Index

Press Release14/06/10

Our speaker on the 11th June 2010 was Hugh O'Neill a graduated Civil Engineer who has taken up a second career when he decided that he needed a new challenge in life. So off he went, back to university to take a suitable degree that allowed him to become a member of the Blue Guide Badge Brigade (a strange title), but his talk was highly topical when he described in detail how he is one of 300 in Scotland who give personal accompanied tours around Scotland to tourists to our country. A highly interesting talk with some considerable humour.

With their meeting over Rotarians were praying for good weather as they headed off for their 24 hour walk in the East Kilbride Relay Life24 hour walk for Cancer Research being held at the Jon Wright Sports ground and as a result of this managed to raise the sum of £12,000 overall a good week for all concerned

Press Release07/06/10

East Kilbride Rotary Club held their fourth Power Point competition for Secondary Schools this year on the 3rd of June, our three East Kilbride Schools participated. Their task was that they had to research and develop a Power Point presentation on Renewable Energy Sources, contestants had to be 3rd year pupils and with a maximum of 5 team members.

The duration of their presentation had to last no longer than 12 minutes.

Our venue was by courtesy of the Engineering Group Training Centre who we must thank for their assistance and use of their facilities

Participating schools were

Calderglen High represented by Rachel Mack, Lauren McFadzen, Cameron Ross, Caroline Shearton, Ashley Stewart.

Duncanrig High - Hayley Crawford, Calum McKechnie, Calum McLean, Katie Marzella, Molly Robinson.

St Andrew's and St Bride's - Niamh Conlon, Kate Neary, Becky Russell.

Judges: Jim Holmes EKGTA, Raymond Lyon, Kittoch Rotary Club, Eddie Robertson, East Kilbride Rotary Club

The winning school was St Andrew's and St Bride's who received their prize from Linda Fabiani MSP

Who was Donald Duck Then!!!

On a recent visit down south East Kilbride Rotarian Roddy Shanks tried to claim a visit to a Rotary Club that met on a particular day but to his dismay their web site was not up to date as they had moved to another hotel.

But not to be defeated he sought out another Club only to find out that they were having a charity duck race .

Now the rest of Roddy's tale may or may not be true but I am led to believe that a leading light of the said Rotary Club went by the name of Mr DUCKY and he refused to were the costume.

Now by chance there was a true Rotarian from East Kilbride who volunteered his services for others.

This proved to be a very popular decision and if it was Roddy in the outfit he spent a very pleasurable2 hours keeping the children amused and at the same time helping to make the event highly successful Well Done Roddy and although you did not visit another club I am sure Brian will record a visit to your credit if it was you under the costume (Took a little editorial liberty on this one Roddy congratulations a job well done.......Editor)

Plus I understand that no real duck was harmed during the race, although one or two them had a go at the plastic ones!

Press Release 22/05/10

On Friday the 21st May East Kilbride Rotary Club prepared itself for the commencement of the new Rotary year that starts on the beginning of July when the old team remit office and the new team take up the reins under our new Club President Roddy Shanks who now has his new team under his wings just eager to tackle the problems that they may be faced with. With Roddy as President he has Leslie Irvine as the Clubs Vice President, Club Treasurer Ian Craig, Club Secretary Tom Wilson

Service Projects Committee:

Jack Blackwood (Convener)

Ray Porrelli (Co-convener)

George Ferguson, Henry Doig, David Taylor, Bob Duncan, Jim Moretti,

Liam Donnelly, Willie Mack, Ian Wiseman, Ian Macpherson, George Gunn, John McCafferty, John McKie, John Cardno, Frank McLuskey

Membership Committee:

David Brown (Convener)

Alan Rae, Ben Miloudi, John Murphy, John Morning, Barclay Wales

Rotary Foundation Group:

Andrew Ferguson (Rotary Foundation Officer)

Barry Wood, Edwin Robertson

Publicity and Marketing:

Edwin Robertson(Convener)

John Cardno, David Brown

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East Kilbride Rotary club had a party of 18 take part in their twinning link with Ballerup Rotary Club from the 13-16th of May and no amount of Icelandic ash managed to defer this bi-annual get together taking place that has been ongoing for the past 30 years. This link between the two nations has just grown in stature over these years

Our first part of the programme seen us attending an official Rotary meeting that lasted 1 hour this was followed by a superb meal in the hotel coupled with the renewal of old acquaintances and the making of new ones . The next day we had the statutory cultural city tour but this time they hired a canal barge and did we see the sights coupled of course with the compulsory beers and food. We did have a few hours to ourselves on the Friday for shopping or a rest which ever was the ones particular need was. In the evening we were hosted by the Danes at their respective homes.

Saturday was recuperation day, as believe me, all of us were beginning to flag a little and we knew that the a big night was still to come.

Have you ever experienced having a dinner dance in an extremely large greenhouse surrounded by hundreds of stored shrubs and mature trees and dancing on a mono block floor?

Believe me it was an experience that was enjoyed not only by us but also by the Danes

The band were great, plus the music was not excessively loud. The food that was prepared by Ballerup Rotarian chef Claus Johnsrud and his sister with of course much appreciated help from Ballerup Rotarians and their wives.

Sunday was a day of rest for one and all with a final lunch at Tivoli Gardens on the Sunday followed by a journey home Ash or no Ash from Iceland.

Press Releaseo 8/05/10

East Kilbride Rotarians had their X Factor entertainment at their Friday lunch, when they were entertained by the winners of the Clubs recent Primary School Burns competition. The winners excelled in their presentations and everyone was well pleased in what they had all achieved.

Mount Cameron School were represented by Mr McDougal father of one of the contestants Lauren McDougal who recited "She's Daen it Again" this was followed by a song from Holly Clyde that went under the title of a "Skyscraper Wean", Joanna MacKinnon brought along her violin to give a rendering of "Calum's Road"

Long Calderwood teacher Maureen Potter brought along Sarah Errol who gave a recitation of "The Joyful Widower" and lastly St Louise's teacher Lorraine Clark brought a singer by the name of Sophie Cowling who Sang "Ye banks And Braes".

All in all another successful event sponsored by East Kilbride Rotary Club

Press Releaseo22/04/10

On Sunday 18th April, the Annual East Kilbride Rotary Club Ramble took place. Our group of 13 hardy souls set off at 9 a.m. to travel to Kilbarchan. The weather looked like it was going to be kind to us but that view faltered a bit as we drove through rain in Glasgow. However, we arrived in Kilbarchan amid dry sunny weather and were all in good heart as we set off along the Walk/Cycle path towards Kilbirnie, only six and a half miles to go. We soon settled in to our little groups and appeared to be using as much energy talking as walking! We were out in the country in no time with views of the hills and fields opening up on all sides. The first point of interest was the ruins of Castle Semple, which we were able to read about on the information board.

As we got to the visitor centre at Lochwinnoch it was time for a pit stop (unfortunately the bar was not open), but we were all intrigued with the Model Sailing Ship race that was going on in the loch (Barry was very impressed and is now a potential member!) Off again and on the home straight. We pass the ruins of John Castle (not Cardno) and have good views over Lochwinnoch. As we all gather at the pick up point we experience some difficulty in getting the coach driver to realise where we are, but this is where mobile phones come in very handy.

A short drive and we all breathe a sigh of relief as we pull up outside the Uplawmoor Hotel where we were looked after very well. A relaxed lunch with some light refreshment was enjoyed by all!

AND NOT A HILL IN SIGHT!!!!!!!

Press Release11/04/10

Helen Morrison, a trustee for the St Petersburg Forum explained the beginnings of the Trust, which was founded in 1995 to providing training for palliative care in St Petersburg. Responsibility for this work was subsequently assumed by the state authorities, and the Trust started its current work with three orphanages for disabled children.

It also works to develop educational and cultural projects with the students of St Petersburg, and in 2009 this included an English written essay competition which, in the Homecoming Year, was naturally linked to Robert Burns. Remarkably, this was won by a fourteen year old, Seraphima Necheva who visited Scotland in September when, amongst many other visits, she went to Holyrood where she read her essay to a very impressed First Minister.

Helen thanked the members, and Past President Frank McLuskey in particular, for the financial support which partly enabled this visit to take place, and presented the Club with a disc of Seraphima reading her essay, plus a commemorative first day issue envelope.

Press Release 08/03/10

On the 30th April we have President Ray Porrelli with our speaker Morna Ferguson and Past President Henry Doig who gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the Rotary Club members. Morna is an Assistant. Guide Commissioner in West Lanarkshire who hailed from Cambuslang but now resident in Aberfoyle her association with the Guide Movement goes back many years and her talk was on the work that is being done in Ghana by Scottish Guides and what they have achieved over the past twenty years. The whole concept of going to Africa in the first place was an attempt to keep the 18 to 25 year olds focused on achieving things in their lives. This year a party of 18 guides will be going to give of their time and expertise to provide much needed services in Ghana take part. An excellent presentation

Press Release15/03/10

On the 13th March James McVittie spoke to the Rotary club on his involment with the Scottish Education Department in the development & implementation of changes to the Scottish Education system with respect to the curriculum, all coming under the title of his talk "Forms of Achievement"

Rotarians in attendance as employers listened intently to what there guest speaker was saying, especially to the changes relative to skills other than sitting examinations and gaining certificates was concerned. Vote of thanks was delivered by the clubs speaker secretary Archie King.

On a more leisurely note East Kilbride Rotarians enjoyed their annual Clay Pigeon Shot organized by Rotarian Jack Blackwood the overall winner of the event was Past President John Cardno. From the shoot Rotarians then progressed to the Axe throwing competition that was won by Senior vice president Roddy Shanks this was followed by a retirement to the local Strathaven brewery for some respite.

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Rotary Regional Young Chef Final March 13th, 2010-03-14

Gastronomic Feast at South Lanarkshire College

The regional finals for the prestigious Rotary Young Chef were held at South Lanarkshire College on Saturday 13th March.

Six schools from all parts of Scotland participated in this event, Jax Catto from St Columba’s High Kilmacolm, Natasha Macpherson from Kirkcudbright Academy, Fraser Cleghorn from Inveralmond High School, Caitlin Grainger from Charleston Academy Inverness, Blair Wilson from Auchmuty High Glenrothes and Kirsty Immel from Calderglen High East Kilbride.

Ishbel Anderson of South Lanarkshire College welcomed John Tuck, the Rotary organizer; the young Chefs, Parents, Friends and Rotarians then John Tuck introduced the 3 judges prior to starting the competition.

Commencing promptly at 12.30 the young chefs were allocated one hour for preparation including dressing their tables and then a further 2 hours to cook, plate and serve a 3 course meal.

Parents and friends who came along to support the schools were treated to soup, tea, coffee scones and many other treats supplied free of charge by the college and attended to by college students. All this was arranged by Catherine Purcell of South Lanarkshire College who was also very much involved with the organising of the kitchens and dining rooms for the event.

The Judges Cecilia Young, Lecturer at Telford College, Edinburgh, Liz Fairbairn, Retired Lecturer and David Auchie, Lecturer in food production at the college and also a Master Chef of Great Britain took 20 minutes to taste the food and appraise the table settings and presentations. However, due to the very high level of skill of all 6 chefs it took them another 40 minutes to select the eventual winner, Caitlin Grainger from Charleston Academy.

Liz Fairbairn commented on the extremely high standard and the acute attention to detail.

Kirsty Immel of Calderglen High, coached by her teacher Nicole Burns, produced a super menu with a starter of Salmon Tartar ( laced with Vodka) main course of chicken breast stuffed with haggis and wrapped with Parma ham and a mouth watering desert of Cranachan (laced with whisky). She also had a bottle of Drambuie on the table but none of this appeared to influence the judges.

The winner’s trophy was trophy was presented to Caitlin by to Grainger by Rotary District Governor, Andy Slater with each young chef receiving a certificate.

Caitlin is now one of 8 students from schools across Great Britain and Ireland who will be competing in the Rotary Young Chef Final on 24th April in Chichester.

Press Release 27/02/10

What a week weather wise, fortunately it did not deter East Kilbride Rotarians manning there allotted space given by Morrison’s Super market when they once again over the week end collected for Cancer Research UK( Scotland. They were well wrapped up and some of those Rotarians were wise enough to have hot soup to warm themselves against the near freezing conditions weather.

The generosity of those passing through the doors of the super market truly amazes the Rotarians who are giving of their time to support the charity. The most important ingredient of the exercise is the public who freely gift pennies to pounds. Every penny to every pound that is raised goes into the coffers of Cancer Research UK (Scotland). With hand on heart members of East Kilbride Rotary Club say to via the EK News a simple and sincere thank you

To everyone who helped the Club to raise the Sum of £2104.52.

Ian Reid is a retired Head of Upper School and English teacher from Airdrie who taught at Claremont High School and various other educational schools throughout Lanarkshire. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Scottish literature and a real love of the Scottish language and spoken word as well as the country itself.

On the 28th of February he spoke to a very enthused audience of Rotarians who listened intently to his everyword, some of which was understood very well but alas some of his words fell by the wayside by the recipient Rotarians but never the less the speaker took time to explain what these Guid Scots words meant a superb speaker who was not stuck for his words!!!!

Morrison’s picture shows two senior Rotarians John McCafferty left and Alan Jenkinson.

Press Release22/02/10

Entries have closed for East Kilbride Rotary Club annual Robert Burns Competition for 2010 competition which is being held on 1 March at South Park Primary school.

There are 52 entries from 10 of our primary schools and we are going to have

a very busy evening.

The schools taking part are:

Auchinraith

East Milton

Kirktonholme

St Hilary's

St Louises

South Park

Mount Cameron

Long Calderwood

Mossneuk

Castlefield.

There are 49 individual entries and 3 choirs so, at least 94 pupils will be

taking part.

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East Kilbride Rotarian Curlers continue their winning run with another victory under their belt when they defeated Lanark Rotary by 6 shots to 4 with this victory they have had 8 consecutive wins this guarantees them a semi final place in the Scottish Rotary Garside trophy

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On Saturday the 20th Feb Rotarians gathered in Peters Seafood & Grill in the village for a celebratory dinner as a way to raise some extra cash for the elimination of Polio World wide entertainment for the evening was provided by local singing group Capricorniche who added that little extra sparkle to the evening on the evening another £ 200 went into the coffers for the Clubs Polio Plus campaign the total raised for the year is closing in around the

£2000 mark and if this achieved the club will have doubled the target set by Rotary International for all the clubs world wide.

Press Release13/02/10

American Ambassadorial Student Autumn Keller-Hicks from Indiana USA charmed all of the East Kilbride Rotarians at their Friday lunch on the 12th of February. Autumn, who has been sponsored by the Rotary Club of Williamsport that operates in the town of Attica, in the State of Indiana with a population of 3,300. District 6560 supported her application and Autumn was awarded a scholarship for one year to study Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art. Part of this Scholarship is that students must visit Local Rotary clubs within the area they are studying in and relate their experiences in their studies

Speaking to the club members she conducted herself in a true ambassadorial manner giving a detailed report on the township and surrounding area from which she came. In the picture we see John McCafferty Past President on the left With Autumn in the centre and on her right Mr Stand in chairman for the day Leslie Irvine.

Press Release23/01/10

Burns Lunch

On the 22nd of January 2010 members of the Club who attended their Annual Burns lunch were given a treat when Past President of the Bridgeton Burns Club Eddie Meek gave the Immortal Memory this of course had been preceeded by the piping in of the haggis by Rotarian Piper and Club Vice Pesident Roddy Shanks.After the piping of the haggis Bill Rodger got to his feet and gave an excellent rendering of the "Address to the Haggis"after which the haggis was duly toasted. The Vote of thanks on behaf of those present was given by Past Club President Edwin Robertson.

Press Release 17/01/10

With three weeks into the new year Rotarians from East Kilbride Rotary Club have started the year in a positive mode, firstly in their prowess at the came of curling where in their Rotary District 1230 league they are now leading the District league after another two fine victories over both of the teams from Glasgow Rotary club with victories of 9-3 & 9 & 7. The East Kilbride team consisted of Jim Anderson, George McGraw, Barry Wood & Ray Porrelli.

On a more light hearted mode their last two speakers were on what the Club calls their 4 minute waffle

Past President Alan Ray, had the members attending in stitches, laughing over his train journey into Glasgow from East Kilbride and how he caused the train to come to an emergency stop. For anyone reading this little bit of news Alan is partially sighted and he does have a great ability to tell a story!!!! The vote of thanks was given by Past President Ian Macpherson who rose to the occasion with an equally funny story.

On the 15th of January we had an official 4 minute waffle on Climate Change from Speaker Secretary Archie King, during which he placed doubt in peoples mind as to the authenticity of the claims of some people on the subject of Climate change.

On a more serious note some members of the club were on duty over last weekend when Rotarians were at East Kilbride Town Centre, out collecting on behalf of Shelter Box to enable further help to be sent to the Haiti Disaster. Members from East Kilbride, East Kilbride Kittoch, Strathaven, Hamilton, Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Eastwood and Queens Park gave of their time. So all in all a busy start to the second half of the official Rotary Calendar during which the final purge is being made towards the elimination of Polio world wide.

Press Release20/12/09

At their last Rotary lunch for the year East Kilbride Rotarians had a good turn out of members who were there not only for their annual Christmas Tie competition but to listen to the Rev. John Arthur deliver his Christmas message to them. John is a retired minister, formally of the Congregational Church. that amalgamated with the United Reformed Church back in the 2000. John held the post of Moderator of the Synod of Scotland of the URC prior to retiring. His message to Rotarians was well delivered and very appropriate to modern living. The Rotary Clubs vote of thanks was given by Past President Edwin Robertson who was in the fortunate position to know their speaker of the day quite well, so much so that he arranged for John to be an unbiased judge in the Clubs Christmas Tie competition. With a number of choice ties being worn by Rotarians John task was not easy but in the end the winner turned out to be Past President Ian Macpherson who received a bottle of wine as his prize.

After Lunch 14 Rotarians participated in their annual “Wee Grand” Curling match organized by Rotarian George McGraw the winning team were Past President John Cardno & Rotarian Brian Wood.

On Monday the 18th of December a group of Rotarians from east Kilbride Rotary club arrived at ward 16 in Hairmyres Hospital to do the necessary in getting the ward decorated for Christmas

The group consisted of George McGraw, Ben Miloudi, Brian Wood, David Brown, Jim Anderson and Roddy Shanks

Press Release 08/12/09

With Their Santa’s Hats on EK Rotarians made themselves available on the weekend of the 4th-6th Dec and what a magnificent achievement when they stood up to the unkindly weather to gather in £3008.26 from the wonderful customers going into and out of both Morrison’s stores in East Kilbride.

The Rotarians who gave of their time which enabled the club to collect such a magnificent sum were, George McGraw, Brian Wood, Jim Moretti, Barclay Wales, John Cardno, David Brown, Andrew Ferguson, Ben Miloudi, Archie King, Douglas Douglas and Leslie Irvine Edwin & Rina Robertson counted the part of the collection

Press Release 29/11/09

Poppy Scotland

On the 27th November 2009 Representative Roslyn Scoular came along to the club to highlight the new format that was taking place within Scotland in attempting to raise the general publics awareness to Poppy Scotland and the organisations objectives.

In addition informing members that all monies raised in Scotland would be spent in Scotland, even to the extent that the Scottish poppy was different to those poppies supplied in England. They are attempting to bring Poppy Scotland to the fore in that they are not a once a year charity but that they are active 365 days a year. Questions from members were forth coming and I am sure a few seeds planted in Roslyn's mind with regard to the actual poppy emblem that represents the poppy fields of Flanders!!!!!

Vote of thanks on behalf of the Club was given by past President Andrew Ferguson.

Rotary Dance

27th November 2009 What an evening at our Annual dance when it was held at the Holiday Inn, East Kilbride, with over 100 people attending. It can be summed up very quickly by saying that it was a highly successful evening, the food was good, the band were excellent who went under the title of "Beethoven" and everyone just got into the party atmosphere from the very start. President Ray Porrelli started the evening off by welcoming everyone to what he regarded as one of the highlights of his year in office. Before the Dance & Meal got underway he mentioned the special contribution that George McGraw had made in his rotary membership and work with Let Us Shine and because of this he was very happy to call George forward and accept a Paul Harris Fellowship from the Club. Entertainment was provided by Pipe Major Fraser Dallas of EK Pipe band and the dancers from the Myra Miller School of Highland Dancers.

As a result of a raffle that was held during our evening of enjoyment the club allocated the proceeds for the purchase of an Shelter Box .

Press Release 22/11/09

QUIZ EVENING

Twenty one teams participated in the quiz held at East Kilbride Golf Club on 20 November in aid of the East Kilbride Rotary Club's Christmas Toy appeal.

The quizmaster, Ronnie Watson, set them seven challenging rounds of questions including two pictorial rounds, and from the start the eventual winners and runners-up were to the fore. Halfway through a buffet was served which allowed the raffle, which raised almost £300, to be drawn by the President's wife, Moira Porrelli. This break let competitors' brains to cool, but in the second half the pressure increased and the field started to open out as some teams quietly succumbed to the tough questions, and others cheered when they answered a difficult question correctly.

While the final round and overall totals were checked by the markers, Irene Watson, Jean Harvie and Richard Deacon several prizes were auctioned by Ronnie Watson who managed to cajole over £400 from the teams and his wife Irene, who fought tenaciously to win the signed Ally McCoist picture.

The prizes were then presented, starting with the team who had most to learn, Kittoch Wanderers, which was led by Raymond Lyon from Kittoch R C. The runners-up with 97 points were Confused.Com but five points ahead on 102 was Jesus College, Cumbernauld who were presented with their prizes by Past President Jim Moretti, who had organised the evening assisted by Ben Miloudi.

Jim thanked everybody for attending and asked the teams to express their thanks to Ronnie and his assistants for their tremendous effort which had allowed East Kilbride R C to raise £950. This would be used to buy presents for over 300 children in the town, who would otherwise get nothing at Christmas.

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East Kilbride Fair Trade Group

This group were formed in 2005 and their representative Kirsten Robb came to speak to the Club on the 20th of November, she explained

how there is a collection of local people from different walks of life who share a common commitment to the ethos of Fair trade and how East

Kilbride is now a Fair trade town, plus explaining the objectives of the Fair trade organisation to raise the awareness of unfair trade. To become

a Fair trade town there has to be at least one outlet for free trade per10,000 of the population of that town.

It was a very open meeting with plenty of questions from those present. What did come through was that it was not just farmers etc in the under

developed countries that were needing help but farmers etc in our own country who were not getting a fair deal from the larger Supermarkets

and that Fair trade were also taking this problem on board, It is hoped that in the years that lie ahead East Kilbride will increase the number of

fair trade outlets within the town.

East Kilbride Rotary Club Curling team had a wonderful victory over Bothwell Rotary club in their most recent curling match when they had a resounding victory of eight shots to two against. East Kilbride side were represented by Ray Porrelli, Jim Moretti, Barry Wood and George McGraw

Press Release 12/11/09

"Hungry For Glory"

Seven pupils from Calderglen and Sanderson High Schools were welcomed on 12 November to the East Kilbride heat of the Rotary Young Chef of the Year competition at South Lanarkshire College by Principal, Stewart McKillop.

The entrants, who had been guided in their preparation for the competition by their teachers Nicole Burns and Fiona McCrae, had to cook and present a balanced healthy two course meal for two within a time of one and a half hours, and a prescribed budget. The preparation was closely watched by the judges, Executive Chef Gerry Sharkey from La Bonne Auberge, Chef Paul Devenny from South Lanarkshire College and Rotarian Barry Wood, who also checked presentation of the meal at the table and finally sampled all the courses.

On behalf of the judges Chef Devenny complimented all the entrants on the excellent quality of the food presented and their careful work in the kitchen, which equalled if not bettered the standard achieved in 2008, and had again made judging a lengthy and difficult process. The winners were named in reverse order by Rotary Vice President Leslie Irvine, who had organised the competition. In third place was Ainsley Henry from Calderglen; second was Zeinab Dean from Sanderson, and the winning chef was 14 year old Kirsty Immel from Calderglen who had impressed the judges with her methodical approach in the kitchen and the different styles of Scottish themed dishes she had prepared. Kirsty's "Homecoming Scotland" menu was breast of chicken with haggis and Parma ham, honey glazed potatoes, green beans and a peppercorn sauce, followed by raspberry cranachan and highland shortbread.

The remaining competitors, Ryan Fennessey, the first male entrant, Amy Kendal, Rachel Lyon and Caroline Shearon all received warm praise for their efforts, and President Ray Porrelli presented them and the prize winners with a certificate recognising their participation. The winners also received cookery books and the winner, Kirsty, who had impressed the judges with her singing ability during preparation, also secured the star prize of one weeks training with Executive Chef Gerry Sharkey in La Bonne Auberge Restaurant in Glasgow. Kirsty's parents Carol and Alastair, were "delighted for her" and hoped that they might now experience some of her talent at home.

Kirsty will now go forward to the Rotary District 1230 finals on December 10, also at South Lanarkshire College, to represent East Kilbride, and hopefully from there all the way to the UK finals in April - good luck Kirsty.

At the conclusion of the evening the Rotary President Ray Porrelli paid tribute to Vice President Leslie Irvine for organising an excellent evening, and recognised the invaluable input of Ishbell Anderson and Cathie Purcell from South Lanarkshire College who had also been wholly and enthusiastically involved in its organisation, which included providing hospitality for the audience of forty parents, friends, teachers and Rotarians who attended. The President thanked them all for their support and the College for again allowing the use of its splendid facilities. He also expressed his appreciation to the judges who, like all the college staff, had again selflessly given of their own time to support the competition.

On the 13th of November East Kilbride Rotarians were indeed privileged to have as their guest speaker David Mason who has been long associated with Rangers Football Club, David gave an excellent but light hearted talk plus picture presentation on the foundation days of the Rangers Football Club and at the same time incorporated into his talk what conditions were like in the city of Glasgow in those days. Past President Revd David Taylor gave the Vote of thanks on behalf of his fellow Rotarians

East Kilbride Rotary Club were truly supported by pupils from Blacklaw Primary School "Green Team" when the green team from the school came along to do their part in helping to get the country Green again thus helping the environment by fulfilling the task of planting Spring & Summer bulbs in the adopted Rotary Site at Calderglen park, as a follow up to the tree planting by the East Kilbride Rotary Club. This latest event took place on the 12th November 2009

Press release30/10/09

The event has now become so successful that in June of this year the amount of money raised by all the participating teams came to the grand total of £150,000.00. A big thank you from East Kilbride Rotary Club members to all the teams, business groups in the town and last but not least the general public who helped raise this fantastic amount. On Friday the 6th November, Rotarian John Cardno who gave a picture presentation to the club members of this year's event after which a presentation to Cancer Research (UK) Scotland was made to Amanda Hillhouse the Cancer Research coordinator for the area who was attending the Rotarians lunch..

The sum collected was the largest amount collected in any year over the past 6 that East Kilbride Rotary Club has been involved in the organization of the 24 hour walk.

The Rotary Club are looking for more people in the community to come forward to help run the Relay For Life 2010, the reason for this is that the event has now become deeply established in the town. The name of East Kilbride Relay fsor Life is regarded by Cancer Research as one of the best one run in the whole country something each and every one of us should be proud to have achieved. On behalf of East Kilbride Rotarians via the East Kilbride News we wish to thank everyone for their magnificent support over the years and what has to be done now will be to continue working together raising financial support to the find the answers to the problems surrounding the cure & treatment of cancer.

Relay for Life brings the community together, it brings people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and it really does make a difference. Local teams of friends, family, neighbours and colleagues fundraise within their local communities throughout the year, raising all they can for the life-saving work of Cancer Research UK.

Press release30/10/09

On the 30th of October the club were treated to a wonderful speaker a person who had a wonderful talent in being able to run faster than anyone else, namely Sandra Whittaker (now Seenan) she gave us a very light hearted talk on her career as an athlete. This career peaked between 1981-87 during which time she won many running events both at the Olympic games and Commenwealth games and she brought along to the club many of her memorabilia which the members could have a close look at. Sandra 25 years on still holds the Scottish 200 metres record of 29.98 secs not a bad effort from an East Kilbride lass who certinly hasn't lost any of her sparkle The vote of thanks on behalf of the Rotarians was in the hands of her old School master Rotarian Archie King who new her well whilst she was a pupil at our old Clairmont High school

Press release16th/10/09

On the 16th of October District Governor Andy Slater made a visit to the "2009 Club of the Year".

East Kilbride is very proud of that title and from the reception that he got he was left in no doubt as to why the club was chosen as Club of the Year, it was a vibrant meeting and our DG made his own contribution towards the success of the meeting when he took time to talk just what our slogan of "The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands" really meant when it came down to club leve,l in that we are the people who are seen by the communiy and that we are the ones who truly can make what the community see Rotary doing.Above we see the exchange of banners between District 1230 Governor Andy and Club President Ray Porrelli

Press release 20th/09/09

Saturday the 10th of October has been declared world wide by Rotary International that Clubs should depict “A Day in the Life of a Rotarian”.

The following report highlights what East Kilbride Rotary Club members have been up to on the 10th of October 2009 especially within their community.

Firstly, all of last weekend seen members involved in collecting for Cancer Research at Morrison’s Supermarket, Lindsayfield, East Kilbride. twelve members were involved each doing 2 hours shift collecting from the very generous customers who are using the store, the amount collected over the week end came to the magnificent sum of £ 1800. Next weekend we have another group of Rotarians giving of their time collecting at Morrison’s in Stewartfield. Rotarians in east Club are really overawed by the generosity of the general public no amount of oratory skill could express their gratitude more appreciatively but a very big 7 sincere Thank You to all who placed money in the bucket.

Our other task is more environmentally friendly where we had 6 members involved at out local Calderglen Park in some remedial tasks by removing rubbish etc this is something the club have been involved with over the past few years. In addition to this the Club planted a tree and placed a plaque commemorating the planting of the tree.

Summing up the club have been involved on the 10th of October 2009 doing something towards improving our community that is beneficial to all

During this week the Club had a major setback, in that their favourite supporter “Fairy Nuff” had her home at the James Hamilton Heritage Park decimated by mindless vandals, but it did not stop the East Kilbride Rotary Club President Ray Porrelli who was delighted to be able to hand over a cheque for £500 from the Fairy Nuff Wishing Well at the Heritage Park to John McEnaney, the Head Teacher and six first year pupils from Sanderson High School, to assist them with the acquisition of their new school bus. The £30,000 specially equipped bus was mainly funded by the Variety Club and Wiseman Dairies, but the school had to raise £5000 themselves and the Rotary donation took them over halfway toward their target.

While expressing his thanks to the East Kilbride Rotarians John said he was “appalled at the senseless damage to the Wishing Well” which occurred on Monday 5 October. As a regular donor to the Well, on behalf of his grandchildren, John “could not understand why the thieves committed such a heartless crime as it only served to reduce the amount of money available for organisations, such as his own, which served the needs of the people of East Kilbride”.

However he was heartened to hear that the East Kilbride Rotary Club intended to rebuild the Well for their favourite resident “Fairy Nuff” who has been temporally made homeless and they will endeavour to make a repetition of this theft impossible. The Well has suffered four attacks in two years, and each time has been rebuilt to eliminate the possibility of a similar attack. Although this involved the Club in expenditure, which diverted funds from charitable work, it has forced the thieves to use more extreme measures each time they broke into the well.

As the Well had already raised £2750 for charity, the members are determined to resolve this problem, and will use their expertise and resources to repair and strengthen it, in order that the GOOD and GENEROUS people of East Kilbride could continue making wishes thus enabling donations to be made to local charities.

Attached Pictures

Imaga 0001.jpeg Picture shows Rotarians George McGraw & Ben Miloudi carrying the first Rotary tree to be planted at Calderglen park in an area that has been adopted by the Rotary Club proceeding the year of Biodiversity. The club are hoping that they may get help possibly from local schools to contribute towards the development of the piece of ground.

Sanderson High.j.peg shows the presentation of cheque by President Ray Porrelli John McEnaney

Damage 5 this speaks for itself

Caldrglaen October 2009 shows the amount of rubbish collected from calderglen park by Rotarians, in the picture we have L to R Roddy Shanks, Ben Miloudi, Frank Mcluskey, George McGraw & President Ray Porrelli

Morrisons 10th October

Rotarians Brian Wood & Ian Macpherson warmly receive a donation from a young member of the community as her mum stands back watching carefully

Press release 20th/09/09

Our speaker on the 18th September was Dr V. Vincent who was indeed a far travelled fellow Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow

from the Rotary Club of Nagercoil (Midtown ) in Rotary District 3212 of India. Dr. Vincent, MBBS.,MD., MRCP(UK).,FRCP (Edin)., is a Consultant Physician of Internal Medicine & Cardiology who is on a family visit to Glasgow and he agreed whilst on this visit to speak to the our club at their lunch time meeting, on the increase of chronic heart disease in India.

The statistics were indeed horrifying when his projected numbers showed that there would be 40 million people with heart disease out of the population of over 1 Billion people. There is no doubt in his opinion that diet and smoking has played a large part in the increase of these figures and until officials can educate & inform the population re the risk factors there will be no real

in road to improve these figures. The vote of thanks was in the capable hands of out own Rotarian Doctor Henry Doig. After which there was an exchange of banners between the Clubs East Kilbride & the representative of Rotary Club of Nagercoil (Midtown ) India.

Press release 04/09/09

Twenty three club members led by President Elect Roddy Shanks welcomed not one, but two American Rotarian visitors to their meeting on 4 September. The first, a surprise visitor, was Steve Driscoll from Peoria R C in Illinois, and the second, who was the speaker for the day Brenda Steel from Cocoa Beach R C in Florida and also, nearer home, Helensburgh R C. Brenda, who is a Lt. Commander in the US Navy Reserve, was one day summoned from behind her desk , where she normally managed client's pension funds, to attend training ten days later for service in Afghanistan with the International Security Assistance Force as a spokeswoman - as she said a funny job for a Navy Reservist!

During her eighteen months in the country, where she worked closely with the world press, she began to appreciate the serious problems of the ordinary Afghans, and met another American lady who had been in the country for eight years and was doing something to help.

After her tour of duty, Brenda decided she also had to help, and joined "The Women of Hope Project" which strives to improve the conditions in which families live by providing an income for the women through the sale of their hand made soft goods. A distribution chain had been set up to facilitate sales in the West and income from each individual sale goes direct to the woman who made the item.

Funds for educating children at two "tent schools" had also been raised from private donors and a "Scollywood" evening was being planned on the Maid of the Loch in 2010 to raise further funds.

Following a fascinating address, from someone who had abandoned her original successful career, and was clearly totally involved in the charity's work in Afghanistan, giving the vote of thanks was an easy task for Past President Tom Wilson.

One further duty for Brenda was to draw the name for the King of Clubs. Past President John McCafferty was again drawn from the hat, but failed to find that elusive King from only twelve cards, leaving a fund of £870 intact.

Press release 28/08/09

Another busy day for East Kilbride Rotary Club members who were delighted to welcome a new member into their midst namely Douglas Douglas who has been a well known face in the town for many years his nomination for membership was made by former club president Ian Macpherson who described Douglas as being better known than his nominator. Douglas has been supplying floral art for more years than Ian cared to mention. Members were delighted to see their membership increase by another one giving them now a total of 35 and are hopeful that this trend of more members will continue.

Following their lunch their invited speaker a gentleman by the name of David Dunsmuir provided the membership with an excellent insight to the history & running the Ingleston show, he gave us a great historical background of the shows over the years to the present day where the transformation from 75% Rural and 25% Public participation has swung round to 75% Public and 25 Rural participation.

The whole ethos of the show being education of what the show was achieving.

As a Charitable organization they distribute around £200,000 in a year this is distributed to rural schemes and projects for the benefit of the industry. The show can trace its roots back two hundred and twenty five years and during that time has staged 169 Royal shows, sixty five of which have been in Edinburgh. Their current site now stages shows for Gardening Scotland, Agriscot and the Scottish motorbike show. They have an on going development strategy of staying the best and contributing to the Scottish economy as it has done for many years. The clubs vote of thanks was in the capable hands of Rotarian Archie King

Press release16/08/09

This is a quiet time in the Rotary calendar where clubs are in the middle of the holiday season, but never the less they Do (and pardon the expression) have things going on to raise funds, here in the East Kilbride Club we have started our Summer Doo races where over a period of 6 weeks we have pigeon races.

Each week the races are reported by Past President Ian Macpherson after he gets the information from a previous club member Ex Rotarian George Pollok and pigeon fancier. Members prior to the 6 week event starting purchase a pigeon in an attempt to win the prize of the week what ever that may be this ranges from a bottle of whisky to you know what “Mug of the Week” for the last bird home.

The money raised is something over the years we allocate to different charities this year however we are allocating it Rotary International for the final the elimination of Polio in the world and it should bring in around £600 to go towards this cause.

Sad News reached the East Kilbride Rotary Club from Alberta, Canada, when we learned of the demise of one of the Group Study Exchange students who came over last year to participate in a 4 week course, the young lady in question was Leah Dawonik she died on the 5th of August apparently from a rare blood disease. It is hard to believe someone with all that vitality and zest for life is no longer with us. I know she regarded her GSE trip to Scotland as one of the high lights of her life especially to the area of East Kilbride and to the West of Scotland. Not only did Leah reap from her visitation but everyone who met her found that her personality just shone through and reached everyone she spoke to her. Leah Dawonik is a person who will be sadly missed by everyone who came into contact with her..

Press release 02/08/09

The new Rotary International year has started and our club has swung into action within the first few weeks attempting to raise money for Rotary Foundation in the final purge to eliminate polio from the world.

As you know via the East Kilbride Mail our local paper, Rotary are trying to raise funds to match the amazing donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and each club world wide has been asked to raise $1000 a year for the next three years.

This has not been helped with the poor strength of the pound against the dollar as we have to raise more money just to get what we had when the pound was stronger. That said, we had targeted a figure of £1,000.00 for last year and I am delighted to say that we finished off with £1,700.00, so a very successful year for us and thanks to everyone that supported our events and made donations.

To continue the good work from last year the committee have a few plans for fund raising and thanks to PP Ian Macpherson, the monies raised from the

Doo’s will again go to Foundation this year so we hope members will support our Doo races over the ensuing weeks. Our first fundraising event took place last week, when a member arranged a round of golf at the private Archerfield Links club, just outside of Gullane. Commsworld the communication company put up two four-balls and one of which was taken by Jim Anderson who is arranging for some of his staff to go and this is will be played in mid-August. The second was taken by Rotarians Archie King, George McGraw, David Brown and Andrew Ferguson seen in picture relaxing for a refreshment after their game. Hopefully the money raised from this one event will be in excess of £400

Press Release 19/07/09

SHINING BRIGHT

Let Us Shine charity founder, Fiona Marra from Calderwood, came along to East Kilbride Rotary Club on the 17th of July to update members on progress at the Kpandai Girls’ Academy in Northern Ghana, where ninety four girls were now being educated, thanks to support from members of the East Kilbride community and Rotarians.

During a visit to Ghana in June Fiona had opened Kilbride House, a brand new six roomed dormitory building with the rooms named after East Kilbride districts, where over fifty of the girls will sleep from September, when the new term starts. Fiona took the opportunity to thank the Club members, whose fund raising efforts had paid for the construction of the new building, and she looked forward to another Waverley cruise in July 2010, which members planned to organise in further support of Let Us Shine.

However Fiona reported that there was also growing support from within the local community, including donations from Blacklaw and St Leonard’s Primary Schools and Newlandsmuir resident, Billy Leitch, who had taken part in the mountainous 43 mile Corrieyairack Duathlon Challenge, where he finished a very creditable fifth in his class, and raised £700 for Let Us Shine thanks to the support from members of the boxing club at John Wright Sports Centre, where he coaches.

More tangible support also came in the form of two sets of football strips from E K YMCA that were presented to Fiona for use in Ghana by Past President Barclay Wales on behalf of Les Goodfellow from the football club.

In addition there was a growing number of visiting volunteers to the school in Kpandai, who had provided invaluable professional educational and medical support to the Ghanaian staff. One of these volunteers, Hannah Currie, had arranged that the girls in Kpandai painted nine music themed pictures on canvas frames, and these had now been autographed by T In The Park performers, including Paulo Nutini, and would be available for sale at “Art for Africa” on E Bay from 20 July 2009 and they would be available for 10 days on E bay to raise much needed funds for Let Us Shine.

On the day of the opening of Kilbride House, the school had also held its first Sports Day which was attended by parents and local dignitaries. Such was the gratitude of the parents for the chance in life that their daughters were getting through Let Us Shine, that some had walked for over six hours to attend the opening.

Fiona noted that this level of interest was one of the main problems at Kpandai, where families turned up daily to request enrolment for their daughters. Fiona said that it was heart rending to have to turn so many away, but the Scottish based charity could only take on more pupils as child sponsors became available. It was only through the acquisition of more child sponsors that the school could grow, and much to the great disappointment of the community around Kpandai it had been decided that there could not be another intake until the remaining few girls without sponsors were linked with a sponsor.

Instead, Fiona said that all the remaining projects, such as the new Kitchen and Toilet Blocks; installation of electricity into all the buildings; and development of the farm would be fully completed this year. This would allow the Charity to maintain the high standards of health and education that were a fundamental part of its ethos in Ghana.

In particular, the farming, which would be carried out by the girls, assisted initially by some parents, would be invaluable, providing a food source for the school which would help offset rapidly rising Ghanaian food costs. The crops of yam, ground nuts, mango and other fruits produced would augment egg production from the flock of chickens recently purchased following the successful “Easter Egg Appeal”.

Rotarian, John Murphy, the main organiser of the first Waverley Cruise for Let Us Shine in 2007, warmly thanked Fiona for her presentation and her tremendous personal effort in making dreams come real in Ghana, in such a short time. He noted the need for more sponsors and encouraged more of his fellow Rotarians to come forward and apply through the charity website at letushine.org or the East Kilbride Rotary Club website at ekrotary.com

Press Release 12th/07/09

Fairy Nuff rises to the occasion once again, here we have two young members of the East Kilbride Pipe band, Eilidh Moyes with Daibhidh Moyes receiving a cheque from East Kilbride Rotary Club's new president Ray Porrelli at the Clubs ''Fairy Nuff'' wishing well where the money had been gathered from a very generous public.

All monies placed in the “Fairy Nuff “wishing well that the Rotarians built and look after are distributed to local charities so please if you are having a walk round the James Hamilton Heritage Park drop a penny in the well knowing that it all goes to the good of our community.

At their lunch on Friday East Kilbride Rotarians were delighted to welcome their daughter Club East Kilbride Kittoch’s President Elect, Laura Fleming

who was accompanied by Rotarian Lesley Mcllhagger to what was a rather noisy East Kilbride meeting but enjoyable one.

Press Release 28th/06/09

This has been another busy period for members of East Kilbride Rotary Club. Firstly, outgoing President Frank McLuskey was supported by seven other Club members when he attended the changeover of District 1230 District Governors at the Erskine Hotel where the East Kilbride Club were one of 31 Clubs who were award a Presidential Citation for their work within their community and their work internationally. The best was yet to come in that outgoing District Governor Catherine Stewart had saved the best to last, when she announced that she was also awarding the Club of the Year Silverware to East Kilbride Club for their work within the East Kilbride community plus their efforts to “Make Dreams Real” through their support for locally based charity Let Us Shine and its work in Ghana; and their unstinting work with Relay for Life, which had helped raise over a quarter of a million pounds for Cancer Research in the past five years plus their general running of the Club where everyone is welcome to visit in the Stewartfield Farm hostelry on a Friday at lunch time.

President Frank McLuskey and his team at the dinner were delighted with the award, the first for this particular trophy. They had achieved another award back 2003 known as the Ed Cadman trophy for their community work. For President Frank it was in recognition of all the hard work that the thirty four members had put in during his year in office, and to quote him this was “Pure dead brilliant”.

Eighteen members gave of their time once again to gather contributions for Cancer Research at Morrison’s Super markets in East Kilbride over last weekend thankfully the weather was on their side and a massive sum of £2620.49 was gathered from a very responsive public using the stores at Lindsayfield and Stewartfield and via the media East Kilbride Rotarians would extend their warm thanks to the generosity shown by everyone who donated.

The Rotary Club has come to the end of their Rotary year and new office bearers take over. President Frank McLuskey reluctantly handed over his chain of office to the incoming President Ray Porrelli on Friday night at the ‘’The Boothy’’ at The Byre on the Eaglesham road at a special dinner when 55 people attended.

New President Ray Porrelli then introduced his team who would like to continue the good work completed by previous Presidents of the Club.