Tettenhall Rotary Club Donates £1,000 to Birch Thompson Memorial Fund

The Rotary Club of Tettenhall has donated £1,000 to the Birch Thompson Memorial Fund to help support the fund's work in maintaining and developing Gelliwig, a residential centre in Porthmadog, North Wales which offers low cost residential accommodation for young people from Wolverhampton and the wider West Midlands.

Gelliwig has long been a popular destination for school groups, youth groups, and other organisations from Wolverhampton and its a great base for activities such as hiking, canoeing and rock climbing.

The Birch Thompson Memorial Fund was formed in 1981 in tribute to Colton Hill School teachers Graham Birch and John Thompson, who both died in 1980, and has helped thousands of young people to develop their skills and talents and to experience the outdoors. The importance of the Funds work was recognised with the award of the prestigious Queens Award for Voluntary Service in 2020.

The £1,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Tettenhall will help the Birch Thompson Memorial Fund to continue its work in supporting Gelliwig. The money will be used to refurbish an external paly area for the use of the young people who visit Gelliwig each year.

If you would like to find out more about the Birch Thompson Memorial Fund and its work at Gelliwig visit their website at www.gelliwig.org.uk

The Royal School Interact Club Raises over £1,800 for Turkey/Syria Earthquake Relief

We’re looking forward to welcoming members of The Royal School Interact Club to our meeting on Monday. Their Club recently raised £1801.25 for the Turkey/Syria Earthquake relief through a “Wear your own clothes” day and by making and selling Valentines cards at the school. The fundraising events were a great success, with students from all year groups coming together to show their support for the victims of the earthquake.

The Royal School Interact Club is a group of students who are passionate about making a difference in the world. They are always looking for ways to help others, and were eager to do something to help the victims of the Turkey/Syria Earthquake - with the money that they raised helping the British Red Cross to provide relief to those who have been affected by the earthquake.

Interact is a youth organization affiliated with Rotary which aims to encourage young people to develop leadership skills and to participate in service projects for the benefit of their communities. The Royal School Interact Club is one of over 14,000 Interact Clubs worldwide with members meeting every week to discuss service projects and to plan events and its a great example of how young people can make a difference in the world – contact us to find out more about how your school can make a difference in the world with Interact 

Wolverhampton Young Citizen 2023

Nominations are now open for the Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year awards 2023, which recognise the achievements of young people aged between 13 and 25 who live or go to school or work in Wolverhampton.

Mel Eves with last year’s finalist Emma Falconer and Wolves defender Max Kilman
Photo credit - Express and Star

This years awards were launched by former Wolves player Mel Eves who is encouraging everyone in the city to recognise those young people who have gone the extra mile and whose personal courage, care for others, achievement or contribution to the community should be recognised and celebrated.

Anyone can nominate a young person for the award – just visit www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk and complete the online nomination form.

The awards were devised and are sponsored by the City’s four Rotary Clubs and are backed by the Wolves Foundation, the Express & Star, Wolverhampton City Council, Carvers Building Supplies, the James Beattie Charitable Trust, West Midlands Magazines and Wolverhampton West magazine.

The Great Easter Book Hunt

Promoting literacy is one of Rotary's core aims – good reading skills help to give children a better start in life – so we’re really happy to able to sponsor the 2023 Tettenhall Easter Book Hunt.

Starting from Thursday of this week and running through the Easter holiday children will have the chance to join the hunt and follow the clues to find one of 200 great Usborne books that will be hidden in and around the Tettenhall area.

You’ll be able to find the clues on the Tettenhall Look for a book Easter 2023 facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090491666753 - so make sure to visit and follow it today

Happy Easter and Happy Reading

Happy World Interact Day

Interact Clubs are service clubs for young people aged 12 to 18 and are part of Rotary International.

Members of Interact clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or local community and one that promotes international understanding.

These projects give club members the opportunity to make a difference in their school and community as well as internationally at the same time as developing leadership and team working skills and making new connections.

The Interact Club at the Royal School Wolverhampton celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year.

Since its formation in June of 2012 under the sponsorship of the Rotary Club of Tettenhall the Royal School Interact Club has, with the support of teacher Jane Kyle, prospered and become well established at the school.

Club members have experienced how to hold regular formal meetings and debate, keep accounts and how to work together to achieve the initiatives that they have set for themselves. The Club has provided entertainment for others whilst experiencing the satisfaction that comes from helping others and having fun along the way.

The enthusiasm and dynamics of the ever changing membership has seen the Club involved in a range of student led community, school, national and international initiatives and fund raising activities.

Internationally it has raised support for Shelterbox, with the school funding 5 boxes over the years, Polio Plus and Project Gambia 

More locally Club members have fundraised for Compton Care, Macmillan and the Haven and have carried out anti-litter and recycling campaigns.

The Interact Club members have also supported the City’s Rotary Clubs and have taken part in such local initiatives as Tettenhall Summer Fete, Best Foot Forward, the Christmas Santa Sleigh and Dragon Boat Racing at Himley Park.

With the ongoing support of the dedicated staff at the school and the work of the enthusiastic and talented Interact Club members we’re looking forward to seeing what the next 10 years will bring.

Wolverhampton Young Citizen 2022 Finalist - Louis Johnson

Louis was recognised for his outstanding fundraising and volunteering work. In the last 11 years he has raised over £48,000 to help charities such as Birmingham Childrens Hospital, Compton Care and the Mayor’s Charity. 

Despite facing ongoing health issues of his own, his volunteering work has and continues to help the elderly and the vulnerable in his community.

Rotary Young Citizen of the Year Award

This week saw the award of Rotary’s Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award celebrating the personal courage, care for others, achievement or contribution to the community of some of the City’s most inspiring young people.

The event was hosted by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Sandra Samuels with Guest of Honour Lisa Webb, who was given Freedom of the City for both her charity work and her incredible bravery as a young teacher when she protected children from a knifeman at her school in 1996.

We’re taking the opportunity to recognise each of our finalists and to express our thanks to them for the difference which they are making in our community.

The four Rotary Clubs of Wolverhampton would also like to extend our thanks to the Award patrons whose help makes the Awards possible:

City of Wolverhampton Council

Carvers Building Supplies

The Express and Star

Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation

Wolverhampton West Magazine

Bilston Magazine

Wednesfield Magazine

James Beattie Trust

Photo credit - Express and Star

Rotary Young Musician Competition

Are you a young musician? Do you want the chance to perform in front of an audience and get feedback from experienced judges? The Rotary Young Musician competition will be held at Wolverhampton Music School at 2:30pm on Sunday 5th February. Any amateur young musician can enter providing you’re in full time education and no older than 18 on 31st August 2022.

You’ll need to sing or play two contrasting pieces of any style and your programme mustn’t be longer than 10 minutes. You can be an instrumentalist or vocalist of any level, and you can enter individually or through your music teacher. You’ll be performing in front of experienced judges who will be giving supportive feedback to help you develop - and you might win!

You can find the full Information Pack here and download the Entry Form here. 

Entries should be emailed to youth@tettenhallrotray.org.uk - the deadline for entries is Friday 16th December.

September is Literacy Month

Rotary believes that education is a right for all and that it strengthens our communities – because of this promoting literacy in one of our core areas of focus.

The annual cost to the UK economy alone of adults leaving school without being able to read, write and communicate successfully has been estimated at £2.5 billion. That problem is likely to have been made worse in recent years as school children have been denied the education they deserve due to the impact of the Covid pandemic. 

In order to provide a safe environment for its pupils the Kings Church of England School in Tettenhall had to disband its library during Lockdown and once restrictions were lifted it became a priority for the School to open a proper library to help encourage a love of reading.

Tettenhall Rotary Club has been working with the School and its pupils to help re-open their library and to stock it with a diverse range of books from authors from a range of cultures and heritages reflecting the diverse backgrounds of the School's pupils. The library has been designed to nurture the love of reading among all of the School’s pupils, many who may be without access to books at home.

With the help of The Rotary Foundation £4,000 has been donated to the project - a project which the School knows will not only improve pupil’s reading skills, but will also help to deliver better exam results. When we improve pupils’ literacy skills and help them to achieve better results, we create opportunities for them to continue in education, gain further qualifications and to access more, and improved, opportunities.

Only THREE WEEKS to go to Nominate for the Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the year Rotary Awards

The deadline for nominating young people for The Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the year Rotary awards is 31st July. 

If you know a young person between the ages of 13 and 25 who deserves to be recognised for their kindness, volunteering or service to their school, community or local organisation, please go to www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk to nominate them

Finalists will be selected in August and invited to the awards ceremony on 15th September hosted in the Civic Suite by the Mayor, Cllr. Sandra Samuels who is one of the judges. Many of those who are not selected as finalists, but who have made a significant contributions to their community, will receive certificates of commendation’ signed by the Mayor. 

Awards will be given in two age categories : 13 – 18 and 19 – 25.  

These awards are devised and are sponsored by the four Rotary Clubs in the City and organised in partnership with the City Council, The Express and Star, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation and supported by Carvers Building Supplies Ltd. and the James Beattie Charitable Trust.

Rotary Young Citizen Awards 2022

Nominations are now open for the Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year awards 2022, which recognise the achievements of young people who have gone the extra mile to help others in our community.

Awards will be made to 13 to 18-year-olds and to those aged 19 to 25 who live, learn or work in Wolverhampton.

Parwiz Karimi, Karl Henry, Roger Timbrell, Mel Eves and Dylan Wright

Karl Henry, former captain of Wolves and ambassador for the Wolves Foundation, and former Wolves player Mel Eves are supporting the awards and are keen to encourage people in the city to recognise young people who have helped others or their community during the pandemic.

Nominations can be made by visiting wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk. The closing date is on May 31st and the awards ceremony will be held on July 7th 

The awards were devised and are sponsored by the City’s four Rotary Clubs and are organised in partnership with the City Council, the Express and Star, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation and supported by Carvers Building Supplies Ltd and the James Beattie Trust.

Jay Blades supports Wolverhampton Young Citizen Awards

 If you know a young person who has helped others during the pandemic or done something in their community, school, college or work place that deserves to be recognised The Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades​ wants you to nominate them for a Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award.

Its simple to nominate someone online - so if you know a young person who lives, goes to school or works in Wolverhampton and is aged between 13 and 25 who has gone that extra mile to help others visit www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk now and tell us their story.

Wolverhampton Young Citizen 2021

It's all change for the Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the year Awards 2021 which have been extended to add a new award for young people aged between 19 and 25 as well as retaining the existing awards for 13 to 18 year olds.

So if you know a young person who has gone the extra mile - whose personal courage, care for others, achievement or contribution to the community should be recognised and celebrated now's the time to nominate them for a Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award.

These awards were devised and are sponsored by the five Rotary Clubs in the city and organised in partnership with the Wolverhampton City Council, The Express & Star, Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation and supported by Carvers Building Supplies and the James Beattie Trust.

Anyone can nominate by visiting the Young Citizen website www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk

Nominations are close on 31 May and subject to Covid 19 restrictions the awards ceremony will be held early in July.

Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year

The Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year awards recognises the achievements of young people aged between 13 and 19 living, studying or working within the City who go the extra mile and whose personal courage, achievement or contribution to the community should be recognised and celebrate.

The Award is run by the City's five Rotary Clubs and is dedicated to Tom Warren, a Wolverhampton Rotarian who become only the second Briton ever to lead Rotary International.

In view of the prolonged Corona Virus emergency we've had to take the difficult decision to cancel this years competition.

All nominations that have been received will be carried forward to next year's competition when their good citizenship achievements will be recognised in 2021.

It's Time to Nominate Wolverhampton's Young Citizen

Know a young person who has gone the extra mile - whose personal courage, achievement or contribution to the community should be recognised and celebrated?

Then it's time to nominate them for a Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award?



Nominations can be made by family members, friends, teachers, youth leaders and other professionals, employers or anyone who has recognised the achievements of the young person.

The award will be made to a young person who is over the age of 13 on 1 January 2019 and under the age of 19 on 31 August 2019, who is living, studying or working within Wolverhampton City boundaries.

Collect a nomination form the Waitrose & Partners store on Penn Road in Wolverhampton or complete it online at http://wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk/

The closing date for nominations is the 31 May 2019.

On Parade With The Army Cadets

The Perton Detachment of the Army Cadets has become an integral part of our Christmas Santa Sleigh activities.

Each year the Detachment Cadets, their Officers and Adult Instructors devote hundreds of hours to helping the Club take its Santa Sleigh to visit children in neighbourhoods around the City - bringing a little bit of Christmas magic with it.

This evening members of the Club visited the Detachment at the ACF Centre at Tettenhall College to pass on our thanks and to leave them with a donation to help with their activities in the coming year.

With nearly 40,000 cadets the Army Cadet Force offers young people the chance to take part in exciting and challenging activities such as fieldcraft, adventurous training, first aid, music, sports and shooting as well as the opportunity to travel and make life long friendships.

Cadets have the opportunity to achieve the Army Proficiency Certificate teaching leadership skills, discipline and self-confidence to help equip them for life. The Cadet Force also offers the opportunity to gain valuable qualifications such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, BTEC First Diploma in Public Services or Music or the ILM Certificate in Team Leading.

It's a great time for the cadets and a great preparation for life - you can find out how to join or volunteer with the Army Cadet Force on their website - https://armycadets.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo4Pi3Nny4AIVzJztCh3z_wfXEAAYASAAEgJFZvD_BwE

Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Awards 2019

Do you know someone who has gone the extra mile to help others?  If so, why not nominate them for the 2019 Young Citizen Awards? We are looking for young people who live, work, or go to school in Wolverhampton who are over the age of 13 on 1st January and under the age of 19 on 31st. August whose personal commitment  to others, their school, voluntary organisations, a charity or voluntary groups or whose contribution to the community, deserve to be recognised and celebrated.

The awards are sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Bilston, Wednesfield, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton St. Georges in partnership with Wolverhampton City Council, The Express and Star, Waitrose, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and the Way Youth Zone.

Nominations are invited following the launched on 1st March 2019 and the closing date will be 31st May.  Family members, teachers, employers or anyone who has recognised the achievement of a young person can nominate them on line at www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.co.uk or by post on forms which can be downloaded from the website or collected from the Customer Service Desk at Waitrose Wolverhampton now.

The awards ceremony will be held in the Mayoral Suite, Wolverhampton City Council on 4th July 2019.

Wolves Captain Kick-Starts Search For Wolverhampton Young Citizen Of The Year 2018

Wolverhampton Wanderers team captain, Conor Coady has kick-started this year’s bid to find the city’s Young Citizen of the Year.

Conor Coady, of Wolverhampton Wanderers, with 2017 Award winners Amy Nicholas and Darram Kooner 

This year’s awards were officially launched at Wolves’ training ground along with the Deputy Mayor, councillors, judges and a former winners.

Conor Coady said: “I am delighted to support these awards which recognises and celebrates young people who go the extra mile to help others.”

Conor Coady with 2017 Award Winners Amy Nicholas and Darram Kooner The Deputy Mayor, Cll.Phil Page, Deputy Mayoress Elaine Hadley Howell,  Chairman of Judges, Peter Madeley who is Political Editor of the Express and Star, and Chairman of the Organising  Committee, Roger Timbrell representing the five Rotary Clubs in the City who sponsor the event

Organised by the city’s five Rotary clubs, in partnership with the City Council, Express & Star, Wolves, Waitrose and The Way Youth Zone, the awards are now in their fifth year. They recognise youngsters aged 14-19 who have made a significant contribution to the city and celebrate their achievements.

Anyone can nominate a young person who lives, goes to school or works within the borough of Wolverhampton. For more details about the award, plus entry forms, visit  www.wolverhamptonyoungcitizen.org.uk.

Nomination forms are also available from the Civic Centre and Waitrose on Penn Road in Wolverhampton and entries are open until the end of May.

Wolverhampton Young Photographer Competition

We're remembering one of the best this weekend.

Club member and committed Rotarian David Cave sadly passed away last year. David was a two time recipient of the Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship - most recently in 2013 for his service to the community through Rotary and especially his work with the Wolverhampton Youth Orchestras.

David was a talented industrial and commercial photographer and his photographs recording life in the West Midlands frequently featured in the Express & Star, and other city and national publications.

We've joined with the Wolverhampton Photographic Society to honour Davids memory with award of a prize and trophy for the annual Wolverhampton Young Photographer competition. The winner will be announced on Monday but you can see this years entries on the theme of 'Urban Landscape' this Saturday between 11am and 2pm at The Viner Gallery, Merridale Lane WV3 9RB - near the junction of Merridale Road next to the school fields.

Making a Difference - Dictionaries 4 Life

One person in six in the UK lives with poor literacy. This holds them back at every stage of their life. As a child they won't be able to succeed at school, as a young adult they will be locked out of the job market, and on becoming a parent they won't be able to support their child's learning.

The promotion of literacy is a special focus for the Rotary movement and as part of our commitment President Roger and other members of the Club have been making end of term visits to a number of local schools to present Year 6 graduating classes with Rotary Dictionaries 4 Life to support their future learning.

By using dictionaries efficiently children can explore spellings, meanings and derivations helping them to develop autonomy and confidence — one of the core goals of education.