Awards Ceremony (30 April 2014)

A special award ceremony was held at the clubs lunchtime meeting on 30th April 2014, when Keith Misselbrook was presented with a Long Service certificate & Jannine Birtwistle with a Paul Harris award by Rotary District Governor John Eade.

Keith Misslebrook

LONG SERVICE AWARD

April 29th 2014 saw the 50th Anniversary of Keith Misslebrook as a member of the Rotary Club of Guernsey.

Keith was presented with a Long Service certificate and a personal letter from Ron Burton, President of Rotary International by John Eade, the District Governor of district 1110, who was paying the club a visit.

President, Nigel Dorey gave the attending members and guests a brief resume of Keith's history in the club and not only praised Keith for his commitment and dedication to the club, but also the fact that he was (in Nigel's words) one of the nicest men he had ever been fortunate enough to meet.

Jannine Birtwistle

PAUL HARRIS AWARD

Jannine's Rotary life began in 1989 with a GSE visit to Texas. Jannine was a police officer at the time and enjoyed visiting their Police force and actually going out on night patrol with them (would not let her have her own gun!)

This trip really opened Jannine's eye's not only to Rotary but what she wanted to do with her life.

1994 - Guernesaise club started and Jannine joined. She served many roles on the club including President in 2006.

2007 - Jannine was offered a place on District Council as Polio Officer which she held for 3 held years

2008 - we had our first lady member join - Claire Le Pelley and she was followed shortly after in 2009 by Jannine

2010 - Jannine was appointed District Chairman of Foundation again a post she held for 3 years

2013 - Jannine was appointed to Rotary GB&I Foundation committee

In the same year Jannine was also asked to take up the position of Rotary GB&I Polio champion responsible for 3 Districts in the South East of England.

Jannine has also been our District club representative since 2007 and has also sat on the District Grants committee, a role which has helped this club enormously (Uganda, Philippines bus, Delancey etc.).

A new interest for Jannine has been the Rotary Bequest Society which is something she is very supportive of, but it is with her Polio hat on that we know her best and in 2010 she travelled out to India to assist in the immunisation programme, based in Deli. While there she was not satisfied with simply helping with Polio but took time to visit the Rotary Japor Limb Centre where she and Paul were so taken with the work they do, they are now official speakers on behalf of the centre.

Her fundraising for Polio is by now legendary, in 2009 she set up the very successful Polio Plus merchandise internet shop, which she runs with Paul. She also started the Purple Pinkie day fund raising initiatives in the island, something that has raised many thousands of pounds for the Polio campaign. In addition she held the Jazz for Jabs evening which raised £7,000 and also open garden events which have raised in excess of £4,000. In short she is responsible for raising tens of thousands of pounds for this cause which is so close to her heart.

To date Jannine work has been recognised and she has been awarded: Polio Plus Rotary International Regional Service Award and the Rotary International, World Health Organisation Chairman's Meritorious Service Award for Foundation Service.

Before the Rotary District Governor, John Eade was asked to present the award, Nigel thanked Paul Birtwistle, Jannine's husband, with the following words - If ever there was a supportive husband then Paul is the man, he is not only behind Jannine in everything she does, but is alongside her. We in Rotary whether in Guernsey, Rotary GB&I, or RI all appreciate this and offer him our thanks and gratitude.