THE ROTARY CLUB OF BANBRIDGE
ARCHIVED REPORTS
2009-10
Literacy Project
We were the first Rotary club in Ireland to support the
Dictionary 4 Life project, when, in 2009, we supplied approximately 260 dictionaries to the four primary
schools in the town - enough for every P6 child in Banbridge. We have the intention of
continuing this good work.
These are high quality
dictionaries, designed to create maximum interest in words. Regrettably 5% of
children leave school not sufficiently literate to face the modern world; we can
only hope that these dictionaries go some way to helping even a few children avoid
this.
The idea came from Rotarian Colin Bryant and you can read more by clicking on his name.
2008-09
President James Dale receives the chain of office from retiring
president George McCaigue. Also in the picture are Past Presidents Frank Arnold,
Louis Boyle, Eddie Carr, Hugh Rice, John Dawson, Ken Forbes and Rotarian Sharon
Molloy
Click on the photo for a close up of the Presidential Citation earned last year by the club from the Rotary International President - for demonstrating how Rotary shares its talents, skills, energy and resources in order to create a better world
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On February 29 we celebrated our Present's
Night. This took the form of a Corporate Dinner and was one of the most
successful evenings in the club's history.
Pictured below: President George McCaigue welcomes our second generation
Rotarian Sharon Molloy (top left), and he also poses with Irish Rugby star Rory
Best (lower right). Featured in the top right is District Governor Ray Cosgrave
with his wife Breege; lower left is George with his wife Anne.
Charities to benefit from the considerable surplus are
Cancer research (£1,000), Southern Area Hospice (£1,500) and the Rombo Project
(£500 - read more on our International page), and the East Timor project
£500).
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2007-08 President George visits the Rotary Club of Tenerife, not for the first time but the first as president of his club, and presents a gift of Irish Linen to the President Rafael Garcia. George is explaining in the photo that the linen was woven in Banbridge. The other photo shows the Banbridge bannerette in the British Isles showcase.
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2007-08 District Governor's Annual Visit
President George McCaigue (2nd right) welcomes District Governor Ray Cosgrave.
Also included are Past President John Dawson (left) and Past President Eddie
Carr
2007-08 Presidential hand-over
George McCaigue takes over the reins from John Dawson while the President-Elect
James Dale looks on.
2006-07 ended on a high for the club when outgoing President
John Dawson presented a Paul Harris Fellowship to Clifford McSpadden, who
thought of and made happen the fantastic response from Banbridge to the people
devastated by the Tsunami on Boxing Day 2004. A Paul Harris Fellow is the
highest award a Rotary club can award to anyone, Rotarian or not.
Also pictured is Clifford's wife Joanne, Vice-President George McCaigue and Past
President Victor Jennett.
Through his church connections Clifford made immediate contact with a missionary
in South East Asia and established exactly what was imminently most needed - the
answer came "clothes" not money but five specific categories of
clothing. Over a matter of days, enough for four plane loads made their way from
the town to the stricken area. A sum of £35,000 was also raised, which helped
greatly in providing the means of temporary accommodation to those who had lost
absolutely everything.
Clifford would be inclined to play down his involvement, and received the award
"as an acknowledgement of what we can do when we simply step out in faith
and follow God's direction."
2006-07 President's Night was a great success. How could it have failed with guest speaker Lord Eames, the recently retired Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland.
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Left: Lord Eames in the centre wife lady Eames; to his right is President John
Dawson with his wife Jenny and to his left Vice President George McCaigue and his
wife Anne.
Centre: President John Dawson with his wife Jenny and Rotary Ambassadorial
Scholar Korah Winn.
Right: Lord Eames and Past President Billy Ferguson.
Something different:
On Tuesday 28th November 2006 we held our meeting in the local Italian restaurant,
Zio's
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District Governor's Visit 10 October 2006
District Governor Howard Caskie is greeted by President John
Dawson (left) and Vice President George McCaigue
On June 27 2006 we rewarded a special Banbridge citizen with an honorary
membership. Banbridge born comedian Gene Fitzpatrick spends a great deal of his
time working quietly for the less well off in society. In 1998 he was awarded a
Paul Harris Fellowship by Rotary in Ireland, and it more than fitting that his
local club should recognise the untold work he does for charities around the
island of Ireland.
We had a very interesting insight into the lives of a Paraguayan community on Tuesday 05 September 2006 thanks to Heather Forbes and Hannah Collins who had spent two and a half weeks there, helping the people in many ways. The ladies were guests of the South American Mission Society, and they were in a foster home in Asuncion. The Charity's function was to give the kids a break and to place them in good homes. Heather, Hannah and the team redecorated the home with murals and spent a lot of time with the kids. Before they left this island they had raised cash, which they invested in clothes, food and particularly in a horse and cart to help a local delivery chap serve his fellowmen.
2006-07 Presidential hand-over
Vice President George McCaigue looks on as Past President Hugh Rice
congratulates John Dawson on his second period as President.
HEARING DOGS FOR THE DEAF
One of our Rotarians, Raymond,
teamed up with two friends and fellow Rotarians Trevor Guy (Lisburn) and Trevor
Green (formerly Lisburn, now residing in Scotland). They had a sponsored cycle
ride to coincide with the Rotary Conference in Belfast in April and raised
£2,000 for the charity - which will provide in the home hearing dogs for a number of
people with poor hearing (basically the dogs provide the ears for contingencies
like the a door bell or more importantly for an emergency.
We were delighted to send off a cheque for £1060 to the Rotary Club of
Carlisle as part of this fund raising.
Charity donations in the 2005-06
Acting President Hugh Rice presents the cheques to representatives of the
charities
2005-06 Presidential Citation awarded to the club for demonstrating excellence and exemplary achievement in Rotary's second century of service through public image initiatives and continued efforts in club, community, vocational and international service. Click the photo for a better look.
25th ANNIVERSARY OF CHARTER
On 03 March 2006 of Banbridge celebrated 25 years as a Rotary Club. A large
gathering enjoyed a fabulous evening and Rotarians past and present were there,
including representatives from twin club Renfrew.
To mark the occasion of our 25th anniversary the Rotary Club of Renfrew presented us with a Quaich (don't go scampering for an English dictionary because it won't help you). Traditionally the "Quaich" which originated in the Scottish Highlands was used both for a "Cup of Welcome" and also when offering a farewell drink. The Quaich was originally made from the primitive "staved" wood, then later from horn or leather, eventually pewter and silver becoming popular as it became the favourite drinking cup throughout Scotland. Being derived from the Gaelic word "cuach" meaning "shallow cup" the distinctive design has remained unchanged over the centuries - a shallow drinking bowl with two handles colloquially known as "lugs".
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Left: Six of the seven Renfrew couples who made the trip from Scotland to help Banbridge celebrate their 25th birthday: From the left: Donald McNeil, Isobel McNeil, Stevie Callaghan, Cathie Callaghan, Iain Provan, Nan Thomson, Martin McLaughlan, Jean McLaughlan, Ernie McCutcheon, Pat McCutcheon, Eddie Williams, June Williams. Not in the photo are Bob and Elizabeth Meikle.
Centre: Sunday lunch in Carrickfergus before the return journey to Paisley in Scotland
Right: Main guests at the charter dinner (From left, standing, President Eddie Carr, District Governor Martin Molony, Vice President John Dawson, Chairman of Banbridge District Council Jim McElroy, Past President and Founder Member Ralph Bauer, President of the Rotary Club of Newry, Neil Tate, Vice President of the Rotary Club of Renfrew Eddie Williams, President of the Rotary Club of Navan, John Craig. Partners seated from left, Alice Carr, Past President of the Rotary Club of Dublin Central, Alva Hope-Ross, Jenny Dawson, Evelyn McElroy, Ann Bauer, Sue Tate, June Williams, Kathleen Craig.
The charities had already been agreed and they are: the Southern Area Hospice, Cancer Research, Spina Bifida (local area), St. Vincent de Paul and Banbridge & District Carers.
The well known comedian Gene Fitzpatrick acted as compère, and the venue was the Banbridge Leisure Centre (7:30PM).
We managed to raise £2,000 which was handed over to the five
charities at our December 13 meeting, and we would like to thank everyone who supported us by attending. Our
sincere thanks also go to Gene Fitzpatrick, Norman Brown and Billy Chambers who
made everything happen.
We already have plans to repeat the experience next year.
From left: President Louis Boyle, Council Chairman Jim McElroy, Gene Fitzpatrick, Rotarian Nigel Jess
Charity donations in the 2005-06
Acting President Hugh Rice presents the cheques to representatives of the
charities
2004-05
TSUNAMI
We wish to express our greatest admiration for the team of people from the
Banbridge area responsible for the wonderful work in sending four plane loads of
essential supplies to Indonesia - the first truck left Banbridge on the evening
of Wednesday 05 January, and the others left in the following two weeks.
There was also a great need for financial contributions and to this end the Rotary Club of Banbridge
joined forces on Saturday January 08 with the local Lions and Round Table Clubs
to maximise the impact of the collection of money. We were at Tescos
Supermarket, SuperValu, Centra and Town Centre all day.
This was a "first" for the three service organisations in the town and
the amount raised was £7750. The money will find its way
right to the heart of one of the worst hit areas, a 40 family village in Sri
Lanka. Ken Kissick gave up 2 weeks of his life to go there and give his
paramedic services, and he gave the club his account on 15 February.
Kenny is a paramedic and decided to take his services to one of the worst
hit areas, and after some administration frustrations he set off with two
paramedics, four nurses and a surgeon to the village of Thal Aramba, which is
near Matara on the south coast of Sri Lanka. They made contact with the local
Round Table, so they knew they were going where they would be badly needed. They
also had with them 28 cases of medical equipment.
They found the local hospital to be very inadequately equipped, but they were
surprised to discover that, while hospital treatment was free, the local people
were loath to avail of it – because of a belief that 70% of patients did not
survive the experience; they also were reticent to see a doctor. They found
people with horrific injuries and many suffering from trauma. They found a
fishing people who were afraid to return to the sea, and who had lost their
desire for fish. They found one village where only 12 of the 120 inhabitants had
survived, and they met one man who was the sole survivor of a family circle of
46. Refugee camps in the area dealt with 800 per day – most with serious
injuries.
Kenny described it as a Life Changing Experience and the only way he could bring
himself to leave, was to make the decision to come back again with more supplies
and funds. His group has already doubled the above sum and is hoping to raise a
total of £40,000 before 08.04.05 when they are booked to go back again.
The name they have chosen for their group is "Bring Back The Smile"
Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland have
sent £6.5 million to the affected areas, and this money has been
distributed via known contacts.
Also sent from across the British Isles were:
5000 aqua boxes (equivalent to 60 million litres of safe
drinking water)
4800 Shelter boxes
Countless Emergency boxes
2004-05
Past President and Immediate
Past District Governor Frank recently travelled to Zambia to see for himself
the results of our District's efforts in the Freeplay Radio Project. (See
further down this page)
Last year
District 1160 (Ireland) raised £82,000 which purchased 2300 of these radios
(which can be operated without batteries). In a country where approximately a
quarter of children under 15 years of age have lost one or both parents to AIDS,
many of these children cannot attend school because of poverty or long distance.
So the plan was to take school to such children.
The first photo shows Frank handing over a consignment of radios to a school, while the second shows a mentor and class receiving a broadcast on their freeplay radio.
2003-04
Freeplay Radios
These wind up and solar powered radios can play a major role in
educating local people in Zambia. Previous attempts to educate by radio have
been frustrated by the lack of electricity and the cost of batteries, but these
radios do not require either of these power sources.
With a Freeplay radio, orphans and street children can hear important messages
e.g. about AIDS
£35 buys a radio. The Club provided more than two radios per Rotarian (in part due to a generous contribution
from Banbridge Academy.)
2003-04
GREAT
CONFERENCE!
The Rotary Club of Banbridge hosted District 1160 Annual
Conference in Belfast from 11 - 14 September 2003.
The Conference was a great success. The key note speakers were magnificent; the
Rotary content was great, and the fun and fellowship were fantastic. What a
tonic to see so many people leave the province with such a positive feeling
about the city of Belfast.
Our congratulations
go to District Governor Frank Arnold, Conference Chairman Roland
Bailie and the entire team.
2003-04
Burns Night
Our friends in the Rotary Club of Renfrew helped us to host a Burns Night
on Saturday 31st January 2004 in the Seagoe Hotel, Portadown, and
what a night it was! The food and fellowship were superb and a large gathering
were treated to an evening of history, poems and songs about the life of Robbie
Burns.
We were most fortunate that R.I.B.I. President Brian Stoyel had planned his
District 1160 visit for the same weekend, and we were delighted when he agreed
to come a day earlier to be
our guest of honour.
Every ticker carried a £5.00 surcharge for one of Brian's preferred
projects, REMIT,
and the Rotary Clubs of Banbridge and Renfrew jointly presented Brian with a cheque for £1,200 before the end of the evening.
Time was also taken to make a very special acknowledgement of the work, on behalf of the Rotary Foundation, of Rotarian and Assistant Governor Howard Caskie of the Rotary Club of Limavady . Howard was presented with a Citation for Meritorious service by RIBI President Brian Stoyel.
Spread & Save
This is an R.I.B.I.* project where every Rotarian in the British Isles
bought a half-pound jar of marmalade for £1.00 - net proceeds
to Rotary Foundation.
Then the jar became a money box for our small change. The contents of our jars
amounted to £800 which will also go to
Rotary Foundation, but specifically to Polio Eradication.
(* Rotary International
in Great Britain and Ireland)
From left: Past President Billy Ferguson, Past President and District Governor
Frank Arnold, President Eddie Carr, Rotarian Brian Minnis and Trevor Bernard
(Manager of Texcos, Banbridge)
Click the photo and use your back button to here
2003-04
Stroke Awareness
March
27 was our Stroke Awareness day, and every Rotary Club in the British Isles was charged with
participating by organising
blood pressure tests on as many people as possible in their area - last year the final
number of people tested was of the order of 125,000 and many were referred to
their doctors. This has been acknowledged by the Guinness
Book of Records as the most blood pressure checks taken in a day.
We are indebted to SuperValu in Newry Street, Banbridge
for giving us a part of their premises on March 27 - we had a very busy day.
2001-03
We supported this District project in 2001-2002 and it was completed when
64 pregnant heifers and one District Governor were airlifted to Africa on 06 February.
In keeping with tradition each heifer will have its own name, so what better
for Banbridge than Rosie McCann (The Star of the County Down). If that means
nothing to you, follow the link at the bottom of our Banbridge page!
The project last year was shared with The Abercorn Primary School and their effort raised
£1,200 for an in-calf heifer
including the cost of her transport to a
family in Africa.
The first heifer born to a donated animal is passed on to another family
so that the benefit is multiplied year by year. The family keeps all subsequent
stock, and will in time build up a herd sufficient to sustain them and so
improve their quality of life.
In 2002-03 we contributed £1100 to this excellent project, and we have the pupils of Banbridge Academy to thank for this.
Regular visitors to this website
will know that Banbridge lost its cinema in 2001.
Films respectively have been City Slickers, A Few Good Men, Dave, River Wild, Father of the
Bride II, Love & War, The
Titanic, You've Got Mail, Angela's Ashes, Stuart Little, Traffic and
America's Sweethearts.
On behalf of all the charities "Thank You Iveagh".
The purpose of the evening is to provide an enjoyable night out while
helping others less fortunate than ourselves.
WORLD CUP RALLY DRAW
In 2001-02 we joined forces with R.I.B.I. - that's
Rotary in Britain & Ireland - and by selling a few tickets within our
membership we together raised £251,774. Half of this went to
Motability which is to help keep disabled people on the road; the other half
was left to the clubs to distribute.
In 2001-02 Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland raised £5.5 million for charitable causes.
The 15th May 2001 was a significant date for Banbridge because the club was chartered on that day twenty years previously. The occasion was marked by a dinner dance on 25th May 2001 - click here for a report (20 years as a Rotary club.)
TB Alert (2001-02)
TB Alert was founded in 1998 as the first TB-specific charity in the United
Kingdom since the 1960's and it aims to increase awareness and raise funds to
combat Tuberculosis at home and abroad.
8000 cases were reported in the UK in the year 2000 and we will endeavour to
assist the charity as required.
Chernobyl Children (2001-02)
It is now 15 years since the tragedy at Chernobyl and still
the children suffer. District 1160 has undertaken to help, and this club will
contribute in a fund raising exercise aimed at providing a holiday in
Ireland for 20 terminally ill children; sending nurses to attend children in
psychiatric hospitals in Russia or to purchase second hand ambulances.
The children, aged 9-14, arrived in our country on 5th September 2001 and
stayed at Barretstown Castle for ten days followed by a week in Kinsale.
Their doctors have since reported a great improvement in the children's
demeanour on their return, and reckon their lives were extended by up to 2
years as a direct result of the holiday.
Along with many clubs we have given our support to the venture both financially
and by contributing some of the following: toys,
jewellery, toiletries, food, educational items, souvenirs and clothes. At
very short notice an
ambulance was filled to the roof with such items at our District Conference
in Tralee in September and £500 has been committed to helping further.
This donation brought the contribution of District 1160 (Ireland) to £10,000
which was handed over to the Charity on 23.03.02. It has already been
committed to the purchase of a second hand minibus which will be used to
transport to and from their hospital in Belarus for the partially sighted -
at present the children are taken in an open truck fitted only with a
mattress.
Lumberjacks - not quite (2001-02)
Our first project was actually almost
completed before the start of the new Rotary year. The club had been approached
on behalf of the elderly residents of Legion Court, Banbridge to fell a number
of trees which were spoiling their view. A team of 5 Rotarians managed over a
number of hours, and not without occasional bouts of anxiety, to fell and remove
7 trees. Fading daylight and possibly tiredness interrupted proceedings and the
job was finished over three evenings.
All this was in the name of service to our community: unexpected appreciation
came from the tenants in the form of £100 towards our future work.
Fuller report & photo
Youth Leadership Competition (2001-02)
Following in the tradition of District 1160 (Ireland) Emily Neill was elected as
Leader of her group in Strasbourg. There were 340 young people from 12
countries; they were divided into 5 groups and charged with electing a leader.
Three of the other groups also elected an Irish spokesperson and 17 of the 22
questions put to Parliament were from the Irish group.
Also each country's representatives were asked to select one of their number to
introduce their compatriots - this had to be done in another language! Emily was
selected to present the Irish contingent and chose to do so in Spanish.
Emily addressed the club on April 23 and spoke of the most amazing 6 days of her
life; highlights being the meeting of the Irish group (she literally has the tea
shirt), evening tour in Paris, dinner on the Champs-Elysées, Notre Dame, visit
to a champagne vineyard, a snow fight in the Black Forest and topped off by a
fascinating and most rewarding time in the Parliament in Strasbourg.
In his vote of thanks Rotarian Dennis Livingstone described Emily as a great
ambassador for the club, the town and the country.
The project produced seven School winners
and one Club winner who progressed to the Regional Finals.
Winners at local level win a prize of £100 for their school or youth
organisation.
The Regional Finals resulted in yet another winner from a Banbridge school
going on to the final stages and securing an all expenses paid tour to participate in the
Euroscolar Programme at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Marks and Spencer and the European Parliament were joint sponsors of the
programme, which was aimed at local schools and youth groups with young people in
the age range of 15-19.
2001-02 District Governor Robert Warren
joined us on January 22 and he not only received a warm welcome, he
contributed to a very enjoyable meeting.
DG Robert complimented the club on its projects about which he had been
updated before the meeting itself. He was accompanied by Assistant Governor
Crawford who is no stranger to Banbridge; indeed DG Robert himself was
making his third visit.
The need for Rotary's product, he said, was greater than ever in a world
where 40,000 children die every day of starvation or the effects of
malnutrition.
Recruitment is a major aim within Rotary and we heard a number of fine
examples of Rotary in action e.g. the Bóthar
project and the Polio Plus Campaign - both of which are described elsewhere
on this website. It is hoped news of such work will encourage others to join
in our fellowship and contribute to making a difference in our world.
2001-02
We have recently
reacted favourably to a similar request from the Rotary Club of
Fairbanks in Alaska. As a Rotary Foundation Fundraiser they plan to auction
off items from Ireland on their St. Patrick's Day Fundraiser on Thursday,
March 14, 2002. They are planning a dinner event with "some awesome
Irish food" - bet they could not do it every day for a week!
We were also recently delighted to receive a boxful of goodies to help us
with our future fund raising.
By coincidence we also fielded a request from the Rotary Club of Rajkot
Midtown in District 3060 in India. They are trying to set up a dolls museum
there and I quote from their President's e-mail: "This unique
project is envisaged to bring a smile to thousands of poor and slum dwelling
children in our region having a population of one million people".
We obliged with something typically
Irish.
2001-02
On 27 November Past District
Governor Edwin Dunlop came from Bangor to speak to the club about the Tall
Ship Sailing Trust which provides the opportunity for the disabled (and
able-bodied) to man one of these vessels at sea. Yes, that means what it
says - including being winched to the crow's nest! Edwin was not expecting
to meet a former client, because the Club had invited Jim Corbet and his
wife Alvine to the meeting. Jim had taken advantage of one of these working
holidays at an earlier date.
The club made a donation of £250 to PDG Edwin to help someone else have
this once in a lifetime experience.
Book Aid International (2000-01)
Book Aid International provides over 750,000 books each year to support literacy, education, training and publishing in more than 60 countries around the world with over 85% of their books going to 13 countries in sub Saharan Africa.
This is a quote from a letter to Book Aid International:
"Our initial reaction was one of wonder, as the books are all new and so
appropriate for our purposes." (From the Integrated Centre for
Employable Skills, Uganda)
PP John Dawson
2000-01
One of the nicest things about being in Rotary is the people you
meet; then there's the people you haven't met yet!? Through this electronic
medium we were contacted by the Mesa West Rotary Club in Arizona. On 17th March
2001 they hosted their first Annual St. Patrick's Day Pancake Breakfast and Silent
Auction. This is a partnership project between Mesa West and Rotary Clubs of
Ireland with proceeds going to children charities in east valley communities -
the Irish Clubs participation was in the form of gifts for the Silent Auction.
Nearly 400 people came along to enjoy the auction, raffles, Irish step dancers
and an impromptu "Wild Irish Rotary Band" - the mind boggles. A hearty
breakfast was served by Rotarians, Interact Club members and Boy Scouts and a
great morning was topped off with the knowledge that $3000 had been
raised.
(1998-99) The pupils of Abercorn Primary School throw in their lot for the new Children's Hospice (£2,540)
