Our speaker on Wednesday 15 February 2012 was Andrew Cox, who is CEO for the Middlesex Association for the Blind (www.aftb.org.uk), based in Queensbury, just a mile or so from Northwick Park. Whilst the majority are not completely blind, there are estimated to be some 46,000 people in the catchment area that have some visual impairment. Their catchment area includes 9 London Boroughs (see their web site for a map), and they have been providing a service in the community since 1922. Andrew spoke about his career in software development, and how he came to the post of CEO. His mission is to help people with visual impairment remain independent in their own homes, and he spoke about the satisfaction he gets from knowing that he has done a good job. Running an organisation that looks after some 800 clients, with 26 part time paid staff and 400 volunteers, on a budget of  £500k per year, we are inclined to agree. Often IT provides a means of dealing with some of the consequences of blindness and Andrew described several examples. With his background in the IT industry, Andrew seems ideally placed to help and encourage the volunteers. The Middlesex Association for the Blind is one of our President’s Preferred Charities for the year, and a small donation was provided on the night with a promise of more to come by the end of the year. Well done Andrew!

On Monday 13th February 2012, Dick and our Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Dennis (pictured in the back row on the left) attended the special Rotary Foundation Dinner held by the Rotary Club of Radlett each year. The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Radlett Rotarian Nigel Rogers, who demonstrated his very wide range of languages to great effect in introducing the scholars. In total there were 16 scholars present (one had to leave before the photograph was taken) and we were treated to a short recital by Rotary Scholar and Violinist Pierre. In total, there were 12 Ambassadorial Scholars and 4 Global Scholars present. Club President Colin Powell and District Governor Trevor Johnson both spoke eloquently about the achievements of the scholars over the past 64 years.

Our Club Secretary June is also President of the Inner Wheel Club of Northwick Park! The Ladies of Inner Wheel met for lunch for their Annual Rally at the Thistle Hotel at Marble Arch on Monday 13th February, and three Rotarians from our Rotary Club also attended the event in support. They are left to right Dick, Robert and David. It was a very pleasant event, and greetings were exchanged between the two Clubs. The main speakers at the event was Phyllis Charter, the National Chairman of the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in Great Britain and Ireland who urged the members to greater things in their clubs, and London Chairman Jane Smith.

Our speaker on Wednesday 1 February 2012 was Lesley Close who tackled one of the last remaining taboos in her talk – Death. Lesley’s brother was a competent musician and a marathon runner when he developed Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Within a period of two years he went from being ‘slightly awkward’ to being unable to do anything. Lesley gave an emotional description of his disability. As his illness progressed, he contacted Dignitas in Switzerland. Although not the cause of his decision, he did suffer from inexperienced carers: when one inexperienced carer arrived and was sent back, another inexperienced carer would arrive. After negotiations with Dignitas, he was finally able to choose a date and arrange the flight tickets. On the final day, he was allowed to be in control of his own death. Lesley described how in 2003, at the time of her brother’s death, one could arrive at Dignitas and die on the same day. Rules there have changed, and now it requires a stay of three days. “Dignity in Dying” is a movement of people who want the equivalent of Dignitas in the UK. Lesley described how the majority of people who sign up as potential clients of Dignitas never actually take up their option, but knowing that the opportunity exists is a comfort to those who are terminally ill. There were no questions. Lesley is to be congratulated on tackling such a difficult subject in the way she did.

Many members of the Club took time off after a busy start to the year to go to the intimate theatre in the Mill at Sonning on the river Thames. They attended the matinee performance of Room Service Included, a comedy by Moya O’Shea and directed by Andy de la Tour. Set in  1954, and deals with the complications that arise from the need to find a co-respondent so that a divorce can be obtained. The pretend lover is an unemployed actor, and as time passes the potential divorcee and the actor  soon discover they have more in common than first thought. Full of intrigue, drama, romance and many laughs along the way, it was an excellent choice for the Club. After the performance, members of the Club were hosted by Sydney and Lucille (pictured) at the Upper Thames Motor Yacht  Club. All agreed that they had a fabulous time!

Our speaker on 25 January 2012 (which was Burns Night although without any Scots members we had no one to show us what to do), our speaker was Jan Kellerhof who comes from the village of Meiste, just outside Lippstadt in the centre of Germany. The previous Rotary Year (2010-2011) Jan had been a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and he had spent a year studying for a Masters Degree in the University of Singapore. He took Singapore – the Lion City – as his main theme and told us a lot about Singapore and the role Rotary plays in their local communities. Whilst there are just 22 Clubs in the city, they are all very active, with the largest club having some 150 members. All but one of the clubs conduct their business in English; the one club is bilingual speaking both Chinese and English. Jan described some of the projects undertaken by the clubs last year. He described how it had been difficult to get to know Singaporean families, but once he had persevered he found them very friendly and genuine. Jan is now working in St Albans, but we hope that we can build a long term relationship with him for the future.

Our Club was in the news again in the Harrow Observer published in the week ending 21 January 2012. A letter from our PR Officer, Jo, was published in the Harrow Observer, expressing the club’s sincere thanks to the public in Harrow for their generosity during our collections outside supermarkets, and our house to house collections with our float which plays seasonal music. The total raised for all the efforts came to just of £6,000!

On Monday 23 January 2012, two of our members – June and Dick – went to Heathrow to meet two Rotarians from New Zealand who were chaperoning a group of 30 Youth Exchange students who were travelling onward to Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal (and possibly some more!).

Having arrived an hour early at Terminal One, Dick and June acted as Local Guides ensuring that the right youngsters safely found their ways to Terminal 3, Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 and safely got through security for their next flights.

The Project started at 9.30am and the last youngster was posted at 16:30pm. The two Rotarians were staying at a local hotel prior to starting their own tour of Europe. Banners were exchanged with Dick from the Rotary Club of Picton (South Island), and greetings were exchanged with the Rotary Club of Orotohanga (about fourty kilometers south of Hamilton, North Island).

The Youngsters were a credit to their Rotary sponsors, and we are sure they will have a fascinating year’s stay in their chosen European countries.

On Sunday 22 January 2012, our Ten Pin Bowling team of (left to right) Andrew, Sydney, Dick and Doug travelled to the Hollywood Bowl in East Finchley for the District Ten Pin Bowling Competition. Some of the members of the team view the competition as their annual practice opportunity which confirms just how difficult ten pin bowling can be, but our captain Andrew, showed us how it should be done, scoring ‘strikes’ on a regular basis and a good selection of ‘spares’. We are a long way from being the best bowling team in the London District, but we always seem to have a lot of fun taking part in the competition, and this year was no exception. The day ran smoothly thanks to the organising skills of Philip Lester from the Rotary Club of Barkingside.

On Thursday 19 January 2012, our former computer consultant Dick made another journey to Computer Aid International with another car load of computers. Many people upgrade their computers at work on a regular basis, but their home computers are updated less frequently. Many of the home users are not sure what they should do with their old computers and are worried that allowing them to be recycled will result in loss of security and a loss of privacy. Dick makes sure that the whole disk is wiped clean and a new operating system is loaded before the computers go to Computer Aid. Computer Aid then clear the disks down a second time using industry standard software and provide a certified statement and guarantee that all the data and programmes have been removed. New software is loaded before the computers are shipped overseas. If you are in North West London and have old computers (Pentium 4 or better please) you would like to donate to Computer Aid International, the club will collect them (subject to location) and perform this service for you free of charge. Please contact us through the Club Webmaster.