I am very proud and honoured to become President of my home town’s Rotary Club Skipton Craven Rotary Club   for 2017-2018.

I was born in Skipton and went to Ings School and Ermysted’s School and I spent 40 years working at Skipton Building Society so I have Skipton in my veins and want to see our area successful and giving all people a place to shine.

But who are we?

Skipton Craven Rotary are a group of (currently) 33 like-minded people from all walks of life  who essentially want to help charities and organisations both locally and further afield whilst at the same time having fun and developing friendships whilst doing so . It might be fund raising activity but often it can be by volunteering to provide help at events organised by other groups.

I have been a member of our club since 2004 and have enjoyed every minute of it.

I believe that the “Rotary Brand” is well respected in our locality for the work that we do in raising funds for a whole host of causes local, national and international, but my greatest sense of pride and achievement is that we contribute to the fabric of our community with the events and charity fundraisers we are involved with.

The Christmas period each year highlights how we as a local organisation put the Festive Fun into our district.

Last year our iconic Santa Fun Run raised over £30000 for charities. 1200 people of all ages from six to over 75 had great fun dressing in red suits and beards and covering three miles around Skipton.  This year on Sunday 26th November we will do it again and hope for even more Santas. The event goes from strength to strength and is now truly established as the starting point for The Craven Festive Season.

Following this we don’t rest up and the first few weeks of December we at Skipton Craven Rotary Club are extremely busy as we tour the streets of Skipton and surrounding villages with Santa in his sleigh. I know from chatting to people on their doorsteps how much pleasure our Santa tours bring to the locality.

Additionally we collect at Morrisons and Tesco Supermarkets and play a full part in the Grassington Dickensian Festival markets.

In 2016 we raised around £8000 with our Christmas Collections and we as a club ensure that this money is put to good use by donating to a varied range of deserving charities and causes.

This year will see the 7^th Skipton International Puppet Festival and we are delighted this year to be associated with this. Running from 29^th September to 1^st October we are providing the funds to allow Educational Workshops with a puppet theme to be run for local school children, so that they and their families can be involved in the festival. We are also to hopefully assist with being route marshals for the wonderful parade of puppets through the streets of Skipton on Sunday 1^st October. Again we will be adding to the vibrant social scene in our area. 

Also each year we assist in the running of a Youth Technology Tournament for students at local secondary schools.

The aims are:-

To develop students` interest in design, construction and technology.

To encourage students to develop their team working skills whilst finding and building a solution to a previously unseen task.

Annually we support a Kids' Out Day visit with children from Brooklands Community Special School

We support Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and Ocean Youth Trust North thus allowing young people to experience decision making and team work on land and at sea.

So in summary I am delighted to take on the role of President of Skipton Craven Rotary Club so that I and the other Rotarians can make sure that this great town and district in which I have lived in and worked in for all of my life continues to flourish and provide great opportunities for people from all walks of life.

We meet every Tuesday at 7.00pm at Skipton Golf Club Club House. We are always on the lookout for new members to swell our ranks. If you would like more details or a chat or would like to come along for a “Taster Meeting” email me on stotts1_@hotmail.com

I hope to see you during the year.

 Brian Stott

President 2017/18