Bob's and Jane's Swan (Duck ??) Song

Lunchtime Meeting 30th June 2008

President Bob (WERC) and President Jane (Inner Wheel) presided over the last meeting of the Rotary year. Present were Rotarians and their wives and members of Inner Wheel. The President gave an entertaining talk and showed slides of the trip to Liverpool all of which can be found on this website.

He also used the occasion to thank the Clubs for their efforts at the Fayre and the subsequent Duck Race with a special mention for Chris Clark.

 Summer Fayre and Duck Race  28th June 2008

The Annual Summer Fayre took place with the benefit of beautiful weather, and apparently large crowds. The event was opened by Actor Roy Marsden accompanied by the Deputy Mayor and President Bob enjoying the last major event of his year before retreating back to the 'back benches'.

This year, working with the Town Partnership the Fayre was rounded off with the first Royal Windsor Duck Race. All 2000 ducks had been sold together with most of the 100 Business Ducks. From the moment 2000+ ducks hit the water, they were cheered on their way for the ten minutes or so duration of the race. The sight of a sea of yellow plastic ducks floating nonchalantly to the winning post was both surreal and highly entertaining especially for the pair of bemused real ducks.

The event and the money raised (over £5000) was very popular with the spectators and will no doubt be repeated for many years to come, further strengthening of an already strong working relationship between WERC and the Windsor and Eton Town Partnership.

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 'Here There and Everywhere'

President's Weekend away - Liverpool 13th,14th,15th June 2008

President Bob and Jane led a party of over 33 to their home city of Liverpool for the President's weekend away. The visit coincided with the culmination of 'The European City of Culture 2008' celebrations and as the weekend ended the symbol of the year, the Super Lamb Banana was being distributed all over the City.

The visit got off to a robust start with a dinner at the Artists Club where the club was treated to a splendid dinner followed by renditions of Beatles' songs assisted on the keyboard by Rtn. Don Harrison.

Saturday was a full day enjoying a comprehensive introduction by Bob to the sights of Liverpool, ancient and modern, including amongst the many places visited Mathew Street (location of the original Cavern Club), the two Cathedrals, the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and capped off with a trip on the Mersey Ferry. An exhausted party spent the evening in a restaurant in the Albert Dock (Gusto's). Sunday everyone gradually disperse back to Windsor in time for the breakfast Rotary meeting on the Monday morning.

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Click on Poster above for a copy of Race Rules

info@windsorandetonrotary.org.uk

(click on email address above to request further information)

“The Duck Race will be an amazing sight to behold!”

“Hundreds of Ducks will be racing along the River Thames”

“An event for all the Family not to be missed”

“ A Quacking good day out”

and introducing Business Duck - £25 each for Local Businesses to participate in a special Business Race - details and prizes click on the duck below.

 Club Meeting 12th May 2008

WINDSOR & ETON ROTARY WELCOME HOME TWO HONORARY MEMBERS TO MEETING.

At their Monday lunchtime meeting this week at The Mercure Castle Hotel The Rotary Club of Windsor & Eton welcomed two of their honorary members. LT Col George Water outgoing Commanding Officer of The Coldstream Guards gave a fascinating talk about his recent deployment in Afghanistan. Dr Bob Pickles Rotary President thanked George & said how pleased the Club was to have had his great support during his time at Victoria Barracks. LT Col Toby Grey took over from George yesterday as the new Commanding Officer & The Rotary Club look forward hopefully to welcoming Toby to one of their future meetings soon.  

Also in attendance was new Hon Rotarian Admiral Ian Jenkins Governor & Constable of Windsor Castle. The Club presented Ian with his Club tie & label badge & welcomed him into membership. David Shaw PR Officer said that Ian has already become a great Rotary supporter since arriving in Windsor only three months ago & the club looked forward very much to his future visits to his new Club.

 President's Night

Maidenhead Golf Club 3rd May

80+ attended Bob and Jane's President's Night where the entertainment for the evening was provided by the members who had been attending Ballroom Dance Classes over the course of the year. Regrettably we have a long way to go to catch up with Bob and Jane, but there were no kicked shins or broken toes so something must have rubbed off!

The evening was highly successful and appeared - looking at the photographs (101 of them) - to have been enjoyed by all.

The evidence is in Photo Gallery!

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 CAPTION COMPETITION

To publicise the Duck Race on 28th June Rtn.s Denis Blandford and David Shaw sportingly donned Duck Costumes

It was quite difficult to find a suitable/printable comments so feel free to come up with your own to the picture below - and yes the wrist does look very limp!

Email your suggestions to info@windsorandetonrotary.org.uk

Best suggestions will find their way onto the website

 Duck Race Duck selling in Windsor 7th June 2008

Over 200 Ducks were sold in Windsor contributing to the target of 2000 for the actual race on 28th June

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 Wine Tasting 3rd June 2008

A highly informative not to mention liquid wine tasting was given by Rtn. John Handcoc on the wines and region of the Alsace. This was held at Club Indigo in Windsor converted for the night into a convincing wine 'cave' .

There were upwards of 40 Rotarians and their partners and friends and in addition to 10 different wines to try the evening was accompanied by a buffet of suitable 'fromages' to accompany the wine.

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 Rotary BBQ 1st June 2008

The annual barbecue hosted by Chris Clark on the River Bank at Datchet was attended by 70 guests. A great afternoon was had by all including the annual prototype Duck Race. Note the high-tech retrieval technique!

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 Twinning visit of Castricum 2008

The visit from Castricum has just ended successfully with 7 couples visiting from the Dutch club. Unfortunately one couple had to cancel due to illness.

The visit consisted of a reception on Friday Evening at The Constitutional Club with a lovely buffet meal organised by Terry Kinsley. On Saturday we visited Henley Rowing Museum which was most interesting. This was followedby a splendid Large Carvery lunch at Henley Golf Club which President Bob arranged through his vast Golfing connections !! 

Saturday night The Aufflicks, Barlows,Shaws & Stabbins  hosted Cheese & Wine parties which proved most successful. Sunday morning's weather turned up trumps after a damp week & we had a super guided tour of the Great Park given by Bill Cathcart, Parks Superintendent. This was followed by a very pleasant cold lunch arranged by Philip & Mary Reynolds at the York Club. This which an ideal location situated so wonderfully right near the Great Park Village Green & Cricket Club. A perfect setting for a lovely British outing.

Many thanks today hosts, Denis, Coombs, David Imberg, Carletons, & Hockings. A final big thank you to the Osmonds, Simons & Pickles for hostings our fellow Rotarians so well. The Mercure Castle Hotel arrangements for our visitors was marvelous & the upgrade of the rooms by Eric Darde the Area Manager was very much appreciated.    

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MG Rally Launch

Mercure Castle Hotel 28th April 2008

The evening took the form of a 7.30pm arrival with Champagne Drinks reception & Scalextric 8 track game game & displays by The Prince Philip Trust Fund for The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Rotary Club of Windsor & Eton & The MG Owners Club. 

At 8pm the MC David Shaw called everyone to order & his Wife Catherine showed extracts from a DVD of The Aston Martin Rally in 2005 to Celebrate 100 years of Rotary International & HM The Queens 80th Birthday celebrations. Three short speeches then followed from Paul Bayley - Rotary President Elect ( MG TF car owner ) & then Rotarian Andrew Panter DL ,Trustee of THe Prince Philip Trust Fund & Chairman of The Rally Organising committee followed by Richard Monk General Manager of the MG Owners Club who explained that he will be working with all the MG car Clubs & hopefully will get about 160 different types of MG in the main Parade.  

An excellent buffet followed & then more racing on the very popular Scalextric track.    

New Hon Rotarian Of The Windsor & Eton Rotary Club the New Governor of Windsor Castle Ian Jenkins is also an MG owner & member of MG Car Club & enjoyed meeting his new fellow Rotarians.

It was good to see so many high profile names at our event particularly  The Hon Mrs Mary Bayliss the New Lord Lieutenant of Royal Berkshire & The New Governor of Windsor Castle Surgeon Vice Admiral Ian Jenkins CB, CVO plus The Mayor & Mayoress of THe Royal Borough & Mayor & Mayoress of Eton as well as Trustees of The Prince Philip Trust Fund.  

There will be a display of MGs at The Mid Summer Fayre on Sat 28th of June in Alexandra Gardens.

The raffle prizes of other weekends breaks around the UK in Mercure Hotels, dinner for two in the Castle Hotel restaurant, afternoon tea for four at The Castle Hotel plus fine wine were all very kindly donated by Area Manager Eric Darde of The Mercure Castle Hotel to whom the Rotary Club are extremely grateful.  Raffle prizes were also donated by The MG owners club. The Raffle Raised £380.   

It is hoped about £2500 was raised for Charity on the evening.

Sponsorship packages for the MG Festival planned for next April are now available & details of advertising in the planning Rally Brochure from David Shaw - info@windsorandetonrotary.org.uk

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Rotarian Norman Jarman PHF

11th July 1920 - 1st April 2008

The Rotary Clubs of Windsor and Eton and Windsor St George have been mourning the passing of Norman Jarman who had been a tireless member of WERC since joining as a joining Member in 1997.

Following his passing on 1st April there was a very well attended Memorial Service held on 21st April at which his son-in-law Chris Davis of the Windsor St George Club gave a moving and informative tribute, which contained not only factual details of a long life but also an affectionate insight into the person who was 'Norman'.

The text of Chris' tribute and the Service sheet can both be viewed by clicking on the links below.

Service Sheet    Tribute.

Stroke Awareness Day 26th April 2008

 District Conference Bournemouth 4th, 5th, 6th April 2008

Sunny Bournemouth was the back drop for a  successful and compelling Conference providing a balance of thought provoking Conference Speakers during the days and fun in the evenings.

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 Visit to Lodden Brewery 17th March 2008

Who said Rotarians couldn't organise a '**** up in a Brewery'?

Contented Rotarians and their partners visited Lodden Brewery to sample their products and be told about the process of Beer making.

There is no truth in the rumour that all those cans are the empties!

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 Meeting 17th March 2008

Colin Chisholm former CEO of the National Air Traffic Service talked to the Club about his work.

He was responsible for the move from West Drayton to Swanwick with the introduction of all the new technology to go with it. 

 Meeting 10th March 2008

The Rotary Club of Windsor & Eton welcomed David Cobb Past Sheriff Of the City of London. Bob Pickles said he's Scots, so he is a keen golfer playing off a single figure handicap at Sunningdale, he was CEO of a shipping company and is a Liveryman of the Painter Stainers Company.

Evening Meeting 28th January 2008

  'Return of the Raj'

David and Catherine Shaw and David and Eileen Osmond gave a vivid and colourful talk with images and video clips of their trip to see the progress of the AHEAD Project which is a matching grant project in India.

A  fuller summary of the talk is available by clicking on this link

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District 1090 Tsunami Project Sri Lanka

  Click on the picture above to read a recent article in the Local Midweek Observer publicising the successful completion of the Sri Lankan Tsunami Project contributed to and facilitated by District 1090

District Governor Philip Bobby has recently written a detailed letter summarising this achievement and outlining in great detail the expenditure. Click on highlighted link below.

Tsunami letter (.pdf)

Youth Speaks 16th January 2008

Another highly entertaining evening of Youth Speaks resulted in winners from Brigidine in the Senior Section and Trevelyan in the Intermediate.

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 Afternoon at the RAF Club 10th January 2008

These contented photographs convey the spirit of a very convivial visit to the RAF Club in London - whether any actual shopping got done afterwards is open to conjecture.

 Meeting 7thJanuary 2008

The Club hosted two of Windsor's most prominent citizens at their lunchtime meeting - Sir Richard Johns (see below) and David Lunn Chief Executive of Windsor and Maidenhead who is to retire from the post at the end of February. Sir Richard Johns was presented with his caricature by the President and the artist Denis Blandford, and David Lunn entertained the Club with some of his reminiscences of his time in office.

Sir Richard Johns

WERC has marked the retirement at the end of January of one of our honorary members with the presentation of the above caricature by Rotarian Denis Blandford

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns GCB, KCVO, CBE Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle since 2000

Family Lunch 1st January 2008

ROUND TABLE CHRISTMAS STREET COLLECTIONS

Congratulations to Windsor and Eton Round Table for their 10 night marathon Street Collection in which £3000 was raised for Charity. This event has generated enormous goodwill towards the Club for taking their magnificent sleigh to the outlying villages where 'Santa's Sleigh' has never visited before.

 Lunchtime meeting 17th December 2007

Ambassadorial Scholars' Visit 8th December 2007

Inner Wheel Christmas Lunch 4th December 2007

The President of Inner Wheel Jane Pickles was host to the annual Inner Wheel Lunch. Amongst the guests was Bob Pickles President of WERC with his chain and hat set at a suitably jaunty angle!

Report and more Photos on Inner Wheel page

Christmas Street Collection

£800 was Collection at Tescos Sat & Sun 8/9th Dec despite the awful weather lots of Windsor residents gave generously towards Rotary Charities & Rotary's disaster Shelter Box Scheme - The Rotary Patron is The Duchess of Cornwall. Windsor & Eton Rotary Club has bought four Shelter boxes at a cost of £1960.

Rotarians Bob Heybourn & Guy Barlow commented that despite the weather they had a steady stream of people dropping coins & notes into the collection buckets - Thank you Windsor for being so generous.  

CHRISTMAS STREET COLLECTION 1st December 2007

Windsor came out in force to enjoy a festive Saturday and give generously to both Rotary Clubs collecting together for Cancer Research.WERC was stationed in King Edward Court and Windsor St George elsewhere in the town. The highlight of the day for everyone was Father Christmas being drawn on his sleigh down Peascod Street by a team of Huskies (Reindeer were off this year because of Foot and Mouth precautions)  

 The Norwich official Town Crier with Rtn's Colin Coombs, Santa, and Michal Harding and David Wheeler

The Presidents conifer!

The procession and a Denis Blandford impersonator!                more photos

Quiz Night 29th November 2007

A highly successful Quiz Night organised by The Inner Wheel was held at the Alma Social Club

Report and more Photos on Inner Wheel page

New Download

District Governor's latest Newsletter

This newsletter contains details of Rotary's response to the devastating floods in Bangladesh. WERC is arranging for 4 Shelter boxes to be sent  and will be allocating part of the Christmas Street Collection to this cause.

AHEAD PROJECT INDIA - VISIT NOVEMBER 2007

Rotarians David Shaw and David Osmond and their respective wives visited the AHEAD Project in India In early November. A full report is to be made to WERC at the end of January. David Shaw has uploaded some preliminary photograph's to give a flavour of the visit. Full report for the Web site to follow.

Catherine and Eileen administering Polio vaccine to children                more photos

 the Rotary Club of Windsor St George

25th Charter Anniversary Dinner 23rd November 2007

President Bob Pickles presented a new bell to Windsor St George on behalf of their mother club at the dinner held in the Guildhall exactly 25 years to the day since the Club's original Charter Dinner. WERC extends sincere congratulations on the achievement of this milestone.

 Colin Coombs inducted 12th November 2007

President Bob inducts Colin Coombs

 Strictly not Celebrity Come Dancing

9 brave Rotarian couples from both WERC and Windsor St. George took part in the second dance class in Eton, where the waltz learnt at the first lesson was 'polished', and the intricacies of the Cha, cha, cha, were explained to eager and attentive pupils!- see photo. For some reason Bruce Forsyth could not make it.

These classes will continue on the second and fourth Mondays indefinitely. Contact info@windsorandetonrotary.org.uk for more details.

 Former President rejoins the Club

Bob Heybourne, past President 1990 - 1991 rejoined the Club on 15th November following retirement from business.

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 Twinning visit to Celle 12th - 14th October 2007

President Bob! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> King Bob?

Every picture tells a story! A successful visit to Celle for the biennial twinning weekend resulted in a very varied programme of cultural visits and social events.

Click on more photos for a complete picture of the events.

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Art Exhibition Windsor Parish Church 27th - 30th September 2007

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 Sunday family Lunch at The Union Crimp Hill 23rd September 2007

Foot and Mouth restrictions did nothing to spoil a very pleasant lunch at the Union Inn Old Windsor, which should have been preceded by a walk in Windsor Great Park, which did not take place because of the restrictions caused by the disease.

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Social Evening - The Limes Bar Windsor 19th September 2007

A new venue proved a successful and more 'cost effective' location for the meeting of the Social Committee - so called.

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Formal Handover of new Bench 7th August 2007

Distinct Governor Tony Bacon attended the formal hand-over of the new Rotary bench located outside Windsor Parish Church. Donations towards its purchase have been made by WERC and its twin Clubs of Celle in Germany, and Castricum in Holland. Tony Bacon attended the weekly Rotary Meeting afterwards.

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Handover of new Mini-Bus to Age Concern Windsor 23rd July 2007

The new mini-bus paid for by contributions from both Windsor Rotary Clubs took place at the Spencer Denney Day Centre (formerly The Spencer Denney Workshop for the Elderly) on 23rd July. IPP Ron Lewandowski spoke of the history of the Club's historic involvement with the Centre since 1960 and President Bob launched the vehicle by pouring even more water over it than the constant rains had managed.

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 Sunday 15^th July Windsor Boy’s School Wind Band Concert 

The Windsor Boys School Wind Band supported by the WBS Choir and the cast and chorus of the Royal Borough Youth Opera gave an outstanding performance of popular songs from screen and stage, such as My Fair Lady, the Sound of Music and their recent production of Guys and Dolls.

The Wind Band, started only 18 months ago by the musical Director, James Manwaring, have been invited to play in Beijing at a meeting of schools Art Colleges of Excellence. The concert was to raise funds for the boys to travel to China and to make the most of the unique international exchange and experience.

The band has been supported by a number of sponsors and their own fund raising. Windsor and Eton Rotary Club also presented them on the night with a cheque for £1000 (see photo) which was presented by President Bob.

First meeting of the Social Committee (and guests!) - 11th July 2007

The first (very convivial) meeting of the Social Committee and their guests met at Gilbeys in Eton. The meeting coincided with Rtn. Norman Jarman's 87th Birthday. The photographs did not quite capture him blowing out the candles on his cake! Photos taken on a mobile phone so some quality is compromised.

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 9th July 2007 - Induction of David Imberg

New President Bob got off to a flying start with David's Induction at the first meeting of the new Rotary year bringing the total membership up to 38

Windsor St George Handover Meeting - 3rd July 2007

Windsor St George President handed over to Judith Diment at the 'Handover Dinner' held at the Adelaide Hotel. It was also the first official function for new president Bob Pickles and new Inner Wheel President - his wife Jane.

Handover Meeting - 2nd July 2007 at The Castle Hotel

New President Bob 'chasses' into the chair

 (chasse - A sliding step in which one foot "chases" and displaces the other)

New President Bob Pickles took over the Presidency of the Club from Ron Lewandowski at the handover at the Castle Hotel and he and Jane followed it with a demonstration of their ballroom dancing skills.

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