Another great turnout by President Sylvia, the club members, the Bantock Users Group and children from Uplands and Merridale schools as the Rotary Club of The City of Wolverhampton  planted another 4000 crocus corms in Bantock Park in support of the Rotary EndPolio campaign. It was a great pleasure also to welcome along the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE. Her cheerful, enthusiastic support made the children  –  and us – very happy.

Over the years, we’ve now planted 50,000 purple crocus and we’ll keep going every autumn until the scourge of polio is eliminated form the world.

Foundation Committee chair Richard Green was highly amused when 2 passers by, seeing all the yellow tabards, asked “‘what are those convicts doing wth the Mayor and those children?” At least it gave him an easy opportunity to tell them all about this world changing campaign by Rotary International!

(Consent to photograph the children obtained.)

Our Christmas tree of remembrance this year kicked off at the Wolverhampton Grammar School (WGS) on Wednesday 18th October with senior school students putting 750 donor support letters in windowed envelopes. A big thank you to all the students and staff at WGS who gave up part of their lunch break to help support our project.

The tree will arrive in the Wulfrun Centre on Saturday 19th November and will be launched by the Mayor of Wolverhampton Sandra Samuels OBE at 1.00pm. The tree will remain there for 6 weeks.

Our thanks to WGSstaff for their help and for showing the students how they can make a difference to their local community. What a wonderful experience for Rotary working in the community together with young people who care.

The charities benefiting from the Tree of Remembrance this year are The MS Therapy Centre, The Haven, Compton Care and the Rotary Charitable Trust.

We give special recognition and thanks to our main sponsors this year who are Millers Jewellers, The Express and Star, Peter Posh Menswear, FBC Manby Bowdler (Solicitors), The James Beattie Charitable Trust, Treadsetters tyres of Halesfield,Sandford Carpets & Curtains of Wolverhamptonand the Wulfrun Centre.

Well done and thank you all.
President of the City of Wolverhampton Rotary Club
Sylvia Morgan.

District Governor Steve Antill with Club President Sylvia Morgan, Derek Morgan and Robin Tyler-Morris

On 15 th October 4 Rotarians- Richard Green, Robin Tyler Morris and Derek and I attended the first face to face conference in 3 yrs. It took place in Stone at Yarfield Conference centre. It was lovely to be back meeting old friends and whilst there were only 110 people attending it was good to see a good number of clubs represented. Lots of good speakers . Some new ideas around fundraising and ideas around working together. Most clubs experiencing the same problems as we do especially around members coming back after the Covid . Although our district has apparently increased membership by 5per cent. Food was ok but great value for money as the day was only £40 inclusive of food and tea coffee and cakes and biscuits included.

Next year they are planning a weekend  in Telford fancy dress apparently on the cards so watch this space. The VSE team gave their presentation which was very good  they had been in Denmark for two weeks the Denmark team will be doing a visit here during this Rotary year.  We shall probably organise a visit from our VSE team to the club early in the new year . We also did the mile walk for end polio before lunch raising over £700 which will be matched by district Then doubled by the Bill Gates trust. A day well spent. We enjoyed being able to share ideas and experiences with our Rotary friends .

And finally, Troy Allen from the Bloxwich Phoenix club promised PDG Frazer Dukes that he would dye his hair purple until the last case of polio was eradicated from the world. It’s still purple today with 23 cases reported in the world. He is keeping his promise. Let’s keep ours too so please come and help us plant our crocuses in Bantock park this Friday 10-30 am till 12pm. We need your help. Troy also won the Frazer Dukes award for his steadfast support of the Rotary Foundation .

President Sylvia Morgan.

The awards ceremony was held at the civic centre on 13 th August at 7pm-730 pm. All 4 Rotary clubs were represented.There were 9 finalists all very amazing young people who all deserved to be there all contributing and supporting people in our City. I wouldn’t have liked to have been a judge they all deserved to win.

Lisa Webb (Nee Potts) GM and Mayor Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE with Young Citizen winner Kye Barton on screen, (absent due to Covid) and Club President Sylvia Morgan

However one young man stood out Kye Barton was awarded the top prize and a plaque for his outstanding achievements. His  experiences of the care system has helped him to help others.He has become an ambassador for others in a similar situation.Sharing his experiences strength and hope to help them navigate through the system and to avoid being left behind .

The stories of all nine finalists were all so humbling despite their life challenges they showed the best of our young people.

Suffice it to say they all received the recognition they deserved and everyone went away with certificates and some financial reward for their commitment to their cause.

Mayor Councillor Sandra Samuale OBE and lead organiser Rotarian Roger Timbrell with the finalists of the 2022 Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year.

Thanks to the Mayor for providing the venue the buffet and for Lisa Potts for presenting the awards and the cheques .

To the organising committee made up of Rotarians from all four clubs who are part of the judging and organising team.Also providing financial support . A very enjoyable night and more importantly a very worthwhile evening for all concerned .

Proud to be part of our Rotary

President Sylvia Morgan.

3^rd. October 2022.

Report on the activities to date on the use of the Rotary Foundation Disaster Response Grant in support of Ukraine by the 4 Rotary clubs in Wolverhampton.

The 4 Wolverhampton clubs decided to work together and a subgroup was formed in order to apply for and manage the Rotary Foundation Grant in support of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the area.

The clubs are: Bilston and Wolverhampton West (represented by Bob Stolz,) Wednesfield (Stan Jukes,) Tettenhall (Chris Krausher) and The City of Wolverhampton (PDG Richard Green.)

An application for £4000, being £1000 for each club, was submitted on the 18^th of June 2022 and we were notified that the application had been successful on the 19^th.

In Wolverhampton, there is a vibrant branch of the Association of Ukrainians in the UK that meets at the ‘Razom’ centre (a Ukrainian word that means ‘together’) opposite the Ukrainian Church in Lower Merridale Street in the city. The Association was already well known to Chris Krausher.

We were thus able to make speedy contact with Ukrainian refugee families through the Association. A comprehensive list of requirements within the criteria for the grant was made available to us. The list was divided, broadly, into the headings:

1) Clothing and footwear.

2) School uniforms.

3) Babies and children’s requirements.

4) Food, hygiene and toiletries.

5) Educational and cultural needs.

There were 2 other categories which either fell outside the scope of the grant or we felt unable to respond to. (eg translation services etc.)

It was decided to apportion the list between the clubs as follows: 1 and 2 – Tettenhall and The City of Wolverhampton, 3 and 4- Wednesfield, 5 Bilston and Wolverhampton West.

Bob Stolz, with commendable speed, placed his total order on Amazon the day after the grant money was received and a handover ceremony was held, with the Mayor in attendance at the centre on the 22^nd of July. The items included whiteboards, a projector, writing materials,a printer etc.

At the time of this report the other lists are about 50% complete, with ‘hands on’ shopping being carried out, as we get to find out about clothing, shoe sizes etc.

A full record of receipts is being kept and photgraphs taken for submission with the final report.

PDG Richard Green, on behalf of the 4 Wolverhampton clubs.