A Charity Record – Well Done, Buttsbury

A memorable Club Zoom meeting on December 7 saw us joined by headteacher Ann Robinson and Buttsbury RotaKids.

Traditionally we would have visited the new RotaKids club at their school to meet them all and complete a formal investiture and hand-over of their badges of office.  Sadly, the restrictions in place due to Covid-19 made this impossible this year, but we didn’t want them to miss out on the ceremony, so we worked with Headteacher Ann Robinson to arrange a suitable alternative.

On the appointed day, Headteacher Ann and the 5 officers of the club dialled in to our Zoom meeting for a “real” virtual ceremony.  Led by their President Ethan, each of their officers told us why they wanted to take on this responsibility and gave a report on their experiences so far.  The other officers are: Vice President – Oliver Chandra, Secretary – Sophie Thomas, Treasurer – Hayden Fitch, and Public Relations – Emma Henry.  All recited and confirmed the RotaKids pledge and received their badges of office from Head Teacher Ann Robinson.

Even bigger than we thought

As always, their reports were delivered fluently and to great appreciation by our members.  We have previously reported on their funsdraising efforts but they updated us on a year when they raised a record amount of just under ten thousand pounds through their sponsored run-in aid of Cancer Research (£8994.50) which had been postponed from March due to Covid-19.  In addition to this, their “Hello Yellow” day in aid of Young  Minds raised £233.00 (children paid to wear something yellow instead of school uniform), and a further initiative in aid of Children in Need raised £723.95.  This total of £9951.45 is the most ever raised by a single RotaKids club anywhere in this District, and puts some Rotary Club events in the shade! 

Ann said how delighted they were to work with our Rotary club and to praise the efforts made by the RotaKids officers and committee.

President Peter led the RotaKids in a final recitation of the RotaKids Pledge and gave the vote of thanks, to acclamation.