Chatterbox 1014 - Belper Rotary Club

the rotary club of
belper &
duffield
World Heritage Site
-a birthplace of the Industrial Revolution
In this issue:
History of Belper Fairs
Computer Programming for Schools
Pride of Belper and Duffield Awards
www.belper-rotary.co.uk
1
CHATTERBOX
September/October 2014
Vernon Barnes receives his rubystudded Paul Harris Fellowship
Award from President John.
Report on page 6.
Members of the Belper Army Cadet Attachment who were invited to speak to the club by
David Collard. Report of the meeting - page 7.
2
My First
Four Months..
T
ime flies when you are busy! What a
true statement and it is really difficult to
believe I am already a third of the way
through my term of office. The year started
with the induction of new member, David
Pipe, who is proving to be a great asset to
the club and we are working hard to encourage others to join us. My main
focus has been to develop partnerships with other clubs and to ‘lighten up
Rotary’. Through our visioning programme we have made a secure start to
this. I deliberately now change from ‘I’ to ‘we’ as everything is a club effort
and everyone in the club is giving me great support.
We have had regular, lively and enjoyable club nights at the Lion Hotel,
now under new ownership and in the process of being refurbished. An
afternoon tea party by the river thanks to the hospitality of Nick and Ann
was greatly enjoyed by members and guests as was the ‘ramble’ through
the Thornton’s factory (and the factory shop!) arranged by John Frankland.
Social activities have included theatre/restaurant/Thornbridge Hall trips
thanks to John Lowe. Recent events include a well-attended fashion show
organised by Gail and was the first of our events on the new carpet at the
Lion.
We have shown an increased presence in the community
with regular litter picks and assistance at the Larks in the
Parks supporting Belper Town Council. Thanks to the hard
work and determination of Nick we held the very successful
Pride of Belper and Duffield Awards presentation to five
young local people. We are currently supporting the local
British Legion clubs with the sale of poppies in Belper and
Cover picture - Pride of Belper and Duffield Awards
The five recipients of the newly established Pride of Belper and Duffield Award with
President John Horwood and Felix Frixou, Guest of Honour. Report on page 15.
3
Duffield. The first walk of the club rambling group was organised this
summer and we look forward to monthly walks throughout the year. The
success of all our events has been due to the support of all our members –
thank you to everyone.
A group of members and partners attended the District Conference in
Llandudno in October where they experienced motivating presentations,
good company, good meals and good weather.
What are our plans for the future? The next big event is the launch of
our first lottery. As part of our partnership in supporting his forthcoming
charity appeal, Felix Frixou has sourced a car for us to offer as first prize.
We are very grateful to him for this and will be working with other clubs to
raise £10k to be shared by Macmillan Cancer Support and Polio Eradication.
The club will be laying wreaths in both Belper and in Duffield on Sunday 9th
November. The club is holding its Charter Celebration on November 10th;
this will be a Russian themed Banquet held at Hulland Ward Village Hall.
Again, the vast majority of club members are supporting this (the few who
cannot come have prior engagements). On November the 12th we are
holding an information evening for potential new members courtesy of
Benz Bavarian in their Duffield showroom; then comes December with the
Dalesmen’s concert and the Christmas collections. We plan to have two
weekends with Santa in his Grotto at Debradelei Stores in Belper in early
December followed by an increased number of street collections with
Santa and his sleigh. During the two days of collecting at Morrisons we will
also be selling our lottery tickets.
And so to next year … After a fairly quiet start in January, events already
organised include a Barn Dance on February 21st at the Nailers in Belper
and a major golf event on May 22nd at which the draw for the winner of
the car will be made. We will be continuing our visioning programme and
ensuring the high profile of Rotary within the community. This will include
the now well-established activities at local carnivals and village fetes. There
will be ‘follow-up’ activities to maintain the interest of potential new
members and to extend our activities with local schools. In short, we will
light up Rotary!
4
Meeting - 1st September
New Club Website
by John Scotney
B
efore the speaker – also the Activity Organiser - introduced himself, having
already been introduced by chair for the evening Eileen Murphy, David Soul
raised two items of business. First he mentioned new arrangements that Rotary
International are making to cover administration costs now that interest rates are
currently so low. He also gave early notice of a possible visit to Toyota at Burnaston
on a Tuesday or Thursday in the New Year. John Frankland then gave some details
of the forthcoming visit to Thornton’s later in the month, for which there were
some places still available (if you were fit and healthy enough to go!).
At the beginning of his presentation John demonstrated that getting on to the
club website was not straightforward. He showed some examples of the old (or
current) web site with some difficulty due to the wifi at the Lion not performing.
However in spite of technical problems associated with pieces of gear not talking to
each other, John was able to bring home the point that the old web site was too
wordy and not particularly reader friendly, although attractive enough with a
number of photos included.
John pointed out that the web site diary can be updated more readily than that
in Chatterbox which comes out at two month intervals. The projected home page
would show the new Rotary Logo, include a message from the club president and
list club activities. There would be a link to a Notice Board Page with any press
cuttings and also links to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
On the second page club activities text will be replaced by a pictorial based
display. There would be mug shots of Club Officers and at the bottom of the page
there would be a link to a Members Page (not for the general public) including an
up to date version of the Club Directory, the latest bulletin and Club Council Minutes.
John said that although the structure was settled there was scope for fine tuning.
Martin Drake thanked John for his comprehensive view of the future website.
The raffle drawn, by John Scotney of course, was won by David Soul.
John Norreys
Note - since this presentation, I have taken down the old website and attempted to
upload the new version, as demonstrated at this meeting. Unfortunately I ran into
a number of problems and currently there are only two pages with some basic
information about the Club. Now that I have returned from our break in Australia, I
will have another go to set up a website more in line with what was demonstrated.
JS)
5
Club Business Meeting
8th September 2014
P
resident John introduced us to the Rotary Club of Notre Dame, Paris this week, having reached
‘F’ in his alphabetical excursion of countries; some of the members rather fancied twinning with
this club! After the meal, he then proceeded to start talking about the different levels of Paul Harris
Fellowship while my dining companion, Vernon, fiddled with his pen. It began to dawn on Vernon
that the President was talking about him and his many years of dedicated service to the club! We
were all delighted to congratulate Vernon on the award of the highest level of PHF with the badge
containing three rubies, no less!
The Business Meeting commenced with members being invited to discuss any issues from the
Minutes of the last Council Meeting (20th August). It was agreed that the club would not pursue any
plans for twinning at the present but concentrate on more local initiatives. There has been considerable discussion about the current Committees structure and whether it was effective; it was decided
to try replacing the committees with ‘Officers’ who would take responsibility for individual projects
while involving individual members as required through ‘working parties’.
Martin Drake then presented a report on his efforts to get the Club involved with the fight
against Malaria. There seems to be a general lack of interest by society into this disease, even
amongst Rotarians. One interesting suggestion was to form links with a Rotary Club in Malawi
(Martin worked there in the 80’s) to help them with their malaria project, with the option of
expanding our involvement to District level.
Graham Wright reported back on the Golf Day being organised by Coral and himself as a major
club fund raiser; it will be held at Chevin Course sometime in May/June 2015.
Dave Ashley brought members up to date with the Open Evening to be held at Benz Bavarian
on Wednesday 12th November. A number of visitors are to be invited to the showcase event with
club members partnering them during the presentations of club activities. A finger buffet will be
prepared by some of the members for the occasion. President John announced that there will be a
Barn Dance in February and a Russian – themed Evening in March, both events planned to draw in
non-rotarians.
Nick Blurton reported that there had been a very poor response to appeals for sponsorship for
the Pride of Belper and Duffield Awards to be held on 20th October. This resulted in some of the
members offering to sponsor the awards to be made to the recipients.
International Chair David Harris reminded members that due to heavy demand for Aquaboxes,
there was a desperate need for funding for this work. The Happy Home Orphanage in Kenya was
making full use of the new polytunnels but there was now a shortage of water and they plan to
increase the rain water storage facilities. The next development is to set up small businesses to
provide employment for the less academic pupils and help the local community.
Finally, Gail and Dave Ashley asked members if there was interest in setting up a Walking
Group – there was, and also reminded us of the need for more books for Whitemoor Medical Centre
and the Disabled Club. Gail also proposed to set up a Rota for members to act as drivers for the
Stroke Club.
John Scotney
Photograph of Vernon receiving his new PHF on page 2.
6
Meeting – 15th September
WW1 Memorial and more …
by Belper Army Cadet Detachment
P
resident John’s choice of overseas club this evening was RC of Georgetown,
Guyana in South America; it has been established for 36 years and is in District
7030. The Board of Directors (Club Officers to us) is composed of 5 female and 4
male members and their main project is the provision of a dental bus, in cooperation with a club in USA and working towards a health centre.
David Collard then introduced his guest speakers, Cadet Colour Sergeant Dan
Toker, Cadet Sergeant Will Maynard and Cadet Sergeant Jack Tymon, all members
of the Belper Army Cadet Detachment. Dan introduced their presentation by
explaining their involvement with the WW1 Centenary Memorial, a plot on the
Chevin overlooking Belper which had the logo ‘WW1’ planted out in red poppies.
The cadets had started the work in September 2013 by marking out and preparing
the planting area. The poppies were planted in March and they have been in bloom
for most of the summer, including August, the month WW1 started in 1914. There
had been a lot of local interest in the project and it had received good press coverage.
Jack continued their story by telling us about the Annual Summer Camps held
in August when they spend 10 days in barracks, this year at Cromer. This is a
splendid opportunity for them to carry out training with marching, rifle drill and
generally developing military skills. There is also adventure training with abseiling,
archery etc and there are inter squad competitions based on all these activities.
While at the camp, the cadets took part in a vigil on the exact day WW1 started and
the senior cadets were privileged to go on a trip to Belgium to visit the Menin Gate
memorial at Ypres.
The final part of the presentation was a very sincere and heartfelt testimony by
Will on how joining the cadets at the age of 12 had changed his life. During the basic
training he was judged to be best recruit of the intake of 12 and he had gone on to
develop his confidence, leadership skills and teamwork and get qualifications in
various skills which had gone on to his CV to show to potential employers.
Answering questions, they explained that while the cadets was not intended as
a recruiting tool for the army, some of them do enrol in the regular army and it was
possible to get bursaries to go to university. Many cadets join from spending their
earlier years in cubs and scouts and it was open to girls, with many making senior
grades.
Ron Giffin, on our behalf, thanked the three young men for a most interesting
presentation and Stuart Limb’s return from France was celebrated with his winning
the raffle.
John Scotney
Photograph of the cadets on page 2.
7
Meeting – 20th September
Roll up, Roll up, all the Fun of the Fair!
W
by Neil Callandine
ith leaves falling, covering the ground and a definite feel of autumn in the air,
what then could be more appropriate than a talk on the history of Belper
fairs? Once the niceties of the meal and club business were completed, forthcoming
events were promoted, an inaugural walk on 2nd October led by Dave Ashley, the
last litter pick this year on 23rd October, again led by Dave and a theatre visit on the
28th November organised by John Lowe.
Marching out to the front with flourish and style, Peter Davies, with the aid of
a hand bell introduced the speaker Neil Callandine. What an excellent choice it
turned out to be, Neil is recognized and respected as an authority throughout the
U.K. on his subject. His enthusiasm gripped his audience immediately, with a superb
power point presentation adding to our enjoyment. I personally was fascinated that
fairs in this area can be traced back to roman times. In 1294 Duffield received a
charter from Edward 1 and poor old Belper had to wait until 1350 before King
Edward 3rd granted their charter, a simple form of celebration or fair to be held on
Quarter Days. People gathered, bought and sold goods, exchanged gossip, bought
horses, drank beer and generally speaking had a great time. In medieval times
buying and selling horses was the main attraction with the odd side show, peddlers,
fortune tellers etc.
By the time the Victorian age was in full swing, so was Belper Fair; barrel organs,
fortune tellers, boxing booths, roundabouts, a Zulu village, in fact every imaginary
side show you could think of. Also in full swing were the mills; Strutts was expanding
and the workers, apart from pubs, had little to brighten their lives. So what a night
at the fair must have been, even if it was infiltrated by vagabonds and pickpockets
mingling amongst the hard working folk of Belper. Respectability came when it was
decided by the good and the great (the Strutt family) to mark the end of the fair
with a church service on site. My mind boggles at the idea of singing hymns
accompanied by the barrel organ, complete with the monkey dancing respectfully
in tune!
In the 1920's and 30's Belper became the winter quarters for the fairground
showmen, a time for mending and painting the rides. Guess who was one of main
contractors for the painting? Yes, you are right, one of our own members, Vernon.
The Proctor family for a few generations past was involved and a regular site on the
Butts/Coppice was established. In order to satisfy the people's never ending desire
for more thrills and spills, Noah's Ark, The Wall of Death and even more terrifying
waltzers rides had to be provided. Perhaps the biggest attraction between the wars
ironically came from Germany. It was the Moon Rocket. Alas records do not show
who the inventor was; I could not help sitting there smiling and wondering if it was
one of Von Braun's early efforts. In 1935 a dispute arose between Mrs Proctor and
8
the Showmen's Guild. Whilst peace of sorts was restored in Europe, so in Belper
there was reconciliation, peace and good will abounding. In 1946 the fair returned
bigger and better than before, the Belper markets taking responsibility and making
a permanent site on the Coppice. For a few years it proved to be the fair's halcyon
days for a war weary people eager for a bit of fun. Even more scary rides, exotic side
shows and to top it all a full blown Wild West Show. It was claimed to have real
Native American Indians and Cowboys from Hollywood were being used, although
the more sceptic amongst the crowd recognised them as a few layabouts from
Sheffield. However it was the halcyon days and in 1952 it had a Civic opening as well
as a church service to mark the close. Alas history does not record if the barrel organ
or the monkey were present. 1953 saw the town council take over the Belper
markets, surprisingly a few cynics thought they would make as much money as they
could and ruin it. Oh ye of little faith, it went from strength to strength. Oh how I
wish I could have been there to sample the delights of the Mouse town family show
or be scared witless by a live crocodile display.
Alas time never stands still and fashions change, children today have to be
dragged away from the TV or even worse from game boy boxes. But I am delighted
to hear that the fair still flourishes today and crowds young and not so young still
flock to enjoy the experience of all the fun of the fair.
Since hearing this talk I have been telling my four year old granddaughter what
a great time we are going to have when I take her to the fair. She is really hyped up,
even to the extent of getting me to buy monkey nuts just in case the barrel organ
man is there with his little friend.
David Collard then gave an eloquent vote of thanks, evoking happy memories
of the great tradition of Belper Fair. John Lowe won the raffle. Gail as stand in
Sergeant at Arms, in the true spirit of Rotary fined all members who got a bigger
slice of apple pie than she did.
David Pipe
Photograph on page 10.
T
he Christmas Edition of Chatterbox (15th December) will again devote the
centre pages to printing your ‘Greetings’, price £10. The monies raised,
usually about £400 after Gift Aid, will go to a charity to be selected by Club Council.
To give me chance to format the pages, could you please let me have your
Greetings by 5th December. If you want to recycle your greetings from last year,
I have them stored on my computer!
JS
9
Peter Davies introduces Neil Callandine to give his talk on the History of the Belper Fairs.
Report on page 8.
Rotarians and guests from local
schools meet up at the Presentation
on the Raspberry Pi computer. Report
on page 12.
10
Felix Frixou is welcomed as an Honorary Member by
President John Horwood.
The two teams deep in thought for
‘Call My Bluff’.
Report on page 15.
11
Visit to Thorntons plc
Tuesday 30th September 2014
O
n a warm sunny day the 27 of us, who had survived the rigorous vetting process,
assembled in the reception area at Thorntons only to be told that we had to fill in
another “regulations for visitors” form to be absolutely sure that we hadn’t contracted
some obnoxious disease in the meantime.
Having traversed this obstacle, the tour commenced. However, before entering
the manufacturing area we had to divest ourselves of watches, coins, wallets, keys etc.
and don white coats, white footwear, hairnets (and beardnets if appropriate). We were
split into groups of 9, each with a Thorntons guide and proceeded on the tour.
On entering the manufacturing area the first thing you experience is the smell – a
sweet, slightly sickly, complex smell that is not unpleasant but one you quickly get used
to. The first production line we came to was for the manufacture of Gruffaloes, not the
big scary ones but the small hollow chocolate variety. Any made with a defect were
binned and then melted for re-use. We then saw boiling hot liquid toffee being poured
from a hopper into flat moulds, allowed to cool and solidify and then broken up by a
mill into smaller eatable sized pieces of toffee and bagged up by a robotic machine.
After this we came to the production lines of the items normally associated with
Thorntons, the chocolate assortments. We were told a little about how the contents of
the chocolates such as the pralines, mousses, truffles etc. were concocted and then
followed the “assembly line” of some of the products on a moving belt. This started
with squirts of liquid chocolate button like spots applied to the moving belt and then
the “bare” chocolates were sat on these buttons to prevent them from slipping on the
belt. Like any assembly line, things were added at each stage, in this case a coating of
chocolate was added then it was enrobed with liquid chocolate drizzled on to form
highlights and then other ingredients were added and finally the supporting button
was removed.
We were then shown the packaging lines, two of these were automated and
robotic arms were used to deftly pick up a particular type of chocolate assortment and
place this in the correct position in a chocolate box. They worked at an amazing rate
and the whole scene became almost hypnotic with its regularity. This contrasted
sharply with another packaging line that was completely manual. There must have
been 20 workers or more and each one was responsible for a particular operation such
as placing the box on the assembly line, placing the liner in the box, placing a particular
chocolate in a particular position in the box - very labour intensive. Not sure why this
method was employed, maybe a special Christmas line not suited to automation.
At this point we were taken to the visitors sampling area and made to eat something like nine different types of chocolates. After some 10 minutes of this we were
glad to be offered a drink from a water dispenser.
Continued on page 14 …
12
Meeting – 13th October
The Raspberry Pi –
an Educational Computer
by Steve Haseldine
S
teve Haseldine from Derby Mercia Rotary Club came along to talk about this minicomputer and the underlying reasons for its creation. He started by telling us how a 30
minute talk by a “radio ham” at his schools science club got him hooked into the subject
of radios and electronics in his youth and how this subsequently influenced his choice of
career and hobby. He used this example to illustrate how important it was to engage
children at an early age in a subject and the role that teachers have in planting the seeds
of this interest.
He then went on to talk about the evolution of the Raspberry Pi computer. In the
early days of computers (25-30 years ago), many children became enthusiastic hobbyist
programmers using machines such as the BBC Micros, Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64`s.
The experience and skills they gained from this early involvement in programming was
invaluable when later these students applied to read Computer Science at University.
Since then there has been a year on year decline in the numbers and skill levels of A level
students applying for Computer Science courses. The rise of the home PC with prewritten software and also the games console means that the emphasis now is how to use
computers rather than to learn how to program them. Universities are now struggling to
find sufficiently trained A level students for Computer science degrees and are relying on
overseas students to fill the courses. The emphasis now is how to use the computers
rather than programming or writing software. This sad situation can also be seen in
Science and Engineering in general. Children are not being inspired into following careers
in these subjects and this is particularly so for girls; in the Far East, as many girls as boys
take up careers in sciences and engineering.
Steve then outlined a solution to this decline. In the later 2000`s a group of scientists
from Cambridge Computer Laboratory and two local Hi-Tech spin off companies got
together with the aim of producing a circuit board that was cheap but powerful enough
to provide excellent multimedia so as to be desirable for children who wouldn't initially
be interested in a purely programming-orientated device. This led to the formation of the
Raspberry Pi Foundation - a charity which promotes the study of basic computer science
in schools. Three years later, the Raspberry Pi entered mass production and within two
years it had sold over three million units. This credit card sized computer that plugs into
your TV and a keyboard, can be used in electronics projects and for many things that a
desktop PC does, costs only £25-£30 and is designed and built in the UK. The aim is to see
it being used by children to learn how computers work and how to manipulate the
electronic world around them and how to program.
continued …
13
Steve stated his aims for the children of Derby and eventually Derbyshire:-
1) Introduce every child aged 8 - 18 to the Raspberry Pi and teach them to program.
2) Make science fun and not just an academic subject.
3) Set up after-hours computer clubs in every school.
4) Involve Universities and Industry in every school computer club as technical advisors.
5) Have summer schools at Derby University for school teachers.
6) Have a Saturday computer club at Derby Quad starting in January 2015.
Derby Mercia has taken over the role of seed funders and fundraisers for introducing
Raspberry Pi into Derby schools and initially four pilot schools are involved in the roll out two junior (Hardwick and Mickleover Silverhill) and two senior (Bemrose and Landau Forte).
Currently, 90 children have joined computer clubs at these schools.
From January 2015 onwards it is intended to train at least 80 teachers, involve students
from Derby University and roll out Raspberry Pi to all 8-18 year olds in Derby. The roll out
into Derbyshire schools would follow and this is where Belper and Duffield Rotary Club and
other Clubs in the District can get involved.
Steve raised the question of what impact all this could have on Rotary. It could become
a major community project and so have considerable media coverage with positive implications for Rotary membership recruitment. Rotary Clubs could actively engage with local
companies to help with the roll out either through funding or expertise. The school computer
clubs could link with Rotakids etc.
The presentation was well attended by Rotarians but more importantly by representatives from most of the local Primary schools and also Belper School. The President of Derby
Mercia commented that the previous presentations made by Steve were generally to
Rotarians and he was impressed that Belper and Duffield had decided to invite the people
who would be instrumental in the roll out of Raspberry Pi in our Schools.
Stuart Limb
Photographs on page 10.
Thornton’s Visit continued …
We finished off the tour in the final packaging department which involved much
climbing of steps. Within this department there was an area which dealt with internet
orders and also personalised orders. You could have your name or particular message
piped onto the chocolate product. The guide told us that there was a shortage of skilled
pipers and in addition that it was a process associated with RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).
RSI was found to be a problem with a number of operations at Thorntons but it was
minimised by moving people around from one operation to another. We finished the
tour at the Thorntons shop where you could buy their products at a 25% discount.
Thanks to John Frankland for organising a very interesting although tiring visit (a
Stannah Stairlift would have been nice for Dorothy!).
Stuart Limb
14
Pride of Belper and Duffield Awards
Monday 20th October 2014
A
fter more than a year of planning and several weeks of nail-biting tension,
everything came together to make this a most impressive and moving occasion
to recognize the achievements of a number of local youngsters who have shown
particular strength and resilience in overcoming issues in their lives.
Blackbrook House provided a lovely setting for the Awards Ceremony; the
room was laid out so that each recipient was at their own table with members of
their family, a representative from their sponsoring school and some Rotarians and
guests to act as hosts. The top table, in addition to prime movers Nick Blurton and
John Horwood and partners, had guests Felix and Sharon Frixou to present the
Awards, AG Roger Summers (photographer!) and Roz Bullimore, Town Clerk Belper
Town Council, who had helped to fund the awards.
President John welcomed everybody to the ceremony and we proceeded to
have a very enjoyable two course luncheon. Master of Ceremonies Nick then talked
about the background to the Awards and the difficulties of getting suitable
recipients to be proposed before inviting the representatives from the five schools
taking part to present their respective pupil.
George Henshaw
Alex Johnson
Keanen McPhillips
Jessica Ryder
Carlos Semakula
Ecclesbourne School
John Flamsteed Community School
Belper School
Swanick Sports College
Alfreton Park Special School
Guest of Honour Felix Fritou presented each pupil with an engraved award and
a Certificate. After the presentations, Felix spoke of how so very impressed he was
with the way the young people had faced up to their various problems and how it
encouraged him to continue with his plans to raise £1 million for a sporting charity
for youngsters. As a treat, he invited all the recipients to join him in a ‘Benz Bavarian
Experience’ when they and their families would have the opportunity to see behind
the scenes at his business and get to ride in some of the cars.
It was a day to remember, both for the recipients and their families and the
Rotarians who were there to meet them. The club must make this an occasion to
continue into future years – well done Nick for sticking with it!
John Scotney
Photograph of recipients on front cover. Report in the Belper News 29th October
15
Meeting - 27th October
Call my Bluff!
U
nfortunately Alan and I were unable to attend the first part of the meeting but
arrived in time to hear the business items and to hear Fran Redfern from the
Duffield Poppy Appeal say a few words regarding our participation with the appeal. We
were also pleased to be there to see Felix Frixou receive his Honorary Membership to
our Club
We were then introduced to the two teams one of which represented Duffield and
the other represented Belper. The game was the brainchild of David Pipe and he and
David Ashley chaired the proceedings. The words described by the panel members
were obscure and bizarre; however, each individual was so convincing it was difficult
for me to decide which the correct definition of the word was.
However, fairly soon into the game it transpired that Vicky Horwood and I made a
good team at coming up with the right answer (this does not mean that we would be
willing panel members should we decide to repeat the game!).
We were very well entertained by the descriptions offered by the panel members
such as David Harris going on a bear hunt during his definition of the word "Kexy" and
Peter Jame’s picturesque definition of "Tussicate" as being associated with tussiepegs,
which in his opinion were related to teeth.
Martin Drake gave us some profound and learned sounding definitions in his
unmistakable theatrical style of delivery which were also very humorous. There were
four rounds which ended in a draw requiring a tie breaker to determine the winning
team which I believe was the definition for Tussicate. In the far recesses of my memory
I recalled that it had something to do with coughing, my schoolgirl French came to the
rescue as tousser means to cough, et voila, that was what lead me to the correct
definition!
The result was a win for the Duffield Team but there were no losers as the panel
members kept us entertained throughout the proceedings and both teams received a
prize. It was a really fun event and something different.
It was suggested that the game could be taken forward as an inter-Club event,
inviting other Clubs to put teams forward to take part in a Rotary Call My Bluff
Challenge, which sounds an idea worth pursuing. So, thank you David Pipe for bringing
us such an enjoyable event and making me laugh after my self-inflicted stressful day.
Hilary Surga
Photograph on page 11.
16
T
Charity Fashion Show
he newly refurbished Lion Hotel was the venue for the Club’s Charity Fashion
Show on Tuesday 21st October. It was a pleasure to hold an event in the Lion as
it was looking immaculate with new carpets and completely redecorated – and
even a full set of working lights!
The Arkwright Suite was completely full as our volunteer models paraded
wearing the wide variety of ladies clothes that were for sale. Many thanks to Ann
Blurton, two of her friends and my two daughters Nicola and Sarah who kindly
“volunteered” to be models for the evening. Everyone had a really enjoyable
evening and most of the guests went away with at least one bargain.
At the end of the night we had raised the magnificent sum of over £600,
including the proceeds of a raffle that was held on the night. The proceeds are
being donated mainly to the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre. Thanks to
everyone who sold tickets or came and supported us on the night and others who
made donations as they were unable to come. Thanks also to Mr Crooks of the Lion
Hotel for generously allowing us the use of the hotel at no cost for the event.
Gail Ashley
Photographs on page 19.
Raffle of Mercedes Benz CL55 AMG Auto – Value £10,000
A
fter a fair amount pf preparatory work with obtaining the appropriate licence,
arranging the printing of the tickets and negotiating with Felix about the terms
and conditions of his offer, we are now ready to go with the sale of the raffle tickets
for the Mercedes motor car, the cost of which is being underwritten by Felix.
We have a maximum of 4,000 tickets to sell which could give us a profit in the
region of £10,000. These is being donated to two very worthy causes, MacMillan
Cancer Care and Polio Eradication and remember that for every pound we donate
to Polio this Rotary year, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will chip in with a
further £2.
A small number of tickets are initially being given to each member of the club
but we do hope to arrange to sell the majority of tickets at events and venues
outside of Rotary. Alan Widdowson has agreed to organise these sales so if you are
aware of any occasions or events where we may be able to go, please let Alan know.
Please do your best to sell all the tickets that you receive and if you are able to sell
any more just ask me.
We also hope that some local Rotary clubs might wish to take part and we have
agreed that the profit from any tickets sold by them will be recorded as being a
donation from their club. If we all do our bit we could have a really successful raffle
here and raise some serious money for the chosen charities.
Dave Ashley
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DUTY OFFICERS
2014
Organiser
Reporter
Cash
Fraternal
November
10
Charter Celebration
17
D Harris
A Widdowson
D Pipe
J Norreys
Visit to Bombardier
D Henson
G Wright
J Scotney
D Partridge
1
Guest Evening
P James
D Ashley
P Shepherd
D Pipe
8
Business Meeting/SGM
D Soul
J Scotney
15
Christmas Dinner
H Surga
P Shepherd
22
Collecting @ Morrisons
S Limb
D Henson
29
No Meeting
P Taylor
D Soul
24
December
G Ashley
2015
January
5
No Meeting
12
Business Meeting
Nov 12
Open Evening at Benz Bavarian
Nov 19
Club Council 7 pm
Dec 1
Walking in Annapurna by John Holmes. Guest Evening
Dec 9
Belper Santa Sleigh
Dec 11
Duffield Santa Sleigh
Dec 13
Dalesmen Christmas Concert at St Peters
Dec 16
Belper Santa Sleigh
Dec 17
Duffield Santa Sleigh
Dec 20
Morrisons Christmas Collection
Dec 22
Morrisons Christmas Collection
Dec 24
Morrisons Christmas Collection
DIARY
The latest information about meetings can be found in the weekly Bulletin Boards
and on the Club web site:
www.belper-rotary.co.uk
Christmas Chatterbox: Publication - 15th December 2014
Editor - John Scotney 01773 823678 Photographer - Alan Widdowson
18
Sarah McAughtrie and Ann Blurton model some of the clothes at the Charity Fashion Show.
Report on page 16.
Rotary truly is International!
Hilary exchanges Club Banners with a member of the Lannemezan Rotary Club, France (left)
and a notice for a Rotary Appeal seen in the Blue Mountains, Australia (right)
19
Rotary Club of Belper and Duffield
Founded 1930
President John Horwood
President -Elect
Treasurer
Secretary
Eileen Murphy
David Henson
Nick Blurton
The Club meets every week on Monday at 7.30pm.
The Lion Hotel, Bridge Street, Belper (01773 824033)
Rotary is a service organisation which exists to help those in need and to provide
fellowship and support to its members, whilst maintaining high ethical standards. If you
are interested in visiting the Club and learning more about Rotary, please contact the
Secretary, Nick Blurton:
01773 824607 nickblurton@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.belper-rotary.co.uk
20