Great Speaker Meeting This Past Monday - AUTISM AWARENESS

NORSACA Speaker
We had the most wonderful speaker meeting this past Monday evening as we welcomed Melanie Howard from NORSACA, which is an Autism Charity serving both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

The group was set up in 1968 by parents and in 1970 they opened at the Sutherland House School in Nottingham and have been serving local autism people now for 45 years.

Autism is a life long condition and effects 1% of the population and with 4 times as many men. It affects social communication, integration and imagination with around 50% having learning difficulties.

There are 22 sites in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and they employ 450 . The sites in Derbyshire includ e an adult centre at Heanor and also a residential one along with 3 supportive living centres

The members heard first hand the stories of two people who attend 5 days a week at the Heanor centre which gives their parents much needed rest bite. At this centre they are currently working on the development of a sensory garden which again will help the many needs of the people.

The Group helps families by reducing strain, give advice and also held training workshops last year for 220 parents and carers. They produced a training programme last year which was given to 1,700 professions.

There will be a 2 week summer play scheme which last year attracted 56 people and they also have regular play and leisure activities on a weekly basis. They are looking to develop a Sports Club.

Melanie in summing up said the aim of NORSACA is to bring “Quality of life for people with Autism”

This is a charity near and dear to my heart that I hope our Club can support in my Presidential year. 

HINNERUP RC, DENMARK

This Bank Holiday weekend will feature a journey to Denmark with several other Rotarians from our Club to visit our twin club in Hinnerup. The schedule of fellowship activities is very full and I look forward to reporting back to you about all aspects of this journey. 

Here is a taster of what we have in store:

Saturday :

Sailing to “Sky Mountain” ( Himmelbjerget – 147 m) and lunch, before sailing back to Ry

Banquet / formal dinner with speaks and music

Sunday :

The afternoon to Fyrkat ( www.fyrkat.dk )which is a Viking fortress, and we are booket to the Viking Games (show)

Farewell reception

Until then hope you all have a great weekend!

Greg

OAP Party, International Mexican Food Evening & Castle Donington Charter

It has been yet again another busy month. The Club is certainly vibrant and all members participating in a variety of activities and fellowship events. It is hard to imagine that with 5 weeks left there is even more BIG events on the horizon.

ANNUAL OAP PARTY
Yesterday afternoon we held our annual OAP party and once again it was a major success. All hands were to the pump and a delightful afternoon was had by all. These pictures tell a thousand words. We certainly were amazed at the energy level of some of the OAP's in attendance. They do know how to dance and the video is quite good to watch. It seemed that our own Rotarian's lead some of the dancing and special thanks needs to go to Adrian and Ray for dancing with the ladies. Watch the video below. You can't miss it.

Special thanks must go to the Service Projects Committee for sorting the whole evening out and Inner Wheel who helped prepare the whole meal. They worked their socks off. Also, thanks to all Rotarians who helped out with food prep, driving and any other aspect of the event.

Inner Wheel Kitchen Team

All set up before our guests arrive

Some of our guests enjoying the meal and conversation

OPA's of all ages attend and some of
them are real sparks!

John Gregory as our bus ticket master and
Clive our musician entertainer

Flowers that each OAP
receives when leaving.
Thanks for organising it once again John.

The hall was full to max once again.

My girlfriend I see year on year.
She is so much
fun to talk to.

Clive in his element

Enjoying the dancing

Adrian showing his moves in Lets Twist Again

Showoff.

Adrian's partner certainly enjoyed her dance with him. 

Ray waltzing with his new found partner.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD EVENING - MEXICAN
What a superb evening of food and entertainment put on by our International team last weekend. It was great to see so many in attendance. The food was fantastic and the quiz challenging. major thanks to all the International team for your efforts as we all enjoyed the whole affair. The costumes were great too!

Everyone got into the spirit

Great to see Bob who phoned everyone in the club
to make sure attendance was 100%

Head Amigo

Nachos starter. My favourite!

Packed hall. Great fellowship event.

CASTLE DONNINGTON CHARTER EVENING
Secretary Tony and I attended the Castle Donnington 40th Charter evening. We had a great time of celebration for President Ray Webb and all of CDRC. I was given the honour of replying to a toast on behalf of all guests. Thank you Ray and all members of CDRC for a superb evening.

So, as you can see I was right. Busy as ever and the Club is superb as always!

See you next time!

Greg

29th Charter Celebrations USA Visit

Last week we celebrated the 29th Charter of our Club. What a fantastic evening it was. All I got to say is that it was a superb team effort by the whole of the Club led by none other than John Astell. Thank you John for leading the organisation to a most successful Charter and the most memorable evening of my Presidential year. Superb! 

Thank you to all who supported it as well. All 120 guests and our DG Peter and wife Carol. Superb speeches but the best part of the evening was Rtn Stephen Woolley's most entertaining speech on his adventures (or misadventures) in law during his misspent youth. Very funny and enlightening at the same time.

DG Peter, Wife Carol, Me, wife Gail, PP Stephen Woolley

A proud moment of the evening was when we were able to present a cheque for 500 GBP to former Derbyshire footballers Barry Butlin and Roger Davies for Derbyshire Children's Homes. A very worthy cause that provides Summer holidays for children from needy backgrounds.

BArry Butiln, Me and Roger Davies

Stephen Woolley in full throttle entertaining us all

USA Trip So Far

Two days after Charter I was off to the USA and my first stop was in Monticello, Minnesota where I had lunch and fantastic fellowship with the Montecello RC. We exchanged banners as well as greetings. Thanks for allowing me to attend lunch and Monticello RC will live long in the memory as they are shining examples to us all on getting things done the right way and to the highest of standards.

I love exchanging banners! Lol

Thats it for now. Until next time - YIR - Greg

Catch-Up Time / I'm A UK Citizen!!!

Well, it's been a very long time since my last posting. About a month or a little more. What can I say, life has been very busy and sadly the day job got in the way of spending time blogging. But now I have a little time on my hands between teaching lessons I thought I would at least give you an update on our meeting last night.

CHRIS HILL - Flautist
Chris Hill came to our Club. This 15 year old young man is a flautist of incredible talent. He not only has his Grade 8 at Distinction on Flute but also his Diploma and Licensure and all of them at Distinction level as well. Oh, by the way, he plays saxophone and has equal qualifications in that instrument. Yes, that's right. All at the age of 15 years old. Chris also made it to the 2nd round of the BBC Young Musician of the year this past school year.

It was a night to remember as Chris gave us the history of the flute from when they were made out of human bone to today's high tech models and everything in-between. Chris also played short extracts on each of the 9 flutes he brought and showed us the different characteristics of each model. 

Thank you Chris for a very enjoyable evening about the flute. We all learned a lot, enjoyed your sense of humour and your passion and professional presentation.

I'M A UK CITIZEN

Believe it or not a few weeks ago I became a UK citizen. Yup, after 17 years they finally let me in. I am very proud to have made the step forward and I now am a dual citizen so I can vote for two world leaders and make a real mess of the world. LOL

My thanks to everyone from the Club who came out and supported me at the ceremony or afterwards at the Holly Bush pub in Makeny. 

Well, the day job just got in the way again. Got to go teach. Next edition will have a report on our Ladies Night and other events of the past month. I will also do a separate blog on our Charter night coming up this Friday evening at Trent Lock Golf Club.

After Charter night I will be doing a presentation at District Assembly on FB and Twitter. Then, it's off to America for three weeks where I will be visiting friends and family and hopefully the occasional Rotary Club.

Time to teach!

Long Eaton Dawn Breakers Charter Night & More

It has been quite a while since my last posting but that doesn't mean we have not been busy. Just too busy to post anything. However, we had a most fantastic evening attending the Long Eaton Dawn Breakers Rotary Club's Charter Night at Trent College. The theme was a 60's evening. Fancy dress was optional or you could go formal. I chose to go formal. Forgot to tie dye a t-shirt.

The costumes were incredible though. These guys and girls know how to throw a party and have fun. Thank you all at Long Eaton Dawn Breakers RC for throwing a great Charter bash.

Me with Austin Powers

Belper RC Madame President

The dancing VW Bus.

President of LEDBRC with fellow Rotarian. Great costume.

Tony Storer our AG!!! Nice legs Tony! Lol

CURRY CLUB EVENING

We also had our second meeting of the Curry Club and went to Gurkha Paradise in Spondon. Superb is the only word to describe it. The food was fantastic as we were treated to a massive amount of Gurkha food and curries. Certainly not your standard curries at all. Really nice and different herbs and spices. 

I would highly recommend Gurkha Paradise to anyone. It is fantastic value for money. Read their reviews on Trip Advisor. Seems everyone loves them. Gurkha Paradise, Spondon, Derby

Ann Gregory (President Inner Wheel) and husband Rtn John Gregory enjoying curries.

Some of the starters.

Our table of 15 Rotarians and guests.

Many, many thanks to Chris Tew for once again organising a great evening for our new Curry Club.

See you soon!
Greg

From Sausages to T Bone Steak to Vicar and Rotarian

Our Club is so fortunate to have so many talented and well respected members of our local community. After all, that is a big part of Rotary. However, one of our members is to me like Superman. He is a man of many disguises and does them all fantastically well. I am talking about none other than Gary Dundas.

Gary's job by day is running two butcher shops with his name on them G W Dundas Butcher

s in Draycott and Breaston. Also by day, night and weekends Gary is the vicar to Draycott, Breaston and Church Wilne. On a Monday night Gary turns into a Rotarian and even though he is very busy with all his other obligations he still manages to find time to make most meetings and enjoy all our Club activities and social occasions. 

Earlier in the Rotary year I asked Gary if he would take the time to give us a talk about his business and butchering in general. This past Monday Gary was able to do so, brought along a side of pork and showed us how butchery works and what all the cuts were. His 40 years of cast experience showed and we all not only learned the difference between ham, gammon and top and silver side cuts but we also learned the value of a sharp knife and how to sharpen one correctly by hand.

Gary introducing us to the tools of his trade.

After he introduced us to all the tools of his trade Gary showed us how he cuts and butchers a side of meat into what we take home to eat. The first cut needing to be exactly right.

Very first cut

Then before you knew it after quite in depth explanation all the meat was laid out on trays and job done!

All the main pieces

Then Gary showed us the importance of a good knife. We all found out from Gary that a blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. 

Now that's a knife!

Me with Gary

Thank you so much Gary for a great evening where we all learned about the butcher trade and about the meat we eat.

PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT

The 20th President of the USA (Garfield) was an interesting character. He only served 200 days in office due to assassination but he managed to start universal education for all Americans regardless of race or religion. Garfield wanted to become a seaman in the US Navy at the time but never made it and instead became a canal driver in Cleveland. Oh well, we all have dreams. Lol.

Because of Garfield's love of sailing our Presidential award went to Rotarian Brian Stokes as he is the sailor in the Club. Congratulations Brian. Oh, Brian had the Garfield beard to match.

Till the next entry keep well. Bye!