Following several months of hard work by many members of the Club, we finally got to our Felsted Aid Dinner Dance on Sunday 29th April 2012. The evening was a great success, and was attended by both the Ambassador to the UK from the Ukraine, and by the Director of the Revival Centre in the Ukraine, and the music was provided by King Groovy and the Horn Stars. Our Speakers at the Club on Wednesday 2nd May 2012 were Helen and Dick, who had come to give the Club a report on the outcomes from the event. Part of the team on the evening had come from Barclays Bank Fundraising Events team, and both Helen and Dick were full of praise for the hard work the team from Barclays had contributed on the night. Finally they revealed the total outcome from the evening – which was in excess of £10,000. President Pushpinder was delighted at the outcome, and wished the team well in their search for the much needed replacement van to be donated to Felsted Aid for Deprived Children.

Our speakers on Wednesday 25th April 2012 were Luciana and Chloe, two Rotary Youth Exchange students who had travelled overseas as part of an exchange programme organised through our Rotary Club. Luciana had been to Coronado in California as part of an exchange that we had been told about in August last year. Taylor had come to talk to the club – see picture on the right – and now we heard of Luciana’s experiences whilst she went to visit Taylor’s family. Luciana was most impressed with the life style in California and the friendliness of the people there. Chloe (grey top) had been on a Youth Exchange Camp in Finland. Not normally one to embrace the outdoor life, Chloe had been camping, trekking, swimming and fishing. The experience had changed her outlook, and she hopes to do more of these pastimes in the future. The journey to Finland had been a challenge, and she had taken a large dictionary with her when she went shopping. She was surprised when a member of staff in a shop explained that the 1 cent Euro coin is no longer in use in Finland! Both made excellent speeches, and were a credit to the Rotary Youth Exchange programme. Let us hope that they end up being a member of the Rotary family in due course.

On Wednesday 25th April, we had a visit from Millie who hails from the Rotary Club of Scarborough – but not our Scarborough, she comes from the Scarborough outside Toronto in Canada. Millie was the guest of Mike – pictured above – who she knew when he was working in Canada. Besides having a speaker, there was much discussion on the forthcoming Dinner Dance at the Hilton Watford, and also the possible visit next month from the Rotary Club of Sacile Centenario, so the time passed all too quickly at the meeting!

This year, our District Training Session – called District Assembly – was held mid-week at the Royal National Hotel up in the centre of London. As the event was scheduled for the same evening as our Club meets, we decided en masse to attend the District Assembly. In total, 21 Club Members were present at the event. The evening also included a session for the incoming Club Presidents, the Secretaries and the Treasurers. Fortunately, the venue has a very clever partitioning system that allows them to divide the one large room into a number of smaller rooms. Although the evening seemed a little hasty – we did not get access to the room until one hour before the start! – a lot of ground was covered. We all agreed that the experiment had been worth trying, but the amount of training that was delivered was comparatively small. Next year, one of our own members will be planning the event, and we look forward to seeing what is organised for that year.

With President Elect Sandy in the chair, our speaker on Wednesday 4 April 2012 was Sakib Rashid, a 17-year old student at Preston Manor School was looking to top up a bursary he had received to enable him to take part in an Operation Raleigh International project in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.   He hopes that this gap year experience will stand him in good stead for the career he hopes to follow in medicine.   We wished him well and look forward to hearing about his trip on his return.  The club has made a contribution towards the funds still needed for participation on the condition that Sakid returns after the experience to tell us all about it. Well done Sakib and good luck with your fundraising – we can’t wait to hear your story!

On a warm and balmy evening on 28 March 2012, 20 members of the Club attended the Paul Harris Fellowship Dinner at the Imperial Hotel in central London. The dinner is a celebration evening rather than a fundraising event, and it was also an opportunity for the Club to promote its Charity Dinner Dance on 29th April 2012 – with the permission of the organising Club, the Rotary Club of Barking. As well as the usual speeches and toasts, and recognition of some of the senior Rotarians present, we had a repeat visit from the Vocal Dimension Chorus, worth coming to hear on any occasion. Perhaps we will get the whole club there next year.

Watch the video created on the evening here:

Lucille received an invitation some time ago to speak to a club for retired Gas Workers on what Rotary Clubs are all about, and in particular what the Rotary Club of Northwick Park does. Lucille is an ideal candidate for the task having held a wide range of posts in both the Rotary Club of Northwick Park and in the London District of Rotary International. She duly went along to their meeting this week, and came to our meeting to present a cheque for £30 to Club President Pushi for his Charity Appeal. His chosen charities this year are the Alzheimers Society, and the Middlesex Association of the Blind. Our thanks go to the Club that she visited, and it is now rumoured that we will be sending Lucille to a number of other organisations so that she can work her magic again!

On Tuesday 20 March 2012, Teams of youngsters from (in alphabetical order) Bentley Wood High School for Girls, Copthall School and Mill Hill County High School assembled at Bentley Wood High School for the Rotary Technology Tournament. Contestants were required to build a coin-sorting machine. The entrants for the Basic competition had to sort 2p coins from 1p coins, whereas the entrants for the Advanced competition had to sort 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p coins and count them automatically. (On the day there were no entrants for the Intermediate competition.)These tasks are even harder when they have to be achieved with paper, card, string, staples, lollypop sticks and string! Both competitions produced winners who found a workable solution, and prizes were awarded. There was also a special innovation award to a team from Mill Hill County High School (see below) who employed a twisting pendulum in their design which worked to great effect! Prizes were awarded in the presence of His Worship the Mayor of the London Borough of Brent, Councillor Aslam Choudry and His Worship the Mayor of the London Borough of Harrow, Councillor Mrinal Choudhury, and The Rotary District Governor for London Trevor Johnson. Special Thanks are due to Bentley Wood High School Headteacher, Janice Howkins; without her support and kind permission, we would not have had the excellent venue in which to hold the event. Well done to all the contestants and to all the Rotarians who helped prepare the event and attended on the day!

On Wednesday 14 March 2012 we had a business meeting, so there was no speaker to entertain us. However, we did have a Rotary celebrity who stopped by the Club to see what we were up to. Pictured here with President Pushi is Michael Stonham, who has answered the call for the London District to have an Assistant Secretary for the London District next Rotary year. We all wish him well in the new post which he takes up in July 2012, and hope that it marks the start of a long and steady ascent of the Rotary hierarchy. Well done Michael!