That's It Folks!

So that's it,the end of my Presidential year. Handover to Lloyd last night. He presented his plans for the coming year and there is plenty for all of us to get involved with, I am sure it will be a great year.

I am glad I have kept this blog, 80 posts in total. It has given me something to reflect upon and also an opportunity for members and others to get an overview of one person's views and activities as a President. I will close this regular Blog now on the Riverside website and maybe it will be archived for future reference if it is found to be useful. I have also copied it onto my personal website www.clivebradburn.com where it can be accessed.
So finally, thanks to everyone who has helped to make my year so enjoyable and rewarding. I see from the latest attendance figures that the overall percentage has been the highest in three years so that is reassuring.

Good luck and good wishes Lloyd - I look forward to hopefully remaining an active member for years to come.

Alzheimers Presentation

It was great to able to present the Maidstone Alzheimers Group with £1000 yesterday at their weekly meeting. Several of their number had sponsored our tandem rideso it was a an opportunity to thank them also. Whilst there I met a young Maidstone based businessman named Jason who offered support for future events we may well organise for Alzheimers. It is nice when people come forward to offer assistance.

My last business meeting was somewhat routine but we tidied up the year in terms of income and out goings. We managed a gross income in excess of £20K and it has all been dispersed or put aside now for a wide range of charities. The concert looks like it has made just over £3k so all in all not a nbda year.
Next week handover- sad really, I'll miss being at the helm but time to move on and perhaps focus on fewer but more specific ideas rather than trying to juggle all the balls.

Last Speaker Evening

So that's another milestone. My last evening to introduce a speaker before I finish my tour of duty in two weeks time. A good speaker again this time from NSPCC. Some interesting but worrying facts such as there are 85 calls every day in our region to the Childline which is now run through NSPCC. Also we had a special guest, Mike Springett who came as a guest of his son and brother. It was good to see him.
Oh yes and I forgot the loyal toast for apparently the second time. Still Past President Richard managed a few more than that I believe during his year!

Stabart Mater

After all the worrying about lack of numbers attending, our joint Rotary clubs charity Concert at Mote Hall on Saturday was a success. No word on money raised yet but we probably had about 400 in the audience- not the 800 we had hoped for but as I hear that the Jim Davidson Concert next week has only attracted 300 ticket sales- we did well. It was enough to give the performers a rousing ovation especially for Rachael Lloyd the mezzo soprano who was excellent.
Special thanks to my team of volunteers who helped out on the night, a most enjoyable and hopefully a successful evening for the Heart of Kent Hospice.

Credit Crunch

Before dinner I read a card from Mike S thanking the club for the flowers and card following Margaret's funeral last week.It was good to see Andy and and Lloyd back at club so soon. We hope that being with friends will help in some small way to ease their pain.

Good to welcome back Bryan Baughan to talk about the Credit Crunch. Some enlightening insights into what went wrong and where we are at the moment. A lot of questions and I had to cut them short to allow the meeting to finish. For the benefit of those not at President's Night I played a sample of the CD, unfortunately my old portable CD Player messed it up. This probably accounted for the fact that I didn't have a queue for sales at the end of the evening. I did however, have two donations so we have now made £270 for the fund. Those without a copy are really missing out on a remarkable piece of musical history- so don't be shy, give me a call, I have a few left and Christmas is coming!
We had another guest tonight who is a potential member, hope he enjoyed the evening.

Presidents Night

Modesty prevents me from making comment after reading Nic's account on our website!All I will say is that everyone involved in this remarkable evening have made an old man very happy. It was for one night only and my retirement at the pinnacle of my musical career is a sensible move as one can only take so much stardom.

It was a really great night and I have written thank yous to a whole host of people who made it all possible so I won't repeat names here- you all know who you are, thank you all so much. No president could ask for a better send off than the one I was privileged to receive last night, we have a fantastic club and the future is looking really bright.

100 club draw took place during the evening and was presented by our new club Grandad.

It was a pity, but most understandable, that some members and guests couldn't join us for the evening due to the recent bereavements associated with our club this past couple of weeks. Many of us attended Margaret's funeral earlier in the day and the large numbers attending spoke volumes for her popularity.

What a week of mixed emotions.

School Presentation

Nice little job on Friday. Along with Chas I presented a cheque to a local junior school. The money will go towards a trip to the Science Museum in July. I had the privilege of announcing this trip to the youngsters- they were overjoyed. Without our donation it is unlikely that the trip would be going ahead. This is what makes this job all worthwhile.

Some bad news this week however, two of our members' mothers have died,I will not go into details and give names online, but suffice to say their passing was a shock and in one case the family have had a local connection with our club for a long time and the lady is well known to many members. Her funeral is on the same day as Presidents night. I did consider postponing this event but after speaking to some members it was felt that the show should go on. It will be difficult as many of us will go to the funeral earlier in the day, however, we are sure the family would have wanted the event to go ahead so it will.

Tandem to Dordrecht

This weekend was the highlight of my year. Martin and I rode my 1934 tandem to meet up with other club members and Rotarians in Dordrecht. Here is a small report and some pictures.

"This trip was very much a symbolic ride but great publicity not only for our charity, Alzheimers Society but also an opportunity for me to compare our country’s poor cycling facilities with those in Holland. We had great press coverage and a local TV interview when we arrived. We rode from the Hook of Holland to Dordrecht (about 40 miles) on my 1934 tandem in cold but mainly dry weather. My Rotary Club friend Martin and I wore 1930’s clothing to demonstrate the English love of the bike?! to show how it used to be in days gone by.





We were waved off from Maidstone Town Hall on Thursday 14 May by the Mayor, Cllr Denise Joy, and Vic Codling Chairman of The Maidstone Alzheimer's Society and then we travelled to catch the overnight ferry from Harwich. (OK so we did that bit by car, but whose counting?!)

When waiting to get on the ferry we met several Dutch,British and German motor cyclists who admired the bike and gave generously to our charity in the cans we had hanging on the side. We also met two “real” club bikers who had cycled in the morning to a meeting in London and were on their way back home to Amsterdam, just a quick 85k journey when the ferry berthed in the morning! Now that is what I call commuting. A generous British couple in a car leaving the ferry gave us a 20 euro note as we were leaving the ship. So everyone was very kind and we have raised in total, with the collection and other contributions, in the region of £600 for the charity.

We were met at the Hook of Holland ferry port by a Dutch Rotarian who also dressed up and rode with us all the way. We were also escorted by three lovely vintage Morris 8 cars owned by some other Dordrecht Rotarians. My tandem suffered a broken front brake cable in Rotterdam but as there weren’t any real downhills and it was all on cycle paths, we didn’t really need brakes. The rear handlebars also nearly fell off but we just about fixed them so Martin could hang on when we reached great speeds!







The old cars and bike cavalcade made a great sight as we arrived in Dordrecht in the afternoon to be met by our flag waiving Rotarians and spouses who had taken the easy route from Maidstone by coach and arrived just before us. We were presented with 150 Euro cheque by the Alderman of Dordrecht and the Rotary Club of Dordrecht ter Merwe our hosts, decided to match that amount. A great weekend followed, in a country dominated by great people and of course, bikes.







How did we get home? The luggage space in a coach is ideal for housing a tandem, now there is an idea for bus companies! Oh,and I was not aware of any potholes."

Yet Another New Member

It was a privilege to welcome Catherine into the club tonight. An excellent introduction from Clare and an equally excellent reply from Catherine. This was followed by a presentation from Bryn Price from Kent Peoples Trust. Anyone who does so much good to help young people and also takes part in one of the world's biggest ironman tri-athlons certainly has my respect!
A great evening and one of our best attendances for long while - only 4 members not there. I wonder if we will have as many for next week's business meeting?!




Welcome to the club Catherine





Mind where you stick that pin!!


Now it's off to Dordrecht on Thursday.

First Puncture!

So there we were fully dressed in our 1930s clothing thundering towards the town on our trusty tandem, when bang, a drawing pin caused a puncture. However, we pushed the bike to the Town Hall and had our photoshot done for the KM. Thanks to Richard, Peter and Norman who turned up to join us (thrill seekers!) and of course thanks to Steve who turned up at the wrong Hall! County Hall is not Town Hall, Steve. Following our picture session Martin and I tried to dismantle the complex gearing and breaking system to get the wheel out (the others had to rush of course- urgent business appointments probably). We needed some assistance so went to cycle shop nearby. They were busy and not overly helpful so we repaired the bike in their shop ourselves. We were also talked into buying some kevlar tape to prevent further punctures- Hmmmm! not so sure. An hour or so later we rode gallantly up Stone St and home. Mission accomplished.

Vicki Pearson

It was an honour tonight to present the RIBI Certificate of Recognition to Vicki Pearson. Vicki came to speak to us last year about her work with the disabled in Romania and in 2006 we raised £4000 from our YES Concert for her charity Romania Connect. I have written an article about her and along with the photo I hope both she and our club get some publicity from the local and Rotary press.

Urban Bus

Well done to Martin, Peter and all those involved in the Urban Bus project. The official launch ceremony went well on Wednesday, again thanks to those who attended and represented our club.









AGM went without a hitch including having a vote for Council. Good to see so many members wanting to get involved. Everything looking nicely in place for Lloyd's year.

Bowling

Our Annual bowling with the Interact went well again this year. 12 of us plus 8 from Interact followed by a Chinese meal. Great opportunity to chat with the youngsters. They are going to have a good contingent at County Show as well.
Have heard from Dordrecht - we are going to be met at Hook of Holland by 3 members with their vintage cars. Jeroen is going to cycle with us. Preparation is going well. Martin and I did 3 miles on the tandem the other night. That should be enough training! We are really looking forward to the trip.

Blood Pressure Awareness Day

Just heard from Chas that the annual Blood Pressure Awareness Day went well. This is a great PR event working with the Red Cross. This was held in the Chequers Centre. 382 members of the public were tested and given their readings. In 5 cases they were advised to visit their GP asap. A most worthwhile project and thanks to all those Rotarians who helped on the day. I was sorry I could not get along this year to help.

Maria's Cakes

The President demonstrating his skills making a pastry rose. Catherine does not look too impressed!

One of our newest members, Maria and her business partner, Catherine entertained us all with a talk and demonstration of cake making. It was good to have an "interactive" job talk especially as a partners evening.

Houses of Parliament

Great trip to Parliament- Sue and I enjoyed it, will await the verdict on Tuesday!
After 3 hours in the Darwin exhibition and then all that history at Parliament I am feeling very knowledgeable. Roll on the next quiz.
Some disappointing news- due to a misunderstanding over arrangements with the Forestry Commission the Bedgebury Walk has been cancelled. Feel sorry for Malc and Ron who organised it- particularly as they were amongst the very few who answered my call to run an event during my year. Hopefully, with a bit of time to go, we should make the funds to support the charities we wanted to this year.

Colin's Job Talk

38 years in the print industry is quite an achievement and Colin's presentation was very good. Some interesting facts and the stats showing the decline in paper sales. Why is the Daily Star the only paper to have not declined- how about they gave it away for nothing in February! well done Colin great talk.
24 turned up tonight instead of the expected 19. So it doesn't look like everyone is leaving the club!

Alan

Alan has resigned from the club after long and rewarding service (1992). He has other interests to pursue. We have now lost a few longer serving members who have perhaps lost the enthusiasm we all had when we joined all those years ago. As sad as it is to see them go we mustn't get downhearted. It's the circle of Rotary life and we have to move on. New horizons, new members, revived interest from existing members and new ideas.

Council Meeting

Council meeting tonight- good attendance. Nothing too contentious - hopefully a straightforward business meeting next week. Refreshments were a bit thin due to the catering manager staying at Beckenham to bath the baby!

Andy's Induction

A busy club evening with the Induction of Andy Springett and two young MGS people Luke and Phil talking about about their RYLA experience. We still managed to finish by 9.30 however. Andy's Dad Mike came as a guest - good to see him again. So we had 3 Springetts in attendance!

Dan Abnett

These evening we had one of our best speakers yet. Unknown to most of us but a top writer and author. Ex- MGS lives in Maidstone. See his website http://www.danabnett.com/ comic and fantasy writer but also does Mr Men and Dr Who! Look in his website - what is Nic doing inside that door?!

Great evening, will do induction for Andy next week. I have also transferred this blog to my new website www.clivebradburn.com. Nothing else on it at the moment but it will be great when I have worked it all out.

Catching Up

Having taken a well earned rest - preparing Spanish home for the summer, I have missed my blog updates. However, we did have a business meeting where we debated membership and attendance. A good opportunity for members to air their views. On th same night Clare did another presentation on the Kenya project and club agreed to release the £5000 in stage payments for it to go ahead. So a productive night overall.
Our quiz went ahead on Friday at MGS. Chas was up to his normal standard with his mix of questions supported by excellent hi-tech animations and running scoreline. There were I think 10 teams and we raised about £600 overall. Thanks to Lloyd for making the arrangements and Carolyn and Norman for the raffle. Another good evening even though my team only managed 5th.
Dordrecht is looking good, we have 22 going now and I have booked the Harwich ferry for Martin, myself and the tandem.

Siberia World Challenge

Excellent presentation from a delightful young lady who spent  several weeks in Siberia last year as her World Challenge,. Our club had helped out with funding and she came to club to tell us all about it. martin passed around the Alzheimers Fund pot to top up what his police colleagues had given. We now have £160 so a good start. Next week will be a special business evening we have had a request to discuss membership and attendance and Clare will do another presentation on the Kenya project.

Another picture of the tandemists!

Martin C

Martin C retired from the police yesterday and had a farewell do at the Bull, Penenden Heath. I had a chance to say a few words about his rotary work and we launched our tandem ride event to Dordrecht with 'ride past" as depicted in the picture. Some of his colleagues contributed towards our Alzheimers fund and we hope to add to it as we go in May. All the best now to Martin and Jo for their 6 weeks in Aussie, they had better bring some banners back! 

RIBI President

Went to Maidstone Rotary lunch today. Excellent function, well organised and well chaired by Pat Thomas who as Vice President was standing for both the absent President and President Elect. Interestingly, President  Dennis is in Antigua to watch the Test Match. They had 10 or so balls today before abandoning as the pitch was unsuitable! I bet he wished he was at the club listening to Ian Thomson giving his brilliant presentation. Hilariously funny but a serious theme of why we all do Rotary, coming through loud and clear. 

We had five members from Riverside I think the biggest, certainly the noisiest contingent, visiting the club. Well done team, we flew the flag well and  I  even had the chance to invite the DG to my Presidents Night.

Lloyd has now got the quiz arrangements underway, let's hope for a good take up of teams.  

Potential Members

Club night saw the second visit of my guest Andy and it is looking good for membership subject to the normal procedures. Also Clare brought along a guest Catherine, who appeared to enjoy the evening which included anoher good presentation this time from the CE of Hi Kent, John Clayton.

Ron has now booked the coach for Dordrecht. I have managed to get Stuart G and Patricia to come along despite him leaving the club. I also got potential member Andy to join us. Then, with a bit more of my cajoling I persuaded maria to join us with husband David. So numbers are looking good now. I have found a Harris Tweed jacket in a charity shop so the props are starting to come together for Martin and my 1930s ride to Holland. Friday is lunch with the RIBI President, five from our club going- pretty good- will report later on the event. 

Bad Weather

I would like to think that it was the particularly bad snow and cold that kept members away on Tuesday night. There were just 16 of us but once again an excellent speaker talking about the Street Paster scheme. The low attendance I know raised a few eyebrows but I don't think it was connected with the fact that 4 long serving members have now left during my term of office! Some members did write to me with some concerns as to whether or not the resignation reasons were linked. I did, therefore write to all members confirming that they were not connected and urged existing members to try and get new recruits. I have kicked that off by bringing along a young friend of mine and hopefully he will join. That will lower our average age a bit. 

I have also decided to donate £1000 to COSMIC which I have now done. We shall have to see how fundraising goes if I am to increase that during my year. The Heart of Kent concert preparation is really underway now. We had another meeting at Dennis Fowle's house. I have taken responsibility for the poster and programme. The poster is now ready for printing I have managed to get a company to do the programme for nothing. I need to get the rest of the club on board to sell tickets soon. Dordrecht preparations well underway. We are going by coach- 10 couples at present with martin and myself going by tandem. More later on that no doubt.

Allington Castle

A surprisingly good talk tonight at club from Joyce about Allington Castle. I was a bit apprehensive initially when she approached me at swimming club to say should would like to do it. However, she certainly knew her history especially as she had no notes. Turns out she was a guide at the castle for 10 years and has retained the stories in her head. She thoroughly enjoyed doing it and I have agreed to make a donation to Demelza at her request. For someone well into their 80's this was an excellent presentation.
Firmed up now on a visit to Houses of Parliament. I got the date wrong on the board but I can't be perfect all the time. It's Friday 3rd April just in case anyone reads this!

....and another Member Resigns

Is it something I have said?! Letter in the post today from Mike Sendles also calling it a day and leaving Rotary. Another long serving member who joined us a few years ago from the Maidstone Rotary Club. Mike has  decided to leave and once again goes with all our best wishes for the future.

I suppose it is inevitable that long serving members will sometimes decide to go once they feel that their enthusiasm has waned somewhat and I am sure that is what is happening at Riverside now  as members get older. However, maybe we should gain strength from the experience they have given us and now is the time for the younger and newer members to blaze the trail for the future. We have a great club and I am sure we will continue to go forward and I look forward to leading in that direction during the second half of my year. 

Anyway, just to cheer us up, good news my grandson Oliver has recovered since our Xmas scare so here is picture of him with his new pet Patch. Thanks to everyone again for your kind words and good wishes, they mean so much.

We Lose a Valuable Member

I went to tonight's meeting feeling revitalised after watching the inauguration of the new USA president on TV this afternoon. What an orator, if he comes up with the goods as well as he speaks we have a brighter future. Much closer to home tonight's business meeting went smoothly with no controversy or major rows for me to practice my chairmanship skills on. Never mind I am sure I'll get plenty of opportunity before July.

The evening was marred somewhat by the news I received just before the meeting that Jeff Kimberley has resigned. Jeff was a founder member and Past President and will be missed by us all, he has put much into this club over the years and we are sorry to see him go. I spoke with Jeff and he feels that as an "elder" member there comes a time to call it a day and that day has come. I respect that and wish him and Jean well for the future.

President's Half Year Report

The following is my report as presented to Council tonight and will be again to club next week.

President’s Report
14th Jan 09

I am now half way through my year and it is only when I look back at the 42 posts I have put into President’s Jottings on the web that I realise just how busy we have all been. I recommend that all members have a look at the blog occasionally as it helps put things into perspective as it records the ups and the downs plus there are a few pictures as well!

It is good to report that pre- Christmas we had a flurry of excellent fund raising projects which has given our Trust fund a much needed boost. Clare and Maria’s social evening raised over £1k albeit that club support was very minimal. However, I am grateful to those who attended and also those who supported the event financially. The Xmas collection total was up on last year and thanks once again to Chas for arranging it and to those who took part. The Wishing Well and weekly collecting pot continue to bring in regular amounts which help to push the funds up. I am especially grateful to Nic for operating and promoting the online Xmas cards again this year. It raised £240 and was supported by over a half of the club. Perhaps next year we can get a full house.

The Carol Service was another success, thanks to Colin for arranging it this year. We were able to donate £400 to Maidstone Christian Care for the homeless. Our Xmas meal at Sissinghurst was generally well received and I am grateful to Peter for organising the event.

Santa and his elf (alias Terry and Carolyn) kindly did their Christmas bit for Bell Wood School again this year bringing some cheer to the youngsters.

It was good to be able to share a project with the other Maidstone clubs to provide an electric mobility scooter for a local disabled man. Our club donated £150 and we got some local TV coverage from it as well.

Whilst we have made some other small donations and there are some other promises to allow for, it is hoped that we can now give the Kenya project some serious consideration for early payment.

I applied for a District Simplified Grant (DSG) last year to assist in financing a trip to an Ice Show for the Friday Club, a disabled group from Parkwood. I am pleased to say that we were successful in being awarded £500. There were many applications and ours was chosen amongst the few selected as being one of the most worthy.

I am grateful to Keith for organising some excellent speakers this year and the recent presentation from Dave Hatcher on the Life Straw Project has got me thinking about the possibility of taking it on in the Maidstone area. A need for discussion on this one.

Also looking ahead we have a Quiz night and a trip to Parliament planned in March and in May we go to Dordrecht, which includes Martin and myself riding there by tandem. Also that month Malcolm R has organised a sponsored walk in Bedgebury so a lot fitness and fun on the agenda. In June we are sharing the background work with the other Maidstone clubs to support the Maidstone Music Festival performance of Stabat Mater at the Leisure Centre. We will need to sell tickets and help with publicity. All proceeds will go to Heart of Kent Hospice. My year will be rounded off by President’s night at the Grangemoor Hotel. There will be a musical performance by Ross (Clare’s husband) and our very own Maria who will play and sing for us. Please support the event and come along, it will be fun, local and reasonably priced. Lloyd will be organising tickets etc very soon.

I do keep an eye on the Club Plan which I announced at the beginning of the year and of course any plan has to be modified to meet changing circumstances, but it is pleasing to note that by and large the proposals I put forward are coming to fruition so thank you to everyone for their support this year so far.


Clive Bradburn

Life Straws

My first Rotary meeting in the New Year last night and our speaker was Dave Hatcher a Medway Rotarian who demonstrated his schools educational programme that he has been running in the Medway towns for a couple of years. It is aimed at primary schools and covers the importance of water for life and includes Shelter Boxes and in particular Life Straws. Dave is looking for a club to take on his work in another area. I would be happy to get involved and early indications from Neil last night was that it might be something Interact could be active in. We have a Council meeting tonight and I'll raise the issue. Through school donations and a Just Giving website Dave and his club was able to also raise £21k which was handed over to Shelter Box to provide thousansds of Life Straws. An excellent project.

I am now half way through my year so I have written an overview report of progress which will be in my next post and will be presented to Council tonight and the Business meeting next week.

COSMIC Soccer

Oliver is back home now and recovering from his ordeal. He'll be off school for a week or so but hopefully all will be well in the long run.
I attended the Charity soccer match and auction run by our local pub yesterday. Fantastic generosity from mainly the young lads from the two teams. A total of £855 was raised- absolutely brilliant. Special thanks to two of our Rotarians who came and gave us support.


Norman the Magnificent - he braved the cold to give support


Maria the Wonderful- our brilliant auctioneer