Immediate Past District Governor Richard Green presented banners to President Stuart Williams of the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton and others in recognition of their contributions to the Rotary Foundation’s campaign to eliminate polio.

Presenting the banners to the clubs, Richard, said the awards recognised the club’s ‘tremendous giving’ and added that there was ‘good news.’

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“For 30 years, the Rotary Foundation has been spearheading a campaign to rid the world of polio. When the campaign started, there were over 1,000 new cases of polio somewhere in the world every day.

“Since January this year there have been a total of just five new cases and three months have now passed without a single new case being reported.

“To quote a previous adage, we are now very close to eliminating polio, though we cannot relax.  Donations must continue to fund the ongoing programme of vaccinations to be followed by three years of surveillance before we can finally declare that polio has been eliminated.”

He added that Rotary’s polio office in Delhi was closing at the end of June as a result of the successful programme.  India and Africa were now polio free and the disease only existed in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sunday May 21^st saw the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton hold its 17^th Annual Dragon Boat Event at Himley Park21 teams took part in an action packed- fun-filled day of racing down the Great Pool, with frantic paddling and more than the occasional splashing,  entertaining the crowds.

Approximately 3,000 people filled the park with 300 paddlers making up the competing teams.

Each team selects a chosen good cause to raise funds for, by obtaining sponsorship with the total sums raised being split between that chosen charity, and the Rotary Clubs own charitable trust for further distribution.

Racing took place between 10.00am and 2.30pm when every team has three races against two other boats during the heats part of the day, always against different opposition, to find the 12 fastest boats.

Then the moment everyone waits for- to see if they are in the finals……

Two finals then take place- the Minor Final for places 7 to 12, and the Major Final- for the top six boats.

Then two final races took place, each with six boats with up to 15 team members paddling furiously towards the finish line. Both races were incredibly close with only a second separating the first three boats in each race.

The victorious winners- Sedgley Scorpions

This year, the winners of the Minor Final were the Photobooth Hoppers and in the Major Final, receiving two trophies and all the bragging rights, the 2017 champions-The Sedgley Scorpions.

But it really is a huge ‘well done’ to everyone for taking the time and trouble to enter the event, raise the sponsorship, and risk a soaking- all to raise monies for good causes. And also, a huge thanks to all the visitors to Himley Park who came in huge numbers to enjoy not only the spectacle of Dragon Boat racing, but also all the other concessions at the park which help to make the day a really memorable one for all concerned.

In the previous 16 years, over £340,000 has been raised by this event- a truly enormous sum- all for good causes.

It really does put the fun into fund-raising.

If you would like to see more of the action from the day, or to learn more about entering a team- see  www.rotarydragonboats.co.uk  or call Rotary Club member Mike Boyce on 07976612276.

Club President Stuart Williams led the way to a successful ascent and luckily for all concerned, a descent too, of the London O2 Dome.

Sponsorship was raised from fellow club members, family and friends, totalling over £1,135.00. This magnificent total will be split between the Rotary Worldwide End Polio Now, and the water project Roll out the Barrel. Thank you to everyone for their support.