Club News

Purple crocus are now in full bloom across the town.

In a joint project with Faversham in Bloom, crocus were added to the planters around the trees in the central car park. Rotarians and FiB volunteers prepared the ground and planted the corms in the autumn and they are now in flower.

FiB made a generous donation to Rotary’s Purple4Polio campaign which aims to eradicate polio worldwide through its immunisation programme.

There are several other areas in the town where Rotary and local gardening groups have planted purple crocus over recent years, including outside Age UK in Crescent Road and on Abel’s Acre in Forbes Road.

St Mary of Charity and Davington school pupils have also planted purple crocus in their school grounds, following talks from Rotarians about polio and the Purple4Polio crocus campaign.

Members have been out & about visiting neighbouring Rotary Clubs this month.

We usually meet at Faversham Golf Club at Belmont Park, but the kitchen there has been closed for a refit so we’ve taken the opportunity to go on “raids”. 

Whitstable Rotary hosted nine of Faversham’s members at a joint meeting with Herne Bay & Canterbury clubs at the Crescent Turner Hotel. Guest speaker Don Cockrill gave a very interesting talk on Mercy Ships.

Sittingbourne Invicta Rotary also played host to some of Faversham’s members at one of their regular dinner meetings at Hempstead House Hotel. Rotarian John Fisher gave an update on the campaign to End Polio Now. Fellow Rotarian Steve Wood gave a presentation on the Kingfisher Medway Trust which provides boat trips for the disadvantaged of all ages. kingfishermedwaytrust.org.uk

Since Faversham Rotary meets on Tuesdays, the other February meeting fell on Valentine’s Day. In the spirit of domestic harmony there was no meeting that day, so members had a free evening on which to wine and dine their partners!

Following the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in early February, Faversham Rotary organised a collection in the Market Place.

Club members were helped by several Explorer Scouts and their parents. Faversham residents and visitors to the town were very generous with their donations and the Club collected £400 which will go towards a ShelterBox. Further contributions have boosted the total to nearly £600.

This will fund a third ShelterBox, in addition to the two ShelterBoxes already funded from the Club’s emergency fund. 

As one donor said, “the people (of Syria and Turkey) need all the help they can get”.