18 year old Alice Bennett is a member of the Rotary district 1210 Alumni Association following her participation in the  Rotary Young Musician Competition. Before the current lockdown, She served as a volunteer in the Rotary Books4Home project, which involved collecting donated books from homes, taking them to the project storage facility then, after they had been sorted, delivering them to schools to boost childen’s reading experience.

On leaving school, Alice had planned to take a gap year working as a volunteer with a charity called Project Trust, teaching English to young students in China. On returning home, she would have been going to university to study English Literature and Music.

The International committee at the City of Wolverhampton club agreed to make a donation to help facilitate her trip to China in recognition of Alice’s commendable support for Rotary’s aims. Obviously, in the current circumstances, the planned trip to China has  had to be postponed but it will take place after she graduates from University.

Alice secured ‘A’ levels in Physics, Maths, Art and English Literature at Wolverhampton Girls’ High School. She has always had a passion for music and enjoys all aspects of playing several instruments both as a soloist and in various ensembles such as the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Youth Wind Orchestra.  She plays the alto saxophone and piano and has achieved  Grade 8 with distinction on both instruments. Alice is also highly accomplished on the flute and violin.

In 2020 she was selected as the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra Young Musician of the Year and was awarded a cash prize and trophy by the 5 Rotary clubs in the City.

Richard Green, the organiser of the Young Musician Competition says ‘in Rotary, we do all we can to support our wonderful young people and it is a source of pride to be able to help Alice to achieve her ambitions.’

For some time now, the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton has been supporting Maison Kimbilio in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.The centre provides education, shelter and accommodation for homeless children while Kimbilio social workers try to rebuild relationships with their families.

In July of this year, along with a matching grant from Rotary District 1210, the Club has helped to provide the facility for fresh water on a permanent basis.

Work has begun with the drilling of two wells. We are pleased to have been a part of this project.

Below note from organisation founder Ian Harvey

We are delighted that we have been able to drill two wells on the Maison Kimbilio site!  These wells will provide essential clean water to the children living in the Kimbilio homes as well as to the pupils at the Kimbilio Primary School due to open in September 2021.Contaminated water can transmit diseases such diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.  We are thrilled that the children we support will have access to this most basic of rights which can be often taken for granted in other parts of the world. We are so thankful to Christine Sayell and her friends and colleagues at the NHS Dolphin Centre in Tunbridge Wells for their impressive fundraising walks as well as a grant from the Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton  which made this possible!