Report to the Club AGM, 25th April 2007

The committee has had a busy and mostly successful year, which began with a planning meeting to try to space the social activities evenly through the year.  This was a worth-while endeavour, but for various reasons it was not always possible to keep to our schedule, and inevitably there were changes as time went on.

Our fund-raising activities included:

  • Budgens car park 28/29 July for Diamond Meeting – not very successful, as there was free of cheap parking elsewhere.  £103
  • Charity Golf – our main fundraiser, and run by the Golf Sub-committee, raised £12,547
  • The deferred Sunningdale Carnival, 10th September – not successful, possibly due to the date change, and we were also short of volunteers.
  • Assistance with the ART fireworks at the Racecourse – RCA managed ticket sales and the gate, bringing in £3,800
  • Victorian Street Fair where Mike Lustig ran a stall raising £246
  • Christmas collections at Waitrose with David Jones and has jazz colleagues raised £1,623
  • Sunninghill Wheelbarrow Race, 1st January 2007  Far fewer entrants this year and no sponsorship money materialised - £1,731 raised.
  • Collection at the Racecourse 30th March – figures tbs.
  • (Prospective) Budgens Car Park for Royal Ascot

On the “fellowship” front, we tried to introduce some “new” activities (i.e. things we have not done for a few years) into the calendar.

  • All-weather Barbeque in August
  • Bowls afternoon at Sunningdale, September
  • We had to delay a proposed Race Night in October.  It was rescheduled to February, but again unfortunately had to be cancelled due to technical reasons.
  • Guys and Dolls at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, in November
  • Jazz Night at Jagz in November, with David Jones Jazzmen, was very successful.
  • We enjoyed our Christmas Dinner at Royal Ascot Golf Club
  • In January a Quiz Night was organised by Mike Lustig – this raised £341
  • We also had another Jazz Night, this time featuring the Vo-De-O-Do orchestra, which was well attended.
  • The 5 Clubs Dinner took place at Bearwood Lake Golf Club, organised by the Rotary Club of Wokingham.
  • Acorn Antiques – the Musical at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking, in February.
  • Jazz at Jagz, March, was not very successful, few attended.  This was possibly because it was Mothers Day
  • A sizeable contingent of RCA members, partners and Ladies attended the very successful District Conference at Eastbourne at the end of March
  • The Treasure Hunt proposed for May Day Bank Holiday had to be cancelled due to lack of support.  Are we not interested in Treasure Hunts, or was it the wrong day?
  • A small group are going to the WEOS performance of The Sorcerer by Gilbert & Sullivan at Norden’s Farm in May.
  • Handover will take place at Dorney Reach in June.

Looking into the next Rotary Year, the committee has already started work on, or scheduled:

  • A possible night at the Proms, once the programme is published.
  • A Polo Day at Coworth Park Polo Centre at the end of July
  • A coach and walking trip to visit to “Hidden London” in August
  • A visit to Eton Motor Museum in September
  • An entertainment event in early December
  • Christmas Dinner at the Royal Ascot Golf Club.

Other successes during the year include the procurement and fixing of a new Rotary Club plaque at Mill Ride Golf Club, procurement of name badges for all members and the production of a pictorial directory of members.  Also we received our registration under the lotteries Act to hold lotteries.  This was first used at the Sunninghill Wheelbarrow Race.

The committee is recommending discontinuing certain activities which entail a lot of work with little return, notable the Sunningdale Carnival stall and the Victorian Evening stall (although the entire Victorian Evening appears not to be taking place in 2007).  The committee has also learned its lesson on activities such as the Budgens Parking for meetings other than Royal Ascot and will not put forward these as fundraisers.

Despite a valiant attempt to revitalise the electronic Bulletin at the end of 2006, it was realised that it was dying through lack of contributors.  It has been replaced by a “News and Gossip” page on the web site, where short news items can be added as they happen.

We have continued to find speakers for the 5th Wednesday meetings with the ladies, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to source these from contacts and friends.

Ian Valentine
Chair, Club Service 2006-7