York Ainsty Be a gift to the world

NEWSLETTER: DECEMBER 2015—JANUARY 2016 Editorial

This Newsletter comes at a very busy fund raising time for ‘Rotary York Ainsty’ (RYA), having last month raised approx. £900 (to be shared with Inner Wheel) and now well into the Christmas Float collections. Hopefully the weather will stay mild for the various collectors each night. The desperate situation in Cumbria following the floods is reported on page 2 with our District response being led by Stephen Ellis. Any personal donations to District may be made via District 1040 Treasurer (contact John Quickfall for details). It is good to report that we now have Presidents lined up until Rotary year 2018-2019, thanks to Issy Sanderson accepting nomination as our Vice President 2016-2017. I have included a poster for the Kevin Sinfield event on 9th March, (page 5) and would be grateful if you could publicise this for the club early next year. Best wishes to all for Christmas and New Year, and don’t forget our Burns Night either!! Jim Murison Diary Dates Thursday 17th December

York Rotary Carol Service at All Saints’, Pavement

Saturday 9th January Monday 25th January Saturday 30th January Saturday 6th March Tuesday 8th March Wednesday 9th March Wednesday 9th March Saturday 12th March Friday 1st April Saturday 7th May Saturday 14th May Thursday 19th May Friday 20th May Sunday 22nd May Friday 26th August Friday 21st October

DfG/Specsort2 at Copmanthorpe Methodist Church 9.30am Burns Night Dinner at Pike Hills Golf Club 7.00pm District 1040 Council Meeting at Fulford School RIBI Regional Assembly in Leeds Rotary at York Minster [Days for Girls event –see page xx] Schools Technology Tournament Charity Fundraising Sports Evening with Kevin Sinfield [see page ] Specsort2 at Copmanthorpe Methodist Church 9.30am Start of Rotary Conference in Bournemouth (until 3rd April) District 1040 Council Meeting at Fulford School DfG/Specsort2 at Copmanthorpe Methodist Church 9.30am Arrival of Rotary friends from Münster Club Meeting at Mercure Fairfield Manor (with Münster Rotary) 6.30pm Departure of Münster group St Crux Fundraising Day Rotary York Ainsty Annual Charter Dinner at York Racecourse

2016 Diary Dates

Burns Night 2016… This will be held at Pike Hills Golf Club on Monday 25th January 6.30 for 7.00pm start. Tickets are now available from Jim Murison or John Merchant and cost £17.50, (great value). For vegetarians, a special haggis and alternative main course will also be offered. Limited numbers so book early! Email jim to book at place at: [email protected] -1-

Message from the President... As I write this we are nearly two weeks into the Float collections and what an amazing time this is - we walk round the streets of our area, night after night raising money for Rotary charities but the joy that the Float provides to hundreds of children is amazing and for me makes this activity so worth while. What a joy it is to see the excitement in the children’s eyes as they wait for Father Christmas, to hear the chatter and to listen to the conversations that take place. Thankfully up to the moment of writing the weather has been kind, fairly mild and not wet - but we still have another two weeks to go!! Well done to everyone for their commitment and persistence - Service above self!! The Float really is a hall mark of Rotary York Ainsty. This year we have also decided to send our Saturday Acomb static collection to the disaster fund in the north west - again Rotary working at its best - when our District can send funds raised through its membership in many different ways, so that Rotary in Cumbria can redistribute the money to the areas of greatest need. The Rotary year is nearly half over, I am amazed to realise. Several exciting new initiatives are starting in the New Year - we have the Kevin Sinfield - Sportsman dinner on 9th March Burns Night on 25th January and also the ‘Contact the Elderly’ scheme starting in Copmanthorpe. Additionally, Issy Sanderson has managed to secure York Minster on International Women’s Day for a huge ‘Days for Girls’ workshop. What an amazing day that should be! The Technology Tournament will run again on Wednesday 9th March. In May, from 19th- 22nd, we once again welcome and host our friends from Münster. All of this in addition to all the other schemes in which we are involved. My thanks go to you all for your dedication and commitment to Rotary and for helping to “put something back” into our society for the benefit of others. My best wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the New Year. Peter Kendall

Cumbria Flood Appeal In the light of the desperate situation in Cumbria following the recent floods we will be donating the money raised at the static collection in Acomb to help those affected. District 1190 has set up a flood appeal and is part of the local government emergency response team following their work since the Cockermouth Disaster. Stephen Ellis is coordinating District 1040’s support for this appeal and through Rotary in District 1190 funds will be distributed to those with no insurance cover, the elderly and disabled, etc., who are affected, to help them restore their homes. Any remaining money will go to the RIBI Flood/Disaster Fund set up following the Somerset Flooding, primarily for reconstruction projects.

Message from District Governor Hazel Haas: Thank you for all your efforts to help our immediate neighbours. I know that some clubs have sent children’s Christmas presents, but the message seems to be that cash donations give the most flexibility. Any queries, please contact me, and I shall do my best to answer them. Yours in Rotary District Governor Hazel

-2-

An update from Issy Sanderson... On 26th November, I ran a workshop with the Interact group from Belle View Girls' School, Bradford, which is run by their teacher Tess Wilkins (Rotary Bradford Bronte). Mrs Beryl Little, one of the pillars of my workshops in York, accompanied me to talk to the girls about her project in Kenya which has been receiving ‘DfG’ kits. Great to have first hand reports about how the kits change lives ! The Interact girls, who were mainly Muslim were very interested and enthusiastic. They have now decided to make kits to take out to a school in the Gambia, which Mrs Wilkins has links with. She is going to bring some of the girls to the BIG Workshop in York Minster in March 2016 (see below). I was absolutely delighted with the response of these lovely young people and think that perhaps I will try to target this age group as much as possible from now on. I am also busy putting a package of kits together to send out to ‘EDUCAID’ in Sierra Leone via volunteers in London, and another pack to go out to KWENDO KOR in Pakistan via volunteers in York. Issy is also delighted to report that she will be coordinating a BIG workshop on 8th MARCH 2016 - International Women’s Day in YORK MINSTER! This will be the biggest ever Days for Girls workshop in U.K. to date and will be a really fantastic event when we hope that hundreds of women will come together in the magnificent Minster to make Days for Girls Feminine Hygiene kits to help keep girls in education and change the lives of women and girls all over the developing world. More details to follow, but put this date in your diary! What a fantastic venue and a wonderful opportunity for both Rotary and the Days for Girls Project!

More news and a Very Special Visitor… Issy was also honoured recently to have a visit from Mrs Maryam Bibi, the internationally renowned founder of KHWENDO KOR a not-forprofit organisation working in rural Western Pakistan in the Tribal Areas and one of the poorest and most dangerous regions in the world, to improve the education, health and civic situation of women and children. Maryam came to one of the workshops to learn how the kits are made and the photo shows her working with Issy on a new special design for use in the workshops she hopes to set up for KHWENDO KOR with ‘seed’ funding from Rotary York Ainsty's Days for Girls fund. A parcel of kits will be sent out via a volunteer to Pakistan this month. The ripples from our days for Girls workshops are spreading far and wide, we have also"kick-started" income-generating kit making enterprises in Malawi, Kenya, The Gambia and Ghana and hope to encourage similar ventures wherever our kits are sent.

Club News… Members will be pleased to note that Issy Sanderson has accepted nomination to be Vice President for Rotary year 2016-2017. We congratulate Issy and wish her well in the challenge that lies ahead. It is with much sadness that we report the death of Bruce Mitchell on Tuesday 1st December. Bruce had been a Rotarian since 1979 and President of our club in the year 1999-2000. We send our sincere sympathy to Sheila at this sad time. We also note that several members are unwell at the moment, particularly Philip Melia, diagnosed recently with a brain tumour. We are pleased to report that Philip is now recovering in York District Hospital Ward 36, following surgery in Hull. Contact Alan Stow for further updates. -3-

Rotary Meetings: January—March 2016 Monday

Speaker

Subject

Host

Club Host

Miriam Eyre

Report on visit to India

Richard Scott

*C. Willey I. Willey

Hazel Haas

District Governor

President

*D. Wilson A. Wordie

Progress Meeting

President

*R. Bayles J. Bertolaso

Burns Night at Pike Hills Golf Club [note: Guest Night]

Jim Murison

*S Calvert S. Cluderay

Cllr Sonia Crisp

Visit of Lord Mayor of York

President

*I. Collinson C. Dawson

Shinobu Ota

RI Scholar

Stephen Ellis

*A. Fogg A.Matharu

15 Feb

Julian Sturdy MP

My Constituency

Don Wilson

*J.Merchant J. Niklaus

22 Feb

Cllr Keith Myers

The Acomb Ward plus ADAM (see below)

Dick Powell

*A. Peck J. Murison

4 Jan

11 Jan CC

18 Jan

25 Jan

1 Feb

8 Feb CC

*M. Rawnsley G. Ritchie

Guest Night

29 Feb

Ruth Perrott

Senegal 2

Issy Sanderson

*R. Scott A. Sanderson

Revd Paul Wordsworth

York City of Sanctuary

Jim Murison

*A. Stow P. Summers

21 Mar

Progress Meeting

President

*D. Wilson C. True

28 Mar

Scatter Week

7 Mar

14 Mar CC

CC = Club Council

M Rawnsley G Ritchie *Grace/Thought for the day

Update on new community project, the Acomb Community Garden… Following a visit to the Lidgett Grove Methodist Church on Wednesday 18th November by Clive and myself, I can confirm that this will be the site of our Acomb Community Garden, developing the garden they already have installed. The Church is now a Community Centre, and when we visited was hosting a play group, a café and a community art exhibition, which was being opened. We are working with Lucy Smithies from York TimeBank, who is helping with the Community Centre and will be involved with the York Ainsty project, not least because she is also a member of ‘Edible York’ and ‘Abundance York’. Dick Powell -4-

ROTARY YORK AINSTY PRESENTS

AN EVENING WITH RUGBY LEAGUE LEGEND KEVIN SINFIELD – HOSTED BY BBC’s TANYA ARNOLD IN AID OF HOPE AND HOMES FOR CHILDREN

to be held on Wednesday 9th March 2016 at the York Sports Club Clifton Park, Shipton Road, York YO30 5RE 7.00pm – 10.00pm with a buffet included Tickets £25 per head ……… tables of 10 available Tickets available from Stephen Ellis contact 07831 225168

York Ainsty