Club News - January - June 2009

Tonight was our gala handover dinner, when President David handed over the chain of office to incoming President Colin.  A good turnout came to enjoy the warm summer evening at Northcote House in Sunningdale.  Drinks on the terrace were followed by dinner and the handover ceremony.  President David thanked everybody who had helped during his year in office, saying "It has been the best year of my life!"

President David with Eileen, and IPP Ian with Chris, joined a crowd of 10,000 Rotarians from around the world for the first opening plenary session of the RI Convention 2009 in Birmingham this morning. Representatives from 156 countries world-wide were in attendence to witness the flag ceremony, when the national flags were brought onto the stage. RI President DK Lee welcomed delegates and told them of how we have moved forward on so many fronts with his "Make Dreams Real" theme.

Surprise guest speaker was Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, who spoke of his own committment to the "End Polio Now" campaign, and how he would personally write to the leaders of the 4 remaining countries where Polio is endemic to seek days of non-conflict for Rotary National Immunisation Days.

An army of volunteers with conspicuous orange caps and sashes helped delegates to find their way around the NEC - the one on the right being our very own President David!

The club decamped to the premises of Boehringer Ingelheim in Bracknell for another insightful medical lecture evening. Guest speaker this time was Professor Stephanie Amiel, who is currently Professor of Diabetic Medicine at King’s College, London.  Professor Amiel (pictured left with Ascot Rotarian Uwe Weiler, Managing Director of Boehringer Ingelheim UK) gave a lively and informative presentation into the causes and remedies for diabetes, which affects 180 million people worldwide, a number which is growing at  an alarming rate.

Some 100 Rotarians, partners and guests from Ascot, Bracknell, Heathrow and Maidenhead clubs attended, contributing donations of almost £1,000 for diabetes research.  This sum was matched by a similar figure from Boehringer Ingelheim, to make a total donation of £2,000.

After the presentation and questions, Councillor Bob Wade, Mayor of Bracknell Forest Borough Council, presented Rtn. Uwe with a certificate congratulating Boehringher Ingelheim for its work in the community. (Right hand picture)

The annual garden party took place in David and Anne's garden on Sunday.  As your webmaster did not attend, there is no further information available at present.

On Wednesday President David was in Sunninghill at the Ascot Day Centre to present a Rotary Club cheque for £7,602 to the centre.  This comprised a sum of £5,602 raised through the Sunninghill Wheelbarrow race held on New Year's Day, and a further sum of £2,000 towards the cost of refurbishing the toilet facilities at the centre to make them better suited to the needs of the clients.  In the picture, Jackie Mann, the Day Centre Manager, is seen accepting the cheque in the garden area, with an audience of Day Centre clients.

CLICK HERE for Press Release

INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND - Sunday, and a visit to RHS Wisley gardens. Not a promising start to the day as the rain was bucketing down and a cold wind was howling across the car park.  We quickly escorted our international guests to the conservatory area to see the tropical (and indoor) plants.  Quite soon the skies cleared and it developed into a nice sunny morning for strolling around the exterior gardens.

At lunch time we said farewell to our Dutch and German guests, who had a long drive or an early flight, then had lunch with our French guests in the RHS restaurant.

CLICK HERE for more pictures

60 Years of Service in Ascot - our Charter Celebration.  Guests included our international visitors, the Deputy Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Cllr. Catherine Bursnall and her Consort, Cllr. Tom Bursnall, District Governor Malcolm Boddington and his wife Valerie, District Governor Elect Terry Kenyon, District Assistant Governor Moya Harvey, Ascot Inner Wheel President Beryl Williams, and members of the Rotary Clubs of Bracknell, Heathrow, Maidenhead and Windsor and Eton.

Entertainment was provided by the "Incognito" singers from Eton School.

INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND - and off to Blenheim Palace.  Our party numbered around 40, and we took a coach to Blenheim Palace, fortunately securing a parking space right by the gate.  Inside, we met our guides for a 50 minute guided tour of the house, followed by an hour of "free time" to explore on our own.  The "Behind the Scenes" experience was particularly interesting.

Afterward our coach took us the short ride into Woodstock for lunch (picture), with an hour free to look around the village before returning to Ascot.

CLICK HERE for more pictures

INTERNATIONAL WEEKEND - and our visitors from the Rotary Clubs of Gulpen-Vaals, Ingelheim and St. Nazaire arrived in Ascot by land, sea and air.  Evening meals were hosted by David & Anne, and Peter & Jane, with Geoff, Ann, Ian & Chris joining our French guests for dinner at the Berystede Hotel (picture).

For the May "Friends" meeting we were once again treated to an entertaining and informative talk by military history enthusiast David Duff.  This presentation was entitled "The Schlieffen Plan - how Germany lost the 1st World War in the first eight weeks", although our hearts sank a little as we began in the year 9 AD with the Varus Battle in the Teuteborg Forest, when Germanic forces triumphed over the Roman Empire. After a brief diversion into Hannibal v Rome we then progressed through 16th to 19th century military leaders, all of which led up to the arrival of Schlieffen and his plan to wage war almost simultaneously on the Eastern and Western fronts. It all went badly wrong when Schliefen's successors adapted and modified the plan, leading to the trench stalemate which prevailed for the majority of the first world war.

David was introduced by Roy Towndrow of RC Sherbourne Castles, and the Vote of  Thanks was given by Alan Penny.

On Sunday President David and Eileen held an "At Home" at their house in Ascot.  A marathon session from 10am to 10 pm, many Rotarians, Friends and Neighbours were able to come over to spend a couple of hours in a most enjoyable gathering in the spring sunshine, or indoors in the evening.

CLICK HERE for more pictures

President David, accompanied by VP Colin and IPP Ian headed off to Reading University for the annual District 1090 Assembly.  Some 250 Rotarians from the District attended this busy session, where we heard the address of incoming RI President John Kenny, Bill Gates address to RI Assembly in San Diego, the RIBI "Young Citizen" awards and a presentation about the District Website.  District Rotarian Peter Jones was honoured with a Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award, one of only 50 presented world-wide.

Wednesday continued with the Ambassadorial Scholars attending our Club Meeting.  Being a 5th Wednesday we also had the ladies present, as well as our Assistant District Governor Moya, the drivers from RC Abingdon Vespers, and a new member to join our own club.  The picture shows John Strong being welcomed into the club by President David after his induction.

After dinner, three of the scholars gave presentations on their backgrounds, interests and areas of study, finishing up with an appeal for us to support the "Lapdesks" project.

CLICK HERE for more pictures

Eight Ambassadorial Scholars studying in Oxford and Reading spent this afternoon at Ascot Race Course. The day was organised by our Foundation Committee, with thanks to Ascot Racecourse who kindly provided free admission for the scholars. President David attended with Eileen, and the party included Anthony and Evelyn, Ian and Christine, and Brian, as well as drivers Mike and Sulwen from RC Abingdon Vespers.  In the picture the scholars are with John Blake (right), Head of Sales And Marketing at Ascot Racecourse.

On Saturday night 60 plus Rotarians, partners and guests, including groups from RC Crowthorne & Sandhurst, RC Easthampstead and RC Heathrow, assembled in Carnation Hall,  Chavey Down, for an evening of fun and fundraising, in the form of a Race Night.  As well as the video horse racing and Tote, a Fish & Chip supper was provided.  The event raised £800, and VP Colin commented "Not bad considering the minor problems on the night."  It was indeed a very satisfactory sum, and will help towards our contribution to the Polio Plus campaign to eliminate Polio.

CLICK HERE for more pictures

On Friday 23 Rotarians and Friends. including President David and Vice President Colin, joined with Rotarians from all parts of our District at our annual conference, this year in Torquay.  Over 1000 guests attended to hear inspiring presentations from speakers  such as the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police,  the Professor of Crop Science at the University of Reading, and a representative of "Canine Partners", a charity providing assistance dogs.  The entertainment highlight was the masked ball, which followed a civic reception on the Saturday evening.

On Saturday night Rtn. David Jones led his 7 piece Jazz Band in an evening of Jazz entertainment at the British Legion hall in Cranbourne. About 60 people enjoyed the music, and were pleased to see David back in fine form on the trumpet after his recent illness.  The other players were Gwyn Arch (piano), Quentin Bryar (clarinet & saxes), Simon Wyld (trombone), Robin Mosley (banjo), Dave Kellard (bass & sousaphone) and Mike Jeffries on drums.

On Sunday evening RC Ascot joined forces with RC Wokingham to produce the 5th annual children's concert at the Hexagon, Reading.  This year 400 children from 13 schools in the Ascot and Maidenhead area took part under the musical direction of Clive Waterman.  The estimated audience was 1,200, and the guest of honour was the Worshipful the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Councillor Dorothy Kemp. CLICK HERE for full Press Release.

It was "back to school" for Vice President Colin on Saturday morning, as he joined 50 other incoming presidents in District 1090 for the President Elect Training Session (PETS) in Reading. After a welcome by District Governor Elect Terry Kenyon, and brief introductions by the incoming District Committee chairmen, the presidents-to-be split into breakout groups to discuss Rotary Foundation, Membership Retention and growth, and the role of websites in club and district communications.  Ascot Webmaster Ian also attended in his capacity as District Communications Committee chair for 2009-10.

On Friday evening Rotarians took up the challenge from Ascot Inner Wheel who wanted to regain the Skittles Tournement trophy. However, after three games in which every member of Inner Wheel and the Rotary Club participated, President David (pictured right) led the Rotarians to victory.

The event took place at the Jack O' Newbury pub in Binfield, and supper was served between the games.  CLICK HERE for more pictures.

Youth Speaks - District Final. The St.Georges School, Ascot, team had won through from the Zone Final held earlier in Slough, and came up against some very stiff opposition from Claire Court School in Maidenhead, Bulmershe School sponsored by Loddon Vale Rotary, and St. Gregory the Great School from Oxford. It was a very keenly fought competition with varying styles of presentation and subject matter. One team in particular was criticised for presenting a shade too much of a stage performance, even though it was highly entertaining!

The eventual winners were Claire Court School whose main Speaker spoke for  6 minutes without a note of any sort. Quite a tour de force even though some thought it was perhaps a shade foollhardy. There was in fact a stumble in the presentation but nevertheless they were given first place and now go forward to the Regional Final in Reading later this month.

On a parochial note this had been the eighth and last year where the St. Georges teams were prepared by Helen Barnett. She is moving on to a new post in Abu Dhabi in September, and will be sadly missed by the School and especially the Rotary Club since she has been a tower of strength over the organisation of our annual Youth Speaks Heats. (Report by Mike Leaman)

The club put on Black Tie for this week's meeting, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Club charter, February 8th 1949.  The formal celebration will take place in May when members of our twin clubs, parent club and neighbouring clubs will be in attendence.  Guest speaker was Richard Snailham, who told us about his trip following the Lost Trade Routes of Ancient South American Peoples. CLICK HERE for more pictures.

Vice President Colin Corio with Rtn Alan Clare and a number of Ascot Rotarians attended the Youth Speaks zone final at Wexham Park to support the Ascot teams who were competing.  The St. Georges team won the Senior competion and the Charters team took a close run second place in the Intermediate competition. St. Georges go through to the District final at High Wycombe.

CLICK HERE for Alan's full report.

At our lunchtime meeting we welcomed brothers Dennis and Vince Maloney, who own and run the Budgens stores in Ascot, Virginia Water and Shepperton.  After lunch Vince spoke to us about their background in grocery retail and wholesale, and their vision for the local retail grocery businesses, in competition with the giant supermarkets.  We were also pleased to welcome Hans-Jürgen & Sabine Leuchs from the Rotary Club of Ingelheim, who were visiting the Ascot area.  Hans-Jürgen presented President David with a District 1860 pennant (see picture)

We were pleased to welcome Mandy Williams to our meeting to tell us about the work of Peach (Parents for the Early intervention of Autism), a national parent-led charity established to promote early behavioural intervention for young children with autism.  Peach is based in Ascot and depends on voluntary contributions to fund its work.  We heard how the Behavioural Psychologists at Peach can help develop training programmes to assist youngsters with autism.

At our first Friends evening of 2009 we had a good turnout of 40 people. We were pleased to welcome as our guest Pat Conafray of Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust. Club President David was able to present Pat with a cheque for £1,760, being the proceeds of the Christmas Carol collection at Waitrose in Sunningdale during December. Also in the photo is Rotarian David Jones, whose jazz quartet provided the music during the collection. Thanking the Club, Pat told us that there are now 35 Air Ambulance helicopters across the UK, each needing £150,000 per month to keep flying, and that all this money is raised through voluntary contributions.

President David reported that he had received a letter of thanks from Rosie's Rainbow fund for the money sent from the Christmas Dinner collection, and also that the Wheelbarrow Race profit was now approaching £5,600.

Our speaker for the evening was Peter Caddick-Adams, a military historian working at the Joint Services staff college, who spoke to the club previously in October 2007. Tonight he covered the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, drawing parallels and illustrations from military engagements through the ages. His presentation drew a lively debate on lessons learned or forgotten, and of the importance of maintaining a military capability to sustain operations such as these. The Vote of Thanks was made by Rotarian Alan Clare, himself a graduate of the RAF Staff College.

On Wednesday January 1, 2009 the streets of Sunninghill played host to the 13th annual Sunninghill Wheelbarrow race, organised by the Ascot Rotary Club and sponsored by Ascot Racecourse. This year 16 teams participated, which is the largest number for some years, and over £5,000 was raised for the Ascot Day Centre in Sunninghill.