Club Chronicle

20 August 2026: Fellowship Meeting

We held today’s Fellowship Meeting at the Running Mare, our first visit there since it became part of a chain of Italian restaurants.

Sixteen of us took part, including President Anne’s husband Steve and John Knott, marking his return to Club meetings after a prolonged absence caused by medical problems. It sounds as though those problems have now been resolved, so hopefully we will again see him regularly.

We had a long table with seating for the fifteen we expected. One member arrived late because he originally went to the Fox and Raven by mistake. He was thinking of returning home to check his emails when he remembered where he was supposed to be. The staff explained that they couldn’t add another table of a lack of room. A few of us shuffled up so he could sit at the end.

The staff took our orders when we were sitting at the table. Most of us went for the two-course lunch menu. The food was every good.

The parking spaces must have been marked out when cars were smaller. When we left one member had to manoeuvre several times to get out of his. If there had been anyone parked in the space on the other side of the drive he wouldn’t have managed it.

Rotary Young Musician District Final

Report by Anne Moriaty

The District Final took place in Brentwood Cathedral on Saturday 28 February in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Smita Rajesh, and her consort.

The audience were treated to a lovely concert with high standard performances from five vocalists and six instrumentalists. Sadly there could only be two winners going through to the Regional Final and after lengthy deliberations the accolades went to pianist Tailin Liu sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bishops Stortford and vocalist Harry Sunderland sponsored by the Rotary Club of Dunmow.

Our Chelmsford winners, Henrietta Lawrence and Chloe Mahler were worthy runners-up.

I had the honour of giving out the certificates and the Deputy Mayoress presented the winner and runner-up trophies.

Collection for Marie Curie

On 25 February 2026 President Graham, Francis Whitbread, Keith Dabbs, Anne Moriety and Steve, worked as a team at Morrisons Supermarket to collect monies on behalf of the Marie Curie charity. We collected a handsome sum, of which £80 was collected via card payment through the “SumUp” device. We enjoyed the day and special thanks to Francis who made the arrangements and remained all day throughout others’ slots. A photo opportunity could not go amiss.