Club News - January - June 2008

IPP Ian and Chris went on the last day of the Rotary year to see the retiring District Governor, Tony Bacon, hand over the chain of office to incoming District Governor Malcolm Boddington. Terry Kenyon was elevated to District Governor Elect, and Laurie Cunningham to District Governor Nominee. Around 100 Rotarians and guests attended at the Holiday Inn, High Wycombe. Entertainment was provided by El Loco. We received our Presidential Citation (Photo) after the dinner.

Click Here to go to the District 1090 Web Site where a fuller story and pictures can be found in the "News" section.

President's Handover dinner took place on Friday 27th June in the delightful surrounds of Northcote House, Sunningdale Park. After a very enjoyable meal, retiring President Ian first appointed two new Paul Harris Fellows, Colin Corio and David Jones. He then presented a flower arrangement to Hilary, 2007-8 President of Inner Wheel, before handing the chain of office to President David.

President David exchanged greetings with President Beryl, 2008-9 president of Inner Wheel, and presented a flower arrangement to IPP Ian's wife, Chris.

Click Here for pictures

Another natural disaster, this time in China, and once again the Club has funded a Shelter box. The earthquake in the southwest of China is estimated to have killed more than 14,500 people and left many more homeless. Our box was deployed in the Chengdu region, where transport was very much improvised.

Click here to see our box details

The May INNER WHEEL NEWSLETTER is now available. Click Here to view.

The sun shone on Ascot for the annual garden party - this year a fellowship event organised by Club Service, in Nigel and Cynthia's garden. Excellent food was provided by Linda's Kitchen, and about 55 Rotarians, Inner Wheel and partners attended.

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A party of 11 Ascot Rotarians, partners and friends celebrated the 25th anniversary of the twinning of the Rotary Club of Ascot and the Rotary Club of St. Nazaire with a spectacular weekend in France. We were joined by colleagues from the Rotary Club of Gulpen-Vaals, Holland and Würzburg, Germany. On the Saturday we all travelled by coach to Le Mans, where, somewhat to their surprise, the four Presidents were formally and with great ceremony inducted into the "Brotherhood of the Knights of the Sarthoise Rillettes", before sitting down to lunch (featuring Rillettes).

After lunch we braved torrential rain and flooded roads to get to the Le Mans 24 hour circuit, where we were admitted to the pits, and later taken on a tour of the control centre and medical centre before joining the President of the Rotary Club of Le Mans for aperitifs. In the evening over 40 guests sat down to a gala dinner, with speeches and exchanges of gifts. On Sunday there was a choice between spending the morning watching the practice sessions at the circuit, or taking a guided tour of old Le Mans, before meeting for a splendid lunch hosted by the Director of Racing, Rtn. Jacques Olivier, in a room overlooking the circuit.

Following news of the devastation caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, Burma, the Rotary Club of Ascot swiftly effected a donation of £500 to fund a ShelterBox for the stricken area. This contribution was consolidated with similar contributions from many Rotary Clubs to finance an initial deployment of 850 ShelterBoxes, which were distributed in the Irrawaddy Delta region. On Friday 16th May a chartered DC10 landed in Myanmar with a further 1050 ShelterBoxes for distribution.

A good turnout of nearly 40 Rotarians, Guests and Friends attended the monthly "Friends" meeting at Mill Ride to hear military historian David Duff give a most informative account of the Battle of Waterloo. David was introduced by Roy Towndrow, visiting us from Sherborne, and the vote of thanks was given by John Smith.

David has previously given a presentation to the Club on the events leading up to the famous battle, which ushered in almost 100 years of relatively peaceful times, up to the outbreak of the First World War.

The first weekend in May was the date for our visit to our associate club in Ingelheim on the Rhine. 32 members and partners enjoyed an excellent programme arranged by RC Ingelheim, which included visits to Bad Kreuznach, Ingelheim and Bingen, as well as a Rhine cruise to Castle Reichenstein. In the evenings we enjoyed a medieval feast on the Friday, and a fellowship dinner with members of RC Ingelheim on the Saturday.

The April INNER WHEEL NEWSLETTER is now available. Click Here to view.

Follow the progress of our GSE Team visit to Romania and Moldova Click Here to Access Travelpod. Enter blog code "GSE1090".

President Ian & Chris, Foundation chair Brian, Anthony & Evelyn, Geoff D. and Ian K. went racing on Wednesday. The occasion was the visit to our club by three Ambassadorial Scholars who are all following post-graduate courses at Oxford in subjects relating to Rotary objectives. Afterwards the Scholars, with their driver Rotarian Ian Campbell who organises the placement and mentoring of all the Ambassadorial Scholars in District 1090, attended the 5th Wednesday Club meeting with the ladies. The Scholars each gave an excellent presentation of their aims and objectives, and of the benefits of the Ambassadorial Scholarship Programme.

The picture shows the Scholars on the Bandstand at Ascot Racecourse with John Blake, Head of Sales and Marketing, (who kindly provided complimentary tickets for the Scholars), Rtn. Ian Campbell from RC Marlow Thames, and some of the Ascot Rotarians who escorted them.

President Ian & Chris, Foundation chair Brian, Barry and David & Anne joined over 100 District 1090 Rotarians and guests for the Group Study Exchange Team Farewell Rally in Maidenhead, and to support our RC Ascot-sponsored team member Oonagh McCarthy as the team prepared to leave for Romania and the Republic of Moldova. We heard talks by the team leader Mike Cannon from Marlow Thames RC, and from the team members. The visiting team also gave an account of their visit to the UK and District 1090.

The picture shows the outgoing team (Adrian, Oonagh and Marco), together with District Governor Tony Bacon, and RC Ascot Rotarians Barry, Brian, David and Ian. Click Here for Press Release.

A party from the Rotary Club of Ascot joined Rotarians and Partners from the Rotary Clubs of Heathrow and Bracknell for a charity dinner at the Rajvoog Restaurant in Sunninghill on Monday, raising over £400 in aid of the Bangladesh Cyclone Relief work.

The Presidents of the Rotary Clubs (L to R Ian Valentine, Ascot, Bob Rumbold, Bracknell, and John Baker, Heathrow) pictured with restaurant owner Mogsud Khan, who will be visiting Bangladesh in June. Bangladesh is still feeling the effects of Cyclone Sidr and relief is still going on in the form of keeping disease from running rampant and keeping families alive so they can get through until enough subsistence is available and the cost of food becomes affordable. Click Here for Press Release.

A party of 18 Ascot Rotarians and Ladies, including President Ian and Vice-President David attended District 1090 Conference in Bournemouth over the weekend. Our GSE team nominee Oonagh spoke on Saturday morning, and at the ball on Saturday evening the District Governor announced that RC Ascot had won the "Best Club Website" award.

From the Inner Wheel opening session which will make us all think twice whenever a green carpet appears on a stage, through Saturday's inspiring performance by a group of young people from the Orpheus Centre which drew a standing ovation, to Sunday's topics from poo-sticks to an incontinent security dog, there was no time to be bored.

Click Here for full story and pictures.

The March INNER WHEEL NEWSLETTER is now available. Click Here to view.

Emily Shaw, who was the winner of the East Berkshire Young Chef competition which we organised at the Licensed Victuallers School in conjunction with RC Bracknell and RC Wokingham, has won the Regional Final. In his summing up, the judge, top chef Raymond Blanc, OBE, was very complimentary about all the contestants and enthused about Emily’s ability. He volunteered a wonderful offer that all the contestants could spend half a day in the kitchens of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, his Michelin-starred restaurant, but, in Emily’s case, 2 whole days with an overnight stay!

Over 100 Rotarians and guests, together with the Mayor of Bracknell Forest Borough Council, Councillor Mrs Gill Birch, and Councillor Dale Birch, Executive Member for Adult Services, Health and Housing, attended the fourth in a series of Medical Educational lectures arranged and hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim UK in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Ascot.

Guest speaker was Professor Ajay K. Kakkar from the Thrombosis Research Institute, whose specialisation is Venous thromboembolic disease. (VTE).

A collection was taken from attendees which raised £1.000. This sum will be matched by Boehringer Ingelheim UK so that a donation of £2,000 can be made to AntiCoagulation Europe, a charity providing information and advice to users of Warfarin, other anticoagulants and antiplatelet therapy. CLICK Here for full story

The annual Children's Concert at the Hexagon featured some 300 children from 11 schools in the Windsor area. As always, the event was ably put together by Clive Waterman (pictured), and this year the programme was "You and Me".

President Ian attended and made the introductory speach. The Deputy Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Councillor Dorothy Kemp, kindly attended as our guest.

We co-host this event with the Rotary Club of Wokingham, and members of both clubs helped with ticket sales, programme sales and a bucket collection.

President Ian was a guest of our Inner Wheel at their 45th birthday lunch at Carnation Hall. Over 80 members and guests were present to hear an entertaining talk by Louis Atkinson (pictured chatting with President Ian) on his obsession with sheep. Click Here for more pictures.

After the talk, a hot meal was served by Linda's Kitchen, then President Hilary cut the birthday cake.

The February INNER WHEEL NEWSLETTER is now available. Click Here to view.

President Ian, accompanied by David Jones and Gordon, were among the 80+ Rotarians who attended the annual 5-Clubs dinner at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club. After an excellent meal, we were entertained by Chris Whittingham, thespian, physician, lay-preacher and amateur cricketer. His wide-ranging talk started with the contents of his cricket bag, which he unpacked item by item, through the theme of partnership in sports, and finally winding into the Objects of Rotary.

The dinner gave an opportunity to reflect that the 5-Clubs (Ascot, Bracknell, Crowthorne & Sandhurst, Easthampstead and Wokingham) raise around £100,000 locally for charitable causes. Click Here for Press Release.

The zone final of the Young Chef competition was held at Banbury, and the winner and runner up from our East Berkshire event held last November were competing. The winner of our event, Emily Shaw of Luckley Oakfield School, Wokingham, was the winner of the zone final, and goes forward to the regional final on 15th March. We wish her every sucess. The picture shows her receiving her cup and certificate from District Governor Tony Bacon.

A party of 19 went on a visit to the Mars plant in Slough. According to reports, they enjoyed an excellent guided tour, and returned weighed down with more chocolate than they could eat!

The ladies of Inner Wheel issued a challenge to a Skittles competition, which was held at the Jack O' Newbury pub in Binfield. After a tense competition, the Rotarians triumphed and retained the trophy (right).

A double act for our "Friends" evening this month, when Mark Lovett and Robin Cols, East Berkshire Magistrates, gave us an insight into the workings of the magistrate court system in Berkshire.

The January INNER WHEEL NEWSLETTER is now available. Click Here to view.

At our "Friends" meeting this month we were pleased to induct another new Rotarian when we welcomed Andrew Kazimirski into the Rotary Club of Ascot. Andrew has been attending "Friends" meeting for some time, and has now made the transition into full membership. Andrew told us that he looked forward to being able to apply is expertise in fund-raising and marketing in the Community & Vocational Service Committee.

Afterwards we received a presentation by Lisa Morris, a past Ambassadorial Scholar from District 1090, about her experiences in Africa, and the project that she has been promoting, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Grahamstown, South Africa, to fund educational supplies for a school in that town. David Carradine of the Rotary Club of Cookham Bridge kindly provided transport for Lisa to attend the meeting.

We were also happy to welcome Oonagh McCarthy, our GSE Team Member, as our guest to this meeting. The picture above shows Lisa and Oonagh with International Committee Chair Barry Moutrey and Foundation Chair Brian Millis.