PRESIDENT BLOG - AUGUST

August '24

Well, here we are, already a month in to this ‘new’ Rotary year; and what a busy month July was, from the formality of our presidential Handover Dinner to our very informal Social Evening and Quiz Night at the end of the month, and much more in between.

My first official engagement as President was at the Ascent College Aspire Awards Evening, where I had the privilege of presenting a Young Achiever Award to one of the students. Sharon and I met some of the staff and look forward to taking up their invitation to visit the Lyme and Wood site, hopefully at the start of the new term in September, to see the work that their students are doing there.

We had a very successful ‘Afternoon at the Races’, the profits from which were divided equally between Cancer Research UK and Rotary’s own ‘End Polio Now’ campaign via the Rotary Foundation. My thanks go to all who were involved in the organisation of that event, and to the management and staff of Cancello Bar and Restaurant for their excellent food and kind hospitality.

We supported the High Street Hive’s Scarecrow Festival at the end of the month with our entry of ‘Stitch’ (Lilo and Stitch) sitting on a tractor. It was great to see the excitement of the children – and parents and carers – as they came for the sheets to be stamped and to have their photographs taken by the tractor.

During the month, several of us presented Young Achiever Awards to Year 6 pupils in our local junior schools. Nominated by their teachers for their outstanding efforts and contribution to the life of their school, we congratulate them all and wish them well as they move on to High School education after the summer.

In addition to the monthly Executive Team meeting, I joined all three of our Service Teams – Community, International and Youth Service – for their meetings to hear about their ongoing plans and events to meet their objectives. Take a look at our ‘Future Meetings and Events’ page to see our varied programme.

Our newly formed Environmental Team began its first ‘hands on’ project in association with Ascent College, painting the cabin which is to be their shop selling the produce that the students will have grown themselves at the Lyme and Wood site. The work will continue in August in readiness for the new academic term. A great start for this small but enthusiastic team.

As we move into August we can look forward to more events, the first being at the Newton Town Show. Engagement with our community is crucial to let people see what we do and, perhaps, want to be involved.

This month’s theme is ‘Membership and Club Development’, and Plans are well underway for our ‘Help Rotary Help the Community’ event to be held in September, to give those who would like to help us with some of our events, such as the familiar Christmas Float and the hugely popular Beer Festival, an insight into what we do. If you think that could be you, please do get in touch at secretary.nlewrotary@gmail.com ; we’d love to hear from you and we’ll let you have more details. There you will hear from others who already help us, and we’ll even lay on complimentary pizza! It would be great to see new faces.