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|  CLUB NEWS: Quarter 4 - 2011
Wishing Well Success Well done to Mike and Annette Hope for helping to raise a tremendous £1062.35 for the Club’s charitable funds with the Wishing Well collection at Dobbies Garden Centre over the weekend of. 10th-11th December. With the help of other Rotarians Mike and Annette have been organising and manning this fundraiser for the past 5 years, in all sorts of weather – mostly cold and draughty , and combined with contributions over the years the Wishing Well has raised a staggering amount of over £10,000 for charitable funds since inception in 2003. A wonderful effort indeed and many thanks too to all the Dobbies staff and customers for their help and very generous support.
Rotary Club of Perth
29th December 2011 - A very good attendance of around 70 members, families and friends turned out to enjoy the annual Family Day where we were treated to the highly entertaining skills of magician Gary James. During the meal Gary went round all the tables working his expert brand of magic and this was followed up by a stand up of amusing and baffling range of tricks, involving members of the audience including President Ben who, despite his nervousness, never once took his eye off his £10 note!
Sports Convenor Hamish Milne also took the opportunity to announce the winners of the various golf tournaments contested over the year with President Ben’s better half Margaret presenting the trophies to the successful golfers. Finally lunch was brought to an exciting close with a surprise visit from none other than Santa Clause who had postponed his well earned holiday by a few days so that he could make one final delivery to the children, and ensure everyone, big and small, went home with a smile. Well done to Alistair Ritchie for organising such an enjoyable event and also proposing the vote of thanks.
 27th December 2011 - A number of last minute call offs meant that only 8 members took part in the Club’s annual Christmas golf outing to Charleton Golf Club near Colinsburgh but the brave few were rewarded with fine weather and a very enjoyable day of good fun and some variable golf. Making his first ever appearance at a Rotary golf outing, congratulations are due to Ewan Bannerman who excelled by winning the Fellowship Quaich and later attributed his success to his ‘love of the greens’. Well done also to John McEwan who showed his prowess by winning the nearest the pin prize and David Anderson who left the others behind by winning the longest drive.
Full marks to Charleton Golf Club for their excellent hospitality starting with coffee and bacon rolls and finishing with soup and sandwiches, as well as very generously donating the four ball first prize.
 22nd December 2011 - Reverend Anne Findlay, wife of Club member Tom gave the Christmas Address. Anne is currently Chaplin at Ninewells Hospital and Roxburgh House in Dundee but from the beginning of 2012 will become Chaplin at Perth Royal Infirmary and Cornhill Macmillan Centre here in Perth.
Anne’s talk was a first for the Club, becoming the first wife of a Rotarian to follow in husband Tom's footsteps and give the Christmas Address. Tom, also a minister, provided the Christmas Address in 2003. Anne gave an excellent address leading us through the events leading up to the birth of Jesus with many hidden references to biscuits and chocolates which members were challenged to identify and become the beneficiaries of Anne’s generosity. Having kept the company amused and enthralled Anne finished with the real and very serious message of Christmas before wishing the assembled company a very Happy Christmas President Ben proposed the vote of thanks, thanking Anne for both her humorous and serious messages.
 15th December 2011 - The club welcomed Angie Foreman of the Dundee International Woman’s Centre who gave an informative talk on the work done by the Centre and also their initiatives in sourcing, funding and creating work opportunities. Angie explained that the Centre does not seek to rely on handouts or charitable grants but rather it looks at ways to generate income from business ventures and from this approach was born Wooden Spoon Catering Ltd – a company serving hundreds of litres of curry in and around Dundee to businesses and private individuals.
 The company provides employment and training opportunities for excluded women with a particular emphasis on Black and Minority Ethnic communities to enhance their lives and the vision is to show that a small business with big ideas can change the world, to bring the world together through food, to change lives by catering with a conscience, to break barriers into work for all of Dundee's women, and to demonstrate that a business can combine profit and social purpose.
Its approach to ethical business through the model of Social Enterprise has seen its customer base grow significantly over the last 3 years; with some 15,585 enjoying their buffet service. WSC products and services are in demand with interest from national retailers, local food libraries and independent delicatessens. It has also attracted the support of world-class entrepreneurs within the food industry, including Dr Charan Gill MBE and Paul Grant MBE. Angie shows a dedication and a passion for the enterprise that knows no bounds and everyone enjoyed her effervescent talk. The vote of thanks was proposed by Euan McLeod.
 7th December 2011 - A good turnout of 33 Rotarians,spouses and friends attended a very enjoyable evening meeting at the Royal Perth Golfing Society in Atholl Crescent where, following a hearty supper, the guest speaker was Vivian Linacre who addressed the company on his recent book ‘The Marshall Place Conspiracy’. Vivian is very well known in the world of property, both in development and conservation, and he took us through the intriguing story of the development of new Perth in the early 1800’s, designed by the then 23 year old Edinburgh architect Robert Reid. He went on to tell the story of the beautiful order that existed with our city fathers and in particular the manner in which the Georgian terrace Marshall Place was developed on land which had been purchased from the Borough Council by some of the self same city fathers - all for purely personal gain.
Many thanks to John McEwan for organising this ‘away’ event and also proposing the Vote of Thanks, and as a footnote, John was able to confirm that he had no genetic connection to the scoundrel Baillie John McEwan who threw his teenage daughter out onto the streets of Perth despite being reprimanded by the Council.
 1st December 2011 - Due to a late call off Speaker Host Duncan McIntosh stepped into the breach and delivered an interesting and entertaining talk on the coaching of Dundee Eagles rugby club – no easy task when addressing an audience containing many Perthshire RFC enthusiasts.
Dundee Eagles RFC is open to boys and girls from p1 up to U18 level and currently has around 200 members. With close links to the High School of Dundee the Eagles provide rugby coaching and competition to 5 secondary and 20 primary schools in and around the city, through the employment of a full time development officer and assistant plus over 60 volunteer coaches and helpers. The aim of the club is to introduce youngsters to the game and create a pathway to senior rugby through the support of coaching and a strong club structure to provide best facilities. Last year the Eagles went out into the community to provide 450 coaching sessions to the primary schools as well as supporting curricular and extra curricular rugby at the secondary schools. Duncan also told us of the S1 and S2 recent trip to Lille with the boys coming home with memories of a great experience plus the trophy for fair play.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Alistair Ritchie.
 28th November 2011 - The Gavel Challenge ended with two narrow defeats, first away to Crieff on 20 November and then at home to Auchterarder on 28 November. At Crieff,the game ended 16-16,but in the shoot-out (at darts) Crieff won 450-430. Then in the Auchterarder game, narrow losses in the final round, first at pool, and then by one trick at whist,enabled the visitors to scrape home by 18-14. The one element common to both matches was the golf event, where we scored a total of 0 points out of 16. But the fellowship was excellent, with 16 members taking part in one or more games. Back to the drawing board.
  24th November 2011 - Unfortunately the speaker for the day had to call off at the last minute but Proceedings Convenor Mike Hope came to the rescue with a quiz on names of well known golf courses. This had members racking their brains and gave rise to the odd disputed call, but as with all good quizzes the quizmaster is always right. In a closely contested outcome, the victorious table won it with no birdies!!
Youth Activities Committee member Willie Coupar also took the opportunity to advise the Club of its success in sponsoring local Perth High School pupil Angus Reid who won through a tough selection process to attend the Euroscola project and visit the EU Parliament in Strasbourg in February, during which he will learn how the administration works and also debate in the Chamber and interact with other students from across the EU. This is a first for the Club, we send Angus off with our very best wishes and look forward to him addressing the Club on his return.
 22nd November 2011 - On a beautiful, sunny day, 15 Rotarian's, 5 Wives and a friend, 21 in all, visited the new Glasgow Transport Museum, at the Riverside in the morning and a majority also visited the Kelvingrove Art Galleries for part of the afternoon.
All agreed that it was an excellent day with the Transport Museum displaying exhibits of all forms of transport from ancient log boats to recent forms of transport for land, sea and air. The collection of the models of Clyde built ships is stunning and the presentation methods innovative and informative. There are lots of interactive displays and audio accompanying most of the transport models on show. The impressive design of the new building ensured that not only are the exhibits well displayed but also the views up and down the river Clyde from within the building are a major feature at every level. At the recently refurbished Kelvingrove Art Galleries the collection of paintings of the "Glasgow Boys" was on display. A trouble free journey by coach on the new road network into Glasgow meant that the journey from Perth was completed in less than an hour and the return equally quick.
10th November 2011 - Perth and Kinross Community Nursing Team have appealed for help in raising funds to acquire two Spirometers and Sandra Bowes, District Nurse, and Yvonne Young, Community Nurse, came along to address the Club on their use in the community.  Sandra gave a short talk about the role of Community Nursing and Yvonne explained about the actual use & need for the spirometers. The Spirometers are used for helping patients at home with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and asthma patients. They also support patients recently discharged from hospital who still need high quality care. Presently the Nursing Team have to beg, borrow or steal portable spirometers from surgeries, who are reluctant to release them to the nurses as they are required by the surgeries for patients scheduled and unscheduled appointments. There are only a few surgeries that have portable spirometers (most are permanent and attached to computers in the surgeries) which makes the Community Nurses effort in locating available equipment time consuming and often outweighs the benefit once it is to hand. Having two portable battery operated spirometers specifically for the Community Nurses would help free up nursing time to see more patients as well as improve patient care of those living at home and helping to keep hospital beds free for more urgent cases. The hard working Community Nursing Team provide essential care for patients living at home and maintain the high standard of patient care expected and could do more if supported by the equipment they need.
Past President Charles also provided a short photographic presentation on the Fairview School Sensory Garden Project.. The collection of photographs captures the full extent of the project from the initial ground clearing works through to final completion and the formal opening ceremony in October 2011. This major hands on project is without doubt one of the biggest tasks ever undertaken by the Club, involving many members as well as a host of outside helpers to which we are greatly indebted, and further details can be found on the website links: Fairview School Project and Club News
 27th October 2011 - The club’s two candidates from this year's RYLA Camp came to present to the club with Youth Activities Convenor Andy Ritchie firstly providing some background on the camp's purpose. RYLA is a week of outdoor activities involving mental and physical challenges. The attendees are split into teams and each team member gets a chance to lead the team one day. The camp is run by the Abernethy Trust and aims to develop confidence and leadership skills.
 Our two candidates were Atlanta Mason (previously Perth Grammar) and Kirsteen MacQueen. Atlanta is studying at University in Glasgow, based in Dumfries, and made the journey back to Perth especially to make the presentation. Kirsteen is head girl at Perth High School and heavily involved in various sport and musical clubs.
The girls provided a DVD which was played to the club over coffee and then entertained the members with their presentation. They both had differing presentation styles and had clearly put a lot of effort in preparation for a very interesting and enjoyable talk. The RYLA camp had provided them with a brilliant experience and many skills for later life and they thanked the club for the opportunity to attend the Camp. For the members it was particularly refreshing to see such enthusiasm and gratitude from two excellent candidates. President Ben gave a humorous and well deserved vote of thanks to Atlanta and Kirsteen, noting that the Rotary Club might also benefit from attending RYLA!
20th October 2011 - This year's Gavel Challenge began with a 24-8 victory over the Rotary Club of Perth Kinnoull at the West End Bowling Club, Perth and a very pleasant evening of fellowship was enjoyed by all concerned, with the highlight of the evening being a marathon game of Jenga in the final round, involving President Ben and Alistair Ritchie, who triumphed only after the tower had reached 33 levels. The other pairs in the winning team were:- Gordon Dow and Hamish Milne, Joe Cairns and Ian Inglis, and Sandy Dow and Jimmy Robertson.
 
 20th October 2011 - The Club has agreed that the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland at Rachel House will be one of the main beneficiaries from this year’s Perth Silent Auction and we were addressed by Hannah Archibald, one of the Charity’s fundraisers based at Kinross.
Hannah told us briefly a little about CHAS and their purpose for being. She advised us that whilst many still think of CHAS existing to help terminally ill children who are cancer sufferers, happily this is no longer the case as cancer care in the young has taken such huge leaps forward that most children can now be cured. And it is not only cancer care, CHAS is also there to help and support children and families with many other illnesses such as M.S.  Hannah wished members well in our efforts to raise funds from this year’s Silent Auction and she went on to tell us of an outside playhouse which is currently being built at Kinross at a cost of £100,000. Already £70,000 has been raised, with a further £30,000 required, and she suggested that our funds could go towards this facility.
In a very moving story Hannah concluded by telling us of a family who’s new born first baby was diagnosed, immediately after birth, with having a lifespan of less than one month. She explained how CHAS looked after the parents and the baby immediately after this diagnosis, how the baby was cared for at Rachel House and even after its passing, explained how the parents were able to deal with the baby’s death in a far less harrowing way than would normally have been the case.
 13th October 2011 - The Club welcomed Charles Dunphie, Assistant Director Scotland for the Army Benevolent Fund – ‘The Soldiers Charity’ to talk about the role of the Charity. Charles joined the Army in 1992 as an infantryman and was commissioned the following year into the Royal Green Jackets, eventually going on to the rank of Major in command of a Rifle Company, including active service in Iraq. Then followed various staff appointments at Staff College and Headquarters 3 UK Division with his final tour as a Company Commander and Chief Instructor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he trained regular officer commissioning courses. He was listed for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, but retired before promotion.
Now (learning to be!) a hill farmer at his family property at Bridge of Cally, Charles is married with three children and his hobbies include skiing, cricket, and military history, including organising various battlefield tours in Normandy, Cassino, Gettysburg, and the Falklands.
After outlining the range of charitable support all three military services, and highlighting the excellent support which Help for Heroes (and others) have given to major Projects for servicemen wounded in operations since 2001, he explained the long term requirement for low cost (but essential) support to individual soldiers and their families. Such a need may not enjoy a high profile but it is nonetheless desperate and involves not simply the servicemen currently serving, but those who have suffered as a consequence of service in operations ranging from the Second World War, Korea, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and of course the Gulf and Afghanistan.
He cited several cases where the Soldier’s Charity has been able, through only a small donation, to make a life changing difference to soldiers, their widows and/or families. Throughout his talk, he reminded the Club that charitable support for servicemen was required not simply as a consequence of current operations, but for those from previous generations and indeed for the future generations of servicemen who may be injured or suffer disability long after current operations have closed.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Alastair Dorward.
6th October 2011 - Ron Clark and our Immediate Past President - Charles Evans shared the Attendance Trophy for the Rotary year just past, for Charles it was a first time win but for Ron this was win number 17! Yes, Ron has won the Trophy for the last 17 years including this year, which is a really some attendance record!! Ron gave Charles the Trophy to take home to put on his mantelpiece, Ron's wife was delighted that someone else has shared the Trophy again this year, after Jimmy Robertson shared it last year, this will extend her a break for a further year, as Charles wife will have the pleasure of cleaning it; after 17years she certainly deserves this extended break. President Ben presented Ron and Charles with the Trophy.
 4th October 2011 - Tuesday saw the official opening of the Sensory Garden Project at Fairview School with Vice President John Fok and school pupil Andrew Urgias jointly cutting the ribbon in front of a large audience of Rotary members and other volunteers who have given up many a weekend and worked extremely hard in creating a wonderful asset for the school.
From the drawing board 18 months ago the project has grown out of surplus waste land into a sensory garden and walk designed to stimulate the children and young people with a variety of tactile features with differing heights, colours, smells, textures and finishes through selective planting and underfoot paving. The design incorporates a number of attractive semi-circular traditional dry stane dykes generously built by volunteer members of the Central Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association, as well as textured paving, a central timber decked picnic area, timber pergolas, roped handrails, a small bark play area and sand pit, a timber bridge, complete with aromatic planting. The restricted nature of the site meant that all the materials to and from the site had to be transported by hand and it is to the credit of all Rotarians and friends that they steadfastly stuck to the task in all weathers despite the back breaking work. Many of our members deserve special praise for great individual efforts but none more so than Rotarian Anne Smith’s husband Jim who provided a much needed mini digger and dumper truck and put in a huge number of hours in levelling and forming the site. Paying tribute to everyone for their efforts Head Teacher Coral Bell addressed the audience: "The sensory garden has brought together a range of people with many different talents, experience and abilities. Together with a great measure of enthusiasm, they have created a wonderful facility for the children, young people and staff of Fairview School. There will be many years of enjoyment and learning ahead within the garden as it evolves and develops.”Well done to everyone involved in what has been a major hands on project with such a marvellous result. | |
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