Wishing Well

Well well. The well has been returned after a trial at Dymchurch by Romney Marsh Rotary Club. They tried it for a week at the local sports centre and then at their fun day on Aug BH. Bad weather didn't help but total takings were only £14 for the two events! not looking good is it? However they did donate £10 of it to Riverside so that's a start. I will keep a database of where it goes and how much it makes. At the moment it is a very much a simple database- that's £44 so far! more positively I have today installed the well in the cafe area of Maidstone Leisure Centre. Nic has kindly prepared a notice highlighting some of our chosen charities. I have chained and padlocked the well securely and have tested it. When I produced a lot of coins and got them spinning I had a lot of interest and then I allocated them to the kids and they thought it great fun. When the money was used I viewed the scene from a distance and no interest was shown. It looks like the need to demonstrate and involve the youngsters is all important. I will ask club members for volunteers to spend a little time there on occasions to generate interest. Hopefully however, once people get to know it it will be used. I will check it regularly, clean it and hopefully releive it of some money. Time will tell. Pictures of it at the Leisure Centre.

Claire

In my excitement preparing to go on holiday a few weeks ago I forgot to mention that our speaker on 15th July was my friend Claire Hedger. Claire has Frederique's Ataxia which is a disease that progressively attacks the muscles and nerves and ultimately leads to an early death. Claire is her early thirties and is now in a wheelchair and fully dependent on assistance for her mobility. However, over the past few months she has been learning to swim and can now swim on her back just using arms. Her goal this year is to move into the large pool and swim 1 length unaided. This will be a massive task but she has the will power to do it. She told the club about her condition and the problems related to it and how she copes. The club were clearly impressed by her attitude and self motivation. There were offers to sponsor her for the one length swim and this has made her even more determined. We donated some of our funds to the Friday Club where Claire meets and works with other disabled people in the Maidstone area.

Last night I went to the Service Committee meeting at Lloyd's house. Amongst a busy agenda we had a detailed look at the coming programme which is looking good.

Finally, today is the 2nd anniversary of my friend Roger's death. Whilst he was not a Rotarian ( he was self confessed and well-respected local Freemason) he was an inspiration to me and many others in so many ways but especially to me in his work in the community. He is sadly missed but will never be forgotten. He was one of the best Rotarians we never had.

What a Great Day!

Met the manager of Maidstone Leisure Centre today and he has agreed to house the Spiral Wishing Well in the Centre near the cafe. No determined time- let's see how it goes. I will deliver on Thursday 28th Aug after we get it back from Romney Marsh Rotary who are using it at an event over the BH.
This afternoon went to the Riverside Golf Tournament at Kings Hill. I enjoyed stalking members and taking photos which will be available on the website.

I learnt a bit about golf, like what the yellow ball is for and why you can have a second go if your first hit is rubbish! Not sure if I am ready for such a technically advanced game such as this yet.

There were some fine shots played......



Well done Geoff for organising a great day and also to good old Steve for doing the scoring stuff which I had no idea about.

Back from Holiday

After a well deserved break after two weeks as President! I am back for a couple more weeks before whizzing off to Spain for 10 days. Best to get hols out the way in the quiet time I say.

I came back to club night to greet our new DG John Wilton who gave us a good presentation on what he sees for the year. Very concise with full of passion. He has already visited 28 clubs in his first month and is very determined to be an "up front" leader. Interestingly John doesn't drive so he has a team of 7 Rotarians to drive him ( only one at a time though!), so we had a PP from Beachy Head RC to add to the guest list. The evening was enhanced by an unexpected visit by husband and wife Rotarians from Darwin, Australia who were passing through on holiday. Along with a visit also from PDG Tony Hodges we were well represented by guests.

I visited the new Rotary Club of Minster-on-Sea last night to present their cheque for their work at County Show. They are a very lively club comprising mainly ex- Tablers so there was a lot of time spent on Sargent at Arms. However I was pleased to tell them that their gate manning contribution was one of the best of all clubs and they are really keen to be there in force next year so that is good news.