ROTARY CLUB OF MATLOCK

Over 740 pieces of art from twelve Infant & Junior Schools in the Matlock area were displayed at the Imperial Rooms, Matlock on Saturday 27^th February. The three winning entries and seven runners up were displayed in colourful frames. There were an additional ninety entries that were identified by the judges as being of exceptional quality.

Attendance at the display exceeded expectations with many of the entrants, their families and friends attending to view the display. Although quiet at the 10.00am opening with only a few passer-by, by 11.00am it was busy with a steady flow of people until the close at 3.00pm.

At 2.00pm, prizes were awarded to the winners and runners up by Albert Ripamonti, President of the Rotary Club of Matlock and Geoff Stevens, Mayor of Matlock.  Geoff Kersey who had been part of the judging team with Pollyanna Pickering also attended to lend his support and voice his appreciation of the children’s work.

Our main sponsors Turners Art of Rowsley had donated paper, paints and brushes to all the schools and on the day, contributed to the prizes by giving vouchers redeemable at their outlet in Rowsley. Geoff Kersey and Pollyanna Pickering generously donated signed books, art paper, calendars and other assorted gifts.

A community painting was undertaken to add to the activities and to raise funds for the “Thanks for Life” - End Polio Now Campaign. Many colourful splodges were added by little and large fingers to form the background of the painting. When finished, the tape on the canvas will be removed to reveal the letters of ‘Thanks for Life, the theme of the painting Competition. A suitable location is being considered for its permanent display and we would welcome suggestions.

Matlock Rotarians with some of the artwork on display

Matlock Rotary President, Albert Ripamonti, gave his thanks to all the teachers  at the participating schools, the Mayor and the competition judges and the sponsors, Turners Art.  He especially thanked the children who created some wonderful pictures that made the job of judging incredibly hard.

Rotary would also like to thank all the visitors on the day for attending - the visitors came from Brassington, Bonsall, Crich, Cromford, South Darley, Matlock Bath and Matlock.

Thanks for Life _End Polio Now Campaign

Rotary has been working to eradicate Polio from the world. When they started in 1986, the disease was prevalent in 125 countries. Now it exists in only 4 (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria). Our international objective is to raise funds to immunize the children of the last 4 countries so that they have the same life chances as our own children.

A total of £350 was raised from the schools’, this will be added to the proceeds from the Sainsbury’s collection carried out by Matlock Rotary on the 19^th & 20^th February to raise the gross amount of £1228.00.  The net proceeds will be sent to the Polio Eradication Fund.

THE ROTARY CLUB OF MATLOCK COLLECTS

£1,684 for “HELP FOR HEROS”

The Rotary Club of Matlock would like to extend their thanks to Sainsbury’s for allowing the club to organise a collection for “Help for Heroes” on the weekend of December 12th.

Help for Heroes is a charity that supports wounded Servicemen and women of every colour and creed. The charity was launched in October 2007 and, with the backing and support of Celebrities, including Jeremy and Francie Clarkson, The Royal Family, The Media and countless ordinary decent people. It has raised over £1m a month since then.

Matlock Rotary President, Albert Ripamonti said, “we are proud to be associated with Help for Heroes and the amount raised demonstrates the generosity of local people. Despite all the economic pressures and the prospects of an expensive time at Christmas, Matlock people have dug deep into their pockets and purses to raise this fabulous amount for such a worthy cause”

CHATSWORTH COUNTRY FAIR  2009 RAISES  £2,731

Great fun was had by 19 Rotarians and six partners shaking dice and chatting up the crowds walking down avenue G.

Congratulations and thanks go to the tent erection crew who put it up in the pouring rain and coped well with the mud.  We are now personal friends of a big green tractor driver who pulled us out of the mud three times from avenue A where we usually work from. !

There we several near misses of wining the £250.00 and we had the pleasure of giving away two large cuddly toys and several little toys to families who all had a go.

Friends Peter, Harriot and Alice Mummery designed a well dressing of a classic car in front of Chatsworth House.  This gave Albert an excuse to stagger down with Peter to the Centre Ring to be photographed with original car and its owners.

A test of endurance to smile and chat all day but well worth the effort as we raised £2,371.37.  A big thank you to all  who helped and took part over the weekend.

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Amy Jukes

Macmillan Fundraising Manager – Derbyshire

President- Albert's Aims and Objectives:

Lovely weather failed to bring out the cyclists and despite a valiant effort with publicity, including posters, press releases, flyers, e-mails, mail shots and a Radio Derby slot, only 57 people took part in this year’s event. This compares to 73 last year.

It might be the credit crunch effect or the date or the difficulty of contacting cycling enthusiasts. Whatever it is, we will have a thorough de-brief, learn from our experience and report to the membership on what we recommend next year.

However, those that took part really enjoyed it and said they would come back next year. Many travelled far to the event, from Telford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, just to mention a few.

Everything went well, we had no injuries or participants getting lost and marshals and checkpoints did a sterling job.

Club President Andrew and Jonathan Short and their team helped boost the numbers and had respectable finishing times, although these were flattered a bit by the clock used for timing gradually running slow (next time put a fresh battery in).                    

We would like to thank all the entrants and their efforts to raise sponsorship monies. Over £1,000 was raised in total, including entrance fees.  This was intended to be presented to Highfields School, in Matlock, as a contribution towards their mini-bus appeal. However, due to a change in circumstances, the school has declined the sponsorship and accordingly the Rotary Club of Matlock has re-assigned the funds raised to the Fairplay Minibus Campaign, which aims to raise enough funds in North Derbyshire to buy a special mini-bus for disabled children.