PRESS RELEASE              

  6^th February, 2020

 Rotary club’s reindeer appeal raises funds for Motor Neurone Disease

The Rotary Club of Scarborough Cavaliers latest reindeer appeal has raised £5,780 with £4,375 going to the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association and £1,405 to local Rotary supported charities.

Club members worked throughout the Autumn making over 400 wooded reindeer and other animals to sell in various outlets around the Scarborough area.

Twenty-seven outlets sold the animals in the run up to Christmas with the highest sales going to Cober Hill; Dalby Forest café; Deans Garden Centre; Downe Arms Hotel; Falcon Inn and Killerby Stained Glass Centre, which sold several hundred pounds worth of animals.

Rotary President Tony Graham said: “The project has been led for the past two years by a club member, who has sadly been diagnosed with the disease.”

“This year more club members have been involved in carrying the project forward but a special thanks must go to all the local outlets that have sold the wooden animals,’ he added.

Of the funds raised for the MND Association, £500 will go to the Scarborough & Bridlington Branch of the Association, which provides support to local people with MND, their families and carers. 

The Association will spend the remaining funds on MND research including research taking place at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN).

Jenn Dodd, Regional Fundraiser for the MND Association attended the Rotary Club’s meeting at the Downe Arms on February 5 to give a short introduction into the Association’s work and to receive the cheque

MND has recently hit the headlines nationally with Doddie Weir, a former Scottish rugby union player receiving the Helen Rollason Award at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year 2019 and Rob Burrow, the ex-Leeds Rhinos star, being diagnosed last month with the disease at the very young age of 37 years old.

For further information or to set up interviews please contact Mike Wilkinson on tel : 01723 870670 or mobile 07500 354825 or email : michaeljwilkinson7@gmail.com

and/or Barry Foster, Scarborough & Bridlington Branch of the MND Association tel: 01946 604881 email: barryfoster5939@aol.co.uk.

Motor Neurone Disease Association

The MND Association is the only national charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland focused on improving access to care, research and campaigning for those people living with or affected by MND.

They are a membership organisation with over 9,000 members forming a powerful national and local network that provides information and support. They have over 7,000 active volunteers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with 170 paid staff – all dedicated to improving the lives of people affected by MND, now and in the future. There is an active local support group covering the area from Whitby to Bridlington – the Scarborough & Bridlington Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

 Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)

SITraN is an essential development in the fight against motor neurone disease and other common neurodegenerative disorders of the motor system. As yet no single institution anywhere in the world has developed the necessary critical mass and facilities to exploit the potential of modern neuroscience, the ‘post-genome’ era, and exciting developments in biomedical therapeutics with specific focus on this devasting group of illnesses. Centres of excellence for neurodegeneration research across the globe have achieved considerable progress, but none are effectively poised to develop these advances in full. The establishment of SITraN in Sheffield offers the opportunity for a coordinated approach to the development and clinical trialling of new therapies based on rational targets of proven preclinical effectiveness

Local Outlets List

Alan Campbell        Ayton Dental Practice      Barons Health & Fitness Club

Burniston Garden Centre       Cober Hill       Coachman Inn     Combe Hay

Dalby Forest Café       Deans Garden Centre      Derwent Hunt Christmas Fair

Downe Arms Hotel       Falcon Inn     Hardwick Agricultural Engineers   

Meeting: Wednesday 5^th February 2020

Speaker: Marcus Aldrich Esq., NYMR Volunteer Development Officer.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway, formed 1967 in the aftermath of the ‘Beeching Cuts’ is owned by the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd (a Charitable Trust and Accredited Museum) and is operated by its wholly owned subsidiary North Yorkshire Moors Railway Enterprises Plc. It is mostly operated and staffed

by volunteers. It provides both a commercially viable passenger carrying rail service for about nine months each year and further operates as a ‘visitor attraction’. It has a paid staff of approximately 100, and a volunteer force of more than 1000, mainly middle aged and elderly enthusiasts who share an interest in running a working vintage railway operation carrying up to 350,000 passengers each year. There is also a very active ‘Junior Volunteers’ scheme who help at weekends and during school holidays.

The annual financial turnover is around £8,000,000.

During 2017, the NYMR announced it was applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund, as part of a new appeal to keep the whole preserved railway running for the next 50 years. The bid attracted £4.4 million in HLF funding which had to be match funded by the NYMR’s own appeal for donations, legacies and from other funding streams such as the Rural Payments Agency, who donated £1.97 million. At the moment £800,000 has still to be raised.

The current and planned activities of the PLC during the next five years can be summarized under seven headings:

1.     Recognize that passengers of all ages and physical abilities wish to travel in comfort and use the facilities on board. Work is in progress to adapt 3 coaches from the ‘50’s and a fourth teach coach from the 30’s to allow easy access from platforms and have user friendly facilities on board.

2.     The rolling stock is stored in the open and this causes damage both from the elements and vandalism. A purpose built under cover facility is scheduled for construction costing £4.200,000.

3.     An ancient carriage constructed for the transport of racing pigeons is being converted into an Education Centre for use by visiting school parties.

4.     Situated in a major National Park the PLC has a responsibility to address track side environmental concerns with the preservation of habitat and wildlife.

5.     Accommodate within the work force an apprentice scheme mainly providing a training programme in heavy engineering. This scheme has proved to be popular, with applicants far exceeding the places available.

6.     Three bridges carrying the track over watercourses are well over 100 years old and showing signs of wear. A replacement programme is in place and work on the first one at Goathland is under way at a cost of £1.000,000.

1.     Develop initiatives to recruit a new generation of volunteers.

Eight key words summarize the modus operandi:

             Inclusive                  Balanced

             Flexible                    Enjoyable

             Impactful                 Voluntary

             Connected                Meaningful

As part of the recruitment drive a large property has been purchased from the Rowntree Trust that will be converted into a hostel to accommodate volunteers who travel long distances to fulfill their duties.  

The speaker in conclusion makes a plea for the whole community to continue to support this major tourist attraction 

Thanks to Tony Stevens and John Bradley

All photographs courtesy NYMR

A very convivial but orderly evening was enjoyed by over seventy members and guests,
including a very welcome visit by seventeen members from the Rotary Club of Scarborough.
The evening followed the traditional format ;

Introduction & The Selkirk Grace
Piping in the Haggis by Rachel Blueman, who also played some Scottish tunes during the pre-dinner drinks
Toast to the Haggis (first verse reproduced here as a reminder)

”Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.”

Dinner including  Cock-a-Leekie soup, Haggis stuffed chicken; Raspberry cranachan (with special diets catered for by the Downe Arms)

A few Bagpipe tunes from Rachel
“The Immortal Memory” Eulogy to Robert Burns by Alan Campbell
A Few Scottish Tunes – Cockleroy : Ian Proudfoot and Neil Macdonald with Paul de V on the fiddle
Toast to the Lasses by Alan Campbell
Response to the toast by MichelleWilkinson
Finish with Auld Lang Syne
 

The raffle was very well supported by members' generous donations (many liquid ones!) and by customers buying over £200 worth of tickets to benefit the 

Motor Neurone Disease Asociation (local support group and research in Sheffield).

Peter.