South Cotswolds News

April 2015

SOUTH COTSWOLDS NEWS

From our Secretary:

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that Margo Holborow, wife of Rotarian David Holborow, passed away last Friday. As you know Margo had been very ill for some time, suffering from the after-effects of a stroke. It may help to know that Rotarians Charles Nicholls and Doug Hughes, together with his wife Mary, saw Margo the day before she died. There will be an opportunity to say our farewells more formally at some stage in the future. At this time, all who knew her will have their own memories of a quintessential English lady, much loved by us all, who was as much a member of South Cotswolds Rotary Club as David himself, from the time he became our inaugural Club Secretary 48 years ago, and who will be sadly missed. Our thoughts are with David, daughter Lesley and sons Geoffrey and Brian and their families, at this very, very sad time. Philip

Margo’s funeral will take place on Wednesday 15th April. There will be the committal at Westerleigh Crematorium for immediate family at 11am. A Service of Thanksgiving will be held at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tetbury at 2.00pm. There will then be tea and drinks at Trouble House Café Bar, just outside Tetbury, from 3.00pm. Family flowers only please. If you wish to make a donation, the family’s chosen charities are Stroke Association and Cancer Research UK. Donations may be sent to: Michael Gamble Funeral Directors, Station House, Station Road, Stroud. GL5 3AR or visit www.michaelgamble.net From our President: It was sad to hear the news that Margo Holborow had passed away. I first met Margo approximately 16 years ago when I was introduced to Rotary by David Holborow. At that time, whenever possible, Margo attended and was involved in most Rotary functions including District Conferences. She will be sadly missed.

I thought that, as I went through the Rotary Year, it would begin to get easier and I would have more time to myself. This does not appear to be the case. Since the last South Cotswold News, we have had the Young Musician Final, as reported by Tony Hadfield later in this edition. What talent was shown by all those who took part, even the 11 year old Jemima Price. I was most impressed and the standard rises every year. I was contacted by the Crudwell Scout Leader, Lee Matthews, who said that Rotary had formed a partnership with the Scout Movement and that we should be there to help one another. At the time, I was not aware of this and so I went on to the Rotary Web site where all the details were shown. Rotary had not yet publicised the joint venture. Lee Matthews came to our meeting and laid out how we may help one another. He asked if we would help as the Scouts were cooking to obtain their Cookery Badge and would like us to sample the food. A group of us went to Crudwell Village Hall where we sampled three main courses and three sweets. We were very impressed with the standard of the meals produced ,seeing the conditions and the equipment that they had to use. Over the past few weeks we have had some excellent speakers, as reported elsewhere in this issue, including one on the Swindon One Act plays. I and many others are looking forward to going to see the plays. I have always continued to try and bring in new members and next month we shall be inducting two new members and maybe one or two Associate Members. Due to the uncertainty as to what was happening at the Rose and Crown at Lea and a few teams pulling out, I have cancelled the Skittles Marathon. I am now waiting for the start of the Boules Season. Nigel W 1

Clubs working together at the Calne 10K from Nigel G On Sunday 23rd March, before we were taken out to our marshalling points, Nereide and I were joined in the Bowood café, by fellow Club members David Britten and David Bush, along with several Rotarians from Chippenham. The 10K run gives us an excellent opportunity to support Calne Rotary Club, who in turn come and help at the H.T.E. Their run is different from ours, and lessons have been learned on both sides. Over the years, we have been assigned several parts of the course, giving us a real appreciation of the farming in the park, with its popular golf course and estate facilities.

Boules Clubs in the area, also from Nigel G As we know the Sherston Boules and Carnival 2015 will take place on Saturday 11th July. If you want your friends to learn more about the game, and to understand what they will be watching, then encourage them to come to a local club meeting, the club will lend them the boules and they can join in for a game or two. All these local clubs are very welcoming, pitching the boules is not difficult, and their team-mates can explain any relevant tactics, jargon and rules as the game progresses. The usual format for these club meetings is: the organiser randomly allocates everyone at the session into teams of two or three and then they play two games; have a break, then play a third game. Some clubs cap the time of each game to 40 minutes. Question. What is the difference between Boules and Pétanque? Answer. There is no difference; Pétanque is one of the many variants of Boules. Below is a table that I recently generated for friends, it is certainly not exhaustive, but lists the clubs where I have regularly played. Times do change, so please check them with the clubs. Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Cirencester U3A, in St Michaels Park, BC 10.00 Upper Thames at The Foresters Pub, SW 19.15 10.00 Malmesbury U3A at The Red Bull Pub, AL 10.15* see* Saxons, at The Cricklade Sports Centre, JM 19.00 14.00 Boules at the Bull, at The Red Bull Pub, SMc 19.15

*Moves to Friday at 10.00, in 4th week of the month The Club Contacts are: AL Andrew Lloyd (EPA Regional Coach): [email protected] BC Brian Cooper: [email protected] JM Jim Mitchell: [email protected] SMc Sue McKechnie: [email protected] SW Sally White: [email protected]

DISTRICT QUIZ - Report from Doug Hughes The intrepid team from RCSC comprising Doug Hughes, Peter Sheppard and David Britten (with Geoff Wallis riding shotgun) ventured into the wilds of Berkeley on a winter’s night in February, to do battle in the Second Round of the District Quiz, having valiantly secured a bye from the first round! The natives were friendly enough. The host team was from Thornbury with the backwoodsmen from the Royal Forest of Dean making up the numbers. The proceedings were ably overseen by question master/referee Jill Johnson. Geoff Wallis was time keeper and a follower of the “Foresters” kept the score. Surprisingly there were no rounds on History, Geography, or English Literature. The absence of a round on Rotary came as no surprise as nobody knows anything about that! There was one question loosely linked to literature which our English Schoolmaster fluffed! In the round on famous people, there was a question concerning a female novelist who had written over 700 romantic novels, who died in the early 2000s. I suppose we shouldn’t be too hard on Peter Sheppard, as Barbara Cartland, I am sure, was not on his curriculum! The first two rounds were about events and happenings in 2014. We started well, keeping pace with Thornbury. We faltered in the last round of the first half but were still only 4 points adrift of Thornbury. In the second half ,we briefly took the lead after a round on “Bells” ( one of the many strange and wonderful topics covered in the Quiz) but RFD were on a charge, scoring well on “Cars, Buses and Lorries”. Thornbury had a surge in the round on “Drinks” (they all appeared to be pretty sober at the time!) but in the end RFD came out on top with 68 followed by RCSC on 64 and Thornbury bringing up the rear on 58. A sausage and chips supper followed, concluding the evening with a suitable degree of fellowship.

At our Special General Meeting earlier this month we were able to formalise the leadership team that will support Doug Hughes as our President in 2015/16 as follows: Senior Vice President David Britten, Junior Vice President Tony Hadfield ,Treasurer Tom Sheppard, Secretary Philip Selwood.

We were also able to formally approve the club accounts as previously presented by our venerable Treasurer Tom Sheppard.

Our thanks to Tony Hadfield for putting together a club directory - very well produced. Philip

Young Musician of the Year—Report from Tony Hadfield

This year’s Final of the annual South Cotswolds Rotary Young Musician of the Year competition was held at Wycliffe College on Sunday 22nd February, with 10 finalists playing to an almost packed house of over 200. Now in its 12th year, the competition is designed to give young people with musical talent an opportunity to play solo in front of a live audience under competition conditions. The competition is run by nine Rotary Clubs in the area, chaired by Doug Hughes. The plaudits from the Chairman of the panel of judges, Michael Castle, highlighted that this year’s finalists were an extremely talented group of musicians. His constructive comments on each of the performances should spur the contestants on to further musical successes. Each contestant had to display mastery of technique on his or her chosen instrument(s) as well as feeling for the music and relationship with the audience.

Particular praise was given to Jemima Price, whose programme and level of maturity far exceeded her 11 years of age. Needless to say, the audience gave her rousing appreciation of her performance. It was interesting to see how much the finalists who had taken part last year had developed in the intervening period.

The winner of the competition was Lydia Kenny from Rednock School in Dursley. She played Alto Sax and was the runner-up in 2014, and in third place in 2013. Lydia produced a very lively performance which comprised: Concertino by J B Singelée ‘Jim and Pam and Pam and Jim’ by Graham Fitkin Tango and Charleston by Trevor Hold

As winner of the competition, Lydia was presented with the Mervyn Norrris Cup by Mrs Joan Norris plus a cheque for £300. In addition, the winner’s school, Rednock, received the Cappi prize of £500 to encourage participation in music and competitions such as ours, by purchasing more instruments. Lydia will be invited to participate in the Rotary District 1100 Young Musician Competition to be held at Dean Close School in Cheltenham on 22nd March. If successful, she will progress to the Regional Final at Bristol Grammar School on 19th April.

Since this article was written Lydia won the District 1100 Competition on 22nd March, and we look forward to her taking part in the Regional Final on 19th April at Bristol Grammar School.

The runner-up this year was Daniel Harding, a Violin Scholar at Wells Cathedral School who came third in this competition last year. He was unique in composing one of his pieces himself, a task he had undertaken for his coming GCSE exam. When he showed the piece to his music teacher he was told that he would have to play the piece as part of his exam and not just submit the musical score! The technical complexity and musicality of the piece received tremendous applause from the audience. Daniel’s programme comprised: Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Opus 26, 1st movement, by Bruc Salut d’amour by Elgar Vicace Capriccioso in A Minor by Daniel Harding

Third place in the competition was awarded to Ella Brown of Farmor’s School in Fairford. Ella plays guitar which is a new category in the competition this year, and we were delighted to welcome to the panel of judges Chris Finch who is a guitar specialist. Ella’s programme comprised: En Los Trigales by Rodrigo Canarios by Gaspar Sanz Prelude No.1 by Villa-Lobos

Daniel received £200 for coming second, and Ella Brown received £100 for coming third. The runners-up and heat winners also received cheques. In addition there was a special award in memory of Fred Perkins, a founder committee member of South Cotswolds Rotary Young Musician, for a young person from the heats who showed special potential. This was awarded to Rebecca Tearle, who played the oboe.

While the judges were deliberating, the audience listened to a performance by last year’s winner, Jed Hughes, on his double bass, with his mother as his accompanist. Although we have been treated each year listening to Jed playing double bass, his principal instrument is the organ. Jed, now aged 15, is the last in a long line of competitors from the same family who have entertained this competition’s audiences over the last 10 years. To mark this watershed, Jed’s mother announced that the family would be presenting a cup next year, to be awarded probably to the winner of the Strings section of the competition. The finalists, in order of appearance, were: Lydia Kenny, Rednock School, Alto Sax; Andrew Chen, Rendcomb College, Piano; Isabel Henry, Home educated, Flute; Jemima Price, Westonbirt School, Violin; Ella Brown, Farmor’s School, Guitar; Helen Brown, Cirencester College, Guitar; Man Ho Hui, Katherine Lady Berkeley’s School, Piano; Charlie Poole, Katherine Lady Berkeley’s School, Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Cornet; Katie Jenner, Katherine Lady Berkeley’s School, Alto Sax; and Daniel Harding, Wells Cathedral School, Violin. The panel of judges this year comprised: Michael Castle (piano), Janet Baldwin (woodwind), Derek Barnes (brass), Chris Finch (guitar) and Robina Sabourin (strings). Doug Hughes and his team organised and ran a most enjoyable competition, and he was a very good and natural master of ceremonies at the Final. We hope that the success of the competition will encourage more young musicians to enter next year, and we wish the winner and finalists from this year’s competition every success in their musical futures.

A varied programme—report by Tank Nash

2015 got off to a brisk start on 2nd January when Philip Selwood enlightened us all on the wonders of the microstate of Qatar. It appears that 300,000 Qataris (about the population of Hull) have sufficient wealth now, and even more projected for the future, to be a major international political force in our lifetimes. The World Football Cup is but the visible tip of a vast, unimaginably huge financial iceberg. Philip was enthused by what he had seen and enjoyed in Qatar and, in presenting the profile of the oil-rich state, he was his usual fluent self. His talk was very thought- provoking, illuminating and enjoyable. Peter Wyman updated us on 19 January on Nuclear Power and the complexities involved in building the plants to provide it. The sums of money required, the environmental issues, and the planning bureaucracy, all of which have to be resolved, are such that one admires Peter’s enthusiasm for his business despite all the obstacles. The technology that was described is a little above the heads of some, but we should take comfort that our futures are in the hands of a ‘pro’ like Peter. We have come to expect a slick and colourful presentation from him and this one was just that. Tony Hadfield provided a refreshing contrast to the two previous speakers, who had dealt with 21st century matters, when he looked backwards and described ‘The sinking of HMS Royal George’. Tony explained a family link to the avoidable tragedy that cost hundreds of lives. The officer largely responsible was not brought to book and went on to enjoy a full career and was eventually raised to the rank of Admiral. The sinking of this great ship was not an event that gilds the annals of the RN. This was new ground for most Club members but Tony had researched his subject well; he produced excellent slides and gave the Club and entertaining and informative evening. Paul Worster, the Course Manager, at Minchinhampton Golf Club spoke to us on 2nd February. The title of his talk was ‘It’s not all about cutting grass’. Paul’s presentation was an eye-opener, even to those members of the Club who are also members of MGC. He presented a completely different image of a head green keeper from that which was expected. He was very polished in his delivery of a presentation entirely focussed on 21st Century environmental issues and the high tech innovative manner that they are being dealt with. It is a relief to the Speaker Steward when an external speaker delivers the goods and in this case Paul did just that. The Club donated £25 to a charity of his choice and he was effusively grateful for that. Captain Peter Grindal CBE had a hard act to follow when he spoke on 16th February on ‘The suppression of the Slave Trade by the Royal Navy. He has just completed the definitive book on his subject and his opus runs to about 500,000 words. He was somewhat diffident and it was evident that it was a challenge to condense 20-years’ work and half a million words into an hour – who wouldn’t find it so? In the event he spoke well, did not bog us down in too much detail, and provided the Club with an insight into part of our history, of which most of us were unaware but of which we have a right to be proud. On 23 February Tony McAleavy was another speaker dealing with a historical subject. In this case he explained ‘The Story of Malmesbury Castle’. The title of the talk was provocative enough because, without exception, none of the audience knew that Malmesbury ever had a castle. Tony is an accomplished speaker on this subject and that was as well, because we had a technology glitch and despite Peter Wyman’s best efforts, he could not get the computer and the projector to speak to each other. Tony, with great sang-froid, carried on regardless and told a fascinating story very well indeed. Malmesbury might not be at the centre of the universe today but, in the 12th century, it was in an adjacent postcode! The vigour and enthusiasm of the speaker were remarked upon by Peter Sheppard in his vote of thanks. Charles Vernon, the Malmesbury Historian, visited on 23 March, and his wide-ranging talk was entitled ‘Malmesbury 1915’. Initially he took the membership down the High Street on a photographic tour, as it was 100 years ago. He talked about the trades people who ran the shops and those that they employed. On a more sombre note, he identified all the Malmesbury men who were killed in 1915 – each man had a photo and brief biographical details. We were somewhat engulfed by the sheer volume of his research, but Charles demonstrated the social and commercial scene in the town a century ago. Peter Sheppard’s family has lived in the town for several years (as some members might be aware) and he gave a spirited vote of thanks.

A varied programme continued— a further report by Andrew Lloyd

As much as we are delighted by the attendance of Tank at our meetings, and his diligent efforts in putting together our Speaker Programme, there are times when he is not able to attend a meeting. I am therefore adding notes of a couple of meetings that he has not written up. Our meeting on 2nd March featured a double bill. Lee Matthews of the 1st Crudwell Scouts attended and brought the Club members up to date with the sort of activities now undertaken within the Scouting movement. The Crudwell Scouts are a small, vibrant group serving the local villages and he hopes to build links with us, to our mutual advantage. We were also given a presentation by John Smith and Roger Abraham of RC Cirencester on the forthcoming Technology Trophy competition which will be aiming to develop students’ interest in design and construction technology. They have formed a Steering Group and are being helped by Philip Selwood and Patrick Green. Coincidentally, our meeting of the 16th March was attended by Riaan van Royen (and his wife Tahiti), who is Leader of the Sherston Scouts and this will give us another opportunity to develop this latest initiative. The speaker on this occasion was Ashley Heath, whose day job is a reporter with BBC Wiltshire, but who is also the organiser of the Swindon One Act Play Festival and it was on that topic that he gave us an enthusiastic insight into the history, content and structure of the Festival, the winners of which go forward to the next stage of the knockout to ultimately find the winner of the British One Act Play competition. The Club is donating £25 towards the logistic expenses of the winners.

Local Solicitor Retires—Copy of press release After being in private practice for over 40 years, local solicitor Doug Hughes is retiring. He trained in Newbury under Peter Faulks (father of the author Sebastian Faulks), qualifying in 1972. After a brief period with the same firm, he joined H. Bevir & Son of Wootton Bassett as an assistant solicitor in 1975, and moved to live in Wootton Bassett with his wife, Mary and infant son, Ben in 1977. In 1978 a daughter Rebecca followed. Whilst with H. Bevir & Son, he regularly appeared in the local Magistrates’ Court, now part of “The Old Nick” public house, and practised in the field of matrimonial law and crime with some conveyancing . In 1983, Doug set up as a sole practitioner in Gorse Hill Swindon and soon established a thriving practice. After a few years, he joined the Swindon firm of Morrison & Masters in 1988, becoming a partner and then de-merged from that firm in 1993, re-establishing his former practice in Gorse Hill. In 1997, an opportunity arose for Doug to return to the High Street in Wootton Bassett, and he opened his new office in February 1998 at 115 High Street. Once this office was established, he closed the Gorse Hill office in 2000 and practised solely from Wootton Bassett, building up a thriving business. Life in the profession had changed greatly over the years and when Bevirs, with whom he had maintained a closer and friendly relationship over the years, invited him to join them. He returned to the fold after 30 years and became a Consultant with the firm. However, he has finally decided to retire to spend more time with his wife Mary and his two grandsons, Charlie (8 years ) and Samuel (almost 6 years) who are Rebecca’s children. He has enjoyed serving his clients, and is grateful for their support and friendships made during his career. Although they now live in Tetbury, Doug and Mary lived in Wootton Bassett and Hook for over 16 years. They were founder members of the Wootton Bassett Choral Society. Doug was a member of the church choir for a time as was his son Ben, until, with the encouragement of the then choirmaster, Nicholas Riddle, he became a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral. Ben has continued with a musical career and is now Principal Cello with the BBC Concert Orchestra performing regularly on the radio and television . Mary is looking forward to Doug retiring and has many jobs lined up for him to do. Doug, however, is looking forward to playing more golf (hips permitting) and becoming President of the Rotary Club of the South Cotswolds in July 2015. He has been an active member of this Club since 1994. He also has an ambition to visit all the cathedrals and abbeys in England and Wales.

The Rotary Dehumidifiers

Many members of the Club will know that RCSC took over management of a stock of dehumidifiers from the Cleeve Vale Rotary Club back in the middle of 2013. These dehumidifiers had been purchased by Rotary to help out in post-flood situations and had already seen service in Cockermouth, Tewkesbury and Malmesbury! A check-out resulted in a few being scrapped, but we have a stock of 12.

They didn't rest in our store at Firs Farm for long though – that December flooding affected the East coast, and the dehumidifiers were pressed into service in Boston, Lincolnshire, through a collaboration with the Boston St Botolph Rotary Club and Boston Borough Council.

The dehumidifiers came back to us in February 2014, and had scarcely had time to stop moving before they were off to Somerset to help in the aftermath of the flooding that affected the Somerset Levels – in fact they were offered before the Rotary appeal for aid even came out! Peter Wyman

Advance warning of need for dehumidifiers!!!¬

Looking forward we have a busy time ahead and worth reminding everyone of the key headline events as follows:

8th June Club AGM

10th June Kids Out

13th June Stuart singers

15th June Club Assembly

19th June President’s Night

21st June RIBI Bike Ride

25th June Technology Tournament

5th July Club New Year Barbecue

Marketing, PR and Communications Awards 2015 Entry for the Club Online Presence

Overview. The Rotary Club of the South Cotswolds developed its own website in 2011/2012 as the Club wanted to be able to offer a wider range of information than was available through the standard RIBI website template. The website was built using MyWebsite, which is a simple website design package offered by 1&1 Internet. This website has been extended considerably since its inception, and has received praise from several people in other Rotary Clubs. The website links with several Facebook pages relating to this Club and will, later this year, link to Twitter. Critical- ly it is also acts as a gateway for club members, other Rotarians and the public, to other relevant websites both within and outside Rotary. The website aims to provide: Details of Club activities to inform people in the community of how their local Rotary Club operates, in the hope that they may decide to join a Rotary Club; news features on recent or future events; re- prints of local media articles; a single point of contact for current, future and archived information on Club activities, primarily aimed at Club members; Online access to the Club’s regular monthly newsletter (South Cotswolds News); links to RIBI websites for access to the wide range of activities and opportunities available; links to external partner websites so that people may enter events being run by this Club; a local contact point for further information.

We have a separate website which was originally set up to handle entries for our annual Badminton Horseless Team Event. The website now exists purely as a conduit for people who had entered this event in previous years, and had bookmarked the URL, as we do not want to lose them. This website outlines the event and gives the user the option of going directly to the appropriate event entry page on the website of the events company we are using, or to link to the RCSC website for more information on the event and on Rotary.

Facebook has opened up an exciting new avenue of communication for Rotary, and the ability for us to monitor penetration of individual Posts has surprised us. The Facebook pages set up by RCSC are targeted at a younger, more mobile, and more receptive audience than is addressed by conventional websites. The Club’s Facebook pages have received “Likes” from Rotary Clubs around the world. Coupled with over 550 people who read the recent Post announcing that entries could now be taken for the 2015 Badminton Horseless Team Event, this shows the positive effect that this medium offers. If all of the 554 people who have shown interest in the Horseless Team Event register for it we will exceed last year’s entries by over 25%.

Entry for the Club Bulletin

Overview. Called South Cotswolds News, our club bulletin is circulated on average every 6 weeks to all club members (past and present) and to a range of contacts outside the club including the DG and and ADG, surrounding clubs, the local media and parish news editors. Our external audience is vital to us, for example, our most recent link is with local cub and scout groups who have been added to our mailing list.

SCN is distributed electronically to all but 2 club members (who receive hard copies), and is also available on our website. It is deliberately constructed to be of interest to both internal and external audiences and has secured many plaudits over its period of publication (dating back to the Club’s inauguration almost 50 years ago, albeit not in electronic form in those days!!!)

The three copies submitted to the panel set out to illustrate the quality and variety of the publications, others can be viewed on our club website. Without listing all the content, it is worth noting the links to youth competitions, national and district events, community activities which in our view sit comfortably alongside club fellowship.

As a club we pride ourselves in being outward facing. A combination of our club bulletin, linked to creative of social media, help us to achieve that end, allowing us to present Rotary as a modern, vibrant organisation with service to the community and fellowship at its heart. In submitting this application for an award, credit goes to Rotarian Andrew Lloyd PHF, as editor and to those club members who support him with articles of interest and photographs.