Chatterbox 0612 - Rotary Club of Belper

MISCELLANY
St John’s Primary School Fayre
On Saturday 16th June Dave and Gail Ashley re-connected with Belper St John’s
School by having a Rotary stall at their annual Summer Fayre. You may recall
that last year Dave helped them out teaching the younger children gardening for
which the club made a small donation for some gardening equipment.
At the Fayre the stall held various Rotary literature and there was a working
Aquabox on display. In addition they made good use of Peter Davies’s “Pitch &
Putt” game, which proved to be very popular with young and old alike, almost to
the extent that one or two people seemed to be addicted to it.
Despite poor weather, the end result was that after deducting expenses
for prizes we were able to make a donation of £27 to the school Parents, Teachers
and Friends Association. I understand that on the day the total raised was in excess
of £2,500.
Involvement with community groups such as this can do us nothing but
good. Several people expressed interest in what Rotary does and one person has
since been in touch offering to be a speaker at one of our meetings.
Cycle Proficiency Training
After a gap of one year we were once again invited by The Pottery Primary School
to assist them by giving Cycle Proficiency Training. During May and June therefore
a small but dedicated team of trainers and helpers went in on half a dozen
occasions to train about 35 children in safer riding on their cycles. Many thanks to
everyone involved.
As always the training was very well received by the school and the children
themselves. (Maybe it is something to do with having an hour or so out of
school!) As part of the deal to go in and do the training Dave Ashley was also invited
in to speak to the whole school at two Assemblies. Dave chose to talk about
Aquabox and after the two Assemblies he was presented with a cheque for £100
that the school asked be forwarded to Aquabox.
Once again this demonstrates the value of our involvement with schools;
not only does it perform a wonderful service to the children involved, it also spreads
the word of Rotary and assists us with our charitable endeavours. The other schools
in the area receiving Cycle Proficiency Training are the William Gilbert Endowed
Primary School in Duffield and the Herbert Strutt Primary School in Belper.
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