Wow didn't it get cold quick! One minute we were basking (or melting) in 35 degree heat and the next it's 11 degrees and the leaves are starting to turn already. But what a great summer we have had though, lots of people managing to get off on holidays, okay there were some issues with flights but in the main people managed to get away, festivals and events have been rammed. It feels that Covid has changed behaviour slightly. It feels like more people are out and about more than ever, supporting local events and initiatives which is fab!
We have been busy here at Rotary HQ! We don't sit still for long!!. We continue to meet every Wednesday evening at the Royal British Legion on Love Lane in Romsey and Wednesdays mornings held in Youth In Romsey where we discuss our upcoming events, listen to some great speakers and enjoy each others company. Rotary is full of a diverse bunch of people who are passionate about making the lives of the people around us better. Service before self is our Moto. If you would like to get involved in what we do, then please get in touch! Why not come and join us for dinner one Wednesday?
If you are a charity and would like to come and talk to us about what you do and how you do it we would love to hear from you. Click here to send us a quick email
JULY 2022
Every July our club swears in a new president for the forthcoming year. This year we saw
Roger Shepherd hand over to Nigel Budd to steer our ship in the right direction. Nigel comes from a Navy background so the use of nautical terminologies are right up his gally! "I intend to keep the same headmarks, just occasionally apply a bit of light rudder to keep us on track".
If you are interested in joining Rotary please do get in touch, the more members we have the more great we can do in the town.
3rd July we were so excited to organise the Mayors Picnic and Duck Race. A great day kicked off by a parade from the Romsey Old Cadets through the town followed by the Neil Gwynne our Mayor, our president Nigel along with the carnival queen and princesses. If you have not already seen it here is a video from the day.
Our program of entertainment included the Romsey Voices Choir, Romsey Youth Children's Choir, Mounbatten School Band and AO Tae Kwon Do showed us some amazing Marshall arts. Punch and Judy is always a bit hit with the children "that's the way to do it!". We raised over £2k for local charities. Thank you to everyone who came along and supported the day. We are so excited to do it all again next year!
If you would like to be part of next years event, please get in touch
Mid-July the best part of 400 dictionaries arrived at Rotary HQ for the Dictionaries4Life project ready to be handed out to Year 4 children in the autumn term. We attend local schools in the area and present these personally to each child in a special assembly. They all had to be labelled and checked! Well done guys for getting this done.
We also attended Romsey School and helped to facilitate mock interviews with the pupils to help get them ready for the workplace.
We also received a wonderful email from Austen from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight air ambulance to thank us for all our fundraising efforts over the years. To date we have raised £18k "we appreciate this immensely, it has been very much appreciated, then you all so much!"
AUGUST
One of our guest speakers at our breakfast meeting was Stuart Marchant who is the Director of Music for Mountbatten School. Our club donated £500 to him. The Mountbatten Band’s performance at the Mayor’s Picnic was their first public performance, as it is each year. Along with his wife, they run the Romsey Festival of Music. This was a showcase for music in local schools. Romsey has more choirs per head of pupil than anywhere else in the country. Nationally music is growing in importance in schools, as it has been accepted that it can change lives. This is more important than ever due to Covid and the isolation it has brought. The importance of music to youngsters can be seen at Mountbatten by the fact pupils get in early and stay late for their music lessons.
As part of the Romsey Schools Choir Festival renowned composer Alan Bullard has composed a choral piece for the children of Romsey to sing. Due to Covid this has not been performed yet. It is planned to give the inaugural performance of this in the Abbey in October. Stuart will use the £500 to help facilitate this.
It was about time that we got out and about in the local community. Thank you to South Central Makers for providing us with the market space for our gazebo. It was fabulous to be in the town on the weekend sharing what we do and how we do it with the local community.
SEPTEMBER
We attended the Romsey Show and what a fabulous day that was!. Lovely weather, lovely people. We were promoting our Walk the Test Way which will take place on the 25th September 2022. So if you are in Romsey that day pop down to the War Memorial Park to cheer the walkers to the finish line.
The Test Way is constantly rated one of the top 10 best walks in this area. Each year this event draws interest from many groups from families to Schools and Scout packs to Charities and businesses all raising funds for their chosen charity, whilst walking the beautiful Test Way.
Many return year after year, choosing walking distances from 5 miles to 25.5 miles. Walkers are bussed from Romsey to their starting location and will end the walk in Romsey’s Memorial Park. Walkers under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. We love dogs but prefer that they be kept on a lead please. The route is not recommended for buggies or pushchairs.
Last year in 2021, 304 walkers walked the test way and we raised a whooping £46,000 for 71 charities. Since we began in 2004 we have raised just over 1m!
So what are you waiting for! Its a little late to get in for this year but please pop it in your diary for next year!.
Follow this link for more information www.walkthetestway.org.uk/register
If you are a business and wish to sponsor our event, please get in touch via email to rotaryinromsey@gmail.com
