If I were a negative-minded person I would say that March had been a bad month for our Rotary Club.

Not only did our four Young Musicians get knocked out of the competition at the Regional stage, but we lost to Farnborough at table tennis and had a poor turnout for the Rotary Spring Clean. Moreover, our Mock Interviews with local school children proved very challenging (to me anyway). However, I do not look at things in such a negative manner. Spring has arrived in all its glory, we have many things to be optimistic about.

To start on the most positive note of all, I was very pleased to welcome a new member to our Club at our meeting on 26 March. Ian Bowyer becomes our 24th full member and I wish him many years of enjoyment and friendship within Rotary.

Continuing in positive mode I would say that the Young Musician experience was really worthwhile and I hope we can repeat it next year. OK, we now realise the very high standard required to progress to the National Final but didn’t our four young performers represent District 1140 so well. They certainly enjoyed the occasion.

Whilst the numbers turning out for the Rotary Spring Clean were rather modest we did a good job filling 20 black bags of litter from the lanes and green areas of Shepperton. Brian McQuade wins my award for top eco-volunteer!

The Mock Interviews for Year 9 students has evolved over the years and I see that three local schools are now calling on our services. Yes, it can be daunting for an individual Rotarian to stand in front of an often unruly class to teach them the principles of applying for a job but thanks to Richard Black’s experience in this field and the notes he produced I think we pulled it off!

The 4 Club’s Meeting on 13 March was arranged by Staines Club and there was a full house at the modernised Stanwell Hotel. After a good meal and the drawing of the “Special Golf Day” raffle a presentation was made to Rotarians and guests by the Charity “Contact the Elderly”. Cliff Rich, competing with noise from the bar, told us about Sunday Tea Parties being organised for elderly and often lonely people around the country. There was a need for this service in our area and volunteers were sought as drivers (once a month) and hosts (twice a year).

Our regular meeting on 19th saw our member Richard Black give a very interesting talk on the Water Industry. He described from an insider’s viewpoint the history, structure, progress and regulation of this important privatised industry, referring to the resource as “Blue Gold”. There is clearly much work to be done to convert our Victorian pipes and systems into something more efficient, to reduce leakage rates and educate industry and the public about water wastage. A good start appears to have been made.

Then on 26th, Alan Barber introduced James Davis a professional photographer who Alan and Gaynor had met on a cruise holiday. Working on travel photography for books and magazines for decades, James had a desire to travel the world and became ship’s photographer with P&O. From a library of 100,000 photos he selected his favourites to show us and they were presented under themes such as Water, Landscapes, The Amazon, People etc. We certainly enjoyed magnificent images, including many atmospheric ones, from many parts of the world.

Yours in Rotary Peter Routley
President 2011/12

Above : A Welcome to our new member, Ian Bowyer, photographed with his wife, Ann, at the Aurora Prestige Lecture.

Above : Our Richard Black who gave us plenty to think about on the supply of the prime life resource, ‘Water’

February turned out to be a busy and quite varied month for our Club.

At the start of the month, Oliver and I assisted year 9 pupils at Thamesmead School with a SATRO Business Game. It was good to interact with these young people as we learnt together the principles of commercial life!

I returned to Thamesmead with Maureen a few days later to see their production of “Oliver Twist” which was very well performed. The fact that Fagin kept losing his beard added a touch of comedy. Although it wasn’t a musical as such, there was a piano accompaniment and to our delight the two winners from our Young Musician competition were there to perform off-stage.
Yes, Becky Bennett singing “As long as he needs me” and Kieran Pereira on recorder and bongo drums.

Incidentally, these two are now to be joined by the runner-up singer, Eugene Carnell from St James’ School, at the Regional Final on 17th March at Cranleigh. So we have three to cheer on and if anyone would like to attend I can give them full details.

Shepperton Aurora Club invited us to a Beetle Drive on 10th February and 15 of us duly arrived at St. John Fisher Church Hall to meet the challenge. This was a most enjoyable event with good food and fun and to cap it all we walked away with the trophy. Eric yet again ‘out-beetled’ all those around him!

John Brassington intrigued us on the 13th with his job talk – 20 years on. This was a tale of hard work and success; obtaining a BA degree from the Open University; working as a pastry chef; an apprenticeship at Honeywell. Subsequently he worked for the NCB, winning the “Golden Boiler Award” for sales in his first year. John, in true entrepreneurial spirit, realised that he could do much of this work for himself and set up on his own as “City Facilities Management Company.” John now runs “Chilly Pepper Hire” dealing in air conditioning and central heating units as well as utilitywarehouse.co.uk which franchises for utility and telecoms companies. What a career ride he has had with great experience of many industries gained along the way.

The next day we held the customary Children’s Party at Thamesmead School in support of Homestart. It was all hands to the pumps to ensure that the food, presents and the entertainer kept the little ones happy. A big thank you to Janet and Oliver for doing so much and to our members and partners for their help on the day.

The following week at our regular meeting we had the pleasure of presenting our Annual Vocational Awards to local people. As chair of our Vocational Committee, Jeremy introduced us to Raj from Sunbury Homecare and DIY which he described as an ‘Aladdin’s Cave’. If a wanted item is not in the store, Raj will get it for you and that is why he is so highly regarded in the Sunbury community. Raj, accompanied by his assistant, Tim Robbings, was presented with the Business Award shield. It was then the turn of Joanne Gardner, who was the founder of a children’s choir known as “Spelthorne Young Voices”. From small beginnings, Joanne has brought together young people with varying degrees of talent to sing and perform for the enjoyment of it. Jeremy presented her with the individual Vocational Award for service to the Community.

Finally on 27th we had a night out at the Greek Vine in Claygate. This was organised by Cathy Black and her International Committee and a good job they made of it too. Good food, bad dancing and luckily there was no one else in the restaurant to witness our attempt at dancing around the tables to Zorba the Greek!

Yours in Rotary Peter Routley
President 2011/12

Above: Jeremy presented the Business Vocational Award Shield and certificate to Raj of Raj Homecare and DIY accompanied by his assistant Tim Robbings

Above: The individual Vocational Award was made to Joanne Gardner for her work in setting up ‘Spelthorne Young Voices’

Above: Some of the team preparing the food for the 'Homestart Party'

1st February 2012 - Routley’s Ramble No 8

I don’t know about the month, but what a week we had in January! From the successful first attempt to hold a Youth Competition on Monday 23rd to the superb Burns Night Supper on Friday 27th followed by a Guests Evening on Monday 30th.

It has meant a lot of planning and hard work for many of our members, but I feel we have really achieved something in our Community and hopefully, like me, our volunteers have enjoyed the experience.

The month started fairly quietly with the usual Business Meeting followed by Club Council and started to warm up on the 16th when Geoff Williams gave his job talk entitled “A Life on the Road”.

I joked that this was part of the Rotary initiation ceremony and have to say that he passed with flying colours. He had quite a story to tell regarding his varied career culminating in the Trailer Leasing Business with many a setback in the early days and meeting some interesting characters along the way.

Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland encourages clubs to engage with young people as a community project and to promote themselves to a “New Generation”. Nowadays there are competitions around the country for such things as Young Chef, Young Engineer, Young Writer, Young Photographer and of course Youth Speaks, a public speaking contest which Aurora have run for some years. Knowing our long connection with the music department at Thamesmead School in Shepperton it was suggested that we might organise a Rotary Young Musician Competition for individual students throughout the Borough and this came to fruition after consultation with seven senior schools in the area.

The competition, involving 10 singers and 5 instrumentalists, took place in the John Crook Theatre at Halliford School and it was judged a success with the winner of each category, who received a certificate and a cash prize, going through to the next stage which takes place at Cranleigh on March 17th. We will support the winners, Bekki Bennett, 15 and Kieran Pereira, 16 and hope they make it to the National Final at the RIBI Conference at Bournemouth in April. We are pleased to have unearthed such musical talent in our midst and I thank our Rotarians and partners who did so much to make this a worthwhile and enjoyable evening.

Above: The contestants in the Solo Singer Group of the Young Musicians Competition presented with their certificates by PDG Rtn Betty McClure. The Winner of
this group was Bekki Bennett (3rd from right)

Above: The competitors in the Instrumental group with Councillor Vivienne Leighton. The winner was Kieran Pereira (2nd from left).

This was closely followed by our Burns Night Supper at the Riverside Arts Centre in Sunbury, organised so well by Cathy Black and her International Committee members. It was much more than just a supper – more like a Scottish Festival of poetry, music, dance and good food and drink! From the moment we were greeted by the swirl of the bagpipes and the immaculately dressed piper to the Toastmaster/MC, Finlay Forbes, who addressed the haggis and then proposed a toast to the “Immortal Memory” of Rabbie Burns, we knew we were in for a treat.

Our Rotary friend, Alex Forrester, gave the Selkirk Grace before we began our 3-course meal, comprising smoked salmon mousse, beef casserole, haggis with neeps and tatties, followed by tipsy trifle. Really good food (even second helpings for some of us) and good service with a smile. Then came the energetic bit; Finlay and his wife Georgina leading us a merry dance for an hour or two. Yes, the intricacies of Scottish Country Dancing which most of us attempted, before Auld Lang Syne signalled the end of a memorable evening. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the evening, particularly to Cathy and her team.

Finally on 30th January, Eric Painter stepped into the breach when our planned speaker had to cancel. Eric showed us a wonderful selection of photographs of his visit to Sydney, Australia and to the north and south islands of New Zealand interspersed with a little quiz about the animals and birds of that country. It was an opportunity for those of us who had not been ‘down under’ to see the beauty of the countryside, towns and cities there. We look forward to February with the Beetle Drive Challenge against Aurora in defence of our win last time and to The Homestart Party.

Yours in Rotary Peter Routley
President 2011/12

1st January 2012 - Routley’s Ramble No 7

I hope you all had a merry Christmas. A Happy New Year to all our readers! A Happy Rotary half-year to all our members!

Our Club celebrated Christmas at the Holiday Inn on 12th December with 45 members and guests enjoying a traditional meal and the usual fun and games. The tables were well decorated by the hotel and the balloons certainly started things off with a whoosh! (If not a bang). The atmosphere throughout the evening was lively and I do hope that everyone enjoyed the festive occasion.

The highlight of the evening for me was the presentation of a Certificate and lapel badge to Jeremy Edwards for services to Rotary International over many years. It was a great pleasure to declare Jeremy a Paul Harris Fellow and to thank him on behalf of the Club for the great contribution he has made.

There is a lot to be planned in the coming months, and having completed a major fundraising effort with the Christmas collections in Shepperton and the static collections in Laleham and Sunbury for which I thank Nick, David, Santa, and all his little helpers, we can look forward to the following with anticipation.

Monday 23rd January - Young Musician 2012 Competition at Halliford School, Shepperton. Our first attempt to engage in a Rotary Youth initiative and with so much musical knowledge in our Club we are well placed to organise and adjudicate this event which showcases the talented young singers and instrumentalists in our midst.

Friday 27th January - Burns Night at the Riverside Arts Centre, Sunbury organised by Cathy Black and her International Committee members. Caterers have been booked, as have a piper and Scottish dancers so it is now up to us to book tickets (£25 per head) and make sure this is a real success.

Friday 10th February - a Beetle Drive at St John Fisher Church Hall, Squires Road, Shepperton. We have been challenged by Aurora who aim to wrestle back the Beetle Trophy won by Eric Painter a few years ago.

Monday 27th February - a Greek Meal for members and their guests with details to be announced, and on Tuesday 13th March our Four Clubs Dinner at Stanwell Hall Hotel with a speaker from Pump Aid.

On Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th March “Rotary’s Spring Clean” - two mornings of litter picking and general tidying up in our area which I will arrange. This coincides with Climate Week and I hope we can engage with the young and not so young amongst us!

So apart from our regular Anchor meetings we have quite a First Quarter of 2012 to look forward to. Let’s go for it!

Yours in Rotary Peter Routley
President 2011/12

Above: Club President Peter Routley (left) presents Jeremy Edwards with his Paul Harris Award, the highest accolade for service to his club and Rotary.

Above: Past-President Eric Painter formally starts the Christmas Party festivities!

Above: Lucky Old Father Christmas with one of his Elves on ‘Big Tree Night’!

Above: Meeting Father Christmas - a Shepperton tradition

1st December 2011 - Routley’s Ramble No 6

Now into my sixth month as President it’s time to take stock and consider what still has to be done in this Rotary Year.

Certainly we have enjoyed a full and varied programme thanks to Pat, our Speaker Secretary.
Our social and charitable events have gone well and I am pleased with the steady progress of my President’s Charity, Action Aid. However it is during the next six months that our major fund-raising efforts take place, namely the Christmas collections, Burns Night, Sponsored Charity Walk and the Shepperton Village Fair. I know I can rely on our members to do their bit during this period because it is so important that our level of support to local and International causes is maintained, and this year for the first time we need to cover the expenses of running the Young Musician 2012 Competition.

Quite a lot happened in November. Some of us attended Aurora’s Race Night and later their excellent ‘Youth Speaks’ competition in the Council Chamber. A record number of people turned out in sunny weather for Shepperton’s Remembrance Sunday service and I was proud to represent our Club by laying a wreath in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice.
We had three very interesting talks to the Club which I summarise below, a successful Christmas collection at Notcutts and oh, did I mention that we beat Woking Club at table tennis!

Our first speaker, Brenda Penfold, suffered the rare condition of retinitis pigmentosa blindness and tunnel vision at the age of 25, leaving her partially sighted. She described the “bombshell” of losing her job within 2 weeks of this diagnosis, finding that she was expecting her first child, and then losing her driving licence – all within a very short time. She intrigued us with her description of electronic devices enabling her to work in her kitchen, to choose the colour of her clothes and not least the use of a computer with special speaking software. Nowadays she helps other disabled people, notably the swimming club “Runnymede Dolphins” with its 80 members. She has an active social life and now she is helping to look after her very young grandson. Truly an inspirational lady.

We first heard about “TALK” when their Ashford branch joined in our Sponsored Walk last May. It was good therefore to welcome to the Club Peter Walker, a Rotarian from Guildford and a Group Leader & Trustee for this Charity which cares for people with aphasia,one of the debilitating effects of a stroke. Originally an affiliate of the Stroke Association, whose funds were cut in 1998, a group was formed in Guildford utilizing the existing volunteers – and TALK was born! Today they are helping 100 people, each with a volunteer, and the aim is to create a good social atmosphere in which they can meet to experience informal speech therapy and to help rebuild confidence and well-being. It was heartening to hear how even the most reluctant attendee “Mr Grumpy” had changed over time, and was now helping with other recoveries and was even driving the regular programmes. In thanking Peter for his fascinating talk on behalf of the Club, our member, Ian Wetherell, recounted his own experience with aphasia following a stroke exactly 4 years ago, and the great progress he had made thanks to the support of family and dedicated volunteers like those admirable people at TALK.

Finally we kept our last meeting “in the family” as it were when Alan Barber gave a 3-part presentation of his wonderful holiday to Russia, Scandinavia and the Baltic States.

An audiovisual account including still and video photography of the cruise that he and Gaynor enjoyed in May aboard the Saga Pearl 2.
Apart from visits to the lovely cities of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn etc. and the journeys through the Kiel Canal, the highlight was undoubtedly the tour of St Petersburg with its impressive Hermitage Museum and Art Galleries as well as the ornate Church of the Spilled Blood.

With Alan’s eye for a good picture and the choice of music the evening was enjoyed by members and guests.

The next “Rambles” will be in 2012, so I wish all or members, partners and Rotary friends a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Holiday Inn on 12th December when the
Christmas festivities can really begin!

Yours in Rotary Peter Routley
President 2011/12

Above: Our gathering photo for our Christmas Card for RC Mennecy

Above: Our very own travel film producer, Alan Barber