Previous Meetings

14 April 2025 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

07 April 2025 - David Wilkinson - City of London and the Livery

David explained the structure of Liverymen in the City of London, the route to becoming a Liveryman and his year as the Master of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers, together with his Mistress Mandy.

Livery Companies are ancient guilds or trade organisations. Many are very old and have built up significant funds. The combined assets of the Livery Companies are estimated to be around £5 billion. There are currently 113 Livery Companies, the oldest being the Weavers Company established in 1155 and the newest being the Communicators established in 2025.

David ran through all the different Companies and showed photographs of some of the magnificent features of their buildings and the dinners and event that had taken place there. He also explained the process to become the Lord Mayor and the duties involved.

17 March 2025 - Bill Best - Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway

The history of the railway goes back to 1960 when Bill and his father and brother started collecting “old things”. They acquired their first diesel engines in 1970 and in 1975 steam engines started to arrive, and they also built some railway track. They have now recovered and restored locomotives from all over the world, and these have to be serviced every year which is very expensive.

They now have other vehicles and machinery, including an 1870 Horn Beam Engine and a 1919 traction engine. There is also a collection of tractors through the ages and an old fire engine ladder truck from the USA.

There were now around 100 volunteers at the railway (average age over 65). The organisation acts like a charity but is not one and is always trying to make ends meet. Efforts are made to incorporate community work on to the site when possible, for example by involving disadvantaged children when possible.

10 March 2025 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

3 March 2025 - Roland Eglington - Chalkwell Coach Hire

Roland is the third generation in the family business which started in 1931 and now employsaround 110 people. They provide coaches for schools, businesses and private organisations.

They have a local bus network, various price structures and also ultra low emission vehicles. Roland outlined the local issues that the company has to contend with as well as the challenges in Kent. There are also national issues – buses and coaches account for over 10 million travellers a day whereas rail travel accounts for 4.8 million people a day. A fully loaded bus can take up to 75 cars off the roads.

25 February 2025 - Brian Dunne - District Governor

During his year so far the District Governor has had to deal with a number of clubs that have had problems. District is expected to reach it’s target of £50,000 to fund an Air Ambulance Response Vehicle in the near future. This year District has a recipient of a Service Above Self award. Giving for Foundation is up this year but has suffered because of Covid.

Brian concluded by saying that the joy of being the District Governor is going round to all the Clubs.

17 February 2025 - Colin Norgate - Rotary Corporate Membership

Colin made a presentation to the Club covering areas such as why the Club should consider Corporate Membership, what the benefits are to businesses, which organisations to approach and what resources are available from District to help develop Corporate Membership. He then gave examples of what other clubs are doing, including business networking and events with local chambers of commerce, and the plaques and leaflets that could be used.

Colin then answered a number of questions. He confirmed that should the club stage a Corporate Membership event it was likely that funding would be available to help with the cost thereof. On being questioned about the cost of joining as a corporate member with a number of alternate members, and the Club’s ability to vet alternate members, Colin confirmed that the proposed model was not compulsory and the Club could develop it’s own model within the guidance.

Colin then showed a video of the effect of Corporate Membership as developed by Alnwick Rotary Club.

10 February 2025 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

3 February 2025 - Simon Storey - Chief Executive - Kent Cricket

Simon started by showing a short video produced for the 154th birthday of the Club entitled “What our Club means to us”. He then went on to outline how Kent was attempting to involve people, including women and children in cricket as they were growing up through work in 200 schools and 300 clubs in the county. The aim was not only to win trophies and perform well on the pitch but also to involve people in the county and give opportunities to participate. Simon talked about his own background in the pharmaceutical industry before getting involved in cricket in 2012 when he became manager of Derbyshire Cricket Club. He the joined Kent in 2019. He talked about the coaching side and the cycle in a team’s development. He wanted to make the game simple so that the youth of today would fall in love with the game.With regard to Kent he talked about Bazball and how it could be applied to the county’s approach to the game. He also outlined how he expected Kent to be different under new coach Adam Hollioake.

27 January 2025 - David Jenner - Landscape Photographer

David had developed a printing company before diversifying into photography which became his main interest. He started on New Year’s Day 2010 with pictures of Canary Wharf taken over a period of time and then blended the pictures to produce a final composition.

He showed a similarly produced picture of Southwold which had taken between 70 and 90 hours to produce. He followed this with various other compositions all part of a series he called Night and Day. In producing the compositions he had managed to include a picture of himself in every picture.

David had also entered competitions, including entering some beautiful pictures in the competition for the BBC Countryfile calendar. He came very close to winning several times.

Since then David has won several other competitions. He now also produces his own calendar (he donated a copy of his 2025 calendar as a raffle prize) and also does a lot of commercial photography.

13 January 2025 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

It was also a special meeting as we welcomed three new members with the induction of Sarah Stephen, Mo Dunk and John Mount.

6 January 2025 - Simon Pollard - 'Slow the Mind and the Hunt For a Bus'

Simon explained that Slow the Mind was the charity he was involved in which has centres for those suffering from anxiety, including suicide, and how they can deal with it. They are currently fund raising for a bus so that they have a mobile centre.

Simon talked about his own anxiety and addiction problems and how he had dealt with them and as a result the Slow the Mind centres came about. He undertook the Pennine Way Challenge as part of his therapy and to raise money for suicide prevention and mental health and talked about his experiences while doing it.

In England and Wales there are 6,000 suicides a year and rising by 6% a year. He said that to help the following could be done:

- Normalising conversations about suicides.

- Raising money for the mobile bus.

- A Foundation Grant.

- Spreading the word.

Simon had also written a book called The Sheeple Principle which he said was a good read.

2 December 2024 - AGM and Business Meeting

The President reported on the year to date and officers of the club were elected for the year 2025/26.

At the monthly Business Meeting we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives and received updates from various committees and individuals.

18 November 2024 - John Robinson - Offshore Pirate Radio

Club member John started his talk by saying this year was the 60th anniversary of Offshore Pirate Radio in the UK. He explained that as a result of the pirates the record industry and radio in the UK was changed for ever.

He undertook a review of the pirate stations and how they operated and the various 'pirate' activities they became involved with. There were lots of incidents reminiscent of the escapades of pirates of old. 

John played the theme tunes of a number of pirates, a number of jingles and two protest songs that were released at the time to give a flavour of the sounds.

A detailed and interesting talk.

11 November 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

4 November 2024 - Andy Hawes - My Life in Cycling

Andy cycling career began when he was eight years old and joined High Wycombe Cycling Club. He won some junior races but never manged to win at senior level. After working in the City for a major law firm he took voluntary redundancy and became the Route Director of the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain men’s and women’s cycling races.The Route Director effectively designs the races. This includes the planning and driving of the route, dealing with all traffic regulations and all associated matters. The process for the races commences in January for the women’s race in June and the men’s race in September Andy also works on other events – he has recently come back from organising a race in Malaysia. He also works as a cycling guide for groups, having just come back from Majorca doing this.

Members asked Andy many questions which he answered comprehensively, 

28 October 2024 - Joe Comper - Managing Director - Gillingham Football Club

Joe started by outlining his career history. After working at Fulham he became Commercial Manager of Crawley Town following which he moved to Gillingham as Commercial Manager then Director of Operations, becoming Managing Director in March this year.

Joe provided an analysis of the turnover of the club and how it had increased in recent years. He explained the sponsorship and advertising model and how and why different shirt designs had been introduced which were proving very popular and were at affordable prices.

He went through the Club’s plans for the future, the main one being promotion and the associated benefits this would bring. The second aim was to build a new fan zone, followed by possibly staging stadium concerts. 

Regarding on-field matters Joe went through the club’s recruitment model including the process of recruiting players and the use of analytical programmes in the process. 

During the talk Joe answered many questions from a captivated audience.

14 October 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

 7 October 2024 - Hasmita Reardon and Vicky York - New Leaf

Hasmita was the founder of New Leaf Support which she started 15 years ago in order to try and build up a refuge for abused women. The charity now has three refuge flats and a male refuge and also provides support for the LGBT community. A well-being programme is also provided, including arts and crafts, cooking, group activities and similar. The mission is to follow the abused people in their journeys until they are settled in their own homes.

Hasmita then introduced Vicky who is now a qualified counsellor with New Leaf and is also a survivor of an abusive relationship. Vicky gave a very moving account of the abuse she suffered and her recovery from this situation. Subsequently she spent several years volunteering with New Leaf and is now employed by them.

23 September 2024 - Kevin Fielding - Ukraine Visits

Assistant Governor Kevin spoke about his two trips delivering ambulances to Ukraine.

The first visit, to deliver seven ambulances, was inspired by a television programme Kevin had seen and he thanked the Club for the donation to assist with the cost of the trip. This trip, via Poland, took seven days with the ambulances arriving in Lviv on Day four. Kevin showed some interesting slides of the journey there and of his tour of Lviv city.

The second trip was two weeks ago and was much tougher with single drivers in each vehicle and no stop before reaching Poland. Kevin showed slides of a number of initiatives being undertaken in Ukraine including mobile hospitals and measures being taken to deal with serious injuries.

16 September 2024 - Simon Young - Vicar of Bapchild -      The Spirit Blows Where It Will

Simon was due to give his talk “The spirit blows where it will”. Simon opened his talk saying that he had changed his mind and instead would be giving a talk about the depiction of Jesus in various works of art. He said that the Bible says nothing about what Jesus really looked like and that paintings generally showed him like a European which was probably not accurate,

Simon then ran through a number of well-known and lesser-known representations of Jesus in works of art and pointed out the salient points of each.

9 September 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

2 September 2024 - Mo Dunk - Chairman - Sittingbourne FC

Mo Dunk is Chairman of Sittingbourne FC and first watched them with his father in the 60’s. The Club was formed in 1886, became a Senior club in 1893 and Mo played for them for 3 years in the 70’s. He has been connected with many levels of football over the years and formed a team which moved to the Woodstock Club in 2001. In 2012 his team merged with Sittingbourne FC at Woodstock and all teams became Sittingbourne FC. In recent years the standing of the club has been transformed with improved sponsorship & bigger crowds.

Mo then explained his interest in music with his experience when he was young being turned into a very successful group in recent years, in demand both home & abroad.

Finally he mentioned his weekly presentations on BRFM plus his connection with Rotary Radio UK.

5 August 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

8 July 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

24 June 2024 - President Handover Meeting

2023/24 President Patrick Phillips gave a a review of the year and despite the lack of a single big event during the year the Club had managed to raise an impressive total of £13,350, all of which will be donated to community organisations. Patrick also thanked the Club for donating £1,000 to MND Association, his chosen charity for the year. He emphasized that the Club should continue to seek one substantial event which could be repeated year on year to raise continued significant funds. He also recognised the members of the Club who had given him significant assistance during the year. In addition he thanked the Freewheelers, led by Lyssa, who had raised a total of £2,618 for Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance.

Patrick then passed the chain of office to the 2024/25 President Janice Hook. We all wish Janice a highly successful year.

10 June 2024 - Business Meeting and Club Assembly

The monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

It was also the Club Assembly where President Elect Janice Hook made a presentation for the coming Rotary year 2024/25.. 

We also welcomed our new Assistant Governor Les Hoskins from the rotary Club of Erith.

3 June 2024 - Andy Thomas - Crop Circles Mystery

Andy outlined the history of crop circles from when they were first recorded in 1678, followed by the first known photograph of a crop circle in 1932. He then moved on to the more complex patterns that appeared from the 1970's onwards and showed that, despite arguments that they were man made, this was most unlikely from the evidence although it was very difficult to prove how else they could have been made. Many theories had been advanced as to how they could have occurred, from flying saucers to the geology of the land where they occurred (i.e. chalk in the UK) and maybe even climate change and solar change. Basically it is all still a mystery. Andy finished with a video of a crop circle appearing without any apparent human involvement and which has never been proved to be a fake.

13 May 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

29 April 2024 - Julie Camburn - Stroke Association

Julie is a Stroke Association Community Connector and gave an interesting and informative talk about stroke awareness and provided lots of facts and figures. 

The key roles of the Stroke Association are to support people to rebuild their lives, provide specialist support, fund research, campaign for people affected by strokes, volunteering and fundraising.

22 April 2024 - Ray Seager - District Governor

Ray started be congratulating the Club on all the initiatives to raise funds and help in the local community. He particularly liked the Club website and the Rotary Radio UK website. He made the point that he feels Rotary Radio UK is an under used resource within Rotary, something he will endeavour to rectify in the coming years.

He touched on new Rotary initiatives which will be launched shortly with a main aim of boosting membership.

On behalf of the Club Martin Williams made an amusing vote of thanks to Ray.

15 April 2024 - Martin Lukehurst - Job Talk

Club Member Martin Lukehurst who was joined by his daughter and joint managing director Kathryn, to give a job talk / history of the family retail furniture business. An amusing and entertaining talk which focused on the development of the business and the many obstacles they had to overcome to achieve the highly successful business as it is today.

8 April 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

18 March 2024 - Rob Gearing and Paul Nicholls - Nicholls Transport

The two speakers for the evening were Rob Gearing, Head of Commercial and Business Development and Paul Nicholls, Group Chairman from Nicholls Transport in Sittingbourne. They first showed a short film about the business which started in Rainham in 1961. In 1978 they moved to the Lydbrook Close site. After developing the Sittingbourne Retail Park site they moved to their current site at Sittingbourne Logistics Park.

Nicholls currently has 115 trucks and 385 trailers all fully owned and contracts with many FMCG companies. They have a number of eco projects in hand and aim by 2035 for their whole fleet to run on biomethane. They have their own workshop, apprenticeship scheme and have recently been appointed as a DVLA Authorised Testing Facility. They have achieved a 191% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and won several awards for their eco actions.

After answering several questions, a vote of thanks for a fascinating talk was given by Beverley Willis, the company being a shining example to others.

11 March 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees and allocate funds to deserving causes.

4 March 2024 - Roger Truelove - Politician and Author

An interesting talk was given by Roger Truelove, an ex-member of the Club,whose talk was entitled “Inside Left”. Roger had recently published an autobiography entitled “Inside Left” much of which was about his experiences in teaching and also his involvement with cricket. However for his talk he concentrated mainly on his involvement as leader of Swale Borough Council for the period 2019 to 2022 when no party was in overall control of the Council.

26 February 2024 - Jamie Beard - Medical Detection Dogs

Jamie went through the formation of the charity 16 years ago using a video of the dog which first showed detection was possible. All dogs are ‘super sniffers’ with a sense of smell 60 times more sensitive than humans. All breeds are capable but less excitable dogs are better suited to both Bio Detection (a dog which specialises in one particular disease) and Medical Alert Assistance (dog alerts owner when their health is deteriorating). Jamie then showed how the dogs were trained with a number of examples of how they are so good at detection i.e. for prostate cancer they detect 92% against the current test with a 50% success rate. They could be used in hospitals, at the border to stop malaria entering the country and even Covid. It is highly likely that technology will provide much better detection in the future but, for now, dogs could save money for the NHS in many areas. 

I very interesting and inspiring talk.

19 February 2024 - Our Club Presentations - John Robinson

Club member John Robinson presented the new presentations that a team of club members had developed. There are two presentations an auto presentation which runs continuously for when the club has a stand and a presentation for club members to deliver to groups and clubs to promote Rotary and our Club.

13 February 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

5 February 2024 - Cycle and Recycle - Adrian Oliver and Donna Seager

Adrian is the Borough Active Travel Coordinator and covered the development of foot and cycle paths across Swale and his efforts to publicise them and see them used much more often. This included coordinating access with public transport to the most scenic routes possible. A second string to his bow has been the collection of used bicycles and their reconditioning by inmates in HM Prison and their distribution as working bikes to those who need them most.

Donna outlined her responsibilities for managing the re-cycling of refuse in the borough and then provoked a very lively discussion by inviting questions that ranged from the general to the highly specific. She explained that adjacent authorities used different colour bins basically as their recycling targets differed. In Swale cross-contamination of recycling streams remains a significant challenge.

Both talks were highly entertaining and enjoyable.

15 January 2024 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

8 January 2024 - Si Ellsmore - COOK

Si Ellmore is Operations Director of COOK based in Sittingbourne. Si gave the background to the Company explaining that it is a frozen food company founded by the Perry family in 1997.The aim is to produce frozen food using the same ingredients and techniques that would be used at home so that everything looks and tastes homemade.

COOK has 800 employees in Sittingbourne and 1,400 across the country, 97 stores across the country plus 1,000 concessions. It also operates its home delivery function from Gillingham Business Park.

COOK is run on ethical and environmental lines and has a number of schemes for employees including the Raw Talent Scheme which helps people into work after prison, homelessness or other difficulties. This scheme helps between 15 and 25 people each year.

A very good talk from a very impressive Company.

4 December 2023 - Annual General Meeting and Business Meeting

The President reported on the year to date and officers of the club were elected for the year 2024/25.

At the monthly Business Meeting we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives and receive updates from committees and individuals..

27 November 2023 - Professor Martin Michaelis - Covid 19 

Professor Martin Michaelis who is Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Kent talked about the development of Covid 19. Michael spent the first part of his career in Frankfurt before coming to the University of Kent in 2011.

Martin ran through the history of viruses, first identified in 1892, virus being the traditional word for poison or filth. They came in various shapes and sizes and coronavirus was first identified in the 1960s. Martin outlined the development of SARS in the early part of this century. SARS – GV disappeared after a while because it did not transmit through the air; however SARS-COV2 did not because it was readily transmitted by asymptomatic patients

In answer to the question did we get our response right, we don’t know. We were unprepared, the political response was reactive and we should have been better prepared for the second wave when more data was available. We were also lucky that vaccines saved us and we don’t really know why vaccines were effective. In terms of what will happen next, we don’t know but there will probably be more serious variants but we do not know when or how serious.

20 November 2023 - Andrew Westby - Deputy Vice Chancellor University of Greenwich

Andrew gave a talk entitled “A Vice Chancellor’s Lot”. Andrew outlined his career to date which included involvement with the University of Greenwich for nearly 40 years. He quoted the vision for 2030 of the University to be “the best modern university in the UK” with the core values of inclusive, collaborative and impactful. He ran through the various demographics of the university and explained the function of the centres where the university is located – Greenwich, Medway and Eltham. Andrew explained his position as head of Research and Knowledge Exchange, focussing on impactful research and societal impact. He finished by giving some examples of the outcomes of the work performed at the university and also their involvement in the Growing Kent and Medway Project.

13 November 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also receive update reports from committees and indivduals.

30 October 2023 - Lyn Baxter - Job Talk

Lyn Baxter, founder member, needed no introduction for his job talk and the Club was pleased to welcome Simon who is Managing Director of Electroquip Ltd. Lyn ran through his career since leaving Sheerness Technical School and completing a five year electrical engineering apprenticeship. After joining the merchant navy with Cunard he joined Seeboard, then Abbott Laboratories, then a German company before spending five years in Singapore. Then 35 years ago he returned to the UK and set up Electroquip of which Simon is now the Managing Director. Lyn and Simon explained the business that Electroquip is in and passed around several of the strange looking components that they bought and sold which were in general a complete mystery to members of the Club.

16 October 2023 - David Barnes - RNLI

David Barnes is a Governor of the RNLI and a Water Safety Volunteer. In his talk he covered covered the history of the RNLI from its formation in 1824 as the National Institute for the Preservation of Life from Shipwrecks (NIPLS) to its present day activities as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. His talk included many pictures of the different vessels that the RNLI uses in its activities, including some films of the boats in action. 

9 October 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also here update reports from the various committees.

2 October 2023 - John Robinson - Job Talk

Club member John Robinson gave an entertaining talk about his career in Insurance and Risk Management he provided an insight as to how Risk Management worked in large companies. He also shared some interesting stories of his time working with some of the worlds largest organisations. 

25 September 2023 - Matt Tottle - 3D Modelling

Past member Matt Tottle spoke about Reality Capture 3D Laser Modelling. Matt gave an explanation of sonar and echo sounding through to his Lidar light scanner and various other scanning methods. He demonstrated how this had been used by him in the production of building and planning application drawings and drawings for manufacture. Matt then demonstrated his Lidar scanner by producing a scan of the meeting room at Hempstead House.

18 September 2023 - Dennis Spiller - Rotary Foundation and Rotary Regionalisation

Dennis spoke on two subjects the Rotary Foundation with an emphasis on where the money comes from and how it is spent and the Rotary Regionalisation Project to explain what it is intended to achieve. 

An excellent presentation which provided Members with clarity and a greater understanding of the subjects.

Image is Dennis Spiller with President Patrick Phillips.

11 September 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

7 August 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

Chris Porter was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship presented to him by Club President Patrick Phillips in recognition of his hard and imaginative work on community projects over many years beyond that usually expected of a Rotarian .

24 July 2023 - Sittingbourne Golf Club

Our meeting was at the golf club where the speaker for the evening was the Secretary of the Sittingbourne Golf Club, Steve Bootes. Steve gave a talk about all aspects of his role at the golf club. He has an interesting and diverse role and seems to be involved with most things going on at the club.

In addition the usual Sittingbourne Invicta business matters were discussed.

10 July 2023 - Business Meeting

The first Business Meeting of the new Presidential year and Patrick Phillips outlined the new structure of the Club Council. Members then provided updates of projects, events, visits and fundraising.

The second draw of the 50/50 draw was undertaken and the successful winners are:

First Prize: Iain Calder £172.50

Second Prize: Rob Fenton £  86.25

Third Prize: Jeff Hall £  28.75

26 June 2023 - Handover meeting - Presidential Year 2023/24

Rotary Club of Sittingbourne Invicta's new Presidential year 2023/24.  At the end of a splendid Rotary year outgoing president Penny Twaites places the Club in the safe hands of new president Patrick Phillips.  During Penny's year Sittingbourne Invicta supported many local community charities and organisations and provided donations to help Ukraine together with the funding of water projects in Africa 

12 June 2023 - Brainstorming Session

In addition to the usual updates from Committees and Members we conducted a brainstorming session to develop ideas for future fundraising events and club activities. It turned into a very productiive evening with lots of ideas being put forward.

5 June 2023 - Business Meeting and Club Assembly

The monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

It was also the Club Assembly where President Elect Patrick Phillips made a presentation for the coming Rotary year 2023/24. 

22 May 2023 - Simon Mulchinock - Rotary Hub Clubs

Simon provided an overview of how Hub Clubs will function, RIBI initially had a national hub with members paying subscriptions direct to RIBI. RIBI have more recently encouraged Districts to create their own hub. Simon is the coordinator for our district hub. This was started in March and has 14 members with an additional 2 potential members.

Simon considers one of his roles is to introduce his hub members to their local clubs. The hub club cannot have its own projects so should be considered as a resource for clubs to use for their own functions and events. It is possible that the hub members may migrate to normal clubs if they wish. A very interesting development which should provide benefits to our Club.

Simon pictured with Club President Penny.

15 May 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

We agreed to donate £2,500 to the Young Lives Charity, £1,000 to Sittingbourne Ukraine Hub and £1,000 to the Rotary Club of Hoorn 6T Project.  £227 was raised at the Tunstall Coronation Fete.

17 April 2023 - Fred Ross - Albert Figg WWII Veteran and Normandy Hill 112 

Fred spoke about Albert Figg, a WWII veteran, and the Normandy Hill 112. Fred began his talk by showing a short documentary, by the BBC, interviewing Albert Figg for local TV. He then related some personal anecdotes on his meetings with Albert.

Fred is pictured with the Club President Penny.

3 April 2023 - Annual General Meeting and Business Meeting

At the AGM the President reflected on all the good works the Club has completed in the past year and in particular the efforts in supporting Ukraine and Christmas Stockings for children. The President also mentioned many of the fundraising and social events the Club were involved with throughout the year. The President Elect then gave his vision for the coming year.

All of the other usual formalities of an AGM were completed.

The Business Meeting provided an update on fundraising, social events and Committee reports.

27 March 2023 - Paul Frostick - District Governor- District 1120

It was a pleasure to welcome District Governor Paul Frostick and Assistant District Governor Graham Forster to our Club. Paul gave a very inspiring talk and encouraged us all to re-energise the passion we had for Rotary when we joined the Club. He suggested that we investigate different forms of clubs and formalities and said that we need to promote ourselves as a Club.

13 March 2023 - Business Meeting

Tonight was the monthly Business Meeting where we discuss projects, events and fundraising initiatives. We also hear update reports from the various committees.

6 March 2023 - John Nurden - 40 Years of Spin and Wheezes

John started with a few autobiographical slides and then gave us some slides of spins and wheezes full of very amusing anecdotes. He finished by a list of ‘Journalese’ asking the club what the words might mean – we were mostly wrong!

The image left is John with Club President Penny.

27 February 2023 - Kevin Harper - District Judge

This was a Partners evening and Kevin gave a very interesting and amusing talk on how he had come to be a District Judge and his experiences in dealing with family law and the Court of Protection. On one occasion he sent someone to prison for hiding in a cupboard!

20 February 2023 - Raid by the Rotary Club of Faversham

On Monday evening the club members and their guests from the RC Faversham, were entertained by two speakers on widely different subjects. First up was Rtn John Fisher who updated the members on the situation with the End Polio Now campaign and was able to highlight a number of successes. He was followed by Rtn Steve Wood who entertained everyone with a light-hearted presentation about the work carried out on its trip boat Kingfisher Mark by the members of the Kingfisher Medway Trust. Several club members are part of the Kingfisher “crew” and they were very interested in the work carried out. The Rotarians from Faversham were also interested and promised to find groups who would be interested in a trip on the river Medway. 

13 February 2023 - Business Meeting

The meeting provided an update on all activities including fundraising and volunteering. The various committees provided reports of their progress and where donations are being made in the communities. Members agreed to fund (£1,180) two Shelter boxes in response to the Turkey Earthquake.

30 January 2023 - Mark Bathurst - Medway Queen Preservation Society

Mark Bathurst from the Medway Queen Preservation Society gave a very professional presentation on the history and restoration of the Medway Queen, including its involvement in the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation, its time as a nightclub at the Isle of Wight and the subsequent restoration on the Avon funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund before its return to the Medway.

23 January 2023 - Mary Smith - A Schoolgirl's War

Mary was a headmistress of Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, she gave a very interesting talk called A Schoolgirl’s War, regarding the air raid shelters in the school grounds as illustrated by the art teacher at the time in her War Diary 1939 - 1946.  

16 January 2023 - Business Meeting

The meeting provided an update on all activities including fundraising and volunteering. The various committees provided reports of their progress and where donations are being made in the communities.

9 January 2023 - Kevin Fielding - A Year in the Life of a Small Italian Olive Farm

A very interesting talk on a year in the life of a small olive farm. This included  a history of olive growing, an explanation of the different qualities of olive oil, the processes involved in extracting the oil and his year’s work at his four and a half acre Olive Grove Farm in Italy..

5 December 2022 - Special General Meeting and Business  Meeting 

The Special General Meeting elected new Officers for the 2023/24 Rotary Year.

Highlights from the Business Meeting:

• A report from a doctor in Ukraine highlighted the appalling conditions due to Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure. As a result the Club agreed to give £1,000 to the District 1120 Ukraine Fund to purchase generators for Ukraine.

• It is estimated that we will fill 350 Christmas Stockings for the children of Swale this year.

• Club members will be involved with the Meadowfield tree planting project during December.

• At the Marie Curie Collection we raised £427.35, the club agreed to round this up to £500.

21 November 2022 - M2/A249 Junction Project 

Daniel Rollinson and Matt Barnett Project Managers pictured with President Penny. Daniel started by giving a very detailed description of the four stages of a project:

• Pre-Project Strategy - shaping and priority.

• Options Phase - what problems are we trying to solve

• Development Phase  - appoint contractor, survey and design

• Construction Phase -  completion Winter 2024

Matthew then explained how the project tackled environmental and ecological concerns. Also how National Highways have continually had meetings with local communities, residents, local councils and local businesses. An excellent and well illustrated talk.

14 November 2022 - Business Meeting 

The meeting provided an update on all activities including fundraising and volunteering. The various committees provided reports of their progress and where donations are being made in the communities.

7 November 2022 - Kresse Wesling of Elvis & Kresse

Kesse began with a short biography, coming to the UK in 2004 from Canada via Hong Kong. She gave a very brief resume of the starting of her recycling business, which started by repurposing redundant London Fire Brigade fire hoses.The business now repurpose15 types of materials.

They have now moved to a farm near Painters Forstall, where they have introduced recycling and conservation very seriously and created a straw bale ‘passive’ work space, a wetlands sewage system and a vineyard. A very environment friendly business and an interesting talk. Please take a look at their website: www.elvisandkresse.com/ 

31 October 2022 - Dr Paul Staker - The History of Medicine 

Dr Paul gave a very interesting talk on the History of Medicine. In the short time he was allotted he made a whistle stop tour of the last few thousand years from Hippocrates “Hippocratic Oath” to the present day. The talk was well illustrated and was full of amusing facts, with the occasional gory detail.

17 October 2022 - Warm Care Package - Age UK / Brainteasers Quiz

Chris Bunting gave an interesting update on the Warm Care Package run by Age UK. This was followed by a Steve Wood quiz based on the brainteasers he has used in recent weeks on his Rotary Radio UK Show. 

10 October 2022 - Business Meeting

Some important decisons were made at this meeting including providing funding for projects in Ukraine, Sanctuary Supported Living and Meadowfield School. Planning updates were provided for future projects and events.

3 October 2022 - Vanessa Adenowo - RYLA 

Vanessa and Victoria are the daughters of club member Yetunde Adenowo and both of them recently attended RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).  Vanessa gave a very entertaining talk about her experiences at RYLA and the challenges and tasks she had to complete.. There was also a lot of emphasis on food! 

3 October 2022 - John Robinson - New Website and Social Media

In the second talk of the evening John explained the importance of up to date websites and social media. He also provided a guided tour of the new club website.

26 September 2022 -Trevor Arnold - Ukraine

Our speaker at this meeting was Trevor Arnold who has completed two humanitarian trips to Ukraine and is planning a third in November. He is collecting donated goods, almost anything as the need in Ukraine is so great. He talked about the groups and people he met and there were some amazing uplifting stories in what is a desperate situation.

12 September 2022 - Business Meeting

After an enjoyable buffet dinner we heard reports from the Chairs of committees of the progress being made. The good news is we are continuing to improve the situation in our local, national and international communities.

5 September 2022 - Russ Hughes - Job Talk

We had a very entertaining talk about the diverse career of Russ Hughes one of our Members. Russ talked about Teacher Training and teaching Craft (woodworking) at a number of schools. He then started his own Exhibition Stand business. From there he moved to various hospitals teaching and developing Occupational Therapy. A varied and rewarding career that provided him with great satisfaction.