Policing in the Sixities

Our speaker this evening, Alan Wright, was an accidental policeman. Looking for an alternative to his actuarial training he saw a Bobby patrolling outside of his office window and thought that that may give him the opportunity to escape.

After enrolling as a cadet with the Met in the 60's he was taught how to march and and how to fight before being let loose on the streets of Soho and Mayfair after just one months mentoring.

As well as being a time of great social change Alan explained how the 60's were a period of transition for policing in the capital as the force evolved from an institution which was still largely Victorian in its outlook and practises in response to the challenges posed by organised crime and the emergence of the illegal drugs trade.

Part of the team which brought the Krays to justice and of the Chinese Heroin Squad Alan saw his share of action and he was able to share memories with us which highlighted both the lighter and darker sides of policing during this period.

Alan later went on to lecture at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth, and is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at Keele University. He is the author of 'Policing: an introduction to concepts and practice' and 'Organised Crime' and now lives in Wolverhampton.

Molineux Collection

Sunday saw the Club at the Molineux stadium for our annual pre match collection. Wolverhampton Wanderers  Football Club and its fans have been incredibly supportive of Rotary over the 18 years that our collection has been running and this year was no different with over £2,000 raised for local good causes taking the total raised over the years to over £40,000.

This years collection will help Power Pleas, a local charity which provides powered wheelchairs for young people in the Wolverhampton area to help them live a fuller life. Featured in the photo is Darren Langston with Wolves Vice-President Rachael Heyhoe-Flint. Darren was the first ever recipient of a Wolves wheelchair as a result of the collections back in 1995.

The collection will also help the ongoing work of Compton Hospice. It takes over £6 million every year for Compton Hospice to provide its services to patients free of charge.  With government funding only providing one third of this, the hospice relies heavily on fundraising to maintain its level and quality of care and the support of Wolves fans is greatly appreciated.

Compton Hospice Rotary & Volunteer Suite

Back in July Jerry Hobbs, a long standing member of the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton and Vice Chair of the management board of Compton Hospice,  joined us to talk about the Hospice's recent development and the £3.3 million investment which has now led to the introduction of 18 private suites for patients later in the year. These suites will have the facilities to ensure that patients can be treated with dignity during their time with the Hospice.

Following Jerry's inspiration a number of Rotary Clubs in Wolverhampton came together to commit to raising an additional £60,000 over the current Rotary year to fund one of those suites which will be named the Rotary and volunteers suite. Our own Club committed to raising an additional £10,000 towards the cost of the Rotary Suite.

Thanks to the support of the people of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire for the Club's Auction of Promises and Big Band Night we're pleased to have made good on our commitment and tonight President John was joined by Nick Owen to present Compton Hospice with cheque for £10,000.

Our commitment to Compton Hospice doesn't stop here though. Thanks to the support of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club on the 12th February members of the Club will be collecting on behalf of the Hospice outside of the Molineux Stadium prior to the West Bromwich Albion match and a few months later on the 12th May we'll be at South Staffs Golf Club for our Charity Golf Day again raising money for the Hospice.

Malcolm Bason Award

2010 year saw the sad passing of the Club's founding President Malcolm Bason following a long illness at the age of 80.

In recognition of Malcolm's pivotal role in helping to establish the Club and to honour his service to the community during his many years of membership the members of the Club established the Malcolm Bason Award in his memory.

The award is to be presented annually by the Club's Presidential team to recognise the contribution of a member Rotarian to the ongoing development of the Club. The inaugural award was made earlier this year to Club member Jim Murphy for the work which he had undertaken to develop the Clubs internet presence during the previous year.

As part of the award the receiving Rotarian is entitled to nominate a charity or project of their choice to receive a donation of £250 in Malcolm's memory. Jim asked that the donation this year be given to the local Scout Association towards the cost of purchasing a new cook tent for use by the many Cubs and Scouts groups within the area whilst on camp and the balance of the £500 cost was made up by an additional donation from the Club which was this evening presented to local Scout leader Sara Lambert by President John and Nick Owen.

Scouting provides young people with adventurous activities and physical, intellectual, social and spiritual opportunities to help them to achieve their full potential in life. With over 400,000 members the Scouting movement is going from strength to strength but in order to build on its success it desperately needs more people to volunteer to help local groups and it has recently launched a flexible volunteering programme to make it easier for people to volunteer.