Wed 30th December 2020 – Usually we do not meet on the Wednesdays before and after Xmas. But in this weird year we had the great cheese and wine last week and a simple catch up chat today. A nice way to end the year.
Wed 23rd December – Our second, and best, cheese and wine tasting. 27 goodie bags (wine, cheese and lots more) were prepared by Sue and Bob and collected by the tasters. Then our Sarah led a very interesting tasting. The wines were unusual (e.g. a red Greek, a dry 2002 golden Semillon) and delicious as were the cheeses (which were all from Waitrose)
Wed 16th December – We heard from the three charities which benefited from the Pirate activity a few weeks ago. They got £1,000 each and all had put the money to excellent use.
Wed 9th December – Barry Coates gave a talk about the Ashanti project in Ghana. This aims to provide a village with proper sanitation, a new borehole and many other improvements to help the people be self sufficient.
Wed 2nd December – Our committee night worked well using breakout rooms for the second time. Lots of stuff, but in particular preparation for the Christmas float rounds. At present all (but different) systems go!
Wed 25th November – An eight course tasting, guided by Sandeep and Donya from Bramhall’s Bombay to Mumbai restaurant! Very enjoyable and very filling.
Wed 18th November – With Winchester Rotary’s “toilet quiz” the next day we just had an informal chat amongst ourselves. The quiz on Thursday was entertaining and our two teams did not disgrace themselves!
Wed 11th November – Caroline Eames gave a talk about forensic science. Her knowledge, based on 33 years as a forensic scientist, shone through her fascinating talk.
Wed 4th November – Committees. For the first time we used breakout rooms to meet in our committees. Quite a lot going on, but plans remain fluid because of serious uncertainty about what follows lockdown 2. We are organising a pantomime trail around the village shops. We will do our best to run the Christmas float unless stopped. Our static collections at Notcutts and supermarkets are unlikely to happen.
Wed 28th October – One of our members, Robert Crier, gave his “this is me” talk. Another of the medics in the club he talked about his early life, including during WW2, and his very successful medical career.
Wed 21st October – The second in our tutored tasting series. This time Linda Lam from Rainbow 88 guided us through a multi course Chinese meal. Many styles of Chinese cuisine were covered, some spicy, some crispy, some meaty and some veggie. All were delicious. Linda loaned us the proper bowls, chopsticks, rests and even lucky red napkins!
Wed 14th October – Katy Willis gave a thought provoking talk about modern slavery and how the charity Hope for Justice is working to end it.
Wed 7th October – Committees. Our monthly committee night. We got on with some planning, including for Christmas fundraising and our future “tasting evenings”.
Wed 30th September – We had a Tutored Thai Tasting! Reece from Chilli Banana guided us through a sampling menu which the members collected from the restaurant just before the meeting. Yummy stuff. This was followed by a quiz with three rounds – bananas, chilli, and Chilli Banana.
Wed 23rd September – Jeremy Prescott gave an informative and very well researched presentation on the sinking of The Laconia by U Boat in WW2.
Wed 16th September – Faruku Kabibi from Uganda and two others, also in Uganda, gave a presentation telling us how they have used the £2,500 we donated. In summary – very well!
Wed 9th September – Jennifer gave her “job talk” which had a seriously mathematical element.
Wed 2nd September – Committees. An update from all our committees with emphasis on the upcoming Pirate event.
Wed 26th August – Treasure hunt/Quiz. During the week members went round Bramhall centre finding the answers to the clues. Then each answer was the subject of a question. Tonight the answers were all revealed.
Wed 19th August – We heard from Heather Kelly and Dawn Letham about the charity When You Wish Upon a Star.
Wed 12th August – Ari gave his “this is me” talk.
Wed 5th August – Committees. At last some Rotary which was more than a social event! Our committees have met and ideas are coming forward for what we can do in the current state of lockdown! We hope to have a fundraising event by having a Pirate Festival in September – the usual scarecrows will all be pirates! Obviously we cannot have crowds but at least we can be seen to be out and about. Lots to plan and do!
Wed 29th July – A talk on Alan Turing by Neil Sheldon. Neil first came across Turing when studying philosophy and logic at university and has had an interest ever since. This memorable talk impressed all – both Neil and Turing!
Wed 22nd July – Changes in our lifetime. Several members gave brief talks on things that had changed in their lifetime: cars, photography, food and more. The picture below relates to changes in the classroom.
Wed 15th July – A great evening playing “Would I lie to you?” It turns out the club has some great liars!!! No, he did not climb Kilamanjaro, no he did not beat Steve Davies at snooker. Fooled most of us.
Wed 8th July – David Poppit gave a talk on the history of The Christie Hospital. His vast experience of many roles in this and other hospitals shone through this informative and humorous presentation.
Wed 1st July – The handover meeting where outgoing President Michael passed the chain (literally) to incoming President Harry.
Wed 24th June – Ron Malabon ran an entertaining quiz. The subject matters were very varied as were the difficulty levels. Fittingly Michael got the highest score on his last meeting as President.
Wed 17th June – Robert Lewis gave a talk about his own career, and voiced some strong views about the care system today.
Wed 10th June – Michael Vlasto gave an insightful and revealing talk about our lifeboat service – the RNLI. His in depth knowledge and obvious passion shone through.
Wed 3rd June – A truly innovative socially distanced wine and cheese tasting! With real wine and real cheese prepared and delivered to our houses in time for a Zoom meeting in which our wine expert, Sarah, led us through a fun evening, including a cheese tasting interlude and quiz run by Sue. Great!
Wed 27th May – Professor Nigel Linge gave an informative and entertaining talk on “Our Wireless World”. He covered the history from the earliest pioneers, right up to 5G smartphones and the Internet of Things. Fascinating stuff superbly presented.
Wed 20th May – We had a talk from a friend from Kasese, Uganda. Farouq updated us about the floods, other events and the amazing work Rotary and others are doing on the ground. Farouq himself is in the UK, being unable to return to Uganda due to closed borders.
Wed 13th May – Maggie organised a “mystery objects” event. Members submitted photos of things from their homes which were obscure and had to be guessed or which had an interesting history. Great fun and quite revealing. Some of the object are shown below.
Wed 6th May – Ashok gave his “about me” talk. He has led an interesting life, travelling widely and with a large range of interests and hobbies. The photo below is from his “work in Uganda and India” talk at Ladybridge Club in January.
Wed 29th Apr – One of our members is a consultant on a Covid 19 ward. He gave a fascinating insight on “the front line”. The meeting was well attended, with up to 32 screens and nearly 40 people, including guests from USA, Bulgaria, another local club and several past members as well as some members’ spouses.
Wed 22nd Apr – We were joined by two past members (Caroline and Gordon) for an interesting PowerPoint presentation by Frank Galvin on the restoration of Elizabeth Gaskell’s house.
Wed 15th Apr – As usual (how quickly zoom has become usual!), we met by Zoom and this time had a three round quiz using pictures and “secrets facts” about our members. Good fun all round.
Sun 12th Apr – The Rotary Easter Bunny was out and social distancing!
Wed 8th April – Our first “proper” Guest Speaker at a Zoom meeting! Chrissie Gibson from The Samaritans gave us an excellent PowerPoint show explaining the background and work of the organisation. Lots of questions, well answered. It was easy to forget that we were all in different places.
Wed 1st April – Now settling in to our Zoom meetings! We had another surprise guest, Gill, also a former member. For this meeting we brought photos from past times which made us happy. Members displayed their pictures and talked through why they represented happy memories. Michael’s picture below showed his family together on a cruise ship a few months after his wife had been very seriously ill in hospital.
Wed 25th Mar – Our second Zoom meeting went much better and we had a special guest, Tony, a former member now living in Shropshire. We approved a small emergency committee and discussed various ways forward in this strange situation. One member described it a “the highlight of the week”. PS: We don’t normally dress up formally, but we had missed our President’s Night and Fashion Show!
Wed 18th Mar – We had our first “virtual” meeting using Zoom teleconferencing. 22 members joined the meeting and, although we stumbled a bit, it was good to stay in contact. We will certainly do it again and improve our methodology.
Wed 11th Mar – Rob, a club member, gave his “this is me” talk. His career was amazingly varied, covering many aspects of national and local importance.
Fri 6th Mar – Theatre evening at CHADS. A quote: “ We would like to thank all concerned with organising the Club visit to CHADS tonight. We thoroughly enjoyed the superbly acted and very humorous play and the food afterwards was just superb.” Over 100 went.
Wed 4th Mar – Committees. Another evening of planning. Lots of talk about Coronavirus and the possible impacts.
Wed 26th Feb – Pete, one of our members, told us about various trading strategies and the essentials of trading plans and techniques in an illuminating talk entitled “How to make a small fortune on the markets”
Wed 19th Feb – A group of 27 members and partners tried out Shaam, the new Lebanese/Middle Eastern restaurant in Bramhall. We were well looked after and enjoyed excellent food. Many of us will become regulars!
Sat 15th Feb – One of our members and his wife put on a “Pie Lunch” in aid of Blood Bikes. Nearly 40 people attended and enjoyed good food, good wine and good company all in aid of a good cause. Over £500 was raised.
Wed 12th Feb – Susan McCormack, founder of charity MODE, came and told us about its work with mental health issues ranging from schoolchildren to military veterans.
Wed 5th Feb – Committees and Blood Bikes presentation. We had a lively committee night and also presented a cheque for £1000 to Blood Bikes Manchester. Carol and Alan were there from Blood Bikes and gave an interesting and informative short update on what the charity is doing.
Wed 29th Jan – Float Quiz. Santa’s float toured local streets for 16 nights in December. Each night a local good cause provided a team of collectors and tonight everyone came together for the traditional quiz to celebrate, and to receive donations to their funds.
Mon 27th Jan – Youth Speaks at The Deanwater. We sponsored a team from Bramhall High School in Rotary’s annual Youth Speaks competition. In front of a sizeable audience the girls spoke on the subject “The Impact of Meat Production on our Planet”. They did really well and we are all very proud of them.
Wed 22 Jan – One of our members, Ashok, gave a most interesting talk on his medical voluntary work in India and Uganda.
Wed 15 Jan 2020 – Janet and Summer from Bramhall High School came along to tell us about the trip made by 29 pupils to Borneo. They worked and played hard in tough conditions, including “real” jungle, working on various projects. Their toil included beach cleanups, lots and lots of concrete mixing and laying, and making eco bricks from concrete and recycled plastic then building walls with them. It was enough to make us believe in today’s young people.
Wed 8 Jan – Committees. A new year, 9 new members, lots of work to be done and lots of fun to be had.
Sun 29 Dec 2019 – President’s drinks. Around 50 people attended this annual tradition, where the President hosts a drinks and nibbles party.
Nov 30th to Dec 17th – Santa’s float has been out and about in the evenings and also at Bramall Hall and the Fir Rd market. Record amounts have been raised and hundreds of children have had their special moments with Santa (not to mention a dog and a couple of young ladies in their 80s!)
17th Nov to 22nd Dec – Collections at Notcutts Woodford Garden Centre. We rattled our cans and collected money for Bloodbikes and The Samaritans. Two fantastic causes.
Fri 13 Dec – Our Xmas party. A great evening at Bramall Park Golf Club. Good food, good wine, good company and two members received surprise Paul Harris Fellowship awards.
Wed 4 Dec – Committees. A fairly quiet evening, just finishing touches for our Santa float and collections. Next stop – the Xmas party!
Wed 27 Nov – A great example of real efforts by young people to help other young people. Helen, from Beacon Counselling, presented the achievements and aspirations of a group of young people who are helping others with mental health issues. Katie, one of the young people, spoke well on what she hopes to achieve going forward. We also inducted a new member.
Mon 25 Nov – Sweet packing. 2,000 bags were packed with 6,000 sweet bars. That should be enough for all the children who come to see Santa on his Float as he tours the local streets. Santa himself dropped in to help the Rotary elves.
Wed 20 Nov – Wine tasting. Under Sarah’s expert tutelage we enjoyed a wine tasting of seven European wines. One of our members was awarded our highest honour, a Paul Harris Fellowship.
Fri 15 Nov – Another walk – this one at Werneth Low. Beautiful scenery throughout. Pictures at the war memorial.
Thurs 14 Nov – Fashion show at Silk Road restaurant in Bramhall, clothes by Modiste, raising funds for the North West Air Ambulance. We will donate £1,000.
Wed 13 Nov – The Dragons’ Den winners return. The top three winning charities from our Dragons’ Den event came along to give us an update on how they are progressing and how their winnings have helped.
Click here for older activities
Tues 12 Nov – Last year we won the Hazel Grove Rotary quiz, and we did again this year at what will be the final one organised by that club, which, sadly, is closing. From next year we will be running the quiz, but we keep this trophy for ourselves in perpetuity!
Thurs 7 Nov – A dozen of us went to the 60th Charter celebration of a neighbouring club, Hazel Grove. Sadly that club will be closing later this year. If any of their members wish to continue in Rotary and would like to join our club, we will make them very welcome.i
Thurs 7 Nov – Stuffing envelopes for Walthew House Christmas appeal.
Wed 6 Nov – Committees. More planning for Christmas. For fashion show. For wine appreciation event. Possible trip to Bulgaria in April. And so on ……..
Sat 26 Oct – Peace Seminar. A group of our members went to this annual event at Bradford University, one of a few places around the world where Rotary sponsors Peace Studies. The group heard from students and participated in some interactive events.
Wed 23 Oct – Manchester Water Supply. Andrew Bunch gave an insightful talk on where our water comes from and how it gets to us. It is something we cannot take for granted but it seems in good hands.
Fri 18 Oct – A ramble around Marple
Wed 16 Oct – We played pyramid bowling at Parrs Wood followed by a fabulous meal at Bombay to Mumbai in Fir Road. Our mascot, Quackers, kept a beady eye on us at the bowling alley, and enjoyed a pint of Cobra at the Indian Restaurant.
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Wed 9 Oct – Public Health and Environmental Degradation
Despite an uninviting title, Darryl Quantz gave an excellent, if somewhat alarming, talk on the impact of climate change on our health. He was clear that time really is running out and we must make difficult changes to reduce the impact of humans on the planet. A very lively discussion followed.
Wed 2 Oct – International evening
We invited 8 students from India, China, Malaysia, Nigeria and Indonesia to join us for a meal and conversation and then to tell us a bit about themselves, their studies, home countries and aspirations.
Wed 25 Sep – Committees
Planning underway for the Xmas collections and the Santa Float Rounds. Leaflets to design. Sponsors to find. Routes to check. Float to service. Collectors to notify. Loads to do. First round on Dec 1st!!!
Fri 20 Sep – A group on a walk in the sunshine.
Wed 18 September – Charter Night
This night celebrates the birthday of the club in 1986. We had a great time in Romulus restaurant in the centre of Bramhall. 33 years old and going strong!
Sat 14 September – What a day! The Scarecrow festival and the Tour of Britain. Wow!
Wed 11 September – We had a fascinating talk on small scale bee farming. Marian knew her subject well and answered lots and lots of questions from an impressed audience.
Wed 4 September – Committee meetings were held to plan future charitable and social activities. Our District Governor paid us a visit and updated us on the wider world of Rotary.
Sat 31 August – A few of us went to Ed’s hairdressers 4th birthday party at Tre Ciccio. We had a great time at this very lively fund raiser, the proceeds of which were donated to our club. Thank to Ed’s for raising over £1,200. Well done.
Wed 28 August – One of our members gave a “this is me” talk. Sarah told us about her early family life, her education and her very varied and interesting career to date as well as her involvement with Rotary before joining our club.
Fri 23 August – A group of us rambled from Marple to Chadkirk and back via the Marple Aqueduct.
Wed 21 August – Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Manchester, Ian Morison, gave a fantastic talk on the possibilities of life outside Earth. Of course nobody knows but on balance single cell life is probable, but humans are at least special and maybe unique. Fascinating stuff from a remarkable man.
Wed 14th August – Crown Green Bowling. We had a great time bowling but nobody took a photo! So here we are enjoying a meal at the club house afterwards.
Wed 7th August – Committees. We spent the evening planning programmes for the coming months. In particular the Scarecrow Festival. Immediately before the meeting a group of 10 of us visited Swanbourne Gardens, a respite home for children with complex needs, where we recently provided £2,500 worth of sensory play equipment.
Wed 24th July – Martin Byrne gave a really good talk showing how just 4 chords cover a fantastic range of songs. He also used music to illustrate good practise in business.
Wed 17th July Walk at Bollington followed by Pub Meal
Wed 10th July Fun and Games Evening
Wed 3rd July – Outgoing President Steve handed over to President Michael
Sun 30th June – We enjoyed an excellent meal at Tre Ciccio to mark the end of Steve’s year as President.
Wed 26th June – Andrew gave a really interesting talk on Mental Health
Wed 19th June – A treasure hunt around Bramhall Centre – featuring stops at The Vic, Mounting Stone and 78degrees Gin Bar!
