Rotary Club of Epsom

Welcome to the website of the Rotary Club of Epsom

CLICK HERE for a Club Calendar detailing up and coming events/meetings

EPSOM & EWELL BOROUGH FAMILY FUN DAY 2013

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE EVENT WEB SITE

Following the great success in 2012, Epsom and Ewell Rotary Clubs are again organising the Epsom and Ewell Borough Family Fun Day on Sunday the 22nd September 2013 at Hook Road Arena, Hook Road, Epsom KT19 8QG.

We are now inviting local charities, businesses, organisations and community groups to apply for pitches (click here for a pitch booking form) subject to availability, or to advertise in the event programme (click here for an advertising form).

The above flyer gives initial details of what will be happening at the event and more details will follow. You can download this flyer as a pdf document by clicking this linkand if you have any query relating to the event please email info@epsomfunday.net.

Our booking forms also give the option of having a free entry in our new event web site whether as a pitch holder or advertiser and which we plan to have up and running during March, with the added option to link to your own web site.

Local charities will be able to raise funds and awareness and local businesses and community organisations will be able to promote themselves, while providing a fun time for all attending, with pitch holders running family games in conjunction with their promotion. The emphasis is to provide a great day out with lots of family fun, particularly for younger children, at an affordable cost.

The event will be a family fun day with multiple arenas, a dog show, many free presentations, attractions and stalls, a fun fare, vintage cars, a food court and a picnic area. Any surplus proceeds of the day will go to our Rotary Club charities.

We are a vibrant club at the centre of the community of Epsom in the heart of Surrey, a town famous for the Epsom Derby. We are involved in local community and international projects, organising social and fund raising events and supporting local charities and organisations, enjoying fun and friendship along the way. We are part of the Rotary family, having the motto "Service Above Self", with thousands of clubs world wide and well over a million members. Our club calendar accessed from the links at the top and foot of this page gives details of our weekly meetings and events. Please also explore the links on the left hand side of this site for details of our committees, the work they do and for news. Our club President last Rotary year (2011/12) was Colin Peel and we thank him for a great year. Our club President this Rotary year commencing 1st July 2012 is Tony Axelrod and we look forward to supporting Tony in taking our club forward. A warm welcome awaits everyone who is interested in learning more about us. For more information, or to arrange to meet up please either click on the "Join Rotary" button to the right of this page for a form which you can complete and send to us, or please contact Tony by phone or text on 07986 947974 or by Email at epsomrotary@live.co.uk.

WE ALSO WELCOME THE FANTASTIC HELP WE RECEIVE FROM OUR SUPPORTERS AND IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HELPING US PLEASE DO CONTACT TONY AS ABOVE.

Here are a few up and coming events and dates for the diary, but for a full calender of our meetings and events please CLICK HERE for our Club Calendar.

Monday 10th June 2013 - 7pm for 7.30pm - Annual Fish and Chip supper evening - Woodmanston Golf Club.

Tuesday 18th June 2013 7.30pm - Borough Family Fun Day helpers meeting - Council, Chamber, Epsom and Ewell Borough Town Hall. The Parade, Epsom.

Sunday 30th June - 11am helping at Race for Life supportng Cancer Research UK at Epsom Downs, please CLICK HERE for more information and details.

Saturday 20th July - 10am - Workday at St Ebbas Hospital garden.

Saturday 10th August - 11.15 - Visit to Buckingham Palace State Rooms.

Eradication of polio in the world is a major project for Rotary and its clubs. Millions of pounds have been raised and the fight is nearly won. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative includes Rotary, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and governments of the world, with the support of many others. Plesae click the image left for an interactive web site where people can come together to end polio.

On Thursday 16th May the keys of a house in Andrews Close, Epsom were handed to The Grange at a meeting that took place at their Bookham centre with Epsom Rotarians in attendance, together with The Mayor of Epsom and Ewell, Councillor Christine Long, the Chair of Mole Valley, Councillor Caroline Salmon, and Mike Thorne our Rotary District Governor. Funding was provided by an Epsom Rotary Club connected Charity Fund.

The Grange is a modern forward thinking charity based in Bookham, Surrey which provides a range of high quality services to adults with disabilities, including provision of housing, 24 hour care and training in various skills enabling the clients to partake in work experience and potential employment opportunities. The house in Epsom has 4 bedrooms, 2 of which have ensuite bathrooms, a communal living room, dining room, bathroom and kitchen. The house also has a conservatory and a small garden which will be lovely during the warmer months. Work is currently underway to adapt the property to suit the needs of the new occupants, whom it is hoped will move in this Autumn.

Judith Walker, CEO OF The Grange said, ‘We are delighted to have this wonderful opportunity to be able to provide support to our people who want to live in Epsom and would like to thank all those involved in this project, with special thanks to the Epsom Rotary Trustees Terry Maggs, Ian Rankin, John Goddard and Vernon Goulding. Also our grateful thanks to the major benefactor, Past President Bert Umpelby'. The photo above shows the trustees presenting the keys and receiving the token rent of a pound and below shows the chariman of trustees Terry Maggs (Centre) with Judith and her fellow director. A copy of Terry's speech detailing the history of the fund and background to the donation, can be accessed via this link.

At our club meeting on the 9th May we were delighted to welcome Tricia Rutter of Epsom Waitrose, to talk to us about the Waitrose Community Matters project. Each month Epsom Waitrose donates £1,000 between three local good causes that their shoppers choose and many of us are familier with the green token, to place in a box of the good cause you’d most like to support. Also Tricia explained that a project group also exists to give hands on support. More information can be obtained via this link. Tricia also kindly presented our club with a cheque for £215 raised in January for our charities and projects and we thank both Waitrose and their customers for all their very kind support. The picture below shows Tricia presenting the cheque to our President Tony.

On Saturday the 4th May members of our club and Epsom Rotaract Club and our supporters helped raise funds and awareness of the Epsom and Ewell Foodbank, who also had a very successful trolley push in the town collecting food. Information and collection points were set up in the Ashley Centre and in the Market Square and as ever the shoppers of Epsom were very generous and supportive.

On the 22nd April we were advised that Sui Yu Au of Epsom College won the senior category of our District Young Photographer competion and now goes forward to compete in the RIBI national final. The winning photos are as shown below. Best of luck Sui Yu Au for the national final!

Over the weekend of the 13th and 14th April a group of our members which included our club President Tony attended the celebration of our contact Club Chantilly's 40th birthday in Deauville, France. On the Saturday we enjoyed a guided tour of a Chateau producing Calvados, followed by an evening of comprising a dinner and many celebrations. On the Sunday some of us visited the Erik Satie museum in Honfleur, followed by lunch in a key side restaurant. The event was also attended by the Presidents of Chantilly's German and Belgium contact clubs and we all had a great time among our friends. Many thanks to Corry, the President of Chantilly club and to all their members for such a wonderful weekend. Some pictures of the event will follow.

On Thursday 11th April we were delighted to welcome Ruth Markus to our lunchtime club meeting. Ruth gave us a talk detailing her work with and for AMECA in Malawi, in supporting medical training and in particular relating to the proposed construction of a hospital, its sustainability and other projects. For details of the fantastic work undertaken by AMECA please click here.

Saturday 6th April saw the Regional Final of the Rotary Young Musician competition taking place. Our club heat winners both from Epsom College, Will Goddard in the Instrumental category played the second movement of the Sonatina by Lennox Berkeley and Pan and the Shepherds by Jules Mouquet and Jake McGrath in the Vocal category sang Du bist die Ruh by Schubert and The Vagabond by Vaughan Williams. All the competitors who came from 4 Rotary Districts representing the South East of England gave fantastic performances and Jake took 4th place. Due to difficulties with the piano on the day the Instrumentalist section could not be completed and this was postponed to Saturday the 20th April. The pictures below show Will on the left and Jake on the right with their certificates and beneath Will, Jake and Graeme Lodge, Epsom College Director of Music. A very big thank you to our competitors and their families for all their support and to Graeme, for all his kind help and for attending both parts of the final as accompanist.

On Saturday 6th April, members of our club were given a guided tour around the new BBC Television Centre in London. Following our visit to the now closed BBC Shepherds Bush Studio in May 2012, we were able to compare the two and the new facilities certainly do appear both very impressive and functional. We were made extremely welcome and we do thank both the BBC for their hospitality and our member Bhusan, for organising the event for us. The picture below left shows our group in one of the new studios and on the right shows our Immediate Past President Colin presenting the weather, as he did on our last visit!

At the end of March we were delighted to announce the winners of our club heat of the “Rotary Young Photographer” national competition. Students attending Rosebery School and Epsom College competed in the senior age category, with students at Rosebery also entering in the intermediate group. The theme for this year’s competition was “Peace” and the standard of photography from all entrants was exceptionally high. The judges had a very difficult task and awarded prizes to students adjudged first, second and third with certificates for all students competing. The senior winner was Sui Yu Au (age 17) of Epsom College, whose pictures are shown below.

The judges commented. “The interpretation of Annie Leibovitz work was exceptional and it is clear that a great deal of work and effort went into the whole portfolio. The pictures and the details combine well to convey the message of peace and the portfolio shows great technical skill and excellence.”
The Intermediate winner was Emma Wade (age 11) of Rosebery School and her winning photos are shown below.

The judges commented that they were very impressed “with the combination of technical and composition skills, combined with thoughtful detail”.

This is the first year or club has organised a heat of this national competition and we hope that this will now be a regular yearly event. We do thank the teachers who have helped us tremendously in launching this competition, Rob Johnstone of Epsom College and Hannah Wiggins-Thirkill of Rosebery School and our judges, Michael Hume and David Smith. The winners photographs have now been entered in our Rotary District Final of this competition and the results should be announced by the end of April.

On Saturday the 23rd March the Regional Final of the Rotary Young Chef competition took place at New Line Learning Academy Maidstone, with 8 young chefs competing, being the winners from 4 Rotary Districts covering Kent, Sussex, Surrey Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Middlesex and who came through out of some thousands of competitors. Among the 8 was our club heat winner Abi Luff, who prepared her menu as detailed below. Standards were exceptionally high and Jordon Powell from the Forest School sponsored by Horsham Rotary Club came first, with Sean Richardson from the Weald School and sponsored by Biilingshurst Rotary Club runner up and with Abi being highly comended for her starter. The judges were Heather Thomas, Head of Technology Learning Academy, Peter Tomkinson senior sous chef at the Lanesborough Hotel London and David Marshall executive chef at the Athenaeum Hotel London. The photo above shows all the competitors and judges and below left is a photo of Abi (on left) and Anushka Patel (on right) of Fleet, being the winner of our District competition and below right Abi with her parents Charles and Catherine. A very big well done to Abi and thank you to her parents and to Jan Hanly, Head of Design Technology at Rosebery School for all their help and support throughout all the rounds of this very enjoyable and hard fought competition.

On Thursday the 21st March at our evening meeting we were delighted to be joined by members of 7th Epsom Scout group and their leaders who made a return expedition to Uganda last year for the 5th occassion. Our club sponsored one of the scouts and we were fascinated to hear of the various hands on projects that the group undertook. Members of the group took it in turns to talk to us about aspects of the visit complete with pictures. The group is now working on a future expedition and our club hopes that we can play a part in helping again. The picture above show members of the presentation team and further information on the expedition can be obtained by clicking this link.

On Tuesday the 5th March our club sponsored public speaking team from Blenheim High School, with Joe McManus in the Chair, Mahmoud Mahmoud Speaker and Chloe Wall proposer competed at The Oasis Academy, Coulsdon in our District Final of Youth Speaks. The team gave a fantastic presentation on the subject of “Generation Y” and it was a very close race, but the winners on the night from Teddington Girls School will go through to the Regional Final. Yet again this year the senior team from Blenheim High School won through to the Final and we do very much hope they will compete again next year. A very big thank you to the team and to their teacher Emma Waterworth for all their support and the hard work put into this competition. The photos top row left shows the team with Emma and top right shows Joe starting the presentation, with Mahmoud bottom left delivering his speach and Chloe giving the vote of thanks.

On Saturday 2nd March our International Committee held a bingo night raising funds for our club's charities. We had a great night and a very big thank you to Clive and Gillian Smitherham and to John Goddard and members of the comittee for setting up and organising the evening and which raised more than £450.

On Wednesday the 27th February 10 of our members, some with their partners, attended a meeting of our contact Rotary club in Chantilly France, to celebrate the 108th birthday of Rotary International. We received a fantastic welcome and agreed to work together on a project over the forthcoming year. We also firmed up on arrangements for a number of our members and partners to attend the 40th birthday celebrations of Chantilly Rotary Club and which will take place in Deauville in April. The photo above left shows the President of Chantilly Rotary Club, Corry Neau welcoming us and on the right shows one of the special bithday cakes that was prepared for the occassion. We also look forward to welcoming Chantilly Rotary Club in Epsom in the autumn, when we hope to organise a french speaking schools competition.

At a joint meeting on the 21st February of the Rotary Clubs of Epsom and Ewell and Epsom Rotaract Club a mobile ECG machine was presented to the Tadworth based charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). The machines are used to test young people's heart and to flag up anomalies that need further investigation. At the meeting Steven Cox the Director of Screening at CRY advised that many lives have been saved using the machines and CRY are pressing for testing all young people.

Tony Axelrod and Peter Heard Presidents of Epsom and Ewell Rotary Clubs said "We are delighted to present the ECG to CRY and help them in their work with young people. The machine was purchased out of the proceeds of last year's Borough Family Fun Day, where many of our local charities and community groups raised funds and awareness. We thank everyone who supported and attended the event and we look forward to running the Family Fun Day again this year on Sunday 22nd September at Hook Road Arena." For more information and to book a pitch or advertise in the event programme please contact info@epsomfunday.net or call 07986 947974. Details of what’s happening will also appear from next month on the event website www.epsomfunday.net, and on twitter @epsomfunday.

The photo above shows the ECG Machine being presented, with from left to right Helena Markan (President Epsom Rotaract), Rosemary Attridge (County Representative for CRY) Steven Cox, Tony Axelrod and Peter Heard.

On Saturday 16th February our Rotary District final of “Young Chef 2013” took place at the Oasis Academy Coulsdon. 9 competitors took part, all being winners from a total of 15 Rotary clubs across the District, with many hundreds of competitors. We are delighted that Abi Luff of Rosebery School the winner of our local club heat as detailed below won second prize and will now go forward to the Regional Final, which takes place on Saturday the 23rd March. Abi will be competing against winners from Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Our President Tony said "We are delighted for Abi and her attention to detail and hard work really paid off. Our thanks go to the organisers at Rotary, the judges and particularly Mrs Hanly the Head of Design Technology at Rosebery School for all her help and support in this competition. Good luck Abi for the Regional Final!". The pictures above top left show Abi ready to start cooking at the District Final and on the right being presented with her prize and certificate by Robert Wilson, our Rotary District New Generations Chair and with a picture of Abi’s presentation table beneath.

On Thursday the 31st January President Tony and Past President Bob Frisby were pleased to attend the NESCOT Higher Education awards 2013 Ceremony at Epsom Downs on behalf of our club, where students received their certificates, degrees and awards for the last academic year. The ceremony was a wonderful advert for the achievement of the students and our club is proud to be associated with the awards. We thank NESCOT and their organising team for all the hard work they do.

This year the Raj Amodia Trophy and Prize sponsored our club was presented to Dean Walker and below we set out in Dean's own words his thoughts and experiences.

"Firstly can I say that it is a real honour to win the award and have my name on that trophy, it really was a great day for me and my family. The course that I took was the AAT level 4 Diploma in Accounting which entailed mostly accountancy, but also some business techniques and lasted for 3 years and got progressively tougher and more demanding each year.

Having asked my tutor why she chose me for this award, she said it was a great achievement to pass the course whilst working in a completely different industry- I was green keeping at Sandown golf Course for the whole time I was studying at Nescot, having to get up at 5am and then studying till 9 at night. The course was all exam based with one written assignment, I managed to pass all exams first time, which she was also very impressed by. My attitude to the course changed significantly from level 3 to level 4, the realisation that this was going to be my life drove me to getting my head down and putting every ounce of effort I had.

Lastly I want to say how great doing a course at Nescot has been for my life. I have landed a great job here at Slitherine doing something I love, I cannot thank Nescot and especially my tutors, Kay Pinnock and Jay Kallee enough."

Well done to Dean, the NESCOT staff and to all the students. The photos above right show Dean receiving the Trophy at the ceremony from Guest of Honour Theo Paphitis and left with the Trophy.

On Wednesday the 30th January our club was delighted to sponsor for the first time a club heat of the Rotary "Young Musician" competition, which was kindly hosted by by Epsom College. We were also very pleased that the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell, Councillor Christine Long, was able to join us and present the prizes.

The Young Musician competition is open to young people aged under 18 and provides a stage for musical talent to shine. Our club heat winners will progress to our District Final, with the winners progressing to a Regional Final and then on to a National Final, to win the title of RIBI Young Musician of the Year.

The competition is in two categories - Instrumental and Vocal. Epsom College put forward five entries in each category - Priscilla Kweon (M4), Juyeon Oh, Rachel Ku and Will Goddard (U4) and Bryan Lao (5th form) in the Instrumental category and Ben Marrow (5th form) Jake McGrath, Henry Warne and Izi Thomas (L6th) and Tom Williamson (U6th) in the Vocal category.

The musicians performed extremely well, with Will Goddard winning the Instrumental category playing the second movement of the Sonatina by Lennox Berkeley and Pan and the Shepherds by Jules Mouquet. Jake McGrath won the Vocal category singing Du bist die Ruh by Schubert and The Vagabond by Vaughan Williams. Bryan Lao was runner up in the Instrumental category and Ben Marrow in the Vocal category.

Many thanks to all the competitors and Epsom College for making the evening such a wonderful event and in particular a very big thank you to Epsom College Director of Music Graeme Lodge for all his help and support. Our club hopes that this will be the first of many music competitions. The pictures above top shows all the competitors with the Mayor and the photos below show Will on the left and Jake on the right, receiving their prizes.

On the 28th January our local Epsom club heat of "Rotary Young Chef 2013" took place at Rosebery School, with the support of Mrs Jan Hanly and Mrs Jayne Glister, heads of Food Technology at Rosebery and Blenheim High School. 5 competitors, 3 from Rosebery and 2 from Blenheim prepared a healthy meal for 2 people costing no more than £15. The competitors had a setting up time of 30 minutes and cooking time of 2 hours and each produced detailed working sheets and a list of ingredients and costings for our judges Joyce Mooney, head chef and a proprietor of the Canopy Restaurant in central Epsom and Alberto Crisci the founder and a trustee of "The Clink" Restaurant at HMP Highdown. As with previous years standards were exceptionally high and all the competitors put in a tremendous amount of work and preparation for the event. The winner who will go forward to the District final to be held at Oasis Academy, Coulsdon, Surrey, on the 16th February was Abi Luff of Rosebery, whose menu comprised Bean and Tomato Soup, followed by Tuna Pilau and Mange Tout and Lemon and Sultana Baked Cheesecake. Abi received a £40 voucher to spend at Lakeland. Second prize of a £30 voucher went to Pippa Turpin of Rosebery, with Matt Wall of Blenheim High taking the third prize of a £20 voucher. Our 2 runners up all received vouchers for £15. The photos above top left show all 5 competitors, with the judges and teachers. The photo top right shows Abi with the winners Cup kindly donated by Eligo and her prize. The photos above bottom left and right show Pippa, left photo and Matt right with their prizes and certificates. Our President Tony on behalf of our club thanked our judges, Jan and Jayne for all their help ad suport and our competitors for a fantastic competition.

On the 17th January we were delighted to welcome Richard Hillier the headmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin School and Charlotte one of the school's pupils. Richard gave a very interesting talk about the history of the school, during which Charlotte played 2 pieces exquisitely. Also at this meeting Tony was delighted to induct Rob Steele as an Honorary Member of our club. Rob has been a stalwart of Epsom Rotaract for many years and has supported and led many Rotary Projects and we very much look forward to continuing to work with Rob and Epsom Rotaract on Rotary projects and initiatives in the future. The photo above left shows Charlotte, our President Tony and Richard and on the right shows Rob receiving his Rotary Pin and Badge from Tony.

On the 14th January in conjunction with Ewell and Banstead Rotary clubs, our club organised a local club heat of the Rotary "Youth Speaks" national public speaking competition. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, the competition was held at the Council Chamber at the town hall with the Mayor, Councillor Christine Long attending. Before an audience of teachers, parents and guests the standard of speaking in all teams on topics of the student’s choosing was extremely high, showing young people at their very best. We had a great time and the Presidents of all 3 clubs in the photo above left were on hand to present certificates, cups and prizes. Our 3 independent judges had the most difficult job on the night, in selecting the winners. Our thanks go to our judges and to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council for all their help and support in organising event and making it such a success. The winning teams on the night in the Senior category in the photo above right was last year's winners Blenheim High School, with Joe McManus in the Chair, Mahmoud Mahmoud Speaker and Chloe Wall proposer. In the Intermediate category Aberdour were the winning team, with Emma Piggot in the Chair, Lia Hutchinson Speaker and Amy Taylor Proposer. The winning teams will go forward to the District Final of the competition on the 5th March next at Oasis Academy Coulsdon. The photo below shows all the teams with our Mayor.

At our club meeting on the 10th January, President Tony had the pleasure of inducting Richard Deavin as a new club member. Richard who has considerable knowledge of international matters from his experience of having worked abroad for a considerable period of time, will be a tremendous help to our International Committee. In addition to the usual club materials and Rotary pins, Tony also presented to Richard a club fleece, as is usual. In addition Tony also presented to Paul Hart his club fleece that went AWAL, when Paul was inducted recently. The picture above left shows Richard being inducted and right Paul accepting his fleece. We very much look forward to working with both Richard and Paul in the future.

At our club meeting on the 3rd January we started the year with a presentation by Jonathan Lees and Keri Marshall, two of the lead organisers of Epsom and Ewell Foodbank on the fantastic work being done by the charity in our locality. Starting in October of last year the Foodbank has grown with the help of our local supermarkets and the great generosity of our community, donating both food, time and resources to support this great project. Jonathan and Keri spelt out the need in our community and the work that is being done to meet it. We also presented a cheque for £670 in respect of the sum we recently raised at our quiz in support of the Foodbank and our members will be looking at further opportunities to support the project over the coming year and in the future. The photo above shows Clive Smitheram (right) our Chair of Community Service and one of the organisers of our quiz, presenting the cheque to Jonathan. A very big thank you also to Andy and Barbs, who set the quiz questions and also led the organisation of the event. For more information about the Foodbank and how you can get involved, please click this link

Our Christmas collections which took place throughout December 2012 in aid of local charities and good causes raised over £3, 400 with members of Epsom Rotaract and our supporters helping to collect. Many thanks to all Epsom residents for their fantastic generosity and to the Ashley Centre and Sainsburys for the kind provision of some of our collection locations and to our local schools and teachers for providing some fantastic school choirs to support us. A big thank you also to Don for organising the collections, to Epsom Coaches for servicing Tilly the Train that accompanies us on our road collections, to Terry for all the hard work in organising and preparing Tilly and towing it on our street collections and to Santa and his helper (as shown in the picture above), who attended all of these! Our Community service page gives details of just some of the local charities and good causes that we support.

Over the holidays we also treated members of Epsom Young Carers to the pantomime at Epsom Playhouse, followed by lunch at Macdonalds. This was a great event and many thanks to our members Bob and Vernon for making all the arrangements.

During December, as we have done for many years and with the assistance and support of Waitrose Epsom we collected 7 car loads of food donated by their shoppers for the Pitstop Day Centre Leatherhead. A very big thank you to Waitrose Epsom and their shoppers for their fantastic generosity. Many thanks also to our members Owen and Chris for organising the collection and for delivering the food to Pitstop.

On Saturday the 1st December, we were delighted to host a quiz with the net proceeds of £670 going to support the new Epsom and Ewell Foodbank. Many thanks to our local Rotary Clubs and Rotaract Club and to the Foodbank helpers for supporting this event and a great big thank you to Barbara and Andy for organising the evening and setting the questions and to Clive for setting up the room. For information as to how you can help the Epsom and Ewell Foodbank and get involved please click this link.

On Saturday the 24th November, our projects group comprising members of our club, Epsom Rotaract and supporters undertook a morning of leaf clearing and maintenance work at the garden at Seeability. We plan to return next April to do some planting. The garden is great for residents and their families to enjoy. A big thank you to Julie, Rob and Jan, who supplied many of the the tools we needed.Please click this link for the Seeability web site for more information about the fantastic work they do.

At our club meeting on the 22nd November we were given a presentation by The Beat Project, which is an award winning charity specialising in the development of creative and sustainable initiatives for young people and communities. We heard about the great work being done in our area and discussed ways in which members of our club can help and get involved. Please click this link for their web site for more information and details. The picture above shows left to right, Steve Carley CEO of the Beat Project, Carol Caiger our President Elect, Tony Axelrod our President, Lousie Basso of the Beat Project and Clive Smitheram, who will follow Carol as our club President.

On Sunday 11th November President Tony on behalf of our club attended the Service of Remembrance at St Mary's Parish Church Ewell. Tony and Peter Heard, the President of Ewell Rotary Club together laid wreaths at the memorial and
with representatives of Surrey Police, the armed forces and other local groups and clubs were led in procession by the Mayor of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell Christine Long. The photo above shows Tony on the right, with Peter on the left with their club wreaths before the cermony.

At our club meeting on Thursday 8th November President Tony on behalf of our club was delighted to Induct Paul Hart as a new club member. Paul has already been a great support to us on projects, particulaly the Borough Fun Day. Paul said that he was very much looking forward to getting involved in voluntary projects with our club and we look forward to working with Paul.

On Sunday 3rd November a rock band made a special visit to The Children’s Trust, Tadworth to entertain children, families and staff to an afternoon of rock music. Firestone Rock Band as above performed many favourite songs to an audience of over 80 children and adults and with some of our members in attendance to help. As part of Rotary Kids Out to provide a day of fun for children with disabilities, our club has given financial support over many years for a day of special entertainment at the Trust.

Rosemarie Glithero, Leisure & Activities Co-ordinator at The Children’s Trust, said: “The children thoroughly enjoyed the band’s rock performance. We are extremely grateful to Epsom Rotary for their continued support over many years and for organising these special annual events. We would like to thank everyone involved.” A special thanks also to our club member Vernon, who organised the afternoon.

The Children’s Trust is a national charity that provides care, therapy and education to children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs, and rehabilitation to children with an acquired brain injury. Please click this link for their web site and for information on the fantastic work the Trust does.

On Thursday the 1st November we had a club visit to the Clink at HMP Highdown. As you probably know the aim of The Clink Charity is to reduce re-offending rates of ex-offenders by training and placing graduates upon their release into the hospitality industry. We had a great afternoon with over 40 members and guests enjoying a superb lunch and saw at first hand the hard work being done. The Clink project is rightly expanding and for further information as to how you can support this initiative please click this link

On Saturday the 27th October our projects group comprising members of our club, Epsom Rotaract and supporters undertook a morning of maintenance work at St Ebbas Hospital Wildlife Garden. The main task was clearing brambles that had regrown since we last attended, clearing all the pathways and removing overgrown weeds. We cleared a vast amount leaving the garden in a good state for wildlife to continue to thrive. We plan to return next June to keep on top of things and in the meantime the garden is a fantastic place for wildlife and for patients and their families to enjoy. The photo above right to left, shows our club member Julie with Epsom Rotaract member Rob and our supporter Lesley, all having a very well earned break. A big thank you to Julie, who has planned the maintenance and liased with St Ebbas and supplied the tools we needed.

Over the weekend of the 19th to 21st October 19 of our members and partners attended our Rotary District Conference in Bristol. We all met on the Friday evening for dinner and enjoyed Saturday hearing the various speakers, with some of us taking a city bus tour in the afternoon. That evening we enjoyed our President's reception, followed by a dinner and dance. On the Sunday we again heard some inspiring presentations followed by the Parade of Club Presidents, when we supported Tony by making as much noise as possible as tradition dictates. Many thanks to Terry for all the great organisation of the event. The pictures above left show our group making a noise at the Parade and above right show President Tony, with President Dave White of Fleet Rotary and Peter Heard of Ewell club, whose members also attended their club dinners at the same restaurant on the Friday. More pictures taken at the weekend can be accessed from this link.

On Saturday the 6th October our members went on a tour of Buckingham Palace. We had a great time and were lucky enough to see the royal jewells display. We had a sunny day for the trip and the Palace looked magnificent. The photo above shows some of our party at the top of the steps leading to the gardens and more pictures of the carriages and horses in the royal mews can be accessed from this link. A very big thank you to Bhusan, who organised the trip for us and worked so hard to make this another very enjoyable event for the club and we much look forward to the next one.

On Tuesday the 2nd October our President Tony had the honour of presenting our Rotary Club's sponsored award for outstanding service to sport in the Borough at the Borough Sports Awards, held at Epsom Downs Racecourse. There were 3 very worthy nominees for the award and the decision was very close, but the winner was Stan Somerford for his services to cricket. Stan's citation was as follows:

Stan has been the mainstay for Epsom Cricket Club for more than 20 years having undertaken a range of roles and duties over this period. He has been instrumental in building up the Colts section from virtually nothing to a club membership of 250+ children including boys and girls. Many of the senior players at Epsom Cricket Club came through the colts sections and were coached by Stan and his team. Thousands of children have benefitted from Stan’s dedication to cricket and Epsom Cricket Club. The club and cricket in the Borough would not be thriving without Stan’s hard work and devotion over the last 20+ years.

The pictures above show Tony speaking about the work of our club and presenting Stan with his award. Many congratulations Stan!

On Saturday the 29th September our club and Ewell Rotary Club jointly organised a celebration of Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s 75th birthday with a Family Fun Day at Hook Road Arena, with around 6000 local residents and children attending. The picture below left shows the Mayor of our Borough Christine Long, who opened the day and to the right members of the parachute team descending.

75 stalls representing many local charities and fledgling businesses raised funds and awareness and ran games for children. A main arena provided attractions throughout the afternoon, with displays of dance from Phillomena School, martial arts from Great Britain Martial Arts Academy, training by Surrey Police and riding from Riding for the Disabled Association. One of the main attractions was a parachute decent by a team of 4 from the Pegasus Parachute Display Team onto a cross in the centre of the arena. A dog show arena also attracted the crowds, topped off with a fun fair. Good weather ensured an enjoyable family day. The pictures below show members of the Pegasus Parachute Display team landing and taking the appluase of the crowd.

The event was just what our clubs hoped for, a day of celebration for the community and particularly for families. It was great that we had so many local charities represented, raising funds and awareness for their deserving causes and we also wanted to support small local businesses. There are many people to thank without whose help and support the event couldn’t have happened, particularly our sponsors the Ashley Centre, RAC Club, Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom Coaches, Toyota and GLL/Better, our pitch and table holders, our programme advertisers, our Rotary club members. Epsom Rotaract members, our supporters and not least the residents of Epsom and Ewell who attended and supported the day.

We would also make special mention of the local scout groups and leaders and the Rangers Department of the Council for their fantastic help and support and to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council for going along with the idea. It was truly a community event, with money raised by the vast majority of stalls going to charity. Tony and Peter the Presidents of the clubs would also like to thank Duncan Cox from Ewell club, who has also worked tirelessly to organise the day, from a vision that he and Tony had. The pictures above show the Surrey Police display team in action on the left and on the right Tony and Duncan with an Olympic Torch in support of the Rotary District wheelchair appeal. A slide show containg many more pictures can be accessed from this link.

On Sunday the 9th September our President Tony organised a trip of 45 of our members and guests to the Artist Rifles Clubhouse at Bisley, where two groups of our members and guests shot clays on the Commonwealth Games Ground and we were treated to a talk about the history of the Artists Rifles Regiment. We then had a great lunch and the good weather helped to make it a lovely day. The photos above shows some of our members shooting and relaxing and a slide show can be accessed from this link.

At our club meeting on 6th September we were pleased to welcome Peter Johnston of Breast Cancer Campaign, who we and Rotary support, to give a talk about the fantastic work that this Charity does, particulaly relating to the new Tissue Bank. More details can be obtained as to how you can be part of the cure from their web site, by clicking this link.

The photo above left shows Peter addressing us and the photo on the right shows President Tony exchanging club banners with Tillman Sachs, the President of Kensington Rotary Club who also attended the meeting as our guest and who gave us a run down on his club and the projects they are involved with.

On Sunday 2nd September members of our club joined with members of Ewell and Banstead Rotary Club at a barbecue hosted by Ewell Club at the Riding Association for the Disabled Epsom. As in previous years Ewell Rotary Club put on a fantastic spread and we all had a great time.

At our club meeting on 23rd August the Club Bowls Trophy was presented to Mike Waddilove, who won a hard fought contest for the honour at our club competition that took place on the 20th August. The picture above shows Mike receiving the Trophy from our President Tony.

At our club meeting on 16th August President Tony had the pleasure of presenting to Past President Don Ormiston a Paul Harris Fellowship, in recognition of Don's great contribution to Rotary and our club over the years and particularly during his recent tenure of 5 years as club secretary and his continued support as assistant secretary. Don also administers our club Christmas collections. The photo above left shows Tony presenting the Paul Harris Fellowship to Don and to the right shows Tony presenting to Don the Citation at our club meeting on the 23rd August.

On Saturday 11th August We were delighted to unveil a plaque (see above) to record the refurbishment project successfully completed on the 12th May last at the Pitstop Centre Leatherhead by the Rotary Community Projects Group and Supporters. Please see below for a report dated 12th May relating to this project.

On Thursday 19th July We were delighted to welcome Rosemary Attridge to our evening meeting at Bourne Hall to talk about the work of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), our President Tony's charity for this year. Rosemary spoke with particular reference to the use of ECG machines in their work, a machine which we hope to purchase jointly with Ewell Rotary Club. Please click this link for CRY's web site and for information on the work they do. Tony also had the pleasure of inducting Chris Shortt into Rotary as a member of our club. We welcome Chris and very much look forward to his input into our projects and activities. The photo above shows Tony welcoming Chris as a new member.

On Thursday 12th July We were delighted to welcome Tom Rhind-Tutt the Chairman and founder of the Sunnybank Trust and Juliet Newton-Smith their Funding Development Manager. Tom who was recently made an MBE, gave us a talk about the fantastic work undertaken by the Trust, providing services and activities for people with learning disabilities and how the organisation came about. The photo above shows Tom and Juliet and for more information about Sunnybank Trust please click this link for their web site.

On Thursday 12th July President Tony had the pleasure of presenting to Terry Maggs and Mike Waddilove their individual cups and shield for winning the Rotary District badminton competition for last Rotary year. Well done Terry and Mike, who also were runners up in the District snooker competition. The picture above shows Mike on the left and Terry on the right, with their cups and shield.

On Thursday 28th June we held our club induction meeting at Bourne Hall, Ewell. Colin our President had the pleasant task of presenting to our Honorary Secretary Terry Maggs a Gavel, in thanks and recognition on behalf of all our club of his many years service in that post. The picture bottom left shows Colin making the presentation to Terry.

We then moved on to the Induction of our President for the Rotary year 2012/13 and Colin had the pleasure of inducting Tony as our club's 89th President. Tony then inducted the new team of Carol Caiger as President Elect, Clive Smitheram as Vice President, Terry Maggs as Secretary, Don Ormiston as Assistant Secretary and Richard Harris as Treasurer. Tony then had the greatest of pleasure of inducting Helena Markan as President of Epsom Rotaract Club for the year 2012/2013. Helena leads a fantastic Rotaract club who have had a great year under the leadership of Holly Matthews, with their own projects and fund raising and have supported both our Rotary club and many of our local Rotary clubs in projects and events.

The photos above top left show Tony being inducted as President, top right Tony inducting Carol as President Elect, bottom left inducting Clive as Vice President and bottom right inducting Helena.

Tony then had the honour of presenting to Owen Rowe a Certificate and Citation issued by Rotary International in Britain and Ireland, acknowledging Owen's 50 years service in Rotary, as shown in the picture bottom right. Finally Tony presented gifts of flowers to Sue Hockin, whose husband Derek gave a speech congratulating Tony and to Nina and Maureen, who together organise the regular club members ladies lunch meetings.

A set of photos taken by our club supporter Mike Hume containing all the presentations and more can be seen in the slide show accessed from this link.

On the 27th June our President Tony and his wife represented our club at the Induction of Corry as the President of Chantilly Rotary club and the picture above left shows Corry with her husband Christian and above right shows the new Rotary Inner Wheel team of Chantilly.



On Sunday 24th June Our club helped as we have done for many years at Race for Life on Epsom Downs, in support of Cancer Research UK.  As with previous years, thousands of ladies, children and this year even a pantomime horse ran the 5km circuit to support the charity and we helped to start the race and at the finish line. The pictures above show the runners lining up at the start of the race.  For more information about Race for Life and to make a donation, their web site can be accessed from this link.

On Saturday 23rd June Members of our club helped with marshalling at the parade in Epsom town centre to mark the 75th anniversary of the Borough and the raising of a flag to mark Armed Forces Day on the 30th June.  The parade was led by the Royal Artillery Band, followed by the Independent Geographic Royal Engineers (V) squadron Ewell, cadets, the TA and vehicles from the Royal Automobile Club. Many residents and shoppers watched the event and listened to the speeches and prayers. The pictures above were taken by our members helping at this very memorable event and below we have a video of the parade, leaving the market square to make its way to Rosebery Park

On Saturday 26th May Members of our club attended Ewell Rotary Club's President's Jubilee Dinner Dance at Effingham Golf Club. Everyone wore red, white and blue for the occassion and we all had a great time. Many thanks to Ewell Rotary Club and their President John for putting on this event. The photo above shows our club President Colin enjoying the occassion and dancing with the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell Chris Long, who was a guest at the event.

On 28th May at our weekly club meeting Epsom Coaches joined Epsom Rotary Club as its first corporate member, continuing a long standing relationship between the two organisations. Roy Richmond MBE, the previous chairman of the Company was a former president of the Club and the Company has supported Rotary for many years.

Managing Director Steve Whiteway says, 'We are delighted to become a corporate member of Epsom Rotary Club and continue to be involved with its activities. I'm sure that the relationship will be of benefit to both organisations.'

Epsom Rotary Club has pioneered corporate membership in the UK as Epsom Coaches are believed to be the first company to become a corporate member of Rotary in the whole of the country.

the photos above top row show Steve Whiteway and fellow executives being inducted by our President Colin and bottom row shows the induction party, with our secretary Terry Maggs, Clare Dann PA to Steve Whiteway and Mrs Nancy Richmond.

On Friday 25th May Our International Committee organised an evening of Bingo and Magic. Those attending helped our magician Theo with various magic tricks. The photos above show our President Colin with Theo and a number of our members and Epsom Rotaractors sort of attempting to spin plates! Many thanks to John Goddard and his team on International for organising the event and to Harry for the fantastic bingo calling.

On Sunday 20th May We are delighted to report that the Meadway/Ridgeway and West Hill Avenue "Open Gardens" event, partly sponsored by our club, raised a fantastic £3,718.08 for the Princess Alice Hospice. The pictures above show but a sample of the attractions and supprters of the event.

On Saturday 19th May 2 teams from Epsom College, sponsored by our club entered the Rotary District Technology Tournament held at Warlingham School Croydon. The teams had to construct a coin sorter machine capable of sorting 21 5p, 10p and 20p coins entered at random, using 4 lenghths of timber, some dowling, 8 rubber bands, some modelling material, garden wire, thick card, paper and sticky back plastic. 7 teams took part and Epsom College's were among the youngest in age group and they ran the winners a very close race and in fact one of their teams sorted all 21 coins in the quickest time. The photos above left show the teams with their certificates and below is a video showing the teams testing their machines for the judges. A selection of photos taken at the event can be seen in the slide show accessed from this link.

We had a very good 2011/12 Rotary sports year the highlights being:-

Darts: Both teams progressed past the 1st round, 1 team was put out in the second round but the other got a bye and eventually lost out in third round. A good result for us!

Cribbage: Both teams also got through the first round, but 1 lost in the second round. The other team got through to a 3 way Final (John/Mike) where although they beat one of the opposing teams 2 - 1, they unfortunately lost 2 - 0 to the other. This placed them 3rd in the competition,

Snooker: Our crack team of Terry and Mike got through to Semi Final, where they met their old adversaries from Twickenham Rotary. They lost this time.

Badminton: We had 2 teams, 1 was out in the first round, but other (Terry/Mike) went on to win the competition!

Ten Pin Bowling: We entered 2 teams into the Ten Pin Bowling, Team A (Mike/Sean/Ian & Anthony R’tact), scored 943. Team B (Tony/Andy/Dave & Richard), scored 934. It would be expected that both teams have amassed sufficient points to reach the Final, where although they may not win the competition, there should be some in house rivalry.

The Internal Club match of Bowls was won by our Treasurer for the 1st time, having been close to winning on a number of previous occasions.

Well done everyone!

On Saturday 12th May our Community Projects Team comprising members of our club, Ewell Rotary, Leatherhead Rotary, Epsom Rotaract and our supporters, completed our major decorating and maintenance project at Pitstop Day Drop in Centre Leatherhead. Many thanks to everyone who took part in the project and we received the thank you message below from Pitstop.

"We would all like to say a massive thank you for all the work that you all put in at Pitstop. What an amazing transformation that you have managed to do for us.

Without people like you all, we wouldn’t be able to get these rooms painted , the floors done and everything else that you have all done for us."

We are now working on the next project, which will probably start after the summer holidays. For more information about Pitstop, their web site can be accessed from this link.

On the evening of Wednesday 9th May members of our club visited our contact Rotary Club in Chantilly France. We had a wonderful evening and met the winners of their schools english competition and we hope to hold a schools french speaking competition in Epsom next year, at which members of Chantilly Rotary Club will be invited to act as judges. The pictures abve top left show the Presidents Elect of our two clubs Corry and Tony and the remaining photos show members of our two clubs together, enjoying the evening.

On Saturday 5th May We visited BBC Television Centre for a tour, which took in the news room, the weather studio, one of the make up areas and we made our own version of The Weakest Link and the News. The photo above left shows President Colin pointing to the rain on Portsmouth and on the right shows with the power of TV special effects the head of our Secretary Terry, giving a weather forecast with Caroline. A selection of photos taken on the tour can be seen in the slide show accessed from this link. Below left you can see our version of The Weakest Link and on the right the news! We all had a great time and many thanks to Bhusan for organising the trip for us and we very much look forward to the next one.

Over the weekend of the 13th to 15th April President Colin and President Elect Tony, attended the 2012 RIBI conference in Bournemouth. We heard some very moving and inspirational speakers, who included the Rotary International President and Sir Terry Wogan. Linda Nolan addressed us on behalf on the Breast Cancer Campaign, with particular reference to their cutting edge research and Tissue Bank. For more information, please click this link for their web site.

The conference included the Rotary Young Citizen Awards for 2012 which was broadcast live by BBC News. The winners were young people from all walks of life, who were truly an inspiration to us all. You can watch these awards and those presented by Rotary in previous years, if you have BBC Iplayer installed on your computer by clicking this link.

You can support our club by doing your on line shopping via Easyfundraising. Simply click on this link and sign up, selecting the "Rotary Club of Epsom" as your cause. You can do your on line shopping via Easyfundraising with many supported on line shops and services and at the same time making a contribution to our club.

Rotary Club of Epsom Trust Fund is a Registered Charity number 272913. We welcome donations to the Fund to support the general charitable purposes of our club. Under "Gift Aid" we can reclaim any paid income tax on a gift to the Fund, if we receive a completed appropriate form, which we can supply. A legacy to the Fund under a will is given free of Inheritance Tax.

                    THE STEPHEN WOODS CENTRE RECEIVED A MAKEOVER

Friends and members of the Rotary Clubs of Ewell and Epsom and members of Epsom Rotaract Club got together to re-decorate the Stephen Woods Centre in Blenheim Road, Epsom. The centre provides a much needed and appreciated youth club for local children aged from 8 to 13 and is also hired out for other functions. It has three rooms of 27, 54 and 112 square metres respectively and a reception/café area. It was last decorated ten years ago and was looking the worse for wear.

The programme got off to a flying start on November 2010 when 19 members of the combined group set to and completed the base coat of white paint on all the walls and ceilings of the largest room and corridor. The second action day took place in January 2011, when a 17 strong team completed the remaining walls and the ceilings received their first coat of paint and work started on the woodwork and interior design features.

The third day took place in February and further work days in March and April has seen the centre transformed with the complete application of a simple yet sophisticated design on the walls to give each room a unique identity and the whole centre a bright and contemporary feel.

The project has now been completed and on Saturday the 14th May the Centre was re-opened by the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell, Clive Smitheram. The pictures immediately below were taken at the re-opening and from left to right show the Mayor with project members, with John Davis the President Elect of Ewell Rotary Club who led the project and Harry Corben of Epsom Rotary Club. There then follows pictures taken during the various work days, with a video containing an unofficial re-opening and a chronology of the project.

Before

After



If you would like to help in this or any of our projects please call Tony Axelrod or Email our club as above.

Our club supports the Children's Safety Education Foundation. A copy of our Certificate of Appreciation can be downloaded via this link and the Foundation's web site can be accessed via this link.

Epsom Rotary Club and its affiliated Rotaract Club are keen for other hands-on local projects. Anyone wanting more details should contact Tony by phone or text on 07986 947974.

Many thanks for looking us up and for your interest in Epsom Rotary.