Index

Rotary District Challange 2014 East Kilbride v Cumnock

The Stewartfield Farm was the venue for the first round of the Rotary District 1230 Club Challenge when the challengers, Cumnock Rotary Club, visited East Kilbride.

The evening was concluded with an excellent finger buffet provided by the Stewartfield Farm during which the East Kilbride team of John Cardno, Archie King, George McGraw, Frank McLuskey, Ray Porrelli and Iain Wiseman again enjoyed the “craic” with the Cumnock Rotarians.The team now look forward to hosting Renfrew Rotary Club in the next round.

Rotary Garden Party

Roddy Shanks and his wife Kath once again held their Garden party and were successful in raising over £300

East Kilbride Rotary Club President , Archie King, thanked David and Gail Brown and Jim Moretti for organising the AM/AM,

A very generous sum of £5300 was raised and will be shared between Dementia care at Pine Crescent and the Rotary Club's "Toys for Kids".

Youth Speaks Winners in Both classes were Duncanrig High School We had 9 entries in total an increase from last Year our thanks goes to Leslie Iirvine for putting it all together with once aqgain the venue being the engineering training centre

The Annual dance was held this year in the Bruce hotel East Kilbride Numbers were down from previous years it was still a successful evening

Christmas Presents from Clyde Importers collected on the 1st Of Dec 2014 cost this year £3600 Rotarians Ian Macpherson, Archie King, David Brown, Jim Moretti & Ian Wiseman were involved Help also came from Chesapeake Packaging a local company

£5560 donated to Water Aid tht came from Malcolm Clark's Donation

Visit from pupils from the local secondary schools

Annual clean up at Calderglen park organised by East Kilbride Rotary club plus bulb planting with Sanderson High school

Roddy Shanks is welcoming the member's to a garden party at his home.

Exclusive sponsored walk with a definite bright yellow twist. It’s all about having fun, dressing in yellow, raising funds and making a tangible difference to local people with cancer.

6 members planted over 2 days 350 trees at Hunter Primary school assisted by the pupils Roddy Shanks,Russel Gill, Ray Porrelli, Archie King, Eddie Robertson George McGraw

Burns Competition held on the 9th of March 2015 once again results will follow.

Help from the following Rotarians was appreciated Russell Gill,George McGraw,Ray Porrelli,Archie King,David Brown,Roddy Shanks,Ian Macpherson

Club won the Jewal Curling Trophy at Perth, team was Jack Blackwood, Jim Anderson,Jim Moretti and R Rollo who came From Bothwel l& Uddingston R.C this was allowed under the rules of the competition

The club yet again successful in winning the Garside National curling trophy our team was Jm Moretti George McGraw, Ray Porrelli & Jack Blackwood

Rhu rophy won by Liam Donnelly

President's Speech on remitting office 19th June 2015

One of my first duties as President was to attend the District Conference at Tulliallan Castle with Enid where we were brought up to date with the latest thinking within Rotary and heard a number of excellent speakers including Karyn McLuskey, Director of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit of Police Scotland, Olivia Giles from the charity 500miles and EK's own Brian Boyd, Emeritus Professor of Education at Strathclyde University. Needless to say the social aspect of the conference resulted in catching up with old friends and meeting some new ones too!

In February we enjoyed an excellent evening as guests of Strathaven Rotary Club at their annual Burns Supper.

Our annual Dinner Dance in November was held in the Bruce Hotel. Numbers were disappointing but those present had a very enjoyable evening none the less. I was delighted to use the occasion as an opportunity to present a Paul Harris award to Mrs Pamela Clark for her generous contributions to the General Fund.

We all enjoyed Roddy and Kath's Garden Party on a lovely afternoon where over £300 was raised for Foundation and other charities.

Last August Barclay Wales resigned for personal reasons and likewise Andrew Fergusson last month. Both gentleman received our thanks for their many years of loyal and valuable service to the club.

We have 2 new members this year- Charlie Devennie and Ian Henshaw to whom we extend a very warm welcome.

During this year there has been a large number of disasters worldwide - a mixture of natural and manmade that have filled the news and required a response from the world's charities. We, as a rotary club have responded on a number of these occasions with monies for shelter boxes to the Philippines, Syria, Sierra Leone and Liberia. In East Africa we were able to make a quick response by bypassing the bureaucratic delays through our contact with the Rotary Club of Marlowe who had connections in Sierra Leone at grassroots. This enabled us to get regular updates on how our contributions were being used.

The Am/Am Golf Competition and the Quiz Night at East Kilbride Golf Club raised several thousand £s and this went to our worthy causes Dementia Care at Pine Crescent and 'Toys for Kids' at Christmas .

Thanks to David and Gail Brown and Jim Moretti for organising the Am/Am.

Last Sunday morning George McGraw and I were at the Wishing Well where we handed over cheques to the East Kilbride Youth Disability Trust and the Twins and Triplets Club. This year the Wishing Well fund disbursed over £830 to 8 local causes. Earlier today the amount raised since its inception 8 years ago reached £10,000 and I presented a gift card for £25 to Oliver Freeman Ferguson aged 4 and his Gran who crossed the £10,000 line. The voucher was donated by Jim Anderson's Cleaning and Wipe Wholesale Suppliers.

Our Youth Speaks and Burns Competitions have continued to attract increasing numbers of entries from local schools.

Duncanrig High School won both Junior and Senior Competitions of Youth Speak. They progressed to the District finals at Pollokshaws Borough Halls where they gave a good account of themselves with mature and well reasoned arguments and were unfortunate not to progress further. Thanks to Leslie Irvine for Organising this.

The judges at the Burns Competition at the Ballerup Hall were most impressed with the continuing improvements in all disciplines.

Thanks to Bruce Gunn for organising this event.

In May the 2 winners of the Euroschola Competition came along to the club to give us a very revealing insight and interesting presentation about their trip to Strasburg. They emphasised that their experience and participation had changed their views on what they now wanted to do. As a result, members of the club may reconsider funding this competition next year.

Thanks to Ray Porrelli for overseeing this competition.

The Rhu Trophy took place at Drumpellier Golf Club and was a great success with Liam Donnelly winning the competition. Amongst the visitors taking part were potential new members for our club - watch this space!

As a result of winning the Willy Stott and Coronation Trophy last year we had to host the competition yesterday at Buchanan Castle where thankfully we did not repeat our win! The District Governor was on hand to present the trophies and a good day was had by all.

Thanks to George and Frances McGraw for a smooth and well run event.

£350 was raised from the raffle for the victims of the Nepal earthquakes.

Curling had another successful year with the club winning both the Garside National Trophy and the Jewal Trophy.

On the social front we hosted the first round of the District Sports Challenge at the Stewartfield Farm when we beat Cumnock. We were subsequently put out by Eastwood in the second round. Thanks to George McGraw and Jim Moretti

We arranged dates with Calderglen High School as usual to tidy up Calderglen with the pupils and staff but unfortunately had to abandon it this year due to adverse weather conditions on the various Saturdays in Autumn and Spring that we had arranged it for.

We were however able to get involved with Sanderson High School planting bulbs in the school grounds and taking a group of 20 pupils to tidy up at the back of the school during class time.

In addition as part of our 50th Anniversary Celebrations, 6 members planted 350 trees at Hunter Primary School helped by each pupil in the school.

Thanks to Roddy Shanks for overseeing and managing these activities.

This leads me nicely to my final act as President.

It gives me great pleasure to bestow a Paul Harris Award this afternoon to a Past President who has done sterling work over the years - Roddy Shanks.

Roddy rejoined the club in 2004 having been nominated by Eddie Robertson ( unfortunately Eddie has hurt his back and is unable to be here today) He was already well known to members through his role as piper for the club.

He enjoyed a successful year as President in 2011.

In collaboration with Tom Wilson he has organised very enjoyable walks in various locations, first doing a reckie to check whether the terrain would suit our varying degrees of fitness before organising the outing.

He put in place and assisted in the building and sitting of the Wishing Well in 2007 and it is fitting that today as previously mentioned the total money raised reached £10,000 since its inception.

He has put his horticultural skills and expertise to good use by forging strong links with the local community through a number of initiatives. He began by involving club members in cleaning up Calderglen then extended the scheme to involve pupils and teachers in local schools.

He organised the planting of 5000 crocus bulbs in front of the Civic Centre to raise cash for Polio Plus.

He has also planted bulbs around the zoo area at Torrance House with the involvement of Blacklaw Primary pupils

As part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations he organised the planting of 250 trees at Hunter Primary School grounds in atrocious conditions in April. Even though the weather was bad, it was a fun activity for all concerned.

He and I helped to raise money for Cancer Research by taking part in the two and a half hour Beatson walk from the Glasgow Transport Museum past the Beatson Hospital through the West End before their transfer to the new Southern General Hospital. This was one of the final fundraising activities for the Beatson.

During this time, he has also been the mainstay of the East Kilbride Pipe Band and has found time to act as coach for young pipers and to judge at various competitions throughout Scotland and the UK .

Added to this, he became involved as a member, and later a chairman, of the Childrens Panel in East Kilbride and South Lanarkshire.

He has given of his time to help read the EK News for the Talking Newspapers for the Blind Association

Roddy and Kath have hosted several garden parties to raise cash for Rotary Foundation and other charities - occasions much enjoyed by everyone.

Roddy has worked tirelessly for the club for many years and embodies the ideals of Rotary. He richly deserves this Award.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have enjoyed my time as President and would like to thank everyone for their help and support throughout my year in office especially John Cardno, Ian Craig, Ian Mcpherson, Bruce Gunn, David Brown and the other members of the Board.

Now to our new President - there is not much I need say about Ian Macpherson that you don't already know. He is the first President to serve for a second term, having been President in 1984 and '85. Outwith Rotary, he has served as member and chairman of East Kilbride Sports Council and South Lanarkshire College through its crucial rebuilding and its growth into a College with an International reputation. As we all know, he is an expert on Burns. The Club will be in safe hands and I look forward to the Club going from strength to strength during the 50th anniversary celebrations being organised by him.

WISHING WELL 2014-2015 REport http://ekrotaryhistory.co.uk/Wishing%20Well%202011-12.html

Donations to the Well during the Rotary Year 2014-15 totalled £1,367.87, which was 15% up on the previous year, and the largest total since its opening year of 2007-08. This also took the total raised to 30th June to £10,055.22, or 164,519 coins. Two thirds of this total number were 1p and 2p coins, a testament to the number of boys and girls who regularly donate their "pennies"

A £10,000 target was reached on 19 June, just eight years and one day since its official opening. The coins that took the total past the £10,000 mark were donated by two and half year old Ollie Freeman Ferguson, a regular Well contributor, and he, along with his Gran, were given presentation gifts to celebrate the occasion.

A total of £1,300 was disbursed during the year to seven groups working in East Kilbride, and one resident of the town. (See photos of some of the recipients being presented with their cheques at the Well.)