Bulletin Aug/Sept 2008
Club Service Duties
- Date President Finance
- 7 Aug Sherriff Turner
- 14 Aug Howorth Jenkins
- 21 Aug *** Holiday ***
- 28 Aug Acton Helliwell
- 4 Sep Smithard Madeley
- 11 Sep Shackleton Crossley
- 18 Sep Tomkinson Sarwar
Next Council Meeting
The next Council meeting is to be held on Tuesday 9 September at Bent House Cottage Halifax Road, Littleborough OL15 0BJ – 01706-376775.
International Committee - Next meeting 4 Sept. 5.30pm at Richard St
Vocational Committee - Next meeting 2 Oct. 8.00 pm at Richard St
www.rotaryrochdale.co.uk - please visit the new website
Dates for your Diary / Misc
- Tuesday 19 August – visit to Arley Hall
- Thursday 21 August - Meal at the India Lounge
- Sunday 14th September - Autumn craft fair (Town Hall)
- Saturday 20th September 2008 – D1280 Disabled Sports at St. Helens
- 24/10/08 to 26/10/08 – D1280 Conference in Southport
- Sunday 2 November (afternoon) - Grimethorpe Brass Band Concert at the Gracie Fields Theatre
- 17/11/08 (Monday) – Charter Night
- Saturday 20 December - bag packing and Collection at Morrisons
- Craft Fair – Sunday 14 September
Any donations for Tombola prizes will be gratefully received. Please pass them to David Acton.
Rochdale East Visit to Old Trafford
Rochdale East will be visiting the home of Manchester United Football Club (Old Trafford) on Tuesday 16 September. The cost will be £12 (or £8 for OAP’s). The trip is open to wives and partners.
Final numbers have been requested by Thursday 7 August (i.e. the day you should hopefully receive this bulletin).
Trip to Arley Hall
The Inner Wheel organised trip to Arley Hall is on Tuesday 19 August. The cost is £12.50 for the coach plus a £5 entrance fee. Lunch will be available at a cost of £8.50. The coach will be picking up from Bamford Precinct at 9.30 am.
Social Meeting At India Lounge
The Masonic is closed on 21 August. We are holding a social meeting at the India Lounge, Spotland Bridge for partners and friends commencing 7pm for those interested.
There will be an Indian Banquet for £20.00 per head. Drinks to be paid for separately.
Please advise Doug Hill if you will be attending so we can give the restaurant an idea of numbers.
Apologies for absence
Please advise Doug Hill 01706 352398 so that he can adjust catering numbers accordingly.
Rotary Club of Rochdale
President: John Kay
Aug / Sept 2008
Bulletin for Rtn
Date Programme Time
- 7 Aug - Black Death – Dr Ivan Carmel E
- 14 Aug - Shahzad – Job Talk L
- 21 Aug Holiday – Banquet at India Lounge at 7pm
- 28 Aug - Briefing on Craft Fair L
- 4 Sep - Elvet Smith E
- 11 Sep - Mystery meeting L
- 18 Sep Nigel Danby - (D1280 Membership Serv.) E
President’s Remarks
The club is a hive of activity with the start of the new Rotary year. Community Service, International Service, Vocational Service and Membership Committees, and even a Band Concert Committee have all held meetings. There are so many projects now underway and I do thank the convenors and champions for all the hard work they are putting in.
We have a very challenging year ahead but there is nothing like a challenge to bring out the best in the club and we can achieve so much.
We are used to wet weather but bowling at the Horse and Farrier on 26th June would have been a disaster had it not been for the excellent local quiz and buffet meal which replaced it.
We aim to work closely with Rochdale East this year. Their President Ian Sandiford came to our Club Assembly and I was pleased to attend theirs on the 15th July. They, like us, have decided to support the “Send a Cow” project this year so I look forward to seeing a herd of pregnant cows on route to deserving third world families.
Rotarians and partners outside the Lady Lever Art Gallery at Port Sunlight.
Friday 18th July 2008 brought the long awaited Vocational visit to Liverpool which was excellently organised by Martin Coupe. Forty nine members, including members of Rochdale East and Heywood Clubs, were collected by a coach driven by former member Malcolm Bywater and taken to the Lady Lever Art Gallery and Museum at Port Sunlight. A wonderful experience followed by an excellent lunch. I for one will certainly visit again. We then travelled to Albert Dock, Liverpool to see the competitors waiting for the start of the Tall Ships Races 2008. Thanks Martin for all your organisation which made this a day to remember.
On the evening of Saturday 19th July 2008 I attended a theatre trip organised by members of the Rochdale Inner Wheel Book Club. A meal in a Manchester Italian Restaurant was followed by a visit to the Exchange Theatre for an excellent performance of ‘Hay Fever’ by Noel Coward. Trips out like these are full of fellowship and fun and should be encouraged.
Wednesday 30 July – IPP David Acton and I had a meeting at the Town Hall about the Heritage Weekend and the Craft Fair. Touchstones staff have now established over 30 venues, which will be open to the public. Our club will be giving a prize to the youngster who visits the most of these over the weekend. However the main event will be our Craft fair in Rochdale Town Hall on Sunday 14th September and David, who invented the project last year, is now Champion for this 2nd year and will be calling us to arms for its delivery
My thanks to 2nd Vice President John Cannell who, as Convenor of the Vocational Service Committee, had the task of making my life history interesting from a fist full of notes which I was able to provide. The “focus interview” seems to have been well received and my wife Lis has taken the notes which she says will help with my obituary!
The weekend of 2nd and 3rd August brought us to the Rochdale Mega Mela which is organised by our member Mohammed Sarwar, the Chief Executive of the Multicultural Arts and Media Centre. We promoted Rotary and in particular the “Life Box Project” thanks to the arrangements made by IPP David Acton. Even a tropical downpour on the Saturday morning could not dampen our enthusiasm and we were visited by both our own member, Paul Rowen MP and also Jim Dobbin MP as well as several councilors and other dignitaries. A true demonstration that Rotary is for all.
Finally I would urge all members who have not yet put their names down for this year’s district conference at Southport from Friday 24th October to Sunday 26th October 2008 to consider joining us. I still have some rooms available at the new Ramada Plaza Hotel. The cost for Dinner, Bed and Breakfast is £75.00 per person per night and single rooms are available without supplement. This is the conference hotel immediately adjoining all the action and the hotel is full. There will be over 20 in the Rochdale party and we are going to have a great time. Anyone still wanting a room must contact me by Thursday 14th August 2008 as thereafter I will have to release the spare rooms.
We have had a great start to the year. Don’t waste a day. Work hard, play hard and let’s “make dreams real”.
John F Kay