Rotary News

ROTARY NEWSOct / Nov 2014 • Issue 01 Volume 01ROTARY IRELAND’S OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER

Pictured here Jaspal Singh Chhabra with President of Fingal Dublin Rotary Club, Andrea Molloy.Jaspal recently Visited Fingal Dublin Rotary Club from his Rotary Club of Delhi West India.

BelfastWelcomesRotary Ireland

On the 25th September 2014, Belfast ishosting the annual Rotary Ireland conference. For the hundreds ofattending Rotarians this is to be aweekend of fellowship and learning.

Old acquaintances will berenewed, new friendshipswill be formed and aboveall everyone will learnsomething new about this great internationalorganisation.

The annual districtconference is often seen tobe a milestone, this eventcements understanding,commitment and vision. Itis at conference thatmany Rotarians get theirfirst glance of the scaleand the power that

“service above self” yieldson the global playingfields of humanitarianprojects. At the districtconference in 2010President Mary McAleesesaid of Rotarians ... “Yourvolunteers are ordinarypeople doing extraordi-nary things – not becausethere is a selfish personalreward or recognition atthe end of it but because

there is a chance to infusegoodness into communitylife – and that chance isnot taken by spectatorsbut by active citizens whomake it their business”.At Belfast this year welook forward to hearing noless inspiring and moti-vating words of wisdomfrom our guest speakers.

For many, conference isthe highlight of theirRotary year and 2014 atBelfast’s Titanic willprove to be no exception.

As is tradition, the busi-ness of conference will bepreceded by a challenginggolf competition, to beheld this year at theoldest golf course inIreland, Royal Belfast.

The reception atBelfast’s historic City Hallon Friday night is to be a

highlight, and will see thegrand building lumines-cent in the yellow andblue colours of Rotary,with five promotionalvideos being shown on the“Big Screen” in thegrounds of the city hallperiodically over theconference weekend. Thecitizens of Belfast will bereacquainted with the

people and projects ofRotary Ireland over thecourse of this weekend, atimely prelude to nextyear’s RIBI conferencewhen Belfast’s WaterfrontHall and it’s vibrant socialscene will play host to thousands of international Rotarians inApril 2015.

Kilkenny Club Get Soaked For A Good Cause

Pictured here are the members of Kilkenny Club with president Joe Mulhall (third from right), taking the ice bucket challenge recently.

Recently, Rotarians from the Kilkenny Rotary Club, JohnWoodcock, John Ryan, Ian Coulter, new member elect JasonDempsey with President Joe Mulhall and his wife Sarah, alltook a drowning in the name of the the Ice Bucket Challenge inaid of the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Association. All wore their county colours in advance of the All IrelandHurling Final, with one member sporting a Tipperary jersey!President Joe nominated the Rotary Club of Waterford and the

Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce for the challenge. A video clipof the event is posted on the club’s facebook page ‘RotaryKilkenny’. The club would like to thank John Woodcock andJohn Ryan for organising the event.Separately, Rotarian John Woodcock auctioned a hurling sticksigned by both the Kilkenny and Tipperary Senior Hurling teams raising a further €450 for the Irish MotorNeuron Disease Association

Continued on page 12

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By Dale Orr - Editor

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ROTARY NEWS02

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Reaching All Rotary MembersThroughout The Island Of Ireland

ROTARY NEWSROTARY IRELAND’S OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER

Pictured here are Rotarians from Donaghadee Rotary Club: Harris Cordner, Patricia Warke, AlanMaxwell, Lady Silvia Hermon, MP David Cochrane and Richard Caldwell participating in their recentRNLI Raft Race.

Donaghadee RotaryClub WelcomesNew President Recently, the members ofThe Rotary Club ofDonaghadee held theirannual handovermeeting in The StablesGroomsport. Prior to handing over thechain of office, outgoingPresident Billy Hamiltonthanked all the memberswho had supported himduring his year in office.He was delighted thatlast Sunday’s garden

party was such a success.He then presented theincoming PresidentFraser Menzies, a VeterinaryEpidemiologist andfluent Scots speaker,with his chain of officeetc. and wished him allthe best for the future,and asked the clubmembers to give himtheir full support.Fraser then told the club

that he felt the powersurging through hisveins already. Fraserthen presented VicePresident RobertMcIlveen with his chainof office. In true Scotsfashion, he theninformed the membersthat their fees were nowdue! Finally, he made apresentation to PastPresident BillyHamilton.

Dungannon Rotary Club cametogether recently for the officialhandover and New PresidentialInauguration For Dungannon GolfClub.Outgoing President Gerry handedover the chain of office to the newlyelected President Patricia Coyle.Gerry also expressed his thanks tothe honorary secretary JimAnderson. 2014 President Patriciaintroduced her new officers and

Hugh Finnegan assumed the role ofHonorary secretary for the yearahead.The club wish to say congratulationsto Derek Clements who is the newPresident Elect. This will be a busytime for Derek, as he is also thePresident of Dungannon RugbyClub. Patricia’s husband Neil joined in the celebration and four ofour honorary members were inattendance.

Latest Presidential InaugurationFor Dungannon Rotary Club

First Ever Female President ForLondonderry Rotary ClubEarlier in the year, at alunch meeting held inthe Everglades Hotel, ahistorical momentoccurred forLondonderry RotaryClub as they electedtheir first ever-femalepresident for2014/2015. PastPresident Jeremypresented the club’sHonorary SecretaryPeter O’Connor withthe quich (presented tothe club by the RotaryClub of Glasgow) inrecognition of his dedi-cation and loyalty

throughout the Rotaryyear.He then advised Peterthat there were condi-tions attached toreceiving the quich,which is a cup fortasting whiskey, andthat the recipientshould fill the cup withwhiskey to be tasted byall the club members,which went down atreat in the club.Jeremy then took greatpleasure in handingover the chain of officeto Helen McDonnell,the first ever-female

president forLondonderry RotaryClub and wished hermuch success in theyear ahead.President Helenpresented Jeremy withhis Past President’s Pinand Jewel. Jeremyexplained that he wasprivileged andhonoured to bereceiving the Jewelfirst presented to PastPresident J A Crockett(1938-39) and subse-quently to his fatherJohn V Arthur (1973-74).

DISTRICT GOVERNOR2014 - 2015

Phillip Beggs

Rotary was established in Irelandin 1911 and in the past 103 years.Irish Rotarians have been a majorforce in their communities, usingtheir professional skills andtalents to provide succor to thosein need. Our motto is “Service Above Self”and throughout the world,Rotarians make life better forthose less fortunate than them-selves by undertaking projects,focusing on:-• Water and Sanitation• Maternal and Child Health• Basic Education and Literacy• Disease Prevention andTreatment• Peace and Conflict Preventionand Resolution• Economic and CommunityDevelopment

ALMOST THREE decades ago,Rotarians made a choice to givesomething far more importantthan money. We gave our wordthat we would eradicate thepoliovirus and create a polio freeworld. We are nearly there, havingreduced the number of endemiccountries worldwide from over two

hundred to just three; Pakistan,Afghanistan and Nigeria. Millionsof children have been immunisedand can now look forward to notcontracting this crippling disease. There are seventy-three Rotaryclubs on the Island of Ireland; eachclub strives to reflect the diversityof its community in its mix ofprofessions, gender, ages andethnicities. What’s in it for us you mayask?We make new friends and developlifelong friendships and byinvolving our families and friends,we have fun. We share our experi-ence and talents and by workingtogether we give something backto society. Being part of Rotaryencourages team building andpersonal leadership developmentskills. We have interesting clubmeetings and visits to differentplaces. As Rotarians, we arewarmly welcomed in Rotary clubsall over the world.If you would like to give somethingback to communities locally,nationally or internationally, takethe first step by contacting yourlocal Rotary Club or by visitingwww.rotary.ie

Welcome to the Firstedition of “Rotary News”

End Of YearEvents For Antrim Club Antrim Rotary Clubhave a busy few weeksahead, with a numberof events coming upbetween now and theend of the year. Theyare planning anIndian Night in earlyOctober, a WineTasting Night inNovember and theyare also planning aMen’s Sports Quiz andBeer Tasting Night aswell.

More ProjectsFor WexfordRotary Club Wexford Rotary Clubhave more projects tofinish up before theyear is out. They willsoon be participatingin RedmondGraveyard CleanupProject, a SchoolsProgramme, towardsthe end of the year,they will be gearing upfor their ‘ChristmasHampers’, now takenover by the club’snewest member,Maura Bell.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 03


Wexford RotaryClub Kicks Off‘Just One Life’Campaign

The objective of theprogramme is to saveyoung drivers lives.This is done by demon-strating the commoncauses of accidents to15-17 year old studentsin a practical mannerwhich they can under-stand.This is a “shock andawe” approach. In ahard hitting “no holds-barred” presentationstudents witness aseries of shocking inter-active videos andpresentations. Thestudents are given theopportunity to experi-ence driving difficultiesfirst hand, as theyparticipate as passen-gers in a vehicle emer-gency stop procedureperformed by trainedmembers of the GardaSiochana.The programme empha-sises the stark realitiesand often-tragic resultsof inappropriate drivingbehaviours. Studentsare told that most ofthem will be involved ina serious accident atsome stage in their

lives, that they may killor be killed while in avehicle on the roads. Itprovides much neededfood-for-thought forthese drivers of thefuture, and seeks toinfluence the choicesthey will make asyoung drivers in theage group accepted asbeing most at risk ofhaving a serious trafficcollision.Just One Life was initi-ated by the Rotary Clubof Wexford. A sisterRotary club in Sydney,Australia started theproject in their area in2000, following thetragic death of the chil-dren of some of theirclub members. Sincethen the project hasbeen extended acrossAustralia and by theend of 2012 some150,000 teenagers haveparticipated in theirprogramme across thewhole of Australia andNew Zealand. There isdefinite evidence thatthe programme hasreduced road deathsand accidents in

Australia. Thereforethis project is tried,tested and proven toproduce results.The Rotary Club ofBalkham Hills inSydney brought theproject to the RotaryClub of Wexford andthe Wexford CountyCouncil and both organ-isations took on theproject with enthu-siasm. (The County ofBalkham Hills, NorthSydney is twined withCounty Wexford).Project co-ordinatorMike Brand commentsthat when a project thisgood and importantlands on your lap youcannot ignore it.Rotary are indebted toWexford CountyCouncil and the Gardaiwho embraced theproject. Now in its sixth year,the programme is deliv-ered to all 21 secondlevel schools in theCounty and to date over8,000 students havecompleted it. Key tothis success is thevenue, Wexford YouthsFootball Complex,where not only facilitiesexist to presentsessions but the verylarge car park andprivate approach roadallows for road demon-strations.

The Rotary Club of Wexford and WexfordCounty Council have joined forces in anaward winning unique road safety initiativeaimed at students and young people that isvery much community based. Wexford RotaryClub recently got the ball rolling on thecampaign.

Antrim Rotary donated money for two girls who won the BT Young Scientist award to visit Uganda, but theprize only included one plane ticket for one pupil and one teacher, so Antrim Rotary paid for both girls togo to Africa (pictured here) to demonstrate their clean water device. The teacher who accompanied thegirls is Nikki Craig, a member of Antrim Roatry.

Champions Of Change: R.I.B.I President Nan McCreadie, UK Deputy Priminister Nick Clegg and Mat Porter of Rotary Dublin Central.

Dublin Rotarian Honoured WithChampions Of Change AwardDublin Rotarian, Matt Porter, waspersonally thanked by UK DeputyPrime Minister Nick Clegg for his workin projects in Rombo Kenya. He wasamong 12 previously unsung Rotarianheroes who were honoured by some ofBritain’s top politicians in Whitehallrecently and received a Champions ofChange award.Presenting the first ever Rotary inGreat Britain and Ireland (RIBI)Champions of Change Awards, MrClegg spoke of the “extraordinarythings” which the award winners haddone.He was impressed by the variety ofachievements of the 12 awardees. “Itwas an honour to meet and be able tocongratulate them,” he said. “Theyhave all given so much time, so self-lessly, and with so much passion to

help others and make our societystronger and fairer”.“From Sidcup to Sumatra, Crewkerneto Kenya, they are helping people dealwith some of the biggest challengespossible, and at every step of the way,they are inspiring others to getinvolved and help out.”Nominations for the awards were intwo categories — domestic and interna-tional — and invited from across RIBI’s29 Districts, comprising 1,800 clubsand 50,000 members. They were also a celebration of theCentenary year of RIBI, which also sawits first woman President, NanMcCreadie. She said: “This is awonderful opportunity to recogniseRotarians who give their time andtalents to help communities at a timewhen they need it most.”

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS04


Rotary International President, Gary C.K.Huang is urging members from all Rotary Clubsaround Ireland to Light Up Rotary by organ-ising a Rotary Day before 2014 is out. The concept is simple: Hold a fun, informalevent in your community and introduce thepublic to your club and Rotary. It just mightinspire someone to join!

Organise A RotaryDay For Your Club

Special Visit For LisburnLast month, Distr ict GovernorPhilip Beggs accompanied by hiswife Marjorie, visited the RotaryClub of Lisburn at their Fridaylunch meeting.The District Governor spoke to thegroup members out l ining theDistrict support for ”Project 538”and updated members on his visitsto the school in Kiptulwa in Kenya.He asked each Club in RotaryIreland to raise £600. Project 538 isan International Water pro ject ,where Rotary raises funds to gotowards helping thousands of peoplein Keringet in Kenya to get cleanwater thus improving their food,economic and health status. Project538 is DG Philip’s preferred interna-tional project and will run untilJune 2015. Following this, the internationalCommittee under their ChairmanPP John McIlroy , organised aCaribbean BBQ at his home and mettheir target easily. Members andguests all enjoyed the Barbecue andthe day and were happy to raisefunds for such a worthwhile cause.

Pictured here are Rotarians from the Lisburn Rotary Club enjoying their recentbarbecue event. Top - President Elect Gary Corkin. Middle - Host PP John McIlroy ,Richard Darragh. Bottom - Leonard Pollock, PP Trevor Stewart

Pictured here is Joe Mulhall, President of the Rotary Club of Kilkennypresenting a cheque for €1748 to a member of the Kilkenny Relay forLife group at a recent meeting.

The Athlone Rotary Club are focusing on theirofficial Rotary Projects between now and the endof the year. “The Rotary Youth LeadershipDevelopment Competition is something we worktowards each year,” said Athlone ClubPresident, Dermot Neary. “We are also in themiddle of preparing for our ‘Tree ofRemembrance’ project, which is part of ourChristmas fundraising campaign - we do this

every year in aid of local charities.” The Athloneclub get this up and running usually a week ortwo before Christmas, and the idea behind it isthat people write a name or simple message on aribbon, which is then put up on the Tree ofRemembrance. The tree provides a wonderfulopportunity for people to remember loved onesduring the Christmas period, al l whilesupporting local charities.

Athlone Club Looks Ahead To Christmas Season

Comber Club InformedAbout OpportunitiesFor Local YouthLast year’s winner ofNorthern Ireland’sYoung Musician of theYear Competition, EvaRichards, made areturn visit to ComberRotary Club recently, toupdate the members onher latest musical expe-rience.Cello player Eva hadaccepted the offer of atwo-week opportunityto travel to Minneapolisto study with worldrenowned cello player,Mark Summer. Twentylucky young celliststook part - ten fromUSA and 10 from muchfurther afield. By allreports, it was a hecticbut rewarding fort-night, includingpersonal tuition,master classes,chamber music, work-shops, lots of personalpractice, and concerts.

To ensure that Eva waswell looked after, thelocal Rotary Club ofNorthfield inMinneapolis had beencontacted, and Evathoroughly enjoyed thatexperience - she hasalso made many friendsfor life in addition tothe musical rewards.

On the same evening,members present weretreated to a presenta-tion by the DistrictOfficer for YouthExchange, SeamusWalsh. He outlined theopportunities for youngpeople to visit foreignlands to broaden theirhorizons and/or developtheir careers.He quoted many exam-ples of short and longerterm exchanges,including in theMediterranean, Egypt,Canada, Austria,Croatia, USA. Seamus also pointedout the great value ofsuch experiences on ayoung person’s CV, andadded that many ofthese exchanges wereready-made residen-tials for the Duke ofEdinburgh Award’sGold Medal.

President of Comber RotaryClub, Roy Ramsay

The Rotary Club of Dublin have had one of their busiestyears yet. The active group put on a variety of inter-esting events throughout the year including: aEuromeeting in Sweden, a visit from the Inverkeithingand Dalgety Bay Rotary Club, and much more. Amongthese events, was the highlight of a particularly inter-esting talk, given earlier in the year by John West,former International Rugby Referee and current CitingCommissionerJohn firstly described his work in international rugby.Following a match, both teams have 11 hours to screenthe DVDs and make an appeal to the CitingCommissioner if they have issues arising from incidentsin the match. The Commissioner then has 48 hours inwhich to make a decision. His decisions are completelyindependent of that of the referee. John said that theadvent of the Citing Commission role in 2000 coincidedwith Italy joining the championship but not becauseItaly had joined. He said he does not believe that thegame has become dirtier but, he said, there wereinstances of gouging, which can be hard to spot on thefield, as well as stiff-arming and spearing.He then explained one of his earliest experiences as aninternational referee came in 1979 when a French tourof New Zealand was planned. The France managerAlbert Ferasse let it be known that unless there were tobe a non-New Zealand or South African ref there wouldbe no tour. John was brought in as the compromise andrefereed two memorable matches at Auckland andChristchurch with teams captained by the famous Jean-Pierre Rives (F) and Graham Mourie (NZ) one of thegreat All-Black captains. There were ten tries in thetwo matches. John also did liaison work as for theAustralian team at the World Cup games in Belfast. Healso worked with the Combined Irish Universities ontheir tours of France. The talk was thoroughly enjoyedby all members who attended.

Busiest Year Yet ForDublin Rotary Club

Start with a bit of water andgood flour for pasta, thanarrange some biscotti, coffeeand mascarpone forTiramisu, and add some nicewhite bread with garlic,tomato and pesto forbruschetta and - hey presto! -you have a magic cookingnight. Thirty members andguests of Dublin Vikingrecently had a wonderfulfellowship event, learninghow to prepare a great mealand sampling some excellentItalian wines, while raisingfunds to provide a wheel-chair-accessible garden for alocal charity. Giuseppi at theItalian cooking school andhis team are great for a guar-anteed successful event.

Dublin VikingRotary CookingUp A Storm

Past President of DublinViking Rotary Club, ChristophBuller, and his wife Jenniferenjoying the cooking night theclub recently attended.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 05


Wonderful Gala Golf EventFor Lisburn Club

Recently, President SamPatterson of the Rotary club ofLisburn hosted the club's 6thannual gala golf event atLisburn Golf club. This presti-gious one day event yieldedover £11,000 to add to the£50,000 raised in the previousfive annual golf competitions,an impressive donation tolocal, national and interna-tional charities.The culmination of hard workcarried out by a special subcommittee over the past eightmonths, the fruits of whichcould be regarded as nothingshort of a blistering success.The original event was thebrainchild of LisburnRotarians PP Trevor Stewartand Patrick Coyle. Their lead-ership and inspiration havecreated an event regarded withthe highest esteem in the localbusiness community, so muchso that many business leaderslook forward in anticipation ofthis annual event.A shotgun start saw 82 golferscommence play at 1:30pm inperfect conditions under thevivid blue sky of a balmySeptember afternoon. Eachand every golfer enjoyedcompetitive fellowship andbanter. Their journey aroundthe challenging course wasinterspersed with welcome

distractions including a puttingcompetition, longest drive andbeat the Pro's par 3 tee shot.All would admit the mostexciting shot of the day wouldbe the tee shot at the "hole inone" competition with thechance of winning an Alfa Romeo sponsored byDonnelly Cars. After a welcome thirstquenching reception theretiring golfers enjoyed foodand entertainment of the stan-dard they have come to expectat this event and as has beenthe case in previous years,none were disappointed. The evening kicked off with aheart felt expression of grati-tude as President SamPatterson with the support ofhis wife Janine thanked theplayers and his team fromLisburn who contributed tomaking the day happen. Thefund raising part of theevening proceeding under theexcellent direction of MC MrGene Fitzpatrick. Gene is nostranger to the Rotary club ofLisburn and his jokes andanecdotes during the silentauction left hardly a dry eye inthe house. Again Gene'stalents came into play duringthe main auction event as heteased out the maximum bidfor each item.After much fun, relaxation,excitement, refreshment andlaughter the players and theorganisers retired at 11:30pm,all already looking forward to next year’s Rotary GalaGolf Event.

Angelo Marano - David Brown - George Christie

Colin Suckling - John McIlroy - Sam Moore - David Brownlee

Successful President’s DayGolf Tournament In BangorAfter a hard fought battle between BangorRotary golfers of various abilities and ages,David Sloan was victorious at the President’sDay Golf Tournament. Accepting his award fromoutgoing President Robin Mussen, David said “Itwas a great day and a close match.” Passing overthe impressive Trophy, President Robin added,“This is a wonderful Rotary Club of Bangor tradi-tion and I was pleased to be able to hand theTrophy to a worthwhile winner.”

The members of Sligo Rotary Club recently hosteda very successful Information and Wine Tastingevening, which was enjoyed by all. President SeanDoyle, along with Past President Des, organisedthe evening, held at Sligo Park Hotel. The members had been encouraged to invite alongguests, and possible new members were alsoinvited. The proceedings were introduced, allpresent were welcomed, and it was mentioned thatthe club’s 50th anniversary would be celebratedearly next year. Firstly, a short description ofcommunity service, vocational, international, foun-dation, and youth was given by club members.Each presentation was followed by a tasting of awine introduced by Joe Drury of The Wine Buff.The invitees enjoyed both the wine tasting and thebrief presentations on Rotary which they foundmost interesting. Needless to say, the Rotariansenjoyed the wine tasting to the full.

Wine Tasting NightFor Sligo Club

Rotary Pours HeartInto Project CiaraOne of the many areas Rotary Clubsaround Ireland support is clean water.So Rotary Ireland launched ‘ProjectCiara’ last year. Ciara is the a littlebaby girl, that was so close to passingaway, Rotary helped her and broughther back to full health via water from awell sponsored by Rotary and viamedical equipment in a health clinicsponsored by Rotary in Ireland. Then,they flew Ciara to Ireland to a RotaryNational Conference and, there wasn’ta dry eye in the house!The project is still up and running thisyear, and the project has been officiallyapproved by Rotary in Ireland and

Rotary in Kenya.Rotary Ireland iswaiting for thefinal sign off fromRotary in USA,that will matchthe funds raisedhere, and theyhope to have allthis sorted by theend of Decemberof this year. Rotary clubs raised thefunds to supply a 20Km pipeline, with15 water kiosks, bringing water to10,500 people. When this project iscomplete, it will transform this area of

Kenya and will make a real differenceto people less well off than ourselves.Local people will provide all the labourfree of charge (because the know thevalue of water) and kiosks will be

named after sponsoring Rotary clubs.Rotary understands they have challenging times on this island also,and that’s why they work at home andoverseas.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Past President Dale Orr from Lisburn Rotary Club (centre) and daughter Rachael and son Daniel, participating in anAbseil for Project Ciara which raised £900.

Continuing the Rotary Club ofLisburn support for the NorthernIreland Cancer Fund for Children(NICFC), Lisburn Rotary membersDale Orr and Helen Coulterrecently took part in a sponsoredclimb of Slieve Donard to help raisefunds for the cause. The memberssuccessfully reached the top, andDale accompanied by his partnerCaroline still had enough energyafterwards to join in the CaribbeanBarbecue event hosted by the clubin support of Project 538. Project538 is an International Waterproject, where Rotary raise funds togo towards helping thousands ofpeople in Keringet in Kenya to getclean water.

Lisburn Rotary Shows Mountain OfSupport For Charitable Cause

Pictured here are Helen Coulter and CarolineHanna, who recently took part in the climb ofSlieve Donard.

Omagh Rotarians Visit Dublin Fingal Rotary Club

The Rotary club of Dublin Fingal were delighted to welcome members from the Omagh Rotary Club to theirmost recent meeting. Speaking to the Rotary News, Dublin Fingal President Andrea Molloy, said the clubwere delighted to welcome the Omagh members. “It was wonderful to have the Omagh members pay ourclub a visit,” she said. “Vice President of the Omagh Rotary Club, Sean Fitzgerald has been an honorarymember of our Dublin Fingal club for years, but had to relocate to Northern Ireland, so he is now activelyinvolved in the Omagh Club,” she explained. “It was fantastic to have Sean and some of the other membersof the Omagh club come and tell us all about the exciting things they have planned for the future. All in alleveryone who attended had a very enjoyable afternoon,” Andrea concluded. Pictured are: Omagh club members William Anderson, President Colin Jardine, Vice President SeanFitxgerald, Robert Smith and Sam Webb with Rotary Club of Dublin Fingal, President Andrea Molloy.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS06


Ennis Rotary Club Presents Cheques To CharityThe Rotarians at EnnisRotary Club have been kept busy thesepast few months,fundraising for variouscharities. First, theypresented a cheque of€1,000 (on behalf of theclub) to TheSamaritans. They thenpresented anothercheque to Cuan AnChlair. Both groupswere extremelygrateful to receive thegenerous donations.The donated fundswere raised at EnnisRotary Club’s AnnualBowling Tournamentheld at Ennis LeisureWorld. Ennis Rotary club alsohave a number of otherthings on the go, andthey are gearing up tolaunch their newwebsite. They are an

Pictured here is Ennis Rotary Club President, Michael Earleypresenting a cheque for €1000 on behalf of the club to Cuan AnChlair. The funds were raised at Ennis Rotary Club’s Annual BowlingTournament held at Ennis Leisure World.

Pictured here is Ennis Rotary Club President, Michael Earleypresenting a cheque for €1000 on behalf of the club to TheSamaritans. The funds were raised at Ennis Rotary Club’s AnnualBowling Tournament held at Ennis Leisure World.

Tralee Rotary Clubwere recentlydelighted to supportthe now famous IceBucket Challengerecently. Members gotthoroughly soaked, butit was all for a goodcause! The soakingtook place at this yearsvenue for Rotary Clubof Tralee Gala Ball,which will take placeat Ballyseede CastleHotel on Friday 14thNovember. This year,the Rotary club havechosen Enable IrelandTralee as their mainbeneficiaries. Allmonies raised will stayin Kerry and will go towards the development of Assistive TechnologyDepartment for thecounty.

Ice BucketChallenge ForRotary Club OfTralee

Banbridge Rotary Clubhave had a busy year,and have a few addi-tional events plannedbetween now and theChristmas season. “Wehave some events in ourcalendar, though not alldates are set in stoneyet,” said BanbridgeClub President,Jennifer Ervine. “We’replanning a WineTasting evening inOctober and a BucketCollection in November,and we do have somespeakers lined up for atalk or two, but, againwe are still working thefinal details out. We’llcertainly be busy overthe next few weeksanyway,” Jennifer said.

BanbridgeRotary ClubGears Up ForBusy Season

Carlow Rotary Clubare busy preparingfor a number ofevents they will beinvolved in over thecoming months, mostnotably their muchanticipated fashionshow, which will beheld in the comingweeks, with allproceeds going to alocal charity. Theywill also be runningtheir ‘Tree ofR e m e m b r a n c e ’project in Decemberand are set to have anumber of guestspeakers over thecoming weeks also.

Carlow RotaryClub PreparingFor UpcomingFashion Show

Limavady RotaryClub Prepares For30th AnniversaryLimavady Rotary Clubare currently preparingfor their 30th anniver-sary which takes placeon Friday, October 17thin Limavady MasonicHall at 6pm.From the beginning ofOctober, they will beselling a booklet of

photos showing detailsof local buildings andparticipants take aroute through town tofind them all. At6:30pm on the day,treasure hunters handin their book and awinner will beannounced, but not

before several strongRotarians take the IceBucket Challengewhich is an auction todump freezing coldwater on them! Therewill also be a buffetdinner cooked byLimavady ClubMembers and the room

will feature photos andmemorabilia from thepast 30 years.Also later in September,the club will be runningKillers which is a “threestrikes, you’re out” foot-ball pool. Participantspick a team from theBarclay’s PremierLeague. If they lose, youlose a life. You havethree lives and winnertakes all. Proceeds willgo to the club’s interna-tional charity HappyHouse in Kenya wherethey sponsor a child(Lucky Harry) who was found on a garbagepile only hours after hewas born.

President of Limavady RotaryClub, Simon McArthur

The Coleraine Rotary Club have a number of eventson over the coming weeks, starting with a FashionShow (in association with Tweedy Acheson and

Menarys), on Thursday,October 2nd from 8pm to midnight at Coleraine Rugby Club.Tickets are £10, wine andnibbles will be served on the evening, contactJohn Esler on:[email protected] forfurther information. Then,on December 16th, theclub have their ChristmasLunch and looking aheadto 2015, Coleraine RotaryClub will have theirPresident’s Dinner on20th February. They willhave plenty more on overthe coming months, andthey will announce detailsas they get them.

Coleraine RotaryClub Prepares ForUpcoming Events

President of Coleraine RotaryClub, Derek Sinnamon

Carrickfergus Rotary Club recentlywelcomed guest speaker UTV journalist,Peter Cardwell to their club for anengaging talk. Peter recently moved toChannel 5, and described how his owncareer development was enhanced byhis engagement with Rotaryprogrammes.He described how as a teenager in 2001his success in the Rotary YouthLeadership competition provided theopportunity for him to travel toStrasbourg and participate inEuroschola, the European Youth

Parliament, and how this experiencebuilt his confidence and re-enforced hisjournalistic ambitions. It was on this tripthat Carrickfergus Rotarian MarySinnamon first met Peter and subse-quently followed his journalistic career. More recently Peter described how hewas successful in gaining a place on aRotary Group Study Exchangeprogramme. This programme allowsyoung professionals to sample workexperience in their profession in aforeign country. In Peter’s case NewZealand South Island was where he hadthe opportunity to sample newspaper,radio and TV journalism. While he wasthere he filmed two pieces for UTV Newshighlighting the part played by buildingindustry tradesmen and professionalsfrom Northern Ireland in rebuilding thecentre of Christchurch devastated byearthquake. On behalf of the RotaryClub, members Carrickfergus RotarianColin McCarthy thanked Peter andcongratulated him on his engagingpresentation and on his personalachievements in his own profession.

EngagingJournalistSpeaks AtCarrickfergus

Lots Planned For Ballycastle Rotary ClubThe Ballycastle Rotary Club recently returned from a very successful SummerOuting, and they are now preparing to get a few more projects up and runningbefore the year is out, mainly focusing on official Rotary Projects, such as theRotary Youth Leadership project, which they, alongside all the other RotaryGroup around Ireland, participate in each year.

advanced stage in thebuilding of their dedi-cated website, made

possible thanks to theefforts and generosity ofMichael Byrne, Ennis

Rotary member andproprietor of Acton BVInternet Consultants and

Web Design. They willbe officially launchingtheir website shortly.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 07


Monaghan Rotary Club have a busyfew weeks ahead of them as they fillup their calendar with a number ofentertaining events before 2014comes to a close. Starting off, theywill be holding some deliciousMonaghan Rotary ‘Cookie Sales’ atthe Taste of Monaghan festival onSaturday, 4th and Sunday, 5thOctober in Monaghan Town Centre.The cookies will be created byRotarian Molly Heckard. Next up,there will be a scary ‘Ghost Walk’hosted by the club on Saturday, 1stNovember in Monaghan Towncomplete with ghoulish ghost stories,

spooky and scary characters, fun andfellowship. The event will be assistedby Monaghan Youth Theatre.After this, they have their MonaghanRotary Fashion Show at theHillgrove Hotel, Leisure and SpaCentre in Monaghan on Thursday,4th November. There promises to beplenty of fabulous fashion by DeaBoutique and Etiquette MenswearMonaghan and much more. ClubPresident, Audri Herron alsomentioned the success of the club’srecent Golf Classic held last month inMonaghan Golf Club and thanked allinvolved for their help and support.

Monaghan Rotary ClubEnds 2014 With PackedCalendar Of Events

EnniskillenRotarians VisitKenya To AidCharity Work

will provide cleandrinking water to apopulation of 10,000people living in theRombo District. TheRotary Club presentedElaine with fundingtotalling £36,500towards building thewater pipeline, andrecently the Clubhanded over another£2,600 towards theProject.During the visit the twoRotarians along withAngela’s daughterDanielle, visited thelocal schools and thehealth centres in thearea, and also saw thework going on with theSand Dams and thewater pipeline.

Enniskillen RotaryClub President AngelaMcKinney and PastPresident Kenny Fisherrecently headed off toThe Light of MaasaiCharity in the RomboRegion of Kenya at thebeginning of Septemberto see the work that isbeing done by thecharity which was set upby Elaine Bannon in2006. The charity iscontinuing to developwater, health andeducation programmesto the Maasai people inthe area.The Enniskillen Rotaryclub has provided£15,000 to help build aSand Dam in their nameand this money has beenmatch funded by Rotary

to provide a second dam.Last year,Elaine visitedthe Club along with alittle girl called Ciarawho was given to Elaineaged one and a half andweighing 5 kilos, shewas dying of malnutri-tion. Ciara was adoptedby Elaine and is now ahealthy six year oldattending a local school. Elaine outlined to theclub members that theongoing project at thattime was Project Ciarawhich involved buildinga pipe line to bringwater from a bore holevia 20km of pipeline tothe local area, ratherthan having womenwalk 10 to 15 Km tocollect water and carryit back. The pipeline

According to President of the Wexford Rotary Club,Michael Brand, work is well advanced with the2014 Youth Leadership Development Programmeproject, which promises to be the most wellsupported one to date. “ 21 secondary schools in thecounty and record numbers are expressinginterest,” Michael said. “This is brilliant news of course, but in turn will bring challenges to club members who will be needed to interview all candidates.”

Wexford RotaryWorking Hard OnYouth LeadershipProgramme

Pictured here is Antrim Rotary Club President, Goeffery Irons for2014/2015 receiving the Chain of Office from out going presidentDawn Aiken.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS08


The sun shone recently forMonaghan Rotary Club’s Annual GolfClassic in Rossmore Golf Club inMonaghan. “The support MonaghanRotary got for the Classic this yearwas amazing And the day itself was ahuge success,” President ofMonaghan Rotary Club, AudriHerron said.There was a great turn out, afantastic atmosphere and everyoneseemed to enjoy themselves. Over30 Teams participated on the day.There was some very talented golfplayed, prizes won, ice cream enjoyedand burgers munched! First Prizewas won by Astec Point of Sale, spon-sored by Seamus Treanor (Rotarian),the players on the winning teamwere: Martin McCague, Syl Mulligan,Sean Mulligan and Brian Morgan.Second place was taken byMonaghan Music and Piano Centre,which team Member were: GeorgeWhite, Ronnie Kane, Alan Johnstonand Norman Mulligan. The BestLadies Team was won by the Big IceBox Team, sponsored by PauricMcArdle. The ladies on this teamincluded: Tanya Macklin, DashaKovilenko, Kathleen Cadden andBridie Corley.This year’s President of MonaghanRotary Club would like to thank

everyone involved in any way, mostsincerely for their contribution. Tothose who bought teams, sponsoredtees, and to everyone who partici-pated or played on the day. Audriwould also like to say a huge thankyou to those who donated verygenerous spot prizes and refresh-ments. Those who bought raffletickets and ice cream from the kids.Thanks to Captain Jim Fanning andLady Captain Marie McKenna forsupporting Monaghan Rotary Clubon the day with teams. To RossmoreGolf Club for looking after everyoneso well, especially Bertie Geary.Audri would also like to thank herfellow Rotarians, who worked so hardorganising the event, prior to it, andon the day. To everyone whoattended the presentations. And alsothanks to those who popped out tosay hello.“The proceeds of Monaghan RotaryClub Golf Classic, helps many localcharities in our community,” shecontinued. “When all monies are in,these charities will benefit greatly.“These charities will be listed onRotary Club of Monaghan Facebookpage and on their website in thecoming weeks. So watch this spaceto see how your generosity willbenefit others.”

Successful Golf Classic ForMonaghan Rotary Club

Pictured here are the members Monaghan Club at their recent Golf Classic in Monaghan Golf Club.

Athlone Rotary ClubWelcomes French VisitorsThe Rotary Club ofAthlone recentlyhosted a dinner atGlasson Golf andCountry Club towelcome visitors fromthe Rotary Club ofC h a t e a u b r i a n t ,France. RotaryPresident, Tom Keady,warmly welcomed thevisitors and trustedthat their visit wouldexceed their expecta-tions. Rotarian John Dalygave a presentation inFrench on the historyand activities of theRotary Club. This wasfollowed by a slideshow presentation byChateaubriant Rotaryon their Club. Giftswere exchanged byboth Presidents to

mark the occasion.Addressing the gath-ering ChateaubriantRotary President,Marcel Houizot,thanked Athlone forthe great receptionoffered to them andsaid, “Athlone is agreat place and has somuch to offer. I wasimpressed with themany new develop-ments which now faceonto the riverShannon. The ancientmonastic site atClonmacnoise is atruly great heritagetreasure. A longerreturn visit to Athlonewould be worthwhile.”Earlier in the day thevisitors, accompaniedby Rotarians GrahamDoyle and John Daly,

visited historicClonmacnoise andShannonbridge werethey enjoyed a tradi-tional Irish pub lunch.The French visitorswere fascinated by thepub’s decoration andmenu.The visiting party wasmet by President TomKeady, President ElectDermot Neary andSecretary GrahamDoyle when theyarrived at theRadisson Hotel inAthlone which was thebase for their four dayvisit. Athlone RotaryClub has been invitedto visit theChateaubriant Cluband it is expected thatthis visit will takeplace in 2015.

Clubs Kick In toGear For Jole Rider13,000 Bikes AreRefurbished ByPrisoners For AfricaThere are currently 104 million chil-dren in the world who do not attendschool.There are 150 million children whowill leave school not being able toread or write.And it would probably not surpriseyou to learn that 94% percent of thesechildren live in the developing world.To make our contribution to solvingthis problem Rotary Clubs all aroundIreland collected hundreds of bikes toadd to the total being shipped by thecharity ‘Jole Riders, Bikes and Booksfor Africa’. Over 13,000 bikesincluding 1000 from Ireland, havebeen sent to this vital Internationalproject. Unwanted second hand bikesfrom all over Ireland now provide asimple but effect way of gettingGambian children to school on time,improving their attendance at school,and long terms standards of literacy.It wasn’t very long before the estab-lished network of Rotary clubsstarted to accumulate bikes fromgarages, secondary schools, bikeretail shops, and local council recy-cling yards. Rotarians providedempty warehouses around thecountry, and soon hundreds of bikesstarted to appear. These bikes werethen shipped directly to Jole Rider inTetford, where they were refurbishedfree of charge in 6 different UKprisons.Rotary in Ireland convinced MrsEthel Gavin, Governor of LoughanHouse Open Prison, to examine thefeasibility of the project. Ethel Gavinimmediately saw the potential forprisoners to contribute. So, the final link in the chain wascompleted. Rotarians in Ireland nowhad the means to collect, recycle, andship bikes to Africa. The Jole RiderBikes for Africa project, is only onethe latest partnership between theIrish Prison Service and the RotaryClubs of Ireland. It forms part of the

restorative justice programme for theprisoners. The project has providedthe prisoners with an insight into alight engineering project. It teachesthe prisoners the principles of biketechnology, and as they service,clean, and recycle the bikes from anewly constructed Jole Rider BikeWorkshop in Loughan House.On Monday 11th November 2013Prisoners at Loughan House OpenPrison in Co. Cavan loaded 350 refur-bished bikes on to a truck bound forJole Rider`s UK base called The BikeShed. Although this is the thirdcontainer of bikes to leave Ireland itis the first which have been totallyrepaired by the Irish Prison Service.These bikes formed part of the36thcontainer load which Jole Riderwill have sent to the Gambia and onevery special bike collected by theRotary Club of Donaghadee will alsobe named as bike number 13000 fromJole Rider.

Some of the bikes collected by Rotary clubs readyto be refurbished

Rotary Members at Loughan House where the bikes are refurbished

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 09


Clubs Kick In to Gear For Jole Rider

Pictured here are Antrim Rotary club members DawnAiken, Heather Montgomery Irene Brown and GeofferyIrons, helping with the bike collection for the Jole RiderProject.

Wexford RotaryClub Supports‘Bicycles ForGambia’ CampaignWexford Rotary is currently supportingthe Bicycles for Gambia campaign, arecycle project, and Rotary Member,Liam Dwyer, co-ordinated thismammoth undertaking with Fr Seanand all the relevant agencies involved.The Wexford Rotary Club, supported bySouth East Radio, organised a specialcollection day on Saturday, September27th, collecting items such as: bicycles,power tools, exercise books, stationary,garden tools and any other amount ofequipment to send over to those who areso badly in need of it. This initiativemakes a difference to the people, andparticularly the children, who some-times have very long journeys to and

from school, out in The Gambia.Wexford Rotary was also recentlydelighted to welcome as their guest FrSean Devereux who very kindly agreedto share an outline of the wonderfulwork he is involved in as a missionarypriest in The Gambia. Fr Sean, a nativeof Tachumshane who did his training inthe seminary in St Peters, has beenworking in The Gambia for many years.He is currently a Parish Priest withseven Churches and 13 schools underhis supervision and his work ineducating and improving conditions forhis parishioners and for all the people ofGambia continues because of what FrSean describes as the loyal andwonderful support from donorsincluding many individuals and busi-nesses from in and around Wexford.The talk provided a very interestinginsight into his work and himself, as heis making such a difference to thecommunity in which he lives and inwhich he works.

Bikes collected by Wicklow Rotary Club

Dublin Viking Rotary Club SupportsBikes4Africa InitiativeRecently Rotariansfrom the Dublin VikingRotary Club set out tocollect donated bicy-cles from hidden shedsand dark back yards

all for the good causeof Bikes4Africa. 15bicycles were collectedto donate to this mostworthy cause. Onebicycle after anotherwas piled up, andDublin VikingRotarian HaroldMcMillan kept thebikes steady on top ofthe car, ChristophBuller on the ground,supported by HelgaMorrow and the clubsproject co-ordinatorAnne McNaughtonhelped out as well. Thefifteen bicycles weremounted firmly with

cable ties, and weredelivered at late hourto the central collec-tion point, organisedby Simon Rutledgefrom Rotary DublinNorth. They were sent to theclub’s partner the UKHM prison services,whose inmates fix thebicycles prior tohaving them shippedto African school chil-dren in Gambia. Thisway Rotary, the UKHM prison servicesand Bikes4Africa helpto change livesthrough education.

Refurbished Bikes at Loaughan House

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS10


The Rotary Club ofSligo will be cele-brating their 50thAnniversary on the27th February 2015 atthe Sligo Park Hoteland anyone who wishesto join in the fun andfellowship on thatevening will be mostwelcome. Sean Doyle, Presidentof Sligo Rotary Clubsaid: “As I am the soleactive foundermember,the Clubrequested that I act asPresident again for thisparticular year and wehave a full programmeof events to undertakefor what should be areally memorable yearfor us in 2015.”

Sligo RotaryClub ToCelebrate 50thAnniversary

The rotarians inDublin Viking RotaryClub are gearing upfor what will be a veryhectic Christmasseason. Christmas isa busy time involvingfund-raising, carolsinging collectingwith the CelticChoristers and co-operating with DublinCity BusinessImprovement Districtto collect funds forlocal Dublin charitiesduring the turning onof Dublin Christmasstreet lighting,” saidgroup PRO, ChristophBuller. Dublin Viking RotaryClub is Dublin’s only breakfast Rotaryclub. The club is veryactive throughout the year. They host Ambassadorialscholars, support the‘End Polio’ scheme,collect bicycles for Bikes4Africa, and participate in the rotary Youth Leadershipprogramme. Theirfellowship eventsrange from casualBBQs, cooking eventsto museum andconcert visits.

Busy ChristmasPeriod AheadFor DublinViking RotaryClub

The Four Way Test... of the things we say and do:

Is it the TRUTH?

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Will it build GOOD WILL andBETTER FRIENDSHIP?

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned

Pictured here are Antrim Rotary members presenting a cheque for £1300 to Womens Aid in Antrim.

This year, the Dublin North RotaryClub supported ‘Fighting Words’ atthe recent Dublin City Rose Festivalat St Anne’s Park. The group heldcreative story writing classes on theSaturday and Sunday afternoons inthe Rotary Tent and these events werewell attended by children from six years old and upwards.The annual celebration of rose gardens gives an historicalcontext for rose cultivation and provides gardeners withan opportunity to browse stalls and exhibits. With music,events and workshops, this annual event in was a greatweekend for all the family.The St Lawrence’s Pipe Band from Howth were in atten-dance on Saturday afternoon and entertained all withtheir music. Club Rotarians were on hand to give informa-tion on Rotary activities and to encourage the children toattend the Creative Writing classes.The club are looking forward to another successful visit toSt Anne’s Rose Festival in 2015.

The Northern Ireland YoungMusician Of The Year 2014 Eventwas organised recently by theRotary Club of Comber. This is the22nd year of the competition - themain aim of which is to provideopportunity for young musicians todevelop skills and confidencethrough public performance. The2014 competition attracted 50entrants, 16 of whom were selectedto perform in the final on March22nd in the Harty Room of Queen’suniversity.Following a stunning performance,Angus McCall, a 17-year-old cellist,from Methodist College was namedthe Northern Ireland YoungMusician of the Year 2014. Runner-up was singer Andrew Irwin (18)from Chethams School of Music.Percussionist Cathryn Lynch (14)from Sullivan Upper School was

third with Clarinettist Tom Myles(12) from Regent House named themost promising under-14-year-old.The adjudicator was Edwin Gray,who is an international examiner forTrinity College London, and hasexamined and judged as far afield asAustralia, New Zealand and India.Michael Harrison, head of Music inAssumption Grammar School wasaccompanist.The adjudicator complimented allthe contestants on their excellentperformances. He said the standardwas extremely high with not evenone disappointing performance.Their parents and teachers shouldbe justly proud of all of them. Edwinalso reminded the young musiciansthat their performance starts beforethey play or sing a note and urgedthem to add their own interpretationto the music.

Young Musician Of The Year EventOrganised By Comber Rotary Club

Ram Chandra Paudel, a past president of RotaryClub of Pokhara Midtown Nepal, visited DublinNorth Rotary Club in July. Paudel spoke about hisown local Rotary Club and about the charity“Children-Nepal” of which he is the Founder andDirector.Children-Nepal is a non-governmental socialorganisation working for the rights and develop-ment of children youth and their families, livingand working in difficult circumstances in Pokhara,Nepal. Children-Nepal provides social and financialsupport for children from the ‘untouchable’ casteand other disadvantaged groups, so that they areable to attend school. The children are eager tolearn, to help each other and are glad to receivehelp for their homework and studies from tutoringprogrammes nearby their homes.Dublin North President Paul exchanged clubbanners and Ram then presented a cap which wasmade by the children.

Founder Of Children-Nepal Visits RotaryDublin North

Kilkenny Rotary Club Hosts Speakers To Aid ‘Scheme’ DebateThe Rotary Club ofKilkenny recentlyhosted a numberspeakers on the some-what controversialtopic of the CentralAccess Scheme to helpimprove understandingof both points of view.Kilkenny is Ireland’smost completemedieval city, but isundergoing hugechange with the with-drawal of traditionallarge industry(Smithwick’s Brewery)

and relocation of thecity mart. That,combined with growingtraffic volume withcommercial, local andtourism trafficgrowing, has resultedin plans as early as1985 for improvedaccess to, and throughthe city, including andadditional road bridgeacross the river thatruns through thecentre of the city,Kilkenny Rotary Clubexplained. While theplans have been

discussed and amendedover the years, and thecurrent plan was fullyapproved by the plan-ning system that exists,opposition has grownrecently as constructionhas begun, and this hasbecome quite divisivewithin the community,”the rotarianscontinued. The Rotary Club ofKilkenny felt that aspart of vocationalservice,they should tryto provide factual infor-mation from both sides

of the debate on anissue that would havesuch an impact on thecommercial and resi-dential life of the city. To help better informmembers of the RotaryClub of Kilkenny (andany guests invited) theclub invited a keyspeaker from the localauthority to explainthe scheme in moredetail and answerquestions. At the nextmeeting the club alsoinvited one of the keypeople involved in

opposing and proposingalternatives to thescheme. This was alocal councillor andformer mayor whoworked with the localArchaeological Societyand An Taisce chal-lenging and amendingthe developmentthroughout the publicconsultation and plan-ning approval process.This speaker too gavemore detail on alterna-tives his group feltwere viable, andanswered questions.

Dublin North RotaryLooks Ahead To 2015At a recent meeting, Dublin North Rotary electeda new president for 2014 - 2015. Mary Carrollhanded over the mantle to our new President,Paul Brockman, who will lead the Dublin NorthRotary Club’s activities for the next year. The clubwould like to wish all their new officers all thebest for the coming years activities.

Rotary Dublin North are actively engaged insupporting the youth of their community. Theyhad a very full program of events for 2014; theactivities promoted for young people in localschools included: the Ambassadorial ScholarProgramme, the Youth Leadership Competition,the Ecological Competition (piloted in 2012/2013),effective debating with training provided by expe-rienced debaters from UCD, leading to participa-tion in the Irish Times competition, the YoungPhotographer and Young Musician Competitions,and much more.

Dublin NorthRotary AttendsRose Festival

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 11


Pictured here is David Finan, President of Lurgan Rotary Club presenting a cheque to the Prevention ofSuicide and Self-harm (PIPS) group. Also pictured is Anne Nugent, Treasurer of PIPS Upper Bann, SeannaNugent Chair of PIPS Upper Bann, and Peter Ryan Foundation Chair of Lurgan Rotary Club

Exciting UpcomingProjects For DingleRotary Club The Dingle Rotary Clubhave been hugely activeover the last number ofmonths, and arefocusing on a number ofdifferent projects.Among the projectsthey are supporting are:The Rotary CharityJole Rider Bikes forAfrica initiative, theDingle Food Festivaland the club also had astand at the AnnualAnnual Conference inBelfast. The Rotary Club ofDingle is seeking used

bikes to refurbish andsend to schoolchildrenin The Gambia in WestAfrica. This is called theJole Rider project,where unwanted secondhand bikes from all overIreland now provide asimple but effective wayof getting Gambian chil-dren to school on time,improving their atten-dance at school and longterms standards ofliteracy. These bikes arerefurbished free ofcharge at LoughanHouse, Co. Cavan and

then be sent to Africa.Dingle Rotary is happyto Support this.The club will be sellingpancakes at the DingleFood Festival 2014which takes place the1st week in October. Allproceeds from this willgo to local charities.They also had a standat The AnnualConference in Belfast aspart of their ‘End PolioNow’ campaign. Theydesigned and created abeautiful Sterling SilverRotary Bead, and theclub donates €10 toPolio Plus from the saleof every bead. The clubalso had a busy year in2013, and supportedmany local, nationaland international chari-ties.

The Rotary Club of Lurgan have decided this year to have, as their speciallocal project, to help the upper Bann branch of Public Initiative for thePrevention of Suicide and Self-harm (PIPS). They are doing this by helpingfund their counselling programme. This service is provided by Counsellingand Consultancy Services, a local agency, run by Jackie McCrum a creditedpsychotherapist. It is a vital service that PIPS provides giving expert coun-selling to people who are at risk of suicide or self-harm and people bereaved bya relative or close friend who has committed suicide.For this, the club have managed to raise by themselves, and with a grantfrom, Rotary District 1160, £4,000. Recently, the club handed over the chequewith the funds to PIPS at 17 Mount Zion House in Lurgan.

Lurgan Rotary Club SupportsSuicide Prevention Project

Viking Club HostsScholarship Programme The Dublin VikingRotary Club recentlyhosted AmbassadorialScholarship programmein which Sarah Smith, aRotary Ambassadorialscholar, hosted by theRotary Club of DublinViking and sponsoredby the Rotary Club ofWashington Noon inNorth Carolina, went tostudy Internationalpeace in Trinity Collegein Dublin. Sarah wasone of six last yearcoming from the US,the Bahamas andAustralia to study

as a result of theprogramme. A total of 95 partici-pated in theprogramme, and theywere among 41,000scholars, which Rotaryhas sponsored since1947, awarding a totalof $532 million in schol-arships. Coming fromthe rural South, Sarahcherishes her experi-ences on the other sideof the Atlantic, quotingHenry Miller in thepresentation she givesat Rotary clubs: “One’sdestination is never a

place, but a new way ofseeing things,” she said.Sarah’s idea for herAmbassadorial scholar-ship project was tofoster internationalunderstanding throughtwinning two secondaryschools – one in the USand the other in Dublin.The central element ofthis project was to allowstudents to expresstheir thoughts aboutpeace, understanding,war and conflict resolu-tion in drawings andthen to share these withone another.

“This is the beauty ofthe Ambassadorials c h o l a r s h i pprogramme,” said herhost club Rotarian

Michael McWilliam.“The young studentslearn through experi-encing other cultures,races, languages to

build internationalunderstanding andfriendly relations,” thusachieving the program’sobjective.

Belfast Club Delighted With Flagship Programme Results The Rotary Club of Belfast were delighted towelcome their recent club meeting, the sixTowards A Better Understanding (TABU)students to report on their visit last March toChicago in conjunction with the Rotary Club ofHighland Park/Highwood. This is a flagship programme for the Belfast Club,which has run for 22 years, and aims to create abetter mutual understanding between differentcommunities by studying Conflict Resolution. Thisincludes finding ways to break down barriersamong people, particularly young people, andlearning how to reconcile differences. Their exceptional summaries highlighted, inparticular, that the TABU programme had had amassive effect on their outlook and that they hadrealised that mediation was the best option forconflict resolution; that there was a need to under-stand people as individuals rather than as stereo-types, and if everyone could open a dialogue,wecould achieve conciliation. They also sad they hadtaken great encouragement from the TABU expe-rience, saying that they had never been moreproud to be a teenager in Northern Ireland.They students were hosted by families of thestudents who experienced the programme inBelfast the previous year who extended hospi-tality to them during their stay, an importantelement of the TABU Exchange. Each student expressed their sincere appreciationto The Rotary Club of Belfast, the Rotarian

leaders on the trip VP Claire Savage, BrianGillespie and PP Bryan Johnston and their hostsin Highland Park for the opportunity to go on theTABU programme.

President Ronnie thanked the students for theirpresentations and expressed optimism for thefuture with young people such as these who are acredit to their country and their families

Pictured here from left is: Belfast Rotary Club President Ronnie McLean, PP Derek Baxter, Adrienne Maginness, Cliodhna Hunt, Aine Crossan,Ross McKenna, Belfast Rotary Club President Elect, Claire Savage, Jennifer Devine, Jack Devlin, PP Brian Byers, Brian Gillespie, PP BryanJohnston at the clubs recent meeting, where six TABU students spoke about their experiences in the TABU programme.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS12


Comber DistrictGovernor VisitsBangor Club

Bangor Rotarianswere delighted torecently welcomeDistrict GovernorPhillip Beggs of theComber RotaryClub last month.Phillip gave a first-class presentationhighlighting thereally superb workIrish Rotarians aredoing in Kenya tobring cleandrinking water tothose lacking itnearby. Phillip hasbeen to visit inperson. Closer tohome, he empha-sised how much theDaisy Lodge projectin Newcastlemeans to him. This is a residencewhich offers respiteto families respon-sible for childrenwith cancer. TheBangor RotaryClub has resolvedto contribute to thismost worthy cause.A c c o m p a n y i n gPhillip wasAssistant Governorand long-timefriend of the club,Garth Arnold.

Omagh RotaryClub Turns 60Next Year

The busy OmaghRotary Club will bepreparing to mark abig occasion nextyear, as the club willcelebrate its 60thAnniversary in2015. This year,they have supporteda number ofprojects, includingthe Jole Riderproject, in whichover 1500 bikeswere refurbished bythe Irish PrisonService and wereshipped to TheGambia as part ofJole Ryder’sBikes4Africa project. Bikes have comefrom sheds andgarages, schools,bike shops and recy-cling yards. Theseunwanted bikes aregoing to enable chil-dren in The Gambiato get an education. The Omagh RotaryClub also organiseda number of otherevents this year,such as a ‘Wine andWhiskey’ tastingevent, and a CharityGolf Day, which tookplace at Omagh GolfClub.

LondonderryClub FightsFood Poverty Londonderry RotaryClub have been veryactive over the lastnumber of months, andthe big project they aresupporting at themoment is the RotaryFoyle Food Bank. One of the toughestchallenges facing theUK is food poverty. Withan enormous figure ofover 13 million livingbelow the poverty line.Furthermore with one

in five people living inpoverty with many fami-lies in crisis and unableto afford food, Rotaryare working in associa-tion with Sure StartEdenballymore toprovide a food bank forall Londonderry/ DerryCity Residents. The Rotary FoyleFoodbank opened itsdoors at 12 LondonStreet to help fight foodpoverty in the Derry

City Council area earlierthis year, and its thisproject that theLondonderry Rotarygroup actively support.In the first six weeks ofit opening alone, itprovided three dayemergency food parcelsfor more then 300 localpeople living in crisis.John McMonagle,Chairperson of theRotary Foyle Foodbanksaid: “In recognitionthat people need prac-tical help now, we havetaken the initiative towork in partnershipwith community, volun-tary, statutory groupsand experts across the

city to help tackle theeffects of food povertywherever it arises.”He went on to explainthat for the past numberof years, the RotaryClub in the city has alsoprovided food hampersat Christmas time (andstill continue to do so),paid for through dona-tions gathered at the‘Tree of Remembrance’at Foyleside. “It wasthrough this work thatwe realised that foodpoverty exists in thiscommunity throughoutthe year,” Johncontinued. “This wasbehind our decision toform the foodbank.” Since opening, it hascreated a positive andlasting change to theresidents ofLondonderry / Derry.The city centre locationof the foodbank allowsaccess by public trans-port for those in need ofthe service. However,those who cannot attendthe food bank, commu-nity groups can set up adelivery service. Thefood bank is managed by

volunteers for up tothree days per week.Volunteers are trainedto provide a listeningear over a cup of tea andcreate a warm andwelcoming environmentto help clients feel atease. The overalloutcome of Rotary foodbank is to develop a welleffective food bank thatwill help reduce the foodpoverty issues withinthe city, to alwaysprovide emergency foodto those who are in needand to bring communi-ties together to raisemore awareness of thetroubles that peopleface. Providing clientswith different sign-posting agencies thatcan help with anyunderlining problemthat they may be facing. The future of RotaryFood Bank is exciting.It is Rotary’s aim todevelop and implementa Rotary’s Food Bankbrand of their own forall Rotarians to implement within their communitiesaround Ireland.

Larne Rotary Club member Mark Clark, recently participated in hisfirst triathalon in Glenarm. He complete the three-stage challenge ofswimming, cycling and running after learning to swim especially forthe event. As a result of his efforts Mark raised over £1,000 in spon-sorship for Rotary Club Charities.

Contrary to previous years, conference is officiallyending at 6:00pm on Saturday, although onSaturday evening, there is the Gala Ball, and thisyear it’s held in the luxurious replica of the Titanic’sdining room. Sunday sees hardy Rotarians and guests cycle fromBelfast’s Titanic to DG Phillip’s home town ofComber and back, an 18 mile round trip along adisused railway cutting know as the “greenway”.This is the 3rd annual “Paddy Rider” eventsupporting the JOLE Rider bikes for Africa project.Rotary conferences should never be judged assuccess or failure for each bears the evidence of theyears of planning and preparation required for thisevent and 2014 is to be no exception. One thing thatis assured, is that some Rotarians will leave Belfastthis year with a new found realisation that they arepart of a team of “ordinary people doing extraordi-nary things”, that they are not merely spectators,but active citizens.

Continued from page 1

Belfast WelcomesRotary Ireland

Insightful ‘War ’Talk ForDublin North Rotarians Dublin North Rotary Club had a veryinteresting speaker make a presenta-tion to the club recently. Ken Gillingsgave a presentation on the Irishconnection in the Anglo-Boer war. The second, or Anglo-Boer war, wasfought between October 11th 1899and May 31st 1902 between theBritish Empire and the Afrikans-speaking settlers of two independentBoer republics, the South AfricanRepublic (Transvaal Republic) andthe Orange Free State. It ended witha British victory and the annexationof both republics by the BritishEmpire; both would eventually be

incorporated into the Union of SouthAfrica, a dominion of the BritishEmpire, in 1910.Ken is a retired Regimental SergeantMajor of Natal Field Artillery. He isan acclaimed South African battle-field guide and has undertakenextensive research into South AfricanBattlefields and has writtennumerous articles and books on thesubject. Currently Ken is a BattleFields Tour Guide in Kwazulu Nataland an active Rotarian. His presenta-tion was well attended and the clubraised some funds for their commu-nity projects at the event.

Belfast Group Holds ‘Tea Party’ To Aid Suicide Prevention A FASA Mad HattersTea Party was recentlyheld by members ofBelfast Rotary Club toend the celebrations tomark World SuicidePrevention Day.Dave from the familysupport group of SuicideAftercare for Everyone(SAFE) attended, as didRoberts Coates of SAFAwho organised theparty, PP Courtney ofthe Belfast Club wasdoing the vote of thanksand helping with acollection up theShankhill Road. The Belfast Club

honorary member DameMary Peters, gave avery uplifting andinspiring talk on thefantastic comfort andhope, that the supportgroup gives to the fami-lies that have lost aloved one.A group of young peopleeffected directly bysuicide, Hope 4 Youth,had an event on eachday of the SuicidePrevention week. Theywalked to all the areasof the city, where thereis a group supportingfamilies bereaved, andthey covered at least

100 miles in total fromthe City Hall, EastBelfast, N’Ards theFalls Road and WestBelfast.The CEO of FASA wasvery congratulatory ofBelfast Rotary for thegift of the Rotarytrailer, it is in perma-nent use and doesreally get to thoseyoung people whocould so easily getcaught up in under agedrinking, substanceabuse and liable tosuicide. All in all, itwas a very moving butuplifting day.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 13


Rotary IrelandLends Support ToThe Daisy ProjectAnother one of Rotary Ireland’ssupported projects is ‘The DaisyProject,’ a part of the Cancer FundFor Children project. Rotary Irelandhave pledged to help raise the moneyto help install the play equipmentand safety surface at Daisy Lodge, apurpose built, therapeutic shortbreak centre for families in Irelandnursing a child with cancer. There iscurrently no playground for the chil-dren to enjoy. So, when it came tothe vital therapeutic play area, theDaisy project group were delightedwhen Rotary Ireland agreed tosupport them. The play area will encourage chil-dren to venture outdoors and benefitfrom the fresh mountain air thatsurrounds Daisy Lodge afterspending months in treatment on ahospital ward. It will be the focus ofactivity in the garden, bringingsmiles to children’s faces duringtheir short break with Cancer Fundfor Children.District Governor, Phillip Beggssaid: “I have witnessed first handthe great work the Cancer Fund forChildren do providing therapeuticshortbreaks to young cancersufferers and their families,throughout Ireland. I believe that asRotarians, we must support our owncommunities and it is my hope thatby every club contributing £500 /€600, to The Daisy Project. Thistruly is a great way to support fami-

lies in our local community.” GillianCreevy, Chief Executive of CancerFund for Children explains:“Families throughout Ireland, livingwith childhood cancer, have theopportunity to avail of a therapeuticshort-break at Daisy Lodge inNewcastle, County Down.Therapeutic short-breaks give fami-lies the chance to relax, spendquality time together and makesome precious memories. One familywho have benefited from a short-break are the McCrea Family.Charlie McCrea was just sevenmonths old when he was diagnosedwith leukaemia.Now aged 6, Charlie loves going toschool and playing with his friends.His mum, Emma McCrea says: “Forus as parents we were faced with thedecision of whether or not we shouldput him through the chemo and bonemarrow transplant. His chances ofsurvival were so slim - 15 per cent.We wondered if we should take himhome and spend his last weekstogether as a family. But we knewwe had to give him that chance. Weare so glad we did.” Cancer doesn’tdiscriminate. It can happen to anyfamily, anywhere, at any time.By supporting ‘The Daisy Project’,your Rotary club is helping CancerFund for Children light up smiles onthe faces of children from acrossIreland who will enjoy their stay andplay at Daisy Lodge.

Dublin Fingal Club GernerouslyContributes To Local CausesThe members of DublinFingal Rotary Clubrecently presented twocheques to local groups,who will greatly benefitfrom the extra funding.Firstly, CEO of Barnados,Fergus Finlay gave a talkto the Rotary group andspoke about the great workthey do on behalf of thechildren. “We raised€1,000 for Barnardos,which we were delighted tosee go towards such aworthwhile cause,” saidPresident of Dublin FingalRotary, Andrea Molloy.In a separate event, theRotary Club of DublinFingal then presented acheque to the FingalGalloper Club, a uniqueoutlet for athletes withspecial needs, who wish totrain in Equestrian sports.The club was formed nottoo long ago, and is thefirst of its kind here in theNorth County, and is basedin BroadmeadowsEquestrian Centre outsideSwords. “We were really thrilled tobe able to support theFingal Galloper Club. Itwas formed by SeamusHughes (from Malahide),who just really wanted togive something back to thecommunity,” sheexplained. “He said he feltthe group was somethingthat was very much neededin the area, and he wantedto try and make it happenas his background is withhorses. Ultimately, he helps

athletes train and recently,he helped train one participant who went on torepresent Ireland at theSpecial Olympics.”

“It’s really an amazinggroup, and we weredelighted to help such a lovely, local cause,”Andrea concluded.

Pictured here is President of Dublin Fingal Rotary Club, AndreaMolloy with Past President Paul O'Reilly, presenting a cheque for€1000, to CEO of Barnados, Fergus Finlay.

Pictured Seamus Hughes, Chairman of Fingal Gallopers (centre)accepting the cheque from Club Treasurer Michael Kennedy andClub Vice President Andrea Molloy.

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Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS14


The Four Way Test... of the things we say and do:

Is it the TRUTH?

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Will it build GOOD WILL andBETTER FRIENDSHIP?

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned

Pictured here are Antrim Club members, along with their family and friends at the Rotary Club's recent 'Austrialian Christmas Barbecue' event.

Rotary Ireland Supports‘Sand Dams’ Project Rotary clubs in Ireland have become very good atsaving innocent children’s lives. Via just one of itsinternational projects, called ‘Sand Dams’, theywill bring water to thousands of people in Kenya.Rotary clubs across Ireland and the UK will spendcirca £1m on building sand dams.22,000 innocent children die every day, needlessly.Two billion people live below the poverty line andone in every seven people on the planet wake up each morning not knowing how they can fill a single cup with food for the day. But Rotary change that for some children in this areaof Kenya.For those that don’t know, a sand dam is a rein-forced concrete wall built across seasonal riverbeds. A pipe is built into the dam, going 20 metresupstream. Over one to three seasons, the dam fillsup with water. Then the dam fills up with sand.The sand holds and filters water. Sand dams canhold an incredible 20 to 30 million litres of water,and each dam provides a clean water supply for upto 1,200 people, animals and nurseries for treesand vegetables.The benefits of sand dams are staggering,impacting on health, education, food supply andmuch more.A dam provides a year-round source of water sopeople do not have to spend long back-breakinghours collecting water from far away. Children goto school more often - not just because they don’tcollect water themselves, but because they don’thave to stay at home looking after children whilsttheir mothers take 8 hours to collect water.The water is also much cleaner, having beenfiltered through the sand, protecting communitiesfrom parasites, so children are less likely to get ill. Instances of typhoid and diarrhoea are virtually eliminated.A sand dam also transforms the environment. Thetree survival rate increases and allows other cropsto grow that would not normally survive. Moretrees and plants mean more food for humans and animals, making it possible for people tocreate a sustainable livelihood. Rotary groups allaround Ireland are proud to support the SandDams project.

College pupils from Mallow in Co. Cork whoestablished a national Missing Persons’ Day inIreland have become the first Irish winners of theRotary Young CitizenAward.Their “Forget Me Not”campaign providescounselling and raisesfunds to help findmissing people.Recently, four studentsfrom Davis Collegetravelled to the annualRotary Great Britainand Ireland conferencein Birmingham toreceive their award ofthe Young CitizenAward 2014. The youthproject initiated byDavis College Mallowfour years ago hassignificantly heightened public awareness of the need to remember missing persons. DavisCollege was nominated by “Mallow Rotary Club”for this award.Inspired by the Madeline McCann tragedy, thestudents set out to achieve three main objectives:to bring about a change in Ireland to ensure theplight of individuals would not be forgotten, tocreate funds for continued searches and also toestablish a government supported NationalMissing Persons Day.

Eight hundred schools in Ireland wereapproached generating 12,000 signed petitionswhich were presented to the Committee for

Justice, Defence andEquality at LeinsterHouse. These effortsculminated in realisingthe National MissingPerson’s Day objectivewhich will be anannual event takingplace in Ireland on the4th December. With akeen sense ofmomentum, the DavisCollege students nowbelieve they can scaletheir local successes toEuropean level. The£500 prize will bedonated to “MallowSearch and Rescue “ (

nominated by the college ). This is a voluntarycharity that is involved all over Ireland withspecially equipped ribs to search waterways formissing personsYouth development figures strongly in the ethosof Rotary clubs in Ireland. The success of DavisCollege in Mallow will inspire many schools andcolleges all over the country to get involved inprojects sponsored and supported by Rotary.Congratulations to the Davis College studentsand the Rotary Club of Mallow.

Mallow Students Win Rotary Young Citizen Award

Pictured here are the College pupils from Mallow who attendDavisCollege, receiving their Young Citizen Award with members ofMallow Rotary Club.

Active Times For Kilkenny Club The Rotary Club ofKilkenny have had somany events on over thepast number of weeksthat we don’t know howthey have had time todraw breath! Aside fromcompleting their icebucket challenge andbeing involved in the

‘Relay for Life’ event,recently, President Ann-Marie Caulfield of theRotary Club ofWaterford, accepted aRotary Club of Kilkennybannerette fromPresident Joe Mulhall oft of Kilkenny to mark theKilkenny club’s partici-

pation in the interclubevent hosted by theRotary Club of Waterfordlate last month.Then, a representative ofthe Rotary Club ofKilkenny with familyattended an inter clubevent organised andhosted by the RotaryClub of Waterford in theluxurious WaterfordCastle Hotel. The eventbegan with severalorganised events such asclay pigeon shooting,archery, boules, slowcycle races and also hadevents to appeal to chil-dren such as bouncycastle and face painting.The afternoon finishedwith a barbecue and agreat social andnetworking evening.

Kilkenny would like tothank Waterford club forrunning the event.Finally, throughout July,August and September,they had a vastprogramme of speakers.As part of a drive toenhance the value of thelunchtime meeting andincrease interest, theRotary Club of Kilkennyhas been able to invitespeakers from within andoutside their club for thesummer months. Thiswas over and abovespeakers related to theCentral Access Schemecontroversy. Speakersincluded John Bryan,past president of the IrishFarmers Association andMichael Conway, entre-preneur who has restoredthe medieval ‘hole in thewall’ tavern amongstothers.

Castlebar ClubBusy As EverThe Castlebar Rotary Club have been very active in thelast number of months, and recently hosted a number ofevents. Firstly, they welcomed a new President for2014/2015, Dolores Burke, who has taken over from pastpresident John. The club want to say a huge thank youto John for all his work and another thanks to Doloresfor stepping up as president. The group say that membership and attendance atmeetings continues to be a worry for the future of theclub, but the club recently announced that a member-ship team was put together at their recent AGM to tryto reinvigorate the club over the next year. However,they do want to emphasise that it is every membersresponsibility to help that process and get involved in allaspects of the club. Earlier in the year, the club was also involved in a verysuccessful Dragon’s Den Youth Business InnovationCompetition. There were 11 team applications submitted fromCastlebar schools. The club ran a Qualifier round tohelp select which teams would go forward to the finalmentoring and Dragons Den pitch.Finally it was decided that four teams would becompeting from St Joseph’s, two teams from DavittCollege with one team from St Gerald’s College.The mentoring session then kicked off, and each teamgot two mentoring sessions to help them prepare fortheir final Dragon’s Den business idea pitch. Well doneto the winners and to all the students who took part inthe competition. The club would like to say a big thanksto Caroline Clarke, Peter Glynn, John O’Donnell andVivienne Kyne and to everyone else who helped andparticipated on the project.

Oct / Nov 2014

ROTARY NEWS 15


Like many of the Rotary Clubs around Ireland, Bandon Rotary Club are currently focusing on wrap-ping up some official Rotary projects before the end of the year, and were busy preparing for RotaryIreland’s Conference in Belfast. Robert also recently undertook a cycle from Cork to Belfast to markthe conference.Robert Merrick, Club President of Bandon Rotary Club said: “Our Youth Leadership Awards, whichtake place at the end of November, is a big one for us. We’ll also have our Tree of Remembrance upand running in December. Going into next year, we’re usually always one of the first clubs to organisea Daffodil Breakfast in aid of Daffodil Day, so we’re looking forward to that Also,” he said.

Bandon Rotary Club Focus On Annual Projects

Kilkenny Rotary Clubrecently participated ina ‘Relay for Life’ eventin aid of the IrishCancer Society as partof Community Service.The event is organisedby the Kilkenny Relayfor Life charity and thewhole event is in aid ofthe Irish CancerSociety. The event centredaround teams runningor walking around anathletics track (theWatershed inKilkenny) in a relay for24 hours. The teamswere sponsoredthrough straight spon-sorship per hour, or byrunning separateevents to raise moneyfor the team.The Relay for Lifeevent is a friendly posi-

Relay For Life Event ForKilkenny Club

Reasons toJoin Rotary20

1. Friendship: In an increasingly complex world, Rotary provides one of the most basic ofhuman needs: the need for friendship and fellowship.

2. Business Development: The second original reason for Rotary’s beginning is businessdevelopment. Everyone needs to network. Rotary consists of a cross section of everybusiness community. Its members come from all walks of life. Rotarians help each other.

3. Personal Growth and Development: Membership in Rotary continues one’s growth andeducation in human relations and personal development.

4. Leadership Development: Rotary is an organization of leaders and successful people.Serving in Rotary positions is like a college education. Leadership: learning how to moti-vate, influence and lead leaders.

5. Citizenship in the Community: Membership in a Rotary club makes one a bettercommunity citizen. The average Rotary club consists of the most active citizens of anycommunity.

6. Continuing Education: Each week at Rotary there is a program designed to keep oneinformed about what is going on in the community, the country, and the world. Meetingsprovide an opportunity to listen to different speakers and a variety of timely topics.

7. Fun: Rotary is fun, a lot of fun. Each meeting is fun. The club projects are fun. Socialactivities are fun. The service is fun.

8. Public Speaking Skills: Many individuals who joined Rotary were afraid to speak inpublic. Rotary develops confidence and skill in public communication and the opportu-nity to practice and perfect these skills.

9. Citizenship in the World: Every Rotarian wears a pin that says _Rotary International.There are few places on the globe that do not have a Rotary club. Every Rotarian iswelcome — even encouraged — to attend any club in any nation and geographicalregion. This means instant friends in both one’s own community and in the world commu-nity.

10. Assistance when Travelling: Because there are Rotary clubs everywhere, many aRotarian in need of a doctor, lawyer, hotel, dentist, advice, etc., while travelling has foundassistance through Rotary.

11. Entertainment: Every Rotary club and district has parties and activities that providediversion in one’s life. Rotary holds conferences, conventions, assemblies, and institutesthat provide entertainment in addition to Rotary information, education, and service.

12. The Development of Social Skills: Every week and at various events and functions,Rotary develops one’s personality, social skills, and people skills. Rotary is for peoplewho like people.

13. Family Programs: Rotary provides one of the world’s largest youth exchangeprograms; high school and college clubs for future Rotarians; opportunities for spouseinvolvement; and a host of activities designed to help family members in growth and thedevelopment of family values.

14. Vocational Skills: Every Rotarian is expected to take part in the growth and develop-ment of his or her own profession or vocation, to serve on committees, and to teachyouth about one’s job or vocation. Rotary helps to make one a better person.

15. The Development of Ethics: Rotarians practice a 4-Way Test that governs one’s ethicalstandards. Rotarians are expected to be ethical in business and personal relationships.

16. Cultural Awareness: Around the world, practically every religion, country, culture,race, creed, political persuasion, language, colour, and ethnic identity is found in Rotary.It is a cross section of the world’s citizens from every background. Rotarians becomeaware of their cultures and learn to love and work with people everywhere. They becomebetter citizens of their countries in the process.

17. Prestige: Rotary members are prominent people who are leaders in all disciplines.Rotary is the oldest and most prestigious service club in the world. Rotarians are peoplewho make decisions and influence policy.

18. Nice People: Rotarians above all are nice people — the nicest people on the face ofthe earth. They are important people who follow the policy of _it is nice to be importantbut it is important to be nice.

19. The Absence of an “Official Creed”: Rotary has no secret handshake, no secret policy,no official creed, no secret meeting, or rituals. It is an open society of men and womenwho simply believe in helping others.

20. The Opportunity to Serve: Rotary is a service club. Its business is humankind. Itsproduct is service. Rotarians provide community service to both local and internationalcommunities. This is perhaps the best reason for becoming a Rotarian: the chance to dosomething for somebody else; to sense the self-fulfilment that comes in the process; andthe return of that satisfaction to one’s own life. It is richly rewarding.

For more information on joining your local Rotary club visitwww.rotary.ie.

Pictured here are Janine Patterson, Lisburn President Sam Patterson, Marjorie Beggs, DG Phillip Beggs,RIBI President Peter King and Di King at the recent Lisburn 60th Charter Night at the Island Center.

A 60th anniversary Dinner was heldin the Island Centre in Lisburn tomark the club’s 60th year of activework in the community. It was ahugely successful evening by allaccounts, and was attended by some150 members and guests.Guests included RIBI PresidentPeter King, DG Philip Beggs. DeputyMayor of Lisburn, Thomas Beckett,Dame Mary Peters and PresidentAnne and representatives of theRotary Club of Greenock. Rotary

Club of Greenock have joined theLisburn group in celebrating their50th and 60th year together respec-tively. The Rotary Club of Lisburn has astrong partnership with theNorthern Ireland Cancer Fund forChildren (NICFC) over a number ofyears and Lisburn Rotary PresidentSam Patterson, is delighted tocontinue this support and designatedNICFC as their main charity in thecelebrations of the clubs 60th year.

Lisburn Club Hosts 60thAnniversary Dinner

tive event, where cancersurvivors are celebrated,loved ones lost to cancerare remembered and theentire community canbecome engaged infinding out more aboutand funding researchinto cancer. The eventinvolved a band, choirs,entertainers and organi-sations from the wholeKilkenny community.The Rotary Club ofKilkenny has beeninvolved since the eventfirst began in Kilkennyin 2013, but this yearnot only did the RotaryClub of Kilkenny enter ateam in the 24 hourcontinuous relay, but wehad a hospitality tentwith literature on cancerand cancer treatmentsas well as informationabout Rotary in

Kilkenny. This is partof an overall initiativeto increase the profileof the Rotary Club ofKilkenny in its commu-nity and the tent wasvisited by many nonRotarians includingJohn McCormack ,CEO of the IrishCancer Society.The Rotary Club ofKilkenny raised over€1,740 over the 24hours. This was asignificant increase onthe money raised in thefirst year. The wholeevent raises over€40,000 for the IrishCancer Society. TheClub would like to saythanks to RotarianNora Walsh whochaired the project forthe Rotary Club ofKilkenny.

Oct / Nov 2014

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