Croydon South
Rotary Club
Projects and activities
Our club divides its activities and projects into four main areas; Community/Vocational, International/Foundation, Fundraising and Club Service.
Fundraising Committee
(Chairman - Wendy Parr)
The
fundraising committee is responsible for generating the funds requested
by the other committees to service their goals and objectives. To this
end we have many annually recurring events as well as quite a few one
offs. Perhaps the biggest single contributor to our fund raising is our
Christmas Collections during which we escort Santa on his rounds. We
also put on The Chinese new year, Craft Fair, Music Night, Golf Day, Santa at Knights, a popular Quiz night,
a 60's Night, a Cheese and Wine tasting evening, Croquet and Cream tea
and the Summer barbeque. While the main goal is, of course, to raise as
much money as possible for our good causes, we all have a great time
doing it.
Community and Vocational Committee
(Chairman - Graham Upton)
The
committee focuses on providing a variety of services across all age
groups in our local community. At Christmas we deliver parcels to the
elderly and housebound - importantly providing a visitor on Christmas
morning. For many of our recipients this may be the only visit they
receive over the festive period. InMarch we deliver spring plants, again
to the elderly and house bound and once more the visit is almost more
important than the plant. In May we arrange the ever popular Rotary Reach out event
and in September our Senior's day out affords us the privilege of
taking our guests usually to a National Trust property and afterwards
for tea. We are also working with young people; in conjunction with the Caterham and Reigate
Rotary clubs we arrange a debating competition for local schools, we
have installed a sensory garden for profoundly handicapped children for a
school on the Purley Way. In June each year we take a group of children
to Horton Park Farm in
Epsom. Once again these children are profoundly handicapped and they
gain a huge amount from the day - their enjoyment is clear. We were
instrumental in establishing Life Education Centres
Croydon who provide a hi-tech mobile classroom with a trained teacher
who visit our local schools delivering drug prevention and health
education programmes. Whilst this may sound like a full and taxing
programme members of this committee have a lot of fun and a great sense
of satisfaction in providing service to our community.
International Foundation Committee
(Chairman - John Preston)
With
responsibility for the wider social conscience of our Rotary Club, this
committee focusses on the provison of funds and services to projects
based overseas. One of the most exciting opportunities is a project in
Velingrad, Bulgaria to build a complete school for the local community
of Rakitovo. Our club will join with the local Rakitovo Club and four
other UK Clubs to raise the initial funds which will be match funded by
the international Rotary organisation. We also support various other
overseas initiatives such as the provision of emergency shelter boxes
and water aid kits to disaster areas. We have recently sent monies to
the Australian bush fire fund, as well as to medical aid for the
Palestinians in Gaza. Locally, we collect spectacles from opticians and
GP surgeries which are sent to a local young offender's institute, where
the inmates classify and package the lenses for reuse in third world
countries. Our club also supports young people, providing them with the
opportunity to live and work abroad in less developed countries.
Club Service Committee
(Chairman - Bill Fisher)
This committee is very much at the heart of the club. We arrange the venues for all of our meetings, providing opportunities to allow members to socialize and relax and arranging our four quarterly formal dinners. Sports and games feature heavily in our programme - we enter teams in the Rotary Darts, Dominoes, Badminton, Snooker and Bridge competitions and arrange our own Skittles and Bat and Trap events. We also put on theatre trips and other much enjoyed social events. A particular highlight of the year is the President's weekend at the end of June - when fellow Rotarians visit from the Rotary Club of Arnhem Ijssel. The reciprocal visit that we make in November is always very enjoyable as well.
Membership Committee
(Chairman - Ian Wray)
This committee is responsible for finding new members, welcoming them to our club and encouraging them to become a full and active participants in the many events and other activities of the club. We are always looking for new members to join our ever increasing number and if you are interested then please contact me. Being such a vibrant club we find that once people have attended a couple of lunches and perhaps one or two social events they are generally very keen to join.