2023-24 Highlights

This page gives some details about what the Club did in the Rotary year that started on 1st July 2023

A Walk for Water - 30th June 2024

The Club is raising funds towards a project in Pune in India, to carry out work on a number of water boreholes to "recharge" these so they flow succesfully again and mean that women and children do not have to walk significant distances top get clean water each day.  As part of that initiative a number of our members undertook a 10 km sponsored walk from Northallerton. Money is still coming in - so we will update on the project in our 2024-25 page.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

Our photo shows the team at the end of their walk.

Annual Photo Competition - 24th June 2024 

Our tradition for the last meeting of the Rotary year is to hold a Photo Competition where those present can vote for their favourite shot in each of three categories, and also for the overall winner on the night.  All the details including the winners and runners up in each category are on the webpage for the 2024 competition.   Our winner of the category "Transport" and the overall winner for the night was Alan Miller with his photo "The Spark Plugs just Need a Clean".

The theme of this year's Festival was "Flowing Together for Clean Water", so we decided to set up our gazebo to showcase Aquabox, a charity we have supported this year. We had an Aquafilter set up and our intrepid member Carole, who had arranged the loan of the Aquabox for the day, was prepared to try the result from passing some very murky water indeed through the filter.  "It's quite nice really" was the verdict and it was good to see this piece of kit in action.

The day itself was very enjoyable. Great crowds were there to support the event in lovely weather. 

Bedale High School Interact Club - Sponsored Run - 21st June 2024

Earlier in the year the Club was proud to have been involved in the setting up of our first Interact Club based at Bedale High School.  This follows a number of years of involvement with the school on a range of Youth Projects.

On 21st June the Interact Club organised a sponsored run at the School to raise money for the Bombaloo School in Kenya and Cancer Research, with 170 students from Year 7 and 8 taking part, and invited members of our Club to help with marshalling the event.  It was a fancy dress affair - which explains the colourful costumes worn below.  

Final of our Young Chef Competition - 14th June 2024

Talented students showed their skills in the biggest and best Rotary Young Chef competition ever staged by the Club.  

Nine students from Northallerton School & Sixth Form College and Bedale High School battled against the clock in the annual culinary challenge organised by Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club.

Each of the Year 10 students was tasked with producing a healthy two-course meal in two hours, with a tight budget for ingredients.

The winner was Sophie Hilton, from Northallerton School & Sixth Form College, who impressed the judges with her dish of hanging kebabs and chocolate brownies. It was a close-run thing, however, with Sophie claiming the title by just one point.

“This in undoubtedly the highest standard of cooking we have seen in the 15 years of this competition,” said ex-RAF Flight Warrant Officer Nick Wright, formerly of the RAF Leeming Catering team, who chaired the judging panel.

“Today’s finalists deserve the very highest praise because they made our job incredibly difficult. What really impressed us was the ingenuity behind their menu choices and the skills they applied to deliver them. The highest compliment I can pay these students is to say that any professional chef would be proud to deliver dishes of this quality.”

Winner Sophie was presented with a cookbook by Northallerton Mowbray Rotary Club president Anne Ash, and all the students received certificates to reward their efforts. An initial 22 students from both schools entered the competition, another record.

Rotary youth chair Kevin Hardisty thanked the schools for helping to organise the competition. “These finals have become a major highlight of the Rotary year and are going from strength to strength,” he said. “We’re very grateful to the teachers who put in so much hard work behind the scenes and to the students who consistently excel with their skills and enthusiasm.”

Also on the judging panel were Rotarians John Foster, Sue Adsett and Anne Wall. 

Our Final Shop of the Year for Hambleton Foodshare - June 2024

Once again this year the Club has allocated funds to support Hambleton Foodshare.  This has been used over the year to go shopping for the Foodshare to cover particular shortages of items available in the store.

Our final shop for the Rotary year was made this month and we have now used the whole of the allocation of £1400 for the year.

The Club is committed to continue to support this excellent cause, and we are looking at ways we can put together another allocation for the new year starting in July.

Our picture shows Rotarian Anne Wall with staff and volunteers - and our shop!

Supporting Local Causes - May 2024

The club has agreed a number of donations to local causes from monies raised during the year, and in particular through our Bedale Book and Postcard Fair.

We were happy to support Bedale Library with a donation towards new blinds at the library, and our picture shows President Anne Ash at the presentation of our donation.

We have also supported the following local causes:

Carers Plus

Mencap

Northdale

The Northallerton School Foundation

From other monies we were able to send further funding to Shelterbox, and the Rotary Foundation, and also to Artizan International to further the work they described to us in a recent talk.

Fellowship Trip to the Himalayan Gardens - 16 May 2024

A group of us went to the Gardens, and the weather was kind to us.  The flowers of all sorts were lovely, but of course the main highlight of the Garden were the Rhododendrons which were spectacular, with an amazing display of many different varieties and colours.  Another highlight of the Gardens is the large number sculptures, which were also much enjoyed.

Book and Postcard Fair at Bedale - 7th April 2024

Our twice yearly event at Bedale Hall was once again a great success, and made over £1100 for Rotary projects.  We were also happy to run a stall at the event on behalf of Artizan International, a charity for differently abled people. The charity had come to talk to us a few weeks before the event, and we were able to sell some of the crafts made at their training centre in Ecuador.

A Fundraiser for Herriott Hospice - 2nd March 2024

An excellent turnout of 17 members and partners from the Club were at Thirsk to support a fundraiser for Herriott Hospice.  Entertainment was provided by the Scruton Jazz and Blues Band and we feasted on pie and peas. We were very happy to learn that with the raffle, collection, and profit on the bar the evening raised the magnificent sum of over £1700.

Town Pancake Races - 20th February 2024

With the event delayed until the 20th February to allow the traditional races involving the Applegarth School, there were still plenty of entries in the adult section. And it was great to see our entrants mixing it with mainly much younger contestants to come second in both the ladies and men's events, which attracted teams from businesses and organisations in the town.  Well done to Anne and Tony. And for Anne it was definitely a case of "so nearly" as there was a photo finish in the Ladies event!

Santa Collections - December 2023

With many thanks to all those who gave so willingly, and to Sainsburys, Tesco and B&M for hosting us, we were able to raise £1,139 through our annual Santa collections.  The main focus of this fundraising is to support our Youth projects this year, with anything we do not need for that spent on other projects and good causes.

Presentation of Archery Equipment - December 2023

Our raffle at the Charter Dinner this year was in aid of the Northallerton RAF Air Cadets and we were pleased to purchase some Archery equipment for the group, which was presented Anne in December.

Quiz Night and Pie and Pea Supper - 29th November 2023

We were pleased to run another Quiz Night at the Forum with an excellent Pie and Pea Supper. This was an opportunity for teams from other Clubs in the area, as well as family and friends to pit their wits against the challenging questions set by our quiz masters Tony and Stephen. Darlington Rotary Club were pleased to regain their crown after last winning in 2021.  We raised £419 from the event, split equally between the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Children's Air Ambulance.  And the timing of our event was coincidentally excellent as when our Treasurer came to pay over the monies to Yorkshire Air Ambulance he discovered they were part of the "Big Give" campaign where partners in that scheme are prepared to double the value of the donation to participating charities - so the Yorkshire Air Ambulance benefitted from that doubled up donation. 

Bedale Book and Postcard Fair - 29th October 2023

Our bi-annual book and postcard fair was once again well attended with plenty of people supporting our cafe serving refreshments throughout the day.  Overall we raised nearly £960 for our projects.

Our Charter Dinner - 13th October 2023

We had our Charter Dinner at the Golden Lion with guest speaker Alan Hinkes telling us about the joys and perils of climbing in the Himalaya, and being the first Briton to climb all the 14,000 ft peaks.  A great time was had by all.

An inspiring day at District Conference - 7th October 2023

Seven members of the Club made their way to Scarborough for this year's conference.  It was a good chance to catch up with old friends and make some new contacts. We heard some inspiring tales of local Rotary projects and listened to a wide range of excellent speakers.  The highlight fo most of us was the presentation by Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his life and adventures.  And starting her own story of daring exploits, Jasmine Harrison from Thirsk told us about her feats rowing across the Atlantic to become the youngest female to do so, and also the furst to swim from Lands End to John O'Groats. A number of the new intake of Peace Scholars (pictured below) and about to start their studies at Bradford Peace Centre, shared some of their background and reasons for applying for their course. We look forward to hearing how they have benefitted from this at the end of their year.

A Syrian Pop-Up Restaurant in aid of the Turkey Syria Earthquake Appeal - 2nd September 2023

Six months after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, killing 60,000 people and, according to UN estimates, making 1.5m people homeless, the Club realised that whilst the aftermath of the quake no longer filled our television screens and newspapers, the need for assistance had not gone away. The task of rebuilding homes, roads, bridges and other vital parts of the damaged area’s infrastructure will take years – and the people affected will need ongoing support.

That’s why the Club teamed up with the Syrian families who have found sanctuary in our community in recent years to bring a Syrian Pop-up Restaurant  to the Town Hall. Nearly 90 people attended and we could have sold more tickets if space had permitted.

With grateful thanks to our team of Syrian cooks – led by Wesam Abo Swid, a professional chef – who provided their time and expertise, and to Northallerton Town Council for kindly providing the venue free of charge, we were able with the proceeds of the event and generous donations on the night to send the sum of £2,280 to the Appeal.

Oiur picture shows the team just about to serve starters.

A Fellowship Evening at Kiplin Hall - The Handlebards - 5th August 2023

We had booked tickets for a large party for this - but the threat of another rainy night, typical of this summer of similar weather, meant that a rather smaller group of hardier souls turned up for an outdoor production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", performed by the Handlebards in their inimitable style.  Enjoyed by all who attended with the added self satisfaction that the weather was reasonably kind in the end!

Young Chef Competition - July 2023

Once again the Club has organised a local Rotary Young Chef Competition in 2023, and students raised their skills to new levels to impress the judges.

A record number of 14 contestants from Northallerton School & Sixth Form College and Bedale High School took part in the initial cook-off before six were selected for the final. 

Each of the Year 10 and 11 students was tasked with producing a healthy two-course meal against the clock, with a tight budget for ingredients. 

The winner was Michaela Pampalou, from Bedale High School, whose two-course meal of moussaka with Greek salad, followed by mini filled Greek pastries, won top marks from the judging panel led by ex-RAF Leeming Catering Flight Warrant Officer Nick Wright. 

The judges admitted it was a tough decision because fellow contestants Raneem Al Masalmah, Hayma Alsafar, Ewan Kell, Olivia Robinson and Sophie Hutchinson ran Michaela very close.

Our picture shows the finalists with our judging team, including members from the Club, and teachers from the two schools involved in the competition.  Our winner Michaela is shown with her dishes that so impressed our judges.

Decisions on causes to support from funds we raised in 2022-23 - July 2023

As well as the money donated to the Herriot Hospice Appeal, the Club also had other funds available to support charities.  During 2022-23 we had received talks from a number of organisations and heard about their work.  We decided to make three donations linked to those talks. £500 to MyMito Mission, £500 to Brain Tumour Research, and £300 to Aquabox.  In addition the need to continue our support to our local foodbank Hambleton Foodshare to meet the ongoing high level of demand for their services led to a decision to commit a further £1000 to making a series of "shopping trips" to meet particular shortages over the period ahead. Our first delivery of supplies under this intiative is pictured.

A Garden Party to Celebrate the New Rotary Year - 8th July 2023

With thanks to member Janet Crampton for hosting this in her lovely new home, the Club had a fun afternoon welcoming in the new Rotary year, and raising some funds for Foundation at the same time. We raised £280 which will be split between the End Polio Now Capaign, and general Foundation Funds. We were pleased to be joined by members of the Northallerton Club for the afternoon. The picture shows some of those present and in particular new Presidents of our Club - Anne Ash, and of the Northallerton Club - Emma Biggs, about to cut our celebration cake on a Rotary theme made by Anne Wall. 

"Making it Happen" - Helping to raise funds for Herriot Hospice@The Lambert - 3rd July 2023

The Club was pleased to give further support to this important local initiative to create a new Hospice at the old Lambert Hospital in Thirsk. The campaign to raise the final funds needed including a 36 hour campaign where donations given up to a toatal of £200,000 were doubled by a generous funding partner.  The campaign exceeded it's target and we were pleased to be able to give £1,000 which was of course doubled to £2,000. Our pictures show our presentation of the cheque - which was also the last official role for outgoing Presdident Roibert Williamson before the Handover event that evening.  The picture of the Lambert works "in progress" give some indication of what we have been raising funds to create.  It is expected the new facility will open before the end of 2023.

A New Team for a New Rotary Year - July 2023

 As our new Rotary Year begins it was time for our "Handover" to the new leadership team.

Our President for 2023-24 is Anne Ash.  Our President Elect - who will take up the Presidential role next year is Chris Horler.  Anna Naughton is our new Secreatary and Geoff Wall our new Treasurer.

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