Every year one of our Rotarians has an open garden to promote fellowship and raise funds for the National Garden Scheme. A charity that since 1927 has been raising funds to support nursing and health care charities.
6 th July was the date and a goodly number of Rotarians had a lovely time enjoying the garden of Brian Bailey and his wife Anne. A beautiful garden hidden away in the heart of the City. A real gem with lots of hidden features and cakes you cannot resist.
Four potential members were invited and impressed with the fellowship offered. Hopefully events like this will encourage people to come and join rotary and enjoy fellowship and fun in our city.

In the most recent round of the club’s Grant Giving programme we were pleased to award a grant of £2000 to the Susan Vickers Foundation. Their motto is ‘Turning Pain Into Purpose,’ and they provide support with mental, physical and emotional well-being to people who have been adopted or fostered, often suffering taumatic childhoods.The Foundation’s activities also assist individuals with an exploration of their biological past if they require it.

Our grant was used in part to fund a recent event aimed at bringing adoptees and fostered people together.

We received this from Susan:

“I am thrilled to share the incredible success of our recent coffee morning hosted by The Susan Vickers Foundation. On a sun-drenched Saturday morning, The Changemakers hub buzzed with the warmth of community and the spirit of shared experiences. It was truly heart-warming.

 Your support played a pivotal role in making this event truly remarkable.

Heartfelt Connections: Attendees shared their stories, offered advice, and formed new friendships. Witnessing the bonds forming between families facing similar challenges and joys was truly inspiring.

1. Creative Fun: Our craft session, led by Julia, was a hit! Children and adults alike expressed themselves creatively, adding joy and laughter to the morning.
2. Delicious Treats: Breakfast pastries, cakes, and hot beverages fuelled engaging discussions and activities.
3. Support and Guidance: Experienced adopters and foster parents generously shared their wisdom with newcomers, providing invaluable advice and reassurance.
4. A Brighter Future: New families left feeling supported and empowered, armed with resources and a network of understanding individuals.

The overwhelmingly positive response has been incredible. We’ve received numerous requests for information about our next event. Clearly, this gathering filled a vital need in our community, providing a platform for shared experiences and mutual support.

Your partnership made this event possible, and we’re immensely grateful. But it doesn’t end here! By supporting us, you’re not only fostering a sense of community but also creating lasting change for those touched by adoption and fostering.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to you and contribution to making this event so special. Your grant helped the very spirit of The Susan Vickers Foundation—turning experiences into strength and fostering a supportive community for all touched by adoption and fostering.

Susan.

Saturday 29th June saw the return of Best Foot Forward to Aldersley Stadium in Wolverhampton. The weather was kind, not too hot and no rain, perfect for runners and joggers. This year’s Charity Pot stood at £11,700. This is the money donated by our very generous Patrons which is then released to our nominated Charities by completing circuits of the track. The number of Participants this year was a record at 590 people who completed 15,352 laps, another record. Consequently, the Charity Pot was fully released. The nominated charities for 2024 are the Central Youth Theatre, Wolverhampton MS Therapy Centre and the Rotary Charitable Trust.

Participating teams such as Wolverhampton Coronary Aftercare Support Group were also raising funds for their own causes.

As always, our Participants represented a complete cross section of abilities; there were serious runners, endurance runners, joggers, people in wheelchairs, walkers, babies in prams, and many canine supporters. We had the usual queue at 8 am with the runners keen to get on the track. Some of those runners were still there at 8 pm! This year thirty Participants did over 100 laps, another record. DG Makunda Chidrawar and DGE Jane Cooper paid us a visit and did some laps. We had a visit from Councillor Linda Leach, Mayor of Wolverhampton. Rotarians from the other Rotary Clubs in Wolverhampton did some laps for us. Making an event like Best Foot Forward run smoothly requires a lot of work, so our thanks must go to the twenty seven Rotarians who volunteered to help on the day. We also had three helpers who, whilst not Rotarians, put in a lot of work; Carol Lowndes, Alder Allen and Richard Maule-ffinch. Any report on Best Foot Forward would be remiss if it did not thank Geoff and Carol Lowndes and Mike Boyce. Our thanks to them for their hard work organising Best Foot Forward and ensuring the event was so successful. – – – But of course none of this would have happened without our generous Patrons, our backers the James Beattie Trust, the Exprees & Star and the City Council and our Participants, so our grateful thanks go to all of you.

Richard Horrell, Chairman Best Foot Forward Committee.

The Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton.

Compton Care have created a Recognition Wall in their lovely garden.

This wall recognises those organisations and individuals who over the years have been pivotal in  supporting Compton Care. The Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton were heavily involved in the setting up of Compton Hospice in 1982 and have raised funds for a number of projects over the years. Rotarians from the club attended the official opening of the Recognition Wall.

In association with the Rotary KidsOut charity, clubs across Great Britain and Ireland gave a huge number of disadvantaged children a day out to remember. Last year, 20,174 children visited 73 venues free of charge.

This year on June the12th.,the Rotary club of The City of Wolverhampton once again played its part by arranging for local children to have a day out at Twycross Zoo and Warwick Castle.

Here’s what one school told us:

“Our group had a fabulous day and really enjoyed seeing all of the animals (and completing the treasure hunt which was a big success!)

Even our more quiet and reserved pupils came home smiling and were very animated having experienced the parakeets, monkeys and giraffes.

One pupil described it as the ‘best day ever’, and all enjoyed themselves with the added surprise of an ice cream.

Several pupils checked out of their day as feeling grateful and asked I extended this to you and Rotary Kids Out.

Thank-you again for thinking of us and providing our children with a fabulous day out.”

PDG Richard Green

Another Wolverhampton School joins the happy band of recipients for our Alumni Books4Home scheme – this time it’s St. Teresa’s Catholic Academy, in the capable hands of Rotarian Polly Bhambra….and with a new, additional  gift from Rotary – a fun resource that accompanies the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Teachers can bring the story to life with the soft toy showing the caterpillar emerging from his felt cocoon and becoming a beautiful butterfly!

Picture shows Deputy Head Tammy Picken with Polly and the childrenwho were thrilled to accept our latest gifts.

PDG Richard Green

.

Once again it was our great pleasure to take the Rotary Junior Technology Challenge to Uplands Primary School.

Over the two days of Wednesday and Thursday March 13^th and 14^th.. 96 year 5 children were keen to learn how to become engineers by building a bridge for a squirrel to cross in safety. On the first day, after an invitation from the presenter Richard Green, the children named the squirrel, by a majority vote, ‘Bob’ and on the second day he became ‘Sammy.’

The children were completely engaged and enthusiastic, providing the Rotarian team with great satisfaction at being able to give encouragement and knowledge to young people.

The children had given their teams some unique and amusing names. The winners on the first day were ‘The Good Girls’ with runners up ‘The Science Squad’ and on the the second day it was ‘Shooting Stars’ with ‘Red Robot Devils’ the runners up.

Thanks are due to club members President Charles Cox, Norman Holmes, Stuart Williams and Richard Horrell together with District Youth Service committee members Robyn and Trevor Davies and Peter Langdon for coming along to be part of the team; also we give a very special thank you to Brian Bailey who worked extremely hard in preparing the copious amount of material and equipment needed in advance.

PDG Richard Green