Singing Out for Compton Hospice

Join us at our Grand Charity Concert on the the 16th April for a wonderful nights entertainment with the Gentlemen Songsters Male Voice Choir, students from Wolverhampton Grammar School and compere John Edgar.

The concert takes place at the Wolverhampton Grammar School  and starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are just £10 each and the proceeds of the Concert will benefit Compton Hospice in memory of Ernie Edwards the Immediate Past President of the Tettenhall Rotary Club.

Call 01902 759921 for tickets.

Charity Valuation Day

If you loved the Antiques Roadshow when it visited Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton then it’s time to dig out all of those treasures you’ve got hiding around the house because we’ve teamed up with local auctioneers Fellows & Sons for a special valuation day at the Royal School Wolverhampton on the 29^th September between 11 and 3.

Established in 1876, Fellows & Sons Ltd is one of the United Kingdom's oldest and most respected firms of Auctioneers and Valuers and their specialists will be on hand on the day to provide you with a valuation of your items.

All we’re asking is that you donate at least £1 for each item that you have valued in order to help us raise as much money as possible for Help for Heroes and Compton Hospice – and who knows you may find that you have your very own Turner hiding in a drawer.

Liverpool Ladies Weekend

All of the good things that Rotary does are built around the Fellowship between its members - so as well as being involved in fundraising and community projects we also like to spend time together enjoying life. Each year as part of our fellowship activities we take the opportunity to say thank you to the wives of our members by holding a Ladies Weekend offering the opportunity for fun, fellowship and the odd but of shopping.

This year's Ladies Weekend saw us based near the Albert Docks in Liverpool. Thirty years of regeneration has certainly made a difference to the Docks at Liverpool and we started our weekend with a wonderful evening meal in one of the private dinning rooms at the Racquet Club with Scouser entertainment from Club member Ernie Edwards.

Saturday morning took us back in time with a visit to the Western Approaches Wartime Museum - the original wartime bunker from which Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines jointly worked to monitor enemy convoys and "wolf packs" of submarines, which threatened to bring the country to it's knees in the early part of the war.

The bunker played a big part of the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic by ensuring the successful delivery of supplies and equipment into wartime Britain from the sea and the dressing up table (not original) was a particular hit with members.

Keeping with the WWII theme the afternoon saw us take our lives into our hands with a journey on the Liverpool Yellow Duckmarine - the DUKW vehicles designed and constructed in the Second World War to move men and materials ashore where no port facilities existed but now moving tourists around the port of Liverpool and now rather more famous for sinking mid tour.

A faulty lock gate meant that we had to miss the Ferry on the Mersey tour which we had planned for Sunday morning but we were still able to take in Anthony Gormley's wonderful Another Place installation on Crosby Beach.

Liverpool certainly has a lot to offer and we had a great weekend of Fellowship - hats off to Club member Chris Starkey for organising the trip.

Ladies Weekend 2012 - Cheltenham

Our annual Ladies Weekend is a chance for the members of the Club to thank their partners for the support which they give to both their husbands and to the work of the Club over the year.

Appropriately enough in a Jubilee year this years trip took us to the Queen's Hotel in Cheltenham Spa. Cheltenham is a Regency gem characterised by the many town houses with intricate ironwork balconies and painted stucco façades which line the historic Promenade, squares and terraces. No doubt of equal interest to the ladies was the ample opportunity which the town affords for a little retail therapy.

Our weekend began with an entertaining visit to the town's Everyman Theatre on Friday evening where the Cheltenham based amateur troop the Cotswold Savoyards performed Titanic The Musical - commemorating both the centenary of the sinking of the ship and the society’s own 50th anniversary. Based on numerous actual characters aboard the great ship, the show focused on their dreams, hopes and aspirations – as the story of the launching, the collision with the iceberg, and the sinking was played out against the background of the rigid class-distinctions of the Edwardian Age.

Members had the opportunity to learn a little about the town's history during a walking tour of the town on Saturday morning. Cheltenham has been welcoming visitors for nearly three hundred years, ever since the discovery of the first natural spring. The very first Cheltenham Guide on 1781 described a visit to the town as "a journey of health and pleasure". According to legend the first medicinal waters were discovered when pigeons were noticed pecking at salty deposits which had formed around a spring on the present site of Cheltenham Ladies College. The transformation of the town into a fashionable resort began a few years later when in 1788 King George III visited the town to take the water cure.

The weekend was topped off on Saturday evening with our traditional black tie dinner featuring magical table-side entertainment from Les the Fez.  The toast to the Ladies was formally proposed by President John who thanked the ladies for the support and forbearance which they give to the members of the Club during the year, the reply for the ladies being made by the Presidents Lady, Linda, who toasted the members of the Club.

Our thanks go out to Peter and Pat Maddox who put a tremendous amount of time into organising the event for making this such a great weekend.

Armistice Day Concert

Perton Community Hall was the venue for a special Armistice Day fund raising Concert hosted by the Club this evening. Over 200 guests were entertained by the Four Oaks Big Band with a selection of classic big band music.

A sell out night the concert raised £2,500 which will go towards the funding of the Rotary Volunteer Suite at Compton Hospice. Our thanks go to the Four Oaks Big Band for great nights entertainment and to Rotarian Peter Maddox for all of his hard work in organising the event.

So We're From Canada EH!

Rotary’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their occupations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

For the last four weeks we've been fortunate to have the company of the visiting GSE team from Rotary District 5550 which spans Northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada. As their visit to this country draws to end Tettenhall had the great pleasure of hosting a Farewell Rally for the team - an opportunity for the team members to let us know what they’d learnt and experienced during their visit and to thank the Rotarians who had made the visit possible whether by hosting them in their homes or by arranging the extensive program of social events and occupational visits.

Team member Alicia Smith works in the water industry back home in Moose Jaw . Whilst here Alicia has had the opportunity to spend time with South Staffordshire Water, Severn Trent and OFWAT. Her fellow team member Jody Jury works on the family farm in Neepawaand. The visit here gave her the opportunity to visit Harper Adams University, to spend time with a number of local farmers and to gain an insight into different farming methods. Probation Officer Brennan Brooks from Saskatoon had the opportunity of not only seeing the operation of his English counterparts but was also able to spend time with Walsall magistrates to gain an insight into their decision making process. Brennan has been particularly impressed by the work of the Drug Rehabilitation teams which he met. For Shauna McKim a police officer from Regina, it must have seemed like business as usual with visits to five police stations and the opportunity to be involved in the arrest and processing of suspect whilst visiting Hanley.

The team was led by Rotarian Dave Bennet, a retired teacher, who was himself given the opportunity to visit a number of schools, colleges and universities whilst with us and even to step back in front of the blackboard again.

Its not been all work for the team though with time for boat trips on the local canals, and visits to Alton Towers, JCB, Wroxeter, the RAF Cold War Museum, Stafford Castle and the Black Country Museum.

The team have been excellent ambassadors for their Rotary District and for their country. We hope that the experiences which they have had will help them in the development of their careers, that the friendships they have made will last a lifetime and that they have a safe journey back to Canada.

Rotary Summer BBQ

Today saw the Club's annual summer BBQ at the Wolverhampton Cricket Club. Oragnised by Doug Evans and his International team the event was held to raise funds for Village Water, a charity which had impressed the Club with the emphasis that it places on the sustainability of its projects.



In the past many schemes which aimed to deliver clean drinking water to communities in Africa have foundered as organisations have simply dumped pumps in communities without providing the infrastructure necessary for their continuing maintenance. Village Water ensures that local people are trained to maintain and repair the pumps which they install so as to ensure that their projects have a meaningful long term impact. Additionally the supply of the water pump is only part of a wider sanitation programme with all the occupiers of the village being required to sign up to and to implement basic sanitation measures in the form of latrines and handwashing facilities before the pump is brought into use. By invloving the comunity in this way Village Water ensures that their projects have a long term impact on the communities which they help reducing ill health and deaths as well as encouraging economic activity.

With Chris Bowyer and Izeham Che Dan on BBQ duty it was wonderful opportunity to enjoy a range of BBQ food generously supplied by the Club's very own butcher John Whitten - the black pudding being especially good. Monies raised from ticket and raffle sales on the day mean that the Club has now met its Village Water fundraising target and another Zambian Village will benefit from the sanitation services and clean water supplies which the charity delivers.

Tettenhall Summer Fete

Every year our friends at Tettenhall Round Table host the annual summer fete - this years event will take place on the Green on Sunday 3^rd July starting at midday and running until five.

As with previous years Tettenhall Rotary will be supporting the event and it will also be the first outing for our new Nok Em Off attraction. The result of many hours of hard work by Club member Ray Hill we expect this to be a regular feature of this and other events for years to come - so don’t forget to try and win a prize by knocking all the cans off.

The Inner Wheel Club of Tettenhall will also be running a brick a brack stall at the event and we and the other community groups present hope to raise over £10,000 to benefit local good causes.

Ascot Ladies Day

Over 600 people today attended the Ascot Ladies Day event organised by Club member Ken Whalley and his wife Jan. Now in its tenth year the event has become regular fixture in the social calendar of many of those attending and has raised thousands of pounds for Rotary and other local charities.

Held at the Wolverhampton Rugby Club those attending were treated to an excellent meal and to entertainment from the Bill Bailey Jazz Band and later the opportunity to don lederhosen for a spot of traditional post race oompah band action.

Throughout the day we were able to follow the racing and fashion action on screens around the marquee and to lay bets on our fancies with the assistance of an on site bookie. As in previous years the ladies attending the event dressed fit for the Royal Enclosure and proved once again that you don’t need to be at Ascot to have great ladies day at the races.

The day was a tremendous success and once again all due to the work of Ken and Jan - our congratulations and thanks to them for organising such a great day.

Charity Golf Day

14 Teams braved the blustery, high winds at Worfield Golf Club to support our Charity Golf Tournamment today but the scenic surroundings inspired some excellent golf, together with the occasional watery graves on the 9th and 18th holes!

With 18 holes of golf, pre-match bacon butties, post match dinner and entertainment everyone enjoyed a great day, which was rounded off with the award of prizes for the Best Team Score, Nearest the Pin, Longest Drive and a Booby Prize. But the real winner was Rotary International’s Foundation Charity Polio Plus Fund which benefited from the day’s proceedings to the extent of £2,250.

At the Prize Giving, when thanking all who had taken part and contributed to the financial success of the day, the President of The Rotary Club of Tettenhall, Jim Murphy explained that the day’s proceeds would be used towards the Club’s ongoing efforts in support of the Rotary Foundation Charity 'PolioPlus' programme which aims to eradicate polio from the world and which to date has raised some $163.4 million towards Rotary's latest US$200 Million Challenge.

These contributions will help Rotary raise $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $555 million will directly support further immunization campaigns in developing countries. Since the PolioPlus program's inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine, with only 4 or 5 countries throughout the world still reporting cases of Polio.

Our thanks go to all who sponsored and supported this very worthwhile event and in particular to our main sponsors Decantae Mineral Water, TATA Steel, Business Report, Keith Bradshaw and Barclays Business and to the organisers of the day David Cave and Chris Kraushar.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Cambridge

Our weekend was rounded off today with a walking tour of Cambridge. Given the quality of much of the architecture we've seen in the City it is truly amazing that so many of the buildings which the various colleges have erected in the last 40 years are in this context nothing short of eyesores - and hanging the skeleton of a dead whale under them does nothing to hide the fact.

Thankfully what was there before more than makes up and after a tour of the grounds of Queens' College we were simply blown away by the splendour of Kings College chapel which definitely was the icing on the cake for us- so familiar through the Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols but in the flesh so much more imposing.

Blessed with fine weather and good fellowship we'll all take away happy memories of our visit to Cambridge and look forward to our next Ladies Weekend in 2012.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Dinner

A traditional part of every Ladies Weekend is the Saturday black tie dinner. This year we were based at the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge and our dinner was held in its Newton Rom which overlooks Parker's Piece - its a perfect venue for this type of occasion, the food was good and the staff really took care of us so our thanks to all of them.

The toast to the Ladies was formally proposed by President Jim in recognition of all of the invaluable support which they give to the members during the year - a vital part of this Club's success. The Presidents Lady, Alison, thanked the members for all of the support which they had given to Jim and herself during his year of office and for making it such an enjoyable time before the ladies toasted the members of the Club.

Clearly weekends such as these don't just happen and the success of this Ladies Weekend is due to the hard work of Peter and Pat Maddox who put a tremendous amount of time into preparing the event and selflessly gave of their time during the weekend to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Alison and I, together with the other members attending, are all extremely grateful to them for making such a great weekend and leaving us with such happy memories.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Ely

A few years ago we had the pleasure of hearing from the Dean of Ely Cathedral who visited our Club as a speaker. Today we were able to return the visit as the Ladies Weekend crowd took the opportunity to tour the Cathedral. Thanks to our most knowledgeable tour guides we were given an insight into the history and architecture of this most beautiful of buildings.

Ely was also home to Oliver Cromwell and the house there is one of only two surviving buildings where the Lord Protector is known to have lived. Whilst our tour guide explained the history of the house, of Cromwell and of the Civil War it was plain that she only found our true level when she let the group loose in the dressing up room.

There is no doubting the beauty of this City and all who visited wished that we could have spent more time there.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Cambridge

A large part of the success of the our Club is down to the support which we all receive from our wives. Each year we recognise how important this support is by honouring our wives at our annual ladies weekend. This year thanks to the suggestion of John Margetts the event takes place in the beautiful university City of Cambridge.

Following a excellent meal at our home base at the University Arms hotel we spent a very enjoyable evening in the company of John and Norma Major at the Cambridge Arts Theatre where the Agatha Christie Theatre Company were performing Verdict. The play features an all-star cast led by Dawn Steele, from the hit BBC drama Monarch of the Glen and the popular ITV series Wild at Heart. She was joined by Robert Duncan (Witness for the Prosecution, Absurd Person Singular, Drop the Dead Donkey) Ali Bastian (The Bill, Strictly Come Dancing, Hollyoaks), Peter Byrne (Dixon of Dock Green), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter film series), Elizabeth Power (Eastenders) and 60’s teen idol Mark Wynter.

Well OK we weren't exactly in the company of John and Norma - but they were sitting on the same row and we'd like to think that they had heard we'd be in town.

Mayor attends Charity Casino Evening 2011

Following on from the success of the Club's first casino evening last year this evening over 100 Rotarians and friends gathered in the company of the Mayor and Mayoress of Wolverhampton to find who would carry away the title of the Rotary Casino Champion 2011.

The evening started off on a special note as the Mayor, Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett, announced that having met his fundraising target for his two nominated charities - Promise Dreams which aims to fulfil the wishes of seriously and terminally ill children and the Deanesly Centre which treats cancer patients at New Cross Hospital - he would continue to raise funds for the remainder of his year to benefit the MS Therapy Centre in Wolverhampton - a charity dear to the heart of many Rotarians in Wolverhampton.

Whilst the President's wife came a notable second  the winner proved that with gambling as with most other things in life experience counts as Rotarian Bali Singh was the clear winner and our new Casino Champion 2011. Our thanks to all who attended and helped to make the evening a success and in particular to Rotarians Jag Gill, Bali Singh and Sammy Chung who organised the event. Monies raised will be used in support of local Rotary charities.

Renowned Gardening Broadcaster helps Rotary Water Aid Charity

Nearly 100 Rotarians and their guests spent this evening in the company of horticultural Broadcaster, Howard Drury.

Born in Lincolnshire, Howard started his horticultural career early selling lettuces at the age of 6 and working in local nurseries before going on to Edinburgh Botanic Garden as a Student, leaving with honours and all but one of the top awards. Following a move to Birmingham he worked for 20 years as a Horticultural Training officer and as a researcher and presenter on Central TV’s popular Gardening Time programme.

Howard's entertaining and informative presentation included 50 illustrated gardening tips and hints as well as a quiz and a valuable opportunity for the keen amateurs in the room to find the answers to their gardening problems.

The event, which was organised by Club member Doug Evans, was a huge success and raised funds for Village Water, a project supported by Rotary International which provides clean water and sanitation in underdeveloped countries.

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.

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.