The Club's logo, "Sunrise over the Water".  

                                                                              

A bit about our Club                         

We meet at breakfast time, hence our name,the "Rotary Club of Bristol Breakfast". We are a mixed gender club; our members span a range from mid 30s upwards and the representation of business, professions and jobs is fascinating, too. 

Our membership hovers around 50, with the new & younger members playing very important roles within the club. 

Our regular Wednesday meetings start with coffee at 07:00 and we sit down for the meeting proper promptly at 07:30. 

It's a strict rule that the meeting finishes right on 08:30 so that members can get to work across Bristol in lecture rooms, operating theatres, courts, offices, at architects drawing boards and even on the fishing lakes south of the city.Just as importantly, everyone is keen to escape the predations of the parking wardens in the area, however they plan to fill their day!   

OUR MEETING VENUE

We meet at the Severnshed Restaurant on Bristol's historic waterfront, opposite the exquisite St Mary Redcliffe church.  Severnshed is a splendid backdrop for excellent meetings!

This is a very modern restaurant on the harbour-side, originally a boathouse designed by Brunel, (Yes! good old IK, you can't escape him in Bristol!,  who rebuilt much of Bristol's Docks, not just the Clifton Bridge and the SS Great Britain.

Grace Books For many years, our Club’s Grace Books have been in great demand. The books provide a useful selection of graces; sacred/profane, formal informal, serious/funny, and more.    A new, updated edition isow available for sale to other Rotary Clubs,  other service clubs and indeed anyone needing a quick source-book for graces. For more details, costs etc., make contact using the “contact form”  button on the top row of this page and choose option 5.  Fill in some  details and send it off.  Your request will go straight to our Club member who produced the books, will be delighted to supply and holds our stock.

Visitors

Visitors are always very very welcome; both members of other Rotary Clubs (of course) and anyone who wants to see what a Rotary Club does.  All our meetings are fully open.  We especially like visitors at our business meetings where the Chairs of each of our committees, (the committees keep the Club going), report on their progress.  A full view of what is going on is on show. 

A visit is a good opportunity to see what a Rotary Club does - there are no secrets -  one of the many great things about Rotary is that - "What you see is what you get!"

Use the Contact button on the top of this page to make contact, choose a category of query.

What do we do? 

In common with most Rotary Clubs we try to effect a three-way balance between fund-raising to support our charitable donations, providing service to the community both in Bristol and elsewhere, and having lots of fun. 

Obviously, our Club and its activities create a splendid environment for social and business networking, too.  This aspect of the Club is proving increasingly valuable to many of our members who appreciate being able to get to know members of other professions and businesses it a relaxed environment.

We undertake a range of fund-raising activities, the most important of which is the annual Dragon Boat Festival on Bristol Docks.  There are some snaps of this year's Dragon Boat races in the photo gallery, accessed from the bullets to the left of this section.  The Club has netted over £325,000 directly from this event over the last eight years, while many of the teams entering the races generate substantial funds directly for their own charities and good causes. 

Recently, our Club's President is directed our endeavours to the support of the NSPCC's helpline services for children in distress. £10,000 was raised!

Have a look at:   http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

for some ideas of what needs to be done.

Each summer the Club organises a Corporate Golf Day which raises very good sums (last year, more than £8,000) for our chosen charities.

With all the funds generated by the Dragon Boats and other events we can support a range of good causes.  Our efforts have recently allowed donations for local hospices (adults & children), Sightsavers, Mercy Ships, Macmillan Nurses, Water Aid and more.  There are more pictures of our annual Dragon Boat Festival which you can reach via the "Photo Galleries" button above.

In addition the Club has been able to rally round with other local Rotary Clubs to provide support for emergencies such as the Tsunami Appeals where its efforts helped replace a set of small fishing boats in Sri Lanka.  The Club was also able to help with the recent disaster in Burma in the provision of emergency Shelter Boxes.  

Locally, the Club is active in its support of young people via the Rotary Young Musician competition, careers fairs (some photos of Ambition, a careers fair held in Bristol some snaps are accessible in our Photo Gallery, click on the left-hand-side of this page), youth work in a more deprived area of Bristol and, in common with many other Clubs, -  Kids Out – a fun day out for youngsters, (again, snaps in our Photo Gallery).  And much more! 

Then there's the fun.  The Club has a packed social calendar with weekends away at home and abroad, attendance at major Rotary events elsewhere, participation in Rotary Friendship Exchanges to South Africa & Australia.  Even Boules at a member's home and garden in the Forest of Dean versus our old adversaries, the RC of Birmingham Breakfast.   Something for everyone!

Business Networking

Our Club is feeling its way into developing a business networking strand out-with its regular activities.  

Networking discussions follow our regular meetings and although these discussions do not form part of our formal Rotary meetings, they are open to members who show an interest.

There are two ways of finding out more:

To contact the Club member leading this initiative click on the Contact button at the top of this screen and choose option 10. 

or Club Members link via:

www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2727266&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Helping a New Rotary Club

Bristol Breakfast is proud to have assisted and facilitated the creation of a new Rotary Club – Bristol Bridge.  This is a breakfast club as well, now meeting at the Loch Fyne restaurant, also on Bristol's waterfront but on Thursday mornings.  Attracting a mixed-gender set of new, younger, Rotarians from the businesses which line Bristol's thriving centre, this is a very vibrant Club.

More details about the new Rotary Club and its new venue at:   http://www.bristolbridgerotary.org.uk/. 

So now there's two unique-ish Breakfast Rotary Clubs in Central Bristol, both near the water! 

If you would like to know more about either or both clubs please contact Paul Keith (our President) or Tim Brook the Club's secretary via the "Contact Form" facilities on this website.

In the next 30 days..

04/08/2010  Club Weekly Meeting -  Breakfast - Business Meeting.  The monthly review of the Club's activities and plans
11/08/2010  Club Weekly Meeting -  Breakfast - Ambassadorial Scholars.  A chance to learn from the young people studying in Bristol, sponsored by Rotary,
12/08/2010  Gliding Evening.  Experience an evening of gliding at Nymphsfield. £55 Contact TW for more details..
18/08/2010  Club Weekly Meeting -  Breakfast - Mystery topic.  Speaker - Alex Cross
25/08/2010  Club Weekly Meeting -  Breakfast - Rotary Foundation.  Jill Johnston, will provide the Club with details of Rotary's own charity.

Last Meeting

28/07/2010 Topic: Breakfast - Tree Aid - A Charity
Speaker: Sarah Moore