Exmoor Rotary: Club News
Club News on this page follows the main events in which the club has been involved this Rotary year - from July 2010 to June 2011.
President's Night & Handover
On June 25th, President's Night took place which included the Handover between Presidents, ready for the Rotary year beginning on 1st July. Shown on the right are the outgoing President Dev (breathing a sigh of relief), incoming President Alan (bouncing with ideas and enthusiasm), President-Elect Terry, and President Nominee Tony.
So congratulations to Dev for a very successful year in office, and all the best to the Club for an equally successful 2011-12.
Youth Challenge Presentation
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President Dev visited Maynard School in Exeter to present the girls' team with their shield for being runners-up in the Junior section in this very competitive event. Certificates were also presented to two other girls who each raised over £100 in sponsorship for the Children's Hospice South West, a great achievement. The school teams as a whole raised £540, a generous donation. |
Dictionaries 4 Life
On Friday 24th June, we visited Bolham School in order to present to the Year 6 pupils (who will shortly be leaving to move on to 'big' school) Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries. This is part of the national Rotary Dictionary 4 Life scheme.
These dictionaries are specially designed for 11 year olds up to adulthood - but as was pointed out to the pupils, they were expected to wear out the books with frequent use, and when older, replace them with perhaps even bigger dictionaries!
Shown here is President Dev with the lucky recipients.
Ironman UK
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Ironman came again to Wimbleball on June 19th, and our club ran the 'service station' for the cyclists - fortunately it remained dry all day!
Energy drinks were mixed and bottled (left) ready for when the 1500 cyclist came past at speed and took on refreshments (right). This event raises very large sums for charities, as well as being a massive challenge for the athletes. More info. here. |
Rotary Dulverton SoireeOn Thursday June 17th the annual fund-raising event of drinks and canapes for invited guests took place in Dulverton, again organised by Frances in her garden. It was very well attended, in spite of damp and blustery weather that evening Thanks to all for their generosity - over £2000 was raised for Rotary causes, including the world-wide eradication of polio. |
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Presentation at St Peter's School
On Wednesday June 15th, President Dev presented to the Exmoor Youth Challenge Team the trophy for being the Junior Boys Runners-up.
The boys handed over their sponsorship money, a generous cheque for £344.56 to go to Children's Hospice South West.
Cheque for the Calvert TrustOn May 24th, Rachael visited us from the Calvert Trust (Exmoor) to collect a cheque for £1600 for their funds. It will go towards their equipment fund, very important because they use a lot of equipment for their various outdoor activities, some of which is highly specialised (for example, taking someone in a wheelchair, abseiling!) Pictured here is Rachael with President Dev. |
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Rotary Exmoor Youth Challenge
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This annual event took place on 30th April, based from Dulverton School. This year had the largest number of teams ever - and still others had to be turned away. Nearly 600 young people walked 16 miles across the rugged terrain of Exmoor to raise money for Children's Hospice South West, and to prove that they could do it! |
Cheque for CHSWAt the the Rotary Exmoor Youth Challenge, our President Dev presents a cheque for £4,600 to Paula, Community Fundraiser for Children's Hospice South West. This money was raised by our involvement in the organisation of Ironman UK at Wimbleball last year - this was just one of the many charities which benefited from sponsorship of the athletes. |
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Rotary Exmoor Challenge
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The Challenge took place on Sunday 3rd April based on Upton and the Wimbleball Lake area. A lovely spring day, with plenty of walkers raining money for Children's Hospice South West. District 1170 (Devon) wrested back the trophy with 197 points, with District 1200 (Somerset) gaining a meagre 107. It makes up for last year's results. Shown left is mission control, with organiser Gill on the right. |
Rotary Quiz NightOn March 31st, the club organised a pub quiz night in four local hostelries in the Dulverton area. This was part of a larger event across the south west.. We raised some £160 for charity. In our group the event was won by the Anchor, Exbridge with 140 points, followed by Dulverton pubs The Bridge (137), The Lion (129) and the Rock (113). But as they say, it was just for fun! The Anchor was a modest 40th of the 64 pubs taking part overall. Thanks to Jo for getting it all organised - photo shows Barbara checking her maths! |
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Thanks for Life Sale
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A Bric-a-brac sale was held in Dulverton Town Hall on Saturday March 19th to raise funds for the world-wide eradication of polio. Cakes and secondhand books were also sold, and games available for younger visitors. The sale was very well supported - thanks to all who contributed. A total of just over £300 was raised in aid of "Thanks for Life" and an additional £100 or so for Shelter Box. |
Visit by Imam of the Exeter MosqueAt a special lunchtime meeting of the club, our visitors were from the Exeter Mosque and gave an illustrated talk on their new planned building in the city, and on the Muslim culture This was a partners' meeting, so many were there to enjoy this unique event. |
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Youth Speaks 2011
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This took place at Dulverton School on 26th January. As usual, teams from Bolham, Bampton and Dulverton battled it out for the Junior level competition. 8 teams took part, and the event was won by Bolham and Runners-up were Bampton.
In the Intermediate section in the afternoon, 4 Dulverton teams took part - the winning team is shown on the right. More info here. |
Community Sunday Lunch
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The first event of 2011 was on January 23rd when the club held its 7th Rotary Community Sunday Lunch in the Riverside Hall, Bampton. Three courses of excellent food plus coffee, a gastronomic experience which was enjoyed by all. From this event we have raised approximately £1600 - enough to provide three Shelterboxes to add to the 52 we have already donated in the last few years. Thanks to all who have supported us. |
Rotary Santa Collections
This year the annual Santa's Sleigh collections in Bampton, Dulverton, Brushford, Morebath and Shillingford took place in some pretty dreadful weather - the final session in Bampton had to be abandoned because of heavy snow!
The total amount collected in the tins was £1149.08 which was the result of very generous donations from local people and visitors. This is, not very surprisingly, quite a bit less than we managed last year, especially in view of the overall financial climate.
All the money raised will go to local charities and projects.
Two New Members
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On 16th November two new members were welcomed into the club by President Dev at a lunchtime meeting with partners at Bampton's Community Hall.
On the left is Bob Hatton, and below is Andy Jeffries. We hope they will both thoroughly enjoy being Exmoor Rotarians.
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Bampton School - Shelterbox
The young pupils at Bampton School have had a massive fundraising effort and have managed to raise the magnificent sum of £490.90 for a Shelterbox to help the flood victims of Pakistan. This is a remarkable achievement, the money being raised by a sponsored swim and a sponsored bike and scooter ride.
On Monday November 8th, President Dev received the money in a big bag from the children after Humphrey had done a short presentation to the classes and shown a DVD of Shelterboxes being deployed in several disaster areas of the world. Edward was also present, having organised a demonstration Shelterbox for the pupils to see first-hand.
Lots of questions were asked and Humphrey did his best to answer them!
Bampton Charter Fair
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As well as the many other areas of organisation of the Fair - see Fair web-site - the Club ran two stalls, one a rolling lottery 'Whiskey Galore' pictured left (some entered more into the dressing-up spirit than others), and a secondhand-book sale on a small scale. Both did well - fair day was very well supported by the crowds. |
Dulverton School Funds a ShelterboxDulverton Middle & Community School have recently raised £500 for the Shelterbox charity, a magnificent achievement. Two of the pupils are seen here presenting the cheque to club president Dev Page. |
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Pub Quiz Night
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Just two pubs took part in the District Pub Quiz Night from the Bampton area - the Quarryman's Rest (who came second with 115 points) and the Exeter Inn (who won this local Derby with 131 points). Over 60 pubs across Devon took part in this synchronised event on 21st October. In the full results listing, Exeter Inn came 44th and the Quarryman's 51st - so room for improvement! Money was raised for charity, both for our club and for the organisers at RC Dawlish Water. Jo, our organiser, is shown counting the money made at the Quarryman's. |
New MemberAnother new member for our club: Bill Wright was inducted into the Exmoor Club on 28th September. He is seen here being welcomed by President Dev. |
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Widecombe Fair
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On a VERY wet 14th September, a group of club members went on an excursion to Widecombe Fair. They had an enjoyable day in spite of the weather, and interesting comparisons were made between this and our very own Bampton Charter Fair. In the photo is town crier, Tom Pearce of grey mare fame, and a bloke in a blue coat and three-cornered hat - in the background, professional yokels! |
Outing to SidmouthAt the beginning of September, the club organised their annual outing for local pensioners, in particular those who find it difficult to get out and about on their own. This time it was to the Donkey Sanctuary near Sidmouth on a lovely sunny day. In the picture, donkey, Rotarian Edward, and appreciative visitor. |
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Bampton Open Day
August Bank Holiday Monday - and Bampton is heaving with people enjoying a big variety of entertainments in the lovely warm sunshine. Our club again ran two very popular events.
On the left the the Rotary Secondhand Bookstall which was very busy all day in Serenger's old shop in Fore Street, thanks to the kind permission of the new owner, Andrew. £276 was made - which represented quite a lot of very cheap books sold!
In the afternoon (and after much ticket selling!) the Duck Race took place on the river.
The Duck Race raised an amazing £697.40 after costs had been deducted.
Winner of the Local Businesses race was Brian Smith of the Bridge House Hotel.
Dunster ShowA number of club members helped on the Rotary stall at this year's Dunster Show on 20th August. After an unpromising weather forecast, it was surprisingly warm and sunny along the coastal strip, with just a few showers. New member Peter and organiser Dennis shown here are not alcoholics! - but the stall was a rolling raffle based on Whisky (or Gin) Galore. Also raising money for charity were the local Somerset clubs from Minehead, Wiveliscombe, and Quantocks. |
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Two New Members
At our meeting on August 3rd August, two new members joined the club. Anita and Peter, both from Morebath, were warmly welcomed by Vice President Alan.
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Challenge Presentations at ISCA
On Wednesday 21st July, Vice-President Alan visited ISCA college in Exeter to present them with the many trophies they had scooped up at this year's Rotary Exmoor Youth Challenge. Their teams had remarkably achieved the top spot in 5 of the 6 categories and two in the runners-up.
ISCA have always not only gained excellent results but have raised much money for Children's Hospice South West, the charity that this event sponsors. This year the money raised was £899.90 (where was the other 10p?!) but in a separate event undertaken by their younger pupils, a further £2000 was raised for the Hospice. Well done ISCA!
Dictionaries at Bampton SchoolPresident Dev accompanied by Humphrey were privileged to attend the leavers' service on the last day of the term, July 16th. All the Year 6 leavers were presented with a 'Dictionary 4 Life' and as can be seen, they look pretty happy about it. It was also the last day for Mrs Annette James, head-teacher, who retires this summer. |
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Quiz Night at the Bridge Inn
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On Thursday July 15th, The Bridge Inn at Dulverton was packed with teams taking part in the quiz night they hold to raise money for our club's charities. A very good time was had by all and £100 was raised for local good causes. |
Dictionaries at Dulverton School
On July 6th the pupils at Dulverton School were visited by our club.
on the right we have the runners-up in the Exmoor Youth Challenge with their well-earned trophy.
Below are the pupils of Year 6 who had just been presented with their 'Dictionaries 4 Life' At the back are President Dev and President-Elect Alan.
Morebath Fete
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This year the club set up their Whiskey Galore stall at Morebath fete, which included showing the contents of a Shelterbox used in disaster relief. . The sum of £144 was raised for Shelterbox and a very enjoyable day was had by all at the fete.
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HandoverThe club's handover of Presidency took place on 3rd July at the Jubilee hall in Dulverton. This year the event was open to guests, and included music and dancing. £584 was made for charity at the event, thanks to the hard work organising (and cooking!) the dinner by a number of our members.
Here Immediate Past President Barney helps the new President Dev with his chain of office. |
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