February

Feb 26, 2016 by Shaftesbury Rotary

February 8th

We welcomed Martin Medland our 5^th Rotary corporate member. Martin is the Shaftesbury Tesco store Manager and has a strong affinity with Shaftesbury having been born here, the family moved away due to Martin’s father’s work and then came back and stayed for several years in his late teens and early twenties. Martin’s career in the Navy and multiple stores has taken him all over the world and he very much hopes to stay and work here and help Tesco to become part of the community.

Pictured: President Richard Shean welcoming Martin Medland

A return visit from Andy Nelson (a most appropriate name) to entertain club members about the first long distance sailing journey he and his wife had undertaken. When Andy spoke on the last occasion it was all theory, preparation, equipment, charts, radio, etc, etc. So in June last year they set sail in their yacht “Venture Lady” a 36ft Bermuda cutter, destination the Spanish Rivas on the North West coast of Spain.

The 1st part of their journey from England to the Brittany coast for a few day’s stop over was uneventful and the weather forecast to continue through the notorious Bay of Biscay was good, however no sooner had they entered the bay they received a gale force weather warning, the decision was made to continue on the basis they could outrun the storm rather than turn back. Continues sailing and with little sleep Andy and his wife Alison faced their worst fears, the boat behaved admirably (not a pun) and confidence grew even in the storm and the big sea’s they ploughed through.

Six weeks in the sunshine and a smooth journey home has given them the taste for an even more adventures. Andy finished his talk with the well-known phrase “there is nothing to fear but fear itself”.

Pictured: President Richard Shean thanking Andy Nelson for his talk

February 12th

The long awaited Pig Racing evening held at the British Legion Club in Shaftesbury got off to a great start with maximum number of Rotarians, guests and business partners. The evening commenced with a welcome drink and three warm up races to set the scene. Appropriately the food for the evening was hot roast pork baps with all the trimmings supplied and served by Helen from the “baguette bar” in Shaftesbury, accompanied by various salads supplied by Sylvie. Followed by some delicious puddings created by Sadie, Jan, Odi, Jane, Sylvie and Trish.

The racing restarted with the intent to have a further seven races, however such was the enthusiasm (or high spirits) this extended to twelve races in total. Whilst the evening was primarily a social event such was the generosity of the players that a surprising amount of over £600 was raised for local charities and good causes. A big thank you to Ken, Vee and Kerry Anne (friends of the Morgans) who acted as bookies and race stewards. Full financial details can be found on the member’s part of the web site and photos can be viewed by clicking ‘Member’s Photos’ on our Gallery page.

February 15th, Business & Committee Meeting

No reports received.

February 22nd

We met at the Fleur de Lys where Tim Cook was our speaker. He was Mayor in 2012 at the time of the year Queens Jubilee when the idea of Shaftesbury becoming a Snowdrop town was promoted by Pam Cruickshank who is one of our associate members. Tim told us how the idea caught the popular imagination and how over 200,000 snowdrops have been planted.

Rotary is proud to support the annual snowdrop festival. We Marshall the lantern parade and have helped in other ways. The snowdrop project has attracted many visitors to the town some of whom are willing to pay hundreds of pounds for a rare snowdrop.

We are very happy to announce that the snowdrop project has won a Rotary environmental award.

President Richard with Tim Cook

February 29th

As this was a fifth Monday we met together with partners and guests for a social meal at the Fleur de Lys. We presented a cheque to the Shaftesbury Snowdrop project to support them in their work for our community. We also presented a cheque to Julia’s House – the children’s Hospice from the proceeds of our 2015 Golf Day.