Bulletin for November 2025

                                                Rotary Club of Cheltenham North

                                                          November 2025 Bulletin

Shadows in the Sky Anon

Under shimmering lights we sway,

Dancing shadows in a fleeting ballet.

Each burst above, a story ignites,

As colours bloom in the velvet nights.

Whispers of laughter, hearts intertwine,

In sparks of wonder, our dreams align.

The sky’s a canvas, painted with grace,

In the glow of the night, we find our place.

Flashes of brilliance, then whispers of dark,

Moments of silence, where memories spark.

Together we stand as the fireworks bloom,

In this fleeting magic, we conquer the gloom.

Hamper Scamper Gwynne Tucker Brown

Gwynne has now heard from CCP about their requirements for the Christmas Hamper Scamper which we support.

Details of the items that they would like us to provide are listed below.

As announced at our recent meeting by Vivien it would be appreciated if you could bring your donations to our meeting on either the 3rd or 17th November.

THE FESTIVE 5:

A festive dessert – from Christmas cake to Christmas pud, Yule be adding a sweet treat to your shopping basket.

Nice biscuits or mince pies – whether you are team mince pies or team choccy biscuits, these little treats are the perfect way to celebrate the festive season.

Chocolates – December may be the only time of year when chocolate for breakfast is acceptable! Share your favourites and add a box to your shopping trolley!

Savoury snacks – sometimes it’s nice to break up the sweetness with something savoury. Now where did we put that tube of Pringles…?

Hot drinks – like a hug in a mug, you can’t snow go wrong with a warming cup of hot chocolate, coffee or fancy tea. (Only the items on this list will be included in our hampers.

Any additional items donated will go to our Community Pantry. Out of date items cannot be accepted.)

Wine Festival Steve Wood

Saturday 18 October 2025 saw the second Cheltenham Wine Festival of 2025, and the tenth in all. The venue was, once again, the Health and Fitness Centre of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College and the format followed the now established pattern of two sessions, a mixture of wine producers and distributors and a few non-wine exhibitors. The non-wine offerings on this occasion were our regular charcuterie supplier, a chocolatier and a preserves and chutney seller.

Staging two festivals in one year arose because we had to cancel the event planned for October 2023 due to issues with the proposed venue, the Pittville Pump Room. That festival was postponed until April 2024 and in order to move the festival back to an October date without going an entire presidential year without a festival we decided to go for both April and October in 2025. With the benefit of hindsight, this was probably a mistake.

As well as placing an additional burden on the organising committee, it proved harder to sell tickets than in previous years and some of our regular exhibitors attended only one of the two festivals. Session 1 ticket sales amounted to only 174 in April but the October event proved even harder to promote with only 120 tickets sold for Session 1. Session 2 sales were 183 in April and 184 for October, healthy numbers but still below the maximum of 200, which we have previously achieved for both sessions.

That being said, I think it fair to say that the October event was successful. We have had feedback from eight of the seventeen wine exhibitors present and all have commented very favourably, in particular saying that they will continue to support the festival. The current estimate is that we will have made approximately £5,000 profit, but this will not be confirmed until the accounts are drawn up

The Cheltenham Explorer Scouts again helped with transporting wine cases from exhibitors’ vehicles into the hall, and this time back again at the end of the day. They also helped in other ways and their assistance was much appreciated.

As ever I would like to thank all members, partners of members and former members who helped on the day. We obviously cannot stage the festival without this help. Especial thanks and gratitude are due to the Wine Festival Committee for their hard work and unstinting support, which goes on for far longer than the day of the event.

The committee will be reviewing how they believe the Wine Festival should develop going forward and will report to Council and members in the near future.

Around and About in Autumn Richard Purdon

1.We had the opportunity to help the Jockey Club at the Racecourse, to add to their funds for the Community Fund set up for distributing to local causes within the North Cheltenham Catchment Area.

We were asked to arrive a little in advance of 4 p.m. to catch the crowd as they exited after the 5th and 6th Races. We were away by 5 .30 p.m., after depositing our buckets and tabards in Reception.

I would like to thank Rosanne and Nigel for joining me. Mary Ann kindly offered to help but was understandably unable to attend.

So, we collected £980 and the share of the agreed % that comes to our Club is £75.

Of course, we hoped for more, but for 2 hours effort that was not too bad!!

2. An Update on the Rotary Holidays for Children’s Trust.

The AGM was to have taken place on Wednesday 15th October. All was in good order, and the fund for distribution now stands at over £325,000. To recap, this is a fund shared with 4 other Districts.

I can confirm that the annual pot for distribution is up to £3000 per annum per District.

Last Rotary year, I authorized £2360 as the Trustee for D1100. The request to offer a holiday for Ukrainian Children was funded by other Glos Clubs. In the end, 21 children went to a camp in Somerset at the cost of £2600.

I have said to Gwynne and her Community Service Team, that I have ring fenced some grant money for them. I am expecting to contribute, towards the recently held Young Carers trip, and towards Panto tickets for Rowanfield School.

The history of the Charity is amazing. The origin goes back to 1923!! It is like many things in Rotary a well- guarded secret. In the immediate past only 5/6 clubs have applied for this free money.

I will spend time visiting other clubs to access their needs.

3. It’s bonfire night at the Racecourse on Saturday 8th November from 3 30 p.m.

I am pleased to confirm we have 10 likely lads and lasses to assist again this year.

The administration has been taken over by the Jockey Club, albeit all profits will go to Cheltenham Roundtable. It will be interesting to see how much difference this makes to the charity pot!!?? But the number of volunteers that we can send has been capped to 10.

And therefore, at best, our welcome fee from RT will be £1000 max, compared to the £2000 in previous years.

Still we have a free ticket to the display and a bit of supper to enjoy afterwards!!

So much to enjoy, and report on.

Ladies who Lunch Rosanne Cole

We are holding a soup, cake and coffee lunch here at 4 Thorncliffe Drive on Wednesday 19th November from 12.30 p.m.

There is no charge for lunch, however if you would like to make donation for Shelterbox that would be much appreciated. Our last lunch raised £220 for this charity. Many thanks to the ladies who so kindly made soup and baked.

If you have a dietary requirement do please let us know.

Parking is available at No. 4 and at Radella next door. Alternatively the bus stop for the 94, 94X, 98 and 95 is short walk from Thorncliffe Drive.

It was so nice at our March meeting to see so many friends of long standing, we do hope you will be able to join us. Please let me know if you are hoping to attend. Email: rosannecole@icloud.com

Christmas Concert Gill Rouse

Tickets are now available for the Christmas Concert on Tuesday 16th December at Cheltenham Ladies College. Please note the earlier start time of 7pm. There will be more community singing this year than in previous years so please come and join us.

Tony’s Trivia - 28th October 2025

This is the first (and possibly last) of an occasional series – monthly if you send me interesting pieces, or the Rotary muse-of-musings infiltrates my brain.

Let me know what you think – it wouldn’t be the first time I've produced a much-heralded first edition that never had a second.

The Virtual World

Before the speaker at our meeting from Moog could set up his amazing video of robots jumping about, another robot asked if he was a robot.

The latest Met Office computer is cloud-based! [One of the 25 fastest computers in the world. I believe their previous one went to Benhall.]

Question of the Month: does the money in the RCCN bank account belong to the Club? (or possibly to the Treasurer?!!)

NO, it belongs to the bank! Though they are legally obliged to pay it back at some time in the future (but may not actually have it when needed!). This enables banks to hold as actual money less than 3% of the total deposited.

Autocorrect Error of the Month: being asked to click on the lynx for information about a Wildlife Park

Legal Eagle (for our President): the Scottish court verdict Not Proven means “Not guilty, but don’t do it again”. [And here’s an emoji for Gail: ]

Nature Notes: the Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria Araucana) preceded the monkey by 60 million years – so what did the first Monkey Puzzle trees do for 60 million years before the first monkeys arrived to respond to the challenge?