General Meeting

ROTARY CLUB OF CHESTFIELD

Breakfast Meeting 07.30am for 08.00am Thursday 28th March 2024 @ The Plough

Present:               Ian, Pat, Sue, Lesley, Spyros, Pippa, David M, Paul, Elaine, Fiona, Chris, Maureen, Andrew M, Jean, Nick, Godfrey, Pete, Andrew B, Robert, Kathryn.

Apologies:           David K, Gerry, Hilary, Myfanwy, Margaret, Marian, Reggie, Trevor, David B.

Guest:                  Louisa Constantin, Carer's Support East Kent

Welcomes:         Pat welcomed everyone, including this morning's guest, Louisa.  There were no birthdays this week.

Grace:                   Paul

BREAKFAST

Business:

International:  Pat reported that Walk4Water last Friday was very successful.  The ground was dry and the rain held off until after we had finished.  The meal afterwards at The Royal Oak was good.  Two schools took part in the walk.  Several people commented that the children were well behaved and cheerful.  The club said a thank you to David M for organising the event.

                David M spoke about a charity in South Africa which is linked to Rotary via Gerry and Ronan.  A school there is moving out of a dilapidated building into a new, much better one.  They do have a contact in the UK who has offered to help with funding.  If the latter pays a donation to us then we can claim the tax back, which can also be donated to the school.  We may also be able to link this in with a further application for a district grant.  David M was asking for the club's approval to go ahead.  Andrew B proposed we go ahead; Spyros seconded the proposal.  Members present agreed.

Fund Raising:  Pat reminded members that we have car parking this week end on Saturday.  There are enough volunteers.  Saturday is meant to be the best of the week end's weather.

                Pat attended a recent meeting of the Chestfield PCC.  They are proposing to hold another Chestfield Fun Day at the cricket club on 28th August Bank Holiday.  Do we want to have a stall again?  Last year we were well out of the way.  We will consider having a stall again if we can be nearer the action. 

Social:  Regarding the 20th anniversary celebration, we have written to the golf club but have had nothing back, not even an acknowledgement.  Hilary has negotiated a reduction in the cost from the Crescent Turner hotel, down from £50pp to £38.  So, we will remain with the latter, and hope to reduced cost will attract more members to attend.

                Next Wednesday 3rd April is the evening at The Little Green Bookshop, from 7.00pm until 8.30pm.  There will be a short talk about the joys and tribulations of running an independent book shop, plus nibbles and wine.  The address is : 38, High Street, Herne Bay.  The What3Words address is  native.direct.spent.  You can park on the seafront and walk through to the High Street.

Any Other Business:        Pippa reminded us that today is Maundy Thursday.  She has a set of Maundy money which came from her father.  Maundy money was first distributed to the poor in 1662 by Charles II.  The number of the poor is determined by the age of the monarch.  This year 75 'poor' men and 75 'poor' women will receive Maundy money.  The ceremony takes place in a different cathedral each year.  This year it is at Worcester cathedral.  The last time it was at Canterbury was in 1965.

Greetings from Other Clubs:        Kathryn went to a meeting at Whitstable where they had a talk from Hilary about her most recent trip to India.

Raffle:                   Won by David M.

Master-at-Arms:              Nick told us that today commemorates the opening of Barnum & Bailey's circus show in 1881.  It is also Wear a Hat Day.  On this day in 1964, radio Caroline was launched.  The first record was played by Simon Dee* (Tony Blackburn played the first record on Radio 1).

Speaker:              Louisa spoke to us about supporting carers in East Kent - the only dedicated service of its kind in East Kent.  Statistics show that 3 out of 5 of us will be an unpaid carer at some point in our lives.  Louisa's team work to signpost service users to sources of help, as well as running support groups.  In one school in East Kent 100 young people were acting as carers to a family member.  There are 16x support groups across East Kent supporting some 12,600 carers.

Final Toast:         Given by Pat.

Date of Next Meeting:

07.30am for 08.00am Thursday 4th April 2024 @ The Plough

After the Meeting:          Maureen asked Dave to remind members about gardening at the Whit & Tank hospital onSaturday 27th April in the morning.

* Whatever happened to him?