1. automotive and vehicles
2. boats and watercraft

JASMINE: 1 of 64
out of 6,000 !
Thirteen year old Jasmine Vanboven, from Chase High, and sponsored
by our Club after winning the Southend heats organised by Kala, was
one of the final 64 to participate in the regional rounds, out of the
original 6000 entrants for the RIBI Young Chef competition.
Contestants for this stage, had to plan, prepare, cook and present a
three course meal costing no more than £15. It was judged by Simon
Trefokwska of North Hertfordshire College Catering Department; third
year catering student, Kieran Dewey and Kevin Clark, Executive Head
Chef of Luton Hoo. Kevin said he was impressed by the knowledge and
skills shown by the budding chefs whose meals he had enjoyed.
Last year’s Regional winner, Anthony Sparks now an apprentice at
London’s Ivy restaurant, presented the prize to the regional winner,
Fiona Fletcher, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Hemel Hempstead.
Each contestant received a certificate and a Philip Berrio Goodie bag.
While disappointed not to win, Jasmine said that she had much
enjoyed the experience. It will, she said, help her to develop her
cookery skills which, it must be said, are already impressive.
President Catrina thanked Kala for her organisation locally and said
that she is already looking forward to next year’s competition. This is
just one of several Rotary competitions aimed at developing the skills
and confidence of young people.
NEW VENUE CONFIRMED;
Following the members’ vote the Club will now meet each week from
April 7th at THORPE HALL GOLF CLUB, Thorpe Hall Avenue,
FASHION SHOW & LUNCH
Rendezvous 22 April, £25
a couple of tickets still available
WORLD’S BIGGEST QUIZ
Saturday June 6
Roots Hall.
Just £2 !!
APRIL 2015
Included in this issue
Obituaries for Paul & Ron 2,
Recipes & magic 4, Ian’s story 5,
Meetings 6 & 7, Kofup & Deepcut 8
Events
Fashion Show & lunch
April 22
Waitrose collection
May 2
Ian & Maureen’s Garden May 22
The Big Quiz
June 6
Shagor Indian meal
June 6
Kids Out
June 8
Presentations
June 23
Young Musician
July 12
PAUL F. GOODACRE PHF 4.10.42 - 2.03.15
Paul was possibly the most positive person we knew, an
outlook that he maintained up to the final weeks of his long
and difficult illness.
He joined us in 1997 and was always a willing volunteer,
generous with time, practical skills, and financial support.
Twice our President, and a Paul Harris Fellow, he was also a
man who apparently bred ‘beanies’, of which there seemed to
be a never ending supply in the many years that he ran the
tombolas, as Ron Price remarked in his funeral address.
He also organised the 3-day Waitrose collection for many
years, counted the money, arranged the costumes (including
the dreaded beards) and enjoyed wearing them - even the
several-sizes-too-small ’elf’! He also stood-in for so many club
dinner cashiers that he ultimately made the job his own.
He did, of course, have a life outside Rotary and his family.
With business partner Gary, he built up a very successful electronic leak detection manufacturing company
supplying and fitting their equipment at home and abroad. Paul was a former policeman, who had seen duty at
Chequers. He subsequently worked in office equipment and air conditioning before striking out on his own. All
of this contributing to his practical skills.
In Ian’s address at the funeral, he recalled Paul’s years with the Lindisfarne Players. Initially just accompanying
Sandra to rehearsals he was soon designing and building sets. Whilst he insisted that he would not act, Ian said
that he took every opportunity to get into costume, often playing practical jokes on the performers.
There was only one person who always upset Paul, and that was the person who was either driving in front of
him or approaching him on the road! That apart, his positive outlook was reflected in his near permanent smile.
His feelings for Rotary meant that he even attended meetings in the later stages of his illness.
He was a big man in every sense and a good Rotarian who will be sadly missed. We send our sincere sympathy to
Sandra, and to his children and grandchildren.
RON FARRALL PHF 22.11.37- 28.03.15
Ron joined Rotary in 1993 and, although he left the Club last year, he was a
Past President, a Paul Harris Fellow, and had been a very active Rotarian for
just over twenty years.
Ron filled many roles in the Club but perhaps the one which is most
remembered is his organisation of Kids Out for us and District. This probably
started in 1995/96 when as Junior Vice President he chaired Community
Service. He continued in that role until handing it over to Frank in 2008,
having hosted the entertainment of over 7,000 children in the meantime.
Our Rotary connection with the charity led him to become a ‘technician’ for
Southend Talking Newspaper, then a committee member, before succeeding
the late PP Brian Clarke as Chairman in 2009.
Ron had worked in the motor trade for over forty years ultimately becoming
Sales Operation Director for Fords. His experience in and with dealerships led
him into a ‘retirement’ role as a consultant, nominated director and ‘company
doctor’ for a number of dealerships at home and abroad before becoming director and then chairman of at least
two companies in the north of England. As he also loved driving, the travel was not a burden.
Away from Rotary Ron was a former General Secretary of the International Stress Management Association, and
a Past President of Thorpe Bay Probus amongst other associations. He shared his family’s love of sailing and,
until quite recently, delighted in regular drives to the Spanish villa which he and Jean bought twenty or more
years ago. Ron was an outgoing, gregarious and larger than life character and he and Jean had enjoyed a full
social life with their friends in Rotary and Probus. He will be long remembered by all his friends and colleagues.
We offer our sincere condolences to Jean, to Sue and Paul and their families.
2
Donations in lieu of flowers to Diabetes UK or Cancer Research UK for Paul (c/o Thorp & Son, 62 The
Broadway, Leigh on Sea, SS9 1AE) and to Southend Talking Newspaper (via Bryan Woodford or Eric) for Ron
YOUNG MUSICIAN AT CLARENCE HOUSE
HEALTH MATTERS
Our Young Musician of the Year 2013,
John Tothill, featured in the Echo
recently as one of a group of ten young
musicians chosen to meet and play for
the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence
House. The Duchess is the patron of the
National Youth Orchestra and John has
been selected as the orchestra’s principal
clarinettist.
The full orchestra numbers 165 musicians
aged 13 to 19 all of whom must have
reached at least grade eight and are
selected by annual audition. Orchestra members meet for three
2-week residential courses during school holidays each year.
The orchestra regularly performed at the Barbican, Royal Albert
Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.
John has been a member of the NYO for four years and is Deputy
Head Boy at Westcliff High School for Boys.
MEN’S HEALTH DAY is being held at
Southend United Stadium, Roots Hall, from
10 am to 4 pm, on Monday 18 May 2015.
Through the courtesy and support of
Southend United FC, the first event last year
attracted 127 men and provided abdominal
aortic aneurysm screening, heart and stroke
risk assessment, plus prostate cancer and
skin cancer screening. This led to early
detection of a number of unsuspected
conditions and treatment.
Anyone who would like to attend this year,
can go on a first come first served basis with
registration commencing at 9 am for the
morning session or can pre-book for the
afternoon at [email protected] or online
at https://chaps.simplybook.me or contact
Trish Binks on 07734 747 854.
The event is organised by the men’s health
charity CHAPS (Colchester Has Active
Prostate Support).
THE STROKE UNIT at Southend Hospital has
won a £100,000 NHS Innovation Challenge
Award for their electronic referral system,
dubbed HOT-TIA. This identifies patients
who have suffered a mini-stroke or transient
ischaemic attack (TIA) which can be a
precursor to a more serious stroke. It
provides a simple electronic form for GPs
which generates an instant 'risk score', and
allows a referral to be sent direct to the
stroke team at the hospital.
RIBI has received a special recognition
award for Rotary’s continued efforts with
the Stroke Association ‘Know Your Blood
Pressure’ campaign. This year around 400
clubs are expected to be offering free blood
pressure tests to the public on Sat. April 18.
Our own ‘Know Your Blood Pressure Day’
has been postponed in favour of a ‘twice a
year’ plan being evolved by David.
The passing of Paul and Ron to Higher Service, means that there
are now only four current members of our Club still involved
with Southend Talking Newspaper which we, of course, created.
Three former members and eight former Inner Wheel members
continue to support it and seven members of Thorpe Bay and
one from Hadleigh Castle also help to maintain the Rotary link.
CHECK THIS OUT
A wealthy American Rotarian had a
second home in the country. Each summer he would invite one
of his friends to join him and his wife there for a week or two.
On one occasion, he invited a Czechoslovakian friend to stay and
the friend was happy to accept.
Early one morning during the vacation, the American and his
friend from Prague went out to pick berries to supplement their
breakfast. As they
gathered the wild blueberries and
raspberries, along came two huge bears, a male and a female.
The American, seeing the bears and recognising the danger,
yelled to his friend and dashed for cover. His friend was not so
lucky. The male bear reached him and swallowed him whole.
The host ran back to his 4x4 and tore into town, making straight
for the local sheriff. The sheriff, hearing the story, grabbed his
shotgun and led a high speed chase back to the woods and set
out for the berry patch with the distraught man.
Sure enough, the two bears were still there. “That’s
the one,” cried the man, pointing to the male,
visions of lawsuits dancing in his head, “Can my
friend be still alive in him?” The sheriff looked
at the bears, and without a word, levelled his
gun, took careful aim, and shot the female.
“What are you doing” cried the man, “I said that
the other one had swallowed my friend!”
“Ah heard you” said the Sheriff, “but my Pappy
always used to say - Son, never trust a man who
says that the Czech is in the male.”
PAST PRESIDENTS’ DINNER
The ‘Court of Past Presidents’ annual dinner
was held at the Rendezvous on 11th March,
organised by Barry Smoothy. Ian Downie
took the chair. Members stood in silent
tribute for Quintin Davis and Paul Goodacre.
Immediate PP Ron Price, already a member
of the Court since 1996, was the guest of
honour. Frank Rush read ‘the Object’ and
Eric Quarmby proposed the traditional
3
Toast to “Friendship and Fellowship”.
EUROPEAN ECONOMICS
RECIPE BOOK
It is a slow day in a little Greek village. Rain is
beating down, the streets are deserted.
Times are tough, everyone is in debt,
everybody lives on credit.
Then, this very day, a German tourist drives
into the village. He stops at the local hotel,
asking if he can see the rooms before
deciding to stay. He pays €100 on account.
The owner gives him some keys and, as soon
as the visitor has gone upstairs, he grabs
the €100 note and runs next door to pay his
debt to the butcher. The butcher grabs the
euros and immediately takes it down the
street to pay off the pig farmer. As soon as
he receives the cash, the pig farmer is off
to pay the Farmers’ Co-op account for
feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers' Co-op
takes the €100 note and trots round to pay his
drinks bill at the taverna. The publican hands
the money to the ‘professional’ young lady
sitting in the bar who, in view of the difficult
times has been kind to him on credit. She in
turn rushes round to the hotel to pay her
room bill with the €100 note.
The hotel proprietor places the €100 back on
the counter just a moment or so before the traveller
comes down the stairs declaring that the rooms are
unsatisfactory. The German visitor pockets his €100
note, and leaves town.
No one produced anything. No one earned anything.
Yet the whole village is now out of debt, looking to
the future with optimism.
And that, my friends,
is more or less how
they expected the
bailout packages to
work! FB
Janice has reported that sales
of the Southend on Sea Rotary
Cookery Book have now
reached the original
100
copies target. The last ten of
those were sold at the District
Council Meeting in March,
where she and Ron manned a
stall alongside the entrance to
the main lecture theatre at
Writtle College. Janice hopes
to be taking a cheque for about £740 to Lancaster
School very soon, for them to use on their allotment
project.
This is not the end of the project however. Sales can
continue, Janice will continue to take orders and Frank
will be able to print more, in lots of four, hopefully for a
few months. We understand, however, that he may be
giving up his print business completely at some stage
following the transfer of the Post Office in May.
It is an appropriate time to thank everyone who has
been involved in whatever way. We will all join Janice
in thanking the sponsors, the recipe providers, Kala for
testing and proof reading, all those who have bought
the books, Ron for supporting Janice and especially
Frank, who probably aged 10 years or so as it became a
much bigger job than he or us ever thought.
That also goes for Janice I am sure – if she had realised
how much work was involved, she may also have
thought again. But as it happened she says, they all
enjoyed doing it and it has certainly raised a lot of
money for Lancaster School. Our thanks, then, to
Janice for an excellent idea and a lot of effort.
Don’t forget that it is still possible to buy a
copy of the Recipe Book. A remarkable
collection of dishes, and remarkable value!
ABRACADABRA; it really was MAGIC!
We were promised ‘an Evening of Magic’. We were told that
there would be several magicians. And we were told that
there would be ‘a cold buffet’. But we got far, far more
believe me, far more! What we were given was a remarkable
show by five or six members of the Mid Essex Magical Society and a surprise guest.
Close up magic was provided at each table of six in three sessions, every table having a
new magician for each session. These included two members of the Inner Magic Circle
we understand, and were all of a very high standard. Mind-blowing in fact! Add to this
a compere and a stage act and you can understand it was proving to be a very good evening.
Then came a truly excellent buffet, prepared and presented by the catering staff at Chase High School, a
veritable feast, after which the entertainment continued. The surprise act of the evening was the President of
the Magic Circle himself, Mr Scott Penrose. He was exceptional. “An awesome performance” said Catrina.
What we couldn’t conjure up was a larger audience, but that really was your loss if you were one who
4 couldn’t make it. It deserved to be a sell out at twice the price. Next time, perhaps? (Proceeds to KOFUP)
The Garrison Church Deepcut
Together with Maureen, her brother Donald and his
wife Rhoda, I recently visited the Garrison Church at
Deepcut, now known as St Barbara’s after the patron
Saint of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. It was built
at Deepcut, in 1901, to serve the units stationed
there. An Army Land Agent record once described it
as “a corrugated iron structure of dubious
architectural antecedence and indeterminate age”.
Why visit such a building? All will be revealed.
Originally dedicated as St Michaels and All Angels
Garrison Church in 1901, this was when the camp was
occupied by the Royal Scots and the Kings Own
regiments and the Royal Field Artillery. Troops were
paraded for Church services in those days, the other
‘voluntary’ services being less well supported. Early
records refer to services affected by “very stormy
night” or “snow and sleet” and so on, but the
Chaplains were not satisfied that all cancelled Church
Parades were justified; “a slight drizzle” reports one
“but parade cancelled by 2nd Royal and Irish and 2nd
Yorks and Lancs. Royal Field Artillery came but not
wet enough for greatcoats”.
In July 1905 the Crown gave land in perpetuity for a
burial ground, in 1911 electric light was installed in
the church and the first marriage under the Marriage
(Naval, Military and Air Force) Act 1932 was in 1934.
A note in the Services Book on 3 September 1939
reads “No collection. War declared against Germany”.
It is not clear if there was a connection between these
two matters! There was, however, a rush to get
married, with twelve marriages during the first two
weeks of war. Sadly very many burials were
conducted during the early months of 1940.
Presumably those killed in action during the early
period of the war were brought back for burial.
By 1948 the RAOC (and REME) had moved into the
area and in October 1967 the Church was renamed ‘St
Barbara’s Garrison Church, Deepcut,’ and much of the
property of former RAOCs Corps’ St Barbara’s Church,
Hilsea, was moved to Deepcut on its closure, including
the pipe organ, pulpit and the 1914 Roll of Honour.
“So why did we make a four hour round trip one
Saturday to visit a corrugated iron 1901 Church?”
Maureen and Donald’s Uncle Donald, a Captain in the
RAOC, was killed by enemy action when crossing from
the United Kingdom to Normandy on 8 June 1944 and
his body was never recovered. He was 28 years old.
Two years ago Maureen was watching the Royal
Albert Hall Remembrance Service when she was
moved to open her laptop and ‘Google’ “Captain
Donald Forrest”. To her surprise up came a link to a
Memorial in St Barbara’s Church Deepcut, which
contained his name. It seemed most odd that a young
man from Dunfermline could be on a Memorial in a
The text on the
memorial begins
with these words;
“TO THE GLORY OF
GOD AND IN
HONOUR OF THOSE
OFFICERS OF
17 ADVANCED
ORDNANCE DEPOT
ROYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS KILLED BY ENEMY
ACTION WHILST CROSSING THE SEA FROM THE
UNITED KINGDOM TO NORMANDY 8TH JUNE 1944 “
Fourteen officers, including Capt. Donald Forrest are
listed below that. More photographs on page 8
church in the south England. However the Memorial
was originally in the RAOC Corps’ Church in Hilsea and
was also transferred to Deepcut in 1967.
The sad thing is that no one in the family knew that
the Memorial existed. It is a great regret that
Maureen’s grandmother, her father and Donald’s
other brother and sister were completely unaware of
its existence and never had the opportunity to see it.
It was a really interesting and moving day particularly
for Maureen and her brother, who was named after
their Uncle Donald whom neither of them ever knew.
There was a little added bonus to the trip.
We knew that there was to be a wedding that day and
had arranged to meet the Padre an hour before it was
due to start. As we were leaving after the visit the
wedding party were starting to arrive and one of the
guests, in top hat and tails, suggested to Maureen,
that she should stay as the bride was to arrive in
Montgomery’s staff car. In fact the bridesmaids arrived
first in the Rolls Royce FLD 99 which then returned
with the bride and her father. A further surprise was
that the bride and two bridesmaids were Japanese!
Monty’s Rolls Royce has pride of place in the Museum
of the Royal Logistics Corps which is in the Princess
Royal Barracks, close to Camberley and Aldershot.
Deepcut Barracks is coming to the end of its life and
while there are no other buildings of any significance
within the area, the Garrison Church has this Armed
Forces connection and is the only remaining “tin hut”
example of an unusual and short lived method of
construction. There are also the burial grounds with
military personnel and others associated with the
Garrison and the Commonwealth graves section
contains 15 WW1 burials and 5 from WWII.
The Heritage Statement promises a new Church park
located around St Barbara’s, with seating and
footpaths to form an attractive setting for it, and there
is also to be a new Church Hall.
Hopefully the Church and its artefacts will remain 5
there.
Ian
MEETINGS MISSED
10 February. The Admiral. We were still at the
Cherry Tree on the basis of any port in a storm after
abandoning ship from HMS Horse & Groom. Chris
Davy was duty speaker and, knowing the ropes,
briefed us on RNLI operations in Southend and Britain.
It was anchors away as he described the charity that
saves lives at sea, providing 24 hour lifeboat search
and rescue and seasonal lifeguards. In addition to
safety advice, is an ambition to teach in schools
around the world in light of the WHO figure that 372
people drown each day around the world, 90% in low
to middle income countries. Sea Safety advises
boating communities; and there are flood rescue
services such as rescued 61 people in Boscombe.
Chris launched into quiz format so it was all hands on
deck for eight brainteasers. We discovered that in
1824 William Hillary began the National Institute for
the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, after seeing
one too many disasters from shore on the Isle of Man,
but the rescue of SS Forfarshire survivors off the Farne
Islands by Grace Darling and her lighthouse keeper
father in 1838 put the issue firmly on the agenda.
We learned that cork lifejackets first appeared in
1854 as the institute became the Royal National
Lifeboat Institute. The virtue of lifejackets was
dramatically highlighted by the survival of Henry
Freeman, the only one in a crew of thirteen to wear a
lifejacket, when the Whitby lifeboat capsized in 1861.
Back to Southend, or Area 1 to be fair on our full 7
miles of borough coastline, we got our first lifeboat
station in 1879. In fact we had two between 1885 and
1891, one on land and one on the pier. 1935 saw the
addition of a slipway and boathouse to the pier.
Within living memory one of our launches, Greater
London, was pressed into service by the Navy to
rescue soldiers from Dunkirk, and when destroyer
HMS Kellet became mired in the beach it was Greater
London that towed it backwards to safety. What was
the Greater London II became the Atlantic 21, later
joined by another D class.
The charity shared the fate of the pier when the
Kingsabbey tried a shortcut taking the boathouse with
it. This led to a new double size boathouse on the King
George extension to take the second D class small
inflatable. The boathouse we see now at the end of
pier appeared in 2002, then the inshore station in
2013. A typical single station costs £90,000 pa to run.
Quizzers were, bar one, adrift and unable to correctly
identify that the 9,000 miles plus UK coast boasts 236
lifeboat stations with 349 boats rescuing an average of
23 people a day, with Southend taking 120 shouts
66 a year. In fact we were the busiest in Britain in
2012 and 2013 with 157 and 142 shouts. As it
stands we have 3 inshore craft - 2 D class RIBs and a B
class inflatable Atlantic 75, plus a hovercraft
introduced in 2002. Lifeboats have reached their fifth
generation and are beachable with no propeller and
can manoeuvre sideways, designed for shallow water,
ideal for our mudflats.
We were informed of the phenomenally high cost of
all weather lifeboats such as £1.3M for a Severn Class.
The low weight of the cheaper inshore inflatables,
means they are often front loaded with ballast to stop
the engine taking them **** over *** in maritime
parlance. The cheapest option is the smaller D class
inflatable at £70,000, with B class inflatables coming in
at £250,000 and hovercrafts at £240,000.
Our Admiral having miscalculated the headcount of
damsels on board, Captain Chris then ventured into
the obligatory boys' toys piece revealing that the
charity is forced to buy and store three different fuels
as diesel hovercrafts and 2-stroke and 4-stroke
engined boats, like members of any self-respecting
Rotary club, all have different drinking requirements.
Chris added that although all lifeboats have radar all it
actually does is use a massive aerial to trace the
strongest signal from the stricken vessel's radio.
Having found quiz participants all washed up, Chris
finished the speech, which was first rate and of keen
local interest, by agreeing it would be perfectly above
board for the club to have a tour of the Southend
station one weekend.
Daryl
Editor’s note: The 10 February report was written
by Daryl, and I like it a lot. So much so that I
immediately offered him the Editor’s green eye
shade and seat, probably not in my gift if truth be
known but I don’t see why I shouldn’t.
As yet the lad has not taken me up on it, but I think
that I can hear the tanks lining up on the lawn and I
believe that the coup must be imminent.
17 February, Business;
As it happens your usual
reporter was still in recovery mode after a hospital
stay. It might have been worse – I might have been at
the meeting and that could have been detrimental to
my health! Sadly, or perhaps wisely, I have not been
offered a written report, but I gather that a few people
probably demonstrated their intense passion for
Rotary and for the Club, and their differing views on
how our next venue should be decided. There may
have been a procedural disagreement on the steps to
be taken, I can’t be sure. There may have been a calm,
reasoned discussion while each listened attentively to
the other and weighed the arguments carefully before
accepting that the other had a good point to make.
There may have been, but perhaps there wasn’t.
Things do not always develop the way that even the
MISSED
MEETINGS
people taking part would wish. All
in all a sad episode but it was good
that some felt able to apologise.
24 February; Jonathan Garston, the ‘Titanic’;
President Catrina paid tribute to Ron and Janice who
have moved on to the Leigh-on-Sea club. They had
both contributed a great deal to this Club, she said.
Twice President Ron had a major record in recruiting
members and community support and Janice, also a
Past President, had successfully held many roles,
maintained the link with Deventer, and had an ongoing success with the Recipe Book.
Jonathan detailed some of the statistics of this illfated vessel: built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, the
second of three near identical liners but marginally
the largest ship afloat when launched: 883 ft. long, 92
ft. in the beam, displacing over 52,000 tons. She
measured 175 feet from keel to funnel tops, and was
capable of speeds up to 24 knots burning 600 tons of
coal every day (and 100 tons of ash thrown
overboard). Built to carry 2,435 passengers and 892
crew, on that maiden and final voyage to New York
she carried (about) 2,224 people but had lifeboats for
only 1,178. But with waterproof compartments and
doors it was never expected to sink.
Jonathan told us about the style, the service, the
entertainment, the crew and passengers. Only 705 of
them are thought to have
survived when the ship
sank in 12,415 feet of
water, 2½ hours after
striking the iceberg. The
Carpathia arrived two
hours later. The huge loss
of life led to major
improvements
in
maritime safety, including better wireless standards.
Mike thanked Jonathan, remarking on the style and
values amongst the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.
3 March; David Gibson ‘Marie Curie’. We stood in
silence in memory of a dear friend, Paul Goodacre.
Daryl, after an insurance victory, bought the drinks.
President Catrina welcomed the speaker, guests Fay
Byford and Jean Quarmby and the return of Aline.
Kala spoke about the Young Chef result but then told
us that Charlie was unwell. Kala herself is also unwell
and Catrina expressed our best wishes to both.
For her ‘good news’, Aline gave thanks for the
opportunity she had enjoyed in knowing Paul, “a
lovely man”. We all agreed.
Speaker David, a community ambassador for Marie
Curie Cancer Care, described the work of the
organisation, now in its 67th year. They offer free
nursing care to people with all terminal illnesses
across the UK, as well as support for family and
friends. They generally provide one-to-one nursing
care and overnight support in the patient’s own
home. Approximately 25% of the Marie Curie service is
provided by registered nurses and 75% “rigorously
trained” health care assistants. They are employed by
the charity but 50% of the costs are met by the NHS,
and he gave a comparison of the different service
provided by Marie Curie and McMillan.
A new Marie Curie volunteer helper service will be
extended to Essex in 2016. Currently within the county
there are some 84 MC nursing staff of which 22 are in
their North Essex area which, apparently, includes
Southend. There are 5 Marie Curie committees in Essex
but none in Southend. Barry won the wine raffle.
10 March; Ian, ‘Family history at Deepcut’. Maureens
Downie & Smoothy and Jean Quarmby joined us at
Thorpe Hall Golf Club. We drank a Toast to the
Deventer Club, and perhaps for Chris Davy’s birthday.
Ian told a fascinating story of an army church and a
recently discovered family connection. See p. 5.
David Porter gave a Vote of Thanks, remarking that this
family history united the Kingdom with a Scottish
family remembered in Southern England.
17 March; Business. The second trial meal, this at the
Angel, North Shoebury. We were joined by two
welcome guests from Corringham Thameside, Albert
Borgman and David Fenn
Jane read the Object of Rotary. Four
members, including the President, had
visited Westcliff. David Porter is to take on
International and Barbara will maintain
the link with Friends of Rotary. Daryl is to
take on Facebook.
Council minutes and the Treasurer’s
report had been circulated and were
accepted. Eric asked about the sum
remitted to Foundation and was assured that more
would follow. Apparently the limited first sum was his
fault for ambiguously briefing Mike. Wish I’d never
asked! Daryl has entered the sponsored Essex Way
walk in May, and Deventer have made an approach
regarding a visit in the autumn. Blood pressure testing
may take place in May which is Stroke Awareness
month. After a scrutiny of the constitution a combined
Assembly and handover will be held this year. Jane is
organising the Wine Tasting on March 28th and Ian and
Maureen will host an afternoon tea on Sunday 17th
May. Kala is to arrange a meal at the Shagor on June
6th. Catrina still has a few tickets for the Fashion Show
and lunch on April 22nd. Three troughs of herbs and
bushes have been delivered to Hamstel Family &
Childrens Centre, weeding volunteers required.
As might have been expected on past experience, our
guest, Albert, managed to draw his own ticket in
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the wine raffle.
THE GARRISON
CHURCH,
DEEPCUT
Ian’s story, page 5
Monty’s motor
BRENDAN
from
KOFUP
JC Even in nature, sometimes we need to stop that
constant nag, nag, nag. (nb. genders not identified)
Only one scorpion!
Much to the surprise of my wife, Gerri, I survived my
foray into the Sahara. Hannah and I, with our Bedouin
companions, the guide, Abdalla, and the camel man.
Mabruk, walked south from Noueil for about 25 miles
and then east and north. The total distance over the 5
days was 65 miles.
In all that time we saw plenty of ants and beetles, but
only one luminous green scorpion and a dodgy-looking
white spider. There was plenty of sand, sometimes so
soft that we sank over our ankles into it. Thank God, the
old legs bore up well, with no knee or hip issues.
Many thanks if you sponsored me, and if you didn't,
now's your chance! The justgiving link is:
www.justgiving.com/Brendan-Bennett1/ .
And finally a response to the changing seasons (USA)
THE ROTARY FOUR WAY TEST:
1. Is it the TRUTH? 2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
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