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Amherst News
March 2005
Number 302
Editor Ron Adams
Wednesday Meetings
30 March PARTNERS' EVENING
6 April Business Meeting
13 April Speaker - Isabel Standen. VSU
20 April Speaker - Louise Shrubsole. Energy Efficiency
Service and Social Diary
2-3 April Visit by members of Roubaix Est Club
8 April Amherst Inner Wheel Bridge Tea
9 April Stroke Awareness Day
22 April Fund-raising Golf Day at Wildernesse
28 April District Council, Hadlow Manor
Community service
Ken Marsden reports on St John’s School
Members might like to know what’s going on at the school, after the follow-up Ofsted inspection last autumn.
The inspectors noted that the education was generally good, and that, measured on the “value added” scale, the children were doing better than some other local schools; of course some are starting from a low base, and at year 6 leavel the school is at a disadvantage when a straight comparison is made with other schools.
The inspectors were critical of the Governance, in that we didn’t press the staff enough – this was accepted as fair comment and things have now changed. The governing body is, unfortunately, short of parent-governors (only one – should have three), and in my view is short of non-teaching governors.
I myself am “teaching” basic woodwork, making bird boxes with the older children. Progress to date is good, with six boxes nearly assembled and still no casualties. These children are very enthusiastic and need watching.
The boxes will be fixed in the school gardens as part of the new national “Eco Project” that St. John’s has joined. I might add that I made a trial bird box for use in my own garden and it’s now occupied by blue tits. By the time these boxes are finished and erected it’ll be a bit late for this season, but of course they can stay in place, become accepted by the wild birds, and should find occupants next spring.
I’m thinking that we could make one or two special boxes, a bit taller than the others, fit low-lux cctv cameras and microphones, and display the images/sounds on a split screen inside the school. I’ll have to watch the cost because the school has very little money (funds are mainly allocated on a per-capita basis and with only sixty-four children funds are small) so costs would have to be covered from elsewhere.
Could Amherst help??? It would be a unique feature in a small school and show all the children, not just those who made the boxes, what’s going on out there in the wild.
The Eco-Project, being run by Teaching Assistant Simone Adkins, will integrate awareness of the environment and ecology into the school curriculum – everything from litter to recycling to pollution to the countryside. The start is with “litter awareness” and badges have been made to distribute to friends and family. Compost bins have been put around the grounds and all vegetable waste is expected to go in these, including that from the kitchens.
The pond and wild area that we built a few years ago is being looked after and will be a key feature of this Eco-Project. Coolings Nursery is helping with on-site advice and special training.
Gordon’s Reflections
Another month of activity for the
Club with new events.
The month started with the snow. This not only led to the cancellation of our
own meeting but also prevented Roubaix from visiting us to arrange their main
visit in April. Geoff has managed to continue a dialogue and the programme is
being finalized at the time of writing.
On Saturday 5 March, Simon and members took their lives in their hands and mixed it with the teenagers of Sevenoaks and others in the Battle of the Bands. A further £370 was raised for our Tsunami fund. The show was an eye opener for many but it went well with many lessons learnt. Much fun was had in particular by the bands.
On Saturday 19 March Bill organised ‘A Unique Musical Review’ which raised approaching £300 for Hospice in the Weald. This was an Applause-supported show featuring a very talented musician Nick and ‘funky’ Jane, with an amazing collection of ‘performing’ hats. A nice fun evening.
We seem to have had some success recently with the media. Bob Ogley did get his 2 pages in the Sevenoaks Chronicle for the Centenary of Rotary International together with many photos of the opening of the Age Concern Kiosk and the Centenary Dinner, including some very strange policemen. Geoff was then successful with his page for Life in Rotary in the Kent Messenger. This was all followed by another 2 pages, and photos in the Sevenoaks Chronicle for the Battle of the Bands.
The year is proceeding at a pace. Derek is now putting together his Committees for his year. To ensure that we have a good start to 2005/06, we will need to have plans in place in the next couple of months. Please support Derek as he starts his activities.
And finally - we are included in the ‘Social Scene’ with a page of photos in the Kent & Sussex Life magazine; we all look very elegant, of course I mean the ladies!’
Gordon
Fund raising
The musical event at Bradbourne school went off successfully. We had 62 in the audience.
The show was unique so some of the audience (the majority) were enthralled and others hated it. The musician, Nick Pynn, was fantastic.
I don't yet have the final figure for the profit as I have to meet with the Hospice in the Weald representative to finalise the accounts. However, from my estimate we will have made £200-250 for Hospice.
Thank you for your support.
Bill
Points from Council 9 March
(Bad weather had caused
the meeting’s postponement from 2 March.)
Tony Kemp was congratulated on securing a grant of $1000 from District 1120
towards the centenary project and Simon Welham for organising the Battle of
the Bands, which had been given wide coverage in the local press.
A donation of £100 will be made to Kent Air Ambulance.
Our available Indian Ocean Disaster funds will be forwarded to the Colombo West Rotary Club as soon as possible.
Our current commitment to Foundation is £540.
The 19 February Civic Dinner made a profit of £700.
Our guests at the very successful 23 February meeting will be asked to consider joining the club.
Arrangement for further Paul Harris Fellowship and Community Service awards are in hand.
The club will contribute a Newsletter to the Rotary Centenary Time Capsule to be interred at the Chicago Convention.
Geoff
Fund Raising
Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal
Although not an official Amherst activity, Geoff Brown has collected for Marie Curie on two separate occasions. The total money collected was in excess of £350.
A fine solo effort! Well done Geoff and thank you for volunteering your services to support the Daffodil Appeal.
Bill
Business News
One of the biggest insurance frauds of recent years - £1.75m - came to an end with the jailing of the perpetrator. “In your defence” said the Judge “you claimed to be some sort of Robin Hood character. But as far as I know, he never took his holidays abroad.”
Charity Musical Revue
’ Amazing! Unique! Enjoyable! Talented! Creative! Care-in-the- community gone wrong?’
Jane Bom-Bane and Nick Pynn entertained an audience of over sixty Rotarians and friends at Bradbourne School on Saturday19 March.
Nick and Jane arrived at 2.00pm accompanied by a car and trailer loaded with dozens of boxes, instruments, hats, costumes and sound/lighting equipment.
By 6.45pm they were ready to perform, Nick on his array of self-made instruments and Jane on her harmonium dressed in a variety of wacky costumes and mechanical hats, all adding to the story being told.
Nick has an amazing ability to create sounds from his instruments that none of us had ever previously heard. Jane's songs and verse reflected cameo shots of her interesting and varied life.
Jane's daughter, when very young, called her Bom as she couldn't pronounce Mum. When seeking a stage name the childhood speech difficulty solved the problem hence "Bom-Bane".
Nick lives a life of making musical instruments, either for himself to play or on a commission basis. He will have a go at making any instrument but his real love is creating fantastic sounds from whatever instrument he is holding.
The Club's effort produced getting on for £300 for Hospice in the Weald. Many thanks to everyone who helped and to all those members who supported the evening.
Bill
DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA
Eileen Williams
Wow what a trip!
Not so much a holiday as a great experience. We have never visited South America before and as Derek has always been fascinated by Argentina we thought "why not?"
The flight is about 14 hours but as it is overnight there was little or no jet lag. Buenos Aires - what a city - extremely vibrant, colourful, noisy, and just buzzing. Crossing the main road was an experience in itself with 20 lanes in total - 7 each way plus 6 as a service road. You certainly needed the little green man there!
The standard of hotels and restaurants was first class and for us so cheap owing to the weakness of the dollar against sterling. The whole city atmosphere was amazing with street theatre at every turn. Have you ever stood outside a C & A at ten o'clock at night watching two very attractive people dancing the tango? Quite unbelievable.
While the standard of food was no problem, the quantity certainly was. I realised that the population liked meat but I did not realise quite how much. One evening Derek ordered lamb and the look on his face when it arrived told it all. Although he likes lamb he didn't bargain on getting the whole sheep! The portion would have fed 6 people at home.
We spent some time on the coast, which has hundreds of miles of golden sand, and about 5 days in the Lake District. Both were wonderful places and we reached them by bus (22 hours in total).
The bus system is from another world. When we arrived at the bus station in BA there were 72 platforms disgorging buses to all parts of the country. Think buses - think business class aircraft. The seats were armchairs, which reclined almost to a bed, and we were fed dinner, breakfast and lunch by a very charming bus hostess. In total we travelled over 3,000 miles either by bus or plane.
Our final 5 days were spent in Mendoza which is wine country. Mendoza itself is a very interesting place with good hotels and wonderful restaurants. Wine, of course, had to be sampled. We visited several vineyards in our quest and the standard of the grape proved to be excellent
Our last 5 days seemed to pass in a rather pleasant haze, but I believe you can't visit a new country without trying all the local culture, and sampling everything for yourself. After all, the quality of the wine may have been very poor - we just had to make quite sure!
THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT!
(Many thanks, Eileen. Ed.)
Rotary
Cycling Fellowship International Meeting
Tenterden May 5-8
On Wednesday 5th May over sixty Rotarians and their partners will invade Kent to take part in four days of cycling and of course fellowship. Each year a member club will offer to host and organise this meet. As Great Britain has not hosted this event since 1997, John Ellwood, Waterlooville RC, and myself decided we would organise it jointly under the banners of our two clubs. Our offer to do this was put forward to a meeting in Brussels over two years ago. At that time I had no idea that I would be about to step into the Presidential chair. Had I known this at the time I may not have agreed to act as co-organiser, although I am fortunate to have Ken Marsden, Jim Solomon. and Graham Waldeck who are also fellowship members to help.
The base for this gathering
will be the London Beach Golf Hotel on the edge of the town of Tenterden and
we have booked all the rooms for the four days. It is situated very well for
our needs with access to a network of quiet lanes close by.
We are pleased at the response from our continental friends, who will represent
Rotary Clubs from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden
and of course Great Britain.
There will be three cycling groups each day led by two guides provided by the host club. The first group will ride approx. 70 miles, with group two covering 60miles and group three 30miles. All groups will stop for pre booked pub lunches and afternoon tea venues. Partners who do not wish to cycle will have their own programme which will include a visit to Canterbury and other places of interest.
Each evening we will meet for the evening meal in the hotel and on Saturday we will hold the traditional Friendship Dinner, which will include music and entertainment.. President Gordon with Carolyn have kindly agreed to represent the club and will organise the exchange of Banners at this function.
As you will appreciate there is a lot of work involved in this organisation and I wonder if anyone would like to volunteer to act as a mate to the driver of the back up van we provide in the unlikely event of a breakdown etc. The driver will be John Hayles (Killer Kwolisky) who entertained us recently and so a congenial day out is guaranteed together with a free lunch etc.
Derek
On
The Ball
A Men's Club in Wales hit the headlines when a member ordered a St Clement's
and the bar steward retorted " What do you think we are, boyo, a poncey
wine bar?"
The Chairman of the Club proved himself to be a man of mettle when faced with
a similar crisis during the rugby celebrations. Somebody ordered a tonic water
with ice and lemon.
"We don't get much call for lemon here" he said to the press "but the last time someone asked, the Committee managed to get one in within a day or two."