Club News

Helen Jones was the club’s guest speaker in February. Helen is a member of Faversham Rotary, but on this occasion she was talking about Canterbury Street Pastors.

Helen is one of a team of trained volunteers who go out onto the streets of Canterbury on a Saturday evening from 9pm until 2-3am on Sunday morning. They are there to help people, to care for them and to listen to them. The Street Pastors provide non-judgemental support while promoting safety.

Members heard stories of how Street Pastors help young people who may have become separated from friends on their night out. Rough sleepers also benefit from the support offered by the Street Pastors.

To find out more about the Canterbury Street Pastors, please have a look at www.streetpastors.org

The recently introduced tradition of a Burns’ Night supper was very well attended this year with 38 members and guests sitting down with wee drams of the Famous Grouse, all the better to add flavour to the obligatory haggis. Georgia the Chef faced not only the challenge of cooking haggis for the first time ever but also the biggest one yet prepared and cooked by William the Tartan Butcher here in Faversham. The haggis refused to be lifted from its oven dish and collapsed in stages with the effort. Thankfully President David Kirsch-Mills had a sufficiently large section to ceremoniously parade round the guests and to stab with the dirk handed to him by Billy Rae, our regular guest with the most wonderful baritone voice. 

Simon Moore delivered a very evocative speech on the immortal memory of Robert Burns, which was warmly applauded. John Blackford recited from memory the first verse of Burns’ touching poem “John Anderson, my jo” in a toast to the lassies, to which Clarissa Hanna replied with a contemporary poem, “Mrs Midas” from the Scottish poet Carol Ann  Duffy, followed by a reference to Melania Trump’s inauguration hat, which clearly puzzled some of the audience. 

“Ae Fond Kiss” sung beautifully by Billy Rae silenced the room and the evening ended with the traditional joining of hands to sing “Auld Lang Syne” . Some guests have already signed up for Burns’ Night next year…

Now in its second year, ‘Faversham Community Chest’ is a fund set aside to assist local, Faversham based not-for-profit organisations to improve and continue to provide their much needed services within the community.

Under the umbrella of Faversham Rotary Club and managed by the Trustees of the fund, the Community Chest has received a number of applications in the past year.

The grants awarded have assisted several organisations within the Faversham Community including the Faversham Food Bank and the Faversham Befriending Service (operated by Swale Council Voluntary Service). 

Other groups who have recently benefited from the Community Chest include Boughton and Dunkirk School food bank, Eastling School nurture shed and Faversham Pools.

Perhaps your organisation is looking for funds for a specific project or activity.

To learn more about the Faversham Community Chest and how it can help the local community please visit  https://favershamrotary.org/index.php/community-chest