The Rotarian Who Is a Rising Star of Netball ©Team Bath Netball©Team - Netball.Teambath.Com 6 12
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE Rotary Conference 6 Young Citizen Awards 26 Aquabox 30 Tackling Modern Slavery 36 rotarygbi.org The Official Magazine of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland June/July 2018 4 GOLDEN GIRL The Rotarian who is a rising star of netball ©Team Bath Netball©Team - netball.teambath.com 6 12 6 36 18 CONTENTS ROTARY IN ACTION REGULARS GLOBAL IMPACT Eboni Beckford-Chambers 4 Rotary in Great Britain World Polio Day 12 Rotary Conference: & Ireland President 14 Aquabox 30 Princess Royal 6 Letters to the Editor 16 Rotary Conference: Talk from the Top RI President Ian Riseley 8 Rotary International President 21 Rotary Conference: The Rotary Foundation Chris Tarrant 10 Trustee Chair 31 Melrose Sevens 18 It's Gone Viral 34 A Lifeline from Rotary 20 RI Director 37 Making Business Connections 22 People of Action 38 Silver Sunday 24 And Finally… 50 Inspirational Citizens 26 Rotary Ride 28 Rotary2 32 Tackling Modern Slavery 36 Silver Sunday 24 w Get in touch Follo us Enjoy Rotary anywhere Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland Kinwarton Road, Alcester, Warwickshire B49 6PB t: 01789 765 411 rotarygbi.org Editor: Dave King e: [email protected] Look for us online at PR Officer:e: [email protected] rotarygbi.org or follow us: Designer: Martin Tandy e: [email protected] Facebook: /RotaryinGBI The Official Magazine of Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland Advertising: Media Shed (Agent for Rotary) Twitter: @RotaryGBI Contact: Dawn Tucker, Sales Manager YouTube: Rotary International t: 020 3475 6815 e: [email protected] in Great Britain & Ireland Published by Contently Limited: contentlylondon.co.uk rotarygbi.org ROTARY // 3 Golden Eboni lights up the Gold Coast She won gold at the Commonwealth Games, is one of England’s brightest netball talents, juggles her sport with life as a trainee solicitor – and is also a Rotarian. Dave King meets the enigmatic Eboni Beckford- Chambers. ©Team Bath Netball©Team - netball.teambath.com 4 // ROTARY rotarygbi.org ROTARY IN ACTION Eboni Beckford-Chambers ITH a lightning “Our hope is not only to inspire young training and holding down a full-time job, smile and easy- girls, women, and even men to play netball, Eboni this year became a Rotarian. Both going manner, the but that it will have a lasting impact across of her parents are Rotarians – her mother, charismatic and the country. Pauline, in the Cayman Islands, and her articulate netball star, “Women’s sport is getting more father, Basil, in Birmingham. EboniW Beckford-Chambers, has been in recognition. In netball, we’re performing at She explained how, through the big demand this summer. our best on the world stage and we do this influence of her parents, Rotary has been Ever since the England Roses pulled on considerably less funding than other a part of her life for some time. Now a off two astonishing last-ditch wins over sports. member of the Rotary Club of Bath, she Jamaica and then defeated arch-rivals "We hope this achievement will see was involved in their Christmas street Australia in the final by a solitary goal to more investment into women’s sports and collection last December. win gold at the Commonwealth Games, netball, in particular.” “How do I find the time? That’s a Eboni and her team-mates have fast Unlike many of her England team- question I ask myself every single day,” become the darlings of British sport. mates, who are contracted full-time and added Eboni. “I think that it is easy to “It has been fantastic to see how much train at Loughborough University, Eboni is make excuses, you have to prioritise what is buzz there has been about netball, and training as a solicitor with Mogers Drewett important. how people got behind the England Roses LLP based in Bath. She specialises in "What is helpful is that the Bath club at the Commonwealth Games,” reflected dispute resolution and will qualify meets at lunchtime, which has worked Eboni. in January. out well. “It has been intense. So many people She gets up at 6am for a training “I have had such a warm welcome have been interested to find out about the session at the University of Bath, is in work there. I am the only woman member and journey, and the experience, and to share for a full day from 8.30am, and is then back youngest, but they have embraced both me it with us.” at the university in the evening for bouts of and the diversity. Eboni didn’t get to bed until 6am physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, “During the Commonwealth Games, after celebrating the netball gold with as well as technical sessions. I had a flurry of emails from the club team-mates, their friends and families. She It means a punishing daily routine congratulating me, saying how impressed even slept with her medal that first night! of training, playing and travelling for the they were and explaining they were getting Gold on the Australian Gold Coast 30-year-old, whose sporting sights are up at 4am to watch the games on TV. this April, made up for missing out on a now set on the World Cup in Liverpool in a “They have been very welcoming and medal at the last Commonwealths in year’s time. embracing all that I bring to Rotary. “It has been absolutely fantastic to “My parents have been Rotarians for a find an employer who, not only supports number of years so I have seen how much my legal ambitions, but who has a full they have enjoyed being part of Rotary. understanding of what my sporting “There is an opportunity to network, prowess is and aims to support my but also it is also about making a difference, ambitions,” added Eboni, who plays and giving back, which is very important. Glasgow four years ago, for Team Bath in the Vitality Netball "I think in terms of the charitable and followed a bronze won at Superleague. nature of Rotary, this is something which I Delhi in 2010. Incredibly, despite the intense feel I am able to contribute.”l Since starring in the nail-biting final Down Under, Eboni has been on a whirlwind tour, meeting the Earl of Wessex, appearing on Good Morning Britain and on BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as fitting in a host of media interviews. Following Great Britain’s Olympic gold in the hockey in Rio, women’s sport is in “My parents have been Rotarians for a number of good shape in the UK. England’s cricketers won the World Cup last summer, the rugby years so I have seen how much they have enjoyed team reached the World Cup final, and the being part of Rotary.” footballers are ranked number two globally. “I have been touring the country to mark an historic achievement and with the result it has been wonderful that netball has received recognition to put the sport on the map,” added Eboni, who has been playing the sport since the age of seven, receiving her first England call up aged 15. rotarygbi.org ROTARY // 5 ROTARY IN ACTION Rotary Conference 2018 Princess Royal: Rotary is for communities everywhere HE Princess Royal has paid tribute to Rotarians for the work they do in communities across the globe. TPrincess Anne, who is an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Elgin, in Scotland, spent more than two hours visiting the Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland annual conference in Torquay on April 7th. Besides giving a speech to delegates at the Riviera International Centre, she spent considerable time touring both the Rotary Showcase and exhibition area chatting to Rotarians and charity representatives. “This is an organisation I have grown up with, meeting and seeing Rotarians almost wherever I have been all over the world. And they have always been busy,” she told delegates in a 15-minute speech to the conference. “They have been busy supporting others to run fund-raising events and Croan©Peter activities, as well as their own things – but The Princess Royal meets Young Citizens Award winners at the Rotary Conference in Torquay they have always been busy, and you are still very busy.” Her Royal Highness used the speech to turn the spotlight on a number of charitable She praised the structure and discipline Praising the initiative of Rotary in projects, including The Chaffinch Trust. of Rotary International which has meant tackling dementia, its work around peace Based in Elgin, the Trust encourages that the world is now so close to eradicating and the peace scholars, and also with charities, organisations and individuals to polio. promoting the Duke of Edinburgh Award, collaborate and work together to improve “What Save the Children recognised, particularly among young carers, the conditions for those living in disadvantaged and has been hugely grateful for, is the way Princess underlined the work which the areas. in which Rotary picked up the challenge of organisation does at grass roots level. “The Chaffinch Trust was set up by a stopping polio,” she added. “Rotary is for communities friend of mine,” she explained. “Rotary understood the way it could everywhere,” she said. “Rotary understands “The Trust understands and is keen make a real difference and how well the communities in which it lives and it is to support a joined-up approach between prepared it is as an organisation to apply involved, of course, in many projects. charities, to make much more effective and that discipline to deliver the polio vaccine “I see and I know what a difference efficient use of all the knowledge and funds over a much wider global reach.