Stories

The first Club meeting of 2021 had an international flavour when our European contact clubs joined us for an on-line get together. It was lovely to see so many familiar friendly faces on screen and it was interesting to find out how other clubs are adapting to cope with these challenging times.

Faversham Rotary has four contact clubs – Harderwijk in the Netherlands, Bogense in Denmark, Vadstena in Sweden and Soest-Lippstadt in Germany.

We keep in touch with each other regularly, sometimes collaborating on projects but mainly we meet up at least once a year for a weekend of fun and fellowship. We take it in turn to host visits, sometimes just a couple of clubs getting together, sometimes all five clubs meeting up for a long weekend.

Last year’s visit had to be cancelled and at the moment this year’s is also in doubt, but we’ll be catching up with each other in person as soon as we can.

In the meantime there’s always another zoom…….!

Submitted by Ruth Goldfinch on Wed, 13th Jan 2021

We recently had a very informative talk via zoom from Phil Godfrey, a Rotarian from Solihull, and an ambassador for APS Support UK. APS is antiphospholipid syndrome, a life-threatening condition, which is treatable if recognised early.

Phil became involved with APS following the death of his wife from the condition. He decided to raise awareness and funds with a long distance walk from the Sicily Isles to Shetland, but fog and horizontal rain delayed the start. He got as far as Preston, Lancs in the summer of 2017 before a knee injury put paid to any more long walks.

Undeterred, Phil decided to use the train instead and he has travelled from coast to coast, west to east and south to north, using a total of 650 trains. En route, he took every opportunity to speak to as many people as possible about APS, including Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs.

To date, Phil’s efforts have raised £159,000, some of which has funded an e-learning module for GPs to increase their awareness of the syndrome.

To find out more or to make a donation to support research into antiphospholipid syndrome, please go to aps-support.org.uk

Submitted by Ruth Goldfinch on Sun, 13th Dec 2020

Just in time for Halloween we received an excellent presentation over zoom from Trevor Sayer who is a volunteer at SERV Kent “Service by Emergency Response Volunteers” also known as Bloodrunners.

Bloodrunners is a charity that provides emergency courier services transporting blood products, baby milk for premature baby units, samples and other patient essential items for the major hospitals and hospices in Kent outside normal working hours. In addition, they provide and maintain the blood supply for the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulances enabling them to carry blood on board therefore saving the lives of many patients.

SERV volunteers provide their services free of charge including fuel and phone expenses and for the most part use their own vehicles, consequently saving the NHS thousands of pounds a year.

With the advent of Covid-19 they have stepped up their volunteering to provide a 24/7 service, thus freeing up more much-needed NHS resources. Since March this has resulted in them being asked to assist an extra 1,000 times. Although the volunteers give their services for free, there are still some operating costs to cover (insurance and running costs on the few vehicles they do have, upkeep of a small HQ at the Medway services etc.) Although their call outs have gone up, the opportunities to fund raise have diminished and they are reliant on donations.

Anybody who would like to know more, to volunteer their services or make a donation can find the details at www.servkent.co.uk

Submitted by Dave Darby on Thu, 12th Nov 2020

On Monday this week we were treated to a lively presentation by Michael Hoey on the history of beer at the Red Sails Restaurant. Over 35 people attended to learn about the fascinating role beer has played in our lives over the centuries. Eight beers were tasted accompanied with matched taster plates.

The proceeds of the evening, which came to a magnificent £415, will go to support a Literacy Box - which in short is a classroom in a box which will be sent to a developing country in Africa to provide much needed literary skills to school pupils.

Submitted by David Kirsch-Mills on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020

The Club ran its annual Christmas lunch for nearly 100 Faversham Senior Citizens on Friday 8th December. After setting up the Alexander Centre, we warmly greeted our guests with coffee or tea, biscuits and chocolate sweets.   A regular troupe of Rotarian volunteers delivered chicken or fish to the 10 tables, serving mushy peas and gravy to appreciative guests. There was a last minute dash to  Ossie’s  to top up on chips and fish, with fish being marginally more popular than the chicken. The good outcome was that there was nothing like the waste of last year. Peter Meaney’s generous donation of Madcat beer went down very well as did the sherry, of which 3 bottles were consumed, and the mini mince pies also seemed to please the guests.

As always we had great external support from local musicians the Fleur Singers, led by Andrew Mussett. Diane Griffin provided a very fine performance of seasonal songs and the cheerful smiling Choir from St Mary’s Primary School delighted the audience too. We were grateful to have Martin Young bring along his sound system and also his guitar to add to the entertainment.

The Mayor Alison Reynolds was fulsome in her praise of Rotary and our community spirit. She said it brought home to her how much Rotary contributed to Faversham. This event made one proud to be a member of Faversham Rotary. 

Submitted by David Kirsch-Mills on Mon, 2nd Nov 2020

Evolve UK from Queen Elizabeth School in Faversham win the F1 in Schools World Championships in Abu Dhabi. A team of 17 and 18 year old students had the experience of a lifetime competing and winning the World Championship competition in 2019.

The worldwide F1 in Schools competition requires teams to design, build and race miniature racing cars and carry out a series of presentations on how they approached the challenge.

The Rotary Club of Faversham are delighted to be one of the sponsors that supported Evolve UK in becoming World Champions. Leading up to their win, Evolve UK attended several of the Rotary Club of Faversham's weekly meetings as guest speakers. The team was especially welcome on their return to the UK with this collection of World Championship trophies.

The Queen Elizabeth School continues to take part in F1 in Schools in 2020 with a new team, which the Rotary Club of Faversham are delighted to continue supporting.

Submitted by David Kirsch-Mills on Sun, 1st Nov 2020

The Rotary Club of Faversham has been helping local & international causes for over 70 years. Now, probably more than ever, organisations who provide vital services and support to the local community need help.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the Rotary Club of Faversham Trust Fund has set aside a sum of money to assist local not for profit organisations who have been impacted.

In September 2020 the first round of grants was made to eight local organisations to help support them during the pandemic. The second round of grants is due to be awarded in November 2020.

Submitted by David Kirsch-Mills on Sun, 1st Nov 2020