What we did in 2023/2024

In March 2024, the Young Musician of the Year Competition was back after a 4-year break.  It was the 25th and a souvenir programme was produced for the occasion.  It was held in the Blunsdon House Hotel.  There were 24 entrants in two sections, Junior and Senior.  The adjudicator was Paul Turner, the widely renowned local professional musician who has given masterclasses at such places as the Guildhall school of Music and Drama and the Musicfest Aberystwyth.

Leading the Club as President for the second time was Ann Debureaux-Dias.  In November she entered the 47th Rotary European Golf Open Championship in Marbella, Spain, and came a commendable 9th.  Then in June she was at the Rotary International Golf Tournament at St Andrews in Scotland, one of 290 competitors from 20 different countries.  She came 6th overall, 1st lady and 1st senior.  A fantastic achievement by our brilliant golfing President, even more amazing considering she didn’t take up golf until 2020.

Fundraising events began in November with a TV Game Show in the Swindon Town FC lounge.  It raised £2,000 which was presented to the Olive Tree Café in Cheney Manor.  The Christmas Sleigh Appeal outside Asda West Swindon and Morrisons in Dorcan collected £5.540 which enabled the Club to present  £500 to each one of 12 local charities.  The annual Quiz with a Ploughman's Supper and home-made desserts, organised with the Inner Wheel Club, raised £1,382 which was donated to Wiltshire Treehouse, a charity that provides bereavement support to young people.  The annual Swimathon was held in June, the main beneficiary being the Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group.  Almost £6,000 was raised of which £3,670 was presented to the Group.  Other donations made in the year included £1,000 to the Hydrotherapy Pool in Swindon and £1,180 to ShelterBox. During the year, ShelterBox made us a Bronze Partner Club.

Another Student Chef Competition took place in April when students at Swindon College competed for Rotary prizes.

In May some members of the Rotary Club of Ingolstadt-Kreuztor in Germany joined us for a long weekend.  They were taken on guided tours of Avebury and Burford; they enjoyed a traditional Sunday lunch in the Cotswold Merrymouth Inn; and, on another day, had a cream tea in Bourton-on-the-Water.  Joining us at our regular Club meeting they told us about their project to build a school for children in Akunda, north of Nairobi.  They wanted to make us aware of the project to see if there was any way we could help.

Of the dozen or so speakers invited to our meetings, perhaps the most memorable was Jim Macleod, a professional Toastmaster.  He gave an animated presentation on the history of the traditional British Toastmaster.  And best for entertainment was The Parky's Singers at the Christmas meeting.

Social events for members and partners included a theatre visit to the Watermill Theatre near Newbury to see “The Lord of the Rings.”  And the Weekend Away was to the Black Country living Museum in Dudley.  The annual Fireside Suppers took place in February.