Club News

Faversham Rotary Club recently made a donation to the Faversham Community Gymnastic and Activity Centre at the Jubilee Centre in the town to help support the soft play sessions held there for Ukrainian children.

The large soft play area contains climbing equipment, slides and tunnels, and soft equipment where children can use their imaginations as they zoom down slides, scramble across nets and roll under bridges.

A number of families from Ukraine are now living in Faversham and the surrounding villages. The sessions at the Jubilee Centre give the children the chance to play together, while their mothers can also spend time chatting to each other.

The Club held its first Burns Night Dinner on 24^th January, the nearest club meeting to Burns Night on the 25^th.

Members and guests were well fed by Kevin and his team at Faversham Golf Club. The three course menu started with pate, followed of course by haggis, chappit carrots & neeps, and mashed potato, (with salmon available for the less adventurous!) and a dessert of cranachan.

The proper ceremonies were observed – the haggis was piped in, then addressed by Billy Rae, who was resplendent in traditional Highland dress. Club President Scott Reeve then ceremonially stabbed the haggis with a sgian-dubh (skee-en doo).

Doug Rogers delivered an address to the lassies which was very well responded to by Emily Kirsch-Mills.

Poetry readings included  “To a Mouse” and “For A’ That” and there was singing by Billy Rae, whose splendid renditions of “Scots Wha Hae”, “Ae Fond Kiss” and “For A’ That” were much appreciated.

The evening concluded with “Auld Lang Syne”.  

Here’s the final result for this year’s Christmas collection. It is an amazing total of £4,472.56!!

This is a record amount, made all the more remarkable by these difficult times. 

The live tracking of the float via the website was definitely well-used. Father Christmas can be quite elusive so it was good to know where he was! An excellent addition by Santa’s elves.

The float is much appreciated, it was looked forward to on the regular routes and warmly welcomed on the new estates. The praise for the float and the Club has been enormous, with one lady reduced to tears because the float and the music were so lovely. We were offered mince pies (more than once), shortbread and mulled wine by Faversham’s generous residents. Many people said that Christmas begins for them when the Carol tour starts.

Rotarians and their friends really enjoy taking the Carol Tour around the town. It’s lovely to see the reactions of all the children - both young and old! 

Thanks to the donations collected on the Carol Tour, the Club will be able to continue its support of many local charities and groups in the coming months.

A huge “THANK YOU” to everyone who contributed so generously.