Rhondda Rotary

Formed in 1955, is a diverse Club, currently has 19 members, 12 male, 7 female and is drawn from a variety of occupations and professions. We meet on the first, second and third Mondays of the month, at 6.00 PM at the Cambrian Lakeside Café Bar, Clydach Vale. Club Council is the first Monday of the month, the second and third Mondays are for business meetings, fun, fellowship, guest speakers and other items of interest. There are no meetings in the month of August. There are also several enjoyable social functions during the year. Members serve on one of the service groups of the Club –Membership, Community, Youth, Foundation and International. Our members share their skills, experience and resources to give back to the community through a variety of initiatives.

The Club income is generated in the main by the annual Christmas Nativity Scene collection and the annual Charity Lunch and smaller amounts are raised at other social events. The funds are used to support local, national and International organisations and individuals, some on an annual basis. For their year of office the Club President usually chooses a charity or a cause to support and Club members work to support the President’s aims.

The current member subscription is £200 per annum, with 4 quarterly subscriptions, usually by direct debit. This covers annual subscriptions to Rotary Great Britain and Ireland (£82/annum), District 1150 (£27/annum) and meals and other incidentals.

International

Over many years members of the public were encouraged to take their old spectacles to local opticians. Club then collected around 6000 pairs of old spectacles each year from the local opticians, to deliver to the University of Wales Cardiff, which then go to African countries to be used in a variety of projects.

This was arranged by one of our former club members, who was an alumni of the University and a local Optician. He passed away a couple of years ago and the Club now donates a prize to the University in his memory. Regrettably, the collections have been curtailed.

Club has regularly sent backpacks to the Mary’s Meals ‘gift a backpack’ project and over the past year sent 70, it is disappointing that Mary’s Meals are stopping the scheme to concentrate on providing meals. We will be looking at an alternative project to support e.g. Rotary shoe box. Club regularly supports Water Aid, Send a Cow, Life for African Mothers, Rotary Doctor Bank and Lepra fundraising initiatives.

Disaster appeals are also supported via e.g., Shelterbox, Aquabox and Lifestraws. To support the recovery in the Philippines, Club invested £2000 in Kiva loans and continues to reinvest as the loans are repaid. At February 2023, 1348 loans to individuals in 67 countries, totalling almost $34,000 have been made. Immediate Past President Jeff Cowland spent a week volunteering in Kenya in 2017, where he gave a LifeStraw to every pupil in a local school. The LifeStraws were kindly donated by Brynmawr RC.

Club has supported those impacted by the war in Ukraine.

General

The ‘message in a bottle’ is primarily for emergency services and the club has linked with the ‘blue light’ services, the Local Health Board and the Rotary Clubs of Aberdare and Llantrisant to roll out the scheme further in Rhondda Cynon Taff. It gives immediate access to vital medical and personal information on elderly and vulnerable people by placing the bottle, containing the information, in the fridge and a sticker on the inside of the main door of the property. The club has distributed more than 7000 bottles since its introduction and ‘re-launched’ the initiative in 2018. The Health Board was proposing to develop an All-Wales initiative with Rotary’s help, this has stalled due to the pandemic. We have been distributing bottles to local organisations during 2022/23. Unfortunately, the Rotary Club responsible for distribution of the bottles is no longer undertaking the function.

The club has been looking at other interesting and enjoyable opportunities to increase income, which involve the Rhondda community and support the annual President’s charity. Between 2016 and 2019 and in 2022, very successful charity lunches have been held in April/May, with for example referee Nigel Owens, Phil Bennett, Alan Curtis and Ryan Jones, as the guest speakers. An auction and raffle are held with the overall lunch proceeds going to nominated charities. The beneficiaries to date being Cancer Research Wales, Noah’s Ark, Parkinson’s UK, the Alzheimer’s Society, the Tenovus Closer to Home Appeal, the Rhian Griffiths Forget Me Not Fund and local dementia groups. The 2024 lunch was held on 10th May, the guest Speaker was Phil Steele and and enjoyable event will contribute to the President’s cause of supporting local dementia groups and those living with dementia in our local communities.

Rotary

Club usually participates in the District Quiz competition, hosting rounds as appropriate.
We are usually represented at District Council and District Conference.