Bedfordshire Rotary club celebrate inclusive sport in style

Over in Bedfordshire, The Rotary Club of Leighton Linslade recently celebrated five years of its Yes We Can inclusive sports programme with it’s first award’s ceremony since the pandemic began.

Inclusive Sports participants from football, hockey, sailing, swimming and tennis were on hand to receive their awards from a variety of special guests, including Team GB Paralympic Athlete and Invictus Games Medal Winner Daniel Bingley.

Amongst the highlights were a rousing sing a long to “ Sweet Caroline” as the Footballers received their awards and a memorable Special Recognition Award for Christine Munford, who established the Otters Disability Swimming Club over 25 years ago.

It was back in 2018 that the Yes We Can programme won the Rotary Great Britain and Ireland Community Award, an incredible achievement that the club can look back on as part of the programme’s long-term impact.

Special guest Daniel Bingley taking a picture with some of the winners of this year’s Yes We Can awards. Picture: Martin Kennedy of Leighton Linslade Rotary Club

Richard Johnson OBE, Leighton Linslade Rotary’s Yes We Can Team Leader, said: “An uplifting and inspirational afternoon was enjoyed by everyone and Rotary are proud that five years on we have been able to work with a wide range of partners to deliver accessible, affordable & sustainable inclusive sports to Leighton Linslade and at a difficult time make the parish a shining light for inclusive sport in Bedfordshire.”

Up in Shropshire, Ironbridge Rotary Club got the chance to host a dinner with one of the area’s recent heroes in Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew ‘Vern’ Stokes, the soldier in charge of the Queen’s funeral.

GSM Stokes had the job of organising military and ceremonial aspects of the funeral which included  4,000 military personnel in London and another 1,000 in Windsor.

As we all saw, his hard work paid off, and GSM Stokes won the hearts of everyone watching around the country when he took his solitary walk along The Mall to perform his final inspection before the procession.

More than 50 people turned out to hear GSM Stokes tell his stories, including guests from Wellington and Telford Central Rotary Clubs.

Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew ‘Vern’ Stokes with Tony Roden, Rachel Waterson and Ironbridge Rotary president Steve Evans at The Valley Hotel. Picture: Dave Bagnall of The Shropshire Star.

Ironbridge Rotarian Rachel Waterson told The Shropshire Star: “He said by the time he had got to the end of The Mall, that was the moment he knew that everything was all right.

“We heard about how close he is to the Royal Family, how he advises them on all aspects of ceremonial activities.

“He is a truly humble chap, very nice, and Vern showed all the characteristics in his job that Rotarians strive for, those of service above self.”

Over near Birmingham, Wylde Green Rotary Club preparing to put on their annual ‘Festival of Football’ for special needs schools across the Midlands.

Taking place at the training academy of Premier League football team Aston Villa, children from the schools will be able to play in friendly matches and receive a medal for their efforts.

The event is organised by Wylde Green Rotary with the help of teachers, helpers and Aston Villa backroom staff.

Having been involved with children with Special Needs it gives me great pleasure to see them enjoying themselves and being given this opportunity to have this experience.”

Nick Thurston of Wylde Green Rotary told The Coventry Observer: “The event is always popular with the children travelling to Villa Park to play football.

“It gives us a lot of pleasure to see how much enjoyment the players get from their day out.

“Working with Special Needs schoolchildren and seeing their enjoyment in playing football is one of the highlights of our Rotary year.

“Due to the planned demolition of the AV Academy this will probably be the last year the event is held at Aston Villa, but we are exploring other options for next year.”

Rotarian Bill Elliott, who has been involved with Special Needs Football for over 20 years, added: “Sutton Rotarian David Phillips, who started this project, would be proud to see that it is still going strong.

“Having been involved with children with Special Needs it gives me great pleasure to see them enjoying themselves and being given this opportunity to have this experience.”

Finally, down in West Sussex, a furniture project ran by the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour will be able to take it’s operations to the next level thanks to the acquisition of a secure storage container.

The lead figures of the furniture project unveil the new storage container.

Founded more than 20 years ago and run by a team of volunteers, the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project provides essential furniture for locals in need.

Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group,  has supported the project by funding the provision of storage space for furniture and other goods in recent years and this new container has now been provided by builders’ merchants Travis Perkins through Clarion’s social value programme.

Therese Brook, Project Lead for the Rotary Club of Chichester Harbour Furniture project, said to The Sussex Express: “We’re hugely grateful for the support of Clarion Futures and Travis Perkins and this container will make such a difference to what we can do.

“We continue to be busy helping those in need in our community, and are seeing more and more people worried about what the future holds due to the current cost of living crisis.

“Having access to donated furniture can be transformative, turning a house into a home, and with the new container we hope to be able to support even more people.”

Cover photo by Martin Kennedy of Leighton Linslade Rotary Club