January
9th – Business Meeting
Monday 9th January 2023. A busy start to the New Year as plans get underway to celebrate 60 years of Shaftesbury Rotary at Rushmore on 21st April. Shaftesbury School have invited us to take part in their careers and business day. An appeal has been received from a local school pupil on a charity project visit to Zanzibar. RotaKids is progressing well with Care boxes for the Hospital and a Litter pick day both planned. The Young Chef and Youth speaks Competitions are underway. The Caldwell Award was given to Westminster Memorial Garden Project.
Nikki Hall, Project Manager for Shaftesbury’s Open House came along to update the club on the support and assistance they give to our local community, Open House Shaftesbury.. With two part time employees, Trustees, a core team and about 40 volunteers they are providing Emergency Aid, Housing advice, Benefit advice, Support services, Furniture and essential appliances to a wide range of Shaftesbury Residents. The Tuesday drop-ins at Fathers House with Coffee, cake and a chat are the easiest way for anyone to find out more about the receiving benefits or volunteering for the group. The more recent addition of Open Fridge has introduced the opportunity to distribute food donated by the supermarkets and local residents for the benefit of those in need of assistance and also sustainably reduce the amount of food waste. Recent figures show up to 350 people monthly making use of this facility re-distributing over 1100kg of food in some months. The Christmas Party catered for a record 160 people in December.
23rd – Burns Night at the Royal Chase
Some 40 Rotarians and guests gathered at The Royal Chase to celebrate Burns Night on Monday 23rd January. There was much evidence of tartan around the room, as the photos show.
Club Secretary David delivered an excellent Selkirk Grace and the hotel then served a truly superb Cock-a-Leekie Soup followed by Haggis main course with the trimmings.
Martin Sayers then made an excellent speech about the ‘Bard’ Robbie Burns that was both informative and humorous. This was followed by Laddies and Lassies addresses, delivered by Peter Sale and Win Harvey respectively. The addresses were well received and greeted with amusement by the audience. The customary ‘drams’ followed the speeches.
A Scottish-themed raffle raised over £150, with the prizes donated by those present. In total, the evening raised some £300 towards the forthcoming Dutch Visit.
The evening finished with a traditional rendition of Auld Lang Syne.
Thank you to all those who attended. The organisers agreed that we should definitely endeavour to do a similar event next year.
26th – Rotary Young Chef Competition Relaunched in Shaftesbury
Six competitors took part in the relaunched Rotary Young Chef competition at Shaftesbury School on 26th January. There were four entrants in the Senior Competition and two in the Intermediate/Junior competition.
The entrants had to prepare two courses in 90 minutes, and were judged on a range of criteria; including planning, the health aspects of their dishes, the correct use of knives and equipment, the neatness of their working area and the range of skills used; as well as the quality of the actual dishes themselves. The judges were treated to a superb range of dishes, ranging from burgers and steak to scallops to pasta. The desserts included chocolate brownies and chocolate tart.
The professional judges from the Fleur de Lys, Shaftesbury and The Grosvenor Arms in Shaftesbury had their work cut out, but the eventual winners were Charlie John-Smith in the Senior Competition and Evie Brown in the Intermediate/Junior Competition.
They will now progress to the Rotary Young Chef District Final to meet area winners from across the region. The District Final will be held on Saturday March 11th at South Downs College in Portsmouth.
The event was run by Shaftesbury Rotary Club in partnership with Shaftesbury School. If you want to know more or to get involved with Rotary, please contact: hello@shaftesburyrotaryclub.org
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