News Items from April 2013 - March 2014

Shown below is a thank-you letter from The Brain Tumour Charity for our donation to their cause.

Marie Curie Cancer 

On Saturday the 29th March we joined with members of Ewell Rotary Club for a collection for Marie Curie Cancer care at the Ashley Centre.  the sum of 550 was collected and many thanks to the generosity of Epsom shoppers and to the Ashley Centre for giving us facilities to collect.  Marie Curie Cancer will also be at the Epsom and Ewell Borough Family Fun Day on the 21st September and for more information of this event please click here.  For information as to the great work carried out by Marie Curie Cancer Care please click here.   

CHANTILLY

On Wednesday 19th March led by President Carol, six Epsom Rotarians and their partners raided a meeting of our contact club, Chantilly. The group was welcomed by the President, M. Jean-Louis Vignaud and members of the committee and enjoyed a pleasant dinner, making new friends and renewing old acquaintances. We were given an interesting talk by M. Guy de Fontaines on France-Galop and how racing is organised in France. The following day Jean-Jacques Lesaffre of the Chantilly club organised a tour of Chantilly and its environs. We visited a famous training facility with manager, Matthieu Vincent and Christiane Head, trainer of last years Prix de lArc de Triomphe winner. We then visited St Peters Anglican Church to view the renovation work, for which Epsom Rotary had supported fund raising activities, and then toured the royal stables and the recently opened living horse museum. After a good lunch we visited the Chateau and rounded the day off with a cup of tea at the English Shop. The opportunity was taken to finalise details for Chantillys visit to Epsom in April. The next day, President Carol, in her role as Epsom Mayors secretary, and supported by members of the Town Twinning Association, presented a plaque, on behalf of the Borough and the Twinning Association, to M. Claude Charpentier, councillor and head of twinning. This plaque will be mounted at the new grandstand.

The picture above was taken at the dinner with the Presidents table in the foreground and below shows members of both clubs at St Peter's Church.  A very big thank you to Richard Deavin our club Assistant Secretary, for liaising with Chantilly Club and organising the event for us.

INDUCTION 

On Thursday 13th March our President Carol was delighted to induct Clive Richardson as a new member of our club.  We very much look forward to working with Clive who is well known to our members and we are all delighted to welcome him.  The photo below shows Carol and Clive at his induction.

"Bandanas for Brain Tumours Day"

One of our members recently lost a friend who died as a result of having a brain tumour. Coincidently, his daughter had taken up a position with "The Brain Tumour Charity" during the period that his friend was receiving treatment. The Charity had declared March to be "Brain Tumour Awareness Month" and Friday 7th March to be "Bandanas for Brain Tumours Day". Following a brief discussion with our President Carol it was decided to have our very own "Bandana Day', but at our meeting on 6th March when the ladies would also be present. Bandanas were obtained from the Charity and purchased by our members and ladies at our 6th March meeting. Donations were also made for wearing or not wearing the bandanas as appropriate. The Charity had recommended 1 for wearing a bandana and 2 for not wearing one. In fact people were far more generous and 210 was collected in donations and 90 for sale of the bandanas.

Carol also had the idea of requesting people to bake or donate cakes which would be sold by the slice at her place of work, with all proceeds being added to the amounts raised by the sale of bandanas and donations. A further 47.50 was collected this way making a total of 347.50 being raised for the Charity.

The photographs above tell their own story and below a photo of our Secretary Terry and his wife Ann, who could not attend the 6th March meeting, proudly wearing their bandanas at the All England Badminton Championships.

For information about the Brain Tumour Charity please click this link.

Epsom Rotaract "Great British Quiz"

On Saturday 1st March some of our members joined with many members of adjoining Rotary and Rotaract Clubs and friends, to support the Epsom Rotaract "Great British Quiz" in support of Epsom Medical Equipment Fund.  It was a fantastic evening and our secretary Terry's team The Quizzicals also won on the evening!  Epsom Rotaract President John Bishop wrote after the event:-

"I would like to thank everyone who came out and supported Epsom Rotaract's quiz on  Saturday1st March. I hope you all had a nice time and enjoyed the evening. I enjoyed emceeing and helping out, as did everyone who helped on the night. I'm very happy to report that we have raised 1800 for our chosen charity, Epsom Medical Equipment Fund! A job well done! A great number that should go towards some new equipment for the hospital! Thanks again to everyone who bought raffle tickets, drinks and generally had a great time!"

Below is a video taken by John at the beginning of the evening and a big thank you to him and all members of Epsom Rotaract Club for such a fantastic evening.

On Saturday the 22nd February we were delighted to hold our club heat of the Rotary Young Photographer 2014 national competition.  Students from Rosebery School and Epsom College competed in the senior age category (14 to 17), with students of Rosebery entering in the intermediate age group (11 to 13).  The theme for this years competition was People and students had to provide their inspiration, with the standard of photography from all entrants being exceptionally high.  The senior winner was Beth Melham (photos above) of Rosebery School, with Phoebe Gibson and Olivia da Silva both of Epsom College coming second and third.  The judge commented on the winning photos  Great photos of the subject matter, combined with superb ideas and with a refreshing imaginative perspective on the inspiration  The Intermediate winner was Tayyiba Choudhury (photos below) of Rosebery with Ella Rose Price and Hannah Boniface second and third.  With regard to Tayyitas photos The judge was very impressed by the very striking images which invoke an emotional response being one of the main precursors.  Each composition shows a great degree of evocative imagery and the use of a camera phone to take these images at the age of 11 shows a high degree of proficiency.   We would very much like to thank local photographer Chris Gray for judging the competition and Rob Johnstone of Epsom College and Hannah Wiggins-Thirkill of Rosebery School for entering their students and processing the applications.  The winners photographs will be entered in the Rotary District Final of the competition and the results of this should be announced by the end of April.

On Saturday 22nd February our club members took turns to man a stall in the Ashley Centre, selling African craftware in support of AMECA the charity run by our member Ruthie Markus (see below).  the sum of just over 400 was raised, which is a fantastic result for a one day sale.  A photo of the stall is below and many thanks to the Ashley Centre for supporting the sale.

On Wednesday the 12th February Robert joined up with Joyce Mooney, Head Chef of the Canopy Restaurant, Epsom, to prepare and cook his menu for our Club's regular supper club meal.  We were also delighted to be joined by Robert's mother Sally and Jayne Glister, Head of Food Technology at Blenheim High.  the pictures below show Robert with Sean and Joyce Mooney and all of us, enjoying the evening and Robert's fantastic menu.

On Saturday the 8th February the District Final of our Rotary Young Chef competition took place at the newly built South Thames College, Merton catering school, with 12 young chefs competing from schools across our district.  Our club heat winner Robert Wells from Blenheim High School put in a fantastic performance and missed out on a placing by whisker.  The photos above shows Robert's food as presented and all the competitors, together, with the judges Andrew Wilcock, Micheal Lloyd and Bernadette Byrne, the Deputy Mayor of London Borough of Merton with our District President Ron Daniels.

On the evening of 7th February the 2014 the English speaking contest for schools, organised by our friends Chantilly Rotary Club took place. Many Chantilly Rotarians and their Rotary District Governor were present, and Epsom Rotary club was represented by Richard and Diana Deavin and Colin Peel. Coincidentally all three are also members of the Town Twinning Association.  Richard Deavin was elected to join the judges panel consisting of J-J Lesaffre, Chantilly Rotarys liaison with Epsom, and no less than 6 lady English teachers, chaired by the English former Head of a local secondary school.

There were two classes Francophone (8 candidates) and Anglophone (6). All contestants were aged about 16 and from different schools and backgrounds in and around Chantilly.  For each class the candidates were given 20 minutes to prepare a 5 minute speech in English on a topic based on the general subject of Europe and the EU. The topics were known in advance and prior preparation was therefore possible, but the allocation of topics was made on the night and the speeches had to be put together without the benefit of any notes previously made.  The results were generally impressive; we felt some sympathy for the few candidates who lost their way under the pressure.

The pressure was nothing to that imposed on the judges: instant marking was required under categories Quality, Command of language, Clarity of Diction, Ease and Eloquence of Delivery, and Relevance. Results were analysed by computer and the judges were then required to discuss their marking and adjust if necessary. Feelings ran high in the judges post contest deliberations, but finally winners were selected and prizes presented by the District Governor and other distinguished guests and sponsors.  The Judges and UK guests were entertained to Dinner by Chantilly Rotary Club.

In January our club member Ruthie Markus has been back in Malawi furthering the work of AMECA, a charity working to provide sustainable medical care and facilitiies.  As ever Ruthie has had a very busy schedule, but one of her engagements was to give a presentation to Limbe Rotary Club and the picture above shows Ruthie making this to the club's President.  Also Blantyre  Round Table in conjuction with Blantyre Cycling Club organised last November a cycle event raising some 6000 for the charity and please click here and for a Malowi newspaper report on this, with a photo of Ruthie accepting a "very large" cheque on her tour this month.  For more details of the work undertaken by AMECA please click here.

The stormy weather over Christmas and New Year bringing with it very high winds and floods have had a devastating affect on many families, their homes and businesses.  Our friends at Pitstop, a day-time drop-in centre for the homeless and unemployed suffered sever flooding of its premises at Leatherhead Football Club, on two seperate occassions.  In response our club has agreed to provide a sum to cover the purchase of specific replacement equipment and we are liaising as to what help is needed.  For a report in the local Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser as to the effect of the flooding and how you can help, both finacially and practically please click this link.         

Many congratulations to Tom Drake a Past President of Ewell Rotary Club on two occassions, for being awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List.  Tom has worked tirelessly for Rotary and Water Aid among many charitable and good causes.  A report on Tom's award and his achievements from our local Guardian newspaper can be accessed by clicking this link.     

A very big thank you to everyone who contributed to our Christmas collections for Rotary Charities and our local good causes which raised a fantastic sum of 2695. Thank you also to Epsom Rotaract, who as ever gave us great help and support on our collections and to Sainsburys Kiln Lane, for making arrangements for us to collect at their store in the run up to Christmas and to their customers for their fantastic generosity.  The photo above shows some of our Epsom Rotaract helpers with Santa. 

On Saturday the 7th December we held our club Christmas party at Epsom Downs Racecourse.  The theme was the 20's and we all had a great time dressing up for the event, as can be seen from the photo above.  We all had great fun and a very big thank you to our President Carol pictured below with her husband John, for organising.

On the 2nd December our Club heat of the national Young Chef competition 2014 took place at Blenheim High School.  3 students from Blenheim and 3 from Rosebery each prepared a 3 course healthy meal for 2 people costing no more than 15, with a setting up time of 30 minutes and cooking time of 2 hours.  Standards were exceptionally high and all the competitors put in a great amount of work and care and the judges Sean Mooney of the Canopy Restaurant, assisted by our club President Carol Caiger were extremely impressed at the very high standards.  The winner to go forward to our Rotary District final to be held at Merton College on the 8th February was Robert Wells of Blenheim, with a menu of creamy butternut squash soup, followed by sea bass on a bed of chorizo and potatoes, with raspberry cranachan for sweet.  Robert won the Eligo Cup and also received a 50 voucher to spend at Lakeland.  Second prize of a 30 voucher went to last year's winner Abi Luff of Rosebery, with Leanne Tedder of Blenheim taking the third prize of a 20 voucher.  Epsom Rotary would like to thank Lakeland Epsom for sponsoring the event, the competitors, the judges and the teachers Jayne Glister of Blenheim and Jan Hanly of Rosebery, for all their help and support in running the competition.  The photo above shows all the competitors together with their teachers and Carol and below shows Carol presenting Robert the trophy and his prize.

Our club meeting on the 28th November marked the first meeting at our new lunch time venue Cuddington Golf Club, after many years meeting at South Hatch.  Unfortunely we had to move due to the closing of South Hatch and our last meeting there on the 21st November was tinged with sadness at the end of an era for us.  We are so grateful to Wendy and all the staff at South Hatch for looking after us so well over the years.  The photo above shows our members first meeting at our new venue and this will appear on our International Greetings card that we send to clubs abroad.     

November and Movember is now over and this month our club members, partners and friends donated 250 to the cause. Please click this link for news and details of how to get involved. The picture above shows some of our members and partners at an event that our President Carol held at her home in support and below shows our Secretary Terry, who dyed his moustache blue for a bet with his wife Ann to support the cause! Note a copy of this picture in the group above.  A very big thank you to Carol and John for running the event and to everyone who supported.

On the evening of Thursday the 21st November Christmas was started in Epsom town centre with a parade through the town, which was crowded with families and leading the parade was our Tilly the Train all decked out in lights and decorations with Santa on board.  It was a great evening and the photos below show Tilly with Santa, on the move through the town.

On Sunday 17th November we held a lunch at the RAC Club Woodcote Park, for members and partners.  Organised by our President Carol we were treated to a delicious meal and a great afternoon.  The picture below shows all those attending enjoying themselves and a big thank you to Carol for organising and the RAC.

On Tuesday the 12th November our club together with Ewell Rotary Club started 4 days of collecting for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan at the Ashley Centre.  We returned on Wednesday the 13th, Thursday the 14th and Saturday the 16th with members of Epsom Rotaract. Money collected went to Shelterbox who were already in the Philippines and providing boxes to those in need and for information as to what they are doing please click this link.  Over 5000 in total was collected over the 4 days which is a fantastic amount and a very big thank you to Epsom shoppers for their generosity and to the Ashley Centre for all their kind support in providing facilities for us to collect at such short notice. The photo above shows our Richard Deavin left, Tony Axelrod centre and our President Carol Caiger collecting at the Centre.

On Wednesday the 6th November our club was delighted to sponsor a club heat of the Rotary "Young Musician" competition, which was kindly hosted by Epsom College

The competition is open to young people aged under 18 and provides a stage for musical talent to shine. Our club heat winners will progress to the Regional Final, with the winners progressing on to a National Final to win the title of "Rotary GB&I Young Musician of the Year".

The competition is in two categories - Instrumental and Vocal with students from Epsom College, Sutton Grammar School and Therfield School competing and standards were extremely high.

Will Goddard of Epsom College won the Instrumental category, playing Hypnosis by Ian Clarke and Pan et Les Oiseaux by Jules Mouquet. Isabel Thomas also of Epsom College won through the Vocal category, singing Ridente la Calma by Mozart and Poor Wandering One by Gilbert & Sullivan.

The prizes were presented by our Mayor Councillor Colin Taylor and Epsom Rotary Club president Carol Caiger. 

Many thanks to all the competitors and Epsom College for making the evening such a wonderful event and in particular a very big thank you to Epsom College Director of Music Graeme Lodge for all his help and support.  The photo above shows our club President Carol with some of the compeitors and our Mayor and below shows the winners, again with our club President and Mayor.

Over the weekend of the 18th, 19th and 20th October 16 of our club members attended our District Conference in Jersey. We all had a great time attending the many though provoking talks and addresses and we enjoyed both a club party on the Friday and an evening of cabaret on the Saturday with Tom O'Conner, followed by dancing. Many of us tacked on some days as a late holiday and we had great weather! The photo above is a picture of all the club Presidents that attended and we of course made a great noise to welcome our President Carol (back row), when she came on srtage for the parade of the Presidents on the Sunday. The photo below shows us all at the party and a very big thank you to Carol and John for laying this on for us.

On Wednesday the 16th October at the Epsom and Ewell Sports Awards, Chris Shortt our Chair of Youth Service was delighted to present to Lesley Bennett our club prize for Outstanding Service to Sport 2013. Congratulations Lesley and we set out below her contributions to sport and achievements in the Borough that led to the award, among very stiff competition.

"Lesley has been coaching athletics in the Borough for 25 years. She coaches three times a week at Epsom & Ewell Harriers. Her nights include one with over 40 young people aged 7 10 years old and another night with 30 10 16 year olds. Lesley coaches all Athletics disciplines and also judges meetings. She has coached athletes that have won England Schools Titles, participated at Commonwealth Games and achieved World Records. Four of Lesleys daughters have been International athletes, Julia the eldest represented England in two Commonwealth games and became world high jump record holder for the over 40 age group. It is impossible to estimate how many children Lesley has coached in the last 25 years, many thousands of children have benefitted from her experience and guidance."

The photo above shows Chris presenting our club prize to Lesley and the photo below shows our President Carol with Active Surrey coach of the year winner: Martin Henlan. Please click here for a press article that gives details of all the winners.

It is with great sadness that we heard on the 4th October of the passing of our friend and Rotary Club member Peter Reynolds. Our thoughts are with Jackie and Peter's whole family at this sad time. Please click here for our memories of Peter.

At our club meeting on Thursday 3rd October our President Carol had two very pleasurable tasks, firstly to induct Michael Gibbs into our club and Rotary and secondly to present Bhusan Ghosh with a Paul Harris Fellowship. Michael is well known to our members and we are delighted that he has decided to join us. Bhusan has worked on our Foundation issues for many years and also organises our vocational outings, which have always been extremely enjoyable. The pitcture aboveleft shows Michael's induction and aboveright Bhusan receiving his Paul Harris Fellowship.

On Monday the 23rd September a team from our club as per the photo above attended a quiz night run by Leatherhead Rotary Club in support of Leatherhead & Mid-Surrey Samaritans and many congratulations to them for winning!

Most importantly a sum of almost 1,200 was raised for the local Leatherhead & Mid-Surrey Branch of the Samaritans a truly fantastic amount, which will be put to very good use.

Please click here to find out more about the work of the Leatherhead & Mid-Surrey Samaritans.

On Sunday 22nd September 2013 the Epsom and Ewell Borough Fun Day took place, jointly organised by our Rotary club and Ewell Rotary Club and opened by our Mayor Colin Taylor.

As with last year's event the main aim of the day was to promote the vast amount of voluntary and community work undertaken by Epsom and Ewell Borough local residents. We also wanted to give local charities, community groups and businesses an opportunity to promote themselves and in the case of charities to raise money for their particular good cause. The day was also one of family entertainment and fun, with many free arena displays.

We were delighted to welcome some 120 pitches run by local charities, community groups and businesses, offering games and activities for children and the Southern Golden Retriever Display Team and Huxleys Birds of Prey also provided free arena displays. We had many vintage cars and coaches and welcomed back the GB Martial Arts Association for a display, a childrens fun fair and a food court. A marquee run by the Borough was also on site, with many free activities and entertainment for all the family, celebrating the diverse cultures in and around the Borough Epsom and Ewell and the family dog show also attracted great interest.

We estimate that some 12,000 people attended and we all had fun with a great community spirit as shown by the small selection of photos here. Our club plans to primarily donate their share of the surplas to local charities and groups helping and supporting young people.

We would like to thank our event sponsors, Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, our local scout groups and the many volunteers both from Rotary, Epsom Rotaract and our supporters, who gave of their time freely and helped to make the day so enjoyable.

Finally we are starting the process of looking at the 2014 event and we would ask that you bookmark our event web site at http://epsomfunday.net/ and alo follow us on twitter @epsomfunday for updates.

On Thursday the 19th September we were delighted to have our club meeting at Epsom Coaches, our corporate member's HQ. Epsom Coaches were we believe the first corporate member of Rotary in Rotary GB&I and since they joined our club they have both supported and contributed greatly. 4 of their directors regulaly attend our meetings and they also partake in all our comittees and projects. Steve Whiteway their MD gave us a talk on both the history of the company, being one of the largest employers in our area and as to their plans for the future. The company has a great ethos of care and we were also shown round the site by Steve and his fellow managers/directors. A big thank you to Steve and Epsom Coaches from us all for a fantastic afternoon and please click here for a report of the event on the Epsom Coaches web site.

On Wednesday 18th September members of our club and Epsom Rotaract came together for an evening of ten pin bowling at Sutton Bowl.  We all had a great time and arranged an individual competition over 2 frames.  Tony of our club just pipped Helena of Epsom Rotaract to top spot and we hope to organise another similar event soon.  The photo above shows all those taking part.    

On Saturday night 7th September our club Charity Ball held at the RAC Club Woodcote Park raised 3500 for our President Carol's charities, the Butterfly Appeal and Dyscover.  With the theme of The Great Gatsby and with dancing into the night everyone got into the swing of the 20's, with over 160 attending and with great evening weather.  A big thank you to Carol, Barb Warwick, Terry Maggs our auctioneer and all the organising team and helpers for makng the occassion such a memorable one.  The picture above show Carol left and Lynne Bainbridge the CEO of Dyscover on the right, enjoying the evening.

This week our club member Ruthie Markus visited Limbe Rotary Club, Malawi. As mentioned below Ruth runs a charity AMECA that works in Malawi providing sustainable medical care and medical facilitiies. Ruthie received a fantastic Rotary welcome and the picture above shows her exchanging banners with the Limbe Rotary Club President. We hope over time to build stronger links with Limbe Rotary Club and for details of the work undertaken by them please click here and for the work undertaken by AMECA please click here

At our club meeting on Thursday the 5th September our President Carol was delighted to present to Chris Shortt the Epsom Rotary Club bowls trophy, which Chris deservedly won the other week in our club competition. The picture above shows Carol presenting the trophy to Chris. Well done Chris for a great win.

On Tuesday the 3rd September our club members were invited to an Open Day event at the house in Andrews Close Epsom, the keys to which being handed over to The Grange at a meeting that took place on the 16th May (see below). The Grange have done a fantastic job in refurbishing and adapting the house ready for occupation by local residents with disabilities. The picture above shows the ladies on the left Magdalena Sadler the Grange Project Leader, in the centre our President Carol Caiger and to the right Helen Soutter, Acting Supported Living Manager of the Grange, accompanied by our Epsom Rotary Club member Trustees, left to right Vernon Goulding, Terry Maggs and Ian Rankin. The pictures below give a flavour of the quality of the refurbishment, to make the house into a modern comfortable home for its residents. Please click here for a report of this project and donation in our local Epsom Guardian.

On Sunday the 25th August members of our club were invited to the annual Ewell Rotary Club BBQ, which took place at the Riding for the Disabled stables. We all had a great time and as ever enjoyed fantastic hospitality, with weather to match. A very big thank you to the organising team at Ewell Rotary club and all who helped lay on a great spread and a particular mention of Derek Povey and Duncan Cox, who organised the purchase of BBQ food on the Saturday. The photo below shows some of our club members, together with members of Ewell and Banstead Rotary clubs and our District Governor Ron Daniels.

On Sunday the 18th August our club members, partners and friends enjoyed a fantastic BBQ laid on by our President Carol and her husband John. The weather was fine and a great time was had by all. We were also delighted to welcome our District Governor Ron Daniels and his wife Helena. A big thank you to Carol for such a lovely event. The photo below shows our President talking to Ron and Helena and our secretary Terry, with some of our members and guests who attended.

On Saturday the 10th August we completed the work of clearing the St Ebbas Wildlife garden, taking up from the great work undertaken by Julie and Stella as mentioned below. The garden can now be fully used and enjoyed by patients and their families and we plan to be back again next spring, to keep on top of things. A big thank you to the team who helped on the day, some of whom are showed in the photo below, comprising our club members and members of Epsom Rotaract and our club supporters.

On Saturday the 20th July a first bash at the annual clean up of St Ebbas Wildlife Garden was carried out courtesy Rtn Julie Morris and helper Stella Lallement (pictured below). It is now possible to walk freely around all the garden, but more clearance and weed treatment is planned for 10th August.

At our club meeting on Thursday 11th July President Carol was delighted to welcome Lynn Bainbridge, the Executive Director of Dyscover who gave us an update on the work done by the charity and which is one of the local charities selected by our President for support during her year. You can read about Dyscover via the link in the next paragraph.

On Sunday 30th June as in previous our members helped to marshal the Race for Life run on Epsom Downs in support of Cancer Research UK.  From left to right in the photo below our President Carol, joined by members wives Ann Maggs and Caroline Harris took part in the race and the picture shows the ladies with their medals for completing the course.  For information about Race for Life and how to get involved for 2014 please click this link.

On Thursday 27th June we held our club induction meeting at the RAC Club Woodcote Park, when our President for the Rotary year 2012/13 Tony Axelrod had the pleasure of inducting Carol Caiger as our club's 90th and 1st lady President for the Rotary year 2013/2014. Carol announced that her charities for the coming year are the Butterfly Appeal and Dyscover and you can click on their names to be directed to their respective web sites and find out about the great work both organisations do. Our local Epsom Guardian has published an article about Carol and her Induction, which can be read via this link.

Carol then inducted her team of Clive Smitheram as President Elect, Andy Ballard as Vice President, Terry Maggs as Secretary, Don Ormiston and Richard Deavin as joint Assistant Secretaries and Richard Harris as Treasurer. Carol then had the greatest of pleasure of inducting John Bishop as President of Epsom Rotaract Club for the year 2013/2014. John leads a fantastic Rotaract club who have had a great year under the leadership of Helena Markan, with their own projects and fund raising and have supported both our club and many of our local Rotary clubs and community groups in projects and events.

The pictures below left show our member Julie Morris proposing Carol as our President and right Tony Inducting Carol.

The pictures below left show our President Elect Clive making his acceptance speech and right our Vice President Andy being Inducted.

The pictures below left show our club Treasurer Richard Harris and right our club Secretary Terry Maggs making their acceptance speeches.

The pictures below left show Epsom Rotaract President John Bishop giving his acceptance speech and right some of the members of Epsom Rotaract who attended.

For more photos of the event in a slide show please click this link

On Thursday the 20th June, being our last lunchtime club meeting of the Rotary year, President Tony was delighted to welcome Dalton Leong the Chief Executive of the Childrens Trust. Dalton gave a talk on the fantastic work that the Trust undertakes. Our club has for many years supported the Trust and later this year we plan to organise a concert at the Trust as part of Kids Out.

On Thursday the 6th June Tony was delighted to induct Ruth Markus as a member of the club. Ruth runs a charity called AMECA working in Malawi, supporting medical training and the proposed construction of a hospital. Ruth will be concentrating on international projects for our club and will be a great asset and we very much look forward to our working together. The picture above shows President Tony on the left inducting Ruth with Dave who proposed Ruth on the right. For details of the fantastic work undertaken by AMECA please click here.

Also at our meeting on the 6th June, we were delighted to welcome John Miles of Leatherhead Rotary Club who came to talk to us about the work being done and planned by the Rotary Club of Guildford Eye Project. For details of the work being undertaken by the project please click here.

On Thursday 16th May the keys of a house in Andrews Close, Epsom were handed to The Grange at a meeting that took place at their Bookham centre with Epsom Rotarians in attendance, together with The Mayor of Epsom and Ewell, Councillor Christine Long, the Chair of Mole Valley, Councillor Caroline Salmon and Mike Thorne our Rotary District Governor. Funding was provided by an Epsom Rotary Club connected Charity Fund.

The Grange is a modern forward thinking charity based in Bookham, Surrey which provides a range of high quality services to adults with disabilities, including provision of housing, 24 hour care and training in various skills enabling the clients to partake in work experience and potential employment opportunities. The house in Epsom has 4 bedrooms, 2 of which have ensuite bathrooms, a communal living room, dining room, bathroom and kitchen. The house also has a conservatory and a small garden, which will be lovely during the warmer months. Work is currently underway to adapt the property to suit the needs of the new occupants, whom it is hoped will move in this Autumn.

Judith Walker, CEO OF The Grange said, We are delighted to have this wonderful opportunity to be able to provide support to our people who want to live in Epsom and would like to thank all those involved in this project, with special thanks to the Epsom Rotary Trustees Terry Maggs, Ian Rankin, John Goddard and Vernon Goulding. Also our grateful thanks to the major benefactor, Past President Bert Umpelby'. The photo above shows the trustees presenting the keys and receiving the token rent of a pound and below shows the chariman of trustees Terry Maggs (Centre), with Judith and her fellow director. A copy of Terry's speech detailing the history of the fund and background to the donation, can be accessed via this link.

At our club meeting on the 9th May we were delighted to welcome Tricia Rutter of Epsom Waitrose, to talk to us about the Waitrose Community Matters project. Each month Epsom Waitrose donates 1,000 between three local good causes that their shoppers choose and many of us are familier with the green token, to place in a box of the good cause youd most like to support. Also Tricia explained that a project group also exists to give hands on support. More information can be obtained via this link.Tricia also kindly presented our club with a cheque for 215 raised in January for our charities and projects and we thank both Waitrose and their customers for all their very kind support. The picture below shows Tricia presenting the cheque to our President Tony.

On Saturday the 4th May members of our club and Epsom Rotaract Club and our supporters helped raise funds and awareness of the Epsom and Ewell Foodbank, who also had a very successful trolley push in the town collecting food. Information and collection points were set up in the Ashley Centre and in the Market Square and as ever the shoppers of Epsom were extremely generous and supportive.

On the 22nd April we were advised that Sui Yu Auof Epsom College won the senior category of our District Young Photographer competion and now goes forward to compete in the Rotary GB&I national final. The winning photos are as shown below. Best of luck Sui Yu Au for the national final

Over the weekend of the 13th and 14th April a group of our members which included our club President Tony, attended the celebration of our contact Club Chantilly's 40th birthday in Deauville, France. On the Saturday we enjoyed a guided tour of a Chateau producing Calvados, followed by an evening comprising a dinner and many celebrations. On the Sunday some of us visited the Erik Satie museum in Honfleur, followed by lunch in a quay side restaurant. The event was also attended by the Presidents of Chantilly's German and Belgium contact clubs and we all had a great time among our friends. Many thanks to Corry, the President of Chantilly club and to all their members for such a wonderful weekend. Some pictures of the event will follow.

On Thursday 11th April we were delighted to welcome Ruth Markus to our lunchtime club meeting. Ruth gave us a talk detailing her work with and for AMECA in Malawi, in supporting medical training and in particular relating to the proposed construction of a hospital, its sustainability and other projects. For details of the fantastic work undertaken by AMECA please click here

Saturday 6th April saw the Regional Final of the Rotary Young Musician competition taking place. Our club heat winners both from Epsom College, Will Goddard in the Instrumental category played the second movement of the Sonatina by Lennox Berkeley and Pan and the Shepherds by Jules Mouquet and Jake McGrath in the Vocal category sang Du bist die Ruh by Schubert and The Vagabond by Vaughan Williams. All the competitors who came from 4 Rotary Districts representing the South East of England gave fantastic performances and Jake took 4th place. Due to difficulties with the piano on the day the Instrumentalist section could not be completed and this was postponed to Saturday the 20th April. The pictures below show Will on the left and Jake on the right with their certificates and beneath Will, Jake and Graeme Lodge, Epsom College Director of Music. A very big thank you to our competitors and their families for all their support and to Graeme, for all his very kind help and for attending both parts of the final as accompanist.

THE STEPHEN WOODS CENTRE RECEIVED A MAKEOVER

Friends and members of the Rotary Clubs of Ewell and Epsom and members of Epsom Rotaract Club got together to re-decorate the Stephen Woods Centre in Blenheim Road, Epsom. The centre provides a much needed and appreciated youth club for local children aged from 8 to 13 and is also hired out for other functions. It has three rooms of 27, 54 and 112 square metres respectively and a reception/caf area. It was last decorated ten years ago and was looking the worse for wear.

The programme got off to a flying start on November 2010 when 19 members of the combined group set to and completed the base coat of white paint on all the walls and ceilings of the largest room and corridor. The second action day took place in January 2011, when a 17 strong team completed the remaining walls and the ceilings received their first coat of paint and work started on the woodwork and interior design features.

The third day took place in Februaryand further work days in March and April has seen the centre transformed with the complete application of a simple yet sophisticated design on the walls to give each room a unique identity and the whole centre a bright and contemporary feel.

The project has now been completed and on Saturday the 14th May the Centre was re-opened by the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell, Clive Smitheram. Thepictures immediately below were taken at the re-opening and from left to right show the Mayor with project members, with JohnDavis the President Elect of Ewell Rotary Club who led the project andHarry Corben of Epsom Rotary Club.There thenfollows pictures taken during the various work days,with a videocontaining an unofficial re-opening and a chronology of the project.

Before


After