Canal Boat Adventure Project.
It was with great pleasure that on Thursday the 27th of October Peter Wilde our Youth Services Committee Chairman invited Rotarian Norma Hornby, the 1st Vice President of the Rotary Club of Warrington, to give a talk to our Club members on the Canal Boat Adventure Project which is based locally in Runcorn. The Project aims to promote social, recreational and educational development of young people through the provision of canal boats and canal based activities. The Project is a registered charity and a non-profit making organization, which has been run by volunteers since 1977 and Norma is Chair of the Project.
One of the aspects covered in her presentation was the impending re-commissioning of a canal boat called the ADA, which had been gifted to the Project by Knowsley Metropolitan Council.
Just a short while after, and true to her word, Norma invited representatives from our Club to attend the official re-launching of the ADA on Wednesday the 9th of November at which their Patron, Mr Ken Dodd, was to do the honours. On the day Ken arrived at the boatyard aboard a pony and trap and as you might expect, he did a wonderful job and entertained all those present before he officially broke a bottle of Champagne over the bow of the ADA.
Congratulations Norma!
Mercy Ships Presentation on 17th November.
The Club were hosts to John & Wendy Leung and enjoyed listening to their presentation on the Worldwide Christian Charity 'Mercy Ships'.
Mercy Ships operates 2 Hospital Ships, 'Anastasis' and 'Carribean Mercy', shortly to be increased by the commissioning of 'Africa Mercy' ,a converted Rail Ferry hopefully to come into service early 2006, offering Medical, Surgical and Community support projects, mainly in West Africa. Although established in 1978, Mercy Ships has only come in to prominence recently after being adopted by RIBI as a National Project for 2005, RIBI have offered to install and equip an Opthalmic Operating Theatre on the Africa Mercy costing about £500,000. Members heard from John and Wendy about their experiences on 'Anastasis' and the wonderful work that can be done by the totally volunteer crew who receive no payment. They must fund their own travel to join the ship and also pay for their upkeep on board. After their well received presentation many questions were posed and answered expertly by John and Wendy. President Tony Cervenka is shown presenting a cheque for £500 to John & Wendy as our Club's support of RIBI Mercy Ships Appeal.
27th Charter
Anniversary Dinner.
Our dinner this year was held on Friday the 2nd of December, and once again the venue was Frodsham Golf Club where we were made most welcome. The evening was made special in several quite different ways:
Firstly a challenge was set to all who were to speak using the hand held microphone, this being to get through their presentation without the p.a. system whistling at them as a result of feedback. - EVERYONE FAILED!
Secondly, Sam Williams our MC for the evening apologised for the fact that despite the table menu being so well presented in the colours of the flag of the Czech Republic, it sadly did not show that DG Nominee - Keith Unsworth was here representing our District Governor. Clearly heads will roll at some later date!
This being said, it was with great pleasure that President Tony began the evening by inducting Rod Hyde into the Club as its newest member, he being the 7th new member to join our Club in the last 8 months. Rod, Welcome to Rotary and to our Club.
Not wishing to leave matters at that, it was President Tony's pleasant task to formally welcome into our Club as an Honorary Member, Radek Tyls the President of the Rotary Club of Hradek Cralove, our Twin Club in the Czech Republic. As one might expect, part of this welcome was done in the Czech language, ..... which was nice!
Our guest speaker for the
Dinner was Prof. A J Ryan, an eminent scientist who travelled over from
Yorkshire to be with us for the evening. He royally entertained those
present with a polished presentation that was fascinating and thought
provoking that covered some of the problems that planet Earth faces as
a result of the worlds population increase.
Now, according to VP1 Malcolm Davies, we were honoured to have 4 Professors present at our Dinner (appropriately photograph for evidential proof) and the collective noun for such a gathering (according to his research) is A Pomposity of Professors, which was nice ....... and interesting!
The evening was nicely drawn to a conclusion by our VP2 Barry Linaker, who in an amusing presentation thanked our Guest Speaker for coming over into enemy territory to entertain us, but also he thanked all our Clubs guests for sharing with us our Charter Anniversary Dinner celebrations, wishing them a safe homeward journey, Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
Frodsham Christmas Festival 2005.
Frodsham's annual Christmas Festival proved to be a huge success, attracting some 15,000 visitors to the Town over Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd and December.
Despite being the night after our Clubs Charter Anniversary Dinner celebration some of our Club members were once again involved in a Community project. Club member, Don Paterson, who through his work was heavily involved in the Christmas Festival, arranged for our Club to be invited to provide help with the Saturday night parade. Despite the appalling weather Eddie Basnett, Fred Bishop, Maggi & Malcolm Davies, Alan Gardner, Hedley Greaves, Don Paterson and Graham Reeves meet at Castle Park and provided an escort for Father Christmas and his Sleigh (which was drawn by real live Reindeers) and a Tractor drawn trailer from which children from local schools entertained the crowds that lined the rout of the procession.
Our duties also included collecting money (in rain filled buckets) as well as the giving out of chocolates to the hundreds of children that were waiting in the poring rain just for a glimpse of Santa and his Reindeers. Despite the horrid weather we managed to enjoy the evening and at the same time collect £300 for Rotary Charities.
As can be seen from the photo, despite the very wet clothing, a welcome and well earned pint in the Cheshire Cheese was just the job to make sure we were wet inside as well as outside!
