Index

Press Release27/05/14

Our visiting speaker Craig Bryce came along on the 27th of June 2014 and spoke about the "Incorporation of Masons of Glasgow". Below is a summary of his talk

The Masons along with the Wrights and Coopers claim to have been first incorporated by King Malcolm III of Scotland in 1057. There are now 14 representative craft groups.

Since its origin Craft members have been closely involved with the buildings of a city whose Victorian heritage in particular is now ranked among the foremost in Europe. Whilst still very much associated with Glasgow's thriving building and architectural community, the Masons no longer of course exercise their medieval monopoly.

The Incorporation has maintained its charitable work over the centuries. A significant group targeted for help are needy pensioners who traditionally are visited twice a year by members of the Master Court with gifts of groceries. The Masons and the Wrights each have a Lady McDonald Fund which provides prizes each year for outstanding apprentices in the building trade. Along with the Incorporation of Wrights the Masons have traditionally been asked by the Trades House to provide two liners to the Dean of Guild Court, originally to help with maintaining building standards, but now to assist in the administration of charitable funds.

The Craft elects 4 members to the Trades House, while on the social side of its activities it maintains its age-old 'pear eating' evening, and like many crafts aims to hold an annual dinner and a supper dance as well. Participating in the traditional sporting competitions of angling, golf, bowls and curling is a popular hobby along with members of the other crafts who elect representatives to the Trades House. Albeit claiming to approach the end of their first millennium, the Masons of Glasgow are very much part of the present. Active in recruitment, the Masons number amongst their members the Prince of Wales.

Vote of thanks was in the hands of the Clubs President Elect Ian Macpherson who replied aptly on behalf of those present

Press release 30/05/14

Three visitors came along to the club on the 30th of May 2014 all of whom were connected with each other. Jim Lewar from the EK Engineering Training Centre, Susan Pollock from Clyde Union Pumps and Apprentice of the Year Anthony Mitchell from Clyde pumps who has been trained by the College and had come along to receive his award for being Apprentice of the Year,

Our Rotary Club have been supporting this award for over thirty years and is something we are quite proud of. Anthony was no exception from his predecessors each of them have been able to justify easily why they won the award. What is encouraging is the fact that there appears to be a turnaround in that apprenticeships are coming back into fashion something that has been too long in coming round.

Press release 11/05/2014

What a wonderful effort made by everyone in the annual clean up at Calderglen park organised by East Kilbride Rotary club, who once again were fully supported by the pupils from Calderglen high School. You can see by the smiling faces and the bags of rubbish collected that everyone felt that their effort were well rewarded . Past President Roddy Shanks has been for the past few years putting everything in place with the rangers at the park to put everything in place for the work to be done, whilst the clubs president elect Archie King has been organising the event with the teachers and pupils. Plus they were well supervised President David Brown Past Presidents Tom Wilson & Ray Porrelli and Rotarian George McGraw

Press release 6/04/14

GARSIDE TROPHY

The Prowess of East Kilbride Rotary Club has once more came to the fore with their skill on the ice rink when they once again achieved a success in winning the Rotary Curling "Garside Trophy".

Ray Porrelli, George McGraw, Jack Blackwood & Jim Moretti having secured a narrow victory over the Paisley & Gryffe Valley team with the last stone of the semi-final, the East Kilbride team expected to face a Bothwell & Uddingston team in the final of the Glasgow & District Rotary Championship.

However, Hamilton were the surprise victors in the other semi-final and faced the same East Kilbride team at Hamilton Ice Rink on 31 March. After a poor start; losing a two against the hammer in the first end; East Kilbride settled down and never lost another end, running out winners 13 - 2 in the seventh end.

Bothwell & Uddingston defeated Paisley & Gryffe Valley in the play off for third place, with a similarly convincing victory.

This success followed on from the East Kilbride team's performance in the Ramshead Trophy (effectively the Rotary Scottish Championship) at Perth Ice Rink earlier in the month, when they lost to the local Perth Kinnoull team in the final.

Press Release21/03/14

Our recent guest speaker on was Iain King Head of Sport at The Scottish Sun. He was talking in his capacity as Coach with East Kilbride FC. formed in May 2010 after the merger of Jackton Boys Club and Stewartfield F.C. Iain talked us through the history of the Club bringing us up to date with their progress in the inaugural season of the Lowland League. East Kilbride has 30 teams (male, female and additional support needs) competing in age groups between 5-21 and over-21, with over 650 players.

Liam Donnelly gave the vote of thanks to Ian King on the right, centre picture is Archie King President Elect

The Rotary Club ran their annual Burns competition for Primary Schools in the Ballerup hall three hundred were in attendance in what turned out to be another successful competition Nine schools Participated with all competitors setting a high standard making it difficult for the Judges to come to a final decision as to who the winners would be. After much deliberation the winners were announced as follows:-

P4/P5 Recitation ; 1st Meg Sloan Long Calderwood

2nd Ioana McCallum Castlefield

3rd Karli Gaughan South Park

P4/P5 Singing: 1st Charlotte Moore Heathery Knowe

2nd Emma Yaxley Long Calderwood

3rd Abbie Logie Long Calderwood

P4/P5 Instrumental ; 1st Erin Jenkins Mossneuk

2nd Annvita Gupta Mossneuk

P6/P7 Recitation ; 1st Owen Bruce South Park

2nd Kara McLachlan South Park

3rd Stuart McKinnon Long Calderwood

P6/P7 Singing: 1st Emily Downie Heathery Knowe

2nd Lamaya Ogunlesi Long Calderwood

3rd Sophia McCabe Maxwellton

P4/P5 Instrumental ; 1st Rebecca Smith Auldhouse

2nd Archie Wallace Auldhouse

3rd Hazel Hunter Heathery Knowe

Choir: Heathery Knowe

Winners now go forward to the District finals being held on the 25th March at Clyde Valley High school

Friday the 21st Rotarians were in a dress down day at the Stewartfield farm where they had to come wearing the Sport clothes for the sport they participated in or supported. This was an attempt to raise Cash for Sport relief a number of sports were represented with golf high on the agenda however the man who walked away with the bottle of wine was Barry Wood who came aptly dressed as a classic car rally driver.

All in all a successful lunch raising £125 for Sport Relief

Press Release07/03/14

Representatives Samantha Reilly and Andy Kelly from CHAS came to speak to the club at their lunch time meeting.

The Children's Hospice Association Scotland is a charity that provides the only hospice services in Scotland for children and young people who have life-shortening conditions for which there is no known cure. CHAS runs two children's hospices, Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch, and a home care service called CHAS at Home. If you need further information re the work that was explained to Rotarians by the charities Representative Samantha Reilly their Fund raiser on the 7th of March, please contact them at - http://www.chas.org.uk/#sthash.Dyc4xgNi.dpuf

Every day it costs £25,000 to run CHAS care services. They couldn't support children and young people across Scotland without your help.

In research they have carried out a number of research projects to make sure that we are delivering the very best quality palliative care and support to children, young people and their families.

CHAS marks its 21st anniversary this year and to help them celebrate this milestone you could give your support as your local Rotary Club will be doing. I am sure they would love to hear from you this month if you can help this worth will charity to keep going and providing a much needed service to the \Scottish community

Press Release 22/02/14

Who could refuse the loving eyes of "Heston" the golden lab who is a demonstration dog for Canine Partners. Heston was accompanied by Danny Gallagher his owner who trained him and by Dale Gormley from Canine partners. Today's Rotary Lunch talk was more of a demonstration of what Heston and these dogs can do for people who have physical difficulties. Danny Gallagher explained how training started with simple words such as "touch" to operate a light switch "Tug" to open a door or cupboard, taking gloves off, taking cardigans off. To train just one of these Partner dogs requires around £10,000 but over the working life of the dog which is 10 to 12 years a total of £20,000 will have been spent. These dogs are trained to assist with a range of practical tasks such as:

" Opening and closing doors and cupboards

" Retrieving a variety of items

" helping you to get undressed

" pressing buttons and switches

" raising the alarm in an emergency

" unloading washing machines and tumble driers

" much more besides, depending on your individual needs

These canine partners provide practical day to day assistance with tasks that may be difficult, painful or impossible to perform. They also provide that special companionship, unconditional love and affection which is so unique to a dog. All in all a wonderful display by the team who represented Canine Partners. Roddy Shanks proposed the vote of thanks after a lively question time and then proceeded to present a cheque to the charity representatives for £520.00.

Press Release14/02/14

"Let us Shine" girls academy which is a Scottish based registered charity operating in Ghana Their founder Fiona Marra who is an East Kilbride lass who also is a Paul Harris awardee, came along to our recent lunch and gave an update on the progress being made at the school and the recent developments that have been made building wise & pupil wise. Fiona also took the opportunity thank the East Kilbride Club Rotarians who provide 21% of her funding. In total she receives 28% of funding from Rotary. There are now 164 girls at the school in 8 classes and a staff of 18 there are also 8 dormitories and an IT class room. the future plans are to expand out into the local community

Let Us Shine sets out to provide EDUCATION, TRAINING, INVESTMENT and EMPLOYMENT all of which are designed to: Improve food security by creating, increasing and stabilising individual and family income. Improve general health and wellbeing by creating a better economic environment and through effective and relevant training and education programmes. Build a sense of community awareness, pride and responsibility through education, mobilisation and organisation.

Press Release 03/02/14

Andy McArthur came along to the club on the 31st of January 2014 to speak to members on Erskine Hospital where our injured armed services are rehabilitated and cared for, explaining in detail as to how the charity was founded and funded.

Andy gave a very good Powerpoint presentation that covered the various buildings over Scotland such as at Anniesland in Glasgow and their site in Edinburgh and how they functioned. Finding funding was becoming more difficult in that bequeathed legacies are becoming less available, weekly running costs are in the region of £144,000 per week running their Mini Bus takes £500.00 per week. Erskine has been caring for Scotland's veterans since 1916; re-building shattered lives, restoring dignity and providing first-class care to ex-Service men and women.

In the past year the charity has cared for 1,100 veterans. Erskine's core role is to provide nursing care for elderly veterans in five specialist homes across Scotland but the charity also offers support, housing and employment opportunities to veterans of all ages. It was a very proud moment for Erskine Mains resident John McIntyre when he finally received an Arctic Star medal in recognition of the heroic part he played in the Arctic Convoys during WW2. Family, friends, staff, fellow residents and Anne, his wife of nearly 70 years, gathered to watch John be presented with his medal. Erskine Garden Centre is part of the Erskine charity and offers a wide range of seasonal plants, garden products, tools, furniture and gifts. Unlike every other garden centre, all profits raised in the Erskine Garden Centre and in the Vanishing Willows Cafe go towards supporting veterans in Scotland. Past president Dr. Henry Doig gave the vote of Thanks on behalf of Rotarians & friends attending

Press Release 26/01/14

East Kilbride Rotary Club annual Burns lunch started in traditional manner with Rotarian Roddy Shanks piping in the haggis followed by Stewartfield Farm Chef Jimmy Carvill carrying the haggis and Ian Macpherson OBE who performed a memorable address to the haggis during which he dislodged the chef hat whilst swinging his knife!

After lunch and the usual rotary business Dr Bill Rodger OBE rose to give the immortal memory. Bill, now retired, was Chief Forensic scientist at Pitt Street and was involved in the installation of the first forensic laboratory in Scotland and also the introduction of the use of DNA within the force.

In a novel approach Bill talked about the letters and correspondence between Robert Burns and Nancy McLehose and her pursuit in looking for a male who would love her with tenderness.

Their liaison lasted during 1787 to 1788 both corresponding under the Arcadian pseudonyms of Sylvander and Clarinda and that Burns wrote a poem Sylvander to Clarinda. Nancy herself was a poetess of quality.

Bill closed his talk by proposing a toast to the Immortal Memory.

President David Brown thanked all who contributed to a fine Burns lunch and closed the meeting reminding members that the winners of the schools youth speaks, Duncanrig Secondary School, are competing in Rotary District finals on Sunday 2nd February.

Press Release 20/01/14

Ian McLelland the Manager of East Kilbride Shopping Centre was the principle speaker at East Kilbride Rotary Club lunch when he was delighted to be given the platform to repudiate a few myths that were going about our town centre shopping mall that is the 12th biggest in the whole of the UK. the subject matter covered the car parking, the redevelopment of certain parts of the centre the difficulty surrounding the previous development & building of the centre, water ingress from roof areas and a few other points that were relevant to the future operation of our town centre is overall prognoses highlighted that given time things will improve greatly.

Press Release13/01/14

Unfortunately we are unable to have this little report accompanied by a photograph displaying the outstanding contributors to East Kilbride Rotary clubs lunch on the 10th of January 2013, when pupils from Duncanrig Senior Secondary school accompanied by pupils from St Andrews and St Brides school who were winners of a competition run by the Rotary club known as "Youth Speaks".

In the intermediate class Duncanrig were the overall winners speaking on a topic headed "Design for Life" where they weighed up the concept of designer babies and the ability of the medical profession having the at their disposal all sorts of testing available to future parents of children to plan their children. All in all a well presented informative speech presented by the schools representatives, Chair Person Jennifer Rae, Speaker Sian OO, Vote of Thanks came from Maria Goodarzi

The senior class winners were St Andrews & St Brides who spoke on the "United Nations or Disunited Nations" with an extremely well covered precise report being given by Lewis Field after being introduced by Luke Laneres

With the vote of thanks being given by Ashwin Maliampurakal this presentation covered negative points and positive points in relation to the united nations and the general opinion was that although in many aspects the organisations hands could be tied as to what they could & could not do, our world was a better place since they were created back in 1947. Both of these schools will go forward to the Rotary District Finals and it is hoped they will both perform well in their appropriate class and proceed forward to do well in the national competition.

Press Release 23/12/13

Rotarians and friend had a social night out recently where they enjoyed a meal at La Bonne Auberge in Glasgow followed by a concert in the Glasgow concert hall one of the few occasions in the year where they enjoy the social side of Rotary.

Reverend Gordon Hay came along to give his Christmas message to East Kilbride Rotarians which highlighted the need for all of us to live to make the world a better place for everyone which was indeed appropriate as this is one of the prime objects of Rotary International . The vote of thanks was given by one of the minister's parishioners namely Past President Roddy Shanks on the left of the picture. After the lunch which was the last Rotary lunch of the year Rotarian participated in traditional fashion when members of the club played in their annual Wee Grand Curling match with the winners being Past presidents Jim Anderson & John Cardno

Press Release 15/12/13

East Kilbride Rotarians completed their annual task of decorating the dementia carers premises at Pine Crescent. The annual invitation to lunch for the senior pupils of East Kilbride senior schools was held on the 13th of Dec 2013. Pupils from Duncanrig, St Andrews @ St Brides and Clairmont Schools were represented by

Calderglen HS

Teacher: Maureen McMullen, Pupils: Joe Cameron applied to Vet School,

Pille-Riin Kulla, Pharmacology, Jordan Duncan - Mobile software engineering at Glasgow

Duncanrig Secondary

Depute Head - Ingrid Boyd Pupils, Lindsay Denholm, Art at Dundee University,

Kyle Robertson - career in Accounting, Holly Shields - Forensic Science

St Andrews and St Brides

Depute Head: Eileen McHardy, Pupils, Michael Deighan - Medicine, Fiona Duffy - Chemistry,

Ben Corneilius - Business Studies

After an introduction by each of the depute heads, a senior pupil from each school spoke about the aspirations of each pupil Michael Deighan spoke on behalf of St Brides& St Andrews, Holly Shields for Duncanrig and for Calderglen Joe Cameron

Press Release0 9/12/13

On the 6th of Dec 2013 East Kilbride Rotarians enjoyed the light hearted but informative presentation on the progress of East Kilbride Hospice in the grounds of Hairmyres Hospital given by the Hospice's fund raising representative Nicola Gunn. Nicola was in no doubt of the task that lay ahead of her in that the amount of money to run the hospice on a daily basis would be a huge challenge. She spoke confidently about the future and that the hospice was on track to be ready for next year and answering all questions raised confidently. Vote of thanks given by Club Treasurer Ian Craig.

Toys For Kids Six Rotarians namely David Brown, Liam Donnelly, Jim Moretti, George McGraw, Archie King and George Gunn all acted as Santa's helpers when they visited the grotto to up lift presents for the club gift to give to the social work department for distribution to children in the area who would not be in receipt of Christmas presents 350 children were catered for

Press Release 29/11/13

Variety was the "Spice of Life" for the East Kilbride Rotarians on the 29th of November who attended their lunch on that day when their guest speakers Bill Green & Bob Bain came along and took everyone down memory lane as they began to speak about Glasgow theatres, as they were from 1946 until their demise. Two theatres in particular were highlighted. Bob Bain who is secretary to the Scottish Music Hall variety theatre society spoke on the Glasgow Empire and the stars who performed there from Frank Sinatra, Laural & Hardy, Des O'Conner, Guy Mitchell, Albert Finney but to mention a few. Bill covered the well known fact that stars were in many ways quite wary about coming to Glasgow Empire as performing there could make or break them as the repartee from the audience on some occasions because Glasgow audiences could be quite verbal he went on to tell the tale when Mario Lanzo was singing a Glasgow worthy asked him to sing a particular song on several occasions, but to no avail did that happen. Eventually Mario Lanzo confronted the member of the audience by saying that is not the type of song I sing would you like to come up and sing it and without hesitation boldly went up to the stage sang the song and Lanzo then continued with his performance Bob Green covered the Glasgow Alhambra remembering the Jack Radcliffe Half Past Eight shows and first Royal Command performance in 1957. Vote of thanks fell into the hands of Past President Leslie Irvine

Press Release22 /11/13

On the 22nd of November 2013 East Kilbride Dementia Carers Group representative Brian Doig was invited along to the club to receive a cheque to the value of £3000 from the monies raised at the clubs summer AM/AM golf tournament Brian on the right is being given the cheque by President David Brown East Kilbride have been committed to the local charity for a number of years.

Two other visitors to the club were from the social work department who in conjunction with the Rotary Club are once again involved with the disbursement of presents in the joint Toys for Kids programme which they have been work together on.

Moira Bell from social work department highlighted to the Rotarians situations that she seen in the joy of recipients receiving gifts from people unknown giving to Rotarians a sincere thank you for their continuing Good work within the community.

Rotarians and friends attended the Rotary Clubs annual dance this year held in the Bruce Hotel. Eight plus enjoyed excellent cuisine provided by the Bruce hotel, President David Brown on behalf of his fellow Rotarians used the occasion to extend Honorary membership to a long standing friend of the Rotary Club when he called upon Malcolm Clark to accept Honorary membership

Press Release 18/11/13

Thursday 14th October saw the Rotary Club of East Kilbride hold its third annual Youth Speaks competition for the town's three senior schools. The event was held at the East Kilbride Group Training Association premises in Nerston and members of the East Kilbride Speakers Club provided the judges, Bob Hunter, Ken Murray and Audrey McGillvray and the timekeeper, Ross Hammond.

Six teams were entered by the schools, two in the Intermediate competition for pupils aged 11 to 13 years, and four in the Senior event, for pupils aged 14 to 17 years. Each team was speaking to its own chosen subject.

In front of a lively audience of pupils, teachers, parents and friends the teams had ten minutes to speak, followed by a question from the floor. It was clear that all the teams had researched their subjects very thoroughly and the quality of their presentations was reflected by the difficulty the judges had in agreeing the winners.

Ken Murray of the Speakers Club provided a summation of the evening and a review of each teams' performance before announcing the results.

In the Intermediate category the winners were Duncanrig Secondary School second team of Jennifer Rae, Sian Oo and Maria Goodarzi, who spoke to the topic "Design for Life".

The Senior competition was won by the St Andrews and St Brides High School team of Luke Laneres, Lewis Field and Ashwin Mariampurakal who spoke on the topic "United Nations or Disunited Nations".

The trophies were presented to the winners by David Brown, President of the Rotary Club of East Kilbride.

Both winning teams will now go forward to the Rotary District event which will be held at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall on the 1st and 15th February 2014.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening for all involved.

Children are the winners

Last Friday East Kilbride Rotary Club held its annual quiz at the East Kilbride Golf Club to raise funds for one of their projects " Toys for Kids".

The Rotary Club purchase each year toys for those children who due to whatever circumstances will not receive a toy at Christmas.

Working alongside East Kilbride Social Work Department, children are identified who will not receive any toys and over the last 3 years we have helped with this appeal to provide over 1000 toys for kids and ensure that they still know and experienced the joy of Christmas.

The question master and auctioneer for the night was Ronnie Watson with his team to collate the scores.

Twenty Four Teams competed against each other answering some extremely difficult questions.

Competitors were fed delicious pies at the interval donated and supplied by Stephen Sherriff of Wrights butchers in the village while the raffle was drawn.

The winning team was Raymond Smith, Janice Roberton, Brian Carson and Katrina Carson, calling themselves The Simple Minds .

Rotarian Jim Moretti, the organiser of the event, thanked all those who took part, assisted in anyway and announced the proceeds from night of £930.00 would be going towards the toys for kids fund.

Press Release10/11/13

Rotary Euroscola competition interviews were held for East Kilbride Senior schools. Entrants were Lia Quinn from Calderglen School, Samantha Dobbie also Calderglen, Samantha Russell also Calderglen and Melissa Whalin from St Andrews.

The girls were interviewed by Rotarians Jean Murray and Dianne Ashwood from Kittoch Club, this interview was carried out in French. Bruce Gunn and John Murphy carried out the general interview of the girls and finally the two chosen to go forward to the Rotary District 1230 finals were Samantha Dobbie and Melissa Whalin.

Rotary clubs throughout Scotland are putting together an exciting opportunity for Sixth Year pupils. The project is based round the Euroscola day at the European Parliament. The Euroscola day is hosted 10 times a year by the European Parliament in Brussels or Strasbourg. Around 500 young people from across the EU take part in a day of presentations, questions, discussions and voting on issues relevant to them. The day is multi-lingual with the expectation that all participants can communicate in French and English. The day is led by officials of the Parliament and is structured to ensure all young people participate to the full. It is a prestigious event with the young people being treated very much as MEPs: sitting in the main debating chamber; using electronic voting etc.

26 young people in their Sixth Year at school will be selected to represent Scotland at the February 2013 Euroscola event in Strasbourg. They will have studied Higher French and will have been selected to represent a local Rotary club before moving on to national selection.

Press Release21/10/13

East Kilbride Rotarians will be in the Town centre next weekend with collection buckets in their hands hoping to raise cash for the recent typhoon disaster in the Philippines

Past President Ian Macpherson brought along Paul Harris Fellow Malcolm Clark (Centre) who was the former President of Keystone International to the club lunch.

Two Years ago Malcolm was given his Paul Harris award by East Kilbride Rotary Club for his philanthropic gift to aid the people of Haiti & Pakistan.

When they both last met, one of the topics of conversation was the situation in Syria and the plight of many of the residents of that country.

Ian highlighted to Malcolm the work being done by Rotary International in distributing aid to help many refugees. Shelter Box played a large part in the provision of that aid. Malcolm seen the CD and after discussing with his wife what he had seen, he decided to make a substantial donation for the purchase in his name a number of these shelters via East Kilbride Rotary Club to go to Syria. On the right of the picture is Club President David Brown.

John Lange from East Kilbride Credit Union Ltd spoke to the club on the ethical financial co-operative owned and run by its members who save together and have access to affordable credit.

Anyone who lives or works in South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire is welcome to join. Their common bond now allows for family members to join the credit union if they live with and are related to an existing relative.

John explained how they have been providing first class financial services for over 30 years. The credit union is run by members for members and over 10,000 residents have already made use of our services. There is also a thriving junior membership, with almost 600 youngsters making excellent use of our savings facilities.

The credit union is controlled by a Board of Directors elected from the membership and is run on a day-to-day basis by the manager and a dedicated and talented team of staff and volunteers.

Like the banks, we are also regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and are part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme that guarantees up to £85,000 of individual saving in the event that the credit union is unable to meet its financial obligations.

Press Release 06/09/13

For the past seven years East Kilbride Rotary club have been involved i an annual clean up task at Calderglen park. Once again pupils from Calderglen high School have given their support in this environmental cleanup. As can be seen from the picture a large number of bags were once again collected by the team of willing workers from the school and the Rotary club. Members of the club wish to publically thank everyone who came along and gave of their time to help them in their efforts.

A lot of this work could have been prevented if visitors to the park used the waste receptacles that are available within the park or better still take their rubbish home for recycling and not discard it with the grounds of the park. Past President Ian Macpherson brought along Paul Harris Fellow Malcolm Clark (Centre) who was the former President of Keystone International to the club lunch, Two Years ago Malcolm was given his Paul Harris award by East Kilbride Rotary Club for his philanthropic gift to aid the people of Haiti & Pakistan.

When they both last met, one of the topics of conversation was the situation in Syria and the plight of many of the residents of that country. Ian highlighted to Malcolm the work being done by Rotary International in distributing aid to help many refugees. Shelter Box played a large part in the provision of that aid. Malcolm seen the CD and after discussing with his wife what he had seen, he decided to make a substantial donation for the purchase in his name a number of these shelters via East Kilbride Rotary Club to go to Syria. On the right of the picture is Club President David Brown.

Press Release08/09/13

East Kilbride Rotary Club have not been idle over the summer months, since their new Rotary year started at the beginning of July members have been quite active in that their annual Doo's race has been running over the past weeks this is an annual event that has been going on for many years, where under the kind auspices of a former member George Pollock the club are allocated a number of pigeons that race from various parts of the country back to their home lofts and the club members are allocated a pigeon each week of the races being held. Over the years that the club have been doing this members have raised a considerable amount of cash for good causes. The first of the Clubs annual golf Competitions the Rhu Trophy has just been played for with Past President Liam Donnelly scoring 40 points in a Stableford competition placing President Elect Archie King into second place with a score of 33

Past president Roddy Shanks organised a Garden Party at his home on the 7th of Sept where he managed with the help of his wife Kathe of course to raise £500 for Canine Partners in Scotland a Rotary Supported Charity It is estimated that around 100,000 people in Scotland are wheelchair users and a significant number of those could benefit from a canine partner. The Charity currently have two puppy satellites in Scotland - one in Stirling and the other in Ayrshire - training puppies to help more people with disabilities. If you would like to become involved to support your local puppy satellite, please contact the Fundraising Team on 08454 811 915

Jack Blackwood with Rachel Morning & Master Mark Hutton from Master Hutton Black belt Academy in East Kilbride. Rachel spoke on her prospects for 2016 Olympic selection on the 2nd of August 2013. With the use of a video relating to her training and selection to join the Elite GB Taekwon Do team. She will now train full time at the GB Taekwondo Academy in Manchester with the intention to be selected for Great Britain team at the next Olympics.

Press Release04/08/13

Master Hutton in actual fact gave the vote of thanks to not only Rachel but to the Rotary Club for their support over the past few years in supporting his students in European and world championships. He emphasised Rachel's professional approach towards her training and her goal of being in the squad for the 2016 Olympics. However there was a down side in that she would be sadly missed by Master Hutton Taekwon Do school and by all the students and instructors in the ITF Scotland squad.

Taekwon Do is a martial art originating in Korea. It combines combat and self-defence techniques using both hands and feet. In 1989, Taekwon do was the world's most popular martial art. WTF Taekwon Do - the sports side of the martial art has been an Olympic event since 2000.

Press Release27/07/13

26th of July 2013 seen Sean Walls came along and speak to East Kilbride Rotarians on Sight Aid International which is a multifaceted charity that has been set up to help raise awareness of vision issues, both locally and internationally. Since its inception in March 2010, Sight Aid International has eye tested over 3,000 people in some of the poorest areas of Kenya and supplied over 700 pairs of prescription glasses free of charge Sight Aid International has a target of £10,000 to reach that will allow us to open an eye testing clinic in Kenya. They are striving to reach that target and this will be made possible with the help of kind donations made to us.

Press Release22/07/13

East Kilbride Rotary Club once again had a very successful Golf Am-Am at the Nerston golf club on Friday the 19th July . Now in its 3rd year the event had 27 teams competing and despite the high temperatures on the day, those taking part in the event had a great day with the event being won by the team PURE WASH who where Enid King , Martin Lang , Peter Lavery & Archie King.

The first team went out at 10.00 in the morning with the last team arriving back in the club house at 6.30. A tent was set up at the 8th hole to supply refreshments and burgers to each team, gratefully welcomed as it gave the teams 5 minutes relief out of the beating sunshine.

Rotary Club President David Brown, assisted by his wife Gail, compared a successful auction after the golf and including the auction, raffles, sponsors and other events the club were pleased to announce that it had raised over £6000.

The funds raised are being shared between two local charities supported but the club, dementia care and toys for kids appeal .

Brian Doig from the EK Dementia Carers Group came along to help the organisers on the day and closed the event with a sincere thank you to all those who participated in the event and to the all the helpers. The Carer Group relies very much on charity for their day to day running of Pine Crescent.

The club would like to pass on it thanks to all who have supported the AM-AM each year.

WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES

Toys For Kids Appeal

East Kilbride Rotary Club in partnership with Chesapeake in East Kilbride purchases each year toys for those children who due to whatever circumstances will not receive a toy at Christmas.

Working alongside East Kilbride Social Work Department, children are indentified who will not receive any toys and over the last 3 years we have helped with this appeal to provide over 1000 toys for kids and ensure that they still know and experienced the joy of Christmas.

It is said that every minute of every day Rotary will touch the lives of millions somewhere in the world. With the Toys For Kids Appeal we can touch the lives of children in East Kilbride

Dementia Carers Group

It is estimated that there are around 82,000 people in Scotland with dementia, and that the figure will rise to 164,000 by 2036.

Official figures projected that within South Lanarkshire, the number of people with dementia would increase over a 10 year period by 18%.

Over that same period, the figure for East Kilbride was not 18%, but estimated at 45%, due primarily to the artificial demographics of a New Town.

Over 1,000 people in East Kilbride are reckoned to have some form of dementia.

Press Release 06/07/13

The presidential change over for East Kilbride Rotary club took place in the Bruce Hotel, East Kilbride this was in many ways reminiscent of years gone by when the club used to meet in the Bruce Hotel each Friday.

Outgoing president Jack Blackwood highlighted the achievements of the Club and the on occasion of the change over prior to remitting office had one more task to fulfil in that Rotary International had made awards to members of the club for their years of service to Rotary International and their work done locally they were Ian Macpherson, Edwin Robertson, George Gunn, Douglas Kilpatrick Jim Moretti, Ian Wiseman David Taylor, Henry Doig, Alan Jenkinson, all of these members had in excess of 25 years service each.

President Jack Blackwood then proceeded to hand the presidency of the club over into the safe hands of President Elect David Brown, who after a few words of what the club may be able to achieve in the ensuing year proceeded to officially introduce his team for the Rotary year 2013-14. The first Major event will be the clubs AM/AM golf tournament where 26 teams will be playing at East Kilbride Golf course on the 19th of July with the proceeds of the event going to East Kilbride Dementia carers group at Pine Crescent, and this year's Toys for Kids appeal two local charities that the club have a strong connexion with.