2019-20 News

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Hospital radio team visits Rotary

RADIO Mount Vernon is celebrating 50 years this year, and two of its stalwarts, Jean Gillen and Andy Stroud, told the hospital radio station's story at the latest meeting of the Rotary club.

Run entirely by volunteers at Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, the radio station has been broadcasting to patients since 1969. Andy, who has been in hospital radion for 40 years, both in Watford and at Mount Vernon hospitals, said that they currently had 15 members involved.

"We are volunteers," he said. "We don't do it for the NHS, but we do what we do for the patients."

The Radio Mount Vernon team not only present programmes, but they vist the wards to spend time with the patients and collect requests. Frank Sinatra's "My Way" remains the favourite tune of patients, with Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard also remaining popular artists.

Andy described how technology has changed hugely since the radio station began broadcasting in the late 60s, which enables the radio station to pre-record programmes and to be on air around the clock. Live programmes are presented three days of the week.

It costs around £2,000 a year to run the hospital radio station. However, their fund-raising is currently focused on providing a radio service in the Cancer Wards (wards 10&11), which have not been able to receive programmes after a cable was accidentally cut. 

Andy Stroud reckoned it is going to cost close to £10,000 to come up with a solution which would enable patients in the 45-bed wards to receive radio broadcasts again.

Separately, Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotary continues to be involved with a number of community activities, and earlier in the week, a number of Rotarians pitched in with Pinner Rotary to help out with marshaling duties at the annual Pinner Village Show. 

Weekly newsletter - September 11th 

A dam good idea!

Bruce outlined how sand dams work and outlines some of the projects which have been set up in Kenya, including one at Wendo Wa Makoti in 2017, which was funded by Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotary.

Around 60 sand dams have been built in the country, explained Bruce, which are simple, low-cost and low-maintenance projects which harvest rainwater in semi-arid areas of the world. 

"At Wendo Wa Makoti, there were a number of challenges in building the sand dam," explained Bruce. "People were having to walk 10 miles carrying water. However, once a sand dam has been built, the community, which might once have been depressed, becomes happy and proud of what they have achieved. At long last, they are masters of their own destiny."

Bruce revealed that Rotary clubs in District 1090 (Thames Valley) has been at the forefront of funding sand dam projects. One sand dam project in Watuka cost £11,000 to complete, but now serves a community of 1,100.

The impact was huge by improving the diet and health of the community, as well as psychologically helping to improve morale and welfare. "It is a wonderful Rotary project, which is making a real difference," added Bruce.

"Sand dams are built to provide a reliable supply of easily accessible clean water. But they are also an affordable way to enable rural, dryland communities to address hunger, drought, poverty, conflict, climate change and land degredation, and to create economic growth all at the same time."

One interested listener to the talk was visitor Stuart Kasozi, from the Rotary Club of Entebbe in Uganda. He is currently studying at Brunel University in Uxbridge and dropped in to hear the talk. He presented a banner to club President, David King.

Weekly newsletter - September 4th 

Weekly newsletter - August 28th 

Helping children make healthy choices

Picture courtesy of coramlifeeducation.org

CLUB member Gillian Pearce, a trustee of Life Education Hillingdon, delivered a fascinating insight into the charity which provides health, well-being and drugs education to schoolchildren across the borough.

Speaking at the Rotary club's weekly meeting at Uxbridge Cricket Club, Gillian explained how Life Education Hillingdon serves 56 schools in the borough and surrounding areas. Their mobile classrooms reach more than 15,000 children between the ages of three and 11-years-old every year.

And 2019 marks the charity's 21st year of helping children to make informed choices about their health and reduce the risk of drugs misuse.

It costs between £380 to £550 a day for the mobile classroom, and annual running costs stretch to around £80,000, explained Gillian. "Our greatest challenge is meeting the financial needs of the project," she said. "We rely on grant, but have suffered because of various cutbacks.

"However, I think Life Education Centres are something which Rotary can do very well, and I have seen how it makes such a big difference to the children." 

Weekly newsletter - August 21st

Weekly newsletter - August 14th

Former Hillingdon Mayor visits Rotary club

(photo courtesy of Hillingdon Council)

FORMER Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr John Morgan, and his wife Fiona, visited Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotary Club when John gave an account of his year as the borough's First Citizen.

John, who lives in Northwood Hills and has been a councillor since 2010, said he thoroughly enjoyed his year as Mayor, and that he would do it again. "Beng Mayor was excellent," he said. 

"It gave you an opportunity to see so many different parts of the borough which you might not otherwise visit. For example, I didn't know about the Barnes Wallis Memorial in Harmondsworth."

John served as Mayor from May 2018 to May 2019, and prior to that spent a year as Deputy Mayor. Wife Fiona was Mayoress, with Pauline Bianco serving as Mayor's Escort for some of the visits when Fiona was unable to attend because of work. John used to work as a driver for Jaguar in Watford.

During his year as Mayor, John managed to raise £96,000 for three charities - the Peter Pan & Wendy Wards at Hillingdon Hospital, the PHAB (Physical, handicapped and able-bodied) charity based at St Helen's School in Northwood, and Grangewood School for special needs children in Eastcote. 

Initially, he had helped raise £48,000, which was then doubled by Hillingdon Council at the end of his term at Mayor. 

During his time as Mayor, John attended around 700 events in Hillingdon and further afield on behalf of the borough, including 16 different street parties last year being hosted to mark the wedding of the Duke & Duchess of Sussex. 

"The Mayor if there for everyone in the borough," added John. "You visit some fascinating places and meet some lovely people too."

Weekly newsletter - August 7th

Weekly newsletter - July 31st

Weekly newsletter - July 24th 

Bumper crowds for Uxbridge Autoshow

THE sun shone and the crowds flocked to the Middlesex Showground for the annual Uxbridge Autoshow.

This annual event features 2,000 vintage and modern vehicles, including custom and kit cars, alongside a collection of commercial and military roadware.

The popular summertime show also features a host of displays, and is organised by our friends at the Rotary Club of Uxbridge. Each year, the Uxbridge club raises thousands of pounds for deserving causes, and Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotarians pitch in to help out with marshaling duties, as well as helping to set up and clear up the show.

Past President, Randeep Reehal, a self-confessed petrol head, was involved with judging some of the vehicles who were up for prizes.

The Autoshow has been running since 1984 and has raised more than £619,000 for local and national charities.

School's paired reading opens a gateway

SCHOOL'S nearly out for the summer, and for the students at Northwood School it has been a highly successful year on the reading front.

For the past five years, the Rotary club has been actively involved with the secondary school's paired reading scheme. Five Rotarians regularly work with the Year 7 pupils, who are aged between 11 and 12-years-old, and each week they hear a child read for 30 minutes.

To mark the end of a successful year, an end-of term party was held at the Potter Street school to recognise the youngster's achievements.

Rotarian Joan Greening, who is also Northwood School's Chair of Governors, explained that the scheme exists to help those children who come to the school with below average literacy skills. They read a range of books with 'David Copperfield', 'Oliver Twist' and 'Black Beauty' among the favourites, together with John Buchan's '39 Steps' and several of Mary Stewart's novels. 

The books are shortened so this does not present too long a read for the children.

Thanks to the paired reading, the students have excelled during the rest of their scholarly journey at Northwood School. Two children who were initially struggling with their reading when they joined Northwood School, have now gone onto further education - one as a nurse and the other to help with special needs pupils.

The reading scheme is organised by the school's Senior Librarian, Mrs Underwood who, at the end of term party, thanked all the volunteers for their excellent work.

Joan Greening said she was delighted with how successful the initiative had been. She said: "Helping a child to read is immensely rewarding, as it opens to gateway to all other subjects."

Mapping in a disaster zone to make life-saving decisions       

ROY WOOD, a trustee of the charity MapAction, described some of the horrendous disasters which his teams are faced with each year as they strive to get humanitarian aid in the right places.

Roy, who is a Past President of Newbury Rotary Club, spoke at our weekly meeting,outlining the work of the charity, whose patron is the Duke of Sussex.

In the aftermath of a disaster, the entire landscape can be transformed, explained Roy. Maps are crucial to help make rapid sense of the chaos, and to plan the best response to save lives, minimise suffering and reduce long-term impacts.

MapAction works across the globe to ensure disaster reponse teams have access to the maps and data they need to make informed decsions. 

"What we are about is ensuring that we get the right aid to the right places," he explained. "It is simple stuff, we are there to help people make decisions, and we hope that our maps help save lives and prevent undue suffering."

The evening was also marked with the induction of a new member when Margaret Redding, the wife of long-standing Rotarian, Brian, was accepted into the club by Club Secretary, Norman Jones and President, David King.

Weekly newsletter - July 17th

Taking a scholarly look at Rotary

ROTARY scholarships were the name of the game, when Karen Eveleigh gave the first speaker talk of the new Rotary year.

Karen, who is a member of Oxford Spires Rotary, and will become the 1090 District Governor in two years' time, is heavily involved with the Rotary Scholars programme, and alongside that Rotary Foundation.

She revealed how the Rotary District had received more than 300 applications to take advantage of the Rotary 1090 District Scholarship to one of the five universities in the Rotary Thames Valley region - which locally includes Brunel University and New Bucks, who have a base in Uxbridge.

Karen, pictured left with Past President, Randeep Reehal, also co-ordinates Rotary scholars from all over the world who come to the Thames Valley to study at universities here, and who are shaped to become Rotary ambassadors for the future. 

These Rotary scholarships, funded by Global Grants, are awarded for overseas graduate study, and all of the studies fit within Rotary's six areas of focus.

Rotary Foundation provides financial opportunities, through grants, for clubs to support student initiatives. 

Weekly newsletter - July 10th 

Interact club serves up a treat

STUDENTS from our Interact Club, based at Northwood School, were busy preparing a selection of delicious food ahead of the annual sports day.

Interact is Rotary International's service club for youngsters aged between 12 and 18-years-old, and the Northwood School club is sponsored by Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotary.

The Interact Club has 24 members, and to mark the annual sports day, the young students provided a series of healthy and refreshing series of fresh food platters for the participants on a baking hot day.

A joint meeting between the Rotarians and Interactors is planned this autumn for Wednesday, October 2nd.

Rotarians join forces with foodbank

THE Asda store in Hayes was the focus of two days of collecting food items for the Yiewsley & West Drayton Foodbank.

Trustee Doris Hughes co-ordinated the collection with shoppers who were asked to buy an extra item on their shop for the foodbank, which helps serve a number of families living on the breadline in the London Borough of Hillingdon. 

Rotarians from the club helped with the food collection over the two days, as shoppers were given specific lists of items which would be valuable - rice and custard were two of the items which were in demand by the foodbank.

Over the two days, 403.85 kilos of much-needed food items were collected. After being weighed-in, the food has been storied in the warehouse, and some of the tomatoes, rice pudding and custard was delivered to one of the distribution centres to be offered straightaway to clients.

The Yiewsley & West Drayton Foodbank is based at St Matthew's Church in Yiewsley where they provide a minimum of three days of nutritionally-balanced tinned and dried food which has been donated by the local community.

The Foodbank works with referral agencies to issue food vouchers to those in needs of emergency food in times of crisis.

During the 2018-19 financial year, the Yiewsley & West Drayton Foodbank supplied 1,649 three-day emergency packs to families in the borough from one of their three distribution centres, reflecting a 66% increase in uptake.

After the collection, Doris Hughes said she was very grateful for the Rotary support. She said: "I really couldn't have collected such a large number of tins, rice, sugar etc without your help, so thank you all so very much."

It's the new Rotary year!

DAVID King was handed the reins as the 42nd President of Elthorne-Hillingdon Rotary at a President's Handover Dinner held at Pinner Hill Golf Club.

David, who works as a journalism lecturer at UCFB Wembley, was handed the chain of office for the coming year by Randeep Reehal. During her speech, Randeep thanked everyone at the club for their support, and said she had learnt so much during her year in the role, particularly communication skills and the ability to speak in front of large audiences.

David presented Norman Jones with his chain of office as secretary, and John Greening with his chain of office as treasurer. David paid tribute to Brian and Margaret Redding during his speech for their work over more than 20 years with the Ruislip-Northwood Old Folks' Association and for organising the regular Sunday afternoon teas.

The evening was attended by nearly 40 Rotarians and friends, including Assistant Governor, Brian Jonson and club member Gillian Pearce, who has just finished her term as 1090 District Governor, covering the Thames Valley.