Wessex Mead (Trowbridge) Rotary Club

Did you come and visit us at Trowbridge Carnival Country Fayre on Saturday 3rd September in Trowbridge Park? Were you lucky on our Wine or Air stall or our children's hoopla stall helping us to raise money for Rotary Charities?   

The event was the 35th anniversary of Carnival Country Fayre in Trowbridge and was opened by the founder of the event, Mr Richard Young. This year saw a Car Boot Sale; stalls; displays; music; fairground rides; kids rides; quad bikes; paddling boats and much more. The park was busy all day with people enjoying the late summer warmth whilst exploring the stalls and entertainment on offer. 

Wine or Air?

Rotary membership is about fun, friendship and fundraising, so one evening in July we invited our neighbouring Rotary Club of Westbury friends to a friendly evening of skittles with fish and chips at The Organ, Warminster.

The teams were mixed to include members from both clubs, Ann lead one team and Stan lead the other.  Team Ann won the first two legs convincingly, but they slowed up after the wonderful fish and chip supper that we purchased from the Portway Fish Bar nearby, allowing team Stan's team to take the 'trophy' at the end of the night.

Thanks went to Adam who did all the sticking up - apparently 18 people x 5 legs x 3 balls = a lot of bending down!

Skittles at The Organ with Westbury RC

On Monday 4th July, members of the club made the most of the long warm summer evening to visit Bradford on Avon, where the Kingston Archers kindly hosted an evening of target practice.  This has become an annual event, and I do believe we are improving! after only one practice round, all arrows were on the board and many were in the gold. 

The true test came after a welcome cuppa when the Archers decided it must be too easy and doubled the distance to the target! Thank you to Kingston Archers for your expert tuition, and see you again next summer.

The Archers

On Monday 6th June, a group of us ventured to Westbury to view a demonstration on the basic skills of resuscitation, kindly arranged by Vicky. This took place at the St. Johns Ambulance headquarters and Vicky’s colleagues treated us to an informative evening.

The father and son team talked us through everything you might need to do in an emergency as a first responder. The First Responders are contacted by Ambulance control and asked to attend emergencies in their area. The type of emergencies include unconsciousness, chest pain, stroke or breathing difficulties and can be in the home, in the street or in the work-place. An emergency ambulance is always dispatched to any incident attended by a First Responder. 

We were demonstrated resusitation on their lifelike models then the brave amongst us were invited to have a try. Unfortunately it appears none of us were brave enough to recite "Nellie the elephant" whilst giving 30 compressions. They also showed us what to do if someone choked (including for babies and small children). After all this we were shown their all terrain ambulance and explained the kind of situation where it is used.

Wessex Mead Rotary took all the children from Larkrise school, Trowbridge for a Fun Day out!

This is the second year that Wessex Mead Rotary have facilitated for 60 of the children from Larkrise school to be part of KidsOut. We had great fun, dodging the showers and seeing all the animals.  Mary Seaman from Larkrise told us that this is a special day for the whole school, it is within easy distance to travel, and the facilities are ideal for all the children to enjoy.

Tackling fears at Kids out

A Fun Day out for children with special needs

Around 1,000 children with special needs will be treated to an extraordinary day out at Longleat on Wednesday 8th June, thanks to the annual Rotary KidsOut Day event KidsOut targets young people aged between 5 and 12, who either attend special schools or are in special units at mainstream schools. The scheme started locally in 1992, and at least 500 children have taken part every year since 1999 - with over 1,000 benefiting last year. Some 30 Rotary Clubs from Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire join forces to provide a wonderful day out for the children, who are nominated for the treat by their schools or other organisations involved in their care.

Over the Easter Weekend, Wessex Mead Rotary Club welcomed 5 members (and their partners) from the Rotary club of Rodez Espalion to stay with us in our homes in Trowbridge.  The Rotary Club of Rodez Espalion is based in the Aveyron region of France.

We made the most of the fabulous weather with a variety of activities, including a traditional picnic overlooking the Severn Bridge at Portishead; a fish and chip evening with skittles in a local pub; plus visits to Bradford on Avon, Lacock, Avebury, Bristol and beyond. We have been looking forward to this cultural exchange with the view to the clubs twinning in the near future. 

A group from our club visited The Rotary Club of Rodez in September 2009 and enjoyed their generous hospitality, so this Easter Weekend gave us an opportunity to give them a Wessex Mead welcome to Wiltshire.

For a full report please click on read more...

Saturday Night - Skittles night

The Group in Bradford on Avon

On Sunday 10th April, members from Wessex Mead joined 100's of other Rotarians walking along the Kennet and Avon Canal to raise money for It's Child'splay that support Children's Hospices throughout the UK. The weather was perfect, blue skies and sunshine, we had a wonderful walk watching spring unfold along the towpath, we saw an array of all kinds of wildlife; fauna and flora; we were expecting a quiet, peaceful amble along at 10 am on a Sunday, but there was a hive of activity with barges, boats, runners, walkers and cyclists. 

The Rotary Club of Melksham organised the event, they divided the 86 miles from Reading to Bristol into 19 sections, they then sent out a challenge to walk one or more sections.  After the success of the first walk last year, raising £6000, the organisers hoped this year would raise even more,         

Wessex Mead Walkers

Crocus

It is certainly spring at Southwick Country Park and here are the fruits of our labour from the planting of crocuses there last October.  Clumps of beautiful purple flowers representing the Purple Pinkie - Thanks for Life -  Polio eradication, have emerged in the area going up from the main car park to Squirrel's tea rooms.

The Focus on the Crocus campaign was a national event working in partnership with The Eden Project, the International Flower Bulb Centre (IBC),The National Trust, Learning Through Landscape and others. Thousands of volunteers joined in the Big Bulb Plant by planting millions of purple crocus bulbs in the autumn: With a headline publicity event in Trafalgar Square and the opportunity for all sites around Great Britain and Ireland to break the Guinness World Record during October, Focus on the Crocus is building communities, bridging continents.

Southwick Crocus

planting in October 2010