Since the Millennium Year we have given £3,000 to Shropshire & Mid-Wales Hospice, £5,500 to Hope House Hospice, sent a Fire engine to Romania, to name but a few. We wish to continue in this vein and to this end Rotarian Pat Lewis is running in The Great North Run on 6th October 2002 for Rotary Charities. So please give generously.
A further fund raising effort for Hope House will be made by Rotarian Paul Hume-Miller who will be participating in a sponsored Parachute Jump on Saturday 23rd November. Rotarians, please help to support Paul by encouraging sponsors to donate to this worthwhile charity.
Rotarians, the Global Quest for new Rotary members is continuing internationally and Welshpool is targeting a net gain of three new members for 2002/3. So please invite a friend or guest to our regular meetings.
The Chairman of our International Committee Rot. Kurt Fleischer is appealing to Rotarians and friends for donations of any old tools for a Rotary charity appeal called Tools for Self Reliance. When complete the tools will be packed and sent for use by communities in Africa. One welcome addition to items collected was a Singer sewing machine kindly donated by Mrs. Joy Morris of Welshpool.
A very successful fund raising lunch was held on Sunday 26th May in the gardens of Neville and Hillary Williams' house at Llanfechain and over £2,000 was raised towards the Hope House appeal.
This project obtained good publicity for the Club as it was featured on BBC Wales news. Rotarian Ian Hughes, International Committee Chairman stated that the project involved a phenomenal amount of paperwork, official forms and questions from customs but it was worth it in the end.
A joint Innerwheel / Rotary tea party to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee will be held at the home of Mike & Jean Wynne-Griffith (Croft House, Red Bank, Welshpool) on Sunday 2nd June 2002 between 3 - 5 p.m. Tickets £2.50 per person.
Our Club plans to participate in The National Eisteddfod of Wales which will be held in Meifod between 2nd - 9th August 2003. It is hoped to secure District and local club's support on manning a Rotary stand.
Welshpool Rotary Club has arranged for the surplus fire engine to be taken by lorry to a UK port, before being carried as freight on a five-day trip across to Buzias. The town that relies heavily on tourism and agriculture, was chosen by Rotarians because it is similar to Welshpool in both size and character.
Mid and West Wales Fire Service officially handed over the fully-operational fire engine to Welshpool Rotary Club yesterday. It then started its long journey to Buzias, 15 miles south of Timisoara, where the Rotary Club there will receive it on behalf of the community.
The 14-month-long project was the brain child of Rotarian Mr. Ian Hughes, who heard about the country's plight through a Romanian contact staying in Mid Wales. Ian stated that this project has involved a phenomenal amount of paperwork and official forms and questions from customs but it will be worth it to get the fire engine, which was surplus to requirements in Welshpool, out there where it is needed.
Ian also said there is no real infrastructure to Romania's fire service which was dependent on the military until last.
President Mike Pepper confirmed that Rotarians has raised £2,000 to help with transportation costs, including a generous donation by Layton Blackham & Co. of £500. On the occasion of the handover of the fire engine, the Rotary Club of Welshpool gave a donation of £150 to the National Fire Service Benevolent Fund in appreciation of the fire service's help in providing the fire engine free of charge to the Club.
The Welshpool Rotary Club hope to strengthen ties with the Rotary Club of Timisoara as we have learnt through this exchange that we may be able to help in other areas in future. Emergency services in Buzias and Timisoara are desperately short of hydraulic cutting equipment to get injured people out of cars in accidents.