www.wilmslowscarecrow.com

WILMSLOW DEAN ROTARY

Thank you for visiting our web site. If you are a new visitor to our site, the main page, below, displays a photographic record of some of our events and activities during the current Rotary Year.


We are friendly and dual-gender. Our usual meeting day is Tuesday at 6.45 pm for 7.00 pm which is normally at the Deanwater Hotel, Wilmslow Road, Woodford, Cheshire, SK7 1RJ, where we start the evening with a one-course meal. 

If you are interested in finding out more about ROTARY and joining us in Wilmslow Dean, click on CONTACT US, (above), where you will find contact details.

Wilmslow Dean Rotary thanks Armadillo Self Storage - Storage for homes and business for their continuing support of the Club in 2021/22

27th April 2021

Brian Donohoe - The Wilmslow Neighbourhood Plan

13th April 2021

Jim Cordiner - The Manchester Ship Canal

Jim from the Peel Ports Group talked about the history of the Canal from the initial planning through to the modern day.

This helps to show the scale of the canal (note the main in the foreground).

30th March 2021

Professor Sarah Bridle - Climate Change with the Hot Air

Sarah spoke about the particular contributors to climate change but particularly focused on the impact of food.

She has recently published a book on the matter which is available free of charge.

23rd March 2021

Jon Kelly - When the Jacobites visited Wilmslow

There had been mention of the some of the Jacobites coming through Wilmslow through a previous speaker and Jon offered to talk more at length about this as well as setting the scene that led to the revolt.

And some passed through Wilmslow on the way down South ...

As well as on the way back ...

Before defeat at the Battle of Culloden ...

Polio Awareness

As noted below we recently had a talk about the continuing work (including by Rotary) to eradicate Polio from the world. Nearly all countries in the world are clear of Polio although pockets of Polio can still be found in two countries and arguably a serious outbreak could still happen especially given the ease of travel around the world (which COVID-19 has shown). Hopefully we will be able to completely eradicate Polio in the near future but, in the mean, awareness of Polio and the work to eradicate it is still important. Purple has become a key colour in the campaign as a purple dye is used in a number of countries during mass immunizations to mark children's little finger to show which have received the vaccine. In many places, purples crocuses are planted and we have planted some along Water Lane and given others to local schools. Here are some planted at St Benedict's Catholic Primary School in Handforth    

9th March 2021

Katherine Whitaker - The Joys of Being a Magistrate

Katherine gave an interesting talk about being a magistrate. Whilst this was partly for information and for those present to ask questions, it was also to try to encourage those present (or those they knew) to consider putting themselves forward as magistrates as more, particularly at the current time, are needed.

We have had various other interesting talks since Christmas but others have not been captured "on camera". These have included a talk about Lindow Moss (Past, Present and the Future) and about the continuing work to eradicate Polio. This latter talk also extended to a talk about COVID-19 given that this too was a virus with the deployment of a vaccine to counter it.   

Christmas 2020

Our Christmas plans have needed to be quite different this year with the hard decision taken that we could/should not assist Santa touring around Heald Green and Handforth so not to cause any issues with social distancing. We were able to undertake some limited activities at Lidl in Handforth/Wilmslow and Wilmslow Town Centre as well as one small residential area with agreement from the residents. These activites have helped to raise around £1,000 for which we thank the generosity of the public at this difficult time. One of our members has also been making bird boxes with the proceeds going to charity (including The Seashell Trust).

Santa out in only a very limited way this year.

Derek (one of Santa's woodworkers and painters) with some of his beautiful bird boxes to support various local/Rotary charities. 

Orders can still be placed (for the New Year) in advance of the nesting season by contacting mmartyn@talktalk.net with you contact details including address and phone number. The boxes cost £20 not including delivery although local deliveries or collection can be arranged..

We have also been able to still distribute some of our Rota Toy boxes at Christmas time albeit paying due care an attention to collection and distribution in a safe way.

Our President Sue's car was full with the delivery to Stockport including the Salvation Army there with boxes also going to the Tree of Life in Wythenshawe.

"A smile from a child to a child" we say and here is local MP Esther McVey getting involved with the packing up some of the boxes. This year we had particular support from Pepperbury Nursery in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge School for Girls as well as the local Inner Wheel group with filling boxes which cover the 1-3, 4-7, 8-11 and 12-15 age ranges.

15th December 2020

John Wallace - Rag Time to Rhythm & Blues in 12 easy steps

Our speaker, John, returned to give us a history of Rag Time through Rhythm & Blues through excerpts of 12 pieces of music which he played and also talked about.


8th December 2020

Christina Anaik/Spencer - Living with 60 million English

Our speaker, Christina, shared some of her experiences as a "foreigner" [her words] living in the UK for 50 years including various amusing tales and reflections on the use of the English language.

17 November 2020 

CHARTER NIGHT

We celebrated the 83rd anniversary of the formation of our Club. This needed to be via Zoom but we tried to still hold to the spirit of what we would normally be doing albeit without any meal. President Sue welcomed member and guests to the meeting before Richard introduced our newest member

This was followed by a reply from our new member, Niamh Murphy

We then had a number of toasts (this one to Rotary International)

 

And speeches (this one by Immediate Past District Governor, Patrick Tyrell)

 

Before our guest speaker, comedian Gary Skyner

  

Who kept the audience entertained

 

10th November 2020

Roger Small - The History of Handforth Station



Our speaker, Roger, presented on the history of Handforth Station which is not just part of our community/locality but also home to one of our community gardens/projects.



If you would like to see a full more of the slides from the presentation then please have a look at:
Handforth_Train_Station_presentation_10nov20.pdf
[A history of Handforth Station and its branch lines; Successive owners of Handforth station: their company crests; 
First class coach of the Manchester to Birmingham Railway; The Royal Train calls at Handforth Station; 
Martin Bell opens the new ticket office; Excursions by preserved steam passing through Handforth]

1st November 2020

We received a certificate for our work supporting Wilmslow in Bloom



20th October 2020

We had a fascinating talk from Catherine Stott about visiting Antartica (as a holiday destination!)



which can include visiting the South Pole itself



13th October 2020

Whilst we can not get out and about being tourists at present, Murray Jacobs gave us a virtual tour of Cambridge



with some of the sights



and highlights



22nd September 2020

Disaster Aid UK and Ireland is one of a number of charities that we regularly support bringing disaster relief/recovery assistance. Craig Roberts updated us on the work following a recent disaster in Indonesia





and the work continues

3rd. August 2020

THE CLUB CELEBRATION PARTY.

FOLLOWING THE GOVERMENT INITIATIVE REGARDING THE MANCHESTER LOCK DOWN, THE DEANWATER WERE IN ORDER ALLOWING A FACE TO FACE MEETNG FOR THE CLUB.

A welcome from President Sue.

 

CONFORMING TO ALL THE GUIDANCE RULES, MEMBERS  ENJOYED OUR FIRST CLUB MEAL AFTER MANY WEEKS.   

WE ALSO HAD THE PLEASURE OF A GUEST SPEAKER, ROGER SMALL, WHO GAVE HIS ILLUSTRATED  PRESENTATION  OF THE PROJECT ALONG WITH FELLOW RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS TO re-INSTALL A LARGE RAILWAY NAME BOARD FOR HANDFORTH STATION.

 The new sign going up at Handforth train station

The official unveiling of the sign

14th July 2020

The first speaker in the new Rotary year.   

President Sue Worthington welcomed Esther McVey, Member of Parliament for Tatton our local constituency. Esther, fresh from Westminster, joined our club zoom meeting to give a comprehensive account of the various takes from MPs to the many problems caused by the pandemic. A splendid evening and a fine start for Sue's year.

 

We are now in 

Rotary Year

President Ian Bradley leads his table guests to the breakfast buffet table.

                  

                 

At Table

Now we taste 5 French wines from John's selection.

Here John Lomas gives his appraisal on the next wine for tasting.

President Ian about to taste a Red.

  

                                                                  

ANOTHER ROTARY SOCIAL EVENT, ENJOYED BY MEMBERS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS, TOGETHER WITH ROTARIAN MEMBERS FROM LOCAL CLUBS.

                           

14th. FEBRUARY  2020

VALENTINES  DAY

 An  exciting way to celebrate Valentines day.

A trip on a steam train,  hauled by one of the classic engines, The" Royal Scot"  with a five couse meal  served in style to match the occasion.

Immediate Past President  Frank and wife Dorothy enjoyed this experience  

What a fantastic machine.

and pictured below Dorothy studied the five course menu.

    24th February 2020

Scatter Week

This week members visited other local Rotary clubs  to promote Rotary fellowship.  

The choice available included:-  

Bramhall and Woodford, Cheadle and District, Knutsford, Sale and Macclesfield Castle who had speakers/other activities during this week.

18th FEBRUARY  2020

SPEAKER MEETING

MEMBER RICHARD  CONROY,  FOOD SCIENTIST, PRESENTED MEMBERS WITH AN ILLUSTRATED TALK ON THE NUMEROUS TYPES OF FOOD POISONS PRESENT IN THE FOOD WE EAT. ALBEIT SERIOUS, RICHARD ADDED SOME HUMOUR IN HIS LIVELY ANECDOTES.  

11th. February 2020

Speaker meeting

Vice President Sue Worthington welcomes Brian Wood who presented a video record of his exciting flight in a Lightening jet fighter plane.

The pictures here  are of this outstanding jet fighter.

BURNS NIGHT SUPPER  

WE HELD THIS POPULAR ANNUAL  EVENT ON

 21st. JANUARY 2020 

 AT THE DEANWATER HOTEL.

The pictures below record the content of the evening .

Here, regular visitor to our  event, Rtn. Robert Strachan, from Altrincham Rotary Club shares the floor with President Ian for 

"The address"   
 

OFFERING "THE WEE  DRAMS" 

PRESIDENT ATTACKS "THE BEASTY"

THE TOAST  "TO THE HAGGIS"

THE MAIN COURSE IS SERVED

THE RAFFLE RAISED OVER £100 FOR "END POLIO NOW"

ENTERTAINMENT AFTER  A SHORT BREAK   BY MENBERS FROM 
THE CALLEDONIAN SOCIETY. 
WITH A PROGRAM OF SCOTTISH DANCING. 

A SPLENDID EVENING 

ENDS WITH AULD LANG SYNE

21st January 2020

The first speaker in the New Year 

President  Ian welcomes  Ray Acton : local historian 

who gave us a most interesting  presentation with pictures

 of  "Wilmslow Village" as it was known many years ago  

 and still referred as such by the long established residents.

3 January 2020

We are now in 2020 and wish everyone a Happy New Year/Decade. For us (a group of members and friends), the first activity of 2020 was a visit to see Aladdin performed by a very talented young cast from CHYPS (the Cheshire Youth Pantomime Society) in Woodford.

Out and about with Santa and the Rotary Float.

29th October 2019

Dr. Hyde gave an excellent presentation covering the history of the School. We were surprised that this dated back 517 years.

We were also very interested in the update of the building work of the "state of the art" campus on an 80 acre site between Macclesfield and Nether Alderley.

This super accommodation will offer cultural, academic and sporting facilities to a standard difficult to find anywhere else in the UK.

Here is a picture showing the progress to date.

Pictured below with President Ian the speaker this evening was Dominic Tinner, fund raiser for the SEASHELL TRUST.  150 Deaf, Blind , Autistic childre and young people, many with severe and complex learning difficulties are supported by this charity.  There are 600 staff, and with the cost per child ranging from £100.000 to £300,000 per annum - raised mainly from generous charitable contributions.

Some of our members are marshalling at SEASHELL SPORTIVE on 15th September, an exciting fund - raising cycling event on some thrilling routes through the Pennines. The event starts at 6am and means a very early start for our volunteers, who are seen below planning the event with Dominic.

DG CLUB VISIT

We were pleased to welcme District Governor

Patrick  Tyrrell

pictured below left with President Ian Bradley.

Sunday 29th July 2019

Members of the Time Out Group enjoy a trip on the Mary Sunley, sponsored by our club

23rd July

Quiz Night

Saturday 20th July

Summer Lunch, arranged by Margaret, Marianne and Sue

Vice President Sue with one of the prizes from the raffle

16th July

Winner of the 2019 wilmslow Rotary Scarecrow Competition  from HOME LIBRARY receives the certificate from President Ian

Below, the winning Scarecrow (R) , together with the winning schools entry from Wilmslow Lacey Green Primary Academy.

9th July

Our first speaker of the Rotary Year. Deepak Oberoi of Albert Road Opticians with President Ian

Sunday 7th July 2019

Wilmslow Dean at the Wilmslow Community Show.

The Rotary Stand just before the start of the show

Final preparation of one of the displayed scarecrow finalists

Choose a ticket!

One of the many winners at our Tombola

And another one!

Look at those scarecrows!

Judges of the Scarecrow Competition - Angela McPake, Chairman of the Wilmslow Community Show (L) with Kuomi Burton.

Saturday 29th June 2019

The annual Rotary Scarecrow Festival concludes with a chidren's parade through the town waving their mini scarecrows.

District Governor Patrick Tyrell ready for the off

The Poynton Youth Marching band assemble ready to lead the parade

The children all lined up ready for the parade to Bank Square

The police stopped the traffic as we crossed the road on our way to Grove Street

Frank leads the parade down Grove Street

Almost at the end, we arrived at Bank Square

A very welcome sight - chilled water!  Many thanks to Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose for providing the water and keeping it cold.

The first important event of the Rotary Year is to install our new President. This year we welcome for the fourth time Rotarian Ian Bradley, and pictured below retiring President Frank McCarthy hands over the chain of office.

Top table before handover

Ian and Marianne share a joke

After the Rotary formalities, we were royally entertained by Jean Martyn of Britains Got Talent Fame.

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