History of Pinner Rotary - 2000 to present day
2000/01
£8,300 was presented to Macmillan Cancer Relief.
2001/02
A cheque for £5000 was presented on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Charity,
during the Caldicote Male Voice Choir concert at the Elliott hall.
2003/04
Link Club visit to Mosel region of Germany, hosted by Meerbusch club.
2006/07
The club raised in excess of £5,000 in the year for the President's charity, The British Heart Foundation and a smaller amount of circa £3,000 which was distributed to various local charities in the Pinner/Harrow area. Pinner Club hosted the link visit with Meerbusch and Bruges West Rotary Clubs in London. We as a board in 2007 put the wheels in motion for Lady membership. Sadly, we lost two very committed Rotarians in PP John Kerman and PP Leonard Summer who passed away, both having given years of loyal service to Rotary. Paul Harris awards were made to Rotarians Antony Moore, Derek Fullylove, Dot Knight, very active in fund raising and John Ayres in recognition of the Grangewood School.
2009/10
Previously, donations to charity were fixed at the beginning of the Rotary year, leaving no flexibility. For the first time though, money raised was shared flexibly, adding charities during the year. This year it was amongst a number of local "youth" charities and good causes as well as to Teenage Cancer Trust. Yet another "first" was to change meeting times from 6-30pm to 7pm. This seemingly small change was essential to enable far more people to attend & not just retirees. After much robust discussion the reality of ladies joining Pinner Rotary was finally accepted - long overdue! The move away from the very traditional "personal introduction" for potential new members continued and, from an 'End Polio Now" advertising campaign, our very first lady member was found.
2010/11
A new approach to recruiting new members resulted in 10 individuals joining the
club during the year. Link Club visit to Canterbury and Chatham in Kent hosted
by the Pinner club. Our fund-raising activities resulted in just under £15,000
being collected with the major donations being to St Luke's Hospice, Grangewood
School, ShelterBox and End Polio Now.
2011/12
Raised £18,500 in the year and gave £6,000 to the president's charity, Harrow
Young Carers. The Meal for Two collection raised over £4,000 which was a record
whilst our annual Christmas collection outside Marks and Spencer for four and
half days raised £2,900. 12 new members inducted over the year, 5 being female
and one completing our first couple as members. Link Club visit to Antwerp,
hosted by the Bruges-West club.
2012/13
During the year £17,500 was raised with £9,000 split equally between RAFT, Kids Can Achieve, & MacMillan Cancer Care. Both the Pinner Village Show & Meal for Two were a great success, primarily due to the great efforts of Tony Moore & David Bays. The summer collection outside Sainsbury's & the Christmas one outside Marks & Spencer were very successful as also was the April Quiz. A highly enjoyable Link visit was made to Dresden.
2013/14
Over the year a grand total of £28,500 was raised for numerous local, national and international causes. Of particular note, and a first for us, was a grant from Santander for £5,000 which was given to charities we agreed with them in advance. Another first for the club was a highly successful Bollywood evening at which about 350 guests helped to raise several thousand pounds. Amongst the various activities during the year, on the social side, there was a visit with partners to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The club helped at the Pinner Association concerts in the Memorial Park, ran Santa's Grotto at Pinner Panto Evening, organised the wheelbarrow race in the village on St George's Day, and once again organised and ran a very successful Pinner Village Show. We even found the time to induct three new members.
2014/15
This year we raised £3120 for Combat Stress and £1936 for Headway North West London which were our Presidents charities for the year. Contributions came from the Pinner Village Show. Meal for Two and for the first time, Santa’s Sleigh which toured the streets of Pinner for 6 evenings and which proved be very popular as dozens of children came out to see Santa. The Link visit was to Leuven in Belgium and 18 Pinner Rotarians with partners and friends attended. We also inducted 5 new members.
2015/16
Our President was able to present £5,000 to each of his chosen charities for the year – the Centre for ADHD and Autism Support located in Eastcote and Frustrated Communication based in Pinner. This represents the sum of our fundraising efforts through Meal for Two, Pinner Village Show, Santa’s Sleigh and the Christmas supermarket collections. In February, we raised a total of £2,070.12 (with some help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) for the Rotary International project to eradicate Polio. Pinner Rotary Club was proud to receive a "Certificate of Recognition" from the Mayor of Harrow in recognition of the voluntary service made by the club to the local community. Our Link visit this year was to Meerbusch in Germany and 24 Pinner Rotarians, partners and friends attended.
2016/17
A major event in the club’s history took place in May with the founding of an Interact Club at Haydon School. These clubs bring together young people aged 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self (which is every Rotarian's primary motto). In recent years, the club’s involvement with the Pinner St George’s celebration had developed to the extent that we now organised the event. This benefitted the club as we received a number of charity donations from local organisations and businesses which raised £1095 for our supported charity, Teenage Cancer Trust. In January Jordon’s District Rotary Clubs and our Club presented the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Charity with a cheque for £6,075.00 towards a Bladder Scanner. The London Air Ambulance was our Presidents charity for whom we donated £7,000. Our Link visit this year was to Liverpool and 24 Pinner Rotarians, partners and friends attended.
