News Archives 2022-3rd Quarter

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Borderland Rotary host Macmillan Coffee Morning at Oswestry Market

Borderland Rotary hosted Macmillan Cancer Coffee Mornings at Oswestry Street market on Friday and were not blown away by the weather but by the fantastic response of the people of Oswestry. As usual the delicious coffee was provided by Lynda Jones from Llynclys Farm in her little van and the magnificent range of cakes by Sean Evans from Sweeney Hall Hotel while Harry Richardson set up the stand and coordinated the event for Borderland. Harry said, “It all started very well and it was quite sunny but funnily enough, as the weather got worse, the takings went up and I was really impressed by the generosity of all the people that stopped for a chat as the rain poured down. We’ve been doing the coffee morning for some years now, apart from Covid of course, but we’ve never taken so much money and I’m so grateful to everyone that gave so freely in these difficult times and I’d like to thank Lynda and Sean for making it possible.”

Sean, from the Sweeney Hotel said, “I always look forward to doing this event as it’s a chance for me to give something back and get out and meet everyone and I’m obviously thrilled to see that people seem to enjoy the cakes we make at the hotel, long may it continue.”

Harry continued, “Having added the money up, we took just over £650 and I think that total was well worth getting wet for.”

Borderland at the rescue for Oswestry Area Refugee Hub

Lucy McKinney and Mike Isherwood, who both volunteer at Oswestry Area Refugee Hub, popped into a Borderland Rotary meeting to thank them for their timely donation of £1,000 which will help with the cost of the resettlement programme for our friends from Ukraine. The Hub was set to deal with Ukrainian people fleeing because of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of their country at the beginning of this year and its aim is to guide both refugees and hosts to all services that are available. These may include access to medical services, schools, language courses, the benefits system etc. Mike said, “We are so grateful for this donation and somewhat relieved as our funds were getting very low and although the public have been incredibly generous in both word and deed, we do need hard cash now and again”. 

Borderland Rotary try to support local charities and causes and raise the funds to do this by holding events throughout the year, the main ones being, the Bonfire Display in Brogyntyn Park on 5th November, the Christmas Parade on 3rd December, the Borderland Mountain Bike Challenge on 6th May 2023 and not forgetting MacMillan Coffee Morning this Friday 30th in Bailey Street market.

Mike continued, “It’s great that Borderland have chosen to direct these funds to the local community as it will help our volunteers no end and, talking of volunteers, we are always looking for more people to help us so, please get in touch if you can spare some time”.

If you’d like to volunteer, please contact Mike on mikeisherwood77@outlook.com

Ben Wilson from Osnosh at Borderland Rotary

Ben Wilson gave an impassioned talk to Borderland Rotary and explained exactly what Osnosh is all about. Ben set up Osnosh with his brother Tom in 2018 as a Community Interest Company to address the dual problems of increasing hunger and increasing food waste from supermarkets but it has become much more than just a community kitchen for, as well as making very tasty meals from supermarket food that would otherwise go to waste, it is a community hub, a kitchen garden, a meals-on-wheels service, a training resource and a centre for food sustainability. 

Ben said, “The country is now experiencing some really hard times and it looks as if it’s only going to get worse but there are many people around us who live with hardship on a daily basis and have done for years and years. We can do our bit by cooking meals on Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes at The Centre in Oak Street, Oswestry and putting together grocery packs for people to help themselves to but, we must also try to influence the way that people think about food, try to lessen the waste in everyday society”.  Funding for Osnosh comes from many sources, the council, the lottery and from charitable groups as well as from donations from those who can afford to donate when they visit. 

Ben continued, “We are continually applying for new and sustainable sources of funding and also looking for volunteers of all kinds to help prepare, and serve up to 70 meals at a service, so please come along and try our ever-changing menu.” 

Osnosh is based at The Centre, Oak Street, Oswestry SY11 1LW and serves meals on Wednesday and Friday from 10.30am to 2.30pm www.osnosh.co.uk

Ben Wilson

Love Oswestry visit Borderland Rotary

Samantha Jones, Project Officer of the High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ), who is working to enhance Oswestry town centre on behalf of Shropshire Council, joined Borderland the other day to update them the on the progress of the many projects which she oversees. Samantha talkLoveed about the general aims, projects and funding sources of the scheme and gave a very illuminating case study of one of the developments on Church Street which is near completion. She said, “The HSHAZ and Love Oswestry is a positive endeavour in an apparently negative world which was set up a couple of years ago to accentuate the good things about the town and improve some of the not so good. Take the alleyways, for instance, they have been left to their own devices for many years, but now, with the help and funding from Historic England, Shropshire Council, and the Town Council, they are being improved as we speak. We are also planning to hold another Love Oswestry event on the 18th February 2023 after the success of the first one, earlier this year, which brought together many groups and charitable organisations for lots of activities throughout the day and culminated in the lantern-lit parade from Red Square to the Bailey Head. I’d like to thank the Borderland members that helped on that rainy weekend”. 

Andy Boroughs from Borderland commented, “I had no idea that the HSHAZ and Love Oswestry are so active, and I’m really impressed by the concept and the infectious enthusiasm of Samantha. I will now view the town centre in a different light and look forward to volunteering on future projects”.

If you’d like to volunteer with Borderland Rotary, contact www.borderlandrotary.org

Outside improved premises - Smantha Jones and Borderland President

Continuity with new member at Borderland Rotary Club

Borderland Rotary welcomes a new member whilst saying farewell to his father-in -law.

It was a very moving evening at Borderland Rotary as they welcomed Harry Williamson (Sometimes know as Ian) to the club and accepted the resignation of his father-in-law Ronan O’Brien who has been an active Rotarian for the past fifty-six years, firstly in Bromley, Kent and for the last 30 years at Borderland.  Ronan, now ninety-six, made a short speech thanking everyone for their fellowship through the years and said, “I have loved my many years in Rotary but as I leave, I am so very pleased to hand on the baton to my son-in-law Harry, who I’m sure will give and receive the great gifts of service in the community and friendship in the club. Good luck to you all.” 

Ronan still holds the record for the oldest person to have abseiled from the Oswestry Fire Station tower, when he was a mere eighty-four, at a Borderland charity event.

After a short induction ceremony Harry said, “As a very busy vet, I resisted joining Rotary even though I was often cajoled by Ronan but, now that I’ve spent a little time in the club, I think I’m going to enjoy it, I feel at home here already and I must thank Ronan for introducing me and I only hope I can live up to his great example.”

Borderland Rotary welcome Lyneal Trust Chairman

Borderland Rotary entertained the Chairman of Lyneal Trust, Chris Symes the other day where he gave a very engaging talk about this canal-based charity which has been on the water since 1985 and helped over 20,000 people with special needs, enjoy holidays and trips on their narrowboats.

Chris explained that the charity, based between Ellesmere and Whitchurch on the Llangollen Canal, has two boats geared for weekly hire and one for day hire, all were purpose built to cater for people with special needs, disabled or wheelchair bound. The guests board the boats via a ramp and onto a lift which safely lowers, even larger wheel chairs, onto the cabin deck where everything is at hand. More recently, the trust developed the 19th century Wharf Cottage into accessible holiday accommodation so that even more people can enjoy the wonderful Shropshire countryside.

Chris said, “All the narrowboat crewing, the meet and greet and the general running of the trust is done by volunteers, like myself with only specialist tasks, for example, boat maintenance being done by specialist contractors. I’ve loved my time with the trust and am so pleased that Borderland Rotary is now supporting us.” 

If you’d like more info about the work of Borderland Rotary go to www.borderlandrotary.org

Borderland Shredding event a great success

Borderland Rotary teamed up with Evastore Document Handling to hold at shredding event at Morrisons car park and despite it being the first wet day for some time it was very well attended and lots of money was raised for Holy Trinity Primary School in Oswestry. The big Evastore shedding truck had a busy day scrunching through about a quarter of a ton of paperwork and documents that the public brought to be shredded. Of course, that’s not the end of the story for the paper, when it’s been shredded it is then sent to paper mills where it is made into other paper products – a really good example of practical recycling with no waist and nothing going to landfill.

 Vicky Bradbeer from Evastore said, “We really like doing events with Borderland Rotary, it gives us a chance to meet lots of people and help with community projects and, even in the rain, it was a great day’s work. Thank you to Morrisons for letting us use their car park, and for the coffee, and to Justin and the Borderland team for setting it up.”

Busy week for Borderland Rotary

Borderland Rotary handed over the club presidency from Cathy Osselton to Chris Bryan-Smith at a meeting at the Sweeney Hall Hotel the other night with Cathy thanking the club members for all their support and help as the club, like the country, slowly emerged from the pandemic. She said, “I took over when the direction of Covid was far from clear and many of us wondered if we could ever get back on track, but we did and managed to successfully hold all our major events, Fireworks, Christmas Parade and Mountain Bike Challenge, for the first time in two years.” 

Chris, has been a Rotarian for the past seven years and said he was grateful to Brian Ashton, the previous president, and Cathy Osselton, the outgoing president, for navigating the club through the last two stormy years and hoped that he would continue with their work in calmer conditions. He said, “Lots of Rotary Clubs have really struggled during the pandemic but Borderland is holding steady and I hope that our continued actions and activities will attract others to join us and help with our work in the community.”

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Meanwhile, at another venue Paul Crosby, a long-time Borderland Rotary member, and the man credited with introducing RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) to this country and running it for twenty years, was being awarded the Paul Harris Sapphire medal by the District Governor, Nick Gidney. The Paul Harris Fellowship medal is presented to Rotarians who have made an outstanding contribution to the community with the Paul Harris Sapphire going to those who have already received the PHF but continued to go above and beyond the call of duty.

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The first pleasant task for the new president, Chris Bryan-Smith, was to join Justin Soper (Borderland Rotary Environment) at Oswestry Guildhall to witness Oswestry Town Mayor, Cllr Jay Moore signing a pledge to support Operation Pollination which is a Rotary International project that highlights the need to increase biodiversity across the globe to enhance pollinator habitats. It is a fact that 25% of our food relies on natural pollinators, without them the world will be in serious eco-trouble. Currently, in the UK we have already lost 60% of our pollinators because of modern agricultural methods and within urban environments the struggle to find habitats is just as acute due to decked and paved private gardens and limited community green spaces. Cllr Jay Moore said, “Look out for lots more jolly wild flowers across the town – we must all do our little bit for the environment.”