We are delighted to support our local branch of The Samaritans. They are on hand 24/7 to answer telephone calls and emails to support those who need someone to talk to and someone to listen to them.

Usually at Christmas Wolverhampton Samaritans have a group of singers who sing at the train station, in Asda and various other locations around the city to raise awareness for Samaritans and to fundraise for the branch. This year, as with the last, things are different and due to the pandemic they have thought outside the box and so have come up with an idea to help raise awareness for not only the local branch, but Samaritans across the country, through something the UK loves most….a good Christmas song!

Christmas can be a challenging time for peoplewho are struggling. The Samarians want to let people know they won’t be alone, even at Christmas. So together with a local recording studio, Inclusic, they have written a song using the thoughts, feelings and words of our branch volunteers. The Song is called ‘At Christmas.’ It’s just been released as a single  that is available for download on iTunes, Amazon Spotify etc

https://t.co/ayDwMwFOz2.

The release week has got off to a great start off strong with the song being played on WCR radio and BBC West Midlands and it looks like being a winner!!

Well done Wolverhampton Samaritans.. a great song and a great idea!!

The District Alumni Association and City of Wolverhampton Rotary club’s Books4Home project opens yet another page. 200 books delivered today by Mike Boyce and President Richard Green to Merridale Primary School, gratefully accepted by Headteacher Simon Lane, centre.

The children keep the books, and Mike will top up the supply as needed.

The first load of 210 books under the Rotary Books4Home scheme was delivered today to Uplands Primary School, Wolverhampton by Rotarian Norman Holmes and President Richard from

the Rotary Club of The City of Wolverhampton, gratefully received by the Head, Suzanne Webster-Smith.

The children take the books home to keep, and Norman will top up the supply as and when required from the Alumni Association’s huge stock.

After contacting our honorary member, the Mayor of Wolverhampton Councillor Greg Brackenridge, we learned that the City is receiving a large number of refugees from Afghanistan and asylum seekers from other wartorn parts of the world.

A large number have already arrived.

From L-R, Denise Williams (Wolverhampton City Council,) Rotarians Lorraine MaCarthy, Sally Woods and President Richard Green.

An appeal was launched for clothing and other goods to help these suffering people who come to us with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

The response from Wolverhampton Rotarians, their friends and familes has been swift and almost overwhelming.

So great is the quantity of goods being received that our Rotarian who is collecting them, Sally Woods, says her car was overfull. So, Rotarian Lorraine McCarthy and the President joined Sally in making the first delivery to the Council collection centre.

The council officer in charge, Denise Williams, tells us that clothing and in particular men’s and ladies’ shoes and pushchairs for toddlers are still required, so we will keep the appeal going.

Well done Rotarians, friends and families for their support, and the City Council for offering a welcome to people who have suffered so much!

President Richard.

All the finalists with The Mayor and District Governor Robyn Davies.

The seventh annual awards ceremony to recognise Wolverhampton’s Young Citizen of The Year took place in the Mayor’s suite at The Civic Centre on Thursday, September 16^th, in the presence of the Mayor, Councillor Greg Brackenridge.

All the Wolverhampton Rotary clubs work together in arranging the event in conjunction with a number of significant partners from the local business community. The initiative is named in memory of Rotarian Tom Warren who was the director of education and a member of the City of Wolverhampton club, who rose to become the President of Rotary worldwide in1945.

This year, for the first time, there were two categories – age ranges 13 to 18, and 19 to 25. Young people who had ‘gone the extra mile’ – whose personal courage, care for others, achievements or contribution to the community are recognised  by being nominated by friends, family or fellow school pupils. A large number of nominations were received and the selection committee had a tremendous task to arrive at a shortlist.

There were 5 finalists in the younger category and 4 in the senior one.

As we listened to the achievements of the young people, the audience were overwhelmed with admiration for every one of them. The winners received their awards from District Governor Robyn Davies. These took the form of a plaque and personal cheques, together with donations to a charity of their choice.

They were:

Winner Parwiz Karimi with President of the City of Wolverhampton Club, Richard Green.

13 -18 – Dylan Wright, whose lively personality had impressed the judging panel and who was described as an inspiration to his friends and colleagues. He had organised a great number of charity fund raising events and served as a volunteer in support of those charities.

In the senior category, the judges decided to make two awards. One was to Parwiz Karimi who founded the Afghan Youth Association in 2015 to provide a platform for students, graduates and young professionals to work together without any caste, creed or political preferences; now, following the crisis in Afghanistan, a new project has been started  called ‘Help Refugees.’

The second, joint award, was to Lucy Palin who created  ‘Project Give,’ which aims to tackle the problem of lost education time due to issues relating to periods.

Committee chairman Roger Timbrell thanked the members of the organising committee and the judges, who were The Mayor, Peter Madeley (Express and Star,) Amanda Evans (City of Wolverhampton Council education department) and Rotarians Chris Ager and Roger himself.

President Richard Green