President's Diary for March

Another busy month for the club


Since last Guest Evening when Jane Burnett gave an excellent talk on the exchange visit to Ghana with All Saints School we have had the visit to help pack 60 Water Survival Boxes at Midsummer Norton

March was a five-week month and the first Tuesday was committees. Amongst other things:

International are considering a coach trip to the Hampton Court flower show on July 7th

Foundation are going ahead with a Casino Night at the Aqua on 28th May and also hope to put on a cricket match

Community are making arrangements for the community tea for the elderly later this year and are planning a Rodwell trail walk to support prostate cancer around Father’s Day

Youth are proposing a show case for local youth groups in the summer

March 5th saw the Quiz night at the Aqua organised by Sarah. Quiz master Iain was excellent with a good sense of humour and questions pitched just right at our sort of level. As ever Aqua did an excellent buffet and along with a raffle £176.00 was raised towards benevolent fund.

The 8th saw your President give a talk on two projects in Ethiopia which were given grants by the Rotary Foundation. One project was to train midwives and to sponsor fistula operations. There are 4,500 fistulae that occur every year in Ethiopia due to obstructed childbirth where a hole forms between the vagina and bladder or bowel after the baby’s head has got stuck and damages the surrounding tissues. There are no cases in the UK due to childbirth. Training midwives will obviously prevent this from happening and sponsoring operations helps to alleviate the toll.

The other project was to train local people in remote villages to give the contraceptive injection. This means that locals are educated in contraception and can choose when and how many children to have. This helps to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, illegal abortions, fistulae, maternal and neonatal deaths. This is a sustainable social marketing project that will last well into the future.

The table top sale was on Saturday 12th March to benefit the Alzheimer's Association, who run a local group "Singing for the Brain". This raised £150.00 for them. Thanks to Carolyn, Alan, Keith, Sarah, Rachel and Dave.

The District Quiz in Frome started off with promise but sadly the end result was Portland finished 8th out of 23.

Business meeting, we were pleased to draw a cheque for £1333.00 in favour of the Okhle Village Trust as the balance of our contribution (We had already given £600.00) towards this year’s project in Nepal for the Baspani water project totalling £5500.00 in total. Building work will start next month

Tuesday 22nd was at the Balti House on Portland organised by Chrissie. As there were five Tuesdays the extra night was used to have a fun social evening and an excellent meal with huge quantities. One member who was unable to come donated her meal costs to Foundation. Thanks to Rosie for organizing the fun quiz.

Related pages...

Presidents Diary

more September 2022

Presidents Diary

more August 2022

Presidents Diary

more July 2022

President's Diary December

more What we have achieved last month and what's coming up for Christmas

Presidents Diary

more November 2021 by Celia

Presidents Diary

more September 2021

Presidents Diary

more Celia on our theme and vision for the next year

Presidents Diary

more June 2021

President's Diary

more Year Summary 2020-2021

Presidents Diary

more April 2021

Presidents Diary

more March 2021

Presidents Diary

more February 2021

President’s Diary

more January 2021

President Elizabeth's Diary

more November 2020

President Elizabeth's Diary

more October 2020

President Elizabeth's Diary

more September 2020

President Elizabeth's Diary

more August 2020

President Elizabeth's Diary

more July 2020

Rotary year 2015 -2016 -

more Notes from Club Assembly 16 June 2015

District Conference

more October 2019

Haylands Preschool

more Photos of the new shelter at Haylands preschool built with money partly raised from Rotary and the trip to Longleat

April 2018

more President's Diary

March Diary 2018

more From President Ian

September 2017

more President Ian's Jottings

October Diary 2017

more Oct 2017

August 2017 Jottings

more from Ian

July 2017 Jottings

more from Ian

June Diary

more Dave's Final Month

April + May's Diary

more Penultimate instalment from Dave

March Diary

more President Dave's summary for March

February Diary

more President Dave's latest diary entry

DECEMBER 2016 + JANUARY 2017

more President Dave's Diary

NOVEMBER 2016

more Diary

OCTOBER 2016

more President's Diary

SEPTEMBER 2016

more President Dave's Diary

AUGUST 2016

more President's Diary

President's Diary - July 2016

more Dave's first Diary

President's Diary for June

more The last month of this Rotary year!

Our water projects in Nepal

Prsident's Diary May 2016

more The penultimate month of this year

President's Diary for April

more Our ongoing programme

February 2016

more Ongoing diary

January 2016

more Into the New Year

December 2015

more The run up to Christmas

November 2015

more & the Club Visit to Nepal

October 2015

more Ongoing diary of the President

September 2015

more Back from the Baltics

August 2015

more Continuation of the President's Diary

July 2015

more Life of the President in the first month

Club Assembly

more May 2015 Plan for 2015/2016

back to page above this...

President's Diary

back Club Assembly 2020 Address by President Elect Elizabeth