Cheltenham North News

Cheltenham North News

             This is a selection of our activities over the past twelve months

Website Links

Links to Rotary and other relevant sites can be found at the bottom of the Home Page under Popular Pages and then click “Links” and then the link you wish to access.

A New Member for Cheltenham North June 2022

We are pleased to welcome Heath Wilson as a Member of our Club

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Firstly may I thank all of you who have contributed towards our final Centenary Event, by helping on the day, or in the organisation over the last year, or obtaining sponsored strips. The good news to date is that we have £5,600 pounds in the bank after payment of expenses and there are still outstanding payments expected to take the total to well over £6000.

In addition we were presented with the attached painting ( 20cms X 24cms) by renowned local artist PJ Crook MBE, which we are offering for sale by auction to Cheltenham Rotarians in who might like to have this memento of the event or simply would like to own this valuable piece of art. PJ has already had an offer from a Japanese follower of £1000 after she posted it on her social media platforms and selling in a gallery she would have a price tag of £2500 for this size painting.

We already have a bid for £1200 but if anyone would like to offer more please feel free to contact me and place your bid - the more the painting fetches, the greater our final result to give to the End Polio Campaign. We are intending to keep the Just Giving Webb site open for another month to allow for any late contributions. If you would like to bid for the painting please do so by the end of June.

Once we are confident we have received all the contributions we are expected to get, Paul Clark will produce a balance sheet and we will divide the sum total by 3 so that each Club will be making a significant contribution to the eradication of Polio.

Once more our grateful thanks to your help in another successful event in the Centenary year of Rotary in Cheltenham.

YIR

David Price

Rotary Club of Cheltenham

Mobile : 07803 601157

Email : dw.price@ btinternet .com

14th April 2022 Cheltenham North Celebrates 50 Years as a Rotary Club

On 14th April Cheltenham North Celebrated 50 year's as a Rotary Club with a
Celebration Dinner at the Queen's Hotel Cheltenham with Guests, Speaker Alex Chalk MP, Steve Harvey Mayor, and District Governor Graham Ogden.

The Host for the Evening was President Geoff Fox.

March 2022 Support for Ukraine

Cheltenham North Rotary Club Members, together with Rotarians from Bishops Cleeve and Members of 41 Club collected donations from "Punters" at the Cheltenham Race Festival on Tuesday 15th March.

This collection together with nearly £6000 donated by Cheltenham North Members means that a magnificant sum of nearly £32000 has been raised to support Ukraine.

We are very grateful to all those whom have supported this cause at this difficult time.

Please see Featured Page on the Home Page for Rotary Statement on Ukraine

Centenary Tree Planting

Replacement trees

In January, Nature First replaced the 6 failed trees (mainly oaks) in various locations around town. The contract included replacement to be covered at the contractor’s expense.

As well as these trees, there were the 7 vandalised ones which required additional funding to replace and install wire mesh cages to give further protection. Fortunately, several generous individuals and organisations have been able to assist with raising sufficient funds to cover the costs to enable them all to be replaced with good sized trees.

Adam Henson’s planting of 100th Tree

On Thursday 27th January we had help from Adam Henson, of Country File, to plant the 100th Rotary Centenary Tree at Montpellier roundabout. The large specimen ornamental pear tree (Pyrus calleryana Chanticleer) was donated by David Evans, President of Cheltenham Rotary Club and his wife Gina in memory of their dog, Lucca.

Despite the dull weather, there was a good turnout of members and partners from all clubs and the District Governor, Graham Ogden, which was all photographed by our Chief Photographer, Michael Rouse.

Karl Stuckey, Director of Nature First, was responsible for the planting and has erected a substantial cage structure to protect it in this busy area of town.

Tree Planting to mark 50th anniversary of Cheltenham North Club

Following on from the success of planting 100 trees for the Rotary Centenary, we are planning to plant 50 more trees for the Cheltenham North’s club milestone this year.

During lockdown, when people were unable to spend money on holidays and treats, it was easier to find sponsorship. However, we realise that people are concerned about the additional costs of heating etc. and will be more reluctant to commit to funding these trees. It is encouraging that several individuals are interested in sponsoring trees and I am sure we will meet our target.

David Evans has found a source of funding for some of the trees by encouraging County Councillors to use part of their Build Back Better allocation to improve the environment in their area. Whilst this has involved liaising with many Councillors to try to agree potential locations, and complete multiple grant application forms, we are starting to obtain grant approval.

We are very pleased to welcome Maureen Mcvitty, and Avril and Tim Badham as members of our Club.

The 43rd Annual Carol Concert was held at the Ladies College Princess Elizabeth Hall, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham. GL50 3EP.

Organist John Ussell

Leckhampton Junior School Choir

The Cheltenham Silver Band

Danielle Smithson Soloiest.

Cranham Handbell Ringers

The Compere was Mark Cummings of BBC Radio Gloucester.

The event raised approximately £4000 for Rotary Charities

Cheltenham Wine Festival October 2021

                                The following is a copy of an initial report to our members

The 6th Cheltenham Wine festival took place on Saturday 30 October 2021. It is with a feeling of some relief that I am able to say that, because the 5th Cheltenham Wine Festival never actually happened, cancellation being forced on us by COVID. Once again the event was housed at the Pittville Pump Room and consisted of two sessions, each with a maximum capacity of 240 tasters. Both sessions were sold out.

This year, on the day, we had 22 wine exhibitors displaying their wares and offering tastings and wines to purchase. My target had been 24 wine exhibitors but it has proved quite a difficult year for some of our regulars with several unable to take part for various reasons. We did manage to attract five first-time exhibitors which is a promising sign for future years. We actually had 23 wine exhibitors this year until one from France dropped out on the Tuesday before the event, feeling unable to expose her staff to the COVID risk in the UK.

In addition to the wine exhibitors we had our usual charcuterie stand, a new cheese supplier and a home-made cookie baker.

The day proved very successful. The tasters seemed happy as they left, their mood no doubt bouyed up by the excellent wines that they had sampled. We have had several complimentary emails from exhibitors, all saying that they would like to come back next year. One has expressed some uncertainty about next year as they are up for sale!

Many thanks also to the Wine Festival Committee, who made the whole thing happen, and to all those members and their spouses and partners who helped on the day. This support does not go unnoticed. To quote feedback from one of our exhibitors, “I have to say that the team of organisers and support staff at the event were first class, everyone was so helpful and proactive with coming round refilling water bottles. They really were excellent, please pass on our thanks to all involved”.

And so with the 2021 Cheltenham Wine Festival safely and successfully behind us, we look forward to the 7th Cheltenham Wine Festival, to be help at

the Pittville Pump Room on Saturday 29 October 2022. Put the date in your diary!

School in the Bag Nepal

We have recently donated £1,350 to School ina Bag.  This is towards the charity’s fundraising for East Point Academy and ShreeTerse Secondary School.  These schools were situated on the banks of the Melamci

River in the Sindhupalchowk region of Nepal and have been destroyed in the unprecedented monsoon flooding this season. 

Two Garden Parties, organised by Sue Jenkins, were held at her home to celebrate the Centenary Trees Project. Present were Supporters, other local Rotary Club Members and Rotarians and Partners from Cheltenham North.

All the Pictures of the events can be found within Photo Album of Events in the "What we Do" area in the home page of this website.

In our 50th Celebration year Geoff Fox has taken over the reins as the President of Cheltenham North. The Handover was done via Zoom at the Club Meeting on 1st July 2021

We are grateful to Richard purdon for guiding us through a very difficult Covid Year.

Details of our Club Officers and Committees can be found ithe What we Do area of the Club Website.

Pictures of the "Club Team"  for 2021/22 can be found by going to the bottom of the Club Website Home Page.

On Tuesday 23rd February we will be celebrating Rotary Day – the 116th anniversary of the founding of Rotary, by Paul Harris. Crocus bulbs were planted in celebration. Some pictures can be found with this document.

January 2021 Community Connexions a New Vehicle

The Cheltenham North Members have made a significant contribution towards the purchase of a vehicle for Community Connexions.

Community Connexions have sourced a vehicle, it is a Peugeot Expert Independence Automatic, with the necessary wheelchair accessibility.

More details can be found within the Community Connexions Feature Item also on the Home Page of this website.

January 2021 A New member for Cheltenham North

RCCN welcomes new member David Hearle to the club. We look forward to getting to know him better.

October 2020 The start of the Centenary Trees Project.

To Celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Cheltenham the four Cheltenham Rotary Clubs are collaborating with a number of projects. (Please see the other featured page on the Centenary Celebrations for details of all the proposed Projects.)

The Centenary Trees project has been developed with support from Businesses, Friends and Members.

Locations for all the Trees have been identified following discussions with Cheltenham Borough Council, Cheltenham Borough Homes and Gloucestershire County Council.

More details can be found within the other "Featured Page" Centenary Trees Project on this Home page. All pictures taken of this project can also be found within "Photo Galleries" that you can access through the "What we Do" area at the top of the Home Page of this website.

Donations 2020/21 (November 2020)

Following successful auctions organised by the International Committee a further significant payment has been made to the "Charity" School in the Bag for the Children in Nepal

Pictures of the Pupils with their bags can be seen with this document.

A payment has also been made to CCP Cheltenham for the provision of Christmas Parcels for needy families in the Cheltenham area.

A letter has been received from CCP please see "Letters Received" in the "What we Do" area.

Donations 2020/21 (September 2020)

Significant donations have been made to the following;

Gloucestershire Young Carers

Linc.

International Charities

Marie Curie

In addition Cheltenham North have agreed to support the purchase of a vehicle for Community Connexions. Monies are being raised towards this purchase.