ROTARY CLUB OF SWINDON

Lunch Notes, Thursday 2nd April 2020   Lunch time meeting via Zoom

Typical view of the Zoom screen

• Attendees:  David Pratt, Debbie Vincent ,Sue Frawley, Lesley Hutchings, Peter Barefoot, Derek Austin , Ian Sharpe, Brenda Moore , Peter Wells , Nicky Alberry, Michael Morse, John Palmer, Ian Dobie , Byron Carron, John Woodcock, Gary Herbert, Jan Blankenstein , Nigel Henham, Alan Stone ,Ray Fisher, Simon Stevennette, Cliff Puffett, Steve Brain, Sue Huck, Mike Hillier , Bill Fishlock, Linda Morse ( The E Club )

• Apologies for any names I may have missed, or misspelt, or any I completely made up!

• Apologies received from Michelle Leighton, due to work commitments. Tony Hill sends his best wishes but can’t join us for technical reasons and Sheila Harrod , who tried to sign in but couldn’t 

• Members announcements 

Nicky Alberry; Nicky has asked Paul Gentlemen to give his talk on Harold Starr via Zoom next week, the club agreed Ian Sharpe to look into any potential technical issues 

Michael Morse. Michael is out of hospital, and tested clear for Covid-19

Peter Wells  , District grants will be available from next year’s funds for any disaster relief ( Coved -19 ) Can anyone identify  an area of need for this please speak to Peter. It was suggested that we could purchase PPE, Bill Fishlock confirmed this wouldn’t be possible from the CCG as everything was earmarked for the NHS

Byron Carron; to those of you who remember Jean Perrin/ Kingsman, after losing her daughter last summer, two weeks ago her son died 

• Speaker Sue Huck

• Update on Diepsloot 

Thanks to the 3 year support from this club the library is self-sufficient and only needs topping up as and when .The library has had a huge impact on the students of the school, through books, lap tops and the projector donated by Gary’s son with the purchased screen has enabled school reading groups. The children spend every break time reading in the library as English isn’t their first language this has helped enormously with their English and learning. There has been a scheme implemented that records students’ progress with they have rewarded with prizes , when the money ran out for this Sue appealed for used watches and helped my Michael Morse she learned how to fix them , and also received generous support from Richard Deacon . It was decided to turn these watches into money and buy the prizes they needed 

The schools’ next project was the ‘ Hub’ and with lots of support including monetary support from the RC’s of Swindon and Sandton  plus practical help from local volunteers the hub opened for business in February The Hub consists of a large multipurpose classroom , an office , sick bay / consulting room plus a room for ablutions . This has enabled the volunteers to have a space to meet and plan a place to hand out donations of food and clothes given more privacy to everyone .The opening of the Hub gained a lot of publicity and as a result a lot of investors and  much needed support 

Baby Club, the school has supported the young mums who would have otherwise dropped out of school, one incentive was to give out free nappies if the mums attended maths classes, this has resulted in a high percentage being able to ‘Matric’ 

Sadly due to Covid 19, South Africa has gone into lock down, the school has had to close, in a severely overcrowded small area with limited toilet facilities, limited water supplies alongside limited money to buy food this could prove devastating for this community. One in 3 children are HIV positive, and for some their only meal of the day is the one they get in school

Volunteers are trying to find a solution to distribute food and it may fall to the military to provide this service 

Mike Hiller thanked Sue for her talk and Gary Herbert congratulated her on a very well deserved PHF

• Trust Fund Donation Update 

Peter Barefoot ; As to date 20 members have donated to the trust fund in lieu of lunch payments  while we are on lock down , the proceeds to be split between 3 agreed charities , namely Swindon Night Shelter , Swindon Women’s Aid and  Open Door .

 Members were asked if they wanted their donation to be awarded equally or to a specific one of the charities, most didn’t specify it was decided that the amount raised could be split equally and it was agreed that the money collected so far could be sent out straight away.

 A few members wanted their donation to stay in the trust fund for future emergencies. The amounts raised so far are £3000 for the charities and £250 to general funds, the majority of members have sent a lump sum of £150 to cover the 3 months expected shut down

We  have gift aid forms from all but 5  members , and would like to get everyone signed up if possible as this will enable us to claim and additional 25% in tax relief from the government 

Brenda Moore asked if the release of women from prison would impact on SWA, Nicky confirmed that they didn’t know, but they were already at capacity and were seeking additional accommodation. Brenda added that she foresees that under the present restrictions domestic abuse and harm to children would happen , Nicky confirmed that there were 6 murders due to domestic abuse last week ( sorry these may not be exact details  ** ). Brenda asked the club to support SWA ………..Nicky said they were due to start an online fundraiser and hope the Rotary Club could kick this off

• Any Other Business

The Rotary club of Swindon have asked to join on zoom meeting next week, concern was raised on how many members, as we appear to be swamped by 25 attendees, to be discussed by Debbie Vincent and Old Town RC 

David thanked everyone for their attendance.

I apologise if I have missed anything or misrepresented what was said