Detective Chief Superintendent Guy Ferguson, the Met Police Borough Commander, presented the prestigious Borough Commander’s commendation to the Club for outstanding work in the community over the last 15 years. One of which was “Junior Citizens”

Detective Chief Superintendent Guy Ferguson presenting the Award

 Junior Citizens is a skills for life course for children of 11 + years. They are put through a number of ‘scenarios’ lasting about 10 minutes each, which give each child the chance to test their safety skills. How to escape from a smoke filled room, how to put somebody in the recovery position, to be able to identify dangers within the home environment, anti-graffiti/criminal damage scenarios and many more besides. The whole course is very man power intensive which our Rotary Club has largely provided for the last 15 years. We have answered phones, been the casualty, been the stranger, and stepped in at the last minute to run any of the scenarios when the principals have been unable to attend.

The Paul Harris Fellowship was established by Rotary International in 1957, ten years after the death of founder Paul Harris. It is presented to Rotarians and others in recognition of outstanding service to the community and the club.

Chris Forkan, Nonsuch Rotary’s Youth Officer, has led our youth activities for a number of years. He has built relationships with a number of local schools and has worked tirelessly to fulfil an important Rotary goal of helping young people to maximise their potential. Chris has established Nonsuch Rotary as a leading supporter of youth activities. This includes mock interviews to help students prepare for university and work, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) providing an outward bound style training and development programme for young people, Youth Speaks public speaking competition and Rotary’s Young Chef competition.

The award came as a complete surprise when presented to Chris by President David Riley at the President’s Ball but all members agreed was well deserved.