| On the 19th of March 2012 | |
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On Monday 19th March 2012, the Club welcomed Zoe Rose, Trustee of the Maya Child Care Charity, to talk about recent developments in Guatemala, & in the Centro Bellota Infantil (Acorn child care centre) which the Maya Charity operates. Last year the Club funded a project aimed at improving literacy for these seriously disadvantaged pre primary children.Zoe talked about the difficulties involved even in buying books & other materials in Xela, which meant at times a bus trip of several hours to Guatemala City. The project was seen to have been a great success & members of the Xela Rotary Club attended a ceremony to witness the results & to see a Rotary Wheel, presented by Kenilworth Rotary, fixed on a wall by the President of the Rotary. |
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| On the 5th of March 2012 | On the 6th of February 2012 |
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Remap is a national charity working through local groups of skilled volunteers to help people with disabilities achieve independence and a better quality of life. They make or modify equipment when nothing suitable is available through mainstream sources. Items are tailor-made to be suitable for individual needs and to make a real difference to people’s ability to rise to a particular challenge and achieve something not otherwise possible for them. |
In one of the world's poorest countries, Namibia, the Bernard Nordkamp Centre provides education and a safe environment for a daily intake of 140 children. Dr. Angela Clarke, who herself taught in Namibia for three years, defined the needs for practical voluntary help and financial assistance to benefit the nation's children. |
Robin Kenward, one of the volunteers, came to talk about Remap. |
| On the 9th of January 2012 | On the 7th of November 2011 |
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| Richard Marr, the Head of the Kenilworth School & Sports College Expressive Arts Department receiving a cheque to help with the Music at the school. | Kenilworth was represented among the 40,000 Scouts at this year's international jamboree held in Sweden in July. Half a dozen teenagers attended from the Kenilworth Explorers Group and two of the girls gave the Rotary weekly meeting an interesting and illustrated account of their experiences while expressing thanks for the Club's financial support of the event. |
| On the 7th of November 2011 | On the 19th of September 2011 |
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The fascinating story of Sir George and the Scott family and their contributions to the architectural heritage of Britain, was demonstrated to the Rotarians by John Scouller, a Warwickshire resident, who through discovering his own distant relationship to the family, has become interested and researched its history. Sir George Gilbert Scott is one of the lesser acclaimed but the most prolific architects of the Victorian era and was acknowledged to be master of the nation's so-called Gothic revival. In fact he was responsible for designing or altering over 800 major premises including domestic and public buildings, well over 100 churches, abbeys and priories and 25 cathedrals among which were those at Ely, Worcester, Gloucester, Durham and St. Asaph. |
Over 800 people each week attend Kenilworth's state-of-the-art youth centre, explained the centre's organiser Andy Norman. In his presentation to the Rotary members he told of the extensive facilities provided including sports, games. outdoor activities, musical events and learning courses, each tailored to cater for all age groups "from under 8 to 80" to quote Andy. He described how changes in local authority finances have made it necessary to seek more support from the public and vice-president John Boothroyd handed over a cheque from the Club which already has a strong commitment to the Youth Centre. |
Speaker at the first August meeting was Paul Bamford, a medical student in his fourth year at Warwick University. Paul had chosen Cambodia for his elective and gave an enlightening and informative talk on the medical services available following the Pot Pot regime. In spite of having a modern purpose-built hospital in the capital, Paul described the lack of doctors and trained nursing staff and the extreme shortage of drugs and surgical equipment severely limiting progress in dealing with Cambodia's extensive medical requirements. |
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Rotary friendships begun on a lengthy cruise taking in the massive Amazon river complex led to a talk by Roger Plumb of the Penryn (Cornwall) Rotary Club. Accompanied by his wife Laura, Roger gave a detail and beautifully illustrated address about the world's second longest river and its environs examining the wild life, the ecology, the environment and the livelihood of the many tribes it sustains. Roger's club has since supported a small group of Brazilian sea scouts met on the journey and received a financial donation from Kenilworth. At the outset the Plumbs were introduced by local Rotarian John Stanton whose friendship with them began during the six week cruise.
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 On the 23rd of May 2011 during our Monday meeting Ambassadorial scholar Asami Nakayama told of her family in Kyoto and the steps in her career which have taken her to lecturing in a university in her home country. At present Mrs. Nakayama is studying advanced English Language Teaching at.the University of Warwick. Fittingly her host for the evening Rotary Meeting was David Tall formerly a professor at the university. |
Richard Davies, one of the newer members of the Club and a serving councillor and former Mayor, regaled the weekly meeting with his job talk. He told of the early days of his career including humourous anecdotes of his time in the Arabian Gulf states. |
On the 11th of April 2011 John Lockwood the young violinist came to our  club meeting to thank Rotary for the donation we made towards the purchase of a new violin of sufficient quality to enable him to pursue his ambitions to become a professional musician . John played two pieces for us and impressed us all. |
O n the 16th of May 2011 John Bowman visited our weekly meeting to tell us about the latest developments of The Joe Homan Charity. John and his wife visited the Joe Homan homes in South India recently and he described to us how this charity helps thousands of children to escape from poverty and provides care and assistance for boys and girls of all ages. The aim of the charity is to help disadvantaged children to improve their opportunities and lifestyle by encouraging them to obtain an education, vocational training and to develop their self-esteem. |
On the 17th of January 2011 Robin Kemp, Kenilworth School Teacher in charge of Yout h Speaks teams came with two teams on Monday. We had two presentations from pupils. |
On the 4th of April a well attended weekly meeting included a presentation of the financial problems facing Britain in the aftermath of the 21st Century recession. Sam Wynne, Barclays Bank's Regional Director of Wealth, lucidly explained the present challenges facing the country especially following three major political and economic upheavels. These included the Japanese earthquake disaster, unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the threat from the European Sovereigh Debt. Several questions resulted with Keith Dixon, President elect expressing thanks to the speaker and his colleague. |
Sandi Robertson talked about the history of ballet in general and more specifically about the history of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Birmingham City Council recognised the talents of Simon Rattle as a conductor and build a new concert hall to celebrate his talent which encouraged the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet to come to Birmingham in 1990. Many of the best ballet studios relocated to Birmingham and are still there.