Club Chronicle

6 August 2026: Business meeting

We were on Zoom again this month for our Business Meeting. There were 13 online, including one married couple sharing a link and former member Indu Tiwari. We keep trying to persuade him to rejoin.

The members approved the minutes of the previous Business Meeting. In presenting his report our Treasurer, Bob Booker, reminded members that the donation to “The Brightlingsea School” was to a school in Africa established and supported by Porridge & Pens. President Anne reported that the next District Forum is to be held at the County Hotel on 5 September.

The price of the tickets for the raffle held at our physical meetings has been £1 since 1966. The members approved an increase to £2.

Those involved agreed that the Summer Party for Senior Citizens had gone well, although there were still sandwiches left at the end. There were 20 guests. It was suggested that in future we borrow Mencap’s minibus, which takes 16, to ferry guests to the party. This will be looked at next year.

Peter Kemp reported that the suppliers were to deliver the George Harris Memorial Bench to Farleigh Hospice in about a week. A plaque has been ordered and some members might like to attend a dedication. Angela Dickman suggested that some purple crocus corms be planted around it if the space was suitable.

The August Fellowship Meeting is to be held at the Running Mare in Galleywood. President Anne suggested some other venues for the rest of the calendar year, including a possible participation in a Mencap lunch in November. She suggested that each member attend a least one other Chelmsford Rotary Club during the Scatter Week in September.

A banner publicising the forthcominge centenary of Rotary in Chelmsford has been ordered. Warwick Aldham is preparing other publicity and suggested that, to mark the occasion, we produce a book on the history of Rotary in Chelmsford. He will conduct some research at the Essex Record Office; Keith Dabbs might have a suitable contact there. Indu agreed to find information on our Sierra Leone project which he and the late Chuda Karki were involved in. We could use a future Fellowship Meeting to brainstorm other ideas.

A charity has asked the Club to support it in the acquisition of a minibus. However, the same approach has been made to a number of other organisations.

Last year we donated £250 to RGBI’s Toy Box appeal. Next month we will consider making a donation this year.

Francis Whitbread will contact Janice Goodman to see whether she is prepared to take the lead in producing a Club Christmas Tree as part of the annual Writtle competition. Angela suggested we use the Centenary of Rotary in Chelmsford as a theme.

President Anne expressed concern about the amount of work Francis does of the Club as our Secretary, particularly as he no longer lives in Essex and spends part of the year in Spain. He has given her a list of his tasks, which covers two A4 pages. Consideration will be given to other members taking over some of these tasks.

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.