1

the rotary club of

belper &World Heritage Site

-a birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

CHA

TTER

BOX

www.belper-rotary.co.uk

March/April 2012

In this issue:District Assembly

Surfeit of Quizzes?Milford Social Club MeetingSt Georges Day Celebration

duffield

rotary international district 1220

Winning Club Bulletin 2010/2011

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Members enjoying themselves at the Paté and Pudding Evening held at MilfordSocial Club. Report on page 7.

John Moore with his guest speaker on‘Pub Quizzes’, Roger Morgan. Page 4.

President Martin appropriatelydressed to open the St GeorgesDay Celebrations. Page 10.

Andrew Giffin with his carer,Audrey Taylor, of the ThistleFoundation, Edinburgh. Page 6

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District AssemblySaturday 28th April 2012

DGE David Ashley was well supported by the Club at the recent District Assemblywhen he more or less officially started his year of office. Representatives of the

58 clubs were guided to the car park and then to the meeting rooms by a contingentof Belper and Duffield Rotarians resplendent in their new club ‘hivis’ jackets.

SVP Graham Wright introduced the new DG to the assembled company with apotted life story which had been secretly assembled by some of Dave’s family and

‘friends’. This was followed by a brief outline of the initiatives to be pursued throughthe year, taking as their inspiration the RI Theme for 2012/13 - Peace throughService. Many of the projects will be a continuation of those already in existencebut Dave is particularly emphasising the ones dealing with youth and the family.

The Rotarians then broke out into separate groups dealing with the variousduties, roles and issues which occupy us at club level. A lot of this information willbe used by club personnel to formulate the action plans for the next Rotary yearand which will be presented to members at the Club Assembly to be held on 25thJune .

The Rotary year 2012/13 is going to be a particularly busy time for us. Beforeputting himself forward as a candidate for DG, Dave asked for and received thesupport of the club. The time has now come for us all to deliver that support, and Idon’t think it will be lacking. Paul Taylor has taken on board the organising of therota for drivers for Dave’s visits to Clubs and Charters and the response frommembers has been overwhelming. There is also a good turn out by the club to theDistrict Conference at Southport in October.

I do believe the club will be strengthened by the support and help we give Davein his year as DG. We will be drawn into events and go to places we would notnormally visit and become richer for it. The experience should make it easier for usto try to increase our membership as we become more enthusiastic advocates ofRotary International.

In the midst of all these new adventures, we should remember to continue anddevelop our existing projects - Cycling Proficiency, Young Chef, Mock Interviews andsupport the local community initiatives such as Drop Inn, Derbyshire Children’sHoliday Centre, Disabled Club and Hospices.

We are all due for a busy year!John Scotney

Cover picture - Morris Dancing with the Green Garters

Members of the club join in with the Green Garters Morris Dancers during theSt Georges Day Celebration Evening on Monday 23rd April. Full report on page 10.

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Meeting - 5th March

Before partaking in a Quiz -get a Degree!

When Roger Morgan got to hisfeet to start his talk, no oneknew or could have guessed

what his topic would eventually be. Atfirst he mislead us by mentioning themain facets of his life and interests,some being as an author, rugby player,marathon runner and one who alsocollects waistcoats. Eventually it tran-spires his talk was to be about quizzes,which he attended five evenings aweek and the fact he devised quizzesunder his companies’s name ‘ArnhemQuiz Services’ He told the audience that in 1953 he was himself a ‘precocious little git’ andhis passion for quizzes must have been born when he was given a quiz boardgame from which he developed a lust for learning facts. During his talk, he introduced the club to a simple game where the answerswere either true or false. At the conclusion everyone was fooled as everyanswer was false! Roger emphasised that to be good at quizzes did not necessarily meanlearning endless facts and the more games one attended the easier it becomesas many questions are repeated. He also gave examples of how many regularplayers use mnemonics as an aid to remember facts. To conclude, his talk was interesting and well presented but with an insightinto the technical side of quizzes one couldn’t help but think that the oftenpopular quiz played round a pub table throughout the land by people ofaverage intelligence and taking part purely for the fun had, like all sports andpast times, been overtaken by the intrusion of the professional brigade and theinnocence of this much loved game removed. Ah well! It may only be me feeling inadequate and not wishing to admit Imust be a little thick in the brain department to cope with quizzes.

Peter DaviesPhotograph on page 2.

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Meeting - 12th March

Rotary Musical Eveningby Alan Widdowson

Twenty two Rotarians enjoyed a meal of succulentrare roast beef followed by generous portions of

sticky toffee pudding. To emphasize that this was aspecial evening Alan had obviously been very busy and

was dressed in his dinner jacket. In addition, we were seatedat round tables instead of the normal regimented long table layout

and the room lights were nearly all working and switched on, creating a muchimproved ambience.

After the meal there were several announcements. Nick Blurton and DavidAshley had attended the Mansfield Club Courage Awards Lunch and passed on ourgreetings. John Norreys had visited Derrick Smith on his birthday, as you may all beaware Derrick is seriously ill. Sheilagh Harnan publicized the ‘Patés, Puddings andGames’ Evening at the Milford Social Club on the 26th March. Last but not least AlanWiddowson thanked John Lowe for arranging the visit to the Nottingham Playhouseto see the excellent and very funny musical ‘Forever Young’, a good day enjoyed byall of us.

Alan then introduced his Musical Evening which was split into three parts:a General Music Quiz, Playing Music Quiz and a Picture Quiz producing a possibletotal of ninety four points. The questions ranged from “What Record Companyfamously turned down the Beatles” through “How many children in the von Trappefamily and who was the eldest” to “This was the last album by Queen publishedafter Freddie Mercury died (Alan played us a piece of music from the album) –where was Freddie born? What was the name of the bassist in Queen? Name theirbiggest UK hit plus one point each for the titles of their other five?” The picture partof the quiz showed musicians from across the centuries from Mozart to TommySteele and Andrea Bocelli.

Unfortunately my partner Peter James and I struggled with some sort ofmemory loss in that we knew many of the answers but couldn’t quite put pen topaper. As a result when the answers were marked we only managed a total ofseventeen. The winners were Nick Blurton and Martin Drake with an unbelievablescore of fifty three points!

This unusual event was very well received and Stuart Limb proposed theVote of Thanks.

John Frankland

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Meeting - 19th March

Club Business Meeting

As we are well through the current Rotary year, many of the committee reportswere of things that had been completed.David Soul reported on the Foundation and International activities and that

new projects are being discussed with a special effort on the Polio Challenge.Youth Opportunities Chair Hilary Surga summarised the events that the group

have organised successfully which included Mock interviews at EcclesbourneSchool and the Young Chef Competition; Cycle Proficiency and mentoring at Belperschools continues. Exploring new approaches is taking place but there are somedifficulties fitting in with school programmes.

Vocational Chair Gail Ashley expressed concerns that ticket sales for thecoming concert organised by Peter Davies and the Belper Wind Band and guestMagicians were at a low level and members were urged to make a special effort. Avote was taken not cancel the concert and to still proceed. Participation by the Clubin the Belper Food Festival was confirmed and also at the Duffield Festival on June23rd.

President Martin stated that the Membership Services Group were underwaywith ideas for Club Development and that there would be an opportunity for theDuffield Carnival to be used for new members recruitment.

David Ashley suggested that it would be worth exploring a Young AchieversProject, similar to those being used to good effect at Newark and Mansfield. Hesuggested it could be developed as a joint project in this area .

Ron Giffin

‘My disability doesn’t stop me being a thrill-seeker’The pure white snow was crisp .. Austrian mountain scenery .. racing down the

slope at around 40mph .. Andrew on one of the most thrilling ski runs of his life.

These were some of the words used in a recent article in the News Scotsmanwhich Ron Giffin was proud to share with us about his grandson Andrew who

has cerebral palsy.The article describes the work carried out by the Thistle Foundation and how

carer Audrey Taylor spends three days and two nights looking after Andrew as partof the Edinburgh-based charity’s supported living service, which provides round-the-clock care. Andrew is a striking example of how the organisation ensures eventhose with severe disabilities can lead fulfilling and often exciting lives.

Andrew has spent some time at Portland College, Mansfield and club memberswill remember the visit we paid there with some of the Drop Inn for a GamesEvening, which the home team easily won!

Photograph of Andrew Giffin and Audrey Taylor on page 2.

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Meeting – 26th March

Paté and Pud Evening

For her evening Sheilagh came up with a novel meal, location and activity. Shedid the catering herself (probably aided by Peter!?) and it was confined to a

menu of paté and puds.Those who know and admire her catering skills will know that this was an

understatement and actually comprised a very wide variety of foods to eat onbaguettes, along with pickles & sauces. The puds turned out to be a marvellousselection of sweets ranging from trifle, profiteroles, apple pie and chocolate cakeaccompanied with cream and custard.

For the venue Sheilagh had chosen the recently refurbished Milford SocialClub which contains pool and billiard tables, a dart board and a well stocked bar.There were a range of activities in the bar area comprising tiddlywinks, pool & dartswhich necessitated a complicated (to some!) scoring sheet for each team of 4players. The pool rules were not the usual ones, which alarmed some of the localresidents who kept trying to put us right.

Those Rotarians who did not participate were to be found upstairs playinga fairly lengthy game of snooker. I am told that the winning couple was PeterShepherd and Alan Widdowson – although no scores seemed to be registered!

The winning team for the downstairs games comprised Peter & SheilaJames with Ron & Joan Giffin who duly won a seasonal packet of mini-Easter eggsfor their expertise.

The evening raised a profit of £260 for Rotary Charities and our thanks goto Sheilagh and Peter for organising a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

John Lowe

Photograph on page 2.

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District Governor’s May Newsletter

During the early part of April I attended the RIBI Conference in Bournemouth.Speakers included Linda Nolan on Breast Cancer, Pam Rhodes on Alzheimer’s

disease and Terry Wogan. This made the plenary sessions both interesting andenjoyable.

All of the Resolutions put forward by the 2011/12 General Council regard-ing the future Governance of RIBI were carried with minor amendments and as aresult these changes will take place from 2013/14, after the 2012/13 GeneralCouncil has agreed the finer points of the procedures. The new RIBI Board will bethe Governing Body with the majority of board being voted in by the membership.The General Council believes that this will prove beneficial to the future of Rotaryin these islands and create much needed continuity.

Last week Lorraine and I visited the Rotary Club of Etwall and Hilton tocongratulate President Cham and the club on inducting 10 new members so far inthis Rotary Year. It was a wonderful meeting with lots of fun, fellowship and atremendous amount of activities being planned by these new members as well asthe rest of the club. They are a great example of how clubs can accept change andlook forward to a secure future.

Towards the end of April the District Assembly was held at NottinghamTrent University and it was good to see so many of the club officers for 2012/13attending. I had the pleasure of organising and taking the session for new Rotariansand they were very enthusiastic about their future in Rotary. There are still twomonths to go of this Rotary Year and lots of Club activities still to take place but itis also time to starting planning for the new Rotary Year so there is a smoothchangeover on 1st July.

The Bill Gates Challenge will finish at the end of this Rotary Year; please doall you can to continue your financial support for Polio Eradication as it is importantthat we complete the challenge. The Race Meeting at Southwell Racecourse on15th May is one of the last opportunities to raise funds for Polio Eradication thisyear.

It is disappointing to see that a number of clubs in the District have madeno contribution to our own Charity ‘The Rotary Foundation’. The Foundation carriesout tremendous work world-wide as well as supporting matching grants and half ofour contribution also comes back for use within the District.

Finally, Lorraine and I hope to see you all at the Rotary and Inner WheelService of Thanksgiving on Sunday 24th June. DGE David Ashley and I also lookforward to seeing you at the District handover on 1st July. Details of both theseevents have been circulated and are on the web site.

Please continue to ‘look on the bright side of life’ Gordon

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Club Annual General MeetingApril 16th 2012

Twenty three members were present for the Club’s 82nd Annual General Meeting at the Lion,under the chairmanship of President Martin Drake. The meeting began with the acceptance

of the minutes of the last AGM, as a correct record of the meeting. With the exception ofInternational, the Committee reports, along with the reports by the Secretary and Treasurerhad all been circulated in advance of the meeting were and were accepted as read. David Soulsmade a verbal report in respect of Foundation and International which was also accepted.

The next matters related to Bank Mandates and the appointment of Honorary Examiners.It was agreed that two from the President, Senior Vice, Treasurer, Secretary and David Hensonbe authorised to sign cheques and documents relating to the Club’s bank accounts. In addition,any two from John Scotney, David Soul, Peter James and David Henson carry out a similarresponsibility for the Charitable Trust Fund.

As next year will be “our” District Conference, we also have a Conference Account and thesignatories to that account were agreed as any two from David Henson, Peter James, JohnScotney, Nick Blurton and David Pedlar (Conference Director). With regard to HonoraryExaminers these were agreed as Ron Giffin and Peter Shepherd for the Club accounts, RonGiffin for the Charity Account and Ron Giffin and Graham Wright for the Conference Account.

We then turned our attention to the Honorary Members. Ted Bennett, Michael Thornton,Michael Morris and Jack Watson were all elected.

Club Officers were confirmed as:- President, Graham Wright; Senior Vice President, HilarySurga; Secretary, Nick Blurton; Treasurer, Peter James

The following were also elected to Club Council in addition to the above:-Stuart Limb,David Soul, Alan Widdowson (all committee chairs) plus John Scotney (PR Officer), Paul Taylor(Charitable Requests Co-ordinator) and Sheilagh Harnan (Projects Coordinator).

Gail Ashley was elected as our District Council Representative with John Scotney as “back-up”.

The Treasurer proposed a membership fee of £115 for the next year. There then followedsome substantive discussion around the proportion of the proposed £115, which actually wentto running the Club, with 62% going to either RIBI or District, the biggest proportion going toRIBI (42%). A number of members questioned whether the RIBI contribution really represent-ed value for money, particularly as no other part of Rotary International has an equivalent toRIBI.

Members also expressed concern that at £115 the membership fee may be at a levelwhere it would discourage people to join, or may make it difficult to retain members. Mem-bers were reminded that there is a facility to pay membership in two payments, and thatshould any member be experiencing difficulties in renewing they should raise that with thePresident so that Club Council could consider ways of supporting the member.

In connection with the forthcoming District Conference, the Club has had to open aPayPal account and had been required to produce a Constitution. This had been circulatedprior to the meeting and was accepted by the members. This led to a question about ClubBy-Laws which the Secretary agreed to investigate.

There was also a question about the personal liability of the Charity Account Trustees(John Frankland, David Henson, John Scotney, David Soul and Paul Taylor). The Secretaryagreed to investigate this.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.20pm.Nick Blurton

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Meeting - 23rd April

St Georges DayCelebration

With St George’s Day falling on a Monday it was anideal theme for our Rotary evening. Thirty Rotarians

and their guests gathered at the Lion Hotel and werepleasantly surprised by the room layout with the circulartables around the ‘dance floor’ being ideal for this socialoccasion.

The evening opened with President Martin, dressed inan appropriate tabard complete with matching helmet, introducing the story of StGeorge whilst the staff served the traditional soup first course. He welcomed theguests including one of our frequent visitors from a club ‘north of the border’, PeterBall. Unfortunately, unnoticed by many, the chef appeared from the kitchen at thispoint in the proceedings and carved the succulent joint of English roast beef,without ceremony, which was then served to us.

Following the usual period of notices and business matters it was time for ourentertainment. Hilary introduced us to the ‘Green Garters’ describing them as

‘traditional English entertainment’. With a clattering of clogs and a jingling of bellsthey appeared in all their splendour. There was an early warning that we might betaught some dancing before they explained how the dancing had over the yearsbeen influenced in some instances by other countries. The group of performers,based in Ripley, comprised ten ladies who generally danced in groups of eight or sixwhilst others played the music. The first dance, appropriately called Green Garters,used environmentally friendly colourful garlands made of recycled materials. Wewere told how these dances were performed at certain key English festivals suchas May Day and Plough Monday. Since around 1800 they (but not them personal-ly!!), with the blessing of the established church, have performed at various ‘SaintsDays’ and festivals including Christmas. As the Green Garters danced we ‘tuckedinto’ traditional Spotted Dick pudding followed by coffee. We were told much ofthe history of their tradition which is based on North West morris dancing. It wasparticularly interesting to see a dance written for their 30th anniversary which wasbased on local industry.

Having seen a selection of dances expertly performed it was our turn andfortunately there were seven willing volunteers who were keen to join in. Theyshowed us how quickly they could learn and provided the rest of us with a veryentertaining session.

Other highlights of the evening included the staff of the Lion serving us with acomplimentary half pint of real ale – I think many of the men were fortunate

continued on page 11 …

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Meeting – 30th April

American Hospitalityby Dave Ashley (with a little help from Gail)

A series of little problems meant that we were without a speaker for this eveningbut our own DG Elect Dave Ashley volunteered to give us an illustrated talk

about the social side of the International assembly for DGEs in San Diego Californiaand their home stay in Sarasota Florida.

Most of the time at the Assembly was spent (electronically tagged toensure attendance) in business meetings and training sessions that we will nodoubt hear about later, but whilst in the States they experienced lavish hospitality. They started with a home stay at a Rotarian’s home in Sarasota. He had a largehouse with a swimming pool and a country cottage. He took them out in his 40ftboat to see dolphins in the harbour and to look at the Florida Keys where the richand famous live. The sun shone and much of the time was spent out of doors where they joinedin the cooking of ‘trash-can turkey’ – a turkey on a spike was roasted in a metaldust-bin covered with hot coals. They went out into the woods to a ‘WildernessBarbecue’ where they only ate what the hosts had caught themselves such asvenison, wild boar and frog’s legs. The assembly concluded with an address by SAKUJI TANAKA – RI PresidentElect who announced that RI had passed the target of $200,000.000 set by the Billand Melinda Gates Foundation to receive a greater donation from them for PolioEradication. He also announced the theme for 2012-13 is ‘Peace through Service’.

Dave and Gail had enjoyed their two and a half weeks in America gettingto make friends with Rotarians from all over the world.

John Scotney thanked the speakers saying that impromptu meetings areoften the best. Dave Ashley stood in as Sgt at Arms and took delight in fining mostof us who were there..

Peter JamesSome of Dave’s photographs are on page 15.

… continued from page 10.

enough to end up with their wives' share as well. Members were delighted that theraffle was won by John Brazier who had been unable to join us for the celebrationdue to ill health. The sergeant-at-arms, having replaced his normal German guard’shat with a much more appropriate English cricket cap, carried out his normal fundraising collection. Apologising for not being able to attend the next meeting herequested a substitute collector. The eagerness David Ashley volunteered for thejob suggests that next week will be an expensive evening for us all!

John Horwood

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Mock Interviews 2012

During the three days March 19th to 21st March. a total of 22 Lower Sixth Form(year 12?) Ecclesbourne School students submitted themselves to trial by

Interview at the hands of Rotarians. In general the students performed well, withone or two being outstanding. In common with previous years their only significantweakness was knowledge of current affairs, probably due to not having a habit ofreading a daily newspaper, relying more on electronic means of communication.

As usual, the paper work provided by Ecclesbourne was of a high order and thestaff at the Derbyshire Building Society were very helpful. The only problem was a

“senior moment” by one of the interviewers which caused the DG Elect to beinterrupted during his post lunch snooze! Apart from that, the system that Iinherited from Paul Taylor some years ago continues to work very well.

John Norreys

Music and Magic ConcertSaturday 21st April

Peter Davies had offered the club the opportunity to help organise a specialevening of music from the Belper Town Wind Band with the additional attrac-

tion of some magic from Clive and Jean who had visited the club last October. Thevocational and community committee helped organised the publicity, producingposters and tickets and trying to drum up support from the club and the local press.A week before the concert was due to take place, there were serious concernswhether it would prove to be viable; there were several similar concerts in the areataking place on the same evening.

Fortunately, enough people came on the night to fill out Christchurch so therewas an appreciative audience for the performance of selections of music by theBelper Town Wind Band interspersed by several entertaining interludes of magicfrom Clive and Jean. Clive’s act in particular involved a number of members of theaudience which left us all mystified!

As the proceeds were to go to a couple of local Hospices , we had also organ-ised a raffle and most of the audience subscribed to this most enthusiastically. Thefinal sum raised after expenses had been paid was £287.

A member of the audience, Tony Raven, was taking photographs from thevantage point of the balcony and he has kindly let us reproduce one of these onpage 15.

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Past President Derrick Smith, P.H.F.

March 12th 1926 - March 21st 2012

Derrick Smith was proud of his roots as a Yorkshire-man and worked very hard down the mines in his

early days, travelling many miles to Barnsley technicalcollege after his shift in order to better himself. He hadthe Yorkshire trait of stubbornness but he also haddetermination, generosity, friendship, supportivenessand a wonderful sense of humour, all of which wererevealed at his funeral service on April 12th which wasconducted by his daughter Reverend Sheila Cox andattended by a packed congregation.

Tribute was paid by his son Jim and his six grandchildren added their specialmemories, telling of Derrick’s great love of most sports which included rugby at aprofessional level with Coalville Rugby Club and his great keenness at golf. He taughtand encouraged his family to do their utmost both in sport and in their careers.Derrick was always interested what people were doing, and Jim told of the time thathis father drove him and Sheila from Cornwall during the night in order for them toenter their championships. His family was very important to him, and although in the1960’s he was offered a senior management position in the Coal Board head office inLondon, he couldn’t settle without his family around him and came back “home”,

Soon after that he was offered and took over two companies in Derby of acompletely different nature – Cartwrights (Decorators) Limited and Derby Signs –which had both been owned by his wife’s uncle. He expanded the two companies andin time added three subsidiaries, undertaking maintenance and signage on a nationalscale to petrol companies. It was at that time that I met Derrick, and when I suggestedthat he join Rotary he was most eager and enthusiastic. He became President ofBelper club for the year 1981-82, and travelled to America for an R.I. convention inPhiladelphia, meeting Rotarians over there who began to meet regularly afterwards.He and his wife Anne also travelled widely with the Friendship Force to which theybelonged, instantly making many friends who were distributed world-wide.

Derrick also did a tremendous amount of work locally, being largely respon-sible for the raising of funds for the new church hall at St Alkmund’s and also in thesetting up of Music at Duffield in 1975, for which he was the inaugural chairman, aposition which he held for 15 years.

Derrick’s life was summed up as a gentleman, a generous family man, asportsman, interesting to be with, and above all, a man whose life was filled withlaughter. We are so sorry for Rosie, to whom he had been married only some threeweeks, and offer her our sincere sympathy in her loss.

Vernon Barnes

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2012 Organiser Reporter Cash Fraternal

May7 May Day

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21 D Ashley J Kerr V Barnes P Shepherd

28 Business Meeting D Collard H Surga

June4 Spring Bank

11 V Barnes S Limb D Collard H Surga

18 J Frankland P Löchel P Davies P Taylor

25 R Giffin J Lowe J Frankland A Widdowson

July2 R Giffin G Wright

9 S Harnan J Moore S Harnan D Ashley

16 D Harris J Norreys D Harris G Ashley

23 Business Meeting J Moore V Barnes

30 D Henson D Partridge J Horwood J Brazier

DUTY OFFICERS

May/June CHATTERBOX: Publication - 9th JulyEditor - John Scotney 01773 823678 Photographer - Alan Widdowson

The latest information about meetings can be found in the weekly Bulletin Boardsand on the Club web site:

www.belper-rotary.co.uk

DIARYMay 14th No Meeting

May 15th Southwell Race Meeting

May 19th Stroke Awareness

May 21st Guest Evening - Origami Cranes!

May 28th Club Business Meeting

June 4th No Meeting

June 11th Talk by Gary Spendlove

June 18th Activity Organiser - John Frankland

June 20th Club Council

June 23rd Duffield Carnival

June 25th Club Assembly

July 1st Open Garden at David Souls; District Handover Lunch

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Two of the photographs by DGE Dave Ashley taken during his visit to the RI Assemblyin San Diego. Report on page 11.

Photograph taken from the balcony during the Music and Magic Evening atChristchurch. Report on page 12.

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The Rotary Club of

Belper and DuffieldFounded 1930

President Martin Drake Senior Vice-President Graham Wright Junior Vice-President Hilary Surga Treasurer Peter James Secretary Nick Blurton

The Club meets every week on Monday at 7.30pm.The Lion Hotel, Bridge Street, Belper (01773 824033)

Rotary is a service organisation which exists to help those in need and to providefellowship and support to its members, whilst maintaining high ethical standards. If youare interested in visiting the Club and learning more about Rotary, please contact theSecretary, Nick Blurton:

01773 824607 nickblurton@yahoo.co.ukWebsite: www.belper-rotary.co.uk