Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… November 2023
Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… November 2023
Ukraine relief convoy
As reported last month, we have been raising money to acquire a 4x4 vehicle to send to Ukraine as part of the "Pick-up's for Peace" convoy, which heads out in mid-November.
With various money raising events and collections we have raised nearly £4,000 and, with this we can purchase and prepared the vehicle, plus fill it with essential warm weather clothing, sleeping bags and first aid supplies. We have found the right vehicle, with the kind assistance of Silverlake Garage in Shedfield, who not only helped us source the vehicle, but also supplied us with a set of new tyres and a full tank of fuel to start things off on the vehicle's long journey to Ukraine. Normally, all vehicles going to Ukraine with Pick-up's for Peace stay there to provide much needed transport, but due to the quality of the vehicle we have supplied, Pick-Up's for Peace have requested that this vehicle do two journeys, the first with the main convoy of supplies and a second run just before Christmas with a cargo of Toys to be handed out as Christmas Presents to the Children of Ukraine. Once the vehicle has made its second trip, it will stay in Ukraine to bolster the fleet of vehicles from the original convoy.
How we raised the funds to peuchase the vehicle and aid payload.
The Rotary Team with our car ready to begin it's long journey to Kyiv
The Car all packed with clothing and medical supplies
The Rotary 4x4 Being Unloaded in Ukraine.
Shoeboxes
Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club with the help of local clubs, schools and friends have collected and sorted over 400 shoeboxes packed with presents for children in need at Christmas. These boxes will be added to the nearly 20,000 boxes collected annually from around our district, which covers most of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, and parts of Dorset and Wiltshire. This year the boxes are going to Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Romania, and if possible, to Ukraine, from there they will be shipped to local Rotary Clubs who will distribute them.
Sorting and re-packaging boxes in Bishops Waltham
Inside the Warehouse Bournemouth
Local Brownies filling shoeboxes
Christmas Collections
Santa has been in touch, and we now have the routes all set for where he will be visiting this year, along with Roger, his brightly lit musical steam train. Again this year we have been working hard with Santa's Elves and you can track Santa and Roger on their travels around the local area - Simply log onto www.bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk and follow the "Where is Roger " link.
Thursday 30 November |
6-8pm at Hilliers Garden Centre Woodhouse Lane, Botley, Nr. Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2EZ |
| Sunday 3rd December | 6-8pm Lights switch on Wickham Square |
| Monday 11th December | Bishop's Waltham the new Clover Way estate on Winchester Road |
| Tuesday 12th December | Waltham Chase |
| Wednesday 13th December | Fair Oak starting out at Stubbington Way |
| Thursday 14th December | Bishops Waltham visiting Rareridge lane and the Oak Road area |
| Friday 15th December | All day static at Hilliers Garden Centre SO30 2EZ |
| Friday 15th December | Fair Oak, starting in Dean Road off Allington lane |
| Monday 18th December | Bishops Waltham on the Pondside estate |
| Tuesday 19th December | Horton Heath starting out at the community centre |
| Wednesday 20th December | Bishops Waltham starting at The Avenue |
| Thursday 21st December | Fair Oak, heading out from Crowd Hill off Savernake Way |
| Friday 22nd December | All day static at Hilliers Garden Centre SO30 2EZ |
| Friday 22nd December | Fair Oak, starting in Blackberry way, opposite the Clock Inn |
| Saturday 23rd December | Static at Sainsbury's Bishop's Waltham |
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… October2023
Concert in aid of Ukraine relief convoy
On the 30th of September Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club hosted an evening of music and food, all in aid of sending desperately needed supplies and transport to Ukraine. The main entertainment for the night was provided by Otterbourne Brass who played two sets of music, the first set being a varied mix from their award winning repertoire, and then the second set took the form of a quiz, with well-known themes for the audience to identify ranging from Gone with the Wind, to Game of Thrones and Fireball XL5. During the break the audience were served a hearty 2 course meal and were serenaded by Lucien De'Laloi, Jazz vocalist and King Crooner, who had literally just arrived on a cruise ship at Southampton, fresh from entertaining passengers on board. The feedback from those attending has been amazing, with comments such as: "What a truly wonderful evening", "All in all, a fabulous evening" and "We hope that Rotary do a "repeat" event in 2024". The money will help us support "Pick up's for Peace", a charity which organises convoys of donated 4x4 vehicles full of supplies including warm weather clothing, boots etc. which are driven to Ukraine and then left to support local communities devastated by the war. We have found a vehicle and are now raising funds to cover its purchase and fill it with supplies appropriate to the time of year in Ukraine. The concert raised nearly £2000 and with funds already donated from individuals and other Rotary clubs we have another £1000 plus there is a planned street collection in mid-October which will further bolster the funds.
Ho Ho Ho
Yes, it's nearly that time of year - Christmas is fast approaching, and plans are well underway to start pounding the streets with Father Christmas and "Roger" his trusty, brightly lit, musical steam train. Last year we raised nearly £6000 and this year, as usual, we will be visiting Waltham Chase, Bishops Waltham and Fair Oak starting on the week beginning Monday the 11th of December and continue through on weekday evenings until the following Friday, the 22nd of December. We will also be having several static collections with McCarthy's, Wickham on the 16th, Sainsbury's in Hedge End on the 22nd and Sainsbury's in Bishop's Waltham on the 23rd - Keep an eye on our website or Facebook page to find the dates when we will be visiting a street near you and hear of further updates and how you can get involved.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… July 2023
New Rotary year - New President
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… June2023
Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club Fun Day, Dog Show and Motorcade
Well, what a day that was! We saw the hottest day of the year, so far, coinciding with this year's Bishop's Waltham Rotary Fun Day on the 10th of June, with the mercury hitting 30oC.
Still the crowds came to revel in the sights and sounds of the day. The afternoon kicked off with a Motorcade of Vintage and Classic vehicles resulting in a display of over 90 cars, bikes and even a few classic Fire Engines. There were numerous bands performing on our 2 stages with plenty of food, drinks, and ice creams to enjoy while you sat back and watched the show. There was also lots to keep everyone happy from shopping at the numerous stalls to raffles, games, Fair Ground rides plus the ever-popular Fun Dog Show with categories ranging from the Cutest Puppy to the Fastest Biscuit Muncher.
Unfortunately, with the weather as hot as it was numbers were down on last year, which was very well attended as our first main event since the cancellations and isolations of the Pandemic, but first estimates are showing we will have made about £7,500.00 for charity and all wrapped in a brilliant, fun-filled community event.
Obviously, this event takes a huge amount of organising and Bishop's Waltham Rotary are always on the lookout for new members, or just new friends to help out on the day. If you feel you would like to know more or just want to know what Rotary is about, get in touch via our website.
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… May 2023
Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club Fun Day, Dog Show and Motorcade
The wait is finally over, on 10th of June 2023 we will be holding the big event of our Rotary year – THE BISHOP'S WALTHAM ROTARY CLUB FUN DAY, DOG SHOW AND MOTORCADE – gates open at 1230. This year we have more stalls than ever, with a wider variety of food stalls, two music performance areas, plus Fairground rides and lots of things to see and do including, a large display of vintage and classic, Cars and Bikes. Come along to Hoe Rd Recreation ground, Bishop's Waltham, for a fun packed day for all the family. Also for a really good view of the amazing Cars and Bikes in the Motorcade, be in Bishop's Waltham High Street at 1200 as they travel through the historic town on their way to the showground.
End Polio – Now we are so close
Rotary International is a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which aims to end polio through it's End Polio Now campaign. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralysing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five, spreading from person to person, typically through contaminated water, then attacking the nervous system. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years and our goal of ridding the world of this disease is now closer than ever. Today, polio remains endemic in only Afghanistan and Pakistan and this year there has only been one case, to date, of wild Polio in Pakistan and none in Afghanistan. Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly three billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary's advocacy efforts have also played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort, but it's crucial that we continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. If you would like to donate, go to our website and click on the "Donate Button" on the Home Page.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… April 2023
Wessex Heartbeat Cycle Sportive
On a cold wet morning in mid-March several members of Bishop's Waltham Rotary club turned out to help with the running of the annual Wessex Heartbeat Cycle Sportive. The event had two routes available of either 40 or 70 miles and the intrepid cyclists, including a couple of Tandem pairs, set out to brave the inclement weather, all in aid of Wessex Heartbeat. Wessex Heartbeat is a local charity that helps new-borns, children and adults diagnosed with congenital and cardiovascular diseases primarily by supporting the work of the Wessex Cardiac Unit based at Southampton General Hospital. This is achieved by providing specialised equipment, services and facilities to help patients and their relatives through their cardiac journey. Local Rotary Clubs have a long history of supporting Wessex Heartbeat, primarily in aiding with the initial purchase of Heartbeat house which is a "Home from Home" for the relatives of those undergoing Cardiac Treatment at Southampton General Hospital, and is only a 3 minute walk from the cardiac wards, this close association has again been recently renewed with many of the Rotary Clubs in our local District pledging to support their work and an upgrade of the house over the next 3 years.
Purple Community Fund – Free Range Chickens 
Our local Rotary District 1110 has a long association with the Purple Community Fund, a grass roots UK registered charity in the Philippines. We as part of District 1110 have supported them over the years helping them fund their work with the poorest of the poor living in Tondo, Manila, Naic, Cavite Baguio and Bulacan in the Philippines. They began their work 20 years ago reaching out to communities living in extreme crisis situations, unable to provide for their most basic needs and without hope or the ability to change their futures. They provided holistic services in education, livelihood and business skills, farming, health clinics, nutrition and social welfare. They believe everyone deserves a chance to thrive and prosper. To this end we have raised funds to support a drive to increase their ability to produce their own food, which became necessary during the Pandemic, where the local response was one of the strictest in the world, causing a devastating effect on food supply and food stability for Purple Community Fund beneficiaries and those benefiting from their feeding programmes. In 2021 they started two communal vegetable farms and in January 2022 they began a pilot egg production farm with 25 chickens. In June they took delivery of their first 200 ready to lay hens, and in August they purchased a further 400. Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club have pledged £500 as part of a District 1110 plan to supply more chickens and build safe housing for them, to ensure there is a continued plentiful supply of eggs.
Dates for your Diary
On Saturday the 22nd of April we will be holding a membership day in the King's Centre in the middle of Bishop's Waltham High street. Keep an eye out for posters advertising this event and come in for a chat to find out who we are, what we do, how we spend the money we raise and how you can get involved.
The main event of our fundraising year, our annual, and eagerly anticipated, Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club Family Funday & Motorcade Procession, including our ever popular Dog Show will be held at Hoe Road Recreation Ground on Saturday the 10th of June from 12:30 – 5:00pm. Put the date in your diary to come along for a great day out, and if you would like to get involved or have a stall, contact us via our website.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… March 2023
Turkey and Syria Earthquake appeal
As reported last month we planned to hold a collection in aid of the unfolding situation in Syria and Turkey following the devastating earthquake at the beginning of February. We held the collection at Sainsbury's in Bishop's Waltham on 11th of February and had a tremendous response from everyone resulting in the collection, plus several other donations after the date, raising £1,545.00, which has been sent to aid the immediate response to the humanitarian disaster. As a club we have also allocated a further £1,000.00 that will be donated to the Rotary fund dedicated to the long-term rebuilding plans.
Lend with care… Update
Back in October we reported that we had provided finance for a charitable Micro Finance Loan scheme through Lend With Care. We have again supported another 4 international projects and, as this goes to press, we have now seen the first few months of repayments coming back in and are now in a position to re-allocate the returns into another scheme, which will see us supporting 9 schemes in total. Our plan is that we will continue this cycle by re-investing in further projects as soon as the incoming returns exceed our loan level.
Local causes
We continue to support many local projects such as the Meon Valley Food Bank, by providing their drivers to enable them to deliver to those requiring their support, but we also support many individuals who have found themselves needing help with essential household items.
Dates for your Diary
The main event of our fundraising year, our annual, and eagerly anticipated, Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club Family Funday & Motorcade Procession including our ever popular Dog Show will be held at Hoe Road Recreation Ground on Saturday the 10th of June from 12:30 – 5:00pm. Put the date in your diary to come along for a great day out, and if you would like to get involved or have a stall, contact us via our website.
In April we will be holding a membership day on a Saturday, date to be confirmed, in the King's Centre in the middle of Bishop's Waltham Highstreet. Keep an eye out for posters advertising this event and come in for a chat to find out who we are, what we do, how we spend the money we raise and how you can get involved. If you want a taster of what we do, have a look at our video below:
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… February 2023
Bishop's Waltham Youth Club
For many years we have supported Bishop's Waltham Youth Club by helping them with numerous projects, from financing such things as furniture and a chill out space, to helping repaint the outside of their present clubhouse. Recently we were approached regarding their plans to expand their age group and to start a club for younger children in the 9-11year old age bracket. We were more than happy to finance the materials needed to start this new club, which meets on the second Monday of every month from 6pm to 7.30pm in the Youth Hall.
Dates for your Diary
We are also now in full planning mode for the main event of our fundraising year, our annual, and eagerly anticipated, Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club Family Funday & Motorcade Procession. This year it will, as usual, be held at Hoe Road Recreation Ground on Saturday the 10th of June from 12:30 – 5:00pm. Put the date in your diary to come along for a great day out, and if you would like to get involved or have a stall, contact us via our website.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
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Bishop's Waltham Rotary Club News… January 2023
Thank you – What a Year
Firstly may we wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for your generosity and support over the last year and in particular Christmas period.
With your help our club collected in over 370 Shoeboxes filled with goodies, and these were then delivered to our district depot where over 18,000 boxes were packaged up and then delivered to the young children of Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, and Albania. Plus, this year the many displaced children from Ukraine, in Romania and Moldova, will also benefit.
You also gave extremely generously when we came visiting with Father Christmas and "Roger" his musical Steam Engine and again, we broke all previous records in collecting over £5,800 pounds, which will help us to continue our charitable work in the local area, nationally and internationally.
This year we have donated over £14,000 to charities and deserving causes: Locally we have helped many individuals in our area who have fallen on hard times, through our continuing support of the local food bank, plus those with specific one-off needs. We continued our annual support of Rotary Kids Out and Rotary Young Carers weekend both financially and as part of the teams supporting these two events. We also helped Wessex Heartbeat and have pledged to continue to help them with their work in support of those undergoing significant Heart procedures and, in particular, with the upkeep of Heartbeat House which provides a home from home for relatives of those undergoing treatment enabling them to stay nearby in support of their loved ones.
Further afield we have helped with Rotary support for building temporary housing in war torn Ukraine ready for the harsh winter months. We provided emergency and rebuilding support following the Pakistan Floods and we have provided funds for Lendwithcare, with our loans now starting to be repaid, making it possible for us to consider further projects. We also financially support the work of Rotary International through its own charity Rotary Foundation and we continue to support Rotary's on-going work to eradicate Polio, which has seen the number of countries endemic with Polio drop to just two – we truly are so close!
Charity Golf Day
We are excited to announce our Charity Golf Day on April 27th 2023 at East Horton Golf Club in support of the Rotary Foundation Charity, Friends of In Touch in Fair Oak and Mountbatten Hospice in West End. A full and fun day starting with tea, coffee and bacon rolls at 8:00 am, a shotgun start four ball competition at 9:00 am on the East Horton championship standard Greenwood Course with a refreshment buggy. Followed by lunch and prize giving at 2pm in the Greenwood Room.
All proceeds raised will go to the above three charities. Cost just £75 per person. Our thanks to Doyle and Palmer Wealth Management of Fareham who are kindly sponsoring the event. 72 teams of 4 are available, for early bookings email sara.walker@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk.
Follow this link for Golf day
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
pr@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Look at our latest video
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
How we raised the fund to purchase the vehicle and the aid cargo.
