Lunch Notes     

1. Welcome by President – David Pratt  
2. Host today was Ray Fisher
3. Member announcements

        1.   Debbie Vincent;

• A thank you to everyone who attended the Thamesdown Rotary Space evening talk
• This Friday's wine tasting at Magnums has been cancelled due to lack of ticket sales
• We won’t be doing Rotary shoe boxes this year, however however we have been asked by Simon to            support  Christ church shoe box appeal , if anyone would like to donate a filled shoe box 

         2.   Gary Herbert; 

• Gary has spoken to Byron, who is recovering from a knee operation,       Byron sends his regards to club

4. Welcome to our guests

Jamie Goddard

Drago Pausek, RC Zagreb

Jenny Jefferies, guest of Sue Frawley 

5. Presidents Announcements;

Resignation of Chris Firth and Peter Hayman from club , the resignations happened while David was away on holiday , he has spoken to both of them , and is sorry to see them go and they will be a loss to club .

David and Lesley have a copy of their resignation letters if anyone wishes to see them 

The members present were asked if they had any comments, none were forthcoming 

David has taking up a role with the utility warehouse again and if anyone is interested in what they have to offer please contact him

David apologised if you have been unable to contact him, but he has been having phone/ internet problems 

6. Secretary’s Announcements

1. Christ Church are running an event throughout the month of December, to ‘light up ‘the church and our looking for people/ organisations to provide a decorated real tree to be placed in and around the church. We think it would be a good idea if we had a Rotary tree maybe combined with a remembrance tree, further details will follow 

Lesley is sure she can obtain a tree from a customer of hers who supplies Christmas trees to various outlets (legitimately!) 

2. We have had an invite from Newbury Rotary Club to attend a speaker meeting of theirs on the evening of 21st Oct. The speaker will be Professor Martin Parsons of the charity ‘Beyond Conflict ‘working with war orphaned children in Iraq. If anyone would like to attend please contact Lesley

3. Area meeting Thursday 24th October at the Wiltshire Golf and Country Club 6.30pm for 7pm start. If you require a meal it will be £10 there is a board going round 

Area meetings are a very good way of finding what is going on at other clubs in our area 

Next Week is a speaker meeting, the speaker is Shirley Baxter, safe families for children 

Host; Bill Fishlock 

Business Meeting 

7. Treasurers Report;

  No report  as Peter was unaware that today was a business meeting ,……Unfortunately there was a mix up with the dates in this year’s handbook  for October  and a speaker had already been fixed for next week which had been listed as a speaker meeting 
           

8. Committee Reports

Club Admin

Debbie Vincent

a, Admin discussed using Sue Huck’s skills as a copywriter when providing Michelle with promotional information 

b, Ongoing discussion reference paying for lunches monthly, to be discussed at Council 

c, Swindon Cares presented Swindon Night Shelter with a cheque  for £18,235 at The Tawny Owl on the 2nd October

d, Debbie has spoken to James Arkell about the decision not to provide a lift at the Kings. George Markell has arranged to show Debbie why they can’t put a lift in , Debbie would like a representative from Old Town and Phoenix RC s to be there 

e, The Presidents Concert for ABC , Posters and tickets have been printed and are available , contact Sue Frawley if you need any 

f, Club Centenary Celebrations for 2026. The planning for this event is being headed up by Ian Dobie , with Tony Hill, Alan Stone and Michelle Leighton assisting 

John Woodcock asked why the membership cards hadn’t been handed out, Lesley explained they are handed out once everyone has paid their subs. Peter Barefoot added he was still waiting for 5 members to pay, but would let Lesley know who had paid and they membership cards (which are all printed out) can be handed out to those who had paid next week 

Community and Engagement

Sue Frawley 

a. Funds have been raised for a defibrillator, however Sue was anxious that the club wouldn’t have any ongoing maintenance costs in connection with this. She has spoken to SW Ambulance who can provide a defibrillator including any associated costs for now and for the life of the machine, however this means the cost of the defibrillator is now £1800, and further funds will need to be raised, Sue intends to approach the other Rotary clubs who use the Kings for help with this.

b. A concert will be taking place at Christ Church  in aid of the Hydrotherapy pool on the 18th April , Kentwood Choir and The Wiltshire Police Band  

c. The Lil St George Skittles evening …waiting for a date from Chris , Lil’s partner 

International 

a. Speaker slots filled 

b. End Polio Now bucket collection at Sainsbury’s arranged for Friday 6th December , this will need support from the whole club and a board will be going round 

c. On the 29th October there will be an evening on Rotary Foundation  at the Gables Hotel , Falfield  GL12 8DLAT, specifically aimed at those who wish to learn more about the role of Foundation . Peter Wells will be giving a talk and if anyone is interested in going he has room in his car 

9. AOB

a. Sheila Harrod has suggested that the club may wish to forma choir to sing at the upcoming Presidents concert

b. James Goddard ‘s band The Zoots will be doing their sounds of the 60’s concert at the Neeld Community & Arts Centre on the 7th November , tickets £18 , several members of club have already bought their tickets and we hope to do a bucket collection for a charity of our choice on the night 

https://thezoots.com/showdates/

 Today’s raffle was won by Steve Brain

 Lesley