Haddenham & District Rotary Club

District 1090    R.I.B.I. Club No. 1654

Ron Westwood, an old friend of the Club, making a good job of bringing us up to date.

As ever, Ron spoke with a passion for the help, care and love that the children need at the three schools under his headship.  He was also able to report that the building programme was on schedule or thereabouts and that the Sensory Garden, although still in the planning stage, would contain many stimulating objects and flora aimed at making the experience of visiting the garden for these ‘special’ children, all the more pleasurable.
We need to take advantage of being shown around the new school when building is completed.  Ron has invited us all, saying that the opportunity of showing anyone around the new facilities will be self-indulgent and he can’t wait!
The evening was rounded off perfectly with the presentation to Jack of a beautifully engraved glass tankard.  Needless to say, he had to sit down without saying too much, as we all know, good old Jack gets very emotional on these occasions.
I was asked to take a photograph of President Roger making the presentation
to Jack with my new 60th birthday present.  Sadly I made a complete arse, (the second week in succession this word has been included to accurate effect), of myself and received the Grumpling Trophy for my efforts.  Once I had figured out that the lens cap was still on, I managed to record the happy moment.

Rtn Brian Holt

Martin Andrew, issuing forth - as it were, on the history and development of privies in Buckinghamshire.  Very entertaining and very informative.  Just the sort of after dinner speech to follow a vindaloo.  Fortunately, we had roast beef and very good it was too.

Change and innovation in the development of the privy over a thousand years was not spectacular, although the invention of the U-bend appeared to be as important to the advance of civilisation as was the invention of the wheel.
I have always felt sorry for the Aztecs, who had missed out on the wheel and now I feel even more sorry for them knowing that they missed out on the U-bend as well.  Lavatorial humour came to the fore.  Somethings never change!!

Peter Barnes, a bastion of the status quo, lost a great opportunity to connect the name change to the privy. Forever the businessman, Peter, pissing in his own timber yard stream, was conscious of the cost of the name change.
“What are we going to do with the redundant headed notepaper?”,  he asked.
Might I suggest we donate it to the Chiltern Open Air Museum to be used to wipe a few young arses in ancient privies? 
One never knows, it could be the kids’ first introduction to Rotary.

Rtn Chris Behan

What a splendid evening! If the ladies had not been there to keep an eye on the gentlemen, who knows how long it would have gone on? There was much there to tempt the palate, most of it fine ale. However, it was noted by the club’s only CAMRA member that certain people were drinking wine. Now I ask you, who goes to a brewery and drinks that stuff when there are far better traditional British liquids available? Even the Treasurer claimed that he was only drinking water, but as we needed him later to sign the cheque, we didn’t throw him out.

The wise set about the real ales that are sold ‘on draught’ at the entrance, the best place to sample any brewer’s product, as it’s fresh and it has not had to travel very far.
There were three to choose from, the Chiltern Ale, the new Autumn Ale and the Beechwood. All good flavoured beers that have a mellowing, yet cheering effect on the consumer and puts them in a receptive mood for the Chiltern Brewery sales pitch.
According to Keith, our genial host, Chiltern Brewery began production in 1980 after its founder decided to exchange a finance job in Central London for a more worthwhile career. Twentyfive years later, the micro-brewery is still in production and continues to prosper, partly by entertaining groups like ours. After being told the history of the brewery, we were introduced to the range of goods that were for sale in the shop. This included bottled beers, various alcohols and beer related chocolates, cakes and shampoo. Sad to say, some of the gentlemen were not all that interested in the shampoo.

"Well, I can think of worse ways to go!  Yours in Rotary, or in something anyway."

Chiltern Brewery is smaller than one might expect, I thought a slightly smaller version might fit into my garage. (And why not? who keeps cars in them anyway?) Consequently, the tour lasted about thirty minutes. Peter Jones was given the opportunity to see some grain and we all discovered the origin of the word ‘grist’. Chis Behan got busy with his camera and hopefully captured the very strange expressions of those who spent too long leaning over the fermentation vat.
Chiltern Brewery ended the evening by serving a meal that consisted of good, plain, honest, unsophisticated food that you must be a certain age to remember. I cannot decide if it was the excellence of the beer or the large pickled onions that impressed me the most. On the other hand, it may have been the cheeses, or the chutneys, or the fresh bread. I shall return, if only to do a bit of shopping.

Rtn Paul Haworth

Rotary Blog Monday 9th October 2006 Our Monday meeting this week was an away evening, with partners, at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the home of Wheelpower, our President's principle nominated charity for his year in office. We met there for pre-supper drinks followed by a meal & then an introduction by their chief executive, Martin Mcelhatton, on the history of the stadium & the work of Wheelpower. The stadium was founded after the Second World War, largely through the efforts of Sir Ludwig Guttmann and the encouragement of the government at the time.  It was the venue for the first Paralympic Games held in parallel with the main Olympic Games of 1948. Martin Mcelhatton making his very informative presentation to us Improved facilities were opened by the Queen in1969, to be followed more recently by a redevelopment costing £10.2 million.  This development provides for an outdoor track, indoor swimming pool, sports hall, indoor bowls and fitness centre, together with a hotel and residential village providing on site accommodation for some 300 people.  £5 million was provided from lottery funding with the remainder raised & being raised by fund raising, grants &sponsorship, £1 million alone is needed annually to keep it going. The centre is open to able &disabled men, women and children and managed by a separate company for Wheelpower.  Disabled athletes have fourteen sports to choose from, ranging from basket-ball, tennis, bowls through to rugby. Martin Mcelhatton has worked there for some twenty years with the last six as chief executive, all the more remarkable when you consider he has been confined to a wheelchair from the age of eighteen, a true inspiration to all those who come into contact with him. He compared the tragic change in his situation as "the end of one life and the start of a new one ", with two birthdays!  He sees Wheelpower's role as to inspire the next generation.   A couple of the 'professional'   sports  bikes available for    inspection After giving the vote of thanks the raffle was drawn and we then split into groups to be given a guided tour of the centre, heavy rain then descended on us as we headed home. P.S. Both Wheelpower & Rotary have similar derivations.  Wheels and cogs.  Shame we have to go around in circles to change our name ! Rtn Michael Gregory

Rotary Blog Monday 2nd October 2006

Now to the proposal to change the Club's name.

It was clear from points made by members that the Club needed a proper identity rather than always being associated with the Thame Club. After good humoured discussion we unanimously passed the Resolution.

The important part of the evening gets underway with Founder President Keith Smith, President Roger and Secretary Paul Haworth settling the running order.	Paul Haworth begins to read out the nominations for the name of the new Club which will be voted for by all members.

New names were put forward by members and debate ensued but, not unexpectedly, we ran out of time! It was agreed that members be circulated with the list of 5 suggested Club names; (1) Haddenham (2) Haddenham & District (3) Haddenham Villages (4) Haddenham Witchert & (5) Witchert Rotary Clubs and be asked to vote in order of their choosing. The top 2 names would then be put to a final vote.

President Roger was keen to make sure the discussion ran to regulation and was seen to be fair.	Past President Keith Cullup supported retaining the word Thame in the title of the newly named Club