Rotary Year 2020/21

A summary of events and activities in the Rotary Year 2020/21

The Rotary Year 2020/21 in reverse order ....

27th April 2021

Brian Donohoe - The Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan

13th April 2021

Jim Cordiner - The Manchester Ship Canal

Jim from the Peel Ports Group talked about the history of the Canal from the initial planning through to the modern day.

This helps to show the scale of the canal (note the main in the foreground).

30th March 2021

Professor Sarah Bridle - Climate Change with the Hot Air

Sarah spoke about the particular contributors to climate change but particularly focused on the impact of food.

She has recently published a book on the matter which is available free of charge.

23rd March 2021

Jon Kelly - When the Jacobites visited Wilmslow

There had been mention of the some of the Jacobites coming through Wilmslow through a previous speaker and Jon offered to talk more at length about this as well as setting the scene that led to the revolt.

And some passed through Wilmslow on the way down South ...

As well as on the way back ...

Before defeat at the Battle of Culloden ...

Polio Awareness
As noted below we recently had a talk about the continuing work (including by Rotary) to eradicate Polio from the world. Nearly all countries in the world are clear of Polio although pockets of Polio can still be found in two countries and arguably a serious outbreak could still happen especially given the ease of travel around the world (which COVID-19 has shown). Hopefully we will be able to completely eradicate Polio in the near future but, in the mean, awareness of Polio and the work to eradicate it is still important. Purple has become a key colour in the campaign as a purple dye is used in a number of countries during mass immunizations to mark children's little finger to show which have received the vaccine. In many places, purples crocuses are planted and we have planted some along Water Lane and given others to local schools. Here are some planted at St Benedict's Catholic Primary School in Handforth

9th March 2021Katherine Whitaker - The Joys of Being a Magistrate

Katherine gave an interesting talk about being a magistrate. Whilst this was partly for information and for those present to ask questions, it was also to try to encourage those present (or those they knew) to consider putting themselves forward as magistrates as more, particularly at the current time, are needed.

We have had various other interesting talks since Christmas but others have not been captured "on camera". These have included a talk about Lindow Moss (Past, Present and the Future) and about the continuing work to eradicate Polio. This latter talk also extended to a talk about COVID-19 given that this too was a virus with the deployment of a vaccine to counter it.

Christmas 2020

Our Christmas plans have needed to be quite different this year with the hard decision taken that we could/should not assist Santa touring around Heald Green and Handforth so not to cause any issues with social distancing. We were able to undertake some limited activities at Lidl in Handforth/Wilmslow and Wilmslow Town Centre as well as one small residential area with agreement from the residents. These activites have helped to raise around £1,000 for which we thank the generosity of the public at this difficult time. One of our members has also been making bird boxes with the proceeds going to charity (including The Seashell Trust).

Santa out in only a very limited way this year.

Derek (one of Santa's woodworkers and painters) with some of his beautiful bird boxes to support various local/Rotary charities.

Orders can still be placed (for the New Year) in advance of the nesting season by contacting mmartyn@talktalk.net with you contact details including address and phone number. The boxes cost £20 not including delivery although local deliveries or collection can be arranged..

We have also been able to still distribute some of our Rota Toy boxes at Christmas time albeit paying due care an attention to collection and distribution in a safe way.

Our President Sue's car was full with the delivery to Stockport including the Salvation Army there with boxes also going to the Tree of Life in Wythenshawe.

"A smile from a child to a child" we say and here is local MP Esther McVey getting involved with the packing up some of the boxes. This year we had particular support from Pepperbury Nursery in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge School for Girls as well as the local Inner Wheel group with filling boxes which cover the 1-3, 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15 age ranges.

15th December 2020

John Wallace - Rag Time to Rhythm & Blues in 12 easy steps

Our speaker, John, returned to give us a history of Rag Time through Rhythm & Blues through excerpts of 12 pieces of music which he played and also talked about.

8th December 2020

Christina Anaik/Spencer - Living with 60 million English

Our speaker, Christina, shared some of her experiences as a "foreigner" [her words] living in the UK for 50 years including various amusing tales and reflections on the use of the English language.

17 November 2020

CHARTER NIGHT

We celebrated the 83rd anniversary of the formation of our Club. This needed to be via Zoom but we tried to still hold to the spirit of what we would normally be doing albeit without any meal. President Sue welcomed member and guests to the meeting before Richard introduced our newest member

This was followed by a reply from our new member, Niamh Murphy

We then had a number of toasts (this one to Rotary International)

And speeches (this one by Immediate Past District Governor, Patrick Tyrell)

Before our guest speaker, comedian Gary Skyner

Who kept the audience entertained

10th November 2020

Roger Small - The History of Handforth Station

Our speaker, Roger, presented on the history of Handforth Station which is not just part of our community/locality but also home to one of our community gardens/projects.

If you would like to see a full more of the slides from the presentation then please have a look at:
Handforth_Train_Station_presentation_10nov20.pdf
[A history of Handforth Station and its branch lines; Successive owners of Handforth station: their company crests;
First class coach of the Manchester to Birmingham Railway; The Royal Train calls at Handforth Station;
Martin Bell opens the new ticket office; Excursions by preserved steam passing through Handforth]

1st November 2020

We received a certificate for our work supporting Wilmslow in Bloom

20th October 2020

We had a fascinating talk from Catherine Stott about visiting Antartica (as a holiday destination!)

which can include visiting the South Pole itself

13th October 2020

Whilst we can not get out and about being tourists at present, Murray Jacobs gave us a virtual tour of Cambridge

with some of the sights

and highlights

22nd September 2020

Disaster Aid UK and Ireland is one of a number of charities that we regularly support bringing disaster relief/recovery assistance. Craig Roberts updated us on the work following a recent disaster in Indonesia

and the work continues

3rd. August 2020

THE CLUB CELEBRATION PARTY.

FOLLOWING THE GOVERMENT INITIATIVE REGARDING THE MANCHESTER LOCK DOWN, THE DEANWATER WERE IN ORDER ALLOWING A FACE TO FACE MEETNG FOR THE CLUB.

A welcome from President Sue.

CONFORMING TO ALL THE GUIDANCE RULES, MEMBERS ENJOYED OUR FIRST CLUB MEAL AFTER MANY WEEKS.

WE ALSO HAD THE PLEASURE OF A GUEST SPEAKER, ROGER SMALL, WHO GAVE HIS ILLUSTRATED PRESENTATION OF THE PROJECT ALONG WITH FELLOW RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS TO re-INSTALL A LARGE RAILWAY NAME BOARD FOR HANDFORTH STATION.