President Gloria Heywood hands over the key to the new notice board to Mary Evans (Ranger), watched by a small group of other club members. This is part of an ongoing commitment which the club has towards the nursery.

The Huntingdonshire Community Nursery project works with schools, groups and individuals to encourage an understanding and enjoyment of gardening and the countryside. In particular it provides horticultural training for adults with learning difficulties and mental health service users, who also benefit from taking part in a rewarding form of exercise and therapy.
Local people also join in the working parties.

Paul Wells
PR Rotary Club of Huntingdon

Club members meet our sponsored canditate, Richard Burniston.

Thanks to Dan Connan for organising this event

Report by Tarak Ghosh
"On last Saturday 23rd June David Cozens and I on behalf of our club went to attend the' Order of Saint John Annual Service' at the Saint Paul's Cathedral, London.
Pat Harrington, assistant commissioner of St John Ambulance County Headquarters at Mayfield Road, Huntingdon sent me an appeal to help with the cost of coach hire for the above service to and from London. It was approved by our 'New Generation Committee' and the club donated £250 as suggested by Pat towards the cost on that day.
In return Pat offered two free seats on the coach for two of our members and free admission to the service at the St Paul's Cathedral, which was on ticket only basis.
The coach carried 52 passengers, officers and young cadets of the 'Order of Saint John' from Cambridgeshire including ourselves and Ward Councillor John Davies of St Ives. I understand there were 17 cadets between 5 to 10 years of age. All in uniform.
It was a beautiful day. David and I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Parade', which preceded the service and the service at the historic St Paul's Cathedral, which were attended by nearly 2000 people"

Rotarian Paul Wells with David Summers and The President of The Rotary Club of Huntingdon Tarak Ghosh.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon was delighted to welcome David Summers as their guest speaker on 29th April.
David, who is in charge of Huntingdon Youth Cricket Development, gave a very interesting talk on his work with young people in the county, encouraging their interest in cricket. David, also gave the Rotarians details of a recent Youth Cricket tour to South Africa.

Left to right; St John Ambulance Boat "Ladybird"; Presentation of Cheque to St John Ambulance Commander Ivan Palmer, Jeff Dutton, Chairman Huntingdon District Coucil, Commodore Fenland Fleet Rtn John Cranston and Past International Commodore I Y F R Rtn Bryan Skinner; Judy Bell, secretary of the Fenland Fleet receiving flowers from Asst Commisioner Pat Harrington; Fenland Fleet Vice Commodre Rtn Philip Bell, Commodore Rtn John Cranston, St John Ambulance Commander Ivan Palmer and Past International Commodore Bryan Skinner

Members of the International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians - Fenland Fleet with their Commodore John Cranston and Past International Commodore Bryan Skinner together with incoming GB & I Commodore Annette Lewis were very pleased to be able to present Commander Ivan Palmer of the St John Ambulance a cheque for £1,900 to assist with the running of the new care boat “Ladybird”. This boat is used to give “breakaway” river trips to disadvantaged children, the disabled and the terminally ill. She was purpose built for St John Ambulance by narrow boat specialist Fox Narrowboats in March, Cambridgeshire.
“Ladybird” is Cambridgeshire’s first care ambulance boat and is crewed entirely by volunteers from St John Ambulance, the UK’s leading first aid charity. She features wheelchair access, a heated cabin, kitchen area, disabled toilet and a large open foredeck for fine weather cruising. She can carry a total of 20 passengers, with up to six being wheelchair bound and is powered by an M92B diesel engine.
Eleven members of the Fenland Fleet together with Councillor Jeff Dutton, Chairman of Huntingdon District Council, and his wife Claire were invited to board “Ladybird” at Hartford Marina, Nr Huntingdon, for a short cruise on the River Ouse so that they could see for themselves all the facilities that the boat has to offer. St John Commander Ivan Palmer welcomed everyone on board and introduced the crew under the excellent command of Captain Tony Hindsley. Also on board from St John Ambulance was Pat Harrington who is the Assistant Commissioner for Special Projects and only the week before he gave some members of the Rotary Club of Huntingdon a talk on essential first aid, so all the guests knew they were in good hands in the event of an emergency.
Despite the cold, damp day everyone had a very enjoyable time watching the countryside go by whilst keeping warm and chatting to the crew and learning more about the services the boat has to offer. Ladybird cruised from Hartford Marina passing the picturesque Church on the river bank at Hartford, on through Huntingdon and then turning at a wide point of the River just before the ancient bridge, which in the old days was the only route between Huntingdon and Godmanchester, and then returning to the marina. Undoubtedly, this is one of the prettiest stretches of river to be found on inland waterways.
The International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians had monies available for boating related charities and Commodore John Cranston was successful in his bid for a grant to assist with the running of the St John Ambulance new care boat, Ladybird. At the end of the cruise Commodore John, on behalf of the Fenland Fleet, was very pleased to present a cheque for £1900 to the St John Ambulance which they know will be used for a very good cause. Finally, as a mark of their appreciation for the donation St John Ambulance Asst Commissioner Pat Harrington presented the secretary of the Fenland Fleet, Mrs Judy Bell with a bouquet.

The President of the Rotary Club of Huntingdon Tarak Ghosh presenting a cheque to Mrs Joyce Edwards the Group Organiser for The Riding for the Disabled Charity

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon raised £1200 from a Charity Collection at Brampton Race Course in March, which enabled the Club to donate £400 to the Huntingdon & District Riding for the Disabled Charity, which is based in Offord. The Rotary Club President Tarak Ghosh said how delighted he was to be able to make a donation to this very worthwhile cause.

Left to right; Paul Wells, President Tarak Ghosh, John Brackett (Winner), Lawrence Seifert of Waitrose and Project leader Anne Dear

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon in conjunction with Waitrose recently held an Easter Trolley Guess when participants were asked to guess, by donating £1.00, the value of the contents of the trolley. The winner was Mr John Brackett of Godmanchester who came within 4p of the correct value of £152.48 who is seen here receiving the trolley contents as his prize.
This was a fund raising event for Rotary supported local charities.
Our thanks our due to members of the public for their support and to Waitrose for donating part of the trolley contents which allowed us to raise over £525.00

Rotarian Dan Connan with some of his guests.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon would like to thank Rotarian Dan Connan who opened his gardens to Rotarians and friends for a fund raising event in aid of eradicating Polio from the World. on Sunday 1st. April.
Each Rotarian had purchased a bottle of Tiptree Tomato Ketchup with the aim of filling the bottles with coins once the ketchup had been used. The bottles, full of money, were brought to the Bangers and Tomato Ketchup lunch party when over £250 was raised for this very worth while cause.
Other activities included a quiz, guessing the number of tomatoes in the jar, guessing the weight of the cake and a treasure hunt.

Cameron Mackenzie and Luke Folwell

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon was delighted to welcome two local Olympic standard gymnasts to their evening Community Service meeting at the George Hotel. Cameron Mackenzie and Luke Folwell, the Commonwealth Games gold medal winner, gave a demonstration on the Pommel Horse which had been taken to the George Hotel for the occasion.

Ms. Betty Young receiving her Certificate from Tarak Ghosh, President Rotary Club of Huntingdon

Ms. Betty Young was presented with the Ken Beaton Community Service Award for her remarkable longstanding work in the Huntingdon area, in particular for arranging outpatients transport for local Doctors' Surgeries.

Two St Peters School Huntingdon pupils were successful in this year's Rotary Young Musician District Final when they were awarded best performers in the Vocal Ensemble all ages category which was held at Melton Mowbray on March 11th 2012.
Abi Whitham and Alex Elford wrote a song called 'Love Knot' which they wrote as a duet, the girls sang harmony for most of the song. They have been singing together for three years. Abi plays the guitar and worked out some chords for the song using it. Then the girls worked out a tune and wrote some words. As well as singing their own song in the competition they also sang 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri, they were accompanied by Harvey Goodman.

In the photo from left to right are:-
Harvey Goodman, Head of music St Peters School
Moira Bartlett, Rotary Young Musician organizer
Abi Whitham, Contestant St Peters School
Alex Elford, Contestant St Peters School
Mrs V Ford, Head St Peters School
Tarak Ghosh, President Rotary Club of Huntingdon

A proud day for the Rotary Club of Huntingdon when two new members were inducted into the club.

Michael Fowler, Classification; Solictor. Proposer and mentor; Peter Beckett.
Club Committee: Club & Membership Services Committee.

Helen Mallett, Classification; Police Service Administration. Proposer and mentor; Les Button.
Club Committee: Community & Vocational Committee.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon presented a Paul Harris award to Mr Paul Hornsby of Stukeley Meadows by our Assistant District Govorner Tim Tucker on our Foundation Evening meeting at the Darjeeling Restaurant in Huntingdon.
Mr Hornsby got the award for his selfless work for many years for the homeless people in London through the White Chapel, Methodist Church, East London.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon presented a cheque for £250 to Sonja Dutton at the Young Carers Crossroad office in St Ives.
President Tarak Ghosh and Past President Geoff Burniston made the presentation.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon were delighted to welcome Rotarian David Wallwork of Ramsey to their Club on 9th February, as their Guest Speaker.
David has recently received one of the highest Rotary Awards for Humanitarian Service for his work with Schools in Sierra Leone. David outlined the various projects he has undertaken in Africa with the aid of Rotary Global Grants.
The picture shows Rotarian David Wallwork showing his Humanitarian Award to Rotary President Tarak Ghosh.

Schools in Huntingdonshire competed in the Technology Tournament organised by the Rotary Club of Huntingdon and hosted by the Abbey College in Ramsey on Wednesday 8th February. Teams from Ernulf Academy, Longsands Academy, St Ivo School, Kimbolton School, and Abbey College entered a total of 18 teams, each of 4 students. They were provided with a kit of parts such as wooden rods, stiff card and plasticine with which they were asked to build a coin sorter. The students had no prior knowledge of the task which they were presented with and were expected to design the machine, build it and then demonstrate it to the judges within the 5 hour time limit.
The students applied themselves enthusiastically to the task and managed to produce a number of ingenious designs to meet the requirement. The full age range from the secondary schools was represented with the task being tailored to the capabilities of each team. The basic category covered school years 7, 8 and 9 and was won by Kimbolton School, while Abbey College won the intermediate category for years 10 & 11. Teams from the sixth forms competed in the advanced category and this was won by Ernulf Academy. The prizes were presented by local author and consultant, Barrie James, with each of the winning teams receiving a cheque for £25 and an engraved glass trophy donated by Graham Heywood, MD of Computer Miracle Ltd. It was evident that all of the participants thoroughly enjoyed the event and felt that it provided an excellent exercise in running a project, as a team, under demanding conditions.

The winning teams were:

Basic Category
Kimbolton School, Natalie Gaunt, Matthew Greenland, Hailey So, Ollie White

Intermediate Category
Abbey College, Bethany Game, Daniel McManus, Sam Dew, Karl Roth

Advanced Category
Ernulf Academy, Kieran Hayden, Gareth Davies, Tim Sewell, Oli Roberts

Photographs from left to right
Top row: Abbey College winning team in Intermediate category, Ernulf Academy winning team in Advanced category
Second row: Kimbolton School winning team in Basic category, St Ivo School demonstrate their machine
Third row: The teams hard at work.
Photos of the winning teams by Mr Doug McLeod, photographer and Press Officer of Ramsey Abbey College.

The local preliminary round of this year's event was held at Godmanchester Primary School on Saturday 4th February.
Although entries were slightly down on last year the standard of music was good.

This is an annual event arranged jointly by the Rotary Clubs of Huntingdon, St Ives and Ramsey to seek out young musicians for entry into the Rotary District 1070 semi-final which will be held at St Ivo School on Sunday 26th February, those successful in this semi-final will proceed with other semi-finalists to the Rotary District 1070 Final to be held at Melton Mowbray Theatre on Sunday March 11th.
This event is a fine example of Rotary’s New Generations committee in action.

The photograph shows the winner Robert Burton of Easton receiving the trophy for the Intermediate Solo Instrumental category which was presented to him by Rotarian Geoff Burniston of the Rotary Club of Huntingdon who organised the event.

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon were delighted to be able to present a cheque for £250 to Vision Aid Overseas to enable this Charity to continue improving the eye sighs of people in Developing Countries. At the Rotary Club meeting on Thursday 19th January, Miss Jane Lyons from V.A.O. gave an impassioned talk on the Charity's work Overseas and how the public in this Country can help by donating their old glasses for recycling and reuse. The picture shows Jane receiving the £250 cheque.
Philip Bell, Public Relations Officer, Rotary Club of Huntingdon

The Rotary Club of Huntingdon were delighted to be able to donate £500 to the Huntingdon Gym to assist in their training programme for the Olympic Games.