Hospice District Grant
14th July 2020 – our Chair of Community Services, Charlie Toner, attended the presentation of a
Rotary Global Grant of £17,586 to the Hospice of St Francis. Chair of Rotary District 1260 Global
Grants Committee, Paul Denton, organised this grant to help 5 Hospices in our District with Covid-19
related costs.
For St Francis - apart from our donation of £6,000 - 4 other clubs made a donation: Hemel,
Amersham, Chesham, and Harpenden. So the end result was satisfactory with our £6000 becoming
£17,586.
The other 4 hospices all received grants ranging from £4000 to £8000 - so well done to District.
Mercy Ships
Our Club donation of £3,000 to Mercy Ships made earlier this year, together with other Rotary Clubs in our District and beyond, has helped
trigger a US$1.25 million Global Grant from Rotary International Foundation. This will be used to purchase and install medical equipment in the
new ship Global Mercy which is currently under construction.
The RI Foundation is the source of all Global and District Grants and is funded by contributions from 35,000+ clubs
worldwide, including our own.
To remind – further information on Global Mercy together with details of the proven operational model which Mercy
Ships have developed and honed over the last 40+ years is at Global Mercy.
Below are brief messages of acknowledgement and thanks to our Club from Paul Denton who has driven and navigated this outcome with
huge persistence and dedication and Debbie Hodge Past President of RIBI. Our thanks too to our very own Rob Ferneyhough for initiating our
RCBB participation. This is Rotary at its best.
Message from District 1260’s Paul Denton
I am sure you will be delighted to hear that the Mercy Ships Global Grant has been approved, the biggest ever granted, $1.125 million. We are
now in the process of sorting out the details of equipment list and the flow of funding. With Covid-19 there are some challenges, but once we
have more to share we will be in touch. In the meantime thank you for joining in and please see the note from Past President Rotary Great
Britain and Ireland, Debbie Hodge below.
Primary Contact International Partner GG1988620 Mercy Ships
Debbie's message
Little acts of kindness and generosity make a huge difference in an individual’s life, but join up all that kindness and generosity and you can
change the lives of whole communities, whole nations and even a whole continent. This Global Grant of 1.125 million dollars will do that! It will
change the health outcomes in every country the Global Mercy visits and the legacy will be seen for generations to come. From Inspiration, to
Connecting the World, and now Rotary Opens Opportunities to bring surgical care, education and training to West Africa. Thank you to the
Grants Team of District 1260 and all who made contributions, and the Mercy Ships team - our partners in making a difference.
Youth Speaks!
Pictured are the Youth Speaks team from Ashlyns School Berkhamsted that participated in the Rotary District 1260 Senior Final for students
aged between 14 to 17 years. The final was held at Vandyke Upper School, Leighton Buzzard on Wednesday 26th February 2020.
For the third year in a row Ashlyns from Berkhamsted won through to the District 1260 final, having come through our local heat organised
jointly with the Rotary Club of Hemel Hempstead. This was no mean feat considering that the Ashlyns teams were amongst the youngest
entering the competition
The other five finalists, who, like Ashlyns, had come through their own local heats and District
Semi Final, came from schools across Herts, Beds and Bucks. The event was run under its new
debate format and proved to be a fascinating evening. The diverse range of subjects debated
were:
Ashlyns School
Britain’s Responsibility in the World
Roundwood Park School.
Life is not a Competition
Samuel Whitbread Academy
Is Feminism outdated in the 21st Century?
Mark Rutherford
Are we heading towards a Dystopian Society?
Dame Alice Owen
Does the U.K. have a Democratic Deficit?
Bishop’s Hatfield Girls
Are Single Sex Schools more effective than Co-Education?
The content and the standard of presentation from all participants was nothing short of breath
taking; there were very few notes in evidence from any of the teams. All teams did themselves and their school proud. In an incredibly close
competition the winning team going through to the Regional Final to be held in Cambridge on 21st March was Roundwood Park School from
Harpenden. Congratulations to them and indeed to everyone who took part.
Santa raises £9500!
A BIG thank you to all the collectors who helped last December – all 180 of
them! There were some 24 organisations involved and both collectors and the
residents seemed to enjoy Santa and his new brightly lit sleigh.
From the Festival of Light on 24th November, Santa went out almost every night
in December up to Christmas and the static float beside the Christmas Tree on
Christmas Eve was especially popular for photos of the children with Santa.
On 14th January, Berkhamsted Rotary were able to distribute the money raised,
some £9500, to the participating organisations including St Mary’s Northchurch,
Swan Youth Centre, ATC, Ashlyns School, The Vale Musical Society, DENS, Take 2
Tangent, Westfield Parents Association, Happy Days, Home Start Herts, Daisy
Cave Foundation, Gaddesden Place RDA, Berkhamsted FC, Berkhamsted Inner
Wheel, Bridgewater School Association, Little Gaddesden School, Girl Guides,
1st Berkhamsted Scouts, the Hockey Club, Potten End School, Potten End
Scouts, Great Gaddesdon School, the Glee Club and the Pepper Foundation.
The Sleigh Committee is already beginning planning Santa’s December 2020
visit and would welcome new groups to help and raise funds the local
community organisation. Applications should be made by email to:
berkosantasleigh@gmail.com
Tools for Self Reliance
Peter Wilkinson hands a cheque for £500 to Tony and colleagues to help run Tools for Self
Reliance a small charity that provides a safe and caring working environment where
volunteers, including those with Learning Disabilities, can refurbish donated old tools
transforming them into working tool-kits for onward distribution to developing countries.
We thank you folk in Berkhamsted who help us to help them by donating your unwanted
tools for us to process. If you have any unwanted tools please contact Rotarian Peter
Wilkinson on 07816 863216 and we will collect them.
Wheelpower
At the Guttman Stadium Stoke Mandeville, President Derek hands a cheque for £1000 to CEO
Martin McElhatton with Wheelpower fund raiser Leah Lewis looking on. The charity provides
opportunities for disabled people with spinal injuries to play sport and lead healthy active lives.
Our donation helps Wheelpower refurbish the sports wheelchairs vital to their mission to carry
on the work of Dr Ludwig Guttman founder of the Paralympics.
Check out this fantastic charity at https://www.wheelpower.org.uk/
Swan Youth Project (SYP)
President Derek was pleased to hand a cheque for £1500 to SYP Chairman
Melanie Llewellyn to help them purchase the equipment they need to re-
engineer their current Computer Room. The Swan Youth Project provides
excellent youth services in the heart of Berkhamsted, a meeting place where
local teenagers can enjoy being each other’s company, join in various activities,
relax and broaden their horizons. It is housed in the old Swan Hotel/pub. Swan
Youth Project are changing their name soon so watch out for announcements.
In the meantime check out https://www.theswanyouthproject.co.uk/
Leprosy Mission
We have supported Heal Nepal via the Leprosy Mission to the tune of £2500 which
has attracted matched funding from the UK Government. This allowed the mission
to purchase a motor bike and laptop for outreach into remote areas of Nepal.
See the we have recently received about this particular project.
Dacorum Young Artists
This competition, a combined effort by the Arts Societies and Rotary Clubs in Dacorum, aims to
encourage art in primary schools, specifically in years 4 & 5. There are no themes and few rules so
busy schools can enter the pictures that their pupils are producing during the academic year.
Sixteen schools took part in 2019 All 400 entries were displayed at Astley Cooper School in Hemel
Hempstead. There was a “Best in School” trophy for each school besides the prizes for the best
three paintings overall. Every child who had an entry received a certificate.
Overall winner Oscar Baker of Bridgewater School Berkhamsted is shown here receiving his First
Prize and a gift voucher for £60 from the Mayor of Dacorum Rosie Sutton.
Although the 2020 competition had to be cancelled, DYA 2021 has just been launched as an online
competition and within a few weeks, 24 schools had registered. Well done Dacorum primary and
special school teachers - especially in these difficult times!
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