Welcome to the website of the Rotary Club of Barnet
WELCOME TO THE ROTARY CLUB OF BARNET
Forthcoming events - Noah's Ark Children's Hospice:
East Barnet War Memorial Rededication Service
The granite plaque with the 46 names of those heroes from East Barnet Village who were killed in WW2 will be added to the existing memorial on Sunday 18 July, when a dedication service will be held at 12 noon, thanks to the hard work of Mrs Catherine I P L Loveday of Woodside Park. Mrs Loveday is also trying to achieve the same goal for the New Barnet War Memorial, also known as the East Barnet Valley War Memorial, where 135 names of WW2 heroes should justifiably be added. All donations will be gratefully accepted and cheques made payable to New Barnet Community Association (Memorial Fund) should be sent to Mrs C I P L Loveday, 16 Lullington Garth, Woodside Park, London N12 7AP.
Civic Dinner
On 21 June, were honoured with a visit by the Mayor of Barnet Councillor Anthony Finn and the Lady Mayoress, his wife Mrs Anita Finn. The mayor gave us an interesting and entertaining talk before taking questions.
Wednesday 9 June - Kids Out visit to Paradise Park.
On 9 June we took a group of 21 children from Oakleigh School, together with their carers, to Paradise Park. Several other Rotary Clubs also took parties of children to the venue and Kids Out took place in Rotary Clubs all over the RIBI district. The weather was kind to us and a good time was had by all.
ROTARY VOCATIONAL AWARD
Susan CONVERY, Head Teacher of Whitings Hill School:
When Barnet Council announced in 2006 that Whitings Hill School would be re-built, and Barnet Hill School was to be closed and staff and children integrated into the new Whitings Hill, Susan was Head Teacher at Barnet Hill.
From that time forward Susan made a major contribution in the practical design of the new school, working closely with the architects and contractors, drawing on her past experience.
When the Whiting Hill Head Teacher resigned in December 2007, Susan was appointed Executive Head Teacher of Whitings Hill, whilst continuing as Head at Barnet Hill.
In May 2008 the vacant position of full time Head at Whitings Hill was advertised nationally and against a number of very worthy candidates, Susan was appointed to be the full time Head of Whitings Hill School from January 2009.
After a building period of 15 months the new school was open to the new cohort of children from the Dollis valley cachement area. In the meantime Susan had to deal with the closure of Barnet Hill.
Susan is credited with managing the successful integration of the staff, parents and children of both schools into the new Whitings Hill.
In spite of the trauma of the closure of Barnet Hill and the construction of the new Whitings Hill, the academic results from year 6 of both schools were outstanding. In fact last year the SATS results of Whitings Hill were 19th in the league table of 75 plus Barnet Primary Schools and in terms of "Value Added" they were ranked 2nd!
We have viewed first-hand the marvellous facilities at Whitings Hill when we had the opportunity of a guided tour and later when the President of Rotary in Britain and Ireland also visited the school whilst in Barnet. The facilities are excellent with many innovative and eco-friendly initiatives but the most important factor must be the ambience and the learning environment that has been created.
Susan, we recognise the tremendous hard work that you (and your staff) have put into the transition and the Rotary Club of Barnet is delighted to recognise your achievements with the presentation of this Vocation Award certificate.
INTERNATIONAL DINNER
On 26 April 32 fellows and guests had a wonderful meal at the Genzo Restaurant in East Finchley. We had several tables in an airy, well-spaced room and the food was excellent.
We also had fun, which was a welcome break after a Monday at work. Many thanks to Henry Winters for organising the event.
Rotarians of the Future Succeed in completing the 2010 London Marathon
The nephew of Rtn PP June Hughes, Ben Walton and his friend Dave Burrows from the Andover Round Table both successfully completed the 2010 London Marathon in aid of the Bliss Charity for children born too early, too small, too sick. Andover Round Table in conjunction with the Anton Rotary Club managed to raise over £ 5,000 in support of the two Round Tablers running in the race and we are very proud of their achievment.
If you would like to know more about Bliss or would like to donate to this wonderful charity, please click on the following link:
REPORT
STROKE AWARENESS DAY – Saturday 17th. April 2010
The Club joined with the Stroke Association in enabling members of the public to have their blood pressure checked. The Checks were carried out by a team of 9 health professionals, drawn together by Dr. Ian Johnston, who were on duty between 10.00am and 4.00pm. They were able to recommend those who needed to seek further advice from their G.P.’s.
The event took place in the Eastern Square of the Spires Shopping Centre. We are grateful to Geoff Lindley for providing the marquee, Waitrose for providing tables and chair and most important the Management of the Spires for allowing this to take place in such an advantageous place and for the opportunity to advertise the event within the previous week.
Club members were on duty to register those taking advantage of this facility and also to encourage members of the public to come forward.
Durng the day 160 people came forward of whom 14 were advised to visit their G.P.
The Club were honoured with a visit from the Mayor of Barnet and his escort who were greeted by President Elect Ian Johnston. Once again after having his BP taken the Mayor was pleased to report that he was normal.
During the day £70 was raised in donations to the Stroke Association.
This joint venture, being mirrored by Rotary Clubs in venues across the U.K. on the same day, is very successful in providing the opportunity for these checks to be made. In Barnet it was noticeable that more people are having their blood pressure taken on a regular basis or have equipment in their own homes to do this and are not reliant on this annual event.
However it is important that we should continue to support the Stroke Association to publicise the need to know your blood pressure and its link to the risk of stroke.
Robin Marson
LOCAL SPORTSMEN HONOURED
ROTARY CLUB OF BARNET presented three awards for work and support for local charity WILLOW FOUNDATION.
PAUL HARRIS SAPPHIRES were awarded by Rotary Club of BARNET to
both BOB AND MEGS WILSON for their work and commitment to their charity WILLOW FOUNDATION now in its 11th year and celebrating
200 ‘SPECIAL DAYS’ in this coming month of April
PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSHIP was awarded to UK IRONMAN SIMON MERRITT for his sporting exploits to raise money for not only the Willow Foundation but also G.O.S.H., SHELTERBOX, HAITI DISASTER appeal NORTH LONDON HOSPICE, JAIPUR LIMB, MOSQUITO NETS and many more.
These Rotary awards are the highest honour that can be bestowed on those who have served the community beyond ‘self’. Rotary is a ‘Global network of community volunteers’.
‘Willow Foundation’ is a unique charity that organises and funds morale boosting and memorable days for seriously ill young adults aged 16-40.
MONDAY 8 MARCH 2010
We had an excellent presentation from Jessica Clipp, who works for Chicken Shed, starting with the formation of the company, using the chicken shed at Wrotham Hall, and running right through to the present day, including a short film showing the work of the company, which is a registered charity and relies heavily on donations and fundraising. They are proud of the fact that they are open to anyone who is interested in the performing arts.
Not many other places are for
anyone and everyone. So a lot
of people, who find themselves
unwelcome elsewhere, come to us.
MONDAY 1 MARCH 2010
President Elect Ian Johnston was our speaker this evening and he gave us a spell-binding talk about the hospital ships of the Thames during the 19th Century. We also had an insight into how Ian became a doctor and his education and career in the merchant navy..jpg)
THANKS FOR LIFE w/e 26 February 2010
Several fellows manned a stall in The Spires on Wednesday in order to raise awareness of and collect funds in order to assist in the last push to eliminate polio. For every £1 collected, Bill Gates has pledged to donate a further £ 1.75 and we had a successful day. It was surprising to find how many people had heard of polio but did not know of its seriousness.
MONDAY 22 FEBRUARY 2010
We had an interesting talk by Trevor Cox, who was following up his first talk, given in the last Rotary year, about coins, their origins and their usage. Many thanks to Trevor for all his hard work and for such an enjoyable talk.
WELCOME TO THE ROTARY CLUB OF BARNET
"G.O.S.H."...ARSENAL'S CHARITY OF THE SEASON SIMON MERRITT, THE SON OF PDG DON MERRITT, WILL BE SUPPORTING THIS CHARITY BY COMPLETING TEN LAPS OF THE EMIRATES STADIUM AND WILL BE RAISING MONEY SPECIFICALLY FOR THE NEW 'LUNG FUNCTION UNIT' AS DETAILED BELOW:-
CHARITY OF THE SEASON
Arsene Wenger, together with Cesc Febregas, Maneul Almunia, Theo Walcott and legendary actress Barbara Windsor, will today officially kick off our latest Charity of the Season partnership. This season's beneficiary is Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and the objective is to raise £ 500,000 to build an all new and improved Lung Function Unit at one of the world's leading children's hospitals.
The current Lung Function Unit treats over 2,000 youngsters a year dealing with a multitude of conditions including cystic fibrosis, asthma and cancer and the work undertaken at Great Ormond Street hospital is amongst the best in the world. However, the laboratory space is far from ideal with cramped and outdated facilities.
The well planned, modern and spacious Arsenal Lung Function Unit will be located in the state-of-the-art clinical building (due to open in 2012) and has been specifically designed to cater for the needs of newborn babies right through to teenagers as well as their families.
We will be raising money as part of the 'Be a Gooner, Be a Giver' campaign with Great Ormond Street Hospital throughout the season, through a range of initiatives. As well as encouraging fans to donate and take part in events and challenges, we will dedicate a premier league match day and as usual, we will proudly hold an end of season fundraising ball in aid of the charity. A dedicated website has been created so that supporters can follow the partnership at www.beagoonerbeagiver.org
SIMON
FINISHING 5TH OUT OF 400 AFTER COMPLETING 10 LAPS OF THE EMIRATES
THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR HELPING TO RAISE OVER £200 FOR A NEW LUNG UNIT
FOR
G.O.S.H.
MONDAY 29th MARCH 6 FOR 6.15PM
PRESENTATION EVENING OF PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSHIP AND SAPPHIRES:
SAPPHIRES TO TWO LOCAL PEOPLE FOR THEIR WORK FOR THEIR CHARITY
WHICH IS NOW IN ITS 10TH YEAR
PAUL HARRIS FELLOWSHIP TO A THIRD RECIPIENT FOR HIS SPORTING EFFORTS AND FUND RAISING IN SUPPORT OF MANY CHARITIES ALL IN THESE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS.
PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT THE GIVING OF THE AWARDS TO THESE DEDICATED PEOPLE
Latest news:
HAITI APPEAL IN THE SPIRES SHOPPING CENTRE TO PROVIDE SHELTER BOXES COLLECTION BUCKETS LOCATED IN CREMERIA VIENNA OPPOSITE WAITROSE MAYOR AND MAYORESS WITH PRES ELECT RC BARNET IAN JOHNSTONE & PDG DON MERRITT. MAYOR & MAYORESS WITH RTN GRAHAM TROTMAN MANAGER SPIRES & PDG DON MERRITT
8 February 2010
We had an interesting and informative talk from Bill Ibbotson about RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer programme). Bill has been involved with the organisation for many years and also has a close link with Rotary, so we were very pleased to welcome him to our meeting.
If you would like to know more about RSVP in Barnet, here is the web-site address:
http://www.csvrsvpbarnet.org.uk
2 representatives of "IT Schools Africa" visited the Club on 1st February and made an informative and interesting presentation regarding refurbishing redundant IT equipment and putting it to very effective use in African schools. More information is available from their webpage:
www.itschoolsafrica.org
BURNS NIGHT CELEBRATIONS 25 JANUARY 2010:
The Rotary Club celebrated Burns Night and honoured the current Rotary International President, John Kenny, from Scotland at our meeting on Monday 25th January.
45 members and guests enjoyed the traditional format opened with the Selkirk Grace recited by Scott MacLachlan. After cock-a-leekie soup the Haggis was piped in and "addressed" by John Stirling-Gallagher in exemplary fashion. Interspersed with the rest of the meal (of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties followed by raspberry and oatcake desert) Past District Governor Don Merritt spoke briefly about the origins of Rotary and more particularly a resume of RI President John Kenny.
The guests were then entertained by Charlie Stewart who spoke enthusiastically of the Immortal Memory of Rabbie Burns, enlightening all on the wonderful achievements of the poet (with excerpts) and his recognition around the world.
Scott MacLachlan then proposed the Toast to the Lassies with excerpts from several more poems and an amusing "Reply to the Toast to the Lassies" was given by Debbie Hodge.
Everyone enjoyed a marvellous meeting including potential members. Another guest was Ambassadorial Scholar Muge Cevik who was amazed with the speakers in skirts, "what is the sporran for" and the strange accents and dialects.
John Stirling- Gallacher and Muge Cevik (Amb Sch)
Meeting 11 January 2010:
On 11th January our speaker was Club member Daniel Orchard. Although not obviously evident Daniel has a stammer and he gave a very personal talk with an insight into all the problems that having a stammer entails. He added details of management strategies that he had adopted throughout his childhood and adult life to hide or minimise the impact. He then told how some eighteen months ago he had been recommended to a speech therapy charity "Starfish" that had had a profound effect on his condition. With a combination of innovative techniques, strategy and practice he has made immeasurable progress. In fact making such a presentation as we heard this evening would not have been possible 2 years ago.
After the exertions of the Christmas period (see below for details) the meeting on Monday 4th January was a review of the first six months of the rotary year. The merger of the RC B&EB and RC FB&W had been very successful with a general high attendance at Club meetings and 3 new members with 3 more imminent. We have had some notable meetings including the initial Handover and Merger meeting, the visit to the Club of the RIBI President, a Gala Dinner and Bob Wilson of the Willow Foundation when we were able to make a sizeable donation due to the efforts of Simon Merritt in an Iron Man race.
President Mike circulated a magazine (in Portuguese), kindly sent over by Rotarian Raul Pereira from Sao Paulo, Brazil who visited the Club in the summer. Raul is a founding President of RC Sao Paulo and the article includes a photograph showing an exchange of club banners.
At our 4th January meeting were again delighted to welcome an international visitor, Rotarian John Damberg from the Virginia Rotary Club, USA. John was visiting his daughter and was District Governor (D 5560) in 1987/8.
Rotary Club to the Rescue 
The Xmas day party for the elderly was expanded this year to incorporate the Friends in Need (FIN) party from East Barnet as they had no gas for heating and cooking. The merged event brought the numbers to about 100, but added volunteers from East Barnet Church helped the day go smoothly. The event had to change from the normal format and we moved into the main Ewen hall to accommodate the extra numbers. We had Rotary London District Governor Martin Gudde and Barnet Mayor Cllr Brian Coleman address the party thanking all the volunteers for all their generous support to the Event. But the surprise of the day was a presentation to Barnet President Mike Hodge of a Sapphire Paul Harris Award for his service to District as GSE Chairman as well as to the Club.
President Mike Hodge carved a large turkey at the front of the Hall - this was a donation from the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Club. The rest of the event was provided from the Christmas street collections and donations from local Charity Foundations.
The following is the text of a letter received by our President from one of our guests:
"A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, collecting the money to make it all possible. buying our gifts, wrapping them up, organising the transport and getting the volunteers in the first place, including our very nice Keyboard player. I`m sure I speak for the others in saying that we had a lovely day I thoroughly enjoyed it, we had a great chat lovely food and good company so much nicer than sitting on your own watching the telly. So please thank everyone for their contribution with many thanks."
Polio plus in action.
Here are just a few of the many things we have been up to recently.
We hope you will find them interesting and inspiring. If you wish to know more, please do not hesitate to contact us.
NOAH'S ARK CHILDREN'S HOSPICE
On Monday 7th December the speaker at the Club meeting was the the CEO of Noah's Ark Children's Hospice, Gill Dodge. Gill gave a gripping account of the voyage of Noah's Ark since its inception nearly 10 years ago and its future. Dedicated to supporting children with life limiting illnesses and their families the organisation provides many different forma of outreach enabling the families to make the most of their lives together. The voyage ahead presents amazing opportunities and challenges as the Noah's Ark Children's Hospice has secured a lease on a site (The Dennis Bland Nature Reserve) where they plan to build a new state of the art Hospice for children. Gill emphasises this was not to replace the existing community based activities but to provide additional services and support for families. The vote of thanks was given by President Mike Hodge who, on behalf of past president Barbara Taylor handed over a cheque to support Noah's Ark.
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From the Noah's Ark Website: Latest News |
Join us at one of our FUNdraising events and – whilst meeting new people and having great fun – help us raise money for Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. Or perhaps if you have an event that you’d like to hold on behalf of the Charity, get in
THANKS FOR LIFE - POLIO PLUS
"VERY GOOD NEWS"
In 1985 the members of Rotary International decided on the most monumental project ever to be undertaken by a non-governmental body.
The decision was to rid the world of Polio, a disease that has killed and disabled millions of children throughout the World. At that time the Polio virus was endemic in 135 countries and 3000 cases of Polio were reported EVERY DAY.
Now 25 years later, only 4 countries have the polio virus and only 1491 cases of Polio have been reported in the WHOLE of 2008.
This fantastic result has been achieved largely by Rotary with the help of The World Health Organisation and recently UNICEF
In that time Rotary has raised $900 million and countless immunisation days have taken place immunising over two billion children.
HOWEVER, until NO cases of polio are reported from those countries still endemic, namely India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, the job will not be done
THE POLIO VIRUS MUST BE ELIMINATED IN ITS ENTIRETY.
Rotary must finish the job and that means, all of us must continue to fight the battle until the goal is achieved.
More GOOD news is that the ‘Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’ are once again supporting our Polio eradication effort and have donated $200 million, providing we match it with $100million, this is our challenge!.
To help meet this challenge RIBI have initiated the programme:-
"THANKS FOR LIFE"
This programme is designed to raise £1million for Polio Eradication, to maximise public awareness of the Rotary Polio campaign, the ‘Gates Challenge’ and Rotary in general.
It will involve a co-ordinated campaign, timed for February 23rd 2010-Rotary Day-and the period around it (February20-28). Money raised will be credited to the ‘Gates Challenge’ and count towards Club and District targets.
The ‘THANKS FOR LIFE’ project is designed to link with local schools (primary and secondary), to raise awareness of Rotary, to generate fund raising initiatives, interaction with parents, involve/establish Interact/Rotaract clubs.
It is designed to encourage children to establish a project to raise £1 from each child this £1 will immunise TWO children. With the addition of the ‘Gates Donation’ will make that £1 into £2.78 this will immunise FIVE children.
This is but a small insight into this initiative, "THANKS FOR LIFE". To find out more please contact me.
WE MUST SAY GOOD-BYE TO POLIO
Don MERRITT
PDG, CHAIRMAN
"THANKS FOR LIFE"
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We are a friendly club and welcome new members. If you would like to know more about Rotary, or feel it may be for you, please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking on 'Membership' opposite and selecting the 'send email' facility.
As Rotary is a worldwide organisation, being a Rotarian means that you can not only put something back into society locally but also be part of a huge movement not only in fundraising and disaster relief but also with hands-on approach to service.
In the next 30 days..
06/09/2010 Club Weekly Meeting - Victor Kaye - the Travel industry.13/09/2010 Club Weekly Meeting - Laura Aitken-Burt (Duke of Edinburgh Award).
14/09/2010 Club Weekly Meeting - Club Council.
20/09/2010 Club Weekly Meeting - Business Meeting.
04/10/2010 Club Weekly Meeting - Ambassadorial Scholar.
