Page 4 - HUB Winter 2021

NEWS IN BRIEF

The Lighthouse Project Children’s This meant the young people would not lose their funds for
Counselling Service their gym. Hopefully it will be difficult to steal this again as it
appears that they are being stolen to be sold abroad.
Alan’s neighbour, Bridget, has been donating £100 every
month for this project and with gift aid it becomes £125.
The money has been gratefully received by the Counselling 25 years of Rotary Service
Service there as all equipment used has to be sanitized or Rather belatedly, two certificates were presented to two
replaced.
members on the first face to face meeting on 21st June. Peter
The Manager emails Alan…. Marsh had achieved this in June 2020 and Dennis Walker
“I cannot tell you what a difference the contributions make to in March 2021.
children. Without these precious gifts, Alan, we simply could
not do what we do without this. Funding needs are a
constant challenge.” Youth Competitions
The Intermediate entry from Fiona Bibin from Bishop Milner
And an extra … “If you ever wanted me as a manager to Catholic College was deemed the District Young Artist
come and speak on the work we do in a confidential Winner due to the detail of the drawing with its hidden
manner to those in your group collectively, I am really happy messages.
to do that.” Colin has already booked a Monday slot!

New members
There have been changes in the personnel from Tesco as
Gurpal Sandhu has become an Associate member with Sue
Goodby so that the new Community Champion Kerry Lowe
can become the active Rotarian on behalf of Tesco.

Majors Ivan and Liz Oliver who came to talk to us recently
have now become Associate members so that we can work
together as they settle into their new position in Dudley.
James Wright should have been inducted on 28th June and
then on 5th July as it was the last time for David as President
and he is his sponsor. However, family illness prevented this
so James was finally inducted on 12th July and welcomed
into the Rotary Club of Dudley. James is well known to the We still await the results of the District Young Photographer
Club for his fundraising activities and we hope that he will and of the National Competition Results.
encourage some more younger members to join him.

This month has seen a new visitor in Suresh Packham who
lives in Dudley but currently works in Stoke-on-Trent as a Aiming for Excellence Awards 2021
General Manager of Community Nurses. As a youngster he Although all the usual participant schools were contacted,
saw what Rotary did in his home country of India and he is sadly this year only one actually responded – this is
very keen to join but needs to make arrangements for his understandable as no-one could have visited the schools as
son’s activities on a Monday before he can commit himself. they were unable to organise the presentations with the
Sadly we seem to have lost touch with Horatio Cole as the appropriate celebrations and parents participating. The
last email from him said that he is now working and Sutton School were keen to hold a virtual presentation and
Mondays are now difficult but he no longer replies to any the Rotary Club provided the usual prize of a voucher but no
emails. shield this year. The voucher itself was a problem as Smith’s
have closed their shop and INTU are in the process of
changing owners so no vouchers are being sold. Finally
A new Defibrillator to replace one stolen. Waterstones came as a third option thanks to PP David’s
Brooklands Amateur Boxing Club had a defibrillator outside research and perseverance!
their premises for their use in their gym and also for the local
community as this equipment is there to save crucial minutes
of a person’s life. Sadly it was stolen and to replace it with a
secure cabinet cost them £1518 – now when a 999 call is
made an access pin code is given. When our Rotary Club
heard of this, the money was donated to replace their own
funds which had been used.