" Service  Above Self "

New members recently inducted - Tom Dixon (left) and John Howick

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Happy Birthday Stuart !!              Ludlow Rotary Club was founded in 1938.  A founder member and still one of its serving members is Rotarian Stuart Shrimpton, who celebrated his 100th Birthday on Thursday 15th March 2012.   Stuart is seen here with his Birthday Cards, our President and members of  Ludlow Rotary Club, and, of course, his congratulatory Telegram from H.M. Queen.

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Msasani Visit - February 2012 - Moshi District of Tanzania Following a major fundraising effort by the Rotary club of Ludlow and the generosity of the support by the people of Ludlow area, three classrooms were completed at Msasani primary school which nestles in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The small village of Msasani lies within the Moshi District on the north-east border of Tanzania, almost touching that of Kenya.  Pronounced "Mmm-Sass-ahnee" it is an isolated village some miles from its nearest neighbour. Until recently Msasani had no school in its village nor within easy reach of its children or their parents and as a result very few of them managed to get to a school at all. Some 10 years ago the villagers decided that they would somehow construct a school themselves, even though no financial state aid was available. Six years later they had somehow managed to acquire a site and start the construction of the first two school rooms; the task was daunting and they realized  the planned 7 classrooms would take many years to complete – if ever. Our involvement  follows the stirling efforts of Ali Huddart, a local Ludlow man, who was endeavouring to complete the classrooms at this primary school in Africa with the money donated by a dear departed Tanzanian friend, Rosemary.  Ali’s arrival on the scene was pivotal as the school was in the area where Rosemary grew up, but by the time he heard their story the funds he had spent on Rosemary’s behalf had almost been totally spent on other worthy projects. However, he decided to help with his remaining funds and managed to finish off 2 more classrooms and build the shell of the remaining rooms before the money finally ran out.  However, two years ago Ali had exhausted the funds before the last three of the seven classrooms had been completed. Upon hearing this touching story the Rotary club set about raising the necessary 3000 pounds GBP to complete the classrooms so that the children could use them.  A plan to complete the classrooms was hatched  and  Alistair Huddart and Rotarian Roy Major travelled to Tanzania (at their own expense) to oversee the classroom completion and literally spend the money directly with the suppliers  to finish off the final 3 classrooms to the delight and amazing enthusiasm of the children, their parents and the village.   Ali  Huddart in Msasani with the heap of cash ready to start the buying .......  Every penny raised was spent on materials for  the project. Ali and Rotarian Roy Major spending some of the readies!  All this timber was hand-sawn from logs felled by hand.  They had hardly touched down at Kilimanjaro International Airport before being met by the village chairman with lists, plans and prices of the items to complete, and being informed that the village carpenter, bricklayer and hordes of helpers were at the ready!  The next few days were spent furiously negotiating with the local wood supplier for the best price for the timber necessary for the windows and doors and having to accept the bent and twisted commercially rejected wood in order to keep within the impossibly tight budget. Similarly, the sand, cement reinforcing mesh and blocks were all haggled over including negotiating the best price for a lorry load of hand crushed gravel! Working on the exteriors Roy Major working in the Tanzanian heat! Plastered and fitted with windows All the various purchases were delivered to the school and a mayhem of activity ensued digging trenches, nailing together windows and doors, plastering walls and laying floors.   The buildings completed! Within 10 days the children and teachers entered into the last three spacious classrooms, and thereby ended years of double shift teaching in the 4 completed rooms.   A plaque was erected and wild appreciation was offered by the teachers, pupils and village to Roy before his return to Ludlow. Roy Major, Chairman of Ludlow's International Committee exchanges Club Banners with President Arthur Kiwia of Rotary Club of Moshi Rotarian Roy said “It was a marvellous demonstration of how every penny of the money raised went directly to the cause and that the people of Ludlow and the Rotary club can be truly proud of their achievement” He also added that although the Tanzanian Government find money to fund the teachers, the pupils still lack books,  teaching aids and desks. There is no government funding for seats or desks, so pupils each bring an empty 25 litre plastic container to use as a seat for their lessons! The pupils of the school say a big "THANK YOU" A fantastic project and well done Ali and Roy! But still much to do before the children of Msasani can experience the kind of primary education that we take for granted.   Ludlow presents cheque for £1500 to The Ludlow Foyer youth project. Seen here at our meeting on 13th March,  President Sue Fleetwood hands over a cheque to Sue Mole, Training Manager of Ludlow Foyer.      This charity was selected as the Mayor's Charity by Ludlow Rotarian John  Aitken, Town Mayor of the year and was one of the three charities nominated by Rotary to receive donations from our "Tree of Light". Rotary Christmas Lunch - at The Feathers Hotel, Ludlow. Hard on the heels of the Christmas Dinner Dance we found ourselves at our more traditional setting of the Feathers Hotel. This was a lunch time affair and obviously limited in time but even so it was comfortably enjoyable. It started earlier than usual at 12 noon when the gathering assembled in the beautiful Jacobean Room of the Feathers with commendable warmth of a fire. Sparkling wine and non alcoholic counterparts were served in the adjacent Writing Room and soon a large assembly was cheerfully engaged in the usual seasonal exchanges and banter. This "warm-up" has always been a pleasant prelude to the meal and helps the relaxed indulgences to follow. Knowing the ephemeral memories of members the place names (identified by table diagrams) provided the previously chosen meal on the reverse. As usual the Prince Charles Suite was well decorated to the extent of a splendid Christmas tree and room embellishments. As the time for the familiar Christmas dinner, usual welcomes and announcements was limited we had forgone the traditional quiz and limerick competition which the evening events accommodate. However, there was time for a few carols. This involved an ad hoc choir of singers reviving the previous choir organised by the late Cliff Bell. This time the singers were organised by Dick Doyle and under the baton of Jane Whittle with Andrew accompanying. They all laboured under the title of the Wandering Wassaillers, a name coined from their title Christmas song. Three popular carols and a traditional closer proved enough to complete a thoroughly seasonal atmosphere. Audience participation was encouraged with the choruses presented on printed sheets. Although this took place in the restricted time scale of lunch it was an unhurried and pleasurable experience which, apart from the SGM yet to come, was a fine entry to the Christmas Season.

Rotary Christmas Dinner Dance - Fishmore Hall. As a departure from previous practice two Christmas Dinners were planned, the evening "Rotary Christmas Dinner Dance" and the "Rotary Christmas Dinner". The former, as reported  by VP Stewart, was a really enjoyable and fun evening with excellent cuisine, enjoyed by everyone who put on their best dresses and black tie suits to dine and dance the evening away to a repertoire of songs from Rachel Hyde, accompanied on occasions by talented guests singing the chorus from some well-known ballads. President Sue and husband Rob. And of course we were all delighted that President Sue Fleetwood was able to be present so soon after her knee problem. But, determined lady that she is, our President would not let a little thing like a whole new knee only a few days old come between her and a Rotary Dinner.  Well done Sue, we wish you a full and speedy recovery!

We had the exclusive run of Fishmore Hall for the evening who as Friends of Rotary looked after us all very generously and provided one of the five prizes for the raffle that Anne Officer organised, raising £180 for our rotary charities.  The food was (as always) wonderfully prepared and served, not to say delicious. Pamela, Louise, and Deborah taking time out! Although not competing with “Strictly Come Dancing” this was an excursion from the tradition for Rotary at Christmas by having a dinner and dance and was really appreciated from the ladies and gentlemen who attended. Historically, in the distant past some of our members will recall that Rotary Christmas Dinners at the Feather’s would regularly finish with a dance. This did require male members to roll up evening dress sleeves and remove chairs and tables to the perimeter before dancing could commence. This declined in more recent times with non-dancing Christmas events being the style.

Hobson's Brewery - "The Cleobury Mortimer Experience". This Sports and Fellowship outing was distinguished by group travel offered by hiring the Rotary mini bus as our means of transport. On arrival at the Hobson’s Brewery in Cleobury we were met by two of the proprietors who immediately introduced the layout and scale of the undertaking.   The basis had originally been a farm, which was reflected in the nature of some of the brewery.Although the usual basic process was involved, as experienced at the Ludlow firm, there were more refinements extensive pipe work linking the various stages. There were time when the environment appeared to represent the boiler room of a small ship. Hygiene was very evident with the frequent hosing down of equipment and floors and although the staff were naturally careful for the comfort of their visitors it still required one to step carefully. As we moved from one area to another our legs and constitution got something of a work out with the necessity to negotiate many stairways, passageways and courtyards. All our questions were happily and swiftly answered to our satisfaction. One piece of information was particularly interesting concerning the feed stock. The company, professionally aware of the importance of the grain involved, worked in close cooperation with local farmers to “tailor” the characteristics of the grain to the flavour of the final beer.

This meant the farmer growing very specific grain for Hobsons, quite a commitment on both their parts. The resulting distribution was on a much larger scale as may be experienced when visiting any of the a large distribution of Hobsons pubs in the neighbouring villages and towns. After admiring a very fine bottling and packaging operation we finally reached the warehouse. Naturally peckish by now we were presented with a fine display of fresh baguettes and variety of cheese which were washed down by very liberal glasses of all Hobsons’ major beers. This was a fine gastronomic experience and in itself well worth the preceding physical effort. All those present were full of praise for the Brewery’s well organised and informative presentation. Additional praise should go to Brian for his organisation, indeed for his programme of Sports and Fellowship visits. A magnificent effort.

"District Young Chefs" Final Talented young cook 15 year-old Ben Grice, Year 11 at Weobley High School, won the Rotary Young Chef 2012 District 1210 senior competition on Thursday March 8 at Hadley Community Learning Centre, Telford. The best cooks from schools in Shropshire, Staffordshire and part of the West Midlands took part in a series of cook-offs to select the nine competitors who took part in the senior District Final. Ben was representing the Rotary Club of Ludlow. His mother, Mrs Deborah Grice and Mrs Maggie Hunt, his teacher at Weobley High joined  President Sue Fleetwood, of Ludlow Rotary Club, at Telford to support him and enjoy his success. Sue said “Ben was selected last year in a Shropshire District Team competition for producing the best main course, and we were very impressed with the professional way Ben prepared for the competition.  It involved producing a menu, a budget, presentation of the food and keeping to a tight time schedule – and that was before the challenge of cooking under the watchful eyes of the judges.”   Ben was competing against eight other finalists all of whom were preparing a two course meal for two in an hour with a budget of £8 for both meals. The club supported Ben by contributing £50 towards his travel and ingredient expenses for the district competition and then a further £50 towards the regional competition.   Ben, who intends becoming a chef, had a week’s work experience at the Stagg at Titley, a Michelin starred gastro-pub, and has continued to benefit from their help and advice on putting together his menu. His winning dish was salmon, served with tomatoes and asparagus and a hollandaise sauce followed by individual vanilla and mango cheesecakes with a mango puree. The three judges who were all food professionals praised the high standard achieved by the competitors.    Breaking news .......  Ben went on to represent District 1210 at the Regional competition on Saturday March 17 in Monmouth where he prepared a three course meal for two for a budget of £15. He added a starter of mushroom ravioli on a bed of spinach with a white wine and cream sauce.   Although he did not win the Regional round both Ben and his mother found the competition a very interesting experience. The standard at the Regional final was very high and although Ben’s dishes went well, he was not the one selected for the National Final at the WI Cookery School in Oxfordshire.

"Rotary Young Photographers" Following our own selection of photographs from the entries for the District Young Photographers Competition (see June Newsletter) the district stage of the competition took place at Uttoxeter. We were delighted that this resulted in a number of awards for our local schools. Each club was only allowed to send in a selection of 7 photographs from each of the sections, College, Senior and Junior in black and white and colour sections. Presentations included 14 year old Luke Staniland from Bedstone College, (second at District competition) with his images, "Spring Holiday" and "Taxi".   Luke and his proud parents travelled from Bromsgrove to take part in the presentation ceremony. Luke received a certificate and a medal from the District, certificates from Ludlow, a flexible tripod and a voucher from S&B Photography for a portraitsession. Mayya Agayeva and Laura Jugel, sixth formers at Bedstone also did well in the College section at District level. They too won medals and certificates. Mike Draper from Lacon Childe and Tom Knight from Ludlow did well in the Club’s black and white section. Three of Mike’s photographs also appeared in Lacon Childe’s portfolio, which was Highly Commended at District level. Clee Hill Community Primary entered a black and white portfolio with work by ten separate pupils. They were third in the District. So concluded our first District Competition for Young Photographers from our area. These successes are obviously encouraging and suggest further inclusion in the youth Opportunity programme in following years.

Junior Awards Evening On the evening of 14th July 2011 Ludlow College, Harley Centre was once again the scene of that most satisfying of events, the Rotary Junior Community Awards. Presiding were Pres. Sue and VP Stuart Officer. Sue and Stuart were jointly managing the organisation in consequence the hall was well prepared with two arrays of chairs and the usual platform, lectern and two large Rotary club banners. This year 6 local Primary Schools were taking part: Bishop Hooper CoE (1 student), Brown Clee CoE (7), Clee Hill (16), Hopton Wafers CoE (4), St. Lawrence CoE (8) and Stokesay (6). The numbers somewhat reflect the size of schools and the number of final year students who wish to take part.   The participation of each school depends on a teacher or parent willing to become a supervisor. The role requires the oversight of the Diary which each participant keeps as evidence of the investigations and remarks on their experiences. There are also visits to particular events and activities to organise.	This year the relevant supervisors were: Jenny Daniel, Hazel Jeavons, Andy Ellis and Julia Hilton, Sian Hawes, Jane Laraman and Pam Price. Obtaining Supervisors is the hardest element to arrange as participants realise the extra demand for time placed on them. We are always beholden to these brave souls who are prepared to go “that extra mile” for the young people. However, the rewards are clearly spelt out when one sees the pent up excitement and smiling faces of our achievers as they gather for the ceremony.
President Sue Fleetwood and Senior Vice President Stewart Officer,  with one of the graduands.	As usual the ceremony opened with the President reviewing the awards and the background with the VP providing each student’s award. The presentation this year was made by Mayor and Rotarian John Aitken. Each “graduate” presentation called for their medallion being hung around their neck while the certificate and dictionary are handed to them. This is no mean feat of dexterity to perform but mostly precedes smoothly and with some solemnity. This year each graduand was to be photographed with the mayor and Sue. The the job fell to Rtn. Deborah Wright, one of our two PROs. and in true Rotary spirit she stoically worked her way through the necessary shots.
Finally after the completion of the presentations there came the photo calls for each school while Deborah and Don (the Press) attempted to collect all the students for a grand mass shot. Fortunately there was a “staff” photographer from a local paper present and he quickly organised his necessary shots while Deborah and Don seized the opportunity for some posed shots. At last came a moment of relaxation  which allowed a quick glass and crisp and happy chatter and discussion of the evenings event to conclude another fine Rotary service to the community. We exited to a warm evening and the waiting cars which were receiving the various remaining items from the awards.	One of the school groups.

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STROKE AWARENESS DAY   WMAS Paramedic, Mayor John Aitken, Rtn. Roy Major and Chair of the Working Party and Rotarian Michael Wake 30th May 2011 at the Methodist Church, Broad Street, Ludlow Dr. Brian Reilly, Dr. Richard Harding and Carol Reilly Over all this planning was the calm and resourceful Michael Wake, pictured above, extreme right.   Mike's knowledge of the NHS and ability to persuade the necessary personnel to participate was invaluable. He held all the control lines comfortably and skilfully in his hands leading the team and all those involved to a successful conclusion. A masterful performance! From the conception  to fulfilment required much joint effort to bring together  the mass of tiny detail to create the whole. This involved such fundamentals as booking the venue, arranging the design and printing of handbills, posters and wavers, the obtaining the mass of documentation needed from the registration at reception to the health and lifestyle advice. The many pieces of technical equipment required for the tests were an essential priority and were kindly on loan from the NHS. An additional arrhythmia test instrument was on loan from the Station Drive Surgery. The many screens needed to separate the testing stations and provide notice boards were provided locally. Another valuable facility was the on-site cafe on the ground floor of the church, for those who required refreshment. For the Rotarians there was the inestimable service provided by Roger Hall - very much appreciated. The services of the Town Council to hang banners in the streets and their deployment was arranged through the aegis of Veronica Calderbank. In the event over 180 members of the public were tested. Tests included blood pressure, regularity of pulse and diabetes. There was also the BMI (Body Mass Indicator: Wt(Kg)/Ht(cm²). see Stewart measuring height in pics.) This is a good indicator of personal health. Of those tested 50% needed to see their doctor(s) in the near future for further tests, while a small number needed immediate help. Fortunately none needed immediate hospital admission as had occurred with other S.A.D. events hence the presence of ambulance staff. Of course the day could only involve a small cross section of our community but no-doubt ripples of concern will move out into the rest of the community to encourage them to take the ever present willingness of the NHS to check their essential indications of health. Our club can consider this has been a very valuable exercise for us and our community.

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Rotary means " Service Above Self "