4^th July 2009 - International BBQ

On 4 July, American Independence Day, the Club International Committee hosted a 'Stars and Stripes' BBQ at the home of Peter and Gareth. Members and friends, many dressed up to celebrate the theme of the evening, enjoyed a fun night and a superb fillet steak BBQ. Whilst enjoying themselves, several hundred pounds was raised for International funds.

17^th August 2009 - Visit to Thorp Perrow Arboretum

The Club enjoyed a guided tour around Thorp Perrow Arboretum followed by a meal at The Castle Arms, Snape.

Our guide for the visit was Sir John Ropner who spent some time telling us about the history of the Arboretum before walking us round and pointing out some of the rarer specimens.

We were pleased to welcome Rotarian Robert Blenkiron and his wife Rosemary on the evening. Robert is a member of the Rotary Club of Barossa Valley in South Australia who was staying locally with relatives.

Pictured is Rtn Robert Blenkiron presenting a banner from the Rotary Club of Barossa Valley to Club President Anne Miller.

22^nd September 2009 - Club Members Visit to South Africa

On Tuesday 22 September 2009 four members of the Club, President Anne with Alan Miller and Anne and Geoff Wall were in South Africa when they visited the Rotary Club of Knysna. They were made very welcome and found the business meeting very interesting. Pictured above is President Anne with Knysna President Ian Ballantyre.

28^th September 2009 - RYLA Presentation Evening

Our meeting was dedicated to presentations from the four students, sponsored by both Northallerton Rotary Clubs, who undertook Rotary Youth Leadership courses during 2009. They shared their experiences of the courses, and talked about the benefits they had gained.

Pictured above are three of the students with President Anne Miller (L to R Will Boersma, Hannah Jacques, President Anne and Jack Gudger)

17^th October 2009 - Charter Dinner

The Club held it's 15th Charter Dinner at The Lodge at Leeming. 53 Rotarians and guests attended and nine clubs were represented. A raffle was held raising £174 to go towards a Shelter Box for Sumatra following the recent earthquake and floods.

Pictured above with President Anne are District Governor Elect Roger Percival and Guest Speaker Carl Les.

17^th October 2009 - Friendship Plaque on the Move

Whilst visiting Knysna Rotary Club in South Africa in September, President Anne was presented with a Friendship Plaque. The aim is to hand this on to a Rotarian visiting from another country.

At the Charter Dinner on 17th October we were delighted to welcome guests from the Rotary Club of Dalbeattie in Scotland. President Anne handed the plaque together with a Northallerton Mowbray Club Banner to Rotarian Alfred Thorp who was present with his wife Edith. News was sent to the Knysna Club that the Friendship plaque travels on. Pictured above is President Anne and Alfred exchanging banners.

30^th October 2009 - Bras in support of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance

A District 1040 project during 2009/10 was to collect second-hand Bras which are then sold in Africa and raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Pictured above is Club President, Anne Miller handing over the last of over 1500 bras collected locally, to Rotarian Chris Bown who co-ordinaed the District's efforts. President Anne said "A big thank you to all who have donated bras to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, a most worthwhile cause. We have received almost half our total from the Friarage Hospital with the remainder from businesses, groups and individuals. Thank you all."

23^rd November 2009 - Visit by Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar

The Club was privileged to have a visit from Mrs Kalavathy Sothilingam (Kala) from Sri Lanka. She gave a moving account of her personal story of the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami hitting her house and the effects on her life, family and environment.

Following the Tsunami, the Club was involved in fundraising and, thanks to the generosity of the public in Northallerton was able to send help quickly. Also to help regeneration, the Rotary District has funded, built and equipped a school in Sri Lanka and Kala was able to give an up-to-date account of it's progress and pass on messages of thanks from staff and pupils.

Education in Sri Lanka, especially a good knowledge of English, is key for people to be able to better themselves. Kala, an English teacher, was in Yorkshire as a Rotary Cultural Ambassadorial Scholar to improve her knowledge and understanding of the language, and to improve her teaching skills. She will then be able to use these skills in Sri Lanka and at the school sponsored by the Rotary Yorkshire District. She was home-hosted by Club Members for a week, and spent time at two local schools, Northallerton College and Broomfield Primary.

Kala is pictured with President Anne Miller, Host families Anne and Geoff Wall and Alison and Basil Bosomworth, School Project member Carole Ford and District Officer Peter Lloyd who co-ordinated the visit.

16^th December 2009 - Rotary Young Chef - Club Round

The Club was pleased to be involved again in this national Rotary initiative. Once again, the Club round of the 2009/10 Rotary Young Chef competition was held at the Allertonshire School, Northallerton.

Seven pupils had previously held a 'cook-off' to compete in the Club round and the three contestants who came forward to demonstrate their skills at the main competition were Fay Donaldson, Kayleigh Nelson and Kieran McDonnell.

The contestants had to prepare, cook and serve a 2-course healthy meal for 2 people as economically as possible with a budget of £7. After a superb competition meals were presented to the judges, Malcolm Warne, Editor and Food Critic for the Darlington and Stockton Times assisted by Jason Curia, last year's winner who went on to compete in the National final.

With a meal of Fresh Salmon topped with breadcrumbs and a hint of lemon served with new potatoes, sugar snap peas and carrot batons, followed by Fatless sponge with whole raspberries and a raspberry puree served with low-fat cream, Fay Donaldson was declared the winner and went on to the next round for Clubs in North Group, held in Harrogate during January.

Pictured are Fay flanked by Kayleigh and Kieran on the front row, and behind L to R Club President Anne Miller, Malcolm Warne and Jason Curia.

December 2009 - Santa Sleigh

Santa Clause joined forces with Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club to tour streets and visit two supermarkets in Northallerton bringing Christmas cheer. Children young and old were delighted to see Santa who had sweets for the children. Monies raised are put to the Club's Childrens Charitable works. Club President Anne Miller said "We are grateful to Santa for finding the time to help us at what is a very busy time of year for him. It is lovely to see the joy on childrens faces and monies raised will be put to good use".

1^st January 2010 - Joanne and Kevin's Wedding

On New Year's Day member Joanne Barker tied the knot, getting married to Kevin Grainger at St. Andrews Church, South Otterington. The reception was held at Solberge Hall and a number of Members were able to join the happy couple in their celebrations.

16^th January 2010 - North Group round of Young Chef

The North Group round of Rotary Young Chef took place at Harrogate. After a close run competition Fay Donaldson, who was sponsored by our Club after winning our qualifying round, was a close second to a young chef sponsored by the Harrogate Brigantes Club.

Although disappointed at not going through to the next round at Betty's Cookery School, Fay enjoyed her experience.

Pictured above are front row L to R the winner Taryn Agar from Harrogate, Fay Donaldson and Harry Brownlie from Thirsk; back row L to R are the judges, John Fox and Bruce Gray.

26^th February 2010 - Thanks for Life

Rotary as Thanks for Life week was a national initiative with the aim of rasiing monies as a push to finally eradicate Polio from the world. In Northallerton the Club joined with the Northallerton Rotary Club to hold collections at Supermarkets, and make presentations in schools.

Thanks for Life funds were greatly helped by Broomfield School who held a 'purple pinkie non-uniform day'. Purple pinkie refers to the immunisation programme where children receiving the vaccine have their little finger nail painted purple to show they have received a polio vaccine.

Children attending and wearing anything purple made a donation to the fund and a magnificent £246 was collected. Club President Anne Miller was touched when she explained that every 20 pence donated provided another vaccine dose and one pupil came to her and said she had donated 50 pence earlier but gave another 10p to know she had helped save three childrens lives.

Pictured above are Club members Anne Miller and Carole Ford together with Headteacher Sue Gill and two pupils.

26^th April 2010 - Ainderby Walk

Our Club meeting was a natural history walk around Ainderby Steeple guided by local birder Nick Morgan. Following the walk we were treated to supper by member John Brickwood and his wife Judith. Pictured above is the group at the start of the walk.

13^th June 2010 - Himalayan Garden Visit

Members of the Club, together with partners and friends, visited the Himalayan Garden, at Grewelthorpe on it's last open day of the 2010 season. Whilst some of the plants were past their best, members enjoyed the walk in the garden and the display of sculptures around the grounds. Pictured is the group before entering the Garden.

20^th June 2010 - Rotary at the North Yorkshire County Show

A chance mention of the Rotary Shelter boxes when Club member Della Cannings was the After Dinner Speaker at the North Yorkshire County Show Annual Dinner led to a collection on the night and the Committee matching the funds raised to purchase a new Rotary Shelter box. Over 10,000 of these boxes have recently been sent following the disaster in Haiti, and urgently needed replacing. The Show Committee then kindly allowed the Rotary Club to display a box and its content, including a tent, cooking pots, trenching tool and many other items at the Show. A box to fill, store and then transport to a disaster area costs £490. Pictured above at the Show is Club President Elect Basil Bosomworth together with members Pat Martin and Joanne Barker. They explained the Shelter to interested people and a 'bucket collection' raised over £100.

26^th June 2010 - Town Hall Coffee Morning

Members embarked on a new venture to raise funds for Rotary Charities by holding a Coffee Morning at Northallerton Town Hall. 20 members helped running stalls for second-hand books, bric-a-brac, tombola, home-made cakes and of course tea/coffee with biscuits. Whilst it was hard work, the effort was rewarding with several hundred pounds being raised for charity. Pictured above is the event in full swing.

28^th June 2010 - Charity Golf Day

On 28th June Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club held it's annual Charity Golf Day at Bedale Golf Club. With 21 teams contributing, main sponsorship from Batchelors of Ripon, others sponsors and, of course the support from Bedale Golf Club, the day was a huge success with £2,000 being raised for Rotary charities.

The overall winners were a team from Knaresborough Golf Club. Second place went to a team from Dinsdale Spa Golf Club and third place to a team from Bedale Golf Club. Concluding the day, Anne Miller, President of Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club thanked all involved including Ged Wilkinson, Captain of Bedale Golf Club, Dave Brown the administrator, Kevin Hardisty Club co-ordinator, the sponsors especially Batchelors of Ripon, the caterers, members and everyone who helped make the day a success. Pictured above are Club President Anne Miller and Golf Club Captain Ged Wilkinson with the winning team.