July

Aug 9, 2019 by Shaftesbury RC

1st – No meeting

7th – The sun shines down on Gold Hill Fair 2019

After a damp start on Sunday 7th July Shaftesbury Rotary’s Gold Hill Fair were blessed with a glorious sunny day, bringing out record crowds to a wonderful day’s entertainment of stalls, music, dancing and refreshment.

The event started with the traditional parade through the town, led by the Mayor Tim Cook, together with the new President of Shaftesbury Rotary Club Win Harvey (pictured below).

The Shaftesbury Town Silver Band followed on with several local community groups carrying coloured banners.

The parade finished off the annual community organization draw of £100 donation this year was won by Shaftesbury Primary School PTFA, Shaftesbury Scouts and Shaftesbury Rainbows. The public enjoyed Morris Dancing outside the Town Hall performed by several different dance bands, throughout the morning.

Pictured: Morris Dancing outside the town hall

At midday many people took advantage of the beautiful weather, taking their picnics to the Abbey Gardens sitting down on the grass taking in the music of 5 different performers.
There were many regular stallholders, as well as new, both in Park Wall and the High Street. Shaftesbury Rotarians dressed in Hawaiian shirts and trialed out The Human Fruit Machine and we’re not sure who had more fun the Rotarians or the Public!

Pictured: Queueing for the stalls

The fringe now in its 4th year continues to expand its repertoire of acts and venues and we are pleased to continue to work with them.
Shaftesbury Rotary Club would like to thank the Public for coming and supporting the day and all those who took part in what was both, a successful and fun day.
If you would like to know more about Rotary, or interested in joining then please look at our website www.shafteburyrotaryclub.org and get in contact.

All photos in this report courtesy of James Thrift.

8th – 50 years of Geoffry

When Rotarians arrived at La Fluer De lys for the evening meeting a very pleasant surprise awaited, the drinks were with the compliments of Rotarian Geoffrey Hughes. In the absence of our President we decided to break with tradition and ask Geoffrey to chair the meeting (Geoff was President in 1974/75) in addition to being our guest speaker and what a fascinating trip down memory lane. 50 years as a Rotarian in the Shaftesbury Rotary Club and being mindful that the club is only 56years old , that is quite an achievement and unlikely to ever be repeated.

Pictured: Geoffrey (centre front) and fellow Rotarians

Geoffrey could of recalled his memories and active involvement in the club over several hours but confined himself to the periods that many of our newer members were unaware of, the famous event of the fork suppers when the club entertained some 150 guests with the 3 courses cooked by Rotarians wives and partners in three separate sittings at the old secondary modern school and this was followed by Rotarian entertainment. Huge decoration was involved and the club were fortunate to have several artistic members including the well- known artist, Ron Homes. Geoff also told members of the early days of Gold fair When Rotary Took over from the Rotoract club. The event at its peak provided a big stage with local bands and individuals providing a weekend of great music, this was supported with a large beer marque manned by Shaftesbury and Sturminster Rotarians and a food tent selling burgers and hot dogs cooked and served mainly by Rotary wives and Partners One calculation totalled the attendance over the week end at some 10,000 people.

Pictured: President Win and Geoffrey

Geffrey also recalled the difficult days when membership dropped due to the decision to change from lunch time meetings to evenings causing 5 resignations and some members now long gone who objected to the introduction of female members despite the Shaftesbury club responding positively to that opportunity. Many questions followed with some amazement of those busy active days, I think Geoff ran out of puff but managed to call for the final Rotary toast “Rotary and peace the world over”.

15th – Business Meeting

We met at the Fleur for our Business meeting. The highlight of the evening was a presentation of a second Paul Harris Fellowship and a certificate, commemorating fifty years of loyal service to Geoffrey Hughes.
We were pleased to receive a letter of thanks from Shaftesbury School for our support for a literacy project. We then considered and agreed to make a donation to cover mentorship arrangements for a pupil. We are keen to strengthen our links with the School and support them in their work with young people, and so we put in hand preliminary arrangements, for taking part in one or more of the range of youth competitions which Rotary support.
We started to make plans for a public education session on Resuscitation and the public access defibrillator which we funded.
We received thanks from a local Dementia group for some equipment that we had helped to buy, and began to make plans for a “Seniors’ Mystery Trip”.
We reviewed our recent Gold Hill Fair event. We began to make plans for our Charity Golf Day which will be on Friday September 13th and also next year’s “North Dorset Cycle Ride which will be on May 17th

22d – Speaker Jeremy La Sueur – Changing markets and impacts on investing

In the current climate where the world’s economies are continuing to go through a period of uncertainty due to Brexit, international trade agreements and political change, it is perfectly reasonable for investors to have concerns regarding their money. The reality is that share prices invariably rise and fall in cycles and, for the long-term investor, it should not cause any sleepless nights. Long-term performance of the markets evens things out and there are plenty of opportunities for investors when markets are more volatile. Looking at timeframes, investors priorities, appetite for risk and age enables us to ensure we can create a balanced portfolio of investments to meet clients’ requirements.

Pictured: Jeremy La Sueur

29th – Partners Evening

We met at the Fleur for our partners evening which takes place every time there is a fifth Monday in the month. As usual we enjoyed a special meal with husbands, wives and partners. A particular highlight was the induction of our newest member Norman Margerson.