Even in the face of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, this wasn’t able to stop the work done by Rotary Lytham and it’s associate group Totally Rotary.
Totally Rotary were formed in the 2018-19 Rotary year and is a group of energetic people set on promote Rotary ideals, as shown through the continued success of their Wrap Up campaign.
After a successful Wrap Up initiative on the Fylde Coast in 2019, members of Totally Rotary in Lytham defied the constraints of the pandemic to arrange, sort and distribute of 4500 coats and over 1000 other items of warm clothing which included hats, scarves and gloves.
These clothes were given to over 20 local charities and passed on to hundreds of worthy recipients throughout the area, providing warmth to those most in need through the cold winter months.
The front cover of Totally Rotary’s 2022 calendar.
Not content with Wrap Up, this energetic group had also been busy producing a high-quality calendar for 2022. With stunning images of the delightful town of Lytham and other scenes of nearby interest provided by local photographers, the calendars were quickly snapped up at several outlets including Booths (who are great local supporters of Rotary) and at a local Christmas Market.
Down towards Surrey, the Rotary Club of Camberley was approaching it’s 75th anniversary the club realised that, for all the fundraisers it has done throughout the years, there was no permanent marker in the town of what the club has done for the local community.
It was then that Rotarian John Meehan made the suggestion that a clock in our new town shopping centre would be both useful and a constant reminder of what Camberley Rotary has achieved since 1945.
The idea received an overwhelming amount of praise throughout the club and both present and old Rotarians donated towards to total cost of putting up the clock.
However, with the arrival of COVID-19 and the restrictions that came with it, the club had to put the plans for the clock on hold until after their anniversary came in 2020.
The clock is now permanently displayed in Camberley’s town centre.
Fast-forward to 2021, the residents of Camberley are finally able to see the town clock gloriously overlooking their town. The club are eagerly awaiting for when the last layer of restrictions are removed so they can put a full celebration.
Looking to November of last year, Rotary clubs everywhere were doing the country proud with their Remembrance Day events and fundraisers.
One particularly impressive example has just come in from the Rotary Club of Inverness Culloden, where club members put in over 800 hours of money collecting over 3 weeks as part of the club’s Poppy Appeal.
The Rotarians collected in supermarkets across Inverness over 3 weeks to fundraise before the Remembrance Parade.
It’s now been revealed that the club’s fundraising efforts raised over £50,000 for the Inverness area, a fantastic achievement!
Fast forward a month from Remembrance Day and we arrive at the festive season, in which Rotarians everywhere were taking full advantage of the occasion to raise awareness and funds less fortunate and one such example is that of Rotary Club of Twickenham upon Thames.
For the past 2-3 years, Twickenham upon Thames Rotary have supported a volunteering project called ‘The Richmond Christmas Day Dinner’ which provides a special Christmas Day to young adults who have been in care and are then left to fend for themselves.
The event was started by Sian Thomas, a nurse and lead for Child Safeguarding at the NHS who had witnessed plenty of people having to spend Christmas alone and wanted to do something about it.
This year, in no small part due the support from Twickenham upon Thames Rotary, The Richmond Christmas Day Dinner hosted 50 young foster care leavers and their young children for a special day of festivities that they would’ve otherwise spent alone.
From Christmas to New Years, Christchurch Rotary Club had special permission from Waitrose and Sainsbury’s to collect money over Christmas and returned to Waitrose in early January to collect food in order to help replenish the shelves at Christchurch FoodBank+.
In the New Year, our collection at Waitrose for Christchurch FoodBank+ amounted to a huge 609Kg of food items plus 57 cereal packets and £135.50 cash.”
Brian Clarke, Chair of the Rotary Club’s Community Service Committee, said: “The response of the Christchurch public to our collections has once again been fantastic.
“Before Christmas we collected £1,402.88 at Waitrose and £1,164.56 at Sainsbury’s, plus £29.23 from our page on the “Just Giving” website. This enabled us to give donations of some £650 to each of Macmillan Caring Locally, Christchurch Salvation Army Homeless Support, the Christchurch Community Partnership Dementia Project, and Christchurch Rotary’s own charitable fund.
“In the New Year, our collection at Waitrose for Christchurch FoodBank+ amounted to a huge 609Kg of food items plus 57 cereal packets and £135.50 cash.
“We are so grateful for the generosity of Christchurch shoppers, and for the support of Sainsbury’s and Waitrose store managers in allowing us to collect in their foyers.”
An example of Ironbridge flooding from 2020.
Finally, up towards Shropshire for the past few years, Ironbridge Rotary have played an active role in helping local residents and businesses recover from floods of the Ironbridge Gorge.
Recently, in collaboration with Ironbridge Lions as well as the Rotary clubs of Whitchurch, Brewood and Norwich St Edmunds, the club decided the charities should work together to purchase four large de-humidifiers that could be loaned to these in need at very short notice.
After long delays, the de-humidifiers have arrived and are now being held safe in storage so they’re ready for whenever help is next needed.
