Pete's Prattlings
2012 has started as 2011 finished---as busy as ever.
Our January Meetings were a little out of order as we had to fit in a dinner with Soroptimists who meet on one of our tea meeting dates.
We held our discussion meeting at the first meeting in the New Year, listened to John Grimshaw explain the delights of the Snowdrops and Gardens at Colesbourne. As I mentioned earlier we had a visit to the Soroptimists and finished the month with our business meeting, when I had the pleasure of inducting Ivan Hackett into the Club. A warm welcome Ivan.
Bob Allison gave us an update on the Web-site Survey and made some recommendations to give us a more modern, user friendly site for the future.
Interspersed between the regular meetings was a District Mini Convention (District Meeting to you and I), a Zone Meeting and a further meeting of the proposed New Club in Fairford and Lechlade. Add to that the heat of the Young Musician Competition, our own Young Chef Competition; followed by the Semi Final of the District Young Chef Competition and a skittles game against Swindon Old Town you can see why I say it has been busy.
February with its five Wednesdays, the Street Collection, the Young Musician Final and the Soup Kitchen looks to be equally busy.
On a sad note, I have to report the resignation from the Club of Malcolm Finch. He will step down at the end of this Rotary Year as he is having difficulty hearing and being on his feet for long periods following his stroke last year. We thank him for his contribution to the various Committees he has served on during his 14 years as a Member also for his contribution to the Club generally especially the Games Evenings. We do require someone to take over the custody of the games and to run the evening in future, although Simon Musgrove-Wethey has already indicated that he is willing to do it providing he can still participate and beat us all again!!
Peter Armitage
Snowdrops at Colesbourne
After a large plateful of lamb shank and vegetables which our speaker described as much larger than his usual evening meal, we settled down to an illustrated account by Dr John Grimshaw on the “Snowdrops of Colesbourne”. There was, however, no chance of the occasional post prandial snooze as the talk was fascinating and interspersed with beautiful coloured slides of snowdrops and other spring flowers especially, in Colesbourne Park.
The Colesbourne Estate was bought by the Elwes family in1789. In1850 a large Victorian mansion was designed and the architect was told to extend all the rooms by 3 ft in every direction. It stood for about 100 years until 1950 when the present owner, Sir Henry, found it quite impractical to maintain. It was then demolished and a smaller country house built, retaining the Long Room. Henry John Elwes F.R.S. was a great naturalist and in 1874 travelled extensively in Turkey Greece and Persia collecting specimens of plants, bulbs and trees. It is hard to believe that the grandfather of the present owner sold all the collection apart from the mature trees which now make up a large part of the woodlands of the Colesbourne valley.
As a result, the flowers that we now enjoy were all planted and spread in the last 50 – 60 years. There are over19 different species of snowdrop and come in many different shapes, sizes and markings, fetching up to £350-£360 a bulb. The large robust flower Galathus Elwes bears the family name and there are also sub-species of George Elwes after their son who was tragically killed and Lady Caroline Elwes which is a particularly fine and unusual yellow snowdrop. Most of the latter were stolen in 1997 and never recovered but luckily a handful of the unique bulbs was retained. We were told that the flowers were “buzz pollinators” and released their pollen when the flowers experienced vibration by bees. Propagation was by seed and division but both methods took some years before the adult bulb appeared.
Finally we saw how well the snowdrops combined with other spring flowers especially pink cyclamen and yellow aconites.
An excellent vote of thanks was given by Stephen Segar. I think many of us are now committed “Galanthophiles” and hope to visit the gardens in February.
Alec Harker
Cirencester Rotary Young Chef Competition
The Club held the Young Chef Club Competition at Kingshill School on Saturday 14th January 2012. Four young aspiring chefs from Deer Park and Kingshill Schools took part, having been selected by their schools to enter the competition.
The Rotary Young Chef is a national competition sponsored by Filippo Berio the Olive Oil manufacturers. The Club project is to cook a healthy two-course meal for two people costing less than £5 each.
The ultimate prize is a day spent with a Michelin star Chef, a two week trip to the olive groves in Tuscany and a cash prize.
The winner of the Club Competition was 16-year old Chris Tapsell from Kingshill School, who served delicate Golden Scallops with a Rich Black Pudding in a Curried Cauliflower Puree as a starter, followed by a Main course of Flambéed tender Chicken served with crunchy golden new potatoes and freshly steamed asparagus. The runner-up was Ed Walker aged 14 from Deer Park School who provided a tasty main course of Tomato Risotto served with asparagus & rainbow trout wrapped in prosciutto ham, followed by a Gooey Chocolate Pudding with Chantilly cream and strawberries.
The quality and presentation of the food would have graced many a restaurant table.
The Competition was judged by professional chef Elizabeth Arklie and home economics teacher and examiner Anne Lumb. I am grateful to David Petrie for his help and the support of Gaille Petrie, Liz and Chris Tovey, Peter and Liz Armitage and David Leigh who attended the event.
Prizes and Certificates were presented by the President of the Rotary Club, Peter Armitage.
Chris Tapsell will now enter the Rotary District Competition for which preliminary heats will be held on Saturday 28th January for eight local Rotary Clubs also at Kingshill School. If Chris successfully gets through the District Competitions, he will take part in a Regional competition prior to the National Final in Abingdon. The Final will have eight finalists from Great Britain and Northern Ireland out of an initial entry of over 4000 contestants throughout the UK competing to be the Rotary Young Chef of 2012.
Mike Lumb
Top:
Winner Chris Tapsell with Rotary President Peter Armitage
Bottom:
Competitors and judges, left to right: Peter Armitage (Rotary President),
Anne Lumb, Ed Walker, Charlie McQueen, Kieran Lane, Liz Arklie and
Chis Tapsell
Rotary Workshop Update
The second in a series of workshops was held on Wednesday 4th January to discuss the format, type and frequency of meetings.
Chaired by Andrew Tubb the Chairman of Club Service the session was introduced by asking if the current format, type and frequency was fit for purpose and what type of Club did we want to evolve in the coming years.
This was acknowledged as not being an easy subject to debate because many have different views but it was important for the workshop to give everyone the opportunity to be open, honest and to show respect for others opinions.
The fundamental question asked was is the balance right and does the format, type and frequency meet the needs of the Club, its current membership and prospective members.
Do we face burnout or can we continue as we are – would less mean more – less meetings but more people able and willing to commit to say the officer roles of the Club and organising fundraising events?
The first task for the workshop was an individual assignment – what would the perfect format, type and frequency be? This was not necessarily what we believe the format should be for the Club but to look personally at what type of Club we would like to be committed to.
27 people responded to this task of which 10 replicated the current format (although 3 suggested minor amendments no 5th Wednesday meeting, no speaker at members dinner and no speaker at tea meetings); 17 went for some kind of change:
x4 two meetings a month
x5 three meetings a month
x 8 every week but with one of the meetings being a committee meeting
The second task was undertaken in small groups and was a mini SWOT analysis. Responses on the whole confirmed that we have a good mix of meetings and they fit in well with the lifestyles of the current members and helps in planning other commitments.
There was consensus that meeting weekly makes it a social occasion and with a relaxed attitude on attendance it makes the existing meeting frequency acceptable and is good for fellowship.
Continued:
There were wide ranging comments on weaknesses from there being too bigger a time commitment for members and the overall cost being expensive; is there sufficient time available for fellowship and focusing on our core aims and objectives.
No one likes change and a common thought is that the Club may lose members and may not attract new members if it doesn’t change and evolve. That said, is it broke and does it need fixing?
Young people may not join the Club as presently constituted but with the growing commitment to our links with the Round Table, is the focus for membership on the over 40’s and 50’s as opposed to the 20’s and 30’s.
The warning shot and serious consideration and clear leadership needs to be given to the fact that the Club could fade away as a result of inertia. We have an ageing membership and need to ask whether we are just too comfortable with the present format.
In looking forward positively to the future what opportunities are there to evolve, to think radically not just for prospective members but those who currently are; various ideas were put forward such as:
More informality and informal meetings;
Recruiting the 50/55 age group;
Talking to younger people to find out what they would like;
Consider a different combination of meetings and timings;
To have less formal dinner meetings;
To move towards fortnightly meetings;
To have more random seating;
Perhaps there is too much of a focus on fundraising.
Every one within the Club should be valued and have the opportunity to put forward their thoughts and ideas and these workshops have given us that opportunity to play an active part in the running of the Club.
May I take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the discussion and we look forward to Club Council’s consideration of the issues and ideas put forward.
Andrew Tubb
Chairman of Club Service
YOUNG MUSICIAN
YOUNG MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
This competition is organised each year by nine Rotary Clubs in the South Cotswolds & is designed to give young people with musical talent an opportunity to play solo in front of a live audience under competition conditions. There are usually two heats in January before the final in February but for the first time this year there were only enough entries for one heat which was held at Westonbirt School on 15th January. There were twelve competitors with last year’s winner’s sister playing on two instruments. As always the standard was very high with pieces played by well known composers with some obscure ones such as Poulenc. Normally two competitors go through to the final from each of the categories piano, woodwind, string & percussion but this is always the final decision of the judges. This year there was only one pianist from Marlwood School, Esmae, who automatically went through with sadly no entry from the percussion section. In the string section the very talented Megan Hughes, who is now studying at Wells Cathredral School, thrilled us all with her excellent skills on the violin together with Melody who has only been in this country since the autumn. Katie Jenner the younger sister of last years winner played pieces both on the clarinet & alto sax & the much improved Harriet Smith delighted us with her cornet playing. This year we had two members of the Rees family, Sam played the clarinet & had all the audience footapping to his Swinging Shepherd Blues & young Joe played the trumpet, hardly seeing him from behind the music stand. Ryan from Maidenhill School also delighted us on the trombone with a piece by Rimsky Korsakoff. At the end of the afternoon the judges gave each competitor advice on how they could improve & the best place to stand on the stage so they can be seen by both the audience & their accompanist. Four members of our club attended the afternoon together with their wives & it was lovely to see Penny there too. The Perkin family, in memory of Fred, have very kindly donated a cup for the competitor who has shown the greatest effort who can be chosen not only from the final but the heats as well.
Chris Tovey
FINAL
19th February - South Cotswold Young Musicians final Wicliffe College, Stroud - 5.00 pm for 5.30. pm.
Stephen Segar
Visit to Soroptimists
Same venue, same day, same time, but different faces with which to enjoy our fellowship.
And so it was that our meeting on 18th January 2012 was a visit to the Soroptimists Meeting.
We enjoyed a delightful meal of traditional haggis, neeps and tatties followed by cranachan. This was after various Soroptimists had lit candles for their National Organisation, their Regional Club and, of course, for their own Club. Our President was invited to light one for our Club.
The speaker was Meg Blumson from Cirencester who spoke about "Around the World in 217 days - A carbon neutral journey". She explained that following her husband's retirement they had both travelled together around the world hoping to use as little CO2 emissions as possible, and trying to use no more than they had saved by being away from home. As you can imagine the journey had little flying, plenty of rail and sea travel and no end of anecdotes (all carbon free of course!!)
The major highlights were the travel by the Trans Siberian Express, being expelled from Vietnam, travelling across the Pacific Ocean in a cargo ship and hiring a car in Australia from Rent a Wreck!!
Needless to say Meg and her husband survived. She had a fascinating story to tell and we were all enthralled by their adventures.
All in all a great evening of fellowship and fun.
Rabbie Burns
FEBRUARY 2012
1 6.15 Roger Mugridge (former member of RC of Cricklade)
Lights for Learning.
8 7.30 Guest Dinner
Diana Short - chocolatier:Lick the spoon
Diana has appeared on the Alan Tichmarch show
15 7.30 Members dinner
Lyn Hilditch: Woman in a man’s world
22 6.15 Business
29 7 30 Members’ Dinner
Games evening
MARCH
7 6.15 Discussion mtg – subject to be decided
14 Guest Dinner
Cirencester Archives
FROM 6pm: Some of Cirencester’s Archives will be on display (curated by David and Linda Viner) before dinner at 7.30pm. Arranged in response to requests for another opportunity to see items at the Pub’s of Cirencester exhibition at the Bingham Gellery.
21 6.15 Business
28 7.30 Members’ Dinner
Malcolm Bowd : Design, build and testing of Airbus 380
APRIL 2012
4 SCATTER WEEK
11 7.30 Guests dinner: tba
18 6.15 Business
25 7.30 Members Casino -tbc
49 Club
Results from 3rd September 2011 to 28th January 2012
September 2011 Number Winner
3 31 Malcolm Finch
10 37 Pat Ferris
17 10 Simon M- Wethey
24 31 Malcolm Finch
October
1 29 Liz Armitage
8 45 Derek Warin
15 14 Chris Tovey
22 1 John Dennis
29 45 Derek Waring
November
5 43 Joanne Harrison
12 10 Simon M-Wethey
19 45 Derek Waring
26 15 Colin Illman
December
3 8 Alan Willis
10 20 Bob Allison
17 12 Graham Baber
24 19 John Searle
31 2 Alec Harker
January 2012
7 38 Tony Ferris
14 33 Alan Welsford
21 19 John Searle