Review of Activities January 2007

Since September this Committee has held two meetings and received clearance from Club Council and Members for the following grants.

1. Caring for Carers (CforC)

In the last report details were given of a grant of £500 to this organisation. CforC’s needs were identified as so great that the Club agreed to devote the proceeds of the Christmas Waitrose collection also to CforC.

Net of expenses this collection realised £1620, which means that in total Ascot Rotary has donated £2120 to CforC that represents greater than 10% of their annual spend on current activities and opens the possibility of further support for carers.

2. Ascot Heath Infants School

This school is the first in the Royal Borough to utilise the services of the Life Education Centres (LEC) mobile classroom. LEC provides a continuing programme of ‘Healthy Choices’ for young children in the areas of eating, smoking, alcohol, drugs and substance abuse.

Ascot heath are charged a per pupil fee for the use of the LEC facility and in this year it amounted to £580 – for which they had failed to budget. They will make provision in years 2 and 3 but appealed for help on this occasion.

LEC is a facility that has received considerable support from Rotary Clubs generally and Ascot Rotary has contributed towards the purchase of a mobile classroom for East Berkshire.

Round Table and the Rotary Club of Ascot jointly funded the £580 cost of this year’s use of the LEC facility at Ascot Heath School.

3. Thames & Kennet Narrow Boat Trust (TKNT)

CVSC had previously considered a request for assistance with the refit of their narrow boat the 'Falcon Adam'. Approval was granted to pledge £500 towards the £12000 needed to fully refurbish the boat.

TKNT then changed the goalposts and set about renovation of the galleys and showers for £6000, which they had raised including our £500. Ascot Rotary was advised on the measures being taken to ensure that the Falcon Adam would be able to continue to meet the Trusts needs.

a) The galley etc is being fully replaced with quality fitments.

b) Ablutions area is to be fully replaced.

c) Engine has been fully stripped down (largely by himself) and parts replaced by

specialist firms

d) Sleeping areas remain outstanding but can form a future project.

Again Round Table has made a large contribution we have now released of the previously agreed pledge of £500.

3. Service above Self

Ascot Rotary makes an annual award to Charters under this category and this year we increased the amount to £75.

Awards were made to Katharine Robertson and Raji Bhart who was described in the citation as recipients whilst appearing seemingly different students, both made significant contributions that benefited the whole school community. The awards were given during the school’s prize giving evening. During this meeting, Charter’s headmistress announced that the school was one of only two schools of its kind in the country to have been awarded grade 1 level across ALL subjects provided.

4. Youth Speaks

The Ascot local heat was again held at St George’s School in November. The number of schools entering this year was lower than last year, but the standard of presentation was maintained at a high level. As usual the winning teams from the Intermediate and Senior competitions will progress to the Zone heat to take place in Uxbridge.

5. Hexagon Concert

The 2007 Children’s Concert is scheduled for the Hexagon Theatre in Reading on Sunday March 4^th. As usual this is the opportunity for 400 very young children to experience the wonders of appearing live on a stage before an audience of 1250.

Music maestro Clive Waterman will handle the musical arrangements and again in conjunction with Wokingham Rotary, Ascot Rotary will provide coordination and support.