The deadline for nominating young people for The Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the year Rotary awards has been extended until the end of July.

Organising Committee Chairman Rotarian Roger Timbrell, said:

‘Because the awards ceremony has been postponed until 15^th September, we have decided to keep the web site open until the end of July to allow further nominations during the summer. Finalists will be invited to the awards ceremony. Many of those who are not selected as finalists, but who have made a significant contributions to their community, will receive certificates of commendation’.

As Wolves legend John Richards says in his video recorded to promote the awards ‘ These awards celebrate and recognise all the voluntary work that young people do. No act of kindness, however small, should go unrecognised. Just a nomination alone is a powerful way to say thank you’ To view his video and that of other supporters, including B.B.C. T.V. Repair Shop star Jay Blades  and singing star Beverley Knight, go to: www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk   where you can follow the link to nominate.

Awards will be given in two age categories : 13 – 18 and 19 – 25.  The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday 15 September, and the ceremony will be hosted by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Cllr. Sandra Samuels, who is one of the judges.

These awards are devised and are sponsored by the four Rotary Clubs in the city and organised in partnership with the City Council, The Express and Star, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation and supported by Carvers Building Supplies Ltd. and the James Beattie Charitable Trust.

Contact: Roger Timbrell    roger.timbrell@yahoo.co.uk

Rotary Junior Technology Challenge a great success…again!

After a 2 year gap it was a great pleasure to be invited back to Uplands Junior School in Finchfield to present the Rotary Junior Technology Challenge to 96 year 5 children over 2 days.

The pupils learn about what engineers do and how they build bridges.

This is all done in a fun way and then the youngsters are set a challenge to build a bridge using the kits we provide.

The bridge has to meet certain criteria then it’s tested by trying to blow a toy squirrel off with a hair dryer, as if there was a gale in force! This always causes great amusement and it’s wonderful to hear the children laughing.

Also very amusing were the names of the teams the children chose for themselves such as ‘The Floppers,’ ‘Crafty Warriors’ and ‘Little Tech Einsteins.’

The winning team on the first day was ‘The Golden Hackers’ and on the second day, ‘DTWhizzkids.’ Each member of the teams received a book token prize.

My thanks to club members Lorraine McCarthy, Charles Cox, Richard Horrell and Lisa Stallard for providing such valuable support; on the first day we were joined by District Governor Robyn Davies and the District organiser, Peter Langdon. Grateful thanks and appreciation are also due to IPP Brian Bailey who worked so hard in getting all the equipment and materials prepared before the event.

It’s really satisfying to be able to report that the feedback from the school staff and the youngsters has been first class, as evidenced by the postings on the school website and facebook page.

President Richard.

Our President Richard was privileged to represent the club at a concert in the beautiful Wolverhampton Ukrainian Community church. The folk songs performed by the orchestra were extremely poignant, presented by such warm, friendly people.

On Monday, April 4^th, a new transport was sent to a refugee camp in Ukraine. This camp takes care of more than 1.200 refugees including children.

In a collaboration with RC Baia Mare, early in the morning, food, hygiene products, and other items were loaded into an 18 tonnes truck by RC Suceava Bucovina to be transported to a refugee camp in Ukraine.

• The goods were donated by a number of Rotary clubs including The Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton and Eichstätt Germany as part of the ICC Romania-Austria-Germany efforts. At its first stop in Suceava, other products such as 3,150 diapers, 80 sleeping bags, and food were added by RC Suceava Bucovina to reach the full capacity of the truck.

On behalf of refugees, we express our deepest gratitude to all contributors!

Past District Governor Daniel Tanase, Rotary International District 2241, Romania and Moldova.

I was glad to be on hand at the  today as the volunteers loaded a van – provided by Royal Mail – with relief goods for refugees fleeing the war. The van left us to collect a generator – again gifted by Royal Mail – and was then going on to Peterborough where the goods will be loaded, together with donations from across the UK, onto a fleet of large lorries going direct to Western Ukraine.

It was pleasing to be told, several times, that the Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton is held in very high regard by the community for the help we are providing.

President Richard Green