Wolverhampton Christmas Lights

Today's the day the Wolverhampton Christmas Lights are switched on and Wolverhampton Santa Claus and his helpers from the Rotary Club of Tettenhall and The Royal School cadets will be at the Lych Gate off Queen Square from 3pm until the Lights are switched on to share in the fun.

The fun starts at 3pm with a funfair, festive market in Dudley Street, real reindeer, face painting, food and drink and much more. BBC star Hey Duggee will entertain the children from 3pm followed by The Copicats at 4:30pm and by the world famous Tony Christie at 5:15pm who will be performing  hits including ‘Is this the Way to Amarillo’ before joining the Wolverhampton Mayor, Councillor Sandra Samuels MBE and Father Christmas to switch on the lights at 6pm. 

Its FREE for children to visit Santa but you can help Tettenhall Rotary to support the work of local good causes throughout the year by donating to Santa's Sleigh appeal:

text SNOWMAN 1 to 70480 to donate £1

text SNOWMAN 2 to 70480 to donate £2

text SNOWMAN 5 to 70480 to donate £5

text SNOWMAN 10 to 70480 to donate £10

Rotary in Wolverhampton Community Fund Scheme.

Wolverhampton's four local Rotary Clubs and the James Beattie Charitable Trust have teamed up to offer small grants to local groups. 

We've got a fund of £10,000 available to help individuals, Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise groups working in our community to overcome problems arising from deprivation, poverty, disability and lack of opportunity.

This new fund follows on from similar schemes in earlier years which have demonstrated how small grants can have a big impact, helping individuals and groups through challenging times.

Groups and individuals who are established in their communities can apply for grants of between £250 and £500.

Applicants will be expected to demonstrate how a grant would make a difference to the well-being of local people and open up opportunities for them to develop their abilities and skills.

We'll need to know the number of people who will benefit from the grant and the extent and duration of the impact on them and the community. People benefiting from the grant must have a connection to the Wolverhampton area in terms of living or working in the City, or receiving services from an organisation based there.

Submitting your application:

First download your Application Form here.

Complete and email your application (as a Word attachment) to rotarysmallgrants@gmail.com by no later than 10th October 2022. Please quoting CFS22 in the subject line followed by the name of your organisation.

What happens next?

You'll receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application. Your application will then be evaluated by an assessment team, who may need to contact you to ask for further information by email or telephone.

By 1st December you'll be receive an email from us telling you whether or not your application has been successful - payments to successful applicants will be made very shortly afterwards.

FREE Prostate Cancer Screening

We're pleased to be joining 3 Hammers Golf Club, Lloyds Bank Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Prostate Cancer Support Group and Lancaster Jaguar Land Rover Wolverhampton in offering men over the age of 45 the opportunity to take a FREE prostate cancer test.

A simple 3 minute blood test could save the life of your husband, brother, father, son, friend... Let them know/forward/share to tell them to get along to the 3 Hammers Golf Complex on Old Stafford Road in Coven, Wolverhampton, WV10 7PP this Friday 14th June 2019 between 5.30pm - 8.30pm - there's no need to book - you don't even need to be a golfer - but please arrive and register as early as you can.

Please be a life saver and share details of this FREE event with friends and family.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting Bushbury

Our Santa Sleigh will be taking Santa to visit the children in Bushbury this evening.

The Sleigh route will start from the shops on the site of the old Staffordshire Volunteer Pub on Rushall Road and will visit  Bentley Road, Fairfax Road, Northwood Park Road, Ireton Road, Carisbrook Road, Cromwell Road, Northwood Park, Egerton Road, Lauderdale Road, Hamilton Gardens, Egerton Road, Pendrill Road, Wentworth Road, over Grifford Road and Hellier Road.

It's going to be a cold night so wrap up tight and keep an eye on the Sleigh's progress on the Santa Tracker link that we'll be posting at around 4.45 this evening.

Please share with friends and family in the area and make sure that you come and tell me what you'd like for Christmas this year.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting Fordhouses

Our Santa Sleigh be visiting the Fordhouses area of Wolverhampton this evening.

The Sleigh will visit Marsh Lane, St Anne’s Road, Marsh Lane, Winchester Road, Sandon Road, Patshull Avenue, Harrowby Road and Winchester Road.

We can't say when the Sleigh will be at any particular stage of the route as this depends on the number of children who come out to see Santa but we will be posting a link to our live Santa Sleigh Tracker at around 4.45 so that you can follow the Sleigh on its route

Pleases share with friends and family in the area.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting Old Fallings

Our Santa Sleigh will be visiting the children of Old Fallings in Wolverhampton this evening.

Santa's Sleigh route will visit Annan Avenue, Dickinson Avenue, Old Fallings Crescent, Fourth Avenue, Humphreys Road, Hawksford Crescent, Fifth Avenue, Goodyear Avenue, Thorne Avenue and Showell Circus.

We'll be posting a link to our live Santa Sleigh tracker on our social media accounts at around 4.45 as the Sleigh moves off.

Please share with friends and family in the area.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting The Scotlands

We'll be taking Santa and our Sleigh to visit the children in the Scotland area this evening.

The revised Sleigh route will visit parts of Tennyson Road, Keats Road, Pope Road, Dickens Road, Masefield Road, Ruskin Road, Carlyle Road, Pope Road and Westcroft Avenue.

The Sleigh will move off at 4.45 and we'll post a link to our live Santa Tracker so that you can follow it along the route.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting Low Hill

This will be the route that our Sleigh will follow during Santa's visit to the children of the Low Hill area of Wolverhampton this evening.

Santa's Sleigh will visit Leacroft Avenue, Whitgreave Avenue, Neve Avenue, Perry Avenue, Neve Avenue, Leacroft Avenue, Hill Crest Avenue, Low Hill Crescent, Walker Avenue, Wingfoot Avenue, Goodyear Avenue, Thorne Avenue, Showell Circus.

We'll post a link to our Santa Tracker on social media and on this page as the Sleigh moves off so that you can see where to find us on the route.

Please share with friends and family in the area.

Our Santa Sleigh is Visiting Claregate

We'll be out with our Santa Sleigh on Saturday the 8th December helping Santa as he visits the children in Claregate.

The Sleigh route will start at 4.45 and will visit Aldersley Avenue, Pendeford Avenue, Claregate Island, Blackburn Avenue, Burland Avenue, Lynton Avenue, Blackburn Avenue, Derby Avenue, Crossland Crescent, Aldersley Road, Green Lane, Blakely Rise, Blakeley Avenue, Green Lane, Pilot Pub.

We'll be posting a link to our Santa as we move off so that you keep track of the Sleigh on its route.

It's Santa Sleigh Time

It's coming up to Christmas and for lots of voluntary Clubs around the country that means that they are busy working with Santa Claus bringing the joy of Christmas to the boys and girls in their area and raising money to support local good causes through the coming year.

You can find details of where you can meet the Rotary Club of Tettenhall Santa on our Facebook Events page and we have details of both our own and other local Club sleigh dates on our facebook site for Wolverhampton Santa Claus

Celebrating 400 years of Shakespeare

We're proud to support the pupils of Tettenhall Wood School as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

The Festival harnesses the power of Shakespeare to amuse and terrify, move and inspire in order to help change the lives of the students taking part by building confidence, teamwork, literacy and ambition.

The pupils will be performing at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre this Thursday and with some tickets still available you can share the experience yourself by contacting the Box Office on 01902 429 212 or by booking online.

Biggest Ever Rotary KidsOut Day

On the 8th of June members from Tettenhall Rotary teamed up with Kids Out to host children from Wightwick Hall School at the largest ever Rotary KidsOut Day at Drayton Manor.

The day saw more than 29,000 disadvantaged and disabled children treated to a fun day out at theme parks, the seaside, zoos and other attractions throughout the UK – with over 5,000 of those children joining us for great time at Drayton Manor.

Rotary volunteers make the day possible by fundraising, supporting with transport, overseeing the organisation and chaperoning.

KidsOut Day gives disabled and disadvantaged children the opportunity to have fun and to enjoy what many other children may take for granted. This special day is vital to the lives and hopes of thousands of children across the UK and is only possible due to the thousands of Rotarians, volunteers and supporters who make it possible.

Thanks For Supporting Our Santa Sleigh

As twelfth night draws this Christmas season to a close its time for us to thank the thousands of you who came along to say hello and to support us so generously whilst we've been out and about with Santa.

The money that you've helped us to raise will make sure that we can continue to support deserving local causes in the coming year.

All of the members of the Club enjoy our Santa sleigh runs not only for the magic that they bring to the children that Santa Claus visits but also for the way in which they help to bring neighbours and communities together.

We've had great fun this year and want to express our thanks to the members of Tettenhall Inner Wheel Club, Tettenhall 41 Club, Tettenhall Tangent Club, ATC 1046  Fordhouses Squadron and the Army Cadet Force members without whose help our sleigh runs would not have been possible. Its been a pleasure to spend time with you all.

We also want to say a great big thank you to Brindley Volvo​ for generously providing a vehicle to tow the sleigh so that Rudolph didn't have to work too hard ahead of Christmas Eve and to the management and staff at Lidl​ in Finchfield, Asda​ in Wolverhampton and The Midcounties Co-operative​ in Codsall who were so welcoming to Santa and his helpers at his store appearances.

The Rotary KidsOut Day Out

The first Rotary KidsOut Day Out took place in 1990 and since then Clubs from around the country have taken over 25,000 disadvantaged children on a fun day out every year.

The Day Out provides the children with an experience that brings both fun and happiness into their lives. This year the Club had the pleasure of treating a group of children from Penn Fields School to spend a fun filled day at the Drayton Manor Theme Park.

More than 100 venues and 1700 Rotary volunteers make the Day Out the success that it is and our thanks go out to Drayton Manor and to all of the staff there who gave such a welcome to the kids - we can only hope the armoured dinosaur has got over the shock of meeting the other dinosaurs who accompanied the children.

Stroke Awareness Day

Today was Stroke Awareness Day in Wolverhampton. Every year, around 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. That’s one person every five minutes. Stroke is the third most common cause of death in the UK and is no respector of age with almost one quarter of that number affecting younger people and children.

Club members were at the Wulfrun Centre working with local NHS volunteers conducting free blood pressure tests to help make sure that as many people as possible know their numbers.

A blood pressure reading is always in the form of two numbers, for example 130/80. The top number is the maximum pressure in your arteries when your heart beats and is called the systolic pressure. The bottom number (diastolic pressure) is the pressure in your arteries while your heart is resting between beats. Taken together, these numbers give a very good indication of how hard your heart is having to work to pump blood around your body and are an indicator of your susceptibility to stroke.

If you weren't able to visit us today to find out your numbers then don't run the risk of having a stroke - spend 10 minutes to have your blood pressure checked.

School Dictionary Presentations

Early literacy training is critical to the success of a child's later education and in 1985 Rotary recognised this by declaring basic literacy to be a pre-condition to the development of peace. Rotarians around the world now work with children, parents, and teachers on projects encouraging and building reading skills at an early age.

As part of  this programme the Tettenhall Club has been taking part in the Dictionaries 4 Life project and throughout July members have been visiting local schools to take part in Year 6 Leavers Assemblies and presenting graduating students with their own personal dictionary.

The project aims to help the children to  become good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary. By using dictionaries efficiently children can explore spellings, meanings and derivations with understanding. One of the most positive aspects of being able to use a dictionary is that it helps to develop autonomy and confidence in the learner — one of the core goals of education.

This year members of the Club have presented dictionaries to over 250 local school children. Over the years that the project has been operating the presentation has become an established part of the Leavers Assemblies with students using the Dictionaries as unofficial year books which are signed by their teachers and fellow students as a memory of their time together.

We wish each of the children success in their continuing education and hope that the Dictionary will help them in their schoolwork as awell as being a useful reference tool for all of the family.

Enterprising Students

Today saw Wightwick Hall School host its fourth Annual Business & Enterprise Inter Schools Challenge Awards ceremony. The awards were presented by Immediate Past President, John Francis, and Roger Timbrell Chairman of the Club’s Community Services Committee.

Throughout the last month schools from throughout South Staffordshire have been taking part in competitions aimed at building students confidence and giving them the opportunity to appreciate in a practical context the challenges and opportunities of running a business.

Over 200 Primary, Middle, High and Secondary Specials school students took part in this years Challenge, which was sponsored by Tettenhall Rotary Club, taking away with them a range of transferable skills and attributes such as leadership, team building and decision making. Members of Tettenhall Rotary were on hand at each day’s event to judge the category winners.

The awards ceremony was attended by over 80 students, parents and teachers and in addition to the prize giving John was pleased to present Executive Headteacher Paul Elliott with a £500 cheque on behalf of the Club.

Kids Day Out

In 1989 John Moores, the founder of the Littlwoods chain, came up with the idea of running an outing for local disabled children. The day was such a success that he looked to replicate it in other parts of the country and he turned to his local Rotary Club for help to turn it into a national event.



The event has now given birth to the Kids Out charity and every June Rotary Clubs throughout Britain and Ireland together with KidsOut take over 25,000 disadvantaged children on a great big day out. The children visit the seaside, theme parks, adventure playgrounds & zoos giving them all wonderful memories to cherish for a lifetime.

As part of this Tettenhall Rotarians palyed host today to 30 children from the Penn Fields School in Wolverhampton who joined us for an exciting day on the rides at Drayton Manor Park. All of the children had a wonderful time and our thanks go to all of the management and staff at the Park who helped to make such a great day for the kids.

Stroke Awareness

May is stroke awareness month  Every five minutes in the UK someone has a stroke and more than 40% of these could be prevented if high blood pressure was controlled. It’s the highest risk factor for stroke.



Working with our NHS partners members of the Club today joined Rotarians from other City Clubs in Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Centre to help to tackle this statistic by promoting a Know Your Blood Pressure event and encouraging shoppers to take a range of simple tests including blood pressure, blood sugar and body fat tests to help establish if they were at risk of Stroke.

The event was a great success with over 500 people tested and in a further 10 venues across the greater Black Country area over 1250 people were checked. Over the 9 years the event  has been taking place 13 thousand people have now been tested helping to save lives and to reduce the burden of this disease on the NHS.

Our thanks go to the management of the Wulfrun Centre for their help in staging the event and to the many NHS volunteers who gave of their time to administer the tests.

A Santa Sleigh Record

Christmas is a busy time time for members of the Tettenhall Club as in addition to our normal meetings we take on the role of Santa's helpers and take Santa and our sleigh out and around the streets of Wolverhampton. For many members it's one of the most rewarding things that we do as it brings a bit of Christmas magic to children in parts of the City who otherwise are unlikely to have the opportunity to see Santa Claus.

The Club's Christmas supermarket collections also give us the opportunity to raise money for local Rotary charities. Despite the difficult economic conditions, the generosity of the people of Wolverhampton was overwhelming this year. As a result, the Club raised a record total of £7,097.75 in aid of Compton Hospice, and other Rotary Charities.

Our thanks go out to everyone who made donations which totalled £1,319.45 when we took our sleigh around the streets of Bushbury, Claregate, Blakeley Green, Low Hill, Old Fallings and Fordhouses. In addition we raised £252.22 at the switching on of the lights at Upper Green, Tettenhall whilst the day time collections outside Sainsburys at Perton raised £4,655.57 and outside the Coop at Codsall we raised £870.51. So, a big thank you to the shoppers at Tettenhall, Perton and Codsall.

The Club's thanks also go to Terminus Contract Hire in Wolverhampton, to Sainsburys of  Perton, the Midcounties Co-operative at Codsall and to the Blakemore Trust, for their support. In particular the Club’s appreciation goes to sleigh co-ordinator Chris Bowyer who worked tirelessly in order to achieve our record success and to Robert Archer who ably assisted him.