Rotabilia @12.30 20 March 2020

Welcome to this the first edition of Rotabilia @12.30.  It is being circulated to all members, honorary members as well as to others connected with the Club. Hopefully there will be a new edition every week and this will be circulated at about 12.30 each Friday – the time when we normally gather together for club meetings. The journal will bring you news and updates, articles and other items, hopefully many of them supplied by you.  Enjoy reading Rotabilia @12.30 – David.
 
Fellow Rotarians, When I became President last July, never did it occur to me that I would have to send you the message I sent you on Tuesday this week:- “It is with significant sadness that I write to inform you that, with immediate effect, our Friday lunches will cease until further notice!” I am so sad to have been the bearer of such sad news but I am very grateful to Hon Sec David for his help & support in setting up lines of communication while we are in this “shutdown”. One of the first things we decided was that we needed to find a way to stay engaged with our members and this newsletter is the first of what we hope will be a weekly event. I hope you find it helps you still feel part of Wellington Rotary.  We also asked Club Officers (that is the “Presidential line” of Peter Williams, Peter Murray & Tom Taylor with Hon Treasurer Geoff Foulkes) to join Hon Sec David & me in a Skype group and we had our 1st video conference on Monday afternoon to discuss the RIBI advice and that led to my note on Tuesday about suspending meetings. As & when other issues arise, we are looking at ways of bringing in other Council members for any specific topics. We have already received a number of ideas from members keen to help and we will discuss them at our next video conference and update you in the next newsletter.  Of course since Tuesday, the national situation has become worse and somewhat troubling so I remain convinced that the decision to stop meetings is right and we should all do what we can to stay safe, phone to check on nearby Rotarians and any vulnerable neighbours, if appropriate, and, hopefully, all come through this trying time unscathed.  I said it on Tuesday but, worth repeating, if you have any issues, observations or comments, please feel free to respond to David or me. In particular, please take care to avoid infection and phone me if you develop any special needs which you think we might be able to help with. 
Vic Young President,  The Rotary Club of Wellington.
Telford Samaritans say “Thank you Wellington Rotarians for your generous Tree of Light donation of £7875.  It is very much appreciated and will go towards the refurbishment of our Charity Shop that primarily funds the upkeep and day to day running of our Branch.
FOODBANK SUPPORT CONTINUES Fellow Rotarians I have been in touch with the Foodbank to ascertain their current estimated future needs. Last week stock levels were good but demand is now increasing rapidly.  This is expected to grow even more as the number of agency and part-time workers are laid off. Clearly, we cannot arrange our usual monthly collections for two reasons: 1. Many of the food items we donate are the things the general public is stockpiling. 2. We are not able to meet to collect donations Following consultation with President Vic and the officers of the Club I am suggesting that members may wish to make financial  donations to coincide with our collections at the now cancelled meetings. Our Treasurer, Geoff, has arranged for donations to be made to our Benevolent account and these will be used to support the continued running of the Foodbank with the purchase of essential foodstuffs. Our next three planned collections were to have been on 3rd April, 1st May and 29th May so it would be helpful for donations to be received by these dates. Donations should be made to:  The Rotary Club of Wellington Benevolent Fund  Sort Code   20-85-46  Account Number  90767468  Reference  Foodbank Thank you in anticipation of your continued fantastic support. Richard
I’ve just spoken to Erin at the Foodbank who said, “There has been unprecedented demand in the last three days with food provided for 105 adults and 82 children.” I suggest we speed up our first donations so that Geoff can send funds to the Foodbank early next week.   Join me in supporting Foodbank by donating what you would normally have spent on today’s Rotary meal.
Ironbridge Rotary Club were very impressed with our £97 Club collection for their Flood appeal and send their grateful thanks
Connections – Keeping in Touch At times such as these when everyone is to some extent isolated in their home and in their community it is important that we maintain some form of Rotary contact.  We need to keep the Club alive together with the Rotary ideal of helping those less fortunate than ourselves, for example by maintaining our regular support of the Foodbank. We are proposing to establish small contact groups so that Rotarians can stay in touch with each other now that meetings have been cancelled.  Some of these groups will loosely be based on geographical location while others will have a more disparate connection. Having someone to talk with, to share ideas, to recognise areas of need in the community will all enable our ideal of service to continue.  Having someone who you know it will be ok to telephone if the isolation gets too much, someone who you know you can approach if something is wrong or if you need help, will help us to support each other.  Each group will have a co-ordinator who will be asked to feed into the officers weekly video conference with issues that arise and problems that may be encountered but most of all the opportunities for service that we as Rotarians can offer.  RI President Daniel Maloney says, “This is an unprecedented challenge for nearly all of us. But it is also an opportunity for Rotarians to find new, meaningful ways to lead individuals and communities to connect and do good in the world.  We have never been prouder to be part of an organisation that does so much to protect and strengthen our communities, at home and across the globe.” Here are the proposed contact groups with the co-ordinator [in bold] who will be making contact with you in the coming days.  In the meantime please do not hesitate to contact them if you have any ideas, want to chat or need help and assistance.
Brian Richards:   Cyril Conley, Clive Hinwood, Peter Murray, Dan Scollard – Kerr, John Wardle,     Peter Williams, Vic Young, Brian Lewis.
Rob Evans:    Brett Earp, Brian Heaven, Tom Taylor, David Tomkinson, Chris Yates
Dick Bailey:    John Davies, Graham Reedman, Stuart Slade, Richard Studd, Derek Smith, Brian Mooney.
Jim Tranter:  David Lovatt, Mike Osborn, Norman Quin, Scott Walker, Jim Udale, Don Woolford,          
Sharon Wyatt:  John Banks, Mandy Fencott, Wayne Jenson, Neil Phillips,  Sophie Yates.
Mike Chandler:  John Bradley, Mike Dorricott, Caro Hart, Andy Kaleta, Paul Rhodes.
Ken Whitcombe: John Cooper, Geoff Foulkes. Maurice Lamb, Dick Osborne.
Venn Davies:         Jon Bernardes, Geoff Ford. Keith Mainwaring, John Rice, Peter Seaward, Geoff Ward.

Rotarian Sophie Yates writes “If you hear of any Club member needing shopping or help with anything [as yet I don’t fall (hopefully) into one of the high risk categories] I will do what I can to help.”

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