Time to consider joining a Rotary club to help

As the days grow shorter, the temperatures dip and the pavements and gardens fill with fallen leaves, we prepare for the approaching winter months.
A group of Rotary collectors at this years Worthing carnivalA group of Rotary collectors at this years Worthing carnival
A group of Rotary collectors at this years Worthing carnival

We order in our stocks of logs, dig out the winter coats, boots and fleeces. In the garden, the decaying abundance of the summer months has to be cut away and disposed of as we ready ourselves for the frosts and snows of winter.

Strangely enough, this is also the time when we look around for new interests, perhaps as a way of dispelling the gloom of long hours of darkness or distracting us from the discomforting cold, wet and windy weather. This is the time we think about taking a class, learning a language or taking on a new hobby or interest.

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It might be time to consider Rotary. If you asked most people what they look for in fulfilment in life, high on the list would be a good sociable circle of friends and doing something to help their community and fellow man. Rotary is unique in meeting both of those needs.

West Worthing Rotary Club meets every Tuesday evening in the Tudor Close pub, Ferring. Each week we share a meal and enjoy a wide range of talks, discussions and activities, as well as planning our future programmes and events. There are additional social activities including coffee mornings, restaurant visits, theatre outings, country rambles, barbecues and garden parties.

But the focus of our energies are the many projects which help local, national and international groups. The club raises money to support many local charities such as Turning Tides, Care for Veterans, Air Ambulance, Sight Support, Ferring Country Centre and many others.

The development of young people is also one of our passions, and we support local schools through the donations of Usborne Illustrated dictionaries and facilitating competitions such as the young chef and young speaker awards.

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We have instigated awards to motivate young people, especially for the more disadvantaged, and send students on leadership courses to build their confidence and self esteem.

Rotary is very much part of the local community life, the main contribution being the organisation of the Worthing annual Rotary Carnival. Each year we participate in the Worthing Seafront Planting project and for many years have provided a talking newspaper for the blind, Voice of Progress.

Club members join residents of Care for Veterans for monthly darts matches and facilitate the much enjoyed Bingo for the Blind at Worthing Sight Support.

Rotary is a global organisation and has taken a lead in the worldwide fight to eradicate polio. Rotary enables emergency aid to get straight to the point of need through the ShelterBox organisation and Rotary has been a driving force in a wide range of medical, water and education projects in the developing world.

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Rotarians raise money with confidence for these projects. They know the projects they fund are supervised and overseen by local Rotarians who are on the ground so that funds are not swallowed up by high administration costs or lost to corruption.

In spite of all this we feel there is much more we could do. Rotary welcomes new members. Not only to help with the myriad of projects running at the moment, but also to develop new initiatives to enable us to reach further into the community and take on more ambitious targets.

You can find out more about Rotary at our open evening on Wednesday, November 28, from 4pm to 9pm at the Tudor Close pub Ferringham Lane, Ferring. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to informally meet and chat to club members.

You will also be welcome to join us at 8pm on Tuesday, October 30, at the same location when we have PSCO Richard Moorey, a police specialist on scams, fraud and rogue traders talking to the club on a subject of worry and concern to us all.

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For further details on the meetings mentioned above or to find out more about Rotary, contact Dave Cook by email: [email protected] or call 07939 309333.

Details of Worthing’s three Rotary clubs are:

• West Worthing Rotary Club meets Tuesday evening at Tudor Close, Ferring, 01903 501961.

• Worthing Rotary Club meets Monday, 12.55pm, at the Chatsworth Hotel, in The Steyne, Worthing, 01903 209564.

• Worthing Steyne Rotary Club meets Monday evening at The Ardington Hotel, in Steyne Gardens, Worthing, 07788 638757.

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