Latest Club News & Events

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Bangers and Mash Evening Succeeds Again
At the Bangers and Mash Evening held at the Parkers on 30th July 2008, Honorary Member Carrie Hampton received a water-colour painting depicting a children's playground at the Phumlani Creche in Masiphumelele, some 13 miles south of Cape Town in South Africa. The water-colour was the gift of artist and Rotarian Sandy Myrants, who was deeply moved on seeing photographs of children in the creche playground having such a good time with the Rotary International sponsored equipment.

Later in the evening, President Helen presented a Paul Harris Fellowship to Carrie in recognition of the success of the Phumlani Creche, and the difference it has made to the parents with young children in the township, allowing them to earn income with the certain knowledge that their children are being well-cared for during the day.

Carrie Hampton with her parents, Erica Hampton and Rotarian Owen Hampton with Club President Helen Antoniou.

And perhaps the final cherry on the cake - the evening made a profit for the Club of over £240, getting our fund raising programme off to an excellent start.  Our thanks go to Sydney and Lucille Parker without whose organisation and hard work the evening would never have taken place. Well done both of you!

Admirable Admirals on Caring for Carers
On Wednesday 23rd July we had a visit from a comparatively new organisation - Admiral Nurses. Pictured here with President Helen are Admiral Nurse Raminder Sarna (left) and Admiral Nurse Team Leader Kate Lim (right). The main focus for Admiral Nurses is the Carers for patients with various forms of dementia. Started some 3½ years ago with funding from the estate of Joseph Levy (known to his friends as The Admiral) there are currently just 50 nurses for the UK. With extended life expectancy and better health care, the onset of dementia is much more frequent than it used to be, and it is disproportionately so in some sectors of the population. The Admiral Nurses seek out Carers who are in need of care and provide an 8 day training course spread over 8 weeks dealing with what is already available to carers in terms of education, communication skills, managing challenging behaviour, benefits advice, legal advice, local support groups and societies, and so on. Taking their own advice, the Admiral Nurses link to the already existing experts for the course tutors. This is a growing problem, and we wish all success to Kate and Raminder who have the task of caring for the Dementia Carers in Harrow.

President Helen Starts with Induction of a New Member!
On Wednesday 9th July we had a Business Meeting, and President Helen made her first impression on the Club by immediately inducting a new member. Di King, shown here on the left, has been a Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Putney for several years, but circumstances mean that it is now better for her to attend our Club on a Wednesday evening. Di also has Rotary responsibilities as the District Youth Exchange Officer. Everyone in the Club welcomes Di to our Club and we hope that we will have a long and mutually rewarding association with her. Our congratulations also go to Helen who has got the year off to such a good start - well done!

The End of Another Successful Rotary Year
The Rotary Year came to an end on 30th June 2008, and as if by magic a new year started on 1st July 2008. Our meeting on 2 July marked this occasion with our usual selection of speeches and awards. The first picture here shows outgoing President Len giving his report to the Club of the events during the year. It had been an eventful year for the club tinged with sadness, but at the same time the club was finding new members and the immediate future was looking optimistic.

Before leaving the presidency of the Club, Len took the opportunity to express his thanks towards several members of the Club and also awarded the Club Trophies.

Thanks were expressed with a bouquet to Helen who had served as President Elect and covered for Len during his absences.

Thanks were also expressed to June who had completed four years as the Club Bulletin Editor and now moves on to Club Secretary (June was away on Inner Wheel business and so Angela accepted the bouquet on her behalf. Also John the existing Club Secretary and Dick the Club Treasurer were recognised.

The Francis Hickman Smith Boomerang for International Service was presented to Stan Jacobs who had once again overseen an active international programme for the Club, working on several projects and also attempting to set up a contact club in Serbia,

The David Cooke Fellowship Plate was present to Bob Coogan who had always been there whenever he was needed throughout the year.

The Service Above Self Shield was presented to Doug Try who had served the community in so many ways during the year.

The Ian Monro Rotarian of the Year award went to Lucille Parker who had done so much on Fundraising and on finding new members for the Club during the year.

Lastly but by no means least, the Club acknowledged the departure of Past President Pat Collins who had worked so hard for the Club over many years, and for the help of Rod from the Rotary Club of Pinner and for the help of Charlie, the golden retriever. We all wish her well in a new Rotary career with the Rotary Club of Oakhampton.

It was then time to pass the baton to Helen Antoniou our new Club President for 2008-2009.

Helen's First Job as President was to present Len with his Past President's Jewel and his Past President's Pin.

Helen in her turn inducted President Elect Lucille Parker, Vice President Stuart Braier, Sectretary June Nathan and Treasurer Dick Nathan

And so we start another Rotary Year, with a new theme "Make Dreams Real" and with new hope for the future.

Dress Sense Deserts David?
Normally our David is a bit of a snappy dresser with a strong eye for colour, but it seems that there was a moment's confusion on 25th June when he donned the Sergeant at Arms Sash. He was telling us the story of how the sash had been offered to the Club many years before, and despite his best attempts to get the Club to purchase it there had been a decision against the purchase. However, the sash had once again been offered to our Club following the demise of the Rotary Club of Alperton, and this time David has struck out on his own and secured it! He is eagerly awaiting his training course on how to wear it!

Dick Does the Video Tour
Our speaker on Wednesday 25th June was our own Dick Nathan. This time he was talking about the massive change to Rotary International's profile in the broadcast media over the past 15 months. During that time, Rotary had been the subject of several BBC News 24 Outside Broadcasts, and had featured many times in BBC News 24 Bulletins with particular emphasis on Rotary Young Chef, Rotary Youth Speaks and the Rotary Young Citizen awards. There was also the ITV programme covering Kids Out in 1946 (yes, 1946!). In addition to these there had also been a new section on the Internet Video Site YouTube dedicated to Rotary International (see the "rotary videos" button on the left), and the Fashion for Relief show led by Naomi Campbell had also featured, and many many more items. Truly this had been an exceptional year for coverage of Rotary International's work in the media.

Kids Out Day has Perfect Weather
Kids Out Day this year was on Wednesday 11th June, and had the benefit of perfect weather for the day. we arrived on time at Shaftesbury School in Harrow and were shepherded on the either mini-buses or coaches for the trip to Thorpe Park. Our member Dick had a job during the journey as the driver had never been there before from the school, so Tom Tom on this occasion was replace by Dick Dick!  Everything very nearly ran to plan, and by the end of the day, all of the youngsters were suitably exhausted by the experience, not to mention the carers, teachers and of course the Rotarians. The original Kids Out activity started a long time ago and was portrayed in a television programme broadcast last year. With ever increasing costs for transport, entry to Thorpe Park and the picnic lunch, planning for next year has already begun.

Sydney and Lucille show off the Convention 2009 Blazers
Sydney and Lucille will be visiting the Rotary International Convention in Los Angeles to promote the 2009 Convention taking place at Birmingham between 21 - 24 June 2009.

This convention will also be the centennial Rotary International Convention which is impressive given that the Rotary organisation only started in 1905. We all wish Sydney and Lucille 'Bon voyage!' and hope that they come back with lots of early bookings for this very special occasion in 2009.

Club Assembly Draws Visitors from far and wide
Although the meeting on 4th June was a Club Assembly, we had a number of visitors from far and wide to the meeting. Shown right are District Governor Shakil Ansari and Rashida Ansari who were visiting London on their way to the Convention in Los Angeles and decided that the Rotary Club of Northwick Park would be a good club to visit. DG Shakil comes from the Rotary Club of Islamabad Cosmopolitan, and is keen to run a joint project with the Rotary Club of Northwick Park that will qualify for a grant from the Rotary Foundation. He brought a load of paperwork and a CD describing the project and its funding so far.

We also had a visit from Past District Governor Manibhai Doshi (left) and Mr Ayer with whom Mr Doshi was staying in London. Manibhai Doshi was president of the Rotary Club of Bombay in 1955 and District Governor of what is now District 3140 in 1963-1964. Mr Ayer's son Vivek is known to many members of the Club since he took part in a Group Study Exchange Team visit to Ontario and New York State in 2002-2003.

Despite it being a Club Assembly evening, both pairs of visitors seemed to have a most enjoyable evening with us.

Club Assembly Get Seal of Approval
Our meeting on 4th June 2008 was our Club Assembly. This is the occasion when all the hard work preparing for the coming Rotary Year is presented to the Club Members for their approval and their adoption. This is the first chance that President Len in the blue shirt was able to pass the burden of Club President to President Elect Helen who presided over the Club Assembly. Needless to say, President Len has a few more weeks to go until the 1st July 2008 and so Helen passed control back to him at the end of the Club Assembly. It was a long meeting because so much has been planned for the new Rotary Year, but it looks like an exciting year in prospect. Between Len and Helen was our new Assistant Governor Toni Finkel, busy taking notes for her summing up at the end of the evening.

HOPE comes from East Tennessee
On 28th May our speaker was Jonathan Barry, who comes from East Tennessee. Jonathan is a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Johnson City Morning, and is studying here for a Masters in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. As well as working towards a career as either a paediatric cardiologist or paediatric anaesthetist, Jonathan spoke about HOPE - Helping to Overcome Physical Expectations, a charity that he has been involved in setting up in the USA. Its goal is to connect the able with the disabled so that people who are disabled are seen more as members of society by students than is currently the case. HOPE has recently gained significant funding from a local sponsor and will be expanding in the near future. Jonathan's own work with a blind student had ended with him being able to read braille text. In addition to his studies, and his work for HOPE, Jonathan also found time to take part in the Dragon Boat Race at Millwall Docks on the 18th May. Well done Jonathan, and all strength to your elbow!

So this is what Rotarians do in their spare time!
On 21st May we had our Vocational evening with a small exhibition of the materials used in our vocations and hobbies as well as some of the results. They included a selection of materials and information sheets from our own fitness instructor Doug along with the story of why he took up a new career in retirement. Dick talked about Post-Production and how his work for Rotary had led to a new understanding of the skills and work involved. Sandy takes a weekly art workshop at Harrow Arts Centre and talked about her paintings. Mike collected stamps for a long time and spoke about how his collection had become focussed as a result of limited funds from his pocket money! Arnold talked about his experiences on safari, and his encounter with a leopard who was not expecting to meet him. June talked about her work in genealogy and how she had discovered the story behind a family member who had escaped the ghetto at the start of the Second War. Finally David took us through his collection of military cap badges and the complications of yellow metal, white metal, copies and re-strikes. An interesting and surprising evening with thanks to all who took part.

Kid Prefer Kids Out to a Year of Chips!
Our speaker on 7th May 2008 was Kerry Sternstein, Deputy Head Teacher at Shaftesbury School in Harrow. Kerry came to speak to the Club about what Rotary Kids Out Day means to the staff and the pupils at the school. Kerry showed us some of the paperwork that the staff have to coordinate in order to run a school outing within the guidelines. Even the Risk Assessements have to be assessed for the Risk that they are not adequate! She agreed that the project has left behind the old way of working, but it is now compliant with the latest rules and regulations. To the pupils, Rotary Kids Out on one day in a year means as much as the privilege of going to the local chip shop at lunchtime for a whole year. To reinforce the argument, the pupils had made their own video about which rides at Thorpe Park they liked the best and why. The Club is all set for this year's Rotary Kids Out Day on 11th June at Thorpe Park, and it appears that the pupils can't wait to go! Thank you Kerry for all the hard work that you do for us and the pupils on this project.

Sun Shines All Day on International Lunch!
The sun came out on Sunday 11th May, and stayed out all day long creating a perfect environment for the Rotary Club of Northwick Park's Annual International Lunch. The idea behind an international lunch is really simple. One Club Member, in this case President Elect Helen, declares "Open House" and invites all the members of the Club to a lunch. The food is to be brought by the members of the Club and should in essence represent either the international backgrounds of the members of the Club, or reflect the international projects being undertaken by the Club. This year we were treated to a number of Greek specialities - thank you Helen, a number of vegetarian dishes - thank you to Ros, Dick  and the many other contributors, a Malawian dish - thank you Wati and Francesca, a Moroccan Meal Strüdel - thank you George and Sandy, an American Meat Loaf and Frankfurters - than you Sydney and Lucille, and so on. With a little careful balancing by Lucille and Helen, we ended up with lots of really interesting food - regrettably more than we could eat! Then we moved on to dessert in a similar vein, and finally we got through to the cheese and biscuits, teas and coffees. With perfect weather we had a great time, and also we raised some significant funds for our Club's international projects. Well done to Lucille for organising the event, and to Helen for hosting us.

Mayor of Harrow gets her say too!
Our speaker on 30th April was the first citizen of Harrow, The Worshipful, the Mayor of Harrow Cllr Jean Lammiman. She had made it a goal of her year to ensure that everyone had their say on each issue. With 230,000 people living in the borough, lots of invitations came, many for the first time from new organisations and groups. Groups are now arriving both from Europe and through Europe (e.g. Tamils who speak German!). She saw it as a principal task for the mayor to bring people into involvement with their local community. Her charities for the year had included Teenage Cancer Trust for whom £30,000 had been raised. As a result, a branch would now be established in Harrow. There had also been a Fun Run, and involvement with Kingsley High School, and of course being the Guest of Honour at all the Rotary Youth Opportunities organised in the Borough. Now we need her to join our Rotary Club! Well done Jean, and well done John Hinkley for the support given during the year. The Vote of Thanks was given by Amrit, the Chairman of Three Rivers Council.

VSO Global Exchange pays dividend for Robert
Our speaker on 23rd April was Robert Woodward. Robert last visited the Club in July 2007 when he was seeking our support for his intended Global 'Xchange' with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). He was finally able to raise the necessary funds and departed for a 3 month stay in Nigeria towards the end of November. Whilst in Nigeria he became involved in a number of community programmes, including a road safety campaign for the motor cycle taxis (okadas), learning to do washing in a bucket, visiting a village chief several times, raising awareness to TB and visiting a game reserve. Robert's host in Nigeria then came to England and stayed with Robert in Brighton for 3 months, working again on community projects in Brighton and fundraising for UK Charities. The programme had clearly changed Robert; he was now much more self-assured, articulate and mature. His main impressions were the marked differences between the two countries, which contrasted well with the optimism of young people in both countries. Well done Robert and thank you for letting us know how you got on with the programme

Ros Morris's Job Talk
Our speaker on Wednesday 16th April was our own Ros Morris, who joined the club in January this year. Ros spoke about her upbringing as one of four children on a farm near the North Yorkshire moors. She tried several different lines of work before coming to Sociology and Social Work. She graduated and married husband Robert in 1986 and found a job with the London Borough of Hillingdon working on children's affairs and with children at significant risk.  A opportunity with promotion arose in Surrey, and she worked there until an even more senior post fell vacant back at Hillingdon. She was selected and giving the task of looking after 120 staff. Last September she moved to the London Borough of Brent where as Head of Commissioning she works on developing new projects for children and families in need of support. She enjoys visiting the gym and keeping fit, seeing it as a less expensive alternative to shopping and therapy! Well done Ros, an excellent talk from an accomplished speaker.

Visit to Dickens World in Chatham
On Thursday 17th April, a coach load of 30 departed from Harrow to visit the Dickens World centre at Chatham in Kent. With most of those on board having read at least one of his books, we had great expectations from the visit. The expectation that was best satisfied was the legerdemain of the exhibits, many being based on partial projection of images or on 'animatronic' figures like Mr Dickens himself as shown in this photograph. There was even a 4-dimensional film and a boat ride through the converted warehouse where the set has been built. But for all the gadgetry and gimmickry, one aspect of the life and times of Dickens was missing; the characters. We managed to see Nancy (from Oliver Twist) and Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), but their performances were mimed to a sound track. We sat in a class at Dotheboys Hall where a very youthful Mr Squeers was there to make sure that the video screens in each desk ran the standard Dickens Quiz where a good score relied on you answering questions incorrectly. Dickens' 15 novels are filled with interesting and notable characters, but they are not represented at Dickens World in a way that you can converse with them. What you will find there is a dimly lit stage set with lots of electronic amusements that can only be left through the predictable 'shop of curiosities', including soft toys and teddy bears. For some of the visitors, the high spot of the day was the visit to the Chinese Buffet next door, or to the factory outlet mall opposite the centre. David Hooper's organisation and management of our visit was flawless - well done David!

Interest Meeting Hits the Spot
On Wednesday 2nd April we had another of our regular interest meetings, when business persons and member of the professions either working locally or living locally come along to a meeting to savour the delights of a meeting at a truly lively and vigorous Rotary Club. On this occasion, five members of the Club were each given three minutes to talk about either their joining of the Rotary Club of Northwick Park, or about their experiences in the Rotary Club of Northwick Park. Also on show that evening were the Display Boards which had been specially updated for the occasion. In all, some 14 visitors agreed to come to the meeting; many of those are keen to attend again at their first opportunity, making the evening master-minded by Lucille Parker a great success for the visitors and the Club.

Well done Lucille!.
 

John fares well on the buses!
Our speaker on Wednesday 26th March was our own Club Secretary, John Evans. John does not drive, and making a virtue of a necessity he has become something of an expert on public transport. His talk concentrated on the history of "red" buses in an around Harrow. Starting from the 1960s, he took us through the complicated mergers, takeovers, management buy-outs, counter mergers and closures that have been the characteristic feature of public transport in our part of London. Originally all the routes were operated by local authorities; now they are regularly put out to tender, with the winner having to buy garage and station facilities to ensure their buses are kept on the road. Much has changed with time; much will change again! Thank you John for your detailed analysis.

John shows his Champion Breeding
Our speaker on Wednesday 19th March was Rotarian John Branch from the Rotary Club of Harrow. He hadn't come far since his club meets at the same venue as ours, but on a different day! John has pursued several careers, but the one he came to talk about was that of showing dogs at dog shows. In particular, he specialised in Bull Terriers and later in Miniature Bull Terriers. John made it clear that the Bull Terrier is not to be considered lightly as the dog was originally bred for aggression and tenacity, and so asks a lot of its owner. As well as owning a champion dog, John had also travelled the world as a judge at dog shows. With the Crufts show in our recent memory, his talk was well received by the Club.

Rotary Technology Tournament builds bridge to future
The North West London Rotary Technology Tournament final took place on Tuesday 18th March at a local school. The tournament sets a simple engineering challenge for local youngsters and provides them with the materials they need to build a solution. This year the challenge was to build a road bridge with a section that would open to allow a ship to pass. The task is available with three levels of difficulty, with the level being selected on the basis of the participants age. The participants have to solve the problem of spanning a gap longer than any of their materials, and need to demonstrate that they understand how it is that a bridge actually supports a load passing over it! The team shown here won the senior competition, and call themselves "The Girly Girls!". They also won the Leonard Sumner Innovation Cup for their unusual design.

Rotary Club of Harrow seek sponsorship for Fireworks Display
As well as providing a speaker for our meeting, several members of the Rotary Club of Harrow attended the meeting with a view to finding sponsors for their fireworks display on 8th November 2008 this year. Changes in the regulations for public fireworks display come into effect this year, and the end result is an increase in the costs incurred in running the display. In particular, the storage of the fireworks, and the supervision of the firing on the night must now be put out to commercial organisations, whereas in the past they were able to use a Rotarian who had a public fireworks display proficiency certificate. Gary Banger is shown here making his plea for members of our Club to purchase banners to be seen at the display on the night.

Stuart and Maureen made welcome at Northwick Park
Although are meeting on 12 March was a business meeting, we took full advantage of our time together by inducting a new member to our club, Rotarian Stuart Braier (far right). Stuart has been a Rotarian for some 17 years in the Rotary Club of Barkingside, but times change and we are delighted that he has found time again to become involved in Rotary once more. Stuart works in the Catering industry, and we all wish him well in the Club. For the remainder of this year he will be working on the International Service Committee with Chairman Stan Jacobs. Stuart was supported by his wife, Maureen and a group of Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Barkingside who came to wish him well in his new club.

Local Press Champion Access to Rotary Garden
"A gateway leading to a tranquil courtyard that has provided peace and quiet to hospital patients for more than 25 years has been closed off by medical bosses. Poorly people, their visitors and staff can now only reach the Rotary Garden, which lies behind the canteen at Northwick Park Hospital in Watford Road, Harrow, via a restaurant stairwell. It was created more than 20 years ago by The Rotary Club of Northwick Park and revamped by them last year but an external gate that led to the hospital's internal roadway was quietIy shut on December 3." So starts an article in the local press investigating the attempts by the Hospital to prevent access to the garden. Reasons given by the Hospital as to why the garden cannot be used have included: Access to the garden was a Fire Route, the area is used for ambulances, the garden represents a security risk. Rotarians are still unhappy but we hope that this item in the press will help Hospital Managers find a solution that will please both patients and visitors to the hospital.

Charity is on the path to a cure
On Wednesday 9 March our speaker was John Parker of DEBRA. DebRA is the national charity working on behalf of people in the UK with the genetic skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). John explained the 3 main types of EB, junction (the worst), dystrophic, and simplex (the mildest). Some 5,000 children and adults are affected with the condition that is mostly experienced as either a severe rash or in more extreme cases loss of skin elasticity, or surface skin detachment. The condition has a genetic background with about 1 in 227 men and women carrying the defect, and most people are unaware of it. Only when two carriers have children can a condition arise. Research is needed to develop and test a genetic treatment. John was very positive about the future, but funds are needed to undertake the exhaustive testing required by NICE. We wish DEBRA well in their challenge and hope that we will stay in touch.