tanks, with the dog underneath them! Americans saw the value of dogs in the Vietnam war, where the temperature/humidity conditions meant that the men couldn’t cope and dogs smell ability with 50 million olfactory receptors, 1000-fold higher than humans. Unfortunately, at the end of the war they left 4000 dogs in Vietnam.

There is the Royal Army Veterinary Corps centre in Melton Mowbray who have Open days where you can find out about how they train the dogs for different specialisms. She posed the question about what we thought it would cost to train such dogs and our answers were way out of the actual cost of £60k (10 years ago).  Her daughter Alex did a number of tours in Afghanistan with her Malinois ‘high assurance dog’ HiHa, and she showed us the bootees they had to wear to protect their sensitive paws from the rough terrain, as well as the muzzle required for the helicopter lifts they needed to get to the forward bases, plus the googles (called DOGGLES) to keep out the dust. Naturally the dogs and handlers are a specific target for the enemy, recognising the invaluable contribution they make in identifying IED’s and other strategic information, so it’s a very dangerous occupation. However, one amusing tale from Alex’s Army experience was when she was asked for an audience with the Queen following the Manchester Bombing involvement, she didn’t take HiHa and the dog she took actually passed wind in front of the Queen!

Pam has taken on 5 retired dogs over time, as they tend to retire about 8 years old and it’s her way of giving back, via the RBL to military dogs who saved her daughter’s life.

Gerry S gave the Vote of thanks knowing nothing about the range of specialised training these dogs go through and what an interesting and informative presentation we had enjoyed and the members joined him in an enthusiastic round of applause.                                          AR

6^th July 2023 THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS - Denis Bacon

The countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia make up the countries of the southern Caucasus and lie between the northern and southern Caucasus mountains.   Based on an article on the 1915 Armenian genocide Denis decided to visit the country to see how it had developed. 

Many Armenians lived in nearby Turkey (then the Ottoman Empire) and by the mid 1900’s were leaders in many activities (banking, commerce, architecture, art, industry, sport) and were despised by the local population who treated the Armenians much as the Germans were to treat Jews prior and during WW2.

Turkey entered WW1 on the side of Germany and Armenia joined Russia and the allies. The fear in Turkey was that should the allies win the war Armenia might seize Turkey and would enforce Christianity upon the Muslim state.   The group called the ‘Young Turks’ decided to remove all Armenians from their country, resulting in 1.5 million Armenians being killed, many forced to walk into the Syrian desert to die.

The Caucasus is made up of a myriad of ancient tribes which has caused many issues in areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia (areas of Georgia) and Nagorno Karabakh (an area within Azerbaijan but 98% Armenian) who have sought independence.   Russia is the controlling influence in the area and when they are side-tracked by internal issues (fall of the Romanovs in 1917, breakup of USSR in 1988, COVID and Ukraine war which has caused large peacekeeping forces to be removed to the frontline) these breakaway areas see an opportunity to promote their position. Several wars have resulted at these times with the loss of many tens of thousands of lives being lost and little progress in resolving the underlying problems.

This was followed by a review of the countries flags and alphabets, views of the old and new elements of the capital cities, Baku (Azerbaijan), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Yerevan (Armenia), a comparison of Zoroastrians pagan ideals with those of Rotary today, the strong desire in Armenia and Georgia to restore and maintain their churches and monasteries, often deep in the countryside where they were unlikely to be found and destroyed by raiding armies over the centuries.  Finally covered the story of St Hripsime and St Greogory the Illuminator whose interlocking stories were strangely fundamental in Georgia becoming the 1^st Christian state in 301/12 AD.   Georgia followed in 323 AD.

I am told, from a reliable source, that this talk took the vote over a ‘social evening’!  What a blessing and what a cracking talk, very sorry I missed it! Mike W gave the Vote of thanks congratulating Denis on a well prepared item of history/ geography that Mike knew nothing about and the members joined him in an enthusiastic round of applause.                                             DB/AR