Wolverhampton Rotary Clubs Crocus Planting in Aid of Polio Eradication

Fifty thousand purple crocuses will be planted across Wolverhampton during week commencing Monday, 6^th November as part of the Rotary campaign to eradicate polio from the world.

The five Rotary clubs in Wolverhampton have each purchased 10,000 purple crocus corms to be planted during early November in green spaces throughout the city.

Members of the public are invited to come along to help local primary schools, Rotary and Wolverhampton City Council “dig in” the corms at the following venues between 10am and 12 noon at the following sites:

Monday, 6 November 2017; Tettenhall Upper Green, opposite the Post Office.

Tuesday, 7 November 2017; West Park, adjacent to the café and bandstand.

Wednesday, 8 November 2017; Bantock Park, by the bull sculpture, when the Mayor will be present.

Thursday, 9 November 2017; Wednesfield, next to the Community Centre and library.

Friday, 10 November 2017; Bilston, at the Bert Williams leisure centre.

In 1985, Rotary launched its worldwide PolioPlus program. Since then, Rotary has contributed more than £1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunise more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries against polio. Today, the disease is present in only three countries, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, with 37 polio cases in 2016, and just 10 so far this year; a massive reduction since the 1980s, when the world saw about 1,000 cases per day. The programme is still ongoing and needs to run for three years after the last reported case.

The purple crocus is the worldwide symbol of the mass immunisation programme whereby children have a purple stamp on their hand to show they have received protection against polio. When the crocuses emerge every spring it will be a reminder of the part Wolverhampton has played in this project.

The sponsoring Rotary Clubs are Bilston and Wolverhampton West, Tettenhall, Wednesfield, Wolverhampton, and Wolverhampton St. George’s.

Rotary is a diverse service club which is open for membership to all.

Please click the link here to see the full leaflet.

Crocus leaflet

DO YOU HAVE SOMEONE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED?

Please take part in the TREE OF REMEMBRANCE an initiative set up by members of the ROTARY CLUB OF WOLVERHAMPTON. You can see all the details by clicking the link on the menu – TREE of REMEMBRANCE

The form there is ready for printing and when completed can be posted to the address shown, or delivered to the following:Millers the Jewellers in Cleveland Street, WOLVERHAMPTON,  PETER POSH FORMAL HIRE in High Street, TETTENHALL or by the Tree which will be in place from Mid-November. Extra packs are also available at these loctaions.

The package has a Christmas card which explains that by donating a minimum of £5 per person to be remembered you can have a message included and the details will be listed around the Tree in the MANDER CENTRE, printed in the EXPRESS & STAR and listed on the THE ROTARY CLUB website.

The information will list the local Charities who will benefit from the donation you make. You will find a Free Post envelope for posting your application or you can deliver it by hand to either MILLERS, PETER POSH or post it in the Yellow Box by the Tree when it is in place.

Can we wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas.

Tettenhall Amateur Players, in conjunction with The Goldthorn Theatre Company presents a special performance for Rotarians, partners and friends, of the comedy play ‘Relative Values’ by Noel Coward, on Thursday, November 23rd at St. Peter’s Collegiate Theatre, Compton, Wolverhampton. 

There will be an excellent post show buffet with wine and soft drinks to enjoy. 

The play is full of great comedy lines from ‘The Master, with an intriguing and surprising storyline, being presented by a cast of supremely talented actors.

To order tickets- please click the link here for the order form and contact details.

Richard Green

Wolverhampton Rotaract on the way back.

By Richard Green

Our 100th potential Rotoractor!

In a joint venture involving 4 of the 5 Wolverhampton Rotary Clubs, we spent 3 days at the Wolverhampton and Walsall campus’ of the university, talking to new and returning students about our plans to re-start the Wolverhampton Rotaract club.

This is Rotary International’s great club for 18 – 30 year old men and women. There are 190,000 Rotaractors in over 7000 clubs worldwide, giving the opportunity for young people to enjoy fun and fellowship, and getting involved in Rotary service projects at the same time.

The results during freshers week look encouraging. Nearly 200 students expressed some interest and the next step will be to arrange an interest meeting to see if we can carry the initiative forward.

It follows the highly successful launch of a Rotaract club at Keele university last year and we were encouraged by the fact that some of the students we spoke to had already been Interactors at their secondary schools both in the UK and abroad.

Richard Green.

By Past District Governor Richard Green

I was invited to be a guest at the District 1145 Conference in Bournemouth to meet up with a great friend of the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton – Jenny Seagrove, who was a speaker there. 

We heard the national winning vocalist of this year’s Rotary Young Musician Competition, Eyra Norman who had been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Godalming.  

Past President, the Rotary Club of Godalming Vivien Gillman with Eyra Norman and Jenny Seagrove – proudly showing their support for the End Polio campaign with the Polio bear mascot.

16 year old Eyra is a delightful young lady with a stunning voice, and she will certainly achieve her aim of becoming as professional opera singer. She will probably be offered a choice of world famous music schools to pursue her studies including the Mozarteum in Salzberg or the Juilliard in New York. 

I suggested that Eyra might sing at Jenny’s annual carol concert which takes place on Sunday, December 10^th at the church of St Peter and St.Paul in Godalming and, after hearing her performance, Jenny was very keen for this to happen.  

The concert is one of many fund raisers organised in support of the Mane Chance Horse Sanctuary near Guildford. Club members may remember Jenny’s talk when she visited us and it was the subject of her presentation at the conference. The sanctuary is going from strength to strength and there are visits by children from deprived backgrounds and the local hospice, because these children gain tremendous benefit from interacting with the horses. 

During her talk, Jenny told the audience of 600 that her father and grandfather had both been Rotarians, but she had drifted away from the Rotary family until her visit to us at Wolverhampton and our own District conference, after which she has become a great supporter of Rotary causes – including the End Polio campaign. She is also now a patron of the Rotary Jaipur Limb committee.

She is busy rehearsing for a new West End play ‘The Exorcist,’ which is due to open at the end of October, but she has fond memories of her visit to us and asked to be remembered to all her friends at the Rotary club of Wolverhampton.

We say a grateful thanks to the Express and Star for their support of our event and the coverage that they gave it on the day, and also on the presentation of the cheques to the charities involved hed recently at the Mayors Parlour.

Also, we thank them for their kind words in the Editorial section of the newspaper on the same day where they acknowledge the good works of not only our Rotary Club but also, the many other service organisations who help communities both near and far.

Thank you.

Click on the link here to read the article.

Express and Star Editorial

There was a good representation of the Patrons whose donations provided the “Treasure Chest”, which was released for the Charities by the laps logged on the day.  Also present were DG Carol Reilly, Cosford Station Commander, Group Captain Tone Baker, the Editor of the Express & Star, the Deputy MD of the Council and Trustees of The James Beattie Charitable Trust.

Acting President Paul with William Hughes.

Mayor Elias Mattu and AP Paul with a Centurion Guard of Honour (+ William).

Wolverhampton & Bilston Centurions – Kellie Green; Tina Smith; Fred Smith; Brian Slater; Ian Cresswell; Martha Cummings and Todd Green. £1,110 released from the Treasure Chest.

This was the fifth staging of the event and lifted the total sum from which charities, predominantly local, have benefitted to over £98,000. Of this £58,00 has be provided as the Treasure Chest by the Patrons, and the other £40,000 by charities and groups who have hitched a ride on the back of BFF, to raise funds for their own needs

.The occasion was a powerful showcase for what Rotary is and does in our community.

Win, Win!Geoff Lowndes – Best Foot Forward