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The Rotary Club of Swindon Phoenix

District 1100 England

The Weekly Bulletin (aptly named)

‘The Birdy’ Issue no. 193 - Volume no.4 - Bulletin no. 33

Rotary Year 2015/16 (Excluding any special issues)

Ne┝t Week’s Club Meeting Host, 23rd March is;

Immediate Past President – David Coe Club Council and B&F Meeting

READ MORE INSIDE about

さOURざ Pヴide of “┘iﾐdoﾐ Award

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Club Meeting – Wednesday 16th March 2016

Host - Rotarian Nigel Causton (President Nominee)

Guest Speaker – Dave King (former Swindon Advertiser Editor & e-Club Rotarian)

Starters of Chicken Wings and salad. Main meal

of Chicken, Mediterranean veg, potato and

parsley, squeaky beans.

President Geoff announced that The Rotary Club

of Swindon Phoenix had been nominated for a

Pride of Swindon Team Award which was to be

held on 17th March.

Dave King was the guest speaker for the evening

and it was so nice to see that he was at home

amongst us all as he knew so many of the

Phoenix Rotarians.

Dave was formerly the editor of the Swindon

Advertiser for four years until going on to

pastures new, he is still in media and his current

role is editor of the Reading Chronicle, amongst

his other roles he is the president for the Rotary

E-club, he will be in this role for two years, which

he shares with Jackie Horn.

Dave said that E-rotary was a good opportunity

to meet other people and also to engage with the

local communities. A project that they are

working on at the moment is “Lets Loop Swindon” which involves sending out volunteers to check on the hearing loops within banks and

retail outlets and to check that they are working

correctly and are also correctly installed.

Dave initiated the Pride of Swindon awards in

2008, as it was a way of bringing the Swindon

public together. There was no team award then

and the only honour was a badge and certificate

along with the knowledge and privilege to know

that you had been nominated, although you did

have your name engraved on a plaque within the

town’s library as well, he was also involved with John Fisher and setting up Stanley the guide dog

and his photographic memories travelling around

the world along with being pictured with the

Swindon Advertiser.

President Geoff asked for members to go out and

visit other Swindon/Marlborough Rotary clubs

during the next couple of months – spread the

Phoenix word!

President Geoff told us of a great weekend had

by Swindon Phoenix members who attended the

Rotary Conference in Weymouth.

The Rotary Club of Swindon Phoenix was mentioned

in glowing terms by a number of speakers and also

by our district governor and fellow member Tony

Horn. The star of the show had to be our Leona

talking about the Swindon Epilepsy support group,

what a fantastic person she is and a real credit to

everyone who knows Leona – Special Person.

Club 1000 winners were approved for February and

it was announced that to date it had raised over

£27,500.00 to date.

Gail told us that she was organising a fund raising

quiz night on Monday 18th April at the Spicy Aroma

in aid of raising money for a cooker to be installed

at Silver Bells and also organising a Zumba keep fit

session on 23rd April with tickets costing £4.00 for

the session.

John Fisher told us that Phoenix (our club guide

dog) had completed her training and will shortly be

placed with her new owner.

It was also announced that the Dragon Boat race

now had a sponsor – Dick Lovett and they will be

the main sponsor for the day.

Gail told us that £40.00 had been sent to Silver Bells

for paint, trays, cups and teapots.

Jan Kilby had returned from her Caribbean cruise

along with gifts for next year’s Young Carers Ball.

Raffle winner for the night

was 176 – John Fisher and

the Bealey bonus was won

by Gail with number 177.

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The eighth annual Pride of Swindon Awards were held at the Steam Museum on Thursday 17th March.

An abundance of nominations received by Swindon Borough Council and the Pride of Swindon Committee,

resulted in just 24 individuals and 12 teams who made the judges' shortlist. The nominees and their guests

were welcomed by a touching performance from the Uplands School choir at the beginning of the ceremony.

Each of the finalists received a certificate, which were presented by the Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Eric

Walker, leader of Swindon Borough Council David Renard and Police and Crime Commissioner Angus

Macpherson.

A nomination was submitted by Lynn Parfrey recognising the work of the Swindon Phoenix Rotary Club (copy

of the nomination is on the next page) which resulted in our Rotary Club not only getting a Pride of Swindon

Certificate but also a Pride of Swindon Team Award………..┘ell doﾐe to all the ﾏeﾏHeヴs aﾐd faﾏilies of Swindon Phoenix and thank you to Lynn for the recognition and what obviously impressed the judges.

Pride of Swindon Awards 2016 (17th March, Steam Museum, Swindon)

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The nomination letter

submitted for Swindon

Phoenix Rotary Club

Pride of Swindon Awards 2016 e-mail from President Geoff Beale in response to our Team A┘aヴd…….

It is with a massive smile on my face that I can tell you that the Swindon Phoenix Rotary Club were awarded

a Team Award at today’s Pride of Swindon award ceremony at Steam.

I have only just got home from the event, and felt compelled to let you all know asap.

We were congratulated on all the fundraising we have done for local Swindon charities, and for the events

we undertake in the community that benefit so many people.

This is a TEAM award that you have ALL contributed towards with the time you have given in volunteering

at various events that we put on. Shirley Ludford, the Radio 105.5 presenter and ceremony MC, said to me

that ┘e deseヴ┗ed to ┘iﾐ as ┘e さdo so ﾏuIh good ┘oヴk iﾐ “┘iﾐdoﾐざ, aﾐd さyou just ﾐe┗eヴ stop working on

your ┗aヴious pヴojeIts aﾐd fuﾐdヴaisiﾐg e┗eﾐtsざ. She was absolutely right, and I did a brief interview to be broadcast on 105.5 in which I said we had a

wonderful club full of people from all sorts of backgrounds, who all bring their own talents, skills and

networking abilities together which helps make us so successful.

I ha┗e puヴposely iﾐIluded “te┗e Colﾏaﾐ iﾐ this eﾏail, as although he isﾐ’t a ﾏeﾏHeヴ of ouヴ IluH he ┘oヴks tirelessly on every event we put on, and he has done so much work behind the scenes in setting up websites

for the Santa Run, the Dragon Boat Race, the Swindon Epilepsy Support Group & the Barbury Horseless

Steeplechase. His contributions have helped make us the club that we are today.

I felt incredibly proud to collect our Team Awards from the Mayor of Swindon, along with Nicole Price,

Paul Parfrey and Paul Wainwright, and hope that a picture of us all will make it into The Adver in the next

few days. You should all feel proud of being part of such a great club, and contributing to its continued success.

Thanks for everything you have all done in making The Phoenix Club great.

(A very proud) President Geoff

The Team Award winners were:

BIOS Youth Club Project

Swindon Phoenix Rotary Club

Swindon Down's Syndrome Group

Swindon Mela

Big Breakfast +

Youth Offending Team volunteers

The Team Certificate winners were:

Matt Holland and the Swindon

Festival of Literature Team

Coram Voice Independent Visitors

Battle of Britain 75 Swindon

Remembers Team

S.T.E.P. Group Volunteers

Swindon Calais Solidarity

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Pride of Swindon Awards 2016

Photo courtesy of Swindon Advertiser

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Pride of Swindon Awards 2016

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Leona Mckee, the reason behind the formation of

the Swindon Epilepsy Support Group, spoke at

Conference about how Rotary got behind the group

and her personal experiences of living with Epilepsy

Theヴe ┘asﾐ’t a dヴy eye in the theatre after

Leoﾐa’s talk!!!

District 1100 Conference 2016 (11th-13th March, Weymouth)

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Presideﾐt Geoff’s Coﾐfereﾐce Report……………..

Our District Conference for 2015 was held at The Pavilion Theatre in Weymouth last weekend, ie Friday

11th March to Sunday 13th March. The Phoenix Rotary Club were well represented with the following

Rotarians attending: President Geoff & Gina, David & Mandie Coe, Phil & Annie Pett, Nigel & Julie Causton,

Lynne Harper, Gail Light & Nicki Horn. Not to mention our very own District Governor, Tony Horn, and his

lovely wife, Jacqui.

The majority of us were billeted in The Rembrandt Hotel -which was just off the seafront in Weymouth

and only a short walk away from The Pavilion. Tony & Jacqui, Lynne, Gail and Nicki were based in The

Crown Hotel, which was さCoﾐfeヴeﾐIe HQざ, just a shoヴt distaﾐIe a┘a┞ fヴoﾏ The Pa┗ilioﾐ.

We settled into our respective hotels on the Friday afternoon and the sun was out. Our only job on Friday

night was to act as stewards for the buffet and comedy night that Tony had arranged in the Ocean Room.

We all put on our hi-viz Rotary bibs, and did the job with a smile on our faces, and a warm welcome. The

buffet was a good feed, with jacket potatoes & rice and chilli con carne, or a veggie option. Around 280

people attended this event. The first comedian that came on was a guy called Bob Webb - and he was

hilarious. We roared with laughter at his jokes, and his observations on life - he was a real winner. The

seIoﾐd IoﾏiI, Mike MIGuiヴe, ┘asﾐ’t so good. He ┘as ﾏeaﾐt to He a gヴeat iﾏpeヴsoﾐatoヴ, Hut his ┗eヴsioﾐs of John Motson & Alan Hanson, just as two examples, left a lot to be desired. As part of his act, he pulled

members of the audience up onto the stage to get them to do impressions too - Nigel Causton was unlucky

enough to be dragged up to the stage, along with さCoﾐseヴ┗ati┗e MP-lookalikeざ, Toﾐ┞ Hoヴﾐ. Nigel ┘as ﾏade to impersonate Arnold Schwarzenegger, as The Terminator, while poor old Tony had the job of doing a

very camp Julian Clary. To tell you the truth, Tony and Nigel were better at impressions than Mike McGuire

- Tony did a very convincing Julian Clary !!

All in all, it was a good e┗eﾐiﾐg’s entertainment, and we walked back to our hotel along the seafront at the

end of the night to see a number of green lasers being beamed out onto the sea through a rolling mist that

was coming in. Very atmospheric, and a good end to a great night.

After a very nice full English breakfast on Saturday morning, the eight of us staying in The Rembrandt Hotel

strolled down to The Pavilion to see DG Tony do his address to Conference. On the way, we were going to

stop at Rossi’s iIe-cream parlour, as Nigel had told everyone they make the best ice-cream in the world.

Miﾐe, aﾐd Giﾐa’s, ﾏouths ┘eヴe sali┗atiﾐg, aﾐd ┞ou Iaﾐ oﾐl┞ iﾏagiﾐe the look of hoヴヴoヴ oﾐ ouヴ faIes ┘heﾐ we discovered it was the only shop not open in Weymouth. Actually, Gina and Nigel were snapped outside

the ice-Iヴeaﾏ paヴlouヴ Iヴ┞iﾐg like HaHies ┘heﾐ the┞ ヴealised the┞ ┘eヴeﾐ’t goiﾐg to get a Iheek┞ ヴuﾏ & raisin

cornet. Nigel did try to keep spirits up by saying, さIt ﾏight opeﾐ lateヴ toda┞, oヴ e┗eﾐ tomorrowざ - but

despite regular checks, Rossi’s ﾐe┗eヴ opeﾐed the ┘hole ┘eekeﾐd ┘e ┘eヴe theヴe. “uIh a shaﾏe, Hut ┘e did find several other ice-cream vendors instead, and I managed to clock up a number of さE┝tヴa Laヴge 99’sざ, with Gina finally finding a decent rum & raisin too.

Toﾐ┞ Hoヴﾐ’s addヴess at Conference was very good. He talked about how Rotary needs to move with the

times to attract new members, and the need for clubs to embrace modern technology. He made several,

very positive, references to our own Phoenix Club, with flexibility on club attendance in particular. He even

mentioned that Rotary ┘asﾐ’t al aHout ﾏeetiﾐg e┗eヴ┞ ┘eek like a luﾐIheoﾐ IluH, o┗eヴ the さIaヴヴots aﾐd sケueak┞ Heaﾐsざ. I ﾐeaヴl┞ fell off ﾏ┞ Ihaiヴ at the ﾏeﾐtioﾐ of さsケueak┞ Heaﾐsざ - I ﾐe┗eヴ thought I’d e┗eヴ heaヴ such a reference at a District Conference. Golds has a lot to answer for!!

District 1100 Conference 2016

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District 1100 Conference 2016 Tony was followed on stage by a lovely lady called Yayu Slocock, who delivered a presentation called さM┞ Rotaヴ┞ “toヴ┞ざ - Indonesia Rotary. She also gave a very high quality presentation, where she mentioned that

she is an e-club member. Yayu is also a talented cook, and she has produced a book on Indonesian cooking,

which see was selling at Weymouth and for every copy sold she was donating £5.00 of the proceeds to the

End Polio Now campaign.

This took us nicely up to lunchtime, and the さReﾏHヴaﾐdt Eightざ headed off for lunch in a lovely bar in the

harbour, which had been sourced |& booked by Mandie Coe in advance. The food there was great, and

Phil Pett even bought a mixture of ciders tasters which he shared with everyone. The conversation,

laughter & fellowship were superb - we all had a good hour or so in there. The added bonus was that the

sun was out, and we had an uninterrupted view across the harbour through open double doors. It was

idyllic.

At this point, it should be pointed out that those さﾐaught┞ sIhoolgiヴlsざ, Gail & L┞ﾐﾐe, had Hefヴieﾐded a chap who owned a very large Sunseekers boat in the harbour, and wre onboard with him having a very

ﾐiIe luﾐIh of theiヴ o┘ﾐ. No┘ that’s ┘hat I Iall Giヴl Po┘eヴ.

In the afternoon, there were presentations from David Whetton on Prostate Cancer, and Louise Moss, the

Rotaract GBI Chairman, but we were engaged in setting out the seating plan in the Ocean Room for that

e┗eﾐiﾐg’s dinner. This was a massive task, which Mandie Coe had undertaken in advance, working out the

seating arrangements for 405 people. Mandie had clearly worked incredibly hard ahead of the Conference

weekend in preparing the plan itself, as well as all the name cards to go on each table. What was a very

clear and concise plan was made difficult when a handful of non-Phoenix Rotarians decided to enter the

Ocean Room and make up their own seating arrangements, without any reference to Mandie, or respect

for the plan that had already been made. Unfortunately, this was the meddling of a few fuddy-duddy

Rotarians that thought they knew better - showing no consideration for the work that we had already

carried out, and no regard for anyone else expect for themselves. To be polite, they were incredibly selfish

people, and not what you would expect of fellow Rotarians. Quite clearly, not all Rotary Clubs are the

same, as no-one from Phoenix would have been this rude.

The Rembrandt Eight retired back to our hotel after this, and we all enjoyed a few wines, beers and nibbles

┘hile ┘atIhiﾐg the Eﾐglaﾐd ┗ Wales ヴugH┞ ﾏatIh iﾐ Geoff & Giﾐa’s la┗ish hotel ヴooﾏ. What a gヴeat gaﾏe that proved to be, with England hanging on to win by a narrow margin. Once again, we all got on well

together and had several really good hours as a group.

The evening dinner itself was pretty good with an Italian ham starter, lamb for the main course and a very

chunky lump of apple pie with clotted cream for dessert. As the entertainment for the evening was さAHHa’s Aﾐgelsざ, a ﾐuﾏHeヴ of the Phoeﾐi┝ teaﾏ dヴessed up in ヱ9Αヰ’s geaヴ foヴ the ﾐight - and they stole the show.

The naughty schoolgirls, yes Gail & Lynne again, looked more like the two ladies from Abba than the two

singers we had on strage in さAHHa’s Aﾐgelsざ!! They looked superb, and many Rotarians on the night came

over to our table to say so. We are truly a club that dares to be different - and we demonstrated this again

in Weymouth.

Phil Pet had a shoulder length brown wig on, with a chiffon scarf around his neck. He was a dead ringer for

either Mick Jaggeヴ oヴ RoHiﾐ Ask┘ith ふHoth Αヰ’s iIoﾐsぶ, Hut aﾐ eldeヴl┞ lad┞ Rotaヴiaﾐ Iaﾏe o┗eヴ to ouヴ taHle aﾐd asked if he ┘as a tヴaﾐsgeﾐdeヴ, that hadﾐ’t ケuite fiﾐished his tヴaﾐsitioﾐ !! UﾐHelie┗aHle…………

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The other celebrity there on the night was a very good Gordon Ramsey lookalike, who befriended us and

had his photo taken with most of us. Both he, and the serving staff at The Pavilion, said that our table was

the さﾏost fuﾐざ iﾐ the ヴooﾏ. Ho┘ ヴight the┞ ┘eヴe.

OﾐIe AHHa’s Aﾐgels took to the stage it ┘as a ﾐight of relentless hits and dancing - a good end to the day.

Our club was asked to steward again on Sunday morning and Gail, Lynne and Nicki kindly offered to take

the early shift, so The Rembrandt Eight could have a bit of a lie-in. Thank You girls, that was incredibly kind

of ┞ou. Afteヴ aﾐotheヴ full Eﾐglish Hヴeakfast, the ReﾏHヴaﾐdt Eight got do┘ﾐ to The Pa┗ilioﾐ, passiﾐg Rossi’s Ilosed shop oﾐIe ﾏoヴe, to set the stage up Leoﾐa MIKee’s pヴeseﾐtatioﾐ oﾐ the “┘iﾐdoﾐ Epileps┞ “uppoヴt Group, and her owan battle with the condition. We put up two pull-up banners either side of the stage,

and Leona came on and delivered one hell of a presentation. She told, quite vividly, about how she had

suffered with epilepsy, and how this affected just about every aspect of her life. She described the time

before her life-changing neurosurgery as being さ3 ┞eaヴs of hellざ - as she was having up to 10 full seizures a

day. She made reference to John Fisher & Paul Parfrey setting up the Swindon Epilepsy Support Group in

2010, and how this has flourished ever since. Rotary has supported the SESG since hen - facilitating

ﾏeetiﾐgs, aﾐd aヴヴaﾐgiﾐg soIial e┗eﾐts foヴ its ﾏeﾏHeヴs. Leoﾐa’s stoヴ┞ ┘eﾐt oﾐ to tell of heヴ suヴgeヴ┞, ┘hiIh was successful - she no longer has seizures. She also told Conference that she is going to complete her

nursing degree later this year, and she will be marrying her finance, Matt Kirwan, next January. It was a

wonderful ending to her presentation, which many people said was the best presentation of the weekend.

After Leona there was a talk by Madhura Chatrapathy, PDG, and then a video on Conference 2017 - which

will be held in Torquay. Richard Purdon, who will be the next DG, gave a brief speech on Torquay as a

venue, and what we can expect.

After this, there was a presentation on Aqua Boxes, and how they can help areas where disasters have

struck, then the closing address by Tony Horn.

The attendance at this ┞eaヴ’s Conference was markedly up on last ┞eaヴ’s Conference at Warwick University,

and the brilliant weather made it a great weekend too.

As a club, I was proud of the work that we undertook in supporting Tony - we did everything with a smile

on our face. Once again, we had fun, and showed to all the other clubs in attendance what a modern day

Rotary Club should really look like. It was a wonderful weekend.

……………………….End of President Geoff’s Conference Report

District 1100 Conference 2016

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District 1100 Conference 2016

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Especially for the absent Ed (aka

Golds)…hey they e┗eﾐ get さsケueaky Heaﾐs iﾐ Weyﾏouthざ

District 1100 Conference 2016

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NiIki Hoヴﾐ……. ざ“eヴgeaﾐt at Aヴﾏsざ

Leona McKee on stage delivering

her talk on the Swindon Epilepsy

Support Group and her life living

┘ith Epilepsy…….

District Governor Tony

Horn giving a vote of

thanks to Leona after her

talk

District 1100 Conference 2016

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To date since the inception of the Swindon Phoenix Club 1000 we have paid out £7639.75 to winning

members with a further £17067.51 going to C1000 members chosen charitable causes, including donating

their personal winning prize money to the Rotary Club of Swindon Phoenix Charity account.

Dragon Boat Racing Event 2016 - Update

With our Dragon Boat Event just over 3 months away, planning is progressing well and to date we have

Α teaﾏs sigﾐed up ┘ith a fuヴtheヴ ヶ iﾏﾏiﾐeﾐt deposits e┝peIted…….ho┘e┗eヴ, this ┘eek has been a

superb week for good news for Swindon Phoenix and to add to that is the fact that Dick Lovett BMW

Mini have agreed to be the main event sponsor after a number of meetings and negotiations between

Dick Lovett and our very own John Fisher and David Coe……….gヴeat ヴesult, ┘ell doﾐe gu┞s…….the revised poster for the event is below and will now go to print so that some hard advertising of the event

can get underway.

Club 1000 Monthly Draw - Update

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Confucius Did Not Say:

Man who wants pretty nurse must be patient.

Passionate kiss, like spider web, leads to

undoing of fly.

Lady who goes camping with man must

beware of evil intent.

Squirrel who runs up woman's leg will not

find nuts.

Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.

Man who runs in front of car gets tired, but

man who runs behind car gets exhausted.

Man who eats many prunes get good run for

money.

War does not determine who is right; it

determines who is left.

Man who fights with wife all day get no piece

at night.

It takes many nails to build a crib, but only

one screw to fill it.

Man who drives like hell is bound to get

there.

Man who stands on toilet is high on pot.

Wise man does not keep sledge hammer

and slow computer is same room.

Man who lives in glass house should change

clothes in basement.

and, Confucius Did Not Say. . .

"A lion will not cheat on his wife, but a Tiger

Wood!"

****************

Flaﾐagaﾐ’s aﾐd Parfre┞’s celebrating a

double birthday weekend in Ireland

(piI’d heヴe at the Guiﾐﾐess FaItoヴy, DuHliﾐ)

This week, Scoop Ed Parfrey was at the National

Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh and

spotted this relic ヴelated to ouヴ Rotaヴ┞ CluH……..

****************

Thanks to Nicole (President Elect) for

these Hits……….. A touching story.............

Celibacy can be a choice in life, or a

condition imposed by circumstances.

While attending a Marriage Weekend, my wife

and I, listened to the instructor declare,' It is

essential that husbands and wives know the

things that are important to each other.." He then

addressed the men, 'Can you name and

describe your wife's favourite flower?' I leaned

over, touched my wife's hand gently, and

whispered, 'Self-raising, isn't it?'

And thus began my life of celibacy.........

Soﾏe Laughter Bits…

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POMPODOMS

Poppadoms

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