Rotary Club of The Isle of Thanet Sunrise and The League of Friends of the QEQM Hospital
A donation by The Rotary Club of The Isle of Thanet Sunrise of £1,000 to The League of Friends of the QEQM Hospital has recently enabled the purchase of a convertible chair/bed for the use of parents who have to stay overnight in the Rainbow Children’s Ward of the hospital to be with their sick children. It’s a comfortable chair during the day that concerts to a fully flat bed at night.
Deputy Ward Manager Zoey Wing said: “Our chair/beds are so important to our Ward. They allow the parent or guardian to sleep next to their child to give them the care and reassurance they need.”
President of The Rotary Club of The Isle of Thanet Sunrise Kevin Winzer said: “Thanet Sunrise is a small Club working hard to make a difference to local charities and essential services. In partnership with the Hospital League of Friends, we are pleased to support the purchase of this much needed parent’s chair/bed for the Rainbow Children’s Ward.”
Chairman of the League of Friends Jeremy Voizey said: “We’re very grateful to the members of the Rotary Club of The Isle of Thanet Sunrise for their generous donation, which has enabled the purchase of this extremely valuable and useful amenity.”
More information is available on The Rotary Club of The Isle of Thanet Sunrise and QEQM Hospital League of Friends by visiting their pages on Facebook and at www.rotarythanetsunrise.co.uk and www.leagueoffriendsqeqm.nhs.uk
Westgate & Birchington Inner Wheel
At our last meeting we were privileged to hear a speaker from SERV Kent.
Service by Emergency Response Volunteers, also known as the ‘Bloodrunners’ is a charity that provides emergency courier services transporting blood products, samples and other patient essential items for the major hospitals and hospices in Kent outside normal working hours.
Without SERV Kent, deliveries would have to be made by other means, such as by courier or taxi, which has time, cost, reliability and suitability constraints, or by police or ambulance, which takes a valuable and much-needed resource out of service. The NHS Blood and Transplant make the daytime blood deliveries, but have limited availability at night and the weekends. In addition, SERV provides and maintains the blood supply for the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulances enabling them to carry blood on board, therefore saving the lives of many patients. Our speaker was Charlie Brightling, who is the current President of Westgate & Birchington Rotary Club and is a volunteer rider for ‘Blood Runners’.
A rather different meeting was enjoyed earlier, when 6 of us arrived at Bugsy’s Bowling Alley to make our bid to retain the District Bowling Championship, which Jenny Graf and Jan Harvey won for us last year. Much hilarity ensued as we got to grips with the weight of the balls and how to throw them properly. The final winning couple with scores of 131 and 117 respectively were Hazel and Mo, who will go through as the entrants for this year’s district competition.
Next month, we welcome other local clubs for our joint meeting on Wednesday, April 17 for our Chinese night. Menu is a ‘Chinese Buffet’ followed by Lychees and Figs in syrup, and we shall be holding a ‘Pig Drive’ instead of a Beetle Drive, in due deference to the Chinese Year of the Pig.
We are busy preparing for our major fundraising effort, a ‘Frocks & Fizz’ Fashion Show, to be held at Kearns Hall, Grenham Bay Avenue, Minnis Bay, on Friday, May 17 at 6.30pm for 7pm. There will be brand new, designer and pre-loved fashions as well as handbags galore! There will also be a fashion sale of womenswear to purchase, (Cash only on the night!) Daniel Wilds Jewellery of Birchington will also be displaying his wares. He has kindly donated an exquisite ‘Rose’ pendant which will be raffled on the night! Tickets to enjoy the fashion show, a glass of Prosecco and canapés are £10 in aid of Minnis Community Hub. Contact Hazel on 01843 833565/ 07889655497 to purchase tickets.
Inner Wheel is one of the largest women’s voluntary service organisation in the world. The objects of Inner Wheel are to promote true friendship, to encourage the ideals of personal service and to foster International understanding. We usually meet on the third Thursday of the month for a two-course meal at St Augustine’s in Westgate. Any like-minded lady who would like to be involved in ‘fun, friendship and fund-raising’ would be warmly welcomed at any of our meetings. If you would like to know more about it, please contact Janet on 01843 841043.
Rotary Club of Westgate & Birchington
Members of the Rotary Club of Westgate & Birchington were delighted to welcome Trevor Sayer from SERVE Kent (otherwise known as “Blood Runners”) to our meeting and were fascinated to hear a detailed talk about how their volunteers transport blood transfusion pouches, blood samples and expressed baby milk all around Kent and to the Air Ambulance. These activities are funded entirely by charitable donations and President Charlie was delighted to give Trevor a cheque for £1010, which was half of the cash donations given by the good people of Westgate and Birchington during Santa’s Christmas Collections. A collection by the Sergeant-at-Arms at the end of the meeting produced a further £23.15. The photograph shows a SERV Kent vehicle, one of five cars and seven motorcycles maintained by the charity. Many of the volunteers use their own vehicles and donate their own fuel. Check out www.servkent.co.uk
This donation is typical of our Rotary values and if you would like to find out more about Rotary in Westgate & Birchington, visit our website at www.wb-rotary.co.uk or check out our Facebook page, and why not come along to one of our meetings on a Tuesday evening at St Augustine’s, Westgate. Please book in first by calling Dave Alker on 01843 845783.
Thanet Schools Young Artists Festival
The Margate School (TMS) will once again join with The Rotary Club of Margate to give their support to Thanet Schools Young Artists Festival – Art Competition 2019.
TMS will be offering the 21 competition winners across 7 different age groups, the opportunity of an art gallery experience.
From ambition to exhibition, their art work will be professionally framed and exhibited in the new Margate School location in Margate High Street.
Kamilla Blanche will curate a High Street visualisation project entitled “MARGATE STORIES.” Connecting local and visiting communities alike with Margate’s High Street through visual exhibits.
This will include installing exhibitions into selected buildings in Margate High street.
The schools art exhibition will be on display in Sainsbury’s Westwood from April 22-28
Pilgrims Hospices
A great success was had by Pilgrims Hospices with the Paws 4 Pilgrims event taking place with over 200 dogs and their owners walking the beautiful coastal route from Deal down towards Walmer. All doggies who took part received their very own special Pilgrims Dog Disc. After the walk there was a Fun Dog Show for owners to show off their pooches, with classes from Fastest Sausage Catcher to Best Rescue.
Ann Andrews and pooch Fred (overall winner of the dog show) said: “Thank you to Karen, Caroline, your colleagues and volunteers for giving us such a lovely and well organised day out in Deal today. We had the best time on the walk meeting some lovely people and the dog show was really good fun and so well organised. Everyone taking part had such lovely things to say about the day and I hope you’ve made lots of money to reflect the work and time you all put in. The sun shone so those looking down on us must have been taking care of the weather today. I look forward to seeing you over the next couple of weeks once I’ve collected my sponsorship. Fred is enjoying his hamper of treats and sharing bits with Fudge and Nobby too.”
Karen Kenward, Community Fundraiser and organiser of the event, said: “We were thrilled the walk was such a success and the weather held out for us too. Seeing so many dogs walking and posing for each class in the dog show was just overwhelming and great fun for the whole family, rosettes were given out for first to fourth placed dogs along with tasty biscuits.
“The overall early indications show that the event has raised over £7k to support palliative care, with sponsorship still to come in. I would like to thank everyone who either entered or supported the event, our volunteers and staff, our sponsors – Your Leisure, White Mill Veterinary Centre and a special thank you to Jenkins Canine Services. Please look out for the photos of the event on our Facebook page.”
Events:
Cycle Ride – May 5 – Start Canterbury
It’s a Knockout – May 19 Government Acre, Ramsgate
Pilgrims Way Challenge – June 22 – Wye to Dover
A Night 2 Shine – September 20 – Broadstairs, Canterbury and Ashford
Thanet 5K Colour Run – October 20– Cliftonville, Margate
For further details please go to www.pilgrimshopices.org or call Karen direct on 01843 2233934 [email protected]
Kent Police
Young cyclists from a Margate school have been learning how to keep their bicycles safe from thieves, thanks to Kent Police Community Support Officers.
PCSOs James Scott and Eileen Shrubsole, along with Youth Engagement Officer PCSO Nathan Prentice, paid a visit to Holy Trinity and St John’s CEP School during the afternoon of Wednesday, March 13.
As the last school bell rang for the day, the officers were on hand at the gates to give out bike-marking kits and crime prevention advice to pupils and their families.
PCSO Scott said: ‘We had been made aware by the school that some parents had concerns about safety and wanted advice from Kent Police on how to protect their cycles from any potential thieves, so we were happy to go along and speak to them and their children.
“We helped to security mark and register about 30 bicycles during that afternoon, and we hope to do it again soon.”
PCSO Scott also said there were simple actions all bicycle owners could do to reduce the risk of becoming a victim of crime: “It’s important to take steps to protect your bicycle against crime, such as keeping a record of your bike’s serial number, taking photographs of the bike, and registering it online on immobilise.com or bikeregister.com so we can return it to you if it’s found.
“Store your bicycle securely and remove any accessories which could be stolen without using tools. And remember, if you are offered the chance to buy a bike and the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.”