Disbursement of Funds

The Rotary Club of St Andrews welcomed Greig Dochard, Chairman of St Andrews Colts Football Club, to its recent on-line meeting. Greig who has been Chairman for twelve years followed in the footsteps of his father, Ian, a previous Chairman.

The Colts have provided organised football playing and training in St Andrews since 1976 for boys (and now girls) from ages 5-8 in the development academy and then playing in leagues for ages 9-16. Traditionally, the teams have always played in the Tayside rather than the Fife league although Greig added that they keep this preference under regular review.

Twenty fully qualified coaches, badged at silver level by the SYFA, give their time to training and playing matches, usually twice a week during the season. The club looks to promote good health through exercise as well as expecting high standards of behaviour and discipline in around 140 youngsters from St Andrews and the surrounding area.

Last year the club were pleased to re-establish an adult amateur team once again and have introduced walking football for “older” players.

The monthly levy is kept to a minimum, so that money is not a deterrent for youngsters joining and taking part. Whilst the ethos of the club is to provide local football, a fair number of excellent players have gone on to play at Junior and Senior level in Scotland and England.

Following a lively Q and A session, Greig took the opportunity to thank the Rotary Club for its support for the Colts over the years and in particular this year, when a £500 donation will help to provide new kit for the team aged 12/13.

President John Christie gave the VOT to Greig for his presentation and for the great benefit and enjoyment the Colts provide in St Andrews.

How to meet the challenge of so many Charitable organisations, going through such difficult times at present, was the question posed at The Rotary Club of St Andrews meeting to decide on the annual disbursement of funds?

 In conclusion, members chose to spread a total of over £12000 far and wide but made sure that our local community organisations, were very much to the fore.

Children, young people and those most in need, rank high in the Rotary beneficiaries with four figure sums going to for instance, Tayside Children with Cancer & Leukaemia, Fife Young Carers and Casa, the recently formed local help group. Seven other local organisations have received donations many of which indeed have been supported by the club for many years.

Charities from wider afield in Fife, Scotland and the UK are recognised for their outstanding work with cancer, with donations to the Maggies Centres in Kirkcaldy and Dundee and to Prostrate Cancer UK.

 The hospice run by CHAS in Kinross has an outstanding record of care for terminally ill children and their families. Perhaps the most challenging of any care situation, it is not unusual for many a tear to be shed when a representative of CHAS speaks at a club meeting, describing the incredible work they do, every day of every year.

Rotary is a worldwide organisation, dedicated to serving communities in every continent. So the club along with hundres of others collectively gather and distribute funds to tackle worldwide disasters and diseases. Most known of these perhaps, is the aim to eradicate polio, in conjunction with the Bill Gates Foundation. Many will remember polio as a terrible and debilitating disease which cripples young and old alike.

 As a consequence of this effort, polio is now only present in two countries and even then on a very localised basis. A final push could see polio eradicated from every country in the world.

Shelter boxes are procured and stored ready to be shipped to any disaster area at short notice and projects to bring clean water and medical facilities are funded and indeed often implemented by Rotarians in their own time and at their own expense.

The coming year presents challenges to everyone. But Rotary around the world and here in St Andrews, is preparing to continue its work of ensuring that it meets the challenges of distress and disaster, whenever or wherever they appear, whilst never forgetting our commitment to the local community.