What has Chris to do with Rotary’s national ‘Young Chef’, ‘Youth Speaks’ and ‘Young Leaders’ initiatives?

 For several years Chris has led the Club’s highly successful programme enabling many local young people to benefit enormously from participation in these events.

A project started in 2001 has so far netted tens of thousands of pounds for local carers.  A ten-year partnership between Sutton Carers’ Centre and Nonsuch Rotary Club  was celebrated at a Mayor of Sutton’s fund-raising dinner at the Club during which Sean Duggan of the Guardian beguiled the guests with a thought-provoking and entertaining talk about developments in the general local newspaper scene.  

 Eddie Parsons (former Deputy Manager) told the guests, “In 2000 Marian Radford (the then Sutton Carers’ Centre Manager) and I were considering the best way of taking-up Nonsuch Rotary’s offer of hands-on help for the Centre and decided to ask the Club to assist carers in completing the lengthy application forms for attendance allowance and disability living allowance.  Marian came up with name, the Carers’ Assistance Team and so, in 2001 after I had trained six volunteers from the Rotary Club, CATs was born”  

Rachael MacLeod of the Carers Centre with Mayor Margaret Court in the background

CATs currently has 13 Nonsuch Rotary volunteers.  Rachael MacLeod (the current CEO at the Centre) said that the project had been so successful that, in co-operation with Nonsuch Rotary  Club, “We’d now like to extend the project to include all the Rotary Clubs in the Borough of Sutton.   I would also be willing to offer my advice to any Rotary Clubs in the adjoining boroughs of Epsom and Banstead who would like to consider setting up something similar”  

Sean Duggan, Group Editor of the local Guardians, President Mick on his left and David Hagger organiser of CATS second on his right

The evening concluded with the President of Nonsuch Rotary handing a cheque for £500 to the Mayor, Councillor Margaret Court, for her charity fund in aid of the Carers  

Celebrating 25 Years Serving the Community – and Having Fun!

President Mick Martin led members of the Nonsuch Rotary Club and their families on a long, sunny weekend at Bournemouth in April 2011 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Club receiving its Rotary charter.  The sign on the wall behind the picture shows that members have not forgotten how to enjoy themselves!  And the Club’s many achievements for local and international communities over the 25 years is evidence of their commitment to the Rotary slogan, ‘Service above Self’, as can be seen from examples elsewhere on this website.  Not only has the Club raised tens of thousands of pounds for charities at home and abroad but it has also organised numerous projects for the benefit of children, teenagers, older people and carers, among others, and continues to do so.   And it has played its full part in Rotary International’s drive to eliminate polio disease world-wide. 

As everyone left, Mick’s parting words were, ‘I hope you all enjoyed the weekend’ , to which the response from all was, ‘It was great – and laying on such beautiful weather was a master stroke’!

The Party goers before the Dinner Dance with President Mick in the White Tuxedo

Ian Hosking, the Nonsuch Rotarian who last month found himself catapulted from car park attendant to Judge of a National Rotary Young Chef competition at Carshalton College, this month was cooking single handed for 100 hungry quizzers.  It was the occasion of Nonsuch Rotary Club’s fifth annual Bizz Quizz which raises money for the MacMillan Butterfly Centre and has become so popular with local businesses that, in the words of organiser Diego Alves, ’You probably couldn’t  have squeezed one extra person in let alone another team!’ 

Time for rest and food.

David Riley’s questions were, as usual, a mixture of the simple, less simple and downright unsimple, but hightly entertaining for all that.  In a keenly fought battle, the Stuart Kings (Seeability) and the Sutton Strollers got their noses in front but the real winners were the Butterfly Centre who will benefit by over £700, all the contestants and the amateur Chef whose professionalism with the ingredients sent everyone away from the carpark fully satisfied.  Roll on next February.

Wallington County High School convincingly won through to the next round of the annual national Rotary ‘Youth Speaks’ competition, senior section, with their proposition that, “The British are Anglo-Saxons; Fighting and Drinking are what we do.”    

President Mick presenting the Trophy