7th – Youth Speaks District Final
The District Final took place on Saturday, 7th May, at The Mountbatten School in Romsey. A large audience gathered to watch the Senior and Intermediate competitions, with nine teams participating. Shaftesbury School, unfortunately, had to withdraw from the Senior Competition at short notice, but The Blandford School Intermediate Team was very much in attendance. They competed with four other teams from Bishop’s Wordsworth School in Salisbury, Bournemouth School for Girls, St Anne’s Catholic School in Southampton and West Hill Park School in Fareham.
The Blandford School team debated their motion “Should PE be taught in mixed or single gender groups?” with great eloquence. It was noticeable that they had worked hard to perfect their delivery and content since the Area Competition. Chairperson Olivia Sharples, Proposer Tamzin Caves and Opposer Tyler Parsons all performed their roles really well and were a credit to our Club and their school. Thanks must also go to their teacher Maisie Griffin, who has supported them throughout their Youth Speaks journey this year.
The eventual winners of the Intermediate Competition were St Anne’s Catholic School with the motion:” Music Lessons should be mandatory for primary schools”. The winners of the Senior Competition were Crofton School in Fareham with the motion: “Is poetry more powerful than the novel?”
9thth – Business Meeting
20 Rotarians and guests attended the meeting on 20th May to hear Tim Sale’s presentation “Electrified Vehicles UK – A Panacea?”
Tim was an engineer at Ford Motor Company for most of his working life before retiring recently. He was, therefore, able to speak with great authority about the pros and cons of electric vehicles as we head towards the Government’s target date for all cars to be electric – namely, 2030.
He outlined various advantages and disadvantages associated with hybrid, plug-In hybrid and fully electric cars whilst contrasting these and the relative running costs of electric, diesel and petrol-powered vehicles. He also considered how efficient electric cars are, regarding the use of scarce resources in their manufacture, their carbon footprint and purchase cost.
He summarised his talk by highlighting that electric and traditionally-powered cars have similar running costs if we discount the effects of taxation.
Several probing questions prompted further discussion about using alternative power sources, such as hydrogen and the use of electric to power large vehicles and planes.
The Club would like to thank Tim for travelling down from London to deliver this well-informed and detailed presentation.
15th – Press Release – North Dorset Cycle Ride
Cycle enthusiasts supported the 5th North Dorset Cycle Ride on yet another damp and windy Sunday. At times we saw brief glimpses of the sun, but being situated on Castle Walk and Castle Hill, we felt the full force of the wind. Again, this year, the event started with a rolling start, allowing cyclists to leave at their chosen time slot.
Over the past two years, we have been very lucky to have been sponsored by BV Dairy, who have not only supplied financial support but also supplied cyclists and marshalls. Thank you, BV Dairy. We would also like to thank Tesco for providing energy bars and bananas, which were handed out at the feed station on top of Bulbarrow Hill. We have also been lucky to have the continued support of Signrite, who have provided the signage over the years.
We are also very grateful to James Thrift, our official photographer, who took the official photos and helped at the start line.
This year we added an additional distance of 75 miles for those that wanted a more significant challenge. The extra distance took cyclists into the beautiful Cranborne Chase, taking them through Tollard Royal and then into the Chalke Valley. Add to this the beautiful North Dorset countryside, including Bulbarrow Hill and Milton Abbas, which makes this one of the most scenic cycle rides around.
We also replaced the 12-mile family cycle ride with a new event, the 6-mile Family Fun ride. This was developed to make it more accessible for younger children, giving them a halfway rest point with refreshments and five skill tests to challenge the younger ones (as well as Parents!) in slow-speed bike control, balance, riding single-handed and bike positioning. The route took them through the newly opened Coombe House School and BV Dairy before the final ascent of Gold Hill.
This year we were very lucky to have the services of Gillingham Wheelers at the start of the ride, providing riders with any advice and help they required to get them going.
All rides terminated ascending Gold Hill, where a large crowd had gathered to cheer the weary cyclists through the finish line.
Cyclists, on completion, were greeted with music provided by Connor Smith, burgers etc., by Dorset Farm Foods and coffee via The Really Tiny Coffee Company.
The primary beneficiary of this year’s event will be again Prostate Cancer, which was present to be on hand for peoples’ awareness of the charity. The remaining funds will go into the Shaftesbury Rotary Charity funds, distributed to deserving local charities.
Shaftesbury Rotary Club would like to thank all the volunteers who came out to help at the event, including Shaftesbury School, who provided car park attendants, Dorset Marshalls, Gillingham Wheelers, Connor White, Coombe House School, Tesco, Reed Marketing Consultancy, James Thrift, Signrite, Travis Perkins for barriers, Rob Beale Ltd. for Portaloos, Dorset Farm Foods, The Really Tiny Coffee Company, Mister Softee and last and very much not least BV Dairy.
Next year, with hopefully better weather, we aim to enhance the annual event more, so watch out for future press releases.
23rd – Club Assembly
Club Assembly is when the incoming President – David Britton for 2022/23 – introduces their team and plans for the next Rotary year, beginning in July.
On this occasion, it was even more special as we inducted another new member Paul Filler.
David’s plans for the next year include prioritising growing membership and celebrating our club’s 60th anniversary. We are also planning to run Youth Speaks again and to bring back Young Chef, both in association with Shaftesbury School. We also hope to start a Rotakids group for younger children.
We will also run all our usual events, the next of which will be the Gold Hill Festival on Barton Hill on Sunday, July 3rd.
Contact us through this website if you are interested in becoming a member. We offer three free meals/meetings to anyone genuinely interested in membership.
A thank you from Aquabox
Dear Shaftesbury Rotary,
Thank you for your very kind donation of £500.00, which we received on 01/02/2022.
Your gift will support the purchase of filter components and shipping costs. Our partners are in water-restricted regions, and we greatly appreciate your contribution! Thank you for thinking of us.
From all of us at Aquabox
