THE ROTARY CLUB OF FAVERSHAM

David Simmons was spotted doing a bit of  physical training at the opening of the TGO gym is Faversham last Friday.  Impressive .... but can't say he is really enjoying it though!

For the past 2 years the Club has sponsored the F1 Team from the QE School Faversham in support at a team of four students involved with creating CO2 propelled race cars.  The team took take part in the National School F1 championships in 2018 and then the F1 Word Championships in November 2019, which they won.  Several club members went to a presentation at the QE earlier this month and we are looking forward to the team coming to speak to us in March

We have had another very successful year on our pre-Christmas Carol Tour of street collections and static collections at Tescos and have raised £4,464 (before costs); this is an increase of nearly £200 on last year.  All proceeds are devoted to local good causes.  Many thanks to all those in Faversham for their very generous donations, and to all Club members for their efforts in pounding the streets.

The Club ran its annual Christmas lunch for nearly 100 Faversham Senior Citizens on Friday 8th December. After setting up the Alexander Centre, we warmly greeted our guests with coffee or tea, biscuits and chocolate sweets.   A regular troupe of Rotarian volunteers delivered chicken or fish to the 10 tables, serving mushy peas and gravy to appreciative guests. There was a last minute dash to  Ossie’s  to top up on chips and fish, with fish being marginally more popular than the chicken. The good outcome was that there was nothing like the waste of last year. Peter Meaney’s generous donation of Madcat beer went down very well as did the sherry, of which 3 bottles were consumed, and the mini mince pies also seemed to please the guests.

As always we had great external support from local musicians the Fleur Singers, led by Andrew Mussett. Diane Griffin provided a very fine performance of seasonal songs and the cheerful smiling Choir from St Mary’s Primary School delighted the audience too. We were grateful to have Martin Young bring along his sound system and also his guitar to add to the entertainment.

The Mayor Alison Reynolds was fulsome in her praise of Rotary and our community spirit. She said it brought home to her how much Rotary contributed to Faversham. This event made one proud to be a member of Faversham Rotary. 

On 1st November  members of the Club planted some 10,000 crocus bulbs at the Recreational Ground in Faversham.  The Club had bought the bulbs as part of the Purple for Polio scheme that raises funds for Rotary's support for worldwide eradication of polio.  The bulbs will flower in the spring when we will see a carpet of purple  at the edge of the ground. At the same time we will once again be selling pots of purple crocuses in the Market Square.