Meeting with partners, 6.45 for 7pm

Mon, Jan 31st 2022 at 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Speaker: John Marshall, "How to get paid for pratting around"


In the picture: This meeting's speaker, John Marshall, with Club President Kathy Hobson and Rotarian Bob Humphries.

“How to get paid for pratting around” was the title John Marshall gave to his talk.  Not surprisingly he started by saying he finds it difficult when people ask: “What do you do for a living?”  He likes to respond with: “I’m an edutainer” but perhaps a more understandable answer is simply “I talk”.

The facts are that he educates young children, usually in primary schools, in an entertaining and amusing way.  In “creative workshops” and using props he makes history and science fun.  The props he uses include such things as a squid in a bottle, to demonstrate Archimedes Principle, and a pair of women’s tights to show of all things how the colon and bowels work in the human body.  In the history workshops he gets the children to recreate battles and dress up.  Boudica, the queen of the Iceni, repelling the invading Roman army is a popular one.

He works mainly in London schools but also entertains at children’s birthday parties.  He was once paid to travel all the way to Qatar for just 25 minutes’ worth of work.  He’s also worked on a cruise ship out of Southampton bound for the Caribbean, performing for just three quarters of an hour each day.  Once he was the Fat Controller on a Thomas the Tank Engine Day on a heritage railway line, but not being portly enough for that character, he is now more often Dusty or Rusty.

He's sometimes asked to do private bookings and on one of those occasions he “edutained” Katherine Jenkins’ two children.  Other bookings have included BBC Radio Wiltshire and the BBC Countryfile Open Days at Blenheim Palace and he’s also a qualified media trainer.

On behalf of all present, Club member Bob Humphries thanked John for a highly amusing talk.

'What We Do' Main Pages:

The world stands on the brink of the complete eradication of Polio. With your help we can end this dreadful disease for ever. Together we can make history

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A Partner Club is a Rotary club that supports ShelterBox's work in disaster relief by donating over £2,000 in a Rotary year

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24th October is World Polio Day

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From Rotary Club local heats to national finals, Rotary Youth Competitions in a range of creative areas let young people’s skills flourish.

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Brighter Futures launched their Radiotherapy Appeal in 2015. Today, 7 years later, a ribbon cutting ceremony has taken place at the Great Western Hospital

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£1286 has been sent from our Emergency Disaster Fund to the Disasters Emergency Committee UKRAINE HUMANITARIAN APPEAL

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Rotary’s second major donation, of £208,000, was handed over on 7th July 2021 when local Rotarians visited the Great Western Hospital to view the build progress of the nearly completed radiotherapy unit.

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A brief summary of our Rotary year ending 30/06/2023

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Giving money and support to the people in Swindon & district who need it most

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We went to the races in March. It was a meeting with 10 races, 8 riders in each. It wasn’t at Epsom, or Haydock Park, or just up the M4 at Newbury. It was, of all places, in Wanborough Village Hall.

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"In musical entertainment Swindon punches way above its weight. Some of the youngsters we've heard tonight will go on to make a name for themselves"

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The Rotary Club of North Wiltshire (the name was changed to the Rotary Club of Swindon North in 2008) received its charter from Rotary International on 28th September 1966

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Rotarian Terry Williams' remarkable and unique fund raising effort, living in a ShelterBox emergency tent for a week in the Market Place, Highworth

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