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Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club News… May 2022
Wessex Heartbeat Cycle Sportive and Charity Quiz night
Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club has committed to helping Wessex Heartbeat with their work in support of the people of all ages living with cardiac conditions, and their families, who are undergoing treatment at Southampton General Hospital. Several of our members recently assisted with their very successful Cycle Sportive by providing marshalling and admin support. Around 70 riders took part on either the 40 & 70 mile routes starting off from the picturesque Embley Park, on what turned out to be a beautiful crisp spring morning with not a cloud to be seen and in the words of Brian Hanrahan 40years ago - ''I counted them all out and I counted them all back''.
President Mandy and Rotarian Linda ready to greet the eager cyclists at the HeartBeat Sportive.
We also organised a charity quiz night in Bishop’s Waltham in aid of Wessex Heartbeat with 14 teams battling it out to be awarded the top prize and hoping not to be given the wooden spoon. £1,400 was raised and donated to Wessex Heartbeat with the Magnificent Magna, a team of fellow Rotarians from the Southampton Magna Rotary Club, triumphing over stiff opposition. To save their blushes I will not divulge which team’s members all received a congratulatory wooden spoon.
Food Bank
As I have reported previously, we continue to actively support the Meon Valley Food Bank both financially and with providing drivers from our own ranks for their weekly distribution runs. With the ever-rising cost of living, this is a charity which definitely need our support and directly helps our local community. If you would like to help by donating food to this immensely important and very local charity, they accept food donations at Wickham Community Centre between 10am and noon every Monday.
Foodbank volunteer Janet and Rotarian Ian loading the car ready for another food run.
BW ROTARY CARNIVAL, FAMILY FUN DAY, MUSIC & FOOD
PLUS MOTORCADE & DOG SHOW
SATURDAY 11THJUNE 2022
We hope you are looking forward to a great day for all the family, and are delighted to confirm we have:
- The Motorcade will be in the High Street from 12noon with some fantastic vintage & classic, cars & bikes and even a Tractor.
- Enjoy the Live Bands, 2 Stages and entertainment.
- Food & Drink Village: Bowman Ales, Winchester Bar Services, Lions Club delicious Burgers & Sausages, Sam’s Catering, BW Evening WI’s tea, coffee & cakes pavilion and Ice Cream.
- Children’s Inflatables, rides and games plus Pony Rides.
- Fancy Dress competition, theme ‘By Royal Appointment’.
- Over 40 craft stalls & our very own Pound Stall & the Fantastic Raffle.
Entrance on the day from 12.30pm - adults £3.00 & children under 16 free - payment by cash or card at the gate.
For further information check our website www.bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk or
Email debbie.walker@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
All money raised from the day goes to supporting Local, National and International Charities and good causes.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others! ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club News… March 2022
Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis
On Saturday 5th of March, we did a collection outside Sainsbury’s Bishop’s Waltham to raise money for the humanitarian efforts being put in place to help those displaced by the crisis in Ukraine. Thanks to the amazing generosity of you all, in just a few hours we raised nearly £1,500. Because Rotary is not a first response Charity, the money will be used to support Charities linked directly with Rotary to enable them to purchase goods and support local areas receiving displaced persons.
Wessex Heartbeat
Back in 1992 Rotary rose to the challenge of helping the newly formed Wessex Heartbeat charity, which had been set up to support people of all ages and their families living with cardiac conditions in the Wessex area, which includes the Channel Islands. At that time, it was decided that a home from home for the relatives of those undergoing treatment was needed near to Southampton General Hospital and this is where Rotary stepped in and raised the money to purchase a property opposite the A&E entrance. Once again Wessex Heartbeat has come to Rotary in our district and we are rising to the challenge which, locally, means we have made a pledge to give a regular donation of £500 over the next 3 years along with many other local clubs as major refurbishment is now required. When originally opened the house was named Rotary Heartbeat House, but the Rotary connection has been lost over the years, but this connection is now well and truly being reinstated.
BISHOP’S WALTHAM ROTARY CARNIVAL, FAMILY FUN DAY, MUSIC & FOOD, PLUS MOTORCADE & DOG SHOW - SATURDAY 11th JUNE 2022
We are back after 2 years it is so exciting to be able to organize the Carnival again. A slightly different day as no procession but there will be a great motorcade of Fabulous Vintage & classic cars & bikes from 12noon in the High Street on the day leading to Hoe Road where a great Family Fun Day with Live Music & Food will commence from 12.30pm along with the ever-popular Dog Show. A big Thank You to our Main Carnival Sponsors WHITE & GUARD, Plus Solent Design Publishing Ltd for sponsoring our Programme.
If you would like to join the Motorcade of vintage & classic cars, please contact pete.yeoman@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
If you would like to book a stall or for further information, please contact debbie.walker@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk or our websitewww.bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk and we are very keen to hear from the following:- Local Craft Small businesses, Face painting, plus Vegan & Vegetarian Hot Food Vendors.
All money raised from the day goes to supporting Local, National and International Charities and good causes. for more info
New members
President Mandy Tourle had the pleasure of welcoming 2 new members at the end of February, when Mark Brenton and Tony Cummins decided to join our merry bunch and we warmly welcome them to the wider Rotary family.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club News… January 2022
Shoeboxes follow up
Following on from the news in our last Press Release that we had managed to send over 300 boxes to add to the 18,000 boxes collected throughout our district, we have now received pictures of local Rotarians in Albania distributing some of the boxes donated to local children.
Thank you again for your amazing support of this scheme which brings a lot of Christmas cheer to many Children who would otherwise not have any presents at this time.
Christmas collections
I am pleased to say that we were able to resume some sort of normality at the end of last year, after all of the cancelations of the last 18months or so, and Santa, plus his music playing brightly lit train “Roger” were able to tour the local area covering many of the roads in Bishop’s Waltham, Waltham Chase, Horton Heath and Fair Oak. Thanks to your amazing generosity we were able to raise well over £5,600 to help us help others, which is our highest total raised during the many years we have been out with Santa and “Roger”!
Local support
Thanks to the generous support we receive through our fundraising events etc. we are able to aid many local groups with their charitable works such as the Meon Valley Food Bank, Meon Valley Baby Bank and Spark Community Space, but we also help individuals, when there is a specific need. Often in these cases people are directed to contact us or we are contacted by others who know that an individual or family need help but are unable to help themselves. In these circumstances we very carefully consider each individual case presented to us, and look at the finances available to us, and carry out whatever checks we feel are necessary to the case presented. On many occasions where the need arises we have pooled our resources with other Rotary clubs in the area and with the local Lions club.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club News… December 2021
Shoeboxes
Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club with the help of local clubs, schools and friends collected and sorted over 300 shoeboxes packed with presents for children in need at Christmas. These boxes were added to over 18,000 boxes collected from around our district,
which covers most of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, and parts of Dorset and Wiltshire. This year the boxes have gone to Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Romania, where they will be shipped to local Rotary Clubs who will distribute them from there.
The District has also this year sent 36 cartons full of knitted clothes, toys and blankets as well as some summer clothes made by various local sewing clubs. This is an incredible operation, and these gifts will make a very large number of children in orphanages, special schools, refugee camps and disadvantaged families feel a little happier at Christmas time and hopefully well into the new year.
Checking and Packing shoeboxes ready for dispatch overseas - and the author showing his best side!
Bishop’s Waltham Christmas Fayre
Bishop’s Waltham was able to have their annual lighting up evening, which is traditionally the first Thursday in December. We were there with Roger, Santa’s Christmas Steam Engine, and our “Human Fruit Machine” to welcome the great number of people who braved the sub zero temperatures to come out and welcome the start of the Christmas season in the town’s traditional way. We also managed to make over £110.00 for charity along the way.
We’ll be back, bigger and better!
Put this date in your new 2022 diary…
The Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Summer Fayre and Motorcade will take place at Hoe Road Recreation Ground on Saturday 11th of June 2022
After a break of 2 years due to Covid restrictions we are making plans for our major summer event which is traditionally on the 2nd Saturday in June. This year we have had a rethink due to lessons learnt from previous years, and we are coming back from our Covid enforced break bigger and better than ever. To mark this, we are changing the name of our summer event to the Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club Summer Fayre and Motorcade, there will be Music, Food, Cars and Fun for the Family plus our popular Dog Show. Keep an eye out for further updates as we move towards June next year, where we hope to see you all at Hoe Rd Recreation Ground as usual.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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Roger and Christmas collections 2021 click here
Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club News
Christmas Collections
One of the usual highlights of the run up to Christmas is our Christmas collections, where we tour the streets of Bishop’s Waltham, Waltham Chase, Horton Heath, and Fair Oak with Santa and “Roger” our brightly lit, and music playing, Christmas Steam Engine. Last year we did manage a drive round of most of our usual routes, but without stopping due to the impending lockdown and the need to avoid face to face contact.
This year things seem comparatively more positive, and we are excited that we will be able to get out and about with Roger the Steam Engine and Santa will be on hand to take all the children’s Christmas Present orders. We have been told on numerous occasions that Bishop’s Waltham Rotary Club coming round with Roger the Steam Engine is the start of Christmas so this year we will be coming round the local area in the first two full weeks of December.
We also have 3 static collections planned this year (shown below) and keep an eye on our website or Facebook page to find the dates when we will be driving around a street near you: -
Sat 11th December at MacCarthy’s Farm Shop - 0930 to 1630
Sat 18th December at Sainsbury’s Bishop’s Waltham - 0900 to 1630
Sun 19th December at Pickwell Farm, Grange Rd, Bursledon – 1000 to 1600
We understand that many of us no longer carry change around so if f you would like to donate to help us, especially with Roger the Steam Engine in mind, you can donate via our website using the “Donate” button at the top of this front page, or you can text ROGER followed by a number to 70085 to donate that number in pounds i.e. ROGER 5 – will donate £5. Texts cost the value of the donation, plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to donate, but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text ROGERNOINFO followed by the amount you would like to donate to 70085.
Food Bank
FOOD BANK
For several years now we have been regularly donating food on a monthly basis to the local Meon Valley Food Bank, who have helped over 3000 local adults and children over the last 6 years. The Food Bank has seen a significant rise in usage from all parts of our community over the last 18 months or so due to the strains that have been placed on peoples lives due to job losses, isolation etc. We were approached during the summer and asked to help out by volunteering as drivers every week going round delivering the donated food to where it is needed, whilst their normal driver was unavailable. This has proven to be a real eye opening task and has put us in touch with individuals and families who we may be able to help in other ways. If you would like to help by donating food to this immensely important and very local charity they accept food donations at Wickham Community Centre between 10am and noon every Monday.
Like our Facebook page or take a look at our website for updates on what is going on, what we have been up to and how you can help us help others!
ian.treveil@bishopswalthamrotary.org.uk
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