In 2022 we celebrated 55 years of serving the community.

Formed in 1967, Newport Uskmouth Rotary has been a significant and proud part of the city’s volunteer sector for over fifty years, and are regarded as one of the most active and progressive Rotary groups in Southern Wales.

We have evolved from a traditional, rigid, men-only club meeting weekly, to a modern group of men and women with a choice of regular meeting options which are principally social and networking opportunities. The community projects, our raisons d'être, are planned and executed by members at a time and in a style that best fits in with the team’s family and work, and also suits the project.

Sheltered shopping for pensioners before Christmas, and trips to the pantomime for disadvantaged children are examples of our community work of the past. Times have moved on and we continue to work hard, but differently.

The Covid19 pandemic has identified issues with young people learning from home and the lack of suitable devices for linking to a school’s teaching system. From this has been created Newport Uskmouth’s ‘Laptops 4 Home Learning’, a project where old, unwanted laptops are donated, upgraded, and distributed to eligible secondary school students in Newport. This project is being replicated across Southern Wales to the benefit of young people. (See more in ‘What we do’.

Caring for Young Carers started out as our own local project. Pioneered by one of our members, it is aimed at providing young carers in Newport with the opportunity to take time off from their ‘duties’ at home and enjoy a little free time experiencing new activities and meeting new friends. It quickly grew, with other Rotary groups across the UK, and as far afield as Australia, setting up similar projects. The concept was taken to the Welsh Assembly and young carers are now ‘cared for’ by local authorities, by law.

NURD (Newport Uskmouth Rotary Draw) is the city-wide community raffle which enables over forty Newport community organisations to raise up to a combined £20,000 each year. Covid19 caused some disruption to the programme in 2020 and 2021, but the actual draw went ahead – online. NURD 2022 was drawn at the mayor's parlour on 25th May. NURD23 tickets are on sale now.

Other local ventures we have been involved with include Rotary Welsh Disabled Sports; ‘KidsOut’ at Barry Island, with over 400 children taken to the seaside (www.kidsout.org.uk ); Sponsorship of young people to spend a week in the Brecon Beacons on the Rotary Youth Leadership scheme (RYLA) (www.ryla.org); Sponsorship of young people to attend youth camps across the globe (www.youthexchange.org.uk).

Internationally, we have supported several projects to benefit and improve people’s lives across the globe. Funding the construction of schools in Bolivia, and Nepal; Backing the drilling of boreholes for fresh water in Bolivia; Financing many small entrepreneurs in Africa and India through ‘micro loans’, are a few examples. We now are considering linking with other Rotary groups to fund the construction of a sand dam (https://www.excellentdevelopment.com/working-together-with-rotary).

If you are interested in finding out more of what we do, please contact us. We can arrange to meet up for a coffee somewhere.