Club News - the Gossip Page

The Club was tonight presented with a "Certificate of Appreciation" from the Rotary Foundation for its financial support of Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge, which was achieved on 20th January 2012.  Assistant Governor Colin, on behalf of DG Niall, made the prentation to Club Vice President Anthony.

CLICK Here to view the certificate

The 16th New Year Fancy Dress Wheelbarrow Race took place in glorious sunshine, at noon on Monday January 2nd 2012.   A record number of entrants, 29 teams in all, competed for the coveted trophies for Fastest Time, Best Fancy Dress and Most Sponsorship Money Raised. The Fastest Men's Team was The Swinley Pub. There was a tie for the title of Fastest Women's Team between the St.Michael's Angels and the Ascot Fillies. The Best Fancy Dress Title went to Princess Leia's Buns with their Star Wars Theme.

CLICK HERE for Ascot Matters Report, pictures and video. CLICK HERE for Press Release.

CLICK HERE for more photos.

Some 70 Rotarians, partners and guests came to Royal Ascot Golf Club tonight for our annual Christmas Dinner.  Entertainment was provided by Quintessentially Wind who played during and after the meal.

We also welcomed our newest Rotarian into the Rotary Club of Ascot. Andrew is known to many of the Club members and has attended a number of meetings as a Friend.  We wish him well in our Club.

What a nice venue! No rain, no snow, no cold gale blowing, and a coffee bar just inside the door.  Once again Rotarians were spreading Christmas cheer and raising money, this time at the Tesco store in Martin's Heron.  David Jones and his band were on duty, playing the Christmas tunes we all know and love.  As a departure from our normal manning plan, we used 2 collectors per shift and only worked 1.5 hours per shift instead of 2.  This arrangement worked well.

It was the Annual Presentation Evening at Charters School tonight, and a small party of Ascot Rotarians attended the event to hear of the results achieved by the school and see the presentation of the Rotary "Service above Self" awards. The awards, a crystal Globe and a certificate of achievement, were won by Katherine Gow (far left) and Annaliese Abrahams.

Tonight President Bob presented Junior VP Alan with his Medal of Office.  Alan is destined to be the Club President in 2013 - 14. 

We also welcomed Rotarian Tony Cowling from RC Reading who gave us an interesting talk about the planning and construction of his Ecological House .

President Bob was one of a number of deep-frozen Ascot Rotarians who manned the buckets at Waitrose store this weekend.  As always Rtn David Jones and his Jazz Band livened up proceedings with seasonal music, although "Dreaming of a White Christmas " brought back the nightmare of trying to man the collections in last year's blizzard conditions!  The collection was in aid of the Children With Special Needs Foundation and Rotary Charities, and raised a little under £1,500.

The first round of the Rotary Club’s nationwide Youth Speaks competition was held tonight at St Georges School Ascot.  A total of 14 teams took part from 5 schools, Charters, Licensed Victuallers, Marist Senior School, St. George’s and St. Mary’s.

The best Intermediate Team was St Mary’s Team C. The prize for the best individual speaker went to Leo Jarvis from Charters Team A.

The best Senior Team was St George’s Team C. The prize for the best individual speaker went to Jenny Blackburn of that team.

Our Club organised a stand at the very successful Victorian Street Fair in Sunninghill today.  We ran a game where participants had to choose a key, winning a prize if it would open the lock on a door.  It was a good PR exercise and also raised nearly £200 from the game.  (Picture courtesy Ascot Matters)

A happy band of Rotarians and other guests gathered in the British Legion Hall at Cranbourne for another excellent Jazz Evening featuriing the band of Rtn David Jones.  A good time was had by all.

The East Berkshire Final of the RIBI Young Chef competition took place tonight at LVS Ascot.  Representatives of 5 local schools took part, and the winner was Martha Collinson of Charters School, Ascot.

Her menu was a main course of Chicken Roulade filled with Cream Cheese served with a Roast Butternut Squash and Chestnut Risotto, Parmesan and Chilli Crisps and Rocket Salad, followed by Wholemeal Molten Chocolate Fondant served with Raspberry Coulis and Whole Fresh Raspberries.

10 Ascot Rotarians and partners attended the Gala Charity performance by the Windsor & Eton Operatic Society of the Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan in Eton last night.  Guests at the Black Tie event organised by the Rotary Club of Windsor St. George included the Mayor (Councillor Asghar Majeed), District Governor Niall accompanied by his wife (and of course driving in the Polio-mobile) and Rotarians from across the District.  A very good turnout for a very enjoyable event.

For years our Club has not possessed its own raffle drum.  Today, thanks to the carpentry and painting skills of Rotarian Tony, we have a shiny new yellow and blue raffle drum, complete with Rotary roundels. No more borrowed buckets and begging the use of drums from other organisations or venues!

Last night Rotarians and partners had the opportunity to meet the 2011-12 Ambassadorial Scholars who are studying in our district.  162 Rotarians, partners and scholars turned up for the event, including some Ascot representatives.  A culinary disaster marred the evening, as the hotel announced that the chicken was not cooked, and after some debate the main course was cancelled. However, this gave more time to chat to the scholars, and of course we reminded them all of the race day next April at Ascot Racecourse.

Picture shows David M talking to Rakhi Voria from Colorado.

At our weekly meeting today we were delighted to welcome our newest member into the Rotary Club of Ascot.  Timea comes from Hungary, and has been running a local care agency which she recently sold.  She is now working on a new project and we wish her good luck.  Timea was introduced to Rotary through a Youth Exchange that she undertook in the 1990's, and is looking forward to participating as a Rotarian in our Club.

Today our Charity Golf Match took place at the Royal Ascot Golf Club.  18 teams took part, making it the largest turnout in recent years, and the teams and sponsors liked the new venue.  In the morning we held a 9-hole Texas Scramble competition, a putting competition over lunch and the main 18-hole Stableford  in the afternoon.  In the evening there was the usual Gala Dinner and auction, with prize-giving to the winners of the golf competitions. Preliminary indications are of a profit in excess of £10,000.

21 Ascot Rotarians and partners spent an enjoyable weekend with colleagues from RC Ingelheim near Frankfurt, Germany.  Friday began with a visit to Aula Regia, a Roman excavation site in Ingelheim, and dinner at a nearby hotel.  On Saturday we went by coach to BUGA Koblenz, a gigantic flower show which lasts 6 months, and in the evening another dinner, where SVP Anthony, on behalf of RC Ascot, presented RC Ingelheim president Tim with a 4kg Stilton Cheese.  On Sunday we went on a guided walking tour of Mainz, during which we were allowed to produce a printed page on an early printing press in the Gutenberg museum. - CLICK HERE for more pictures.

It was the evening of a vist to our Club by District Governor Niall tonight, and when he bowled up in his "Poliomobile" POL10 KO it was too good a photo opportunity to miss!  Later he spoke to the Club of the Club about Foundation, Polio Eradication, Youth activities and involvement with District.  He then presented President Bob with the pennant of RI President Kalyan Banerjee, whose Rotary Club is in Vapi, Gujarat, India.

DG Niall spoke of the year theme "Reach within to Embrace Humanity" with a focus on family, continuity, and change.

Today a rota of Rotarian volunteers manned our stand at the Golden Age fair at Ascot Racecourse.  We were situated directly opposite Bracknell Forest Lions stand, so the competition for the interest of attendees was fierce! As a change from our previous stand format we borrowed a Shelter Box to display, and this prompted a lot of interest in what Rotary does.

The longer opening hours improved both the quantity and quality of the visitors and we had a number of interesting discussions, possibly one or two prospective members.

Continuing our 100% success rate this month with weather predictions, over 40mm of rain fell today for our visit to Farnham Castle and cream tea in the garden (NOT).  Nevertheless around 40 members, partners and Inner Wheelers came along this afternoon for a guided tour of the Bishop's Palace, followed by an excellent cream tea in the old kitchens.

VP Anthony proposed a vote of thanks to President Bob for arranging the visit, which was enjoyed by all.

Tonight the team leader Sara Bowater and team members Sam Biddle and Zara Leete came to our meeting to give an account of their Group Study Exchange visit to District 4855 in Argentina earlier this year. That District extends from the west border of the city of Buenos Aires approximately 70 Kms west to Luján, covering an area called the “Great Buenos Aires”. 

The team told us of their vocational experiences in the country, and the welcome they received from the local people - including Press Conferences, TV and radio interviews.  They reported that the visit had increased their confidence in public speaking and handling situations outside their normal experience.  

The returning Argentinean team will be in our District during 2012.

This afternoon, as part of the RIBI national "Big Barbecue" Ascot Rotarians and partners met at Ian & Chris's house to enjoy the glorious English summer rain and some open air cooking.  Manning the barbecues were Colin and Ian, and master of the wine was Hans-Juergen who had generously donated some German wines and ensured everybody had a full glass.  Fortunately we had enough gazebos for everyone except the chefs to keep dry, and a good time was had by all who attended.

It was the last RC Ascot event for Hans-Juergn and Sabine before they move back to Germany, so the opportunity was taken to wish then well and express our pleasure at their company over the last 2.5 years.  CLICK HERE for more pictures

We had a very welcome guest at our meeting today when Martyn Parker (left in picture), one of the joint heads of Charters School joined us for lunch.  Martyn spoke of the closer relationship between the School and the Rotary Club, and particularly the interest that pupils had in the Polio Eradication project.  He presented the Rotary Club with a cheque for £912 which was raised through a "non-uniform" day at the school earlier this year, to be used towards the "End Polio Now" Bill & Melinda Gates challenge.

This evening we welcomed District Foundation Chair David Caswell of the Rotary Club of Sinodun to our meeting.  David gave an informative presentation on the structure and financing of The Rotary Foundation (TRF to its friends), and highlighted the projects that TRF is involved with world-wide.  He also showed some illustrations of how RC Ascot was contributing to TRF programmes, and it was gratifying to hear that we are amongst the "Good Guys" who meet their $100 per member per year contribution.  We are also very close to our Polio Eradication target of $6,000 by June 2012.

President  Bob's first official visit today, to join the ladies of Inner Wheel and their guests for their annual Garden Party - now an Alfresco lunch, held in the marquee at Mill Ride Golf Club.  Bob is pictured here with Inner Wheel President Hilary.  More details and photos can be found on the Inner Wheel web site.

The final handover of the season (as far as our Club is concerned),  and Moya, Alan and Ian were in Colchester to see Ray Burman formally receive the chain of office as RIBI President 2011-12 from IPP Jim Moulson.  After a welcome drink with the Mayor (a lady Rotarian), a fine lunch was served in the Moot hall, part of Colchester town hall, with 200 Rotarians and partners in attendance.  The picture shows our members with RIBI President Burman.

Colin, Moya and Ian were at Shillingford Bridge for the District handover, when IPDG Laurie (far right) passed the chain of office to our DG for 2011-12 Niall Blair.  Niall in turn awarded the DGE (2012-13) chain to Judith Diment, and the DGN (2013-14) chain to John Greening.

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