Visit of RI Director Dr Harriette Verwey

Cowbridge Rotary was honoured to host Rotary International Director Dr Harriette Verwey on Monday 15th September. . She visited Southway Residential Home where she met the Home Manager,  a number of Rotarians, the Chair of Dementia Friendly Cowbridge as well as some Rotakids from Y Bont Faen primary school and Interactors from Cowbridge Comprehensive School.  The Rotakids informed Dr Verwey of the Rotary projects they had worked on such as Charity Shoeboxes, Micro-loans and Aquabox, the latter being their favourite because ‘everyone has a right to clean water’, while the Interactors spoke about their fundraising evening ‘Curry and Jazz’ for Marie Curie.  

One of the Interactors recounted the opportunity she had in attending the Rotary Youth Leaders Award at Storey Arms, Brecon and what  she had learnt about herself in leading on some of the activities.  Dr Verwey encouraged all of them to continue their connection with Rotary by joining Rotaract while at University and suggested that Cowbridge Rotary should set up an Alumni for past Cowbridge Interactors.  Dr Verwey also had the opportunity to discuss the work Cowbridge Rotary is doing to support Dementia Friendly Cowbridge and Southway Residential Home.

In the evening, a dinner was held at The Bear Hotel, where Dr Verwey addressed gathered Rotarians from Cowbridge, Cardiff, Porthcawl, Pontypool, St Mellons, Bridgend and Llanelli, enlightening everyone with her vision of global connection and peace. Cowbridge President, David Morris, was presented with a Peacebuilder Club Certificate, to acknowledge Cowbridge Rotary becoming one of the first Peacebuilder Clubs in Wales. Dr Verwey thoroughly enjoyed the warm welcome she received in Cowbridge, and now continues her visit to West Wales.

For more photos click here.

Visit to our twin Club Meißen

The biennial trip to our twin Rotary Club in Meissen took place from the 4th-8th September. It was the first visit for President David and Gayna who accompanied the regulars, Don & Pat, Bob & Eleanor and Gerry & Diane.

Peter Braunstein, President for the second year, and his wife Connie, welcomed us at Berlin Airport before Hans-Joachim accompanied us on the taxi ride to Meissen. We were hosted for supper by Norbert & Gabi on Thursday night before being joined later by Gerry & Diane who had arrived from Zurich after a delayed flight.

On Friday morning we drove to Herrnhut to visit the Christmas star factory (we will all have them on top of our trees this Christmas!) and then returned via Schloss Rammenau where we were joined by the Kempe family for a guided tour. Dinner was provided at the home of Udo & Marianne with a fantastic view of the sunset over the Meissen skyline.

Saturday morning was time to be with our hosts before a late afternoon concert in Meissen Cathedral. The Club dinner was arranged at a restaurant on the banks of the Elbe where one of their Rotarians works as the accountant. It was good to see old friends, Helga and Bernd & Barbel, and share a glass (or two) of the local wine!

On Sunday we had a gallery tour of the Frauenkirche cathedral in Dresden. It was not the first visit for most of us but we all managed to learn something new from our informative guide. Our farewell dinner was at the home of Hans-Joachim & Christina where we met their son, Hans-Christoph, and his delightful family.

All too soon it was time to leave on Monday morning after another memorable visit!

Memory Jar Presentation to Colin Phillips

Cowbridge Rotarians who form the Dementia Special Interest Group in the Club attended the Memory Jar meeting on 19th August to celebrate the retirement of Colin Phillips. With his wife, Madeline, he created and has run the Memory Jar for over eight years. To recognise their dedication and hard work, Colin was presented with a Rotary Community Service Award by Huw Davies and received a second copy to take to Madeline who is at present in residential care. 

Memory Jar will now be run by the Dementia Friendly Cowbridge group led by Liz George and Carolyn Taylor-John and supported by Rotary. It will continue to deliver fun and friendship to the Cowbridge dementia community. If you are interested in helping or contributing please contact       Liz George or Rotarian Michael Macphail.  

A new member for Cowbridge Rotary

A big welcome to Martin Blamey who joined Cowbridge Rotary Club on Monday 16th June. Martin was inducted as a Rotarian and received the congratulations of all the members of the club. 

Before joining, Martin had some apprehension about Rotary, but he realised that Rotary's projects with communities, both local and further afield, and their youth activities were a good fit with his own ideas. That and the warm welcome he received at meetings convinced him to join. 

Cowbridge Rotary are always looking for new members, so if you are interested in helping others and providing a community service through friendship and fun, then you are most welcome to attend one of our meetings to learn more about us. Contact us here.

Goals in the sun!

On a gloriously sunny day over 130 primary school children participated in this year’s Cowbridge Rotary Football Competition.

Teams from Llanfair, Llangan, Pendoylan, Peterston Super Ely, St Brides Major, St Davids Colwinston and Y Bont Faen enjoyed a wonderful day of football in the sun on the splendid all weather pitch at Cowbridge School. Piero Fulgoni, President of Cowbridge Rotary Club awarded the Tournament Winners Shield to Pendoylan and the Plate Winners Shield to St. Davids School. He thanked D Mottram and N Nurton from St Brides for organising the competition, Cowbridge School for the use of their facilities and the Football Association of Wales for their generous donation of much needed water refreshment! All players and spectators enjoyed a great time of football and fun!

The Club welcomes a new member

Club President, Piero Fulgoni, welcomed a new member to Cowbridge Rotary on Monday, 14th April. Carolyn Taylor-John, who recently retired from a teaching post at Cowbridge Scool, was given an enthusiastic welcome as she expressed her hopes to participate in the good work done by Rotary both in the local community and further afield,

Cowbridge clean up

Cowbridge Rotary Club were again out and about in the community recently. On a bright dry spring morning members and spouses did two litter picks; the first around the old Bryn Owain pub and the Roman Road at the top of Primrose Hill, and the second around the old Cattle Market and Scout Hall/CADS theatre car parks.

The equipment was loaned by Keep Wales Tidy, via the local community hub. It was very disappointing to see that so much litter had been discarded around our beautiful town and outskirts. Following the activity, lunch was arranged in the Duke of Wellington pub in Cowbridge. (Click here for more photos)

If by reading this article you would like to know more about our activities, please speak to a Rotarian or use our "contact" page on this website. 

Everyone is welcome, Croeso i bawb.

Singing success

Following her win at club area and district levels, Isobel McKeechan has gone on to win the Young musician Vocal competition for the whole of the South Wales and South West England area. Isobel now will compete in the National Final to be held in Romford, Essex on March 29th.

Isobel is pictured with Cowbridge Youth Lead, Stuart McCullouch, District 1150 Governor, Malcolm Hallewell and Isobel's mother, Laura.

Current activities

Cowbridge Rotary Club has been very busy recently.

 In a business meeting last week they had a presentation from Rotarians Against Malaria. Malaria kills more than 600,000 people a year, 95% of them in Africa, and 80% under the age of five. In a similar way that Rotary has contributed to the almost complete eradication of polio in the world, it is hoped that it will do the same with malaria. The club made a donation of £500 towards Rotarians Against Malaria

In addition to supporting the usual weekly activities of Memory Jar Café and Golden Oldies Cinema Rotarians also help out at the Friendship club run in Y Galon Community Centre. Furthermore on Thursday and Friday afternoons, several Rotarians put on the bright yellow Marie Curie Cymru hats to collect donations for the charity. This was very well received and several persons told about their own experiences of how family and friends had been helped in their last few weeks or days of life. 

Finally, on Saturday morning, St David’s Day, the Club joined Cowbridge’s Mayoress, Rotarian Heather Weddell, for her monthly Coffee morning at the Town hall for some excellent musical entertainment, Welsh cakes and coffee. Proceeds went to Med Serve, the highly experienced medical service attending to severe accidents around the country.

If you would like to know more about Cowbridge Rotary Club and its activities, then please speak to any Rotarian or click here to contact us. Everyone is welcome, Croeso i bawb.

Interact Rally

Congratulations to Poopy Ramsay and Eleanor Osbourne of the Cowbridge School Interact Club who attended the D1150 Interact Rally held at the Gilwern Outdoor Education Centre. Apart from rock climbing, gorge walking, canoeing and several other activities there was time to discuss Interact and to make new friends. Poppy and Eleanor will be invited to talk to club at our Youth Evening in November.

COWBRIDGE ROTARY and FOODBANK DONATION

On Wednesday 29^th January, the Rotary Club of Cowbridge donated £1000 worth of groceries and toiletries to the Vale Food Bank.

Several full trolleys were received from Matthew, Store Manager at Filco Cowbridge; and with the assistance of the President of the Club, Piero Fulgoni and other members, transported to the Foodbank Warehouse in Thompson Street in Barry. The donations were well received and appreciated by the staff at the centre. All donations are weighed on arrival, and ours came to 222kg.

 The donation was made possible by a matching grant from the District 1150 Committee, to which Cowbridge Rotary Club belongs to. The Club is very grateful for this support.

 The amount of stock received at the warehouse in the month of December was 5191kg, but the amount given out was 7476kg.  96 households had been referred for the first time in that month. The most needed items currently are sugar, corned beef, microwave pasta, jam and carrier bags. Please consider these when you do your shopping in February.

 Cowbridge Rotary Club has been supporting the Vale Food bank for several years now, and before Christmas, our junior Interact,club, at Cowbridge School donated many hampers, again from Filco, to the Food Bank. President Piero has nominated the charity as one of his preferred for this Rotary year. The raffles at the previous Cowbridge Food and Drink festivals have also benefited the Vale Food Bank.

 If after reading this article, you wish to learn more about Rotary and it’s activities, please approach one of the Rotarians, visit the club website, or come along to one of the car boot sales that will restart in April. We welcome any volunteers and potential new members – there is room for everyone.

Cowbridge School Food Hampers

Congratulations to all the Year 7 and 8 classes at Cowbridge School who donated food for the Vale Food Bank and made incrediblehampers to enter in the competition.
The designs were many and various and they all contained a wonderful collection of food donations. Judging of the competition by the school for the best hamper was based not only on design but the food content. Thanks also to the Interact Club for organmising the competition. Click on the image to see some photos of the hampers taken during the presentation of the hampers to the Vale Food Bank by Interact President Elin Potter and Deputy Head Jonathan Ling and a couple of Rotarians!

If you appreciate the work done by Rotary and would like to donate, please use the button above.

The RotaKids of Y Bont Faen Primary School had a stall at the school fair selling items they had made and some End-Polio-Now key rings. They raised a total of £49 for the Rotary Polio eradication programme. Well done RotaKids!

Young Musician - Instrumental

On Wednesday 20th November, seven talented pupils from Cowbridge Comprehensive School competed in the Club round of the RotaryYoung Musician Competition - Instumental. The performances on the piano, violin, trumpet and trumbone were all of a very high standard and the judging was not an easy task. The winner was Osian Bowen who played a spellbinding piano performance of the 2nd Movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata No8 in C Minor followed by Ostinato from Mikrokosmos by Bartok. The runner-up was Isabel Harris who played "Blues", Violin Sonata No 2 by Ravel and "Andantina" from Hoimeland by Smetana.

During the period when the adjudicators were making their decision, the audience were entertained by the School Concert Band.

Charity Quiz

A successful and enjoyable Charity Quiz was held with 19 teams representing local associations was held in the Cowbridge Scout Hall on Saturday, 16th November. More information and pictures coming soon.