Round Table's Christmas Float.
As with previous years, our Club was delighted to give assistance to our good friends in Frodsham & District Round Table with their Christmas Float.
Similar to last year, our Club manned the Float on two evenings, these being on Monday the 11th of December and finally on Wednesday the 20 of December.
Due to the popularity of this event, we employed the help of Brian Henshaw and Roy Wallwork to act as stand-ins for the Real Santa Claus, who was busy getting ready for Christmas Eve.
Naturally the sleigh needed to be driven correctly and we were pleased to have both Alan Laird and Eddie Basnett sort out Rudolph and his pals.
Santa was in great form and listened carefully to all the Children, Youngsters and Teenagers so that everyone received presents on Christmas Day.
As one might expect, it wasn't long before we met up with one of the wives of a Club member and as our photo shows, this year it was Paz Paterson that found the temptation of a comfortable and ample knee, a friendly smile and one of Santa's lip smacking lollipops all too much for her, and so she stayed until Santa was fully briefed on the full extent of her Christmas Present Wish List. (Look out Don, it's going to prove rather expensive for you again)!
As with all good evenings, we are pleased to report that Santa, his Sleigh and all his Helpers took a break before returning home and visited the Helsby Arms, where the Owner and his Staff made us most welcome.
Our thanks to all Club members involved, along with the good people of Frodsham and Helsby for their support and generosity.
Santa Says He Will See You All Next Year.
Merry Christmas And A Prosperous New Year To Everyone.
Gourmet Dinner at West Cheshire College, Chester.
On Thursday the 4th of January a few Club members and their Ladies visited the Main Campus of West Cheshire College in Chester, in order to check out their Gourmet Dinner Evening.
So impressed were they that on Thursday the 4th of January, Gareth Williams and his Fellowship & Social Committee arranged once again for some 49 Club members, their Ladies and their Guests, to go along for a 4 Course Haute Cuisine Dinner at the Chester Campus.
As you might expect, everyone was treated to a wonderful meal, which was selected with care, prepared and served by Students attending the College.
What is more, Gareth Williams arranged to have available for our meal, selected wines, which he personally chose following extensive research into this aspect!
Our photos show what a really enjoyable evening everyone had and as expected our MC for the evening, Fred Bishop, ably assisted on the evening by our newest Club member Jeff Mycock, ensured that things went as smoothly as was possible.
We eagerly look forward to a further visit in the future.
The Atlantic Rowing Challenge.
At our meeting on
Thursday the 18th of January we were given a wonderful presentation
by Rachel Smith, in which she described how her love of sailing led
her to high levels of achievements in the recent past and hopefully
will lead to something rather special later this year.
She began by telling us all about her involvement in Dragon Boat racing, which she took up out of sheer curiosity some years ago. This led to her to being a key member of the Great Britain team that successfully raced in England, Europe, Canada and China, to name but a few locations!
Not satisfied with such success, Rachel then described how she and her very best friend, Lin Griesel, will be taking on the challenge of a lifetime when they embark, in November this year, on their bid to smash the current British women's record for rowing across the Atlantic, a journey of some 2,935 miles.
As well as setting a new record, their second challenge will be to raise over £100,000 for Breast Cancer Care, the UK?s leading provider of breast cancer information and support.
Following her extensive and fascinating presentation, in which she answered many questions from Club members, it was with great pleasure that President Malcolm, on behalf of our Club, passed to Rachel a donation which will be put towards their £100,000 target.
All Club members look forward to a return visit in 2008, in which Rachel and if possible, Lin, will tell us all about their Atlantic Rowing Experience. If you can't wait that long you can find more about the challenge and follow their progress on their website. (Warning: It is very, very pink!)
Pauline Hutchinson's Work in Uganda.
If you were told of a country where life expectancy was only 42 years, there were 2 million orphans, 50% of the population was under 14, 84,000 children had AIDS/HIV, 1.75m children suffered from Malaria, half the population didn't have clean drinking water, and there was only 1 doctor for every 100,00 people, then most of us would say "something should be done". But would expect that that the "something should be done" would be done by someone else!
Well, at their meeting on Thursday 25th January, Frodsham and Helsby Rotary club were fortunate to be addressed by retired GP Dr. Pauline Huchinson who is that "someone else".
In 2004 Pauline was invited to visit Uganda for the first time and was so taken by the plight of the people at the village of Kamutuuza that she began drawing up plans for a medical centre to be built there. The entire first phase of the project was to cost £40,000 - so a great deal of fund raising was involved plus a great deal of negotiation with local influential people! But this week a delighted Pauline was told that phase one was now open for patients and was employing local people in order to help the local economy and to give sustainability for the future.
Amongst other types of general treatments, the centre will provide maternity care, Malaria treatment, accident cover, Health education, HIV care and will be involved in outreach centres and the training of local care workers.
Pauline gave a most impressive talk to Rotary members and a lively question and answer session followed.
Our picture shows President Malcolm Davies presenting Pauline with a cheque for £500 to help with the project.
