Wessex Mead (Trowbridge) Rotary Club

December is a month of collecting as many charitable organisations, including ourselves, rely on the generosity of members of the public during December, to assist with the funding of their cause throughout the year.

We started the month with our own collection at the Tesco Extra Store in Trowbridge, ably assisted by a pair of Penguins and Father Christmas, who would have thought that you would have seen Penguins in Tesco?  The day raised around £160, which we will put to good use in the Trowbridge area, when it is needed. 

We assisted with the Trowbridge Lions club with their annual door to door collection in the Silver Street Lane area.  We had a rather wet night, but that is all forgotten when you see people’s excited looks when Father Christmas comes to their door.

Our final collections were during the week before Christmas when we assisted the Trowbridge Rotary Club with their annual collection in the Shires Shopping Centre, the Penguins made a repeat appearance on Christmas Eve which brightened up the day for many a shopper.

On the social side, our club members enjoyed a Christmas Meal at the Old Bear Staverton, and some of our members attended the Trowbridge Rotary Christmas Meal at West Ashton Village Hall.  The New Year was seen in with a sociable evening at a members House.

Happy New Year to you All.

On March 18th 2012 the club will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of being chartered.  To celebrate we are holding a James Bond themed Black Tie Dinner and Casino at the Standerwick Centre, Frome. 

We would love any former members to come along and help us celebrate this landmark and re-live some of the things we've done over the last 10 years.

Tickets will cost £30 each, for more information  contact Liz Gouldson.

Wessex Mead (Trowbridge) Rotary Club was chartered in 2002. We have a varied membership made up of men and women from the local business and professional community. With an average age of less than 45 years, Wessex Mead has a much younger make-up than most other Rotary clubs. This youthful composition is reflected in the events and activities we engage in.  

(The photo shows some of the Club members and their families at Hope Nature Centre in Trowbridge where we planted Crocus's as part of the Polio Plus Campaign - see the events pages for more information) 

The Rotary Club of Wessex Mead are currently looking for a new home for our meetings  as our old home at Red or White in Trowbridge is being refurbished.

We meet on Monday evenings at 7.30, but we are a very active club, so please check our Calendar or contact our club secretary to find out where we are.  

Joining a Rotary club is an excellent way to develop new friendships as well as get involved in worthwhile service projects both in the local community and further afield. If you would like to learn more about Rotary membership please get in touch with us.

The Trowbridge Carnival Quiz on Monday 17th October was a great success with over £350 raised for Carnival charities.

Over 20 teams entered an evening of varied quiz rounds, including one that "lead us up the garden path" and another called "Time please" - relating to all things boozy!  In the middle of the evening we had a break for a fish and chip supper, brought to us from Robinsons fish and chip shop, during this time we were able to finish a seperate picture round showing familiar sights in Wiltshire towns and villages.

The overall quiz winners were regular supporters of the Wessex Mead quiz nights, and took away some chocolates and wine, they really know their New Zealand facts from their Trophies. 

Carnival Quiz Winners

On the other hand, the winners of the picture round had to be decided by a tie breaker - any idea how many people are registered as living in Trowbridge?  If you said around 23,000, you could have won the big bag of sweets!!

Carnival Picture round winners

Wessex Mead Rotary sponsors the Young Persons Award at the Annual Trowbridge in Bloom presentation evening.  The event is now so popular that both President David & President Elect Caroline were asked to present at seperate evenings on Thursday 22nd & Tuesday 27th September.

“The Friends of Trowbridge in Bloom Committee present this award to a young person or group of young people who they feel have ‘gone the extra mile’ and by their actions have contributed significantly to the ‘IN BLOOM’ Campaign in 2011 

 

The Mead Gardening Club

District 1200 conference 2010 was hosted by the Rotary Club of Chippenham in the city of Plymouth over the weekend of 7th-9th October.  Every year the district conference gives Rotarians the opportunity to take a step away from everyday life and reflect on the objects of Rotary.

This year we were treated to some fantastic speakers who shared their thoughts and experiences in powerful stories and presentations.

Party Night - Thunderbirds

Black tie night

The Wessex Mead Young Chef Competition took place at Trowbridge College on Wednesday 21st September.  Students from Trowbridge St Augustine's Catholic College and Lavington School took part. The 4 students did us proud as always, and the standard was very high. 

The winner was Jessica Lauga from St Augustine's Catholic College - yummy duck ( duck breast on a bed of sweet potato and ginger mash with cream spinach and broccoli) followed by a lemon, mango and passion fruit roulade. Jessica said "I've been helping my mum in the kitchen since I was a kid, so all that experience has obviously paid off. I'm excited about the possibility of winning such a fabulous prize and can't wait for the next stage".

The winning menu

Mobile health clinic in Gramedika

Wessex Mead Rotary are very proud to update you on our international project providing a mobile health clinic in Indonesia: 

In 2008, Hugo Pike lead the District 1200 GSE team on a five week visit to East and Central Java, Indonesia.

One of the outcomes of the visit was a request for funding support to enable a number of Rotary projects to be funded by way of Matching Grants. Matching Grants support international humanitarian service projects. Rotary clubs or districts from two countries work collaboratively to implement a project.  

Wessex Mead became the lead club for a project to provide health and dental care services to street children in Yogyakarta using a mobile clinic operation.  However we couldn’t have done this without help from other Rotary clubs in District 1200, most importantly Wrington Vale Rotary Club who made a considerable donation to the project. The project ran from September 2010 until June 2011, slightly delayed by the eruption of the local Merapi volcano when all medical attention was diverted to help with this crisis.

The mobile clinic made 144 regular visits to 6 strategic meeting points which spread over the Yogyakarta urban area in one year.  A total of 3,366 patients from 22 street children communities have felt the benefit of this project by raising awareness of health and health care issues. 

Wessex Mead is extremely proud that we were able to help this worthwhile project and hope that the work can continue in Yogyakarta.

Mobile Health Clinic in action

The Rotary Club of Wessex Mead (Trowbridge)

are looking for new members to enable us to carry out more local, international and environmental projects.

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 Do you have some spare time? 

Are you looking to put something back into your community?

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The Rotary Club of Wessex Mead may be for you!