President's Message 2010 2011
President John Fisher - Rotary Club of Swindon Thamesdown.
Dear fellow Rotarians, Partners and friends.
I feel it is a great honour to be taking over the reins of this club for the year 2010/11. This year will hopefully see the club move forward and become more united in both fellowship and the events that we undertake. What I hope to achieve during the year ahead is to have some great fun and fellowship as well as helping others both in our local communities and internationally.
If we all work hard together as a team I am sure that we can achieve great things. The motto in Rotary is ‘Service above self' and the motto for my presidential year is ‘Building Communities, Bridging Continents'. I believe that in Rotary we do both those things but hopefully we can produce a bit more effort in realizing the hopes and dreams of others both locally and throughout the World.
My main charity for the year is The Swindon Guide Dogs. I have for the past few months been working with Alan Fletcher the Chair of the Swindon Branch planning events for the forthcoming year. Prior to me taking office we had raised almost £3000 towards the purchase of a dog.
The money to date has come from walkers on the 2009 Walkley walk and a £1000 donation by the club in 2009. To bolster the monies for this charity we are planning events in August 2010 at our home, further monies from the 2010 Walkley Walk and the sale of the Rotary calendar for 2011. I have distributed a number of collection boxes at various locations in the town which will bolster the fundraising. This year I have chosen a dog as my mascot called STAN.
Stan is also the father of a number of puppies who I thought for some fun during the year could go travelling with members of the club and their families to many destinations throughout
the world. The idea is that when on his travels Stan will be photographed at numerous locations enabling the club to keep a track of Stan's whereabouts each month and produce a portfolio of his travels at the end of the year emphasizing that our club is truly ‘Rotary round the World'
Other charities I would like to support during my year include the NSPCC Child Voice Appeal. This organisation now looks after the Child line and in Swindon. Do you realize that only 1 in
four calls made by Children in Swindon get answered. My aim is that we as a club will raise at least £1600. This money will train an operator so that during the year over 200 additional calls from children in the Swindon area will be answered.
As we know Christmas can be a very lonely time for people and I would like the club to help, both by raising money and by ‘hands on' help around the Christmas period for local Centre's who feed and supply materials to the homeless and less fortunate people of the town. I know that the Salvation Army in Gorse Hill supply Christmas dinners and send presents and food parcels to local elderly and vulnerable people. Other Centre's such as the ‘Foodbank,' The Walcot Centre also supply food and meals as well to people of the town. As part of our fundraising we will on Saturday 4th December 2010 at the Immanuel Church Upham Road host a concert with the Swindon Male Voice Choir to raise money for all these good causes. Being interested in sport I have arranged a sporting dinner at the Marriott Hotel on Friday 24th September 2010. Proceeds from this event will be going to Rotary Foundation to help in the eradication of Polio and also to our own Rotary charities for both local and international projects.
In addition to the above charities I would like the club to get behind an international project whether it is the Jaipur Limb Project or a Project in Africa, Nepal or any country where we can help disadvantaged individuals.
This year and for the next two presidential years, Paul Parfrey, Bob Barrett and I have discussed a three year project based on helping people in the Swindon Area who suffer from epilepsy. In Swindon there is no form of help as far as awareness, group help or central information to assist people suffering from this disease. We intend over the next three years to research, obtain information and set up a group/information point/website to help people. This project will hopefully culminate in Paul's year where we can show that our Rotary club has left their mark on something which will benefit many sufferers and families in the Swindon area.
My main chairpersons for the year are John Flanagan, Club administration and Chris Ockwell, Club Service. I know that both will be great assets during my year and if any individuals within the club have ideas then please speak to both of them with your suggestions.
To this aim I would like to encourage the newer members of our club to help in both committees to see how Rotary works and the benefits which they will gain from their involvement.
This is your Rotary club so please all become involved in what we do.
Dianne my wife is looking forward to hosting you all at our Cheese and Wine evening on the Saturday 31st July and also for her ‘Snail Trail' on the Saturday 14th August in aid of the Guide Dogs.
Our club will again continue with the annual Christmas Sleigh which will be run by David Dukes and take place between 1st and 24th December.
The annual Walkley Midnight Walk will take place on the 11th & 12th June 2011.
Many other events are planned during the year both in relation to fundraising and also in relation to fellowship within the club.
My year will culminate on Saturday 25th June 2011 when I willd to hold my Presidents Summer Ball which will feature a gala dinner and live band.
In conclusion both Dianne and I are looking forward to the year. Can I ask that all of us as a club work together in making this a great year. By all of us working together in some small way we can make other people's lives a little bit better. As this year's motto states let's build communities and bridge continents.
