Rotary Books4Home is a phenomenally successful project that has provided over 200,000 good quality pre-read books to more than 200 schools throughout Shropshire, Staffordshire and The Black Country with the essential support of a large number of club Rotarians.

A unique feature of the project is that it’s not a lending library – the youngsters keep the books, thus providing a book to take home, read, enjoy and keep forever – many for the first time ever.

The City of Wolverhampton club has formed an excellent partnership with The Way Youth Zone in the city. The Way is a vibrant, purpose-built facility in the centre of Wolverhampton that provides a welcoming space where young people aged 8-19 (or up to 25 with a disability) can explore new interests, make friends, and unlock their potential through an array of fun and engaging activities. Opening in January 2016, it offers a multitude of activities for young people to partake in such as sport, fitness, dance, arts, music, media, enterprise, well-being and self-improvement.

The facilities include a library and Rotary decided it would be a good idea to add The Way to its many recipients of books, which are otherwise almost entirely schools. The idea was warmly welcomed by The Way and the first delivery has been made.

Tyrone Johnson, Philanthropy Manager at The Way says-

““Books4Home is doing something truly powerful addressing an issue that often goes unseen. In parts of Wolverhampton, over one in four children leave primary school without the expected level of reading skills, and many don’t have a single book of their own at home.

That’s why initiatives like this matter so deeply. Every book donated through Books4Home gives a young person ownership of knowledge, imagination, and opportunity, things that can shape their

future for years to come. It’s a perfect addition to our library at The Way Youth Zone, where we’re creating a space that not only supports learning but inspires a lifelong love of reading.”

www.rotaryalumni1210.co.uk/rotary-books4home

PDG Richard Green

In a fine example of Rotary clubs working together to Unite For Good, the Tettenhall, Wednesfield and City of Wolverhampton clubs held a glittering ceremony attended by 150 people in the Chancellors Hall at the University of Wolverhampton to recognise 10 young Wulfrunians who won through to the final of the 12^th annual Young Citizens Awards competition

The finalists were Ethan Shaw, Richie Tanner, Jessica Yang, Kieran Smith-Mills, Sarah Featherstone,Hatleen Nahal, Eva Abbey, Alsha Mustapha, Frazer Humphreys and Haya Mehanger, all of whom had shown outstanding community service and undergone a searching interview by the selection panel following their nomination.

The winner in the 13-18 group was Ethan Shaw and in the 19-25 group it was Frazer Humphreys. They received plaques, certificates of recognition together with a £100 prize for themselves and £100 to be donated to a charity of their choice.

L-R winner in the 19-25 group Frazer Humphreys, Eva Abley, a winner in 2023 with her Special Award and the winner in the 13-18 group Ethan Shaw

There was also a special recognition award to Eva Abley, a winner in 2023 for taking her community service to a national level by publishing a book (The Good The Bad and The Wobbly) with all proceeds going to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and for the BAFTA award winning documentery she did about the poor provision for children with special needs.

The awards were presented by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Craig Collingswood and Amanda Evans from the City Council.

The awards for the older group are held in the name of Tom Warren CBE, a Wolverhampton Rotarian who rose to become the Rotary International President in 1945/46. In the past year, the younger group competition has been renamed to recognise Rotarian Roger Timbrell who has stepped down after giving great service as chairman of the joint clubs Young Citizens Awards committee for 10 years.

Former Wolverhampton Wanderers star Rotarian Mel Eves who has taken over as Chairman said: “These young people are wonderful role models for our City’s young people. They deserve to be recognised and their achievements celebrated. It has been a privilege to have been one of the judges and to have led the organising committee for the first time this year.”

On Tuesday 23rd September two new members joined our club and are ready to serve.

Serena Gilmour – retired teacher and lay minister at St Nicholas Church in Codsall

Ernest Acha Solicitor / lawyer

“…..all the activities were great fun….I loved getting to know new people and have without doubt made friends for life.”

So said one of the young people as they left RYLA at the end of a fabulous experience.

This annual residential course, a flagship Rotary project, took place near Shrewsbury and was enjoyed by 34 young people.

RYLA is designed to present physical and mental challenges that allow participants, in teams, to experience leadership, communication and problem solving.  These are based on outdoor activities led by experienced and qualified professional instructors.

It aims to challenge participants by putting them under pressure in an enjoyable way and  encourage and foster leadership development through teamwork and communication. The youngsters learn the importance of competition, health, fitness, character and tolerance as building blocks to the quality of life, enabling them to gain confidence through pride in achievement and learn the importance of competition, health, fitness, character and tolerance as building blocks to the quality of life.

Activities include problem solving, wall climbing, raft building, canoeing, abseiling, fencing and archery and many others.

The candidate sponsored by the City of Wolverhampton club was 17 year old Daniella Akinseli, a boarding pupil at Tettenhall College who tells us she had ‘the time of her life!’

The club has already committed to sponsoring 2 candidates for the August 2026 course and we’ll be looking for applicants from across the city.

PDG Richard Green

A superb series of Summer Sounds concerts presented by Wolverhampton Music Service at the Wulfrun Hall came to a conclusion on July18th.with many Rotarians in attendance as witness to their support for the talented young musicians in the 3 orchestras that performed.

The programme ranged from the Jazz Big Ban

d whose numbers included a Copacabana Medley through the Youth and Youth Wind Orchestras presenting such musical treats as Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite and The Lion King by Hans Zimmer and Elton John.

One of the many highlights of the event was the presentation of the annual Fraser Dukes award to 15 year old Julia Polit in recognition of her gaining a distinction with 130 marks in her grade 7 viola ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) exam. Julia attends St. Peter’s  Collegiate Academy.

It was a particular pleasure that Fraser’s son Tim was on hand to present the award.

The award, sponsored by the Rotary club of The City of Wolverhampton, was created in honour of one of our most distinguised members, the late Doctor Fraser Dukes, whose many achievements

were listed in a thoughtful speech from the stage by the Head of The Music Service, Ciaran O’Donnell. Ciaran paid tribute to and expressed thanks for the support that the Rotary clubs in and around Wolverhampton give to the Music Service.

PDG Richard Green

The Rotary clubs of Greater Cochin,The City of Wolverhampton, Golders Green and Newcastle under Lyme joined hands to provide state of the art medical equipment and technology in a Taluk hospital at Ernakulam near Cochin, Kerala, Southern India with a Rotary Foundation global grant project valued at $31,486.

The hospital specialises in care for the needy; the equipment comprises an ultrasound scanning machine and a fully automatic biochemistry analyser to improve diagnosis and treatment outcomes. 

In thanking the Rotarians, the superintendent at the hospital, Doctor Sobha said “the introduction of the ultrasound scan has resulted, with a sonologist who attends regularly, in an enormous improvement in the working atmosphere; the fully automatic biochemistry analyser is a real asset. We are completing tests in a much shorter time and at minimal cost. Our area is where very poor people live who could not afford the high cost of treatment at private hospitals, so this unit is a very great relief to them.  We are extremely grateful to Rotary for this wonderful project.”

On the 8 th of July Kwamena Mensah is the first new member to be introduced to the City of Wolverhampton Rotary Club this Rotary year.

The new Rotary year starts on July 1st throughout the world and so it was a great pleasure for our new Rotary President to induct his first new Rotarian on the day that the President was inducted too.

The club inducted 10 new members last year and is thriving.

Kwamena is a retired company director who is eager and willing to give back to his community .

Our new president John Hollingsworth welcomed him into the Rotary family.