Rotary Club of Gibraltar Awards Ceremony 2010

The Rotary Club of Gibraltar held their annual awards ceremony at Casino Calpe on 25th May. The reception was well attended by Rotarians, media and guests and the awards, including plaque and cheque, were presented by Hon Jaime Netto, Minister for Youth, Families & community Services.

H.E. the Governor, Patron of the Rotary Club of Gibraltar was also there as Guest of Honour.

The Awards presented were:

*The Youth Award went to 11year old Santino Jimenez for courage in the face of adversity

*The Public Service Award went to Jay Schembri of Sponsored Patients Department, G.H.A in recognition of exceptional courtesy, efficiency and helpfulness in rendering service to the public

*The Honoured Elder award went jointly to George and Alice Payas for exceptional dedication and service to the community of Gibraltar.

Rotary PR/Press spokesperson Lyana Armstrong-Emery today publicly thanked all those who participated in making the evening so memorable. In particular she singled out Mrs.Maruchi Risso who organised the event and thanked her for all her efforts in making this a truly wonderful evening. Lyana reminded senders of all unsuccessful nominations received this year that they have another chance as their names will also be put forward for consideration for next year's award ceremony together with any new nomitations.

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ROTARIANS’ NOSTALGIC CHARITY EVENING

The Rotary Club of Gibraltar recently held a nostalgic evening to raise money for local charities. The event was held in the tunnels at the King's Bastion (Gibraltar's Leisure Centre) in recognition of the valiant role played in World War II by our combined armed forces and also the heroism of all Gibraltarians who endured so much at that time.

Approximately 40 people attended.  Encouraged by George Williams we sang songs of the time such as  ‘Lili Marlene’, ‘I do like to be Beside the Seaside’, ‘Roll out the Barrel’, ‘Lambeth Walk’ and  ‘We'll meet again’ to name just a few.

Everyone enjoyed their dinner of bangers and mash although the portions would have been more likely to have been a whole month's ration in the 1940’s!

Gordon Vickers and Gloria Fletcher delighted everyone with their exhibition of how to dance the Jitterbug.

The Fancy Dress competition was won by Sylvia Leahy and in 2nd place.

Kevin and Anne O'Flynn from RAF, Gibraltar, who dressed up as two children evacuees.

Gibraltarians Pepe Fabre and another distinguished elderly gentleman who worked on Bomb Disposal were present. They were adorned with a grand array of war time medals gained in the service of the late King George VI and in defence of Gibraltar. They delighted everyone with their memories which were still so fresh in their minds some six and a half decades later. Sadly the Name of Pepe Fabre's companion was not recorded but we would be delighted if someone present on the evening could identify him for us !

The whole setting for the evening was perfect and to add to the mood the film ‘Operation Felix’ was playing continually in the background.

Speaking today, Rotary spokeswoman Lyana Armstrong-Emery expressed her thanks to everyone who’d worked so hard to make the evening such a success.

A total of just under £400 was raised for local charities.

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ROTARY CAMPAIGN AGAINST POLIO

The Rotary Club of Gibraltar has once again taken part in the world-wide campaign against polio. This terrible disease is thankfully less widespread now than it used to be but is still a major problem in some parts of the world.

The Rotarians, both internationally and on the Rock, have highlighted the issue and raised funds for research against it, especially on their recent Gibraltar flag-day on 16th April.

Rotary spokeswoman Lyana Armstrong-Emery commented” Thanks to the generosity of local people we raised over £1100 during our recent Flag day in Gibraltar.

This money will all go towards Rotary's very important project of eradicating Polio from the world. The affliction continues to infect and paralyze many children, robbing them of their futures. It must be ended.”

GIBRALTAR ROTARIANS IN MOROCCO

On the 31st March a delegation from the Rotary Club of Gibraltar (including the president, Raju Alwani and project co-ordinator Jinson Lima) left for Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. The Group went to the village of M'Hamid El Ghezlane to launch the third phase of Rotary’s project to develop a school, a clinic and other facilities in the community.

They arrived in M'Hamid on the 3rd April. The following day they visited the school at 8am. The children and village association gave them a fantastic welcome.

The Gibraltar Rotarians then got busy with the eye clinic - Barbara, Connie, Sylvia and Concessa first treated the woman over 40 in the village and then everybody else. The Group followed this by awarding bicycles to the three top students in the school. They also donated toys, clothes, crutches, stationery and many other items.

The villagers really appreciated everything and they remarked that what Rotary is doing is making a huge positive difference to their lives.

Said RCG spokesperson Lyana Armstrong today “This whole project in M’Hamid is quite an experience for all of us - out there in the desert, where people’s lives are so difficult (on the 6th April the Rotarians also met a group of Nomads out in the Sahara who have absolutely nothing).”

The Rotarians will be returning to Gibraltar on the 10th April. The press will be further updated after they arrive!

Rotary -Las Vegas Night

The Rotary Club of Gibraltar recently held another fund raising event at the Catholic Community Centre. This time the theme was ‘Las Vegas Night’ and over 75 people attended. Gordon Vickers was the Master of Ceremonies and he delighted everyone with his opening song in true Las Vegas form. This was followed by a variety of games such as ‘Play your Cards Right’ (based on the 1980's Bruce Forsythe TV show) and a paper roulette, dice and card game.

There were numerous super prizes donated by local businesses. These included dinner for two at the 'Waterfront' Restaurant, '14 on the Quay' Restaurant, Pussers Restaurant, Ipanema Restaurant and Pizza Express, a year’s membership at the Caleta Hotel Health Club, an ice skating lesson for two and vouchers for Ten Pin Bowling from the Leisure Centre, Gift voucher from Marquez Electrical Shop, a voucher from Esprit Dress Shop Ocean Village, A cut and blow dry from Classic Cuts as well as lots of smaller prizes for those participating but not winning.

Another of the organisers, George Williams also took part in the show as ‘Rolf Paris’ (a parody of Rolf Harris) and was assisted by his wife Joanne. This was followed by other excellent acts which included Sonny & Cher, Michael Jackson, guitar player Ezequiel de la Rosa and audience participation in many forms! One of the highlights of the evening was a special appearance by Mr Pepe Fabre, the well-known local character who that very week celebrated his 94th birthday!

At the end of the evening, Don Attwood, Chairman of the Fund Raising Committee, thanked Mr. Vickers and Mr. & Mrs. Williams for all their help and efforts and of course everyone else who attended. Altogether the evening raised nearly £1,300 which is being donated to the Gibraltar Alzheimer’s and Dementia Support Group and St Martin's Special School & Development Centre.

Gibraltar Rotary : Haiti Relief/ShelterBox Update

These last few weeks have been very busy for local Rotarians. Members have been collecting funds in Casemates, the Piazza, The Convent and outside Morrison for ShelterBoxes for Haiti. The Rotary Club of Gibraltar has raised more than £15,000 so far, thanks to the generosity of Gibraltarian individuals and organisations and also foreign visitors.

This means that Rotary will be able to buy and provide for at least thirty ShelterBoxes equipped with everything necessary to house and shelter earthquake victims.

On Saturday 20th February, The Rotary Club of Gibraltar were in the Piazza from 10:00 a.m. with a sample ShelterBox. The public were given a chance to see what actually goes into one and how and with what it gets packed. The 1st/4th Gibraltar Scouts Group helped Rotary on the day. In particular, the Scouts erected a typical ShelterBox tent so that the public could see it's size and layout. The scouts have also been undertaking fund raising for Haiti. Later that morning the Scouts marched past the Piazza from Casemates to the Cathedral to celebrate their Annual Founder's Day/Thinking Day.

Rotarians gave information of the work done by ShelterBox, and how the Charity has helped to protect and save lives around the world.

The open day was a wonderful opportunity for us to say thank you to everyone for their ongoing support.

Rotary Club of Gibraltar helps at ShelterBox HQ

Pamela Drew, member of the Gibraltar Rotary Club called up Shelterbox the minute she heard about the disaster in Haiti and asked what can she and her club do to help, The response was two things a) If you have time on your hands come over and help in the warehouse and b) get your club to fund raise for the People in Haiti so that’s just what she did.

As well as all the Gib.Rotarians’ efforts at fundraising on the Rock, Pamela has also traveled to the UK as a volunteer helper. She got on a plane on Thursday 21st of Jan , then on Friday made her way to Helston, Cornwall a trip which on its own took over 10 hrs. She arrived late on Friday Night to be met by a Rotarian from Helston, Rested well and was up early to help out as from Saturday morning.

Pamela was met in Shelterbox HQ by Sally Grint, Head of Development and communications, and got Pamela working as soon as all the paperwork was complete, Pamela was then met by Chris one of the line management team who quickly showed her the ropes . It wasn't long before Pamela got really stuck in.

In her own words :

“I met Tom Henderson, a Rotarian (of whom Shelterbox is the brain-child) who seems very down to earth and extremely humanitarian. He told me how this project started and with the Help of Rotary International and individual Rotary Groups around the world started the creation of Shelterbox and how the organization was born.

I then got introduced to John Leach the head of operations who gave me an insight to the problems they where having with flying the Shelterboxes into Haiti, it's amazing to see how people manage problems that are near impossible, but John and his team are experts in the art and attitude of WE CAN DO IT, so no problem is too big or bad for this team, even though they did say "it's like putting a coke can through a straw" They are determined to get the Shelterboxes to people who need them NOW.

I then met the volunteer team and what a bunch! I have had the pleasure to work with these great people for the last week and what a great group of people, I missed the first week after the Haiti disaster struck , but these Volunteers came in thick and fast to help with packing Shelterboxes, they worked around the clock and made sure that Shelterboxes where ready and available for people in need. These Volunteers have a great strength and an inner spirit which makes you think that there are great people in the world one things for sure there are definitely great people in Cornwall, I can go on forever praising these people who give so much of there time for nothing. These guys are a credit to the human race, without them this project would not be as successful as it is today.

I then moved up to the press office and have spent a little time listening to comings and going of this part of the organization, they keep up-to-date with what's going on around the world and feed it back to the website on a regular basis so everything is updated by the hour. check out www.Shelterbox.org for what's happening now, and don't forget it's not only Haiti that this great organisation is working with today, there are a number of other countries that are still being looked after today that lots of us are not aware of. In this office are some of the SRTs these are people who are highly trained ( all in-house and again Volunteers) to deal with working on the ground as Shelterbox representatives, one of the guys flies out to Haiti tonight so you can feel the buzz in the air in this office today , all at Shelterbox are extremely proud of our SRTs.

I also spent a few hours on Saturday at the front reception where I worked with Sue, the part -time receptionist/donation takers plus other things, Sue like many has not stopped working since the Haiti disaster happened and I think she has a bed under her desk as she is always here, ready to help with anything, in the office behind her is a team of donation taking people who again have are voluntary and have been working around the clock, the Shelterbox donations have been great and one thing people like about donating to this charity is you know where your money has been spent, because Shelterbox does run on Volunteers it helps keep the cost of running the organization to a record low. Here at Shelterbox it’s a guarantee that 90p in the pound goes to the people in need and does not get spent on other things.