The month of July saw a full agenda for the Rotary Club of Retford, with both social events and fundraising activities taking place.
There was also a very pleasant surprise when the Club was presented with three District awards, namely Best All Round Club in the District (recognising the range and nature of the projects and activities undertaken), Best Rotakids Project and Best Community Projects (citing the Music Festival, the Victorian Christmas Fayre, the Santa Run and the Swimathon).
On the social side, members had the opportunity to take part in an evening of Ten Pin Bowling at Doncaster and outdoor bowling at Wheatley. There were also two very different speaker evenings where the Club heard from James Naish about the Nuclear Fusion project at West Burton Power Station, and Mike Russel about the ‘Wild West’.
Visits were made Ranskill and Torworth Summer Fair to see the Accessible Toilet on the community playing field, to which the Percy Laws Trust had made a donation, and to Retford Cricket Club who had received a donation to help host the Bassetlaw and District Junior Cricket Finals.
A big fundraising event was the second Annual Golf Charity Day held at Retford Golf Club, when over £4,000 was raised to support Focus on Young People in Bassetlaw and the NSPCC, as well as other Rotary charities.
Also taking place in July was the ‘Big Breakfast’. Many thanks go to Sally Ogle who hosted the event, when nearly £700 was raised to support the Rotary Club’s ‘Bread Fund’ Charity and the NSPCC.
The Club is a keen supporter of the Aquabox Charity who provide filtration pumps to purify water in disaster zones. Some members had an interesting visit to Aquabox in Derbyshire to see pumps and boxes being assembled ready to send to places of need. A further donation of £400 was made from the Club. They also took a donation of £173, raised by Ranskill Primary School, a Rotakids School, who decided to fundraise after seeing a demonstration of the pump in action and hearing about how clean water saves lives.
Finally, there will be another Victorian Christmas Fair on Thursday 16th November. The Club is interested to hear from anyone interested in having a stall on the day. Please contact rotariandanby@gmail.com as soon as possible.