Its World Rotary Day

Today is Rotary's birthday - 107 years since the formation of our first Club in Chicago by Paul Harris.

To mark the event and to celebrate the progress which the 1.2 million members of Rotary are making in the battle to eradicate polio Rotary Clubs around the world will today light up landmark buildings with the simple message END POLIO NOW.

District Governor elect talks rubbish

Oh what a night it was, when incoming District Governor Trevor Davies gave us a rubbish talk. And we are still talking about it now.

While we are all knew something about compost and composting, at the end of the evening we were experts in the making.

As Trevor revealed the secrets of a good heap, not too wet not too dry, covered from the rain, he stressed the need for variety, layers not just a morass of grass clippings, (keep leaves out of it), insert a layer of newspaper and just watch your rubbish transform itself into compost that would make John Innes envious. You could sense our members’ zeal as they were working out how their miserable efforts could be transformed with a dash of sawdust, an egg carton or two, grapefruit, but  chopped up into small, sic, pieces, tea bags and coffee grounds.

A compost heap is like life, variety is essential, said our man Trevor and who are we to gainsay the expert. And we all enjoyed every minute of it.

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.