Events

Zoe works for bristol City Council as Twinning officer facilitating an international programme of events and other activities relating to Bristol’s seven sister cities.
She works in partnership with voluntary groups, education providers, cultural and sports organisations. Focusing on developing young people’s opportunities to connect with other places in the world, raising the visibility of the benefits of twinned city relationships and providing a warm welcome to international visitors in Bristol.
She is happy to connect with people in Bristol and the 7 twin cities: Beira, Bordeaux, Guangzhou, Hannover, Porto, Puerto Morazan, Tbilisi. Especially those who are wanting to promote friendship and cultural understanding.

A hearty breakfast to celebrate Christmas full of song and dance!

This meeting is for an internal club discussion to seek ways to attract new members.

To attract new members to our club what do we need to do?.

We could focus on actively promoting our community service intiaitves perhaps host social events, reach out to diverse demographics through targeted outreach, promoting guest speakers, encourage members to personally invite recruits form their networks, highlight networking opportunities.

Please bring your ideas and thoughts on this issue. 

Comvoc Meeting

Laurie Haines - Past President Bristol Rotary Club - will talk about an environmental river project -https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/projects/

Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART) is a charity which delivers education, land and river management advice and practical river restoration work throughout the Bristol Avon catchment.

They aim to re-connect communities to their local rivers and help them to better appreciate and improve them for the benefit of people and wildlife.

BART aims to conserve and enhance the status of our waterbodies for current and future generations.

Eddy Keagan will talk about Engineers for Overseas development is a charity focused on developing young professionals in the UK Construction Industry by challenging members to plan and manage construction projects to alleviate poverty in Sub Saharan Africa.

EFOD was established by Ian Flower in 2000 and currently works through four regional teams across the UK.

Young volunteers from the construction industry; including engineers, architects, project managers and qualified apprentices, are challenged to form a team and design a solution to a problem. The team raises funds and visits the country in pairs for two-week intervals to hire labour, purchase materials, supervise construction, and commission.

Rotary Young Musician

For over twenty years the Rotary Clubs of Bristol and the surrounding counties have run a Young Musician competition for students from the area's schools. Involving pupils from as far afield as Wells, Bath and Cirencester, it has given hundreds of remarkably talented young performers an opportunity - often their first opportunity - to experience the challenge of performing in public, in competition with others.

The Rotary Young Musician Competition 2025 in Bristol is a competition for young musicians and singers aged 13–18, who are at least Grade 7 standard. The competition is organised by local Rotary Clubs and showcases the talents of young people. The final will be held in the Lantern hall of Bristol Beacon on Friday 24 January 2025 at 7.30pm. 

The 2024 competition was won by Vera, a Year 9 violinist from Clifton College, who performed Bach's solo G minor Sarabande, Wieniawski's Scherzo-Tarantella, and the final movement from Franck's violin sonata. Vera was the youngest performer of the night, and was accompanied by other instruments in the final round, including bassoon, recorder, and oboe. 

The Young Musician competition is one of many organised by Rotary to showcase the talents and skills of young people.

Come and marvel at the amazing talents of these local young musicians.

Tickets £10 - £14: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/rotaryyoungmusician

Clare Davis - People Continuity Expert - Nova Associates

Clarer says that new beginnings can be scary…but they don’t have to be.
Uncertainty comes with starting something 𝗻𝗲𝘄—it can feel overwhelming, risky, and unpredictable.
But you know what else can be scary?
𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿.
That's why she founded NOVA.

Fun fact: My husband, Johnny, came up with the name NOVA for my company. The Latin ‘novus’ means "𝗻𝗲𝘄," —symbolising new beginnings and growth.

And my logo, the NOVA star is a shining bright light —symbolising energy and boundless potential.

Similarly, at NOVA, we're all about helping organisations achieve bursts of growth and success in 3 key areas:
-𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚,
-𝙍𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥
-𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜.

I am sure that Clare can provide some interesting ideas about retention and recruitment in Rotary

Sue Pietersen - The Sound of Silence - Insights into the Carel du Toit Centre

Carel du Toit Centre is where children with hearing impairment learn spoken language through the use of hearing technology, natural learning experiences and parental guidance.

The centre  understands that diagnosis of a child’s hearing loss can set your mind racing with many concerns and questions, and at the Carel du Toit Centre you will find the answers and support you need to ease your family’s journey and find direction for the many decisions ahead.

Rotarian, John Miles from the Rotary Club of Guildford is a trustee of the charity Global Sight Solutions. Global Sight Solutions was originally known as the Guildford Rotary Eye Project but formally adopted its current name in 2018.

Global Sight Solutions runs an avoidable blindness programme aimed at establishing eye hospitals in parts of the world where treatment for eye conditions would not otherwise be readily available. They treat such conditions as cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration. This is done with a local Rotary Club in each area, who are responsible for each area, who are responsible for starting and overseeing the project locally. Each hospital is set up as a separate entity with its own body of trustees. Global Sight Solutions helps with funding, advice and practical support.

The eye hospitals are run by local specialists and staff. This is easier to arrange in countries like India, which trains its own eye surgeons, than it is in others. In African countries, in particular, specialist training has to be arranged.

The charity was founded in 1994 and opened the first hospital in 1998. There are now hospitals in a number of countries, including Bangladesh, India, Lebanon and Nigeria. During their latest trip to the Indian subcontinent and Africa, John and his wife Fiona visited a number of local Rotary Clubs to discuss establishing eye hospitals in their areas. As a result they hope that it will be possible to establish at least another 15 eye hospitals in those places.

Rotarian Richard Campbell - Update on Rotary GB&I board activity.

The Rotary GB&I Board is the governing body for Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland.

The board sets the long-term strategy for the organisation, in line with Rotary International’s strategic objectives, and the Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland Action Plan.

There is a Chair of the Board, alongside the Chair Elect and Chair Nominee and 5 General Board Members. In order to ensure alignment with Rotary International, the Director and Director Elect attend the Board in the non-voting capacity. Representatives from all four cohorts of District Governors also sit on the board.

Comvoc Mid - Year Progress on spend and additional initiatives

Zoe Lindsey - Individual Giving Manager Motivation UK

Glasses, hearing aids and wheelchairs- known as assistive technology or AT – are essential for a healthy, productive and independent life.

In fact, they are so vital that access to AT is a human right, enshrined in the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. But in countries like India, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, less than 10% of people have the wheelchair they are entitled to.

And even with a wheelchair, people face a world full of badly designed buildings, inaccessible transport, discrimination and negative stereotypes.

Motivation works to change that by supporting governments, clinics, businesses, communities and families to find practical solutions and remove the barriers that disable people.

We believe we all have a role to play in making space for disability.

Motivation Charitable Trust works with the parents and caregivers of disabled children, so they can support their child’s early development, build support networks and increase their household income. We work with families and communities to challenge stigma and build support for disabled people’s equal access, participation and inclusion.

We work with clinical and community rehabilitation professionals so disabled people can access services that assess, prescribe and fit wheelchairs to their specific needs, and train them how to use, maintain and repair their chairs.

We work with policy and decision makers to secure and act on disabled people’s rights.  

Rotarian, Ken Rock, Rotary Club on Nailsea and Backwell - Thoughts on Health and Safety

Health and safety is a term that refers to the legal and practical measures that are put in place to protect the health and well-being of people at work and in the general public. 

Comvoc meeting

Comvoc Meeting - 25/26 Budget Planning