Rotaract Club of Derby

2008 Past News:

May News: Charter Night

On Saturday 17th May Derby Rotaract celebrated its 31st Charter with a barn dance at the Derby Irish Centre. The event was attended by members of Derby Rotaract (both past and present!), Derby and Derby South Rotary Clubs, the RGBI committee, and friends and family thereof. Everyone had a good work-out thanks to Speed The Plough, who called the songs and were very patient while we tried to "strip the willow" correctly! Overall, through ticket sales, the raffle and donations, we raised an estimated £255 for the County Air Ambulance! This puts our total raised for the year at around £1,800, which is a tremendous achievement!

Thanks go to the Derby Rotaract committee for organising such a successful event, the Derby Irish Centre for the use of their function room, everyone who donated raffle prizes (Noel Harrison, Romo Fabrics and Rotaractors Linda Ball and Vicki Butler!) and everybody who came along to support us!

May news:The 2008 European Rotaract Conference took place in London from 30 April to 4 May. It was attended by 946 delegates from 93 districts in 40 countries, which was a fantastic turnout. Derby Rotaract President Claire Hall and Secretary Jonathan Storey attended EUCO from Friday to Sunday and past member Sarah Kelly came to the Gala Ball on the Saturday night. The conference was a resounding success and we got a mention by achieving third place in the Rotaract Website of the Year competition! Many thanks to everybody who voted for us, and hopefully we can go one or two places better next year!

On the Friday night there was a "Secret Agent" themed party in Piccadilly Circus; some people went to more effort than others, though I must admit my idea of wearing white shirt, black trousers and bowtie was not the most imaginative... Saturday morning saw us take to the skies with a champagne breakfast followed by a trip on the London Eye, and in the afternoon the RGBI Awards and Conference was held. In the evening we had the Gala Ball, which was a lavish affair with a great turnout, a huge array of raffle prizes and a photographer waiting to take your picture by an Aston Martin! Sunday morning/lunchtime was a picnic in Ravenscourt Park, where people could have a final chat with new acquaintances before heading off back home.

March news: Rotaract turns 40!

The first Rotaract Club to be chartered was the Rotaract Club of North Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, on 13 March 1968. This means that Rotaract turns 40 in 2008! Rotaract celebrated its 40th birthday in style later on this year at EUCO 2008, the European Rotaract Convention, which is being held in London from 30 April to 4 May 2008. Read more about it at the EUCO 2008 website.

Derby Rotaract celebrated the event at their March business meeting by buying (and eating!) a giant cookie with "Happy 40th Rotaract" iced on (see above!).

March news: The details for the annual Rotaract camping excursion in Banbury have recently been announced. After last year's Cowboys and Indians theme, this year they will be taking you back to your childhoods with 70s, 80s and 90s nights! The event will be held 22-25 August (over the Bank Holiday weekend). You can find out all the details at Banbury Retro Rally 2008.

January news: Sales of the Derby Rotaract Christmas Handout Quiz were the best yet in 2007 and we have amassed £232! A big "Thank you" to everybody who bought one, as it was all in a good cause: this money will be added to the £1,325 that we will soon be giving the County Air Ambulance!

The entries were marked at the business meeting on 2 January. Seven people got full marks and so in accordance with the instructions a winner was drawn out of a hat - congratulations go to Mr. David Blanchflower from Belper who has scooped our first prize of a bumper tin of Roses which will shortly be coming his way!

Congratulations go to the following people who also got full marks in the quiz:

Mr. Derek Bland, Retford
Miss Catherine Charlton, Arnold
Mrs. Ruth Elliott, Somercotes
Mrs. A. Harrison, Heanor
Mr. Kevin Hudson, Retford
Mrs. Barbara Southam, Somercotes

The answers are available to be downloaded here.

2007 Past News:

November news: Friday 23rd November saw the culmination of months of hard work at our Charity Quiz Night in Ripley. We were at full capacity as 16 teams from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire came along to show their support, and we took £625 on the night. Thanks to £500 of matched funding from Ernst & Young and a further £200 from Rolls Royce, we now have £1,325 to hand over to the County Air Ambulance! Read a full report on the evening's entertainment here.

November news: On Sunday 18th November, seven of our members teamed up with RedWelly to perform a "garden makeover" in Alvaston. Redwelly specialise in transforming gardens for the elderly or disabled, and this was no exception as one of the occupant was registered blind and the uneven paving slabs were a potential hazard.

We encountered a few problems: the wind and rain didn't let up all day, one of our members pulled a muscle quite early on, and our Vice President locked himself out of his car when we were packing up to leave! However everybody there had a thoroughly good time, knowing that we were helping out the community.

Although we succeeded in removing all the existing paving slabs, levelling the ground, installing the water feature, laying most of the turf and some of the new slabs, the rain made it impossible to complete the job on the day. However, RedWelly will be going back there soon to finish up. Visit the photo pages to see our progress throughout the day!

September news: On Sunday 30th September, five members of Derby Rotaract did some conservation work at Conkers, led by our Vice President Tom Watkins (centre, with a hat), who is a ranger there. We were given the task of clearing out the grass and weeds from the "Wildflower Glade" and got a considerable amount done during our stint. All involved had a great time and we have volunteered to go back and finish our project!

September news: Derby Rotaract has joined forces with members of the Rotaract Clubs of Nottingham and Derwent Valley to organise The Rotaract Quiz. This will take place on Friday 23 November at 7.30pm (for a prompt 8pm start) at the Miner's Welfare Club in Ripley. There is capacity for 20 teams, so please get your team registered quickly in order to avoid disappointment. Please register your team at derbyrotaract@hotmail.com. All proceeds will go to the County Air Ambulance.

September news: Kathryn Tyrrell successfully completed the Robin Hood Half Marathon on September 16th (rather her than me!). Her £200 fundraising target on her Just Giving site was smashed and currently stands at £295. It's still not too late to donate...

September news: On the 8/9 September, members from Rotaract helped out as volunteers at Derby's biannual environmental festival, Eco-Fest. The weekend event raised awareness of current environmental issues, and sought to engage children and adults alike in changing their ways to protect the environment. Themed areas included "Waste Not Want Not", "Grow Your Own" and "TravelWise".

August news: Thanks to sales of our 2006 Christmas Quiz, the carboot sale in May and the Murder Mystery evening held recently, we were able to present a cheque for over £350 to the County Air Ambulance. Alison Baxter and Jonathan Storey went to their base at East Midlands Airport to meet the staff and be given a guided tour of the helicopter. Click here to find out more about who the County Air Ambulance are, and why such fundraising is vital to the continuity of their operations.

August news: One of our longest-standing members, Kathryn Tyrrell, is running in the Robin Hood Half Marathon this September, raising money for Leonard Cheshire. Please click here to visit the site and make a contribution.

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