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July 2010 |
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22nd July 2010 |
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The Fellowship Meeting was livened up by a visit from Robin Cuthbert from
the Abertay Club. Robin is presently helping get the word around to older
folks about the TV Digital Switchover. This happens on the 15th September in
Grampian and he's looking or volunteers in the Aberdeen area to go around
and let those who need to know about the help scheme that the BBC has
available. |
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8th July 2010 |
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Assistant Governor Alan Pirie gave the Club an update on his Induction,
Training, Responsibilities in his new post. Alan also provided an over
view of Club activities throughout his Zone and highlighted some activities
which St Machar may like to consider in the future.
Congratulations Alan on your appointment. The Club looks forward to
supporting you in what is going to be a busy year for yourself and Pat. |
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1st July 2010 |
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Today President Margaret handed over to incoming President Vester. Margaret
reviewed her presidential year and expressed her delight at being president
and the involvement in the varied and interesting projects carried out by St
Machar Rotary Club. Vester thanked Margaret on behalf of the members for
her guidance through the the last year.
Margaret now takes on the Convenorship of the Youth Committee. |
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June 2010 |
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17th June 2010 |
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The Club Assembly saw President Margaret hand over the meeting to Vice
President Vester to allow him to introduce his team for 2010-2011.
Vester and the Convenors outlined the Clubs programme and aims for the
coming year with a few new initiatives along side the tried and tested
projects.
In attendance from District was Assistant Governor Ewen Hatchwell who
commented on the past achievements of the Club and the forthcoming year's
projects. |
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Ewen had pleasure in presenting President Margaret with the presidential
Citation to make the Club having achieved a set of goals set by
District for each Club. Congratulations Margaret on receiving the Citation
and thanks too from the Club members for your leadership and guidance during
the last year. |
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14th June 2010 |
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Organised by Bill Wood several members and partners visited the Aberdeen
mosque on Monday evening. Between prayer sessions the group heard from the
Imam, Abraham about the Mosque and Islam. The talk was very interesting
along with information regarding Abraham's background and training. There
followed a lively question and answer session. The evening closed with
snacks and a tour of the mosque. Thanks to Imam Abraham and Aberdeen
mosque for the warm welcome and to Bill and Emma for the catering. |
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10th June 2010 |
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Jenny Shirreffs gave a very informative talk on the Cathars and in
particular those from the Languedoc Region. The Cathars occupied the region
from the 11th to the 13th centaury but also had groups throughout Europe.
The Cathars believed in two gods of equal status. One being related to the
physical world and representing evil and the other being pure of spirit, the
god of love, order and peace. This placed them at odds with the Catholic
Church. The anti-Cathar Albigensian Crusade, and the inquisition which
followed it, entirely eradicated the Cathars.
Thanks Jenny for a very interesting talk.
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9th June 2010 |
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Kids Out day once again entertained 500 children and 500 teachers,
assistants, helpers and Rotarians. Having set up the event in the torrential
rain it turned out to be dry throughout the event. The children had an
excellent time and enjoyed the variety of entertainment available. Thanks
go to all our sponsors, helpers and Rotarians who contributed to the great
day out. |
.JPG) |
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3rd June 2010 |
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It was a pleasure to welcome David Strathearn back to the Club. David now
works for CHAS and was accompanied by Sarah Secombes. Sarah gave an
illustrated talk on the work carried out by CHAS and details of their recent
new initiatives. Rotary has supported CHAS in the past and we look forward
to supporting CHAS again. David invited members to visit Rachel House during
the open day in September. Detail are in the CHAS Chat which was distributed
to members. |
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Following a very successful race night organised by Alan Pirie and Stuart
McKay, the Club was delighted to have Kate Synott from UCAN visit for lunch
and collect a cheque for £7000. Thanks to all Club Members and those
companies and individuals who supported the race night. |
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Club Member, Heather Wilson, received a cheque for £3000 on behalf of Give
Kids a Chance. The money was raised at the recent golf outing. The first
golf outing, 10 years ago, supported Give Kids a Chance and it was a
pleasure to support the charity once again. Again thanks to all those who
supported the golf outing this year and over the last 10 years. |
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May 2010 |
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27th May 2010 |
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Following our financial support Marlene Grant visited the Club to update
members on the Bezallet School Project in Uganda. The project is supported
by Riverbank School and Tillydrone Vision. In 2009 a container full of
clothes, footwear, bikes and educational items for the school was sent to
Bezallet. A refurbished tractor is awaiting transport. The tractor will
allow the school to cultivate food crops and earn income by hiring out the
tractor. Marlene was ably assisted by Reverend Jim who has also visited the
school and had a selection of photos of Uganda and the poverty in the
district surrounding the school. |
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25th May 2010 |
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The 10th Annual Golf Outing was held at Newmachar Golf Club and involved a
total of 19 teams of 4 players. Unfortunately there was some light rain
after 9 years of excellent weather conditions. As it never rains on a golf
course everybody had a very enjoyable outing. The winning teams are pictured
below along with the St Machar team who actually never struck a ball but
worked hard in the background. The Club's thanks to Alan Pirie for all his
hard work in organising the day, the supporting teams and those who donated
to the raffle. "Give Kids a Change" was the main charity to benefit
from the event and they assisted in selling raffle tickets during the lunch.
Well done to everybody! |

First - Aberdeen Property Leasing |

Second - Source Property Services |

Third - McCue and Porter |

St Machar Team |
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15th May 2010 |
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St Peters Primary School represented Aberdeen St Machar Rotary Club at the
Zone Finals held on Saturday. This year the Aberdeen Club were the hosts and
the event was held at Robert Gordons College. Unfortunately St Peters did
not do as well as last year. The winners were Robert Gordons College, second
Cults Primary and third Portlethen Primary. Our thanks go to St Peters for
representing Aberdeen St Machar over the last 2 years. |
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Reading Bus at Word Schools Festival |
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The Reading Bus, supported by Aberdeen St Machar Rotary Club picked up some
honours at the Word Festival held at Aberdeen University. President Margaret
has provided the report below on this prestigious event.
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"As a forerunner to the tenth Word Festival
at Aberdeen University, the Reading Bus held a book launch on Tuesday 11
May. Their new publication is called 'Wishes and Legends' and is a
wonderful addition to the growing body of work produced by Jenny Watson,
the Bus team and the children in the St Machar catchment area. The book
has been sponsored by an oil company, TAQA, with local offices at
Westhill and the launch was a grand affair with company representatives
and the Lord and Lady Provost in attendance.
It was intended to have royal patronage
but HRH the Duchess of Rothesay was unable to attend because of a broken
leg. However she sent the children a personal letter and has promised to
visit at some future date. Children from all the local primaries
presented their publications backed up with artefacts and wonderful
articulate presentations. Jenny and her team are doing marvellous work
in the area of literacy and we can be proud of the contribution St
Machar Rotary has made to support that work."
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13th May 2010 |
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Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults was the subject of today's
talk. District Protection Office Alistair Ritchie took club members through
the Protection Legislation and how it was linked to Health & Safety. RIBI
have a Protection Policy which provides guidance to Rotary Clubs once they
have completed their Risk Assessments for any event. If protection issues
are identified Alistair can provide advice via the Club Protection Officer
and arrange Disclosure if required. New rules are to be introduced in
November and we are sure Alistair will visit again to provide details of the
changes. |
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6th May 2010 |
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Nepal was the subject of today's talk by Louise Boddington. Louise from
Surry took a 10 week sabbatical from her work as a management consultant and
elected to visit Nepal with a view to becoming involved in teaching and
health projects. Commencing with a spell teaching in Bandipur and
assisting with the refurbishment of hospital wards, Louise found herself
moving to Aandhimul which is a very poor hill village. Aandhimul had
virtually no healthcare or sanitation but did have a small school. Forming a
small team of local and international volunteers Louise set about finding
funding for teachers, introducing teacher training and refurbishing the
school. Girls leave school at about 9 to assist with the family chores. The
main chore being fetching and carrying water. A new water supply which is
being investigated would relieve the girls from carrying water for hours on
end and allow them to continue their education. A new school kitchen has
been built and healthcare checks have raised the standard in the village.
Arthumka is a similar village but it has obtained finance from the
government to build a 2 classroom school. The next fund raising effort is
for the provision of an addition classroom, teachers, teacher training along
with an new water supply and better sanitation.
St Machar President Margaret and member Bruce Anderson are keen for the
Club to become involved in Nepal and to fundraise for some of the projects
highlighted by Louise. Thanks to Louise's talk the Club is now aware of the
desperate problems in Nepal and will look at ways we can assist.
There are strong links between Nepal and Aberdeen with over 300 Nepalese
in Aberdeen. |
 Bruce,
Margaret, Louise and Dilip |