Events

James Onions - President Rotary Club of Kew Gardens - WASH Ambassador and Creating Oases

James Onions has been instrumental in the Sand Dams project, which provide dryland communities in poor areas of the world access to safe and clean water. James was awarded a Rotary National Champion's Award in 2020. 

Barry Darbon has been a volunteer for Portishead coastguard for the last 28 years and has recently retired as station officer.

Mr Darbon said: “We get called out to all sorts of incidents and work closely alongside the other emergency services including the RNLI. "Volunteering for the coastguard is a great thing to do.

“I get a great sense of self satisfaction knowing that we have intervened in an incident and helped bring someone back to safety.” Volunteers can expect to be called to a number of incidents, including people stuck on cliffs and searching for missing people.

Speakers: Laura Cook and Denise Wong - Voices of Aphasia

​Voices of Aphasia are an aphasia friendly hybrid choir and lead by Music Therapists. Laura leads the choir, whilst Denise accompanies on the keyboard alongside Tony, a stroke survivor on the guitar.

Aphasia (or dysphasia) is the term for neurological problems with communication and language, including speech, reading and writing. It can present after a brain injury (including stroke and traumatic brain injuries) which causes damage to the parts of the brain responsible for processing and producing language. It is estimated that around one third of people who survive a stroke will be left with some form of aphasia.

Comvoc meeting

Chelsea Harding - Fundraising Manager grief encounter

Grief Encounter was founded by Dr Shelley Gilbert MBE. Their mission is to give every child and young person access to the best possible support following the death of someone close. They work closely with individuals, families, schools and professionals to offer a way through the anxiety, fear and isolation so often encountered by grief. 

They are an open-access charity, funded by the generosity of our supporters, and here to help alleviate the pain and confusion caused by the death of a parent or sibling. Bereavement is devastating at any age, but for a child it is life-changing. 

Business meeting highlighting the club committee's activities. 

Speaker, Sam Burrett - Streetspace Knowle

Streetspace Knowle is a youth-led charity organisation that aims to empower young people in South Bristol to be the best they can be. They provide a range of centre-based and outreach street outreach services and support to help young individuals overcome challenges, develop their skills, and make positive life choices. Focussing on promoting youth engagement, personal development, and creating opportunities for young people to thrive in their community.

Speaker, Catherine Frankpitt - Communicating for Good

Strike Communications support organisations who are doing something positive in the world – whether that’s creating arts and cultural opportunities, tackling inequalities, delivering education, or championing a cause.

Many of their clients are charities or small businesses with limited resources and budgets, so they work hard to deliver tight, targeted campaigns and PR activities that add real value and get the greatest return.

They have a core agency team underpinned by regular support from a collective of hand-picked, exceptionally experienced practitioners who share their values, bringing with them a range of specialist expertise including social media, public affairs, design and website creation.

Speaker, Dan Ford of the Square Food Foundation. https://www.squarefoodfoundation.co.uk/

The Square Food Foundation offer free and subsidised cooking classes to people from Knowle West and surrounding South Bristol, who might be experiencing barriers, deprivation and marginalisation. Our aim is to teach people how to cook healthy food from scratch to improve their health, reduce hunger and bring joy and confidence to the community.

Speaker Tom Button is the Senior Project Manager with Bristol City Council and will talk about the Temple Island and Temple Quarter development. 

Temple Quarter sits at the heart of Bristol, one of the UK’s most productive and fast-growing regions and a focal point for the West of England’s £39bn economy.

Temple Quarter will transform over 135 hectares of brownfield land over the next 25 years into a series of thriving, well-connected mixed-use communities. The regeneration of the area will deliver 10,000 new homes in a mix of types and tenures, including much-needed new affordable homes. 22,000 new jobs will be created, bringing inclusive economic growth to the city and new opportunities for Bristol’s citizens, alongside £1.6bn annual income to the city economy.

A refurbished Temple Meads Station will build on its role as the region’s largest transport hub.

Communities and businesses – new and existing – will co-exist within residential, commercial, leisure and cultural areas, supporting a thriving 24-hour economy that works for everyone.

The new University of Bristol Enterprise Campus will bring cutting-edge innovation, education, and skills to the area, boosting Bristol’s reputation as a centre of knowledge and enabling world-leading research and development to link with and work alongside local and regional businesses.

Comvoc Meeting - 25/26 Budget Planning

Speaker, Dave King is the Editor of Rotary Magazine, Telling Rotary's Story. 

Dave King  has 40 years’ experience as a journalist, covering events as varied as the Gulf War and Olympic Games. Most recently, he was editor-in-chief of Newsquest Berkshire & Buckinghamshire and has edited a number of regional newspapers. He is currently managing editor of Rotary magazine and, was recently the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ chief examiner for sports journalism – a post he held for 15 years.  Out of work, David is a keen runner and kayaker. He also serves as a Justice of the Peace on the East Hampshire bench in Portsmouth

Rotarian Richard Campbell will update the club regarding the national board activity of Rotary GB&I.

Our Rotary year runs from 1st July to 30th June each year and the first meeting of the year is usually the occasion for the handover from the outgoing President to the incoming one. This year President Bernd Langheim will handover to President Elect, Elaine Milne. 

Speaker, Jeanette Sheldon - Head of Water Quality - Jersey Water

Jeanette manages a small team responsible for sampling, analysing the water and providing operational support, to ensure the drinking water is safe to drink. She started her career with Thames Water in research and development before moving into operational science roles. She then spent three years with the Drinking Water Inspectorate, before moving to South East Water, in a similar role to the one she is doing now.

She says that Jersey Water is a smaller company and she has  found there’s more variety in what she is doing and this was something she was looking for in a new role. She comments "There’s lots to learn and I am enjoying getting involved in different projects, which is great".

Comvoc Final Budget Alignment for 24/25