Santa Sleigh

Tettenhall Rotary Club’s Father Christmas Sleigh aims to bring a little magic to children and communities at Christmas and at the same time raise funds for good causes. But as organiser Roger Timbrell said ‘the real magic this year was how the Christmas spirit, generosity and warmth of welcome of the people in the communities we visited shone through the inclement weather’

Although the weather forced some cancellations over £5,000 was raised for Compton Hospice, Midlands Air Ambulance and other Rotary charities. This included £237.29 at the switching on of the lights event at Tettenhall, £3971.81 collected outside Sainsburys at Perton, £366.04 outside the Co op at Codsall and £389.83 during the three evenings that they visited the communities of Fordhouses, Low Hill and Old Fallings. The Club wishes to apologise for not being able to visit Claregate, Blakeley Green, Aldersley and Bushbury as planned on Saturday 18^th and Wednesday 22^nd December. Heavy snow and ice forced them to have to cancel for safety reasons.

Our thanks go to Stratstone Land Rover in Wolverhampton for loaning the tow vehicle for the Father Christmas Sleigh and David Gregory, the manager of Sainsburys Perton for his support and for donating sweets. In addition, Blakemore’s Cash and Carry and the Co-operative also kindly donated sweets for Santa to give out to children.

We are also grateful to the school choirs of Codsall High School, Bilbrook Middle School, Perton Middle School, Perton First School, Perton Sandown First School and Smestow School who sang carols around the sleigh outside Sainsburys, Perton, throughout the day on 10^th December.

Christmas Charity Carol Concert

We were delighted this evening to be entertained by the Prince of Wales Brass Ensemble - which is made up of players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - who performed a programme of seasonal music supported by the choir of St Dominic's High School for Girls in Brewood. As is usual there was plenty of opportunity for the large audience to sing along with a number of traditional carols and to partake of mince pies during the interval.

Over the 15 years that the Club has staged this event over £20,000 has been raised in support of local good causes.

The proceeds from this years concert were raised in support of Compton Hospice to help them to provide clinical and support services for people with life limiting illnesses. The annual running cost of the Hospice is over five million pounds and with Government funding only meeting one third of this the Hospice depends on the support of a number of local fundraisers.

With snow falling as the concert came to an end this was a truly magical start to the Christmas season and our thanks go to the Prince of Wales Brass Ensemble and to the staff and girls of St Dominic's for their performances, to the University of Wolverhampton Science Park who kindly allowed the use of their Auditorium, and to Rotarian Peter Maddox and his family who organised the event.

New Member - Jag Gill

There are few happier moments for a Club than the induction of a new member and this evening I and the other members of the Rotary Club of Tettenhall were pleased to welcome Jagjit Gill to our number.

Jag runs a successful company specialising in the laying of roads, car parks and driveways and the installation of groundworks. In joining our Club Jag has committed to the Rotary Objects to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

FIRST. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

SECOND. High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

THIRD. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;

FOURTH. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

We alll welcome Jag to the worldwide family of Rotary and look forward to working with him.

Club Meeting - Battle of Britain

70 years on it was appropriate this evening that we should be joined by Squadron Leader Richard Painter to talk to the Club about the Battle of Britain and the recent reappraisal of the debt owed not only to those famous few of fighter command but to the many hundreds of bomber command and of coastal command who also gave their lives during this period.

It was apparent from Richard’s talk that the victory over the skies of Britain in 1940 owed much to the visionary leadership of a few key individuals and to the detailed air defence preparations which they gave birth to and which culminated in a unrivalled defence network depriving the Luftwaffe of the air superiority which they had enjoyed over mainland Europe. Richard clearly has a great understanding of his subject and his presentation greatly moved the members of the Club. Our thanks to Club member Les Bouts for introducing Richard to us.

In Memory - Remembrance Day

The motto of the Rotary movement is 'Service Above Self' and it is today sobering to reflect on the meaning of such words and on the sacrifice of the hundreds of people in Wolverhampton who gave their lives in the service of others.



Each year the the Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton come together at the City's Civic Service of Remembrance to honour the fallen. The service brings together representatives of organisations and communities from throughout the City in recognition of the sacrifices made and which continue to be made to preserve our freedoms.

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condem

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.'

Club Meeting - Sammy Chung

Rotary is a great way to get to know more about people and this evening we had the pleasure of learning more about one of the Club's newest members Sammy Chung.

Originally from Hong Kong Sammy trained and qualified as a chartered surveyor in the UK before working on projects both here and in the far east. Now a senior lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton's School of Engineering and the Built Environment and an Honorary Professor at Shenzhen Polytechnic.

As well as exemplifying the Rotary motto of service above self through his vocation Sammy also serves the community as a magistrate on the Wolverhampton bench.

Club Meeting - District Governor

As part of their duties the District Governor in each Rotary District visit each Club on their District at least once during their year of office.

This evening we were pleased to welcome Glyn Johnson our current District Governor for his visit to the Tettenhall Club. Glyn is a member of the Rotary Club of Blythe Bridge and District.

During his visit Glyn updated members on the progress of a number of Rotary initiatives and gave members the opportunity to raise questions and make their own views known. We all appreciate the work which Glynn has taken on and which takes up so much of his time. We wish him well in the remainder of his year.

Club Meeting - Help for Heroes

The remarkable charity, 'Help for Heroes' has captured the imagination and support of the nation. Our speaker this evening was Jerry Hobbs, who is the local organiser for the charity and is also a member of Wolverhampton Rotary Club.



We were delighted to welcome Jerry back again to bring us up to date with developments within 'Help for Heroes' and to learn of the further progress being made. Jerry's boundless enthusiasm and commitment is never in doubt and all the Club members present were again amazed at the tremendous progress and the many achievements which the charity has made in a relatively short space of time.

Seeing the new facilities now brought on stream at Headley Court - the charity's main rehabilitation centre - and the setting up of additional rehabilitation facilities throughout the UK was quite inspiring, but nothing matched the amazing fortitude, resilience and sheer courage of the young servicemen undergoing treatment - each fighting a personal battle to resume life back in the community - many with the most appalling injuries, yet unfailingly cheerful and confident in their ability to forge new lives for themselves. All quite humbling!

Club Meeting - Richard Taylor

Much of what Rotarians do is aimed at improving the health and quality of others lives - this evening however we heard from local businessman Richard Taylor with tips on how members could improve the their own quality of life.

Richard runs Pure Fitness, a successful personal training club based at Pendeford Business Park, and he prides himself that he has helped hundreds of people to change their lives for the better.

With his ten Golden Rules Richard explained how sensible diet and simple daily exercise can improve health and help to reduce weight. Whilst rather too many of the Clubs members appeared to be trying to find loopholes to exploit in the rules I am sure given the interest which was shown in his presentation that those of us who don’t pay enough attention to our own fitness levels will feel encouraged to take some remedial action.

Inner Wheel - Houston Symphony

Houston … if we have a problem its certainly not with the Symphony.

Tettenhall’s Inner Wheel Club this evening visited Birmingham's Symphony Hall to hear the Houston Symphony perform Holst's The Planets - appropriately accompanied by a selection of NASA HD clips of each of the planets on this tour of the solar system.



Premiered in the Space Agency and Orchestra’s home city in January 2010 this is the first time that this joint project has been performed in Europe.



It was a wonderful performance by the orchestra and only a shame that they could not be persuaded to a third encore. Our thanks to Lynne Cave for her work in organising an exceptionally entertaining evening.

District 7030 GSE Team Visit

During their visit to the region GSE teams are given the opportunity to experience some our Midlands institutions and to get a feel for the way in which we live our lives. Clubs within the District take turns in hosting the team for a day to show them something of their area.

Today Tettenhall had the pleasure of hosting the visiting team from District 7030 and to give them a choclaty taste of life in the country’s second city, Birmingham.

As well the opportunity for little shopping the day took in a tour of Cadbury World, one of Birmingham’s leading attractions, and a visit to the BBC Studios at the Mailbox in Birmingham so that the team could see the preparations for that days Midlands Today news programme.

Check out the teams facebook page to see how they spent the rest of their visit.

GSE Team Presentation

As part of the GSE programme teams visit a number of Rotary Clubs within the District in order to make presentations giving Rotarians a glimpse into the life of the team members and of their country.

This evening the visiting team from District 7030 made their presentation at the Rotary Club of Wednesfield.

District 7030 covers the Eastern Caribbean and members of the visiting team were representing sponsoring Rotary Clubs in Dominica, Barbados, Grande Terre Pointe Des Chateaux and Liamuiga (St Kitts).

There’s no doubting that the team come from a truly beautiful part of the world and their presentations were all the more impressive given the short time which the team had had together before flying to England. They are great ambassadors for their nations and for Rotary District 7030 and we are grateful to them for the insight which they gave us into their lives.

Wightwick Hall School - Young Enterprise

As we've previously mentioned in this blog July saw the Club once again sponsoring Wightwick Hall School's Young Enterprise competition.

This competition aims to help students develop confidence, ability and ambition to succeed - qualities which will help them as they move into the world of work.

The success of last years competition had encouraged many more schools to enter the competition and the Rotarians involved were greatly impressed by the work and attitude of the students. For those who weren't able to attend the School has now produced a couple of videos of the event to give a flavour of what went on.

Wightwick Hall School - Business & Enterprise Week from Be Inspired Films on Vimeo.

SEN Enterprise Resource Pack from Be Inspired Films on Vimeo.

District 7030 GSE Team Visit

We are delighted to welcome the visiting Group Study Exchange (GSE) team from Rotary District 7030 - the Islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

The GSE scheme forms part of Rotary’s Foundation charity and offers a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40. During the four weeks of their visit team leader Rotarian Sammy Wyke and the members of his team Zilma Charles, Songee Branch, Rosy Locatin-Cimbert and Dominic Matthew will have the opportunity to study Midlands institutions and our way of life, to observe how their own vocations are practiced here, to develop personal and professional relationships, and to exchange ideas.

By providing an opportunity for participants to broaden their cultural perspective and understanding of a nation’s history, language, commerce, and government the GSE programme is designed to enhance the international perspective of the next generation of young leaders and to promote tolerance and collaboration with professional people of other cultures.

It’s a gruelling schedule for Sammy and his team but we hope that as well as being informative it will also prove to be enjoyable for them and that they take back fond memories of their time with us.

Thanks go to David Cave and the members of the Foundation committee who have worked so hard to make this visit a success and to Chris Kraushar who has generously acted as a home host for a member of the visiting team whilst they are in the Southern Area.

Club Meeting - Skittles Competition

Monday saw the latest of the Club’s away days as members competed in the Club skittles championship at the Swan Hotel in Brewood.

The Swan has an excellent skittles alley and that, and a ready supply of good beer, made for a great night of fellowship.

Despite Club Secretary Ivan Hill having led the competition from the out the championship was claimed by Ken Rees who with a perfect mix of aggression and skill scored a record 15 points in the last round of the competition to clinch the title. Well done Ken.

Club Meeting- Tea Glorious Tea

When I saw that we were to have a speaker talking about the History and Development of England's Favourite Beverage I was expecting to hear all about the proud history of Guinness but speaker John Borthwick had a different drink in mind.



Having developed his interest in tea whilst stationed with the RAF in Lincoln John took the Club on a journey through three thousand years of the drinks history and recounting the birth of the drink when according to legend leaves from a nearby tea shrub blew into a cauldron of water being boiled for Chinese emperor and renowned herbalist Shen Nung so brewing the first pot of tea.

John encouraged members to venture beyond the classic tea bag and experience the wide range of teas available.



Our thanks to John for a very informative talk.

Club Meeting - Birch Thompson Memorial Fund

The Birch Thompson Memorial Fund was established in memory of two former teachers at Colton Hills Community School, Graham Birch and John Thompson, who both died of heart attacks in 1980.

The Fund maintains Gelliwig, a residential centre in Porthmadog, North Wales. Gelliwig can accommodate up to 30 people and is used by the school and by youth groups and other voluntary organisations in Wolverhampton - thousands of local children have benefited from the Centre since its opening in 1989.

The Tettenhall Club has been a long time supporter of the Fund and when it became aware that money was needed for a replacement minibus to take children to the Centre Eric Johnson and Doug Evans arranged a fundraising bar-be-que which raised £700 towards the total. We were joined this evening by Keith Berry who accepted the donation on behalf of the Fund and who confirmed that they would shortly be taking delivery of the new vehicle.

New Vice President

It was a pleasure this evening to be able to present Ian Rigby with his chain of office as an officer of the Club for the remainder of this Rotary year.

Ian is in his second year as our Club's sports officer and he has taken the Club's sporting achievements to new heights - Tettenhall are now District Croquet and District Darts champions. Not content with these achievements Ian has agreed to take on the role of the Junior Vice President and will serve as President of the Club for the 2012 -2013 Rotary year. Congratulations on your appointment Ian - you will have our full support over the coming years.

V Festival Tent Collection

Gerry Turner and Doug Evans reported back to the Club on their involvement with the Charity Tent Collection which takes place each year following the V Festival at Weston Park.

The collection, which is co-ordinated by the Rotary Club of Brewood and District, is now in its fourth year.

Over 250 volunteers helped to collect in over 1000 tents on the first day of the clean up alone. These tents which have been left by visitors to the festival and which otherwise would end up in landfill are distributed by the International Aid Trust Charity to be used in connection with disaster relief.

Wombourne Crawl 2010

Our August Fellowship month came to an end this evening with a walk around the beautiful Staffordshire Village of Wombourne.

Clearly focused on the liquid refreshment awaiting us at the Red Lion members showed a truly amazing turn of speed completing the circuit in a record time.

Our thanks to Fellowship officer Mike Kilvert who has kindly organised this successful series of August events.

Pakistan Floods - Disaster Relief

Working with other Rotary Clubs and with the World Water Works charity the Tettenhall Club has helped to ship 200 Water Survival Boxes to the flood affected areas in Pakistan.

These boxes are filled with new items that people who have lost everything would need to survive - including mugs to drink out of, cooking pots, bowls to eat from, spoons, anti-septic spray, cotton materials and needles and thread, basic tools, tarpaulin and bungee cords to make simple shelters.

The Water Survival Box itself is a rigid, reinforced 54 litre plastic container that becomes a receptacle for water when emptied of these survival items, it includes a filtration pack including chlorine tablets – enough for family of 4 for some 4 months.



Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) has launched an appeal to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the Pakistan floods. Donations will be used to aid the long-term rebuilding of communities in the affected areas. If you'd like to donate to this appeal follow the link here.

District Darts Champions

As a result of the rigorous training regime introduced by Club Sports Officer, Ian Rigby, the Club's sporting success continues.

Following a tightly fought battle with the Kidsgrove club - only settled by a shoot out between the team captains - Tettenhall emerged victorious as District Darts Champions.

Well played Kidsgrove and congratulations to our team on the night - team captain Ian Rigby, Bob Archer, Paul Westwood, David Eaton, Doug Evans and John Whitten.

In Memory of Keith Parker

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Keith Parker OBE, a former member of the Club, over the weekend.

As former editor and managing director of the Shropshire Star and the Express and Star newspapers Keith championed the cause of the local press and he paved the way for the Express and Star to become the country's largest selling regional paper.

Keith was a true gentleman whose passing will be mourned by all who came into contact with him and our thoughts are with his wife and family.

Keith's funeral will be held at St Michael & All Angels Church, Church Road, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton WV6 9AJ at 2.00p.m. on Wednesday the 11th August. There will be family flowers only at the funeral, but donations to Compton Hospice can be made c/o Harry Edwards & Sons, Funeral Directors, 1 High Street, Wellington, TF1 1JW.

Club Meeting - Bowls Competition

The Tettenhall Club takes a break in August and in the place of our regular formal meetings we hold informal fellowship events which offer members further opportunities to strengthen their friendship with other members of the Club.

A traditional part of the August break is the meeting at the Pennfields Bowling Club in order to compete for the honour of being named the Club Crown Green Bowls Champion for the year.

Whilst the evening saw some solid play from most members the end result was never in doubt with Greg Instone rightfully taking the Championship for another year and with Izeham Che Dan leading the rest of the pack. Congratulations on your victory Greg.

Club Meeting - Phil Jennings - Rest in Peace

We had the pleasure this evening of hearing from one of the Club's own members, Phil Jennings.

Phil was until a few years ago the owner of Jennings Funeral Directors - a Wolverhampton establishment founded in 1848.

With a lifetime of experience Phil gave us an informative insight into his career and life as a funeral director.

Tom Warren City Fellowship Meal

Each year the five Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton come together to celebrate the life of Tom Warren. A member of Wolverhampton Rotary Club Tom was Rotary International Association for Great Britain and Ireland 's President in 1937-38 and Rotary International President 1945-46 - the second of only five Britons to hold that office.

As president of Rotary International Tom had a reputation as a great mediator and was a tireless campaigner for world peace both during and after the Second World War.

This years event was hosted by the Rotary Club of Wolverhampton - our mother Club. We were pleased to welcome one of Tom's successors, immediate past Rotary International President John Kenny, as the keynote speaker. In his first official function since stepping down as President John paid tribute to the work which Tom had carried out and spoke of the inspirational work of ordinary Rotarians which he himself had witnessed during his year of office.

Youth Orchestra Concert

Today saw the pre tour concert of the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestra and the Wolverhampton Youth Wind Orchestra. This is the sixteenth year that the five Rotary clubs of Wolverhampton have come together to support the Orchestras summer tour and once again we were treated to a truly outstanding performance.

Prior to the concert musicians and Rotarians were invited to attend a civic reception with Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett the current Mayor of Wolverhampton.

During the concert the considerable achievements of these young musicians was recognised by the award of a number of certificates - and the presentation of the Young Musician of the Year award to Rafal Gerard-Gierut.

The Orchestras are now travelling to Slovenia where they will participate in a number of music festivals.

Our best wishes to the Orchestras for a successful tour.

Rotary Dictionary for Life

The promotion of literacy has been an emphasis of Rotary International since 1986.



Each year the Tettenhall Rotary Club supports this by distributing free dictionaries to local school children who are leaving their primary schools.

The Rotary Dictionary 4 Life helps children to develop their language skills. By using dictionaries efficiently children explore spellings, meanings and derivations for example by using alphabetical order, abbreviations and definitions with understanding. One of the most positive aspects of being able to use a dictionary is that it helps to develop autonomy and confidence — one of the core goals of education.

Throughout this week members of the Club have been visiting local schools to distribute the dictionaries and my thanks go to Ray Hill, Izeham Chedan, Bert Finch and David Earp for the giving of their time and to Brian Barnwell for his work in organising this years distribution.

Inner Wheel Visit

One of the more pleasant duties that befalls a President of the Rotary Club of Tettenhall is to visit the Tettenhall Inner Wheel Club to deliver a life talk.

The Inner Wheel organisation was originally formed by wives of Rotarians to support the work of their Rotarian husbands. It is an all female organisation and membership is open to female relatives of Rotarians or former Rotarians, Inner Wheel members and Rotaract. Inner Wheel aims to promote true friendship, encourage the ideals of personal service and to foster international understanding.

The Tettenhall Rotary Club has been greatly strengthened by the support given to it by the ladies of the Inner Wheel Club and we thank President Shirley and her members for that support and look forward to working with them in the future.

Club Meeting - Halfpenny Green Vineyard

Our monthly fellowship meeting this month was held at the Halfpenny Green Vineyard near Bobbington.

Members of the Club were treated to a tour of the Vineyard's production facilities and learnt how the wine is produced and how an Englishman is really to thank for the invention of champagne.

Growing from a small half acre plot the vineyard is now amongst the largest in the UK producing prize winning wines which the members were pleased to sample.

Thanks go to Ken Swash and Mike Unwin for organising the evening.

Wightwick Hall School

Wightwick Hall School caters for students with a wide range of individual needs from the ages of 11 to 19 and since September 2008 the school has been a Business & Enterprise Specialist College.

For the second year running Tettenhall Rotary Club has been pleased to sponsor the School’s Young Enterprise competition. This competition aims to help students develop confidence, ability and ambition to succeed - qualities which will help them as they move into the world of work.

The success of last years competition had encouraged many more schools to enter the competition and I am sure that the team at the school will continue to build on this in years to come.

Through the week members of the Tettenhall Club were involved in judging the businesses which the students had developed prior to the prize ceremony on Friday when I was joined by BBC Apprentice finalist Claire Young to award the trophies to the winning contestants.



The School held a BBQ event in the evening where the students had the opportunity to test the market with their products and which was well supported by members of the Club.

Thanks go to Chris Kraushar, Brian Barnwell, Eric Johnson, John Lochhead, Ernie Edwards, Derek Evans, John Whitten, Bert Finch, David Eaton and Doug Evans for their work in making the competition such a success for the students and special mention to David Cave who stepped in at the last minute to help the School with photography

Fordhouses ATC visit

It was a pleasure to visit 1046 Squadron again today.

Over the past few years, thanks mainly to the work of Club member Les Bouts, we have developed a close relationship with the Squadron helping with the purchase of a minibus for their activities and supporting their overseas trips.

The ATC aims to encourage a spirit of adventure and to develop qualities of leadership and good citizenship - aims which the Rotary movement shares and which the Tettenhall Club looks to encourage. I was pleased to be able to hand over a £500 cheque to help the squadron along to reaching its fundraising target for its next visit to the Battlefields and Service Cemeteries of Normandy - which I know from previous visits has a great effect on the Cadets.

Thanks to Les Bouts and Ian Rigby who accompanied me on the visit.

Rotary Young Citizen 2010

Each year Rotary celebrates the work carried out by young people with the Rotary Young Citizen Awards. The awards are run in association with BBC News and celebrate the positive citizenship and vital responsibilities assumed by many young people.

The members of the Tettenhall Rotary Club were pleased to propose Ami Whiston for the award in recognition of the her work in Tanzania. With the assistance of the Club Ami, a trainee nurse, visited Tanzania and worked along side local clinicians in one of the country’s rural hospitals. Whilst there Ami forged a connection with a local orphanage which she has continued to support following her return to the UK.
 
The judging committee recognised Ami's personal qualities and her community spirit and we had great pleasure in awarding the certificate of recognition to her.

Thanks to Derek Evans for his work in submitting the  Club's proposal.
 

Bournemouth 2010 - BBC Rotary Young Citizens Awards from RIBI on Vimeo.

Club Meeting - Bridgnorth Cliff Railway

We were pleased to welcome Alan Reynolds, the owner of the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, to our regular Monday meeting.

For over a century Bridgnorth Cliff Railway has been transporting the people of Bridgnorth up and down the 111 ft sandstone cliffs that separate Bridgnorth High Town from Low Town and the River Severn.


Alan explained the fascinating history of the railway and brought with him the original company minute book - a real piece of local history and well worth a visit.

Our thanks and best wishes to Alan and his team for their continued success in preserving and operating England's only remaining inland electric funicular railway.

Rotary BBQ

The first fund raising event of the new Rotary year was held at Wolverhampton Cricket Club.

The Cricket Club is a great venue for events such as this and there was the added bonus of fine summer weather and the Club's second team taking on Wombourne.

With meats supplied by our local butcher John Whitten the Club certainly has started eating better since John joined us - special mention for the chilli suasages.



The BBQ was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends of Rotary and for fellowship within the Club - as well as being an enjoyable way of raising valuable funds for local and international charities. We hope that this will be the first of many

Thanks to Doug Evans and Eric Johnson who organised the event and to John Francis, John Whitten, Chris Bowyer and Paul Westwood without whom the BBQ would not have happened.

Wednesfield - Handover Meeting

It was Wednesfield's turn to bring the handover season to an end this year as President Shankar took up the reigns.

Shankar is an old Rotray hand so I know that he and the Club are in for a great year and that they will continue to punch above their weight.

Wolverhampton - Handover Meeting

The second handover meeting of the day - this time at our mother Club, Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton is the largest of the 5 Clubs in the City and it was amongst the first Rotary Clubs in this country.

We wish every success to new President Kewal and to all of the members there. This is Kewals second spell as a President of a Rotary Club so we can be sure that our mother is in safe hands.

Wolverhampton St Georges - Handover Meeting

Its always a pleasure for me to visit St Georges - even if it does involve a 7.15 breakfast.

The Outgoing President, Nick Wynn-Williams, is one of my Partners at Rees Page and I have to congratulate him on completing a successful year at the same time as keeping all the balls in the air at work as well as being in post as the President of the Wolverhampton Law Society.

I know the Club will go from strength to strength with new President Sylvia Morgan and it was great to see a new member inducted at her first meeting.

Handover

It was an honour to take over as the President of the Club for the next year this evening.

Izeham has done a great job over the last year building on the already strong fellowship within the Club and I'm sure that we'll be continuing this into this year.

My thanks to all of the members of the Club who have agreed to serve on Council with me and to all of those who have offered their help - needless to say I will need it.