Club News Archive 2015

On the 21st December the Club held its Christmas Party at the Golf Club.  The party, organised by the Social Committee headed by Rotarian David Hunter, was a great success.  Following the excellent meal there was to be “entertainment”.  

Members had a sense of puzzlement and foreboding having been told by a Rotary VIP that the entertainment would be a song and dance routine of Irish folk songs performed by John Robins dressed as a Leprechaun.  There was even an advance photo of John in rehearsal but to the disappointment of some and relief of many this was not to be.  John was, however, thanked for his hard work as Sergeant-at-Arms for the past year, and rewarded with the evening off.  A guest Sergeant-at-Arms was appointed, Peter Newson, formerly of Marlborough Club but now of Phoenix.  Peter drew attention to a few of John’s failings and he was duly fined to the delight of everyone and at the end John was presented with a leprechaun hat.  

The real entertainment then followed in the form of music from the Kennet Accordion Orchestra who gave an excellent performance and brought the most enjoyable evening to a conclusion.

President Rex Sandbach entertained Rotary members and several of their partners to a fascinating account of a Hindu Wedding.  The Rotarians present had been wondering at his authenticity in recounting the story but we soon learned that it was from personal experience!  Rex’s daughter had married a Sri Lankan man she met at Cambridge and, being a Hindu, they went through traditional ceremony as well as the civil ceremony. Apparently 350 family and guests were present at the wedding, which took place in a special wedding venue near Heathrow airport. As father of the bride Rex had a prominent part to play, which included wearing traditional dress - see photograph.  

Rex said that he and his family throughly enjoyed the whole event, which for some the celebrations extended to several days. He explained that the whole family is now are treated as “one of the family” by this in-laws. So much so in fact that they recently went to India to attend one of their new relation’s weddings. 

His intrigued audience asked many questions following which he received the usual Rotary “Thank you”  applause.

On Friday last week at 3pm Father Christmas opened his grotto and waited for the first of the children to arrive. However, his first visitor was Mayor Councillor Margaret Rose who congratulated him on his appearance and also the lovely grotto where he lived.  There then followed children in groups of eight, often accompanied by their parents, who met Father Christmas and listened to a story.  Upon leaving the grotto the children were met by three mischievous Elves who presented each child with a present and a glow stick.  By the end of the evening it was estimated that two hundred children had visited the grotto. 

The Grotto for Father Christmas had been constructed by a small and dedicated team led by Jenny Larson who had spent the previous afternoon in Marlborough Town Hall designing and constructing it in record time. As well as the Grotto the hall had to be organised to look inviting and support the ancilliary activites planned for the day. So tables and chairs were strategically placed around the room, a Christmas tree installed together with wrapped boxes to look like Santa’s presents and to complete the scene fairy lights where hung around the hall

Before, during and after the children visting Rather Christmas parents and the children consumed copious amounts of  tea and coffee, mince pies and cakes. Also popular was the excellent hot mulled wine on offer which was most appealing to parents who came into the hall chilled by the drop in the temperature outside the building.  In one corner of the room ‘face painting’ was enjoyed by many of the children and the club thanked the two young students from St Johns School and Academy for their artistic endeavours throughout the afternoon. Also in the hall could be found a stall selling the Rotary Foundation Christmas Cards.

Outside the building, members of the Club joined the Police and others acting as marshals patrolling the extensive market which saw huge crowds enjoying live entertainment and some forty stalls displaying their wares.

All proceeds from Father Christmas Grotto will go to Naomi House Children’s Hospice together with Rotary Charities supported by Rotary.

See Scouting for Girls video made at the Marlborough Lights on Event which shows action around the town

Scouting for Girls

17 November 2015:  Marlborough Christmas Tree Erected

On last Sunday morning, 15th November, seven trusty Rotarians led by Jack Torrens and Paul Cowan  faced a strong gusty wind when they erected the Christmas Tree inMarlborough High Street. The tree provided by ‘Jadecliff’ was placed into position by Julian from T.H. Whites with his JCB to whom the club owe enormous thanks. The club were more than pleased to receive a visit from Stella Harrison during the morning who  provided some well earned mince pies for everyone.

Our meeting of  9th November was presided over by John Robins one of our most respected members and, not entirely coincidently, Sergeant-at Arms.  Despite being President for the Night John insisted on retaining the right to fine people for misdemeanours and being liberated from the usual constraints from Chair had a field day. 

But, as the photographs show, John was a trifle thoughtful about the overwhelming responsibility before realising in a flash his power over us all following which he seemed to regain his appetite.     

The evening also saw the first of the new series of 100 Club Draw, run yet again by the indefatigable Peter Mansfield. He thanked all the participants for their contributions, which provides £500 towards our Club funds.The lucky winners on the night were Howard Small, Mike Reeder and Richard Dewey. Full draw details in the Results section of the Members area.

2 November 2015: An Inspiring Talk by Local Author, Vanessa Lafaye

This Monday, Marlborough author Vanessa Lafaye, came to talk to us about her life and her published first novel "Summertime" which has received excellent reviews. 

Vanessa described her life from birth in Tallahassee, Florida growing up in Tampa and attending Duke University in North Carolina. During this time she visited and fell in love with Paris and after her degree returned there; but it was not a success so she moved to England and started a career in academic publishing, eventually moving to Marlborough with her husband in 2003 when she wrote her first novel about a group of women with breast cancer.  It was soon after that Vanessa herself got breast cancer, something that changed her life for both bad and good. After her treatment finished she trained as vocal teacher and founded the Marlborough Community Choir building on her great love of singing. Looking back she saw that as one of the best decisions she has made. 

Discouraged by her lack of publishing success and debilitated by the cancer treatment she gave up gave up writing for a few years until a visit to her family in Florida in 2010 where she saw in a local paper a story of a lynching in 1935. Back in Marlborough researching that period of history of which she knew little she discovered the story of the Labour Day Hurricane and the terrible treatment of the World War 1 Veterans that had been shipped to Florida to build bridges. She was inspired by the story and over the next two years wrote her first historical fiction novel “Summertime”. Venessa knew that it was her best work, the publishers agreed and book deals were signed in UK, US, Germany, Holland, Italy, France, and Norway. A big boost to sales was to be selected by the Richard and Judy Book Club.  Vanessa concluded that she is ample proof that it’s never too late to have your dreams come true, even under great adversity, provided you are prepared to work hard and also have a little bit of luck.

After a lively question and answer session Tony Spranger gave the Vote of Thanks to Vanessa for an entertaining and inspiring talk.

Vanessa Has her own website and more information may be found on this about her life and her novels.

1 November 2015: Rotary President (and a VIP) visit Pewsey Primary School

19 October 2015:  Marlborough and District Youth Services Explained 

We were fortunate in having a duo of speakers at our meeting last Monday, both from Wiltshire Council, to speak about local youth services in the current world of limited budgets.  
Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Officer started the talk explaining that his primary role was to link skills and needs within the community to achieve services and project delivery from local organisations and individuals that had previously been provided by Wiltshire Council. He works closely with Marlborough Area Board and manages the small grant of £45,000 from Wiltshire. This money is earmarked for specific projects, not general expenditure, which includes projects related to the provision of youth services.   

Andrew handed over to Jan Bowra, Community Youth Officer, who gave a passionate presentation on the need for youth services in Marlborough and immediate locations. She described the situation in which the youth services, such as the youth clubs in Marlborough and Pewsey, that had provided a location for the vulnerable and less advantaged youth to congregate and to receive guidance and support had been closed. This closure has left a huge gap in the provision of services and needs of these youth and Jan sees her role as an enabler, getting the community and youth to work together to deliver alternative facilities and youth projects.  Her target age range is 13-19 but with the more vulnerable this can extend up to 25.  She expalined that lack of adequate funds is always an issue as is the lack of community and parish council support in many of the outlying parishes. This is exacerbated by lack of transport which limits the ability of youth living in these areas to participate in more central activities. 

Jan said she was always looking for support and during the prolonged discussion several avenues of support involving Rotary were discussed, including participation in the Rotary youth leadership programme and Young Chef competition as well as helping with community minibus transport. Paul Cowan closed the thought provoking evening with the Vote of Thanks.

19 October 2015:  Rotarians Assist with Interviews at Pewsey School

10 October 2015: Visit to HMS Daring a Memorable Day

Key to the success of the visit was the organisation by Lt Samuel Fields, husband of Rotarian  Lydia who very kindly extended the invitation for us to discover just how good the ship is at her job.  Sam was ably assisted in his task by Lt Scott Mackie.  Between them they shepherded the party in two groups around the ship answering all our questions (at least the ones that did not give away military secrets!) from the bridge through the systems control room and the warfare room and even to the captain’s cabin (prior permission having been obtained!)   

After a splendid lunch in the ratings mess and an even more splendid drop of navy rum in the ward room it was off for a tour around the harbour to review several naval ships, the submarine museum and other naval installations before returning to disembark for our tour around HMS Victory in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.  HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy’s, best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is now the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world's oldest naval ship still in commission. Sam and Scott once again took the role of tour leaders and gave us an interesting account of the ship and we certainly noticed the difference to HMS Daring. We all agreed which on one we would prefer to serve! 

After tea it was farewell to Sam and Scott and back on the coach to Marlborough, several of the members taking the opportunity for a nap - was it caused by the second tot of rum?  

Rotarians may access all the pictures of the trip through this link:   PICTURES

7 October 2015:  Rotarians support Jubilee Centre AGM

5 October 2015: All about the River Kennet

Rotarians learnt all about the activities of Action for the River Kennet  - “ark” - in a most interesting talk by Anna Forbes. They heard that ark has been in existence for 23 years and that it monitors the whole of the River Kennet from its source in Clatford through to Reading.  Its original purpose was to campaign against high abstraction from the River, which caused it to dry up at times of drought. Fortunately and due to the pressure this activity has almost completely stopped.

The River Kennet is important because it is one of only 200 chalk rivers in the world, 161 of which are in the UK. Apparently this statistically makes it more rare than a rainforest.

Ark current activities centre around the monthly monitoring of the river’s health, measured by the density of key invertebrates present, a practice known as “Riverfly Monitoring” and of maintaining banks and other essential features of the river such that it provides the correct habitat for several species such as water voles, otters and kingfishers. The monitoring was responsible for identifying the type and source of a significant solution event some three years ago and also finding foreign species destroying the natural flora and fauna, such as the Himalayan Balsam and American mink.

After a lively question and answer session President Rex Sandbach gave the Vote of Thanks. 

21 September 2015:  An Entertaining Talk on a Serious Subject

11 September 2015:  Rotary supports Pewsey School Food Technology

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7 September 2015: Rotarian of the Year and the Graphologist

Our meeting of 7 September featured the award of “Rotarian of the Year”  for 2014/15 to Peter Mansfield, “Manny” to all his friends.  Presenting the award to Manny past President Gerry Hooper spoke of Manny’s many years of unstinting service to the club, his editorship of “Spoke” the long running club magazine, and to his current role as Club Photographer. (although the picture of Manny with past President Gerry is not by himself, Manny not being into “selfies”)

Later in the meeting Christina Strang, our speaker, talked about her work in graphology, the science of handwriting analysis, which fascinated the Rotarians with the extent of characteristics, illnesses and other conditions of the human body that may be determined from detailed analysis of individuals handwriting.  The evening concluded with lively question and answer session.

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27 August 2015: Bank Holiday Boot Sale Cancelled

As dawn broke at 06:00 under leaden skies, and light rain seven Rotarians and one brave wife met on Marlborough Common to set up the Bank Holiday Boot Sale.  After a welcome cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin kindly provided by June Oades the stalwart crew stood around waiting for the rain to stop. Regular checks  on the weather forecast showed not a glimmer of hope that things might get better only that it was scheduled to get worse. So at 07:00 with no sellers nor early buyers in sight the decision was taken to cancel. Of couse at that point one or two cars of optimistic sellers did arrive and were disappointed to learn that their early morning start had been to no avail.  

Apologies to those that made the effort to come along but with the very wet ground and more rain forecast it was no day to run an outside sale

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24 August 2015:  Rotarians Baffled by Quiz and Find New Leader

The meeting on Monday 24^th August provided members with a most enjoyable quiz presented by Lydia Jackson Fields and Jeremy Zabell, ably assisted by Don Ross. The questions tested Rotarians to the full with far reaching subjects including Germany, Food and British nobility. Winners were a team “led” by Sergeant at Arms John Robins whose “generous” prize consisted of being excused by him of any penalties at one future meeting. 

Interestingly, Don Ross introduced a new member who positioned himself on the vacant President’s chair for the evening. Rotarians were heard to muse that this could in fact be another new President in the making.

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22 August 2015: Rotarians Active on Road Safety

Marlborough & District Rotary Club assisted the organisers of the successful annual Prospect Hospice fund raising concert, Avebury Rocks.  The day included a 20km sponsored walk across the region’s Neolithic landscape and where it entered modern times at road crossings Rotarians were deployed to ensure that the walkers crossed in safety, as may be seen from the photograph of the team.   

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10 August 2015:  Pewsey Heritage Centre Visit

Thirty five Rotarians, partners, family and friends met outside Pewsey Heritage Centre last Monday for a private visit hosted by Rotarian Paul Cowan, who is also chairman of the Heritage Trustees. The visit was laid on in place of the usual Monday meeting that had been cancelled due to the golf club, our normal venue, being closed for special event

The party was split into two for the visit and Paul and a fellow heritage stalwart proceeded to give fascinating talks about the development of the Centre and the numerous exhibits. Rotarians agreed that it was more interesting than the Rotary meeting was likely to have been. 

All too soon the visit was over, was it really an hour and half that had flown by, and Paul decided that he needed something to cure his thirst after all that talking. So it was off to the Golden Swan at Wilcot for pre-arranged fish and chip/steak and chip dinner organised by Jack Torrens. And very good it was too, especially washed down by pint of 6X (in the case of this scribe).  

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3 August 2015: Roger Jones Entertains Rotarians

Roger Jones, owner of the Michelin starred restaurant, the Harrow at Little Bedwyn,  gave a fascinating talk about his life to Rotarians at our recent meeting. Introducing him, Lydia Jackson, who is getting married this weekend, thanked him for giving his time to talk to us. Roger expalined that he started in his chosen career straight from school, rising quickly to becoming a head chef at state banquets, where he took wine with the Queen. He went on to being chef at 10 Downing Street asking Mrs Thatcher not to sit on the work surfaces (a brave man), before moving onto running private functions for stars such as Mick Jagger.  And then, 17 years ago, he bought the foundering pub in Little Bedwyn and turned it into a successful restaurant, where Roger combines his skills in cooking with his love of wine. 

Roger talked about the big tasting events he has organised around the world, especially the Australia v South Africa wine challenges, the way wine change as tastes change, such as lower alcohol content and less oak in chardonnay and value of South African wines.  The story of a disaster involving valuable wine glasses at one of his many charity dinners amused the Rotarians whilst at the same time being very impressed by the amounts of money raised.    

After lively question and answer session Geoff Oades proposed the Vote of Thanks    

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2 August 2015: Horseless Steeplechase Held in Perfect Weather

The third Horseless Steeplechase was held in perfect weather at the picturesque setting of the Barbury International HorseTrials country course.  Rotarians from Marlborough and District and Swindon Phoenix Rotary Clubs had spent many hours in preparation for this annual event which this year raised funds for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.  In turn the Air Ambulance supported the event by providing the first aid cover, although fortunately their skills were not called upon this year. 

Three races, for Novices (2.5 miles), Chasers (5 miles) and Thoroughbreds (10 miles) were run with a total of 87 runners competing over the challenging hilly course made more difficult by the frequent jumps more usually seen being cleared by horse and riders!  Prizes were distributed by District Governor Tony Horn to the first three men and ladies in each of the categories.

Thanks also to our numerous sponsors without who the day would not have been possible.

For details of the event and the full list of results go the the Horseless Steeple Chase Website at: RESULTS.   Pictures of the event can be seen on this website at: PICTURES.

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24 July 2015:  Heavy Rain Stops Play at Bowls Evening

A group of 14 Rotarians with partners meet at Pewsey Bowls Club on Friday 24 July to play bowls but the heavy rain prevented any attempt to be able to play or show our lack of skills on the bowling green. (the picture shows what the organiser imagined for the evening).

In compensation the would-be players repaired to the very reasonably priced bar to drown their sorrows and attempt the “Quiz” provided by Keith Bew.   Whilst racking their brains for answers the Rotarians and partners were able to  enjoy and fine cold meat salad with excellent new potatoes and, especially for the sweet toothed, there was strawberries and cream or a very nice sherry trifle for dessert.

The brilliant brains of Barbara and Mike Reader along with Don and Lyn Ross won the Quiz and received the normal valuable prize presented on such occasions.

Our thanks to Di Atchison for providing such good food and to John Atchison for helping to organise the facilities for a very pleasant evening of fellowship and fun. Also our special thanks to Keith Bew for arranging this event but unfortunately not being able to control the weather. 

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20 July 2015: Lydia Talks about a Career in Family Law

Our newest and youngest member Lydia Jackson entertained our meeting tonight with stories from her life so far as a lawyer.  Of course, much to our disappointment, as a consummate professional she maintained the confidentiality of clients, but nonetheless the stories were fascinating and kept even the members most prone to “post supper dozing” awake.

Lydia explained that ever since she had declared at the age of eight she wanted to be lawyer this had been taken on board by her parents as a “good idea” and her career only had one direction after that. After qualifying in family law Lydia worked for a London firm of women only lawyers specialising in divorces of high net worth couples. This proved to be eye-opening because of the sums involved and most interesting because several legal precedents were set by the cases involved.  But like all good lawyers wide experience is necessary and she was soon offered a job in Gibraltar, which proved different, partly because much of the place operated like UK in the 1980’s.  Soon love and impending marriage brought Lydia back to Marlborough, where for the last year or so she has been working happily in family law with a firm of local solicitors.

After some searching questions on law and the fairness of the compensation system Peter Lincoln gave the Vote of Thanks to which the members responded with alacrity.   

It was also noted in the meeting that the Sergeant at Arms, John Robins, was particularly lenient in the fine imposed on newly installed President Rex for starting the meeting nearly ten minutes late.

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18 July 2013: Jazz Festival Goers fill Rotary Buckets

Not actually one of the many cars that we parked last Saturday on Marlborough Common but there were hundreds of others that Rotarians guided safely into their parking spot. Once again the Jazz Festival organisers had recruited our Rotary Club to ensure that cars parked in an orderly manner when visiting the ever popular  Marlborough International Jazz Festival, one of the town’s largest events. 

Proceedings got off to less than perfect start when it was realised that the access road, Frees Avenue, had not been coned off the previous evening thus parked cars restricted the road to one vehicle width.  Not a helpful situation and one that caused much annoyance to road users, even when the situation was partially alleviated by opening another gate onto the parking field. It was situation that was not under control of Rotarians but we can only apologise to those who were inconvenienced by this lack of organisation.

We use the the event as an opportunity to collect donations to charities supported by Rotary and as usual the Jazz festival goers, even those frustrated by the long queues were generous in their giving and almost £550 was raised by the "bucket collection" 

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8 July 2015: M&DRC Boules Team Regain Losing Streak

Our hopes of carrying forward our winning run from our previous boules match were soon shattered when our oponents, the Rotary Club of Royal Wootton Bassett, went straight into the lead, which they maintained throughout the match.  This was hardly surprising as their team included a couple of boules league players, and their skill and experience was clearly evident.  That said, we won one round and pressed them hard at various times in the match, but they were worthy winners.  That leaves us with just one more match to play:  a home fixture versus Royal Wootton Bassett Town.

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11/12 July 2015: Barbury International Horse Trials Boosts Funds for Rotary Charities

Our Rotarians, supported by their wives, partners and family members and ably assisted by volunteers from Prospect Hospice and Swindon Phoenix Rotary Club, were in charge of car parking for all the visitors to this prestigious event. They all enjoyed a day under sunny skies at this venue nestled in the picturesque Marlborough Downs. At least that was the story for Saturday, unfortunately the weather on Sunday was not so convivial with overcast skies and heavy rain deterring all but the determined from attending.  Nonetheless, overall the event was success and helped swell Rotary’s charity coffers with the collection of over £1100, to be split between Prospect Hospice and other charities supported by Rotary. 

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7 July 2015: Rotary President and Photographer Visits Jubilee Centre

President Rex is shown presenting a cheque for £493 to Carole Walker, the Manager of the Jubilee Centre, to purchase two special chairs for the residents

Our Club Photographer decided that since it was such good day that he would look at the Rotary Heart of Gold Roses, planted in the the Priory Gardens to commemorate 100 Years of Service by Rotary International.  The first picture shows the planting team lead by then President Terry Krill (2003/4) and the second as they look today. 

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6 July 2015: President Rex has his First Taste of Power

President Rex Sandbach officiated at his first full Rotary meeting last Monday.  It was an uneventful meeting with the exception of the outstanding film presentation given by Peter Mansfield. For the presentation he had put together a series of hilarious film clips of comedians from the 50’s and 60’s that kept his fellow Rotarians laughing throughout the show. The picture shows the (mainly) attentive audience - who is that person enjoying an after dinner nap? 

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2 July 2015: Famous Victory for MDRC Boules Team 

A Report by Dave Frampton 

The Marlborough Rotary Boules team followed Jeremy in his new car to The Forrester’s Arms in Calcutt where we watched in amusement as he shot past the pub having seen a very large sign saying ‘Bikers welcome on Thursday evenings’.

Our opponents, Royal Wootton Bassett Rotary Club, were very late but not seeking a bye, on the grounds that we were not confident of winning anyway, we decided that we would play anyway. To get to the rink required us to walk tall, well as tall as Jeremy could manage at 5’ 2”, through a hundred or so huge bikers with beards and long hair and very loud machines. Once through this unexpected challenge we commenced our match.

After a hard fought series of ends Marlborough found themselves in the unusual position of having won four of the six matches, including the triples, with Sally and Jeremy excelling themselves. Final score 9 to 4 for Marlborough. The team put the victory down to training, pre match briefing and tactics plus the the bullying by the manager. In fact the team was so exhausted that none of them remembered to record the happy event with a photo. 

Thanks to Alison, David, Terry and Frank from Royal Wootton Bassett Rotary Club the Marlborough team had a thoroughly absorbing evening.

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29 June 2015: President Rex Sandbach Takes Over as Past President Gerry Looks Forward to a Well Earned Rest!

29 June saw the changing of the Guard at the Rotary Club of Marlborough and District when, after a very busy year President Gerry Hooper passed the baton and chain of office to the new President, Rex Sandbach.  But before doing so President Gerry conducted his final meeting, firstly circulating a “thank you” card from St Mary’s school thank us for their time at Longleat with Kids Out and congratulating Richard Dewey on his part in the organisation. 

Long time Rotarian and Past-President (88/89) and ex-District Governor (95/96)  Alan Martin gave a brief (at least he said it would be brief - for him!) resume of his 30 enjoyable years with Marlborough & District Rotary Club saying that he was sorry to be leaving but that he would be joining his local Devizes Rotary Club without delay. He planned to keep contact with Marlborough club and we wished him well in his future.  

President Gerry gave a short trip around his Rotary year highlighting events and achievements, leaving no-one in any doubt as to the time and whole hearted effort he had put into his Presidency. He mentioned the support he had received from the Committee chairmen and specifically thanking Hon Sec Martin Couchman and Hon Treasurer Peter Lincoln. Taking control of the meeting after the formal handover President Rex thanked Gerry for the excellent work he had achieved and considered that he should be proud of his achievements, a sentiment that was echoed by all Rotarians present. 

President Rex expected the following year to be somewhat different under his Presidency with the introduction of his new ideas and committee responsibilities as outlined at the Club Assembly.  He the presented the chain of office for President Elect to Sally Wolfenden, for her year in preparation for being President in 2016/17, when she will have the honour of being the first female president of the Marlborough & District Rotary Club. 

22 June 2015: Cheque for £1000 presented to Prostate Cancer Charity

At our meeting of 22 June President Gerry Hooper present a cheque for £1000 to Jim Laing of Prostate Cancer UK. The monies had been collected at the Marlborough Food Fair and other locations.

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21 June 2015: Children's Trip to Longleat on 10 June Voted a Success

On 10 June over 800 disadvantaged children attended the Kidz Out day at Longleaf, organised by the local Rotary Clubs.  Supported by the Marlborough and District Rotary Club were 31 children from three local schools St Peter’s and St Mary’s in Marlborough and Pewsey Vale in Pewsey, accompanied by several teachers and helpers.

  

Our children’s ages ranged from 8 to 13, but whatever their ages they all thoroughly enjoyed the activities provided on a wonderfully sunny day. Particular highlights reported were the digging for dinosaur bones and getting so close to the animals at the wildlife park.  Thanks once again to Rotarian Richard Dewey for organising the event for our local attendees.

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19 June 2015: 150 Enjoy an Entertaining 50th Charter Celebration

7pm on Friday 19 June saw Marlborough and District Rotarians, their wives and partners, honoured guests, including Mayor of Marlborough Margaret Rose, and visiting Rotarians, including a contingent from Minden Rotary Club in Germany, assemble for pre-dinner drinks at the Alexandra House Hotel, Wroughton as the Gershwin Gang Trio played. The gentlemen looked resplendent in their dinner jackets whilst the ladies looked a picture in lovely evening wear of assorted fashions as appropriate for a warm summer’s evening. 

Soon Master of Ceremonies and sometime Sergeant-at-Arms, John Robins, called all 150 of us into the dining room to start what proved to be an excellent evening of dining and entertainment. The tables had all been superbly decorated with floral displays for which thanks to Alison Zabell and her team of dedicated helpers. Her husband, Rotarian Jeremy, had been set the task of making table numbers, which he had accomplished in great style.  The tables were also laden with the bottles of pre-ordered wine, but that soon reduced as the evening progressed and the talking increased. 

Once everyone had eventually found their tables, seating plan courtesy of President Elect Rex Sandbach, (displaying his organisational skills) and greeted their fellow diners they eventually sat down, thus allowing the hotel staff, who did an excellent job throughout the evening, to bring out the first course. Suddenly there were gasps of surprise and laughs of amusement around the room and it soon transpired that these were caused by the pictures of past Rotary Events and Rotarians being projected onto two large screens around the room. Memories of happy times and younger looking people and comments such as - “could it really be him, slim and with all that hair?”  abounded.   Very many thanks to Peter Mansfield for all his hard work in putting together the film show. 

As the Gershwin Gang Trio continued to entertain us to their special brand of music, another treat was in store from Magic Circle magician Richard Young when he visited each table and performed jaw dropping tricks before our eyes. Just how did he get that ring onto his key ring in his back pocket? and how did he manage to get that wine bottle under the table? Questions hotly debated but with no answers!

After the intermission, President Gerry Hooper addressed the diners and in concluding his speech offered a toast to the guests to which visiting Rotarian Hans-Ulrich Mehlmann responded.  District Governor Elect Tony Horn made the toast to Marlborough and District Rotary Club.  During Gerry’s speech he paid tribute to the hard work of the organising committee, led by Terry Krill, without which the whole evening would not have occurred.

The raffle then ensued using the envelopes that had been so carefully left in each diners place with instructions to insert £5 and then clearly write their name on the outside. The star prize was two flights to Paris, others including nights in hotels and tea for two at the Ritz made it a raffle to remember. 

It was then time for magician Richard Young to take centre stage to show more amazing tricks and illusions to the baffled audience.  All too soon the show came to close and there was just time for some more socialising while the disco played dance music for the more energetic before the carriages arrived at midnight for those returning home. Happy Rotarians and their guest left with commemorative presents and the ladies with their part of the floral display from their table. Many of the revellers were staying in the hotel so found their way to the bar to continue the night until that too closed and it was time to find their unsteady ways to their respective rooms. 

Breakfast the following day was remarkably quite affair. Was it just because we were all absorbing happy memories of the night before or was there another cause?

For many it was just a short break before resuming festivities at a barbecue at the Waine’s house to entertain the visiting Rotarians from Minden.  

Photographs of the Evening Available through this LINK

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17 June 2015: Boules Team tastes Defeat (Again)

On an unseasonable cold and windy evening Marlborough played their first match of the local Rotary boules league at the Red Lion pub near Malmsbury. The "away" team South Cotswold B, last years champions, left us in no doubt why they are the champions, in all games producing an above average performance. The photograph shows the President and Martin Luxford talking tactics, which proved to be a fruitless discussion.

After a resounding defeat we congratulated the home team on their win.  Following the match we were treated to refreshments and thoroughly enjoyed S Cotswold Rotary Club's hospitality. 

Our next match is away to Swindon to be played on 24th June, details to follow.

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15 June 2015: President Elect Rex Sandbach Outlines Plans for 2015/6

Our meeting on Monday 15 June was Club Assembly at which a well attended meeting was pleased to welcome Richard Purdon, District 1100 Governor Nominee, shown in the photograph, who came to hear the plans for 2015/16 as explained by our President Elect Rex Sandbach.  

In a wide ranging presentation President Elect Rex described the type of club in which he hoped members would get more satisfaction from targeting big projects rather than "more of the same". To aid the change he had changed the committee structure for the following year allowing people with particular expertise to remain in positions with which they felt comfortable. He considered that projects involving the local communities, of which he gave several examples, should be our priority and that our self promotion and advertising should be better. All in all he wants to encourage the club to become more professional. 

President Elect Rex then invited Chairman of the new Community & Community committee to talk about his plans for the following year followed by Martin Luxford chairman of the International Committee and then David Hunter chairman of the Social Committee. David outlined many potential trips and activities which, if the all eventuated would provide avery busy year for us all. Jack Torrens, chairman of the Resources Committee completed the presentations. 

In his response Richard Purdon congratulated Rex on his ambition and plans. He also set the plans into context of Rotary International, describing the progress made in eradicating Polio, Rotary's main international project. On current trajectory only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain affected by the condition. He concurred with the Rex's drive to bring professionalism into the life of Rotary and also described some of the initiatives to increase awareness and membership.   The current Rotary membership is increasingly ageing and needs new, younger, members to carry the good works forward.

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3 June 2015: Rotary President stars in Boules Match

In this friendly match against the team from the Barley Corn Inn, Collingbourne Kingston, we were very pleased to put up an excellent performance despite being a few short on numbers. Stars of our team were President Gerry and Jeremy Zabell who very much held their own ensuring that overall our team gave as good as we got. In his after match debrief Team Captain Edward Ferguson felt that despite being a trifle rusty after the winter lay-off his team showed great potential for the league challenge this year.

Afterwards we were treated to refreshments and a social evening by our hosts.

Our first league match is away against South Cotswold "B" at the Red Bull Malmesbury on Wed 17th June. 

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25 May 2015: Bank Holiday Monday Car Boot Sale raises £800

Bank Holiday Monday found the stalwarts of Marlborough Rotary preparing for their car boot sale on Marlborough Common. As well as welcoming the early sellers cars were being parked, tents were being erected and kitchens were being installed. Soon the heady aroma of coffe and bacon sanwiches filled the air and hunger pangs started to be felt. Over fifty sellers set up their pitches and soon the first of the buyers, keen for that bargain purchase arrived to peruse the many wares on view. Although not perfect weather it did stay dry and people enjoyed themselves, although it must be reported that several people found the timing necessary to visit the distant loos a challenge.  The organiser of the event, in his hurry to go on holiday, had forgotten to book the essential portaloos. Our apologies to all - it will not happen at our next boot sale on August Bank Holiday Monday. Make anote in your diary, its the 31st August. 

Treasurer Peter Lincoln counted the day's takings and found them to be a respectable sum of just under £800  

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13 May 2015:  Rotary Announces next Car Boot Sale on 25^th May

Marlborough Rotary Car Boot sale will be held on Bank Holiday Monday, 25 May, on Marlborough Common from 7am to 12noon.  Plots are £10 for cars and £12 for vans.  Sellers from 7am, Buyers from 8am. 

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8 May 2015: Donations for Nepal Earthquake Relief exceed £1600

Once again the citizens of Marlborough and Pewsey have been generous in their donations to provide humanitarian relief for the victims of the Nepal earthquakes .The collections in Marlborough and Pewsey raised £1632,, and this money will be used by Rotary to provide Shelter Boxes , which provide the essentials to support  a family  and other long term aid, supported by the Rotary Foundation. Each Shelterbox , which costs £600  contains a tent, thermal blankets and groundsheets ,water storage and purification equipment, solar lamps, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, and children’s activity pack. Shelter Box is linked with Rotary International, in a world- wide partnership.

 

Gerry Hooper, The President of Marlborough and District Rotary Club said  “ The people of Marlborough and Pewsey have again shown their generosity  in support of the unfortunate victims of the terrible natural disaster in Nepal. Thank you to everyone who gave  a donation."

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27 April 2015: Report of MDRC visit to Rotary GB&I Conference Belfast on 7^th-12^th April 

A group of Marlborough Rotarians made the trip to attend the Rotary GB&I conference which this year was held in the city of Belfast. Most of the group headed out on Monday evening to Bristol from where our Easyjet flight was to whisk us to the Emerald Isle. Unfortunately due to a late arrival by the time they arrived at the hotel in Antrim dinner for some consisted of just  biscuits and Guinness

A beautiful Tuesday morning and we headed to the coast, firstly for a tour of the world-famous Bushmills distillery (including whiskey tasting before midday) and then a visit to the amazing Giant’s Causeway. The coach trip back to Belfast around the Antrim coast was most spectacular – the remarkable weather matching the scenery and made for a very pleasant trip.

The next day included a visit to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and a visit to the gardens at Mount Stewart House concluding with dinner at a famous fish restaurant in the heart of Belfast and a stop at an authentic adjacent pub where Guinness was available. The hotel was relatively close to the ‘Titanic Quarter’ and a visit to the excellent Museum left a lasting impression.

The Rotary GB&I conference took place at ‘The Waterfront’ and following registration the group attended afternoon events which included a talk from RI president Gary and other excellent and uplifting presentations including a most amusing talk by Dame Mary Peters.

Saturday included a most interesting tour of some of the areas of Belfast whose names are familiar to us from ‘the troubles’ and in the afternoon some of the group visited Stormont – a spectacular venue. The visit finished that evening with enjoying a variety concert at the conference venue.

Rortarians may view the full report and all the photograhs on the Club Member News and Information page under the Members Only tab above 

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25 April 2015: "Know Your Blood Pressure Day" a Great Success 

On Saturday 18th April our club, like hundreds around the country, set up our stall in the Jubilee Centre in the High Street to encourage Marlborough shoppers to Know Their Blood Pressure. Dave Frampton, Jenny Larsson and Richard Dewey, enthusiastically assisted by President Gerry Hooper lured them inside to the team of Rotarians waiting with their questionnaires and monitoring equipment.  Those ‘patients’ with an optimal result beamed as if presented with a Gold Star, while others with lesser results were advised to visit their doctor. One lady who had just received a call to tell her that her offer on a house had been accepted begged to be allowed to retake her pressure by which time it had lowered itself to normal.

Of the testing and monitoring team Ron Wright definitely had the best bedside manner and Peter Waine was definitely the chattiest whilst Lydia Jackson, our latest and youngest  Rotarian displayed all the best attributes of a seasoned Rotarian. All contributed to making what could have been a trying time for some into an enjoyable experience that was further enhanced by the sticky cakes donated by St Mary’s Under Fives.  

In total an excellent 91 questionnaires from a wide age range were returned to the Stroke Association. Our youngest ‘patient’ was 11years old and others ranged from Marlborough College students through to the more mature of age.

Thank you to all who participated giving their time and energy. 

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20 April 2015: Rotarians Enjoy Wine Tasting Evening

During the meeting on Monday 20th April club members, together with wives and partners, enjoyed a wine tasting evening presented by Mark Chamberlain.  Mark’s talk centred upon six different wines which were accompanied by an explanation of the country of origin, taste and aroma. Of particular interest was the Vondeling Merlon Rosè which was clear and not the usual pink in colour. Mark explained that the grapes for this particular wine were freshly gathered and then crushed without the skins subsequently providing an almost clear image.
A grand evening that was full of interest and one that enlightened those present with wines from around the globe.

30 March 2015: Chairman of Cox and Kings entertains Rotary and Guests

Rotarians , their partners and guests were treated to an entertaining and informative talk by Tony Good, the Chairman of travel company, Cox and Kings.  Tony explained away the success of his career as "being in the right place at the right time" but it soon became evident to the audience that it was much more due to his expertise and hard work.  From his first job as a journalist we learned of his time with an airline company, of starting his own public relations company, Good Relations, which through its involvement with Grindlays Bank in India first came into contact with its subsidiary Cox and Kings, a freight forwarding company. Their job was to turn Cox and Kings into a tourist company and Tony with his experience of the airline travel industry got the job. Their first package holiday to Bombay was launched in 1971, unfortunately just as the war with Pakistan commenced! Then through the requirements of Indian regulations Grindlay's had to sell Cox and Kings and Tony and an Indian partner took the opportunity and bought the company. In the subsequent years they turned it from a company with 1 UK office and 3 in India to one having 205 offices in India and 19 in the rest of the world, including 9 in the UK.  Tony modestly acknowledged that amongst many business awards achieved during his career he was in receipt of the OBE for services to UK/India business.

After a lively Q&A session Tony Green gave the Vote of Thanks.