28th July 2009  - The President’s Weekend.

With a last, final push President Bernard lead his troops to success with an outstanding weekend of fun and frivolity. The weekend began with a safari supper hosted by Bill and Pauline, Vivien assisted by Tom, and finally our President and his Lady. This evening truly reflects what Rotarians do best,

eat, drink and make merry.  

Saturday morning appeared before anyone was ready for it, and we were off to Croydon Airport to spend time finding out just how much time the Dutch airline KLM spent on British Soil. There is no doubt there is a very strong connection between our two countries. So much information and education proved to be all too much and the group retired to the White Bear for a repast, including the odd drink or two ! Vivien and Brian (H) had made superb arrangements for the lunch, the sun shone and all was right with the world.  

A lazy, languid afternoon led to a flurry of excitement as the President’s Night approached. Our President shone his shoes, put on his bow tie and superb white tuxedo, inserted his cuff links and with a final look around the office scanned the link plate and remembered to bring it with him.  The bane of any President’s year is the Arnhem link plate, both the worry of being responsible for housing it and the transportation to the Netherlands to receive it in November. 

This was the Persident’s big night, months of planning, time in rehearsal, would it all go according to plan ? What could possibly go wrong ?

Our President executed the evening well, carrying it off with poise and dignity. The plate handed over in the correct number of pieces, flowers presented, the much deserved long service award for Norman Davis, whom we shall miss enormously.  In fact everything went well. The band played, the assembled multitudes danced and made merry. When the midnight hour appeared it was a final and fond farewell for another exhausting day.

 However, when we least expected it Sunday appeared ready or not. We scrambled round to Tom’s restaurant for what I think the American’s call ‘brunch’, anyway the food was as ever superb – thanks Tom.

Our Dutch pals left at 13.30 to arrive in Dover in time to catch the ferry back home to Holland. With a tear in the eye and a fond (and very lengthy) farewell – they were gone.

Another success story for Croydon South, our President exhausted by the goings on of the weekend, a last rally was required for the final lunch and Council meeting on 29th before handing over the reigns and installing Joe Trickey next Monday.

President Bernard said, “It all appears to have gone off well, the confounded plate has finally gone back to Arnhem and my year is coming to its close. I think the weekend was a great success, and for that I would thank all those involved”.

10th June 2009 - Kids Out! To Horton Park Farm

Members of the club accompanied by parents and teachers transported children from the Indigo unit at Wadden Infants to Horton Park Farm in Epsom. The Children spent an enrgetic hour in the soft play area before moving on to enjoy a tractor ride and seeing some of the animals around the farm. After lunch the children made heavy use of the outside play areas, one even got our President to the top of a wooden climbing frame before abandoning him to make his own way down, which he did with style and panache (see picture). Children in the Indigo unit have a range of special needs and the club is proud to support this important work. President Bernard Guilford said "We have supported the Indigo unit for a number of years. Indeed we provided a sensory garden for the children some years ago and we very much enjoy our annual outing to the farm. We also have the pleasure of taking them to see Father Christmas at Knights garden centres in December. These are indeed special children."

Saturday 6th June - Barbeque a sizzling success

Members and friends of the club braved what was possibly the coldest Saturday in June to enjoy one of Tom Ho's finest barbeques. The event raised funds for Rotary charities and despite the cold we all had a lot of fun. President Bernard Guilford said "I don't rember us ever having a cold day for our barbecue in the past. However the day was well supported. We are grateful to David and Denise for the use of their lovely garden and of course, our old friend Tom Ho who arranged for the cooking. The food was great!"

30th May - Quiz Night raises over £600 for Castle Hill School

Croydon South's annual quiz, now in its 7th year took place at St. Anthony's Church in Hamsey Green and this year drew our largest crowd yet. With over 90 entrants over 15 teams the hall was buzzing with excitement as quizmaster Ray Allen took the microphone for an evening of general knowledge, the history of science, birdsong, the English language and other obscure facts and figures.

As ever, Tom Ho provided an excellent oriental buffet which was extremely well received and fortified our contestants for the second half of the evening. Tom also provided a bar which was well used, being sited next to David Miller's table.

The President was gracious enough to ensure that his team didn't win safely coming in 10th. However he did take great pleasure in presenting the winners (Johnny and the Moondogs) with the coveted shield and obligatory bottle of champagne. The wooden spoon (and a book of facts) went to the losing team (pictured with the President).

This year our chosen charity for this event was Castle Hill Junior School in Addington for whom we raised in excess of £600.

President Bernard Guilford said "The evening was a lot of fun and has raised a significant amount of money for a school which is dear to my heart. Last year we provided funds for a much needed sensory room at the school. My wife and I visited the school and we were so impressed with the work of the teachers and parents. This is a great result (but not for my particular team)."

23rd May - Rotary reaches out to the community

On Saturday 23rd of May Croydon South rotary played host to over 100 elderly residents of the South Croydon area, many of whom may not have any other opportunity to leave their homes during the course of the year. Aided by our friends from Banstead and Whitgift Rotary clubs we transported our guests from their homes to Warlingham School where they enjoyed a three course meal and entertainments after which our President cut the cake celebrating St. Georges' day.

As always the hall was decorated to celebrate the occasion and Croydon South were assisted by friends, family and other volunteers waiting on tables and otherwise looking after the guests.

This year we had an excellent singer, Anne Barham who performed two sets - the first being songs from popular musicals and the second songs from the fifties and sixties. The afternoon was punctuated by a touch of magic provided by Chris Bourner who regretfully failed to make the washing up disappear.

Our grateful thanks as ever to Tom Ho and his team who provided the usual high standard of catering services.

Since the event we have had a large number of thankyou letters from our guests and it is always nice for us to see how much they enjoyed the event.

President Bernard Guilford said "The day was a great achievement, clearly enjoyed by our guests. I am very proud of the way the whole club pulled together to make this event the success it undoubtedly was."

16th May 2009 - Rotary puts the pressure on

The Rotary Clubs of Croydon South, Croydon, Jubilee and Whtigift were in the Whitgift Shopping Centre Croydon to check Croydon shoppers’ blood pressures on Saturday 16th May from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Allders Square, in a bid to help cut down the alarming number of strokes recorded in the UK every year.

The clubs joined scores of Rotary clubs across the UK taking to the high streets and offering blood pressure checks as part of Rotary’s Stroke and Health Awareness Day 2009.

The annual awareness day is run in partnership with The Stroke Association to help people better understand the relation between high blood pressure (hypertension) and stroke. It is estimated that 40% of the 150,000 strokes suffered by people in the U.K each year could be prevented. This condition can easily be controlled.

On average, the initiative sees around 13,500 people across the UK step up to have their blood pressure taken. Last year, nearly 3,000 were advised to see their GP for more tests and a further 196 urged to seek medical advice immediately.

President of Rotary Club of Croydon South Bernard Guilford said: “Today has been another great example of Rotary Club's working together to serve the local Community. This health initiative is vital to our community and does saves lives.”

Homaira Khan from The Stroke Association said: “Rotary recognises that one of the biggest challenges is to help people understand that strokes don't just happen to other people. They can happen to anyone, at any age and the biggest single risk is high blood pressure. Rotarian volunteers play an invaluable role in reaching out to people, encouraging them to have regular checks and take action when needed.”

There will be another chance to have your blood pressure checked at the Coulsdon Fair on July 4th.

27th April 2009 - The Club gives a donation to the Royal Marsden hospital

President Bernard was delighted to present a cheque to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton towards their appeal to establish the new children's wing. The cheque for £200 was collected by Liz Flint, the wife of former member Roy Flint who sadly passed away recently. Roy had been receiving excellent care at the Royal Marsden, and Liz gave us a moving talk about their family's experience of the services provided by the hospital.

23rd April 2009 - Golf day heralded a success

On St. George's day the club held President Bernard's all comers golfing tournament. The event was held at Farleigh Court Golf club and was hailed as a great success. The day was being held in aid of Life Education Centres (Croydon and Surrey), a charity who provide health education and drug misuse prevention programmes to primary school children across the region. More than a dozen teams of four joined in to make the day an extremely enjoyable stroll in the son. Lady Elizabeth Toulson, the high Sherrif of Surrey presented the awards to the winners and was ably hosted by President Bernard himself, who said "Our day was sponsored by Grange Jaguar, Croydon Advertiser and a large number of other sponsers listed on our website. The day made a superb contribution to a vital charity - I am delighted with the results and want to say a big thank you to everyone for their support.

The day made in the region of £2,700 all of which will go to the charity.

30th March 2009 - Croydon South donates £200 to SOS Children

During our weekly lunch, David Stranack, Chairman of SOS Children visited us and gave a speech about his charity. SOS Children provides new families and homes for more than 70,000 children in 475 unique children's villages in 123 countries worldwide. These children may be AIDS sufferers, street children, war orphans or victims of poverty or natural disasters. Funds help to build the villages and run them until child sponsors cover the running costs. After lunch President Bernard presented a £200 cheque to David to go towards this worthy cause.

14th March 2009 - Cheese and Wine a great success.

This Saturday many of our members and guests gathered at the home of Joe and Evi Trickey for a wonderful evening of cheese and wine tasting, Tom's food and fellowship. Tom Ho provided us with 13 different wines to taste, along with tasting notes for those of us who are nosmically challenged! Evi provided 6 different cheeses and no clues! There were separate competitions for the number of wines identified and the number of cheeses. The winner of the wine tasting was Evi, while Joe won the cheese competition - Congratulations to both of you. Also during the evening President Bernard was surprised with a delicious cake, a card and a display of balloons in honour of his birthday which he celebrated this week. Thanks again go to Tom for the cake, and Wendy for the balloons and card.

As is usual for this event we all had a wonderful time and even managed to raise some money for our charity fund at the same time.

2nd March 2009 - Croydon South welcomes its newest member Tinna Pederson.

At our lunch meeting today President Bernard had the pleasure of inducting another new member to our club. Local business entrepreneur Tinna Pederson, who's profession is wellness and classic sports cars, promises to be an asset to the life and work of our club. In her acceptance speech Tinna said "Thank you so much to everyone and to you Mr President for the very warm welcome I have received. It has almost been overwhelming being accepted with such open arms. I feel extremely privileged and honoured to now be a Rotarian and I am excited about getting to know each and every one of you… excited about making new friends and contacts… and above all excited about serving the community. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Rotary."

27th February 2009 - Croydon South enters Croydon Whitgift Rotary Quiz Night - Comes 8th!

7th February 2009- President's Select Swims to Success

Vivien, Ian, Bernard, Sir Humph and Lady Morgan, the President's daughter and granddaughter formed the President's Select team who stormed to a superb total of 89 lengths in the charity swimathon put on by the Rotary Club of Purley.

We are have raised somewhere in the region of £600 for our charity kitty and thanks are due for the huge efforts made by all concerned.

The team and its many supporters retired to a local hostelry afterwards for a well earned celebratory drink!

6th February 2009- Chinese New Year raises over £500 for the National Autistic Society

The Chinese New Year held at St Anthony's church in Hamsey Green was well attended despite the weather which threatened to cancel the evening completely.

Over 60 brave souls battled the weather and enjoyed a superb evening of fun, food and fellowship. A lion dance, traditional chinese folk dancers and a Chinese calligrapher provided entertainment throughout the evening and ensured that we all had a great time.

Kelong Restaurant, Selsdon Road, South Croydon provided the catering and as ever the buffet was fantastic. Thanks Tom - it makes all the difference.

The evening raised £580 all of which is going to support the Croydon based projects of the National Autistic Society.

Thanks as ever to all who made the evening happen, especially, Tim, Tom, Ian, David and of course Mr President.

Christmas Day 2008 - Christmas parcel delivery a resounding success

In the president's own words - "Christmas parcels delivery is very special to me as I have been involved since 1970 with the delivery of essential and festive food items to local elderly, housebound or otherwise needy folk. However none of the previous Christmas Day mornings began as well as this one did. We were treated to a five star breakfast at Tom’s Kelong Restaurant - an unbelievable treat. And we received and exceptional welcome from the people who received the parcels. Thank you to all members of the club who selflessly gave up their Christmas day morning to bring a little joy to others."

This year we delivered over 50 parcels to people in and around the Croydon South area and have received a larger than normal number of thank you letters with many of them commenting specifically on the content of the parcels.

Christmas 2008 - Collections raise a record amount

As usual we spent every evening in December walking the streets with Father Christmas on his sleigh (down your way, with his sack, on his back.) As ever, our activity brought joy to many children and indeed many adults as well. This year we raised a staggering £6168 by the kind contributions of the public in and around the Croydon South area.

Every penny collected goes to one of the many charities supported by the club. This allows us to provide service and support to the community throughout the year. We would like to extend our thanks to all of you who contributed, to the collection teams and of course to the guest of honour, Santa himself.

As you can see from the pictures we all enjoyed the fun, fellowship and feeling of a worthwhile job done well.

Christmas 2008 - Santa comes to Knight's Garden Centres

We were delighted to provide Father Christmas at Knights Garden Centre in Chelsham throughout November and December and thank Knights for their generous donation of over £1000 to our charity fund.

Children were also able to have breakfast with Santa on four days during the holiday period at Knights Garden Centres, during which they received a present and were able to explain in detail what they wanted for Christmas.

We look forward to next year!

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