Paella Party Boosts Rotary Charity

Everything we do in Rotary – even partying – has a good charity reason. None better than End Polio Now, one close to all Rotary hearts. 

Thirty of us gathered on July 2 when once again Carol and Patrick Rothon hosted us in the sunshine for a wonderful paella party in their lovely garden at Brook Lodge.

Together At Last

Our last meeting?  March 2020!  - a normal club meeting at Reids.  Our last face-to-face social meeting?  August 2019!  That was the last time we met socially.  Where? Also in the garden at Brook Lodge.  Covid has a lot to answer for!  Thankfully we all survived the pandemic unscathed.

Two years on, same again. Carol provided the food and did all the cooking, aided by freshly baked bread provided by treasurer Michael Ginn, and drinks provided by President Peter.  Ben Curtis provided the salad and some paella ingredients, Christabel donated the strawberries, Sue Ginn and sarah Kettle made the salads and Sue Acors made the trifle.  Many thanks to you all!  

Worth having, Worth waiting for

It was an inauspicious start because our original date of June 29 proved the worst day of the week with rain and low temperatures.  A quick change and we moved the event to Friday, which turned out to be the best day of the week - higher temperatures and no rain.   Almost all the original attendees were able to join us, and we had a full complement at 30 within government guidelines. 

Always something special about a party in the garden – especially when it is hosted on the luscious lawns of one of Stock’s finest houses. On arrival, tables, chairs, and gazebos had all been erected on the lawn by Patrick with ample help from Roger and Malcolm (thanks guys!), with ample seating for all, spread out to meet social distancing guidelines.

Carol can twist anyone’s taste buds with her chicken paella. Exceptional again, and with the salad and delicious deserts.  Suitably replete and suitably satiated, members were quick to greet old friends and the chat (and the gossip) flowed freely.  Such a great change not to see ourselves from the waist up over Zoom on a PC or Tablet screen!

End Polio

Everything we do in Rotary – even partying – has a good charity reason.  None better than End Polio Now – a charity close to all Rotary hearts, So, all the guests offered at least £20 a head, a small donation to a great cause and a wonderful afternoon.

As in 2019, the party was a great fund raiser.  Treasurer Michael reports we made just over £670, which with Gift Aid and the Bill and Melinda Gates multiplier, means that the total benefit to End Polio was over £2500.

Vote of Thanks

Our thanks again to Patrick and Carol for their usual hospitality, hard work, cooking and food, and to president Peter, for whom this was his last official event of his year, who provided the wine, and whose camera insisted he came.
With his usual modesty Peter told the Newsletter:  “Otherwise you would not be seeing how much fun we had.”  Peter made the vote of thanks to generous applause.  But bravo Peter.  Time to all go home..