May 2013 Wheelpower Rotary Club Marathon around East Anglia

The District wide notebook marathon reached Cambridge City on Saturday 11th May 2013.

The notebook has travelled all across East Anglia and each club fills a page, then passes it on.  Each leg of the journey aims to be on a different method of transport - we have chosen to go by Cambridge punt !

The Sawston Club brought the notebook to meet the Cambridge, Cambridge-Rutherford and South-Cambridge Clubs at Magdalene Bridge, Cambridge at 10am. Collectors were out to raise as much money as possible for the excellent Wheelpower charity, which buys individually adapted sports wheelchairs for the disabled who want to remain as active as possible - £73.94 was raised on the day and more collected at the 4 club meetings - £2,000 in Total. A brilliant result ! (Nearly £20,000 raised across the District so far and more to come !)

The three presidents Mike Smith (South Cambridge), Paul Breen (Cambridge Rutherford) and Simon Lake (Sawston) and PE John (Cambridge) had great fun punting up through Jesus Lock and then paddling all the way to Baits Bite Lock. Meanwhile President Gary Hartwig (Littleport Club) had a delightful river cruise down via Ely with several motorboats full of rotarians and friends who raised funds along their journey.

Everyone was welcome to join them for photos and a picnic at lunch time and to really enjoy this meeting of clubs !

Thanks to the chef for opening the doors to the Plough!
Thanks to Dick and the Cam Conservators.
Thanks to Scudamores for the punt.
Thanks to Alan for arranging the permission to collect etc.
Thanks to the (Cambridge) Presidents' men - in the punt!
Thanks to all the collectors and the supporters.

A WHEELIE GOOD IDEA NOVEMBER 2012

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Five months in to the project and over half the clubs have completed their events and visits and it sounds as though great fun has been had by all! Thank you to everyone who has been in touch and especially to those intrepid Rotarians who have completed their interclub expeditions. Over £4000 has been banked with more funds promised as sponsorship monies are collected.

What are the objectives?

• To celebrate the Olympic & Paralympic Games
• To promote fellowship between Clubs
• To promote Rotary through local publicity
• To fundraise for WheelPower leaving a lasting sporting legacy in the wake of the Games through the purchase of manual sports wheelchairs for worthy young disabled recipients in East Anglia
• To show that Rotary can be fun!

How does it work?

Each club makes a journey to a nearby Club to share a meal and fellowship. They carry a small notebook in which each president can write a short message. Members from this Club travel to the next Club continuing the fellowship relay. The organisers objective is to involve as many Clubs as possible in the District, which has 77 Clubs in total. We have the whole Rotary year to complete this project , up to June 2013.