RotaryClub of North Wirral

November 2014The Bulletin

President John WilliamsVice President Brian Clark2nd Vice President Ron WarneSecretaryTreasurer Dave CheyneEditor Rex AndrewAssociate Editor Richard Twemlow

Websites northwirral.rotary1180.orgwirralcoastalwalk.org

Facebook (search) Wirral-Coastal-Walk

Len Cantliffe

Inner Wheel “Guest Evening”

th18 Nov (See Page 4 of Oct issue)

President’s gentle reminder p.5 Plus

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Club Meetings

Club Calendar

Other Events

Tue 18 Nov North Wirral Inner Wheel Guest Night (rsvp via sign-up sheet)

Sat 13 Dec North Wirral Club’s Carol Concert at Heswall Hall with “The Castle Singers” 7.15 for a 7.45pm start - tickets £7.50 (available from Stuart Osborne)

Sat 20 Dec Birkenhead Club’s Christmas Concert at the Great Hall,St George’s Hall, Liverpool £16 and half price for under 12'ssee http://charlesfarnell.wix.com/-birkenhead-rotary-#!page3/cee5

Forthcoming Charter Celebrations

Thu 6 Nov WallaseyFri 7 Nov Wrexham Erddig2015Fri 30 Jan Rhos on Sea

Sat 7 Feb ChesterFri 20 Feb DenbighSat 28 Feb Wrexham YaleMon 23 Mar Oswestry

November3 Gavin Chappell “Smugglers and Wreckers on the Wirral”

10 Jill Prasad Job Talk17 Business Meeting24 Janet Kay Job Talk

December1 John Patterson St Vincent’s School (Special Needs)8 SGM + Mini Assembly

15 Christmas Party (Social)22 No Meeting29 No Meeting

January 20155 Harry Watson “The Humorous side of Police Work”

12 Rachel Webster VSO – ICS in Nigeria19 Rotary Competition Youth Speaks26 Glynn Parry Illustrated talk – Old Liverpool (1897-1979)

(Social)

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From The President

Rotarians,

October, for me, demonstrated the breadth and depth of Club interest.

The educational charity “Classrooms in the Clouds”, working in the Everest region of Nepal came to update the Club. The NGO sponsors teachers, trains teachers (especially female teachers) and works with

communities. It tries to tackle problems in an area which lacks rural education. The Club gave £1,000 to support its work.

The dedication of charities and individuals who help others help themselves can be very humbling. Matthew Whitehead from the charity “Life Foundations” spoke to the Club about his work closer to home with the disabled and Roma children of Romania.

Our latest “new” member, John Jewsbury, gave a fascinating and modest job and interest talk which was far reaching and reflective. John outlined his work in industry and academia from the early ‘80s until his retirement. He gave an insight into international problems seen at first hand. He touched briefly on his later work in consultancy to governments and NGOs and introduced us to problems with the prospect of malaria control. A thought provoking talk.

George Nicholas from “Vintage Radio” described the start and development of this radio station for the more mature listener. He was surprised by the range/depth of Club interests and invited the Club to appear on a Thursday morning “Community Hour” programme at the YMCA outlining our work.

We were given Alan Hanson’s valedictory report as chairman of the Art Committee. This year the Art Festival produced a handsome surplus of just over £4,000 in a frighteningly ordered way. The Council approved the appointment of Eileen Theil as Chair and Pauline Parr as Vice Chair for 2015. The heartfelt thanks pf Club and Council were given to Alan for all his work.

A trip across the Hilbre Island was completed on a beautiful day accompanied by a Ranger. The twitchers and spotters in the Club had a field day.

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Youth Service continues to pursue a very full programme, contacting Calday Grange and West Kirby Grammar Schools and supporting our current schools of Hilbre and Pensby. Pensby has asked for three new Interact Clubs in years eight, nine and the Sixth Form. Youth Service is actively promoting Rotary National Events such as Young Musician, and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards as well as continuing the cycling project. A Hilbre student is attending the District Conference in recognition of their Oystercatcher environmental project. Preparations are being made for Mock Interviews at Pensby. A very active programme of work to be slotted into a relatively short school year. Jim and his gang deserve a pat on the back for a difficult job well done.

The month finished off with a social evening – a Murder Mystery by Port Sunlight Players and Co. It was certainly a mystery to me – and not a corpse to be seen! Inner Wheel, as usual, have a nose for trouble and Heather Adams came first in identifying the liar as the murderer.

All these projects/activites were completed by you as a Club. A pretty active Club! What do you think?

Your friend and President,

ROTARY CLUB OF NORTH WIRRAL

NOTICE OF SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given of the Special General Meeting on Monday 8th December 2014;

(a) To adopt the Club Accounts for 2013/2014

(b) To confirm the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer for 2015/2016.

The following Officers have previously been selected and approved:

President: Brian Clark

Vice-President: Ron Warne

David Cheyne has agreed to continue as Treasurer for the forthcoming year.(Subject to no other member volunteering to undertake this role)

Len Cantliffe has agreed to continue as Secretary for the forthcoming year.

Len CantliffeSecretary

Special General Meeting

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An ever so gentle reminder........

John Williams (07564 271 465, 0151 653 0600) will take apologies for a normal meeting up to 12.00 Noon on the Monday.

HOWEVER: on Monday, he can only accept calls on his mobile. If you need to apologise after 12.00 Noon you need to contact the Holiday Inn Express yourself on 0151 632 2073.

If you give lists of dates by e-mail, please do so well in advance. Never e-mail late in the day or on Monday...... This system works relatively well – give or take!

The Social evenings are arranged by Brian Boumphrey and the Social Committee. They involve a great deal of preparation. Sometimes the meal price has to be varied to cover the cost of invited clowns appearing as entertainers.

If you sign up to attend on the circulated sheet – as we hope you do – you have committed yourself!

If you wish to change your mind, telephone Brian on , in good time, so that he can adjust the meal figures. Pigeon

post, e-mail and messages to third parties are not always picked up. Leave a message on his answerphone if he’s not there – go straight to the horse’s mouth..... speak to Brian direct as only he has access to the current list of attendees.

Remember, if you wish to move from ordinary meals to salads (or vice versa) let John know.

If you have a crisp vegetable allergy, you have little going for you!

The gentle reminder is: This is not The Heatherlands. Perhaps the size of the manager confuses some members!

Thanks for your cooperation.

0151 632 5674

President’s gentle reminder

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On Wednesday 8 October Ian Lyle and I attended Hilbre High School for the purpose of presenting the Presidential Citation Certificate which had been awarded to the Interacters and Community Action Group for their work in the Big Clean Up Campaign. Many of you will remember the interesting and fascinating presentation made recently by Lorraine and Emily, under the title of ‘Watch the Birdie’ where you were able to see the final results of the campaign in the form of 19 Oyster Catchers made completely from litter and recycled materials.This was one of three Assemblies and on this occasion was for Years 7 8 and 9 with representatives from all three School Houses (Dee, Hilbre and Royden) attending. All other years will be given the same presentation during the course of the week. Mr Paul Lloyd, Assistant Headteacher, started the assembly by explaining the basis of the project, the work that had been undertaken and the successful results culminating in displays at The Open Golf Championship in Hoylake, West Kirby Methodist Church window display (thank you to Graham and Brian for suggesting and arranging this) and presently in the School Reception. He then showed a short video which is now on the Hilbre School website detailing the early stages of the litter collection and one of the birds ‘escaping’ from the school.We were then introduced to the school and gave a short presentation and speech of congratulation reaffirming our pride in the school and the achievement of this project. The Certificate was received on behalf of the Interact Club and the school by their Headteacher, Ms Jan Levenson who thanked North Wirral Rotary Club most sincerely for their continued interest and support.If anyone wishes to see this short film go onto the website for Hilbre High School, click on Community tab at the top, then click on the Big Clean Up Campaign and the video will automatically play...... or click this .link

Barbara Sinclair

Presidential Citation for Hilbre School

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If you didn’t quite get it, the symbol is meant to be the £ knocked down and falling through the floor - though perhaps the £ is OK for a week or two and it’s just the share prices falling!

I have received the following from Les Hunt: Ed

I am attaching my first report on the Competition, I expect

that everyone is pleased that they have not invested any

real money at this time!

Position at 16/10/2014 - Week 5 of 25

Place £ Profit/Loss Entrant

1 -4,702 Patrick Williams2 -6,017 Janet Kay3 -6,645 Roger Standring4 -7,163 Sarah Frisby5 -7,520 Les Hunt6 -7,672 Alan Hanson7 -7,770 Steve Anderson8 -7,782 Norman Edwards9 -7,796 Brian Clark

10 -7,991 Len Kirkham11 -8,209 Jim Drake12 -8,244 Tom Middlebrook13 -8,267 Brian Jones14 -8,318 Denis Blamey15 -8,348 Steve Porter16 -8,382 Tom Collins17 -8,441 Ron Warne18 -8,451 John Williams19 -8,545 Jim Costello20 -9,021 Len Cantliffe21 -9,138 Mike Reddy22 -9,587 Rex Andrew23 -9,748 Pat Morton24 -10,036 Eric Morton25 -10,134 Cynthia Williams26 -10,311 Stuart Osborne27 -11,658 Laurie Williams28 -12,319 Ian Lyle29 -12,606 John Forrest30 -12,796 David Hulme

Fantasy Share Competition£

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Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially SightedNewer members may not appreciate the long association the Club has had with WSBPS. I am grateful to Alan for passing on these messages. Ed

From : jenny.wsbps@tiscali.co.ukDate : 17/10/2014 - 11:17 am (GMTDT)To : alan.hanson4@btinternet.comSubject : Retirement

Hi Alan,

Just to let you know that after long deliberations I have decided to retire at Christmas. I feel that when one starts to lose all interest in the job, it's time to let go and get a new 'captain' to steer the ship.

Could you please let the 'boys' know of my decision and thank everyone of them including yourself for the support and help you have given to me and the Society over these many years.

I will be returning as a Volunteer 1 day a week, which is where I started 18 years ago, so I'm only leaving the job, not the place and the people.

Thanks again for all your dedication to Ashville.

Take care and may see you before I go.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Jenny Borley

Centre Manager

And Alan’s reply:

Jenny

Thanks for this info! I really wish you well in retirement and I bet you can't wait for Christmas.

I imagine we at North Wirral Rotary Club have had a link with the Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted for nearly as long as you have been there, a link set up by Ray Hill originally I think.

Over the years we have helped out with open days, fetes, balloon races etc and I particularly remember the regular lifts we as a Club were able to offer to Tom and Alan for their regular Wednesday gathering at Ashville Lodge. It is such a pity that that sort of assistance couldn't continue.

In recent years we have valued your support with our Rotary Art Exhibition!

WSBPS is such a worthwhile organisation and I am pleased to see you are happy to carry on as a volunteer - you will enjoy that I'm sure!

Your e-mail mentions passing on your decision to "the boys" - I'm pleased to say that we have progressed since those early days with WSBPS as we now have enthusiastic ladies in North Wirral as well as "the boys". What a complimentary term that is for us "oldies"!

Best wishes Jenny

Cheers,

Alan x

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The Secretary’s less serious input (1)I am grateful for the Secretary having sent me what he called Anedotes. I don’t think they really qualify as Anecdotes – and they certainly aren’t Antidotes – probably somewhere between Proverbs and Fables – or is it what has always happened by way of English language development? There’s not enough space for all of it this month, so expect some more in the future! Ed

Where did "piss poor" come from?They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot.And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the tannery...If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor".But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...They "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500's:Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, Brides carried bouquets of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,Then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.Last of all the babies.By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.Hence the saying, “Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs – thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath.It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals(mice, bugs) lived in the roof.When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.Hence the saying, “It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection..That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery In the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing.. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, It would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)Len Cantliffe

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Have you ever felt that you looked quite carefully and suddenly there was a car just missing you that had come from no-where! You are not alone!! – and there are ways to minimise the chance of it happening.

Members may remember that one of the social responsibility topics I included in the programme in my Presidential year was an encouragement to update one’s driving skills. I know a small number went for an assessment drive with the IAM. Having initiated it I thought I should follow it up by doing the full IAM Skill for Life programme culminating in the Advanced Driving Test. I have also continued with IAM Membership – and reading their Advanced Driving publication.

The issue before last had a 3 page article written by a fighter pilot on “Avoiding Collisions” and I imagine a fighter pilot has a high motivation for doing that because his first is likely to be his last. It was a fascinating read and was commented on favourably in the last issue.

He had researched the way the eyes operate and found that for small, but significant, periods of time you are incapable of seeing anything at all. Not good news -– but there are strategies to overcome the problem.

His findings:

First, only a small area of the retina can generate a high resolution image with visual acuity 20 degrees away from your sight line being about 10% of what it is at the centre. Need convincing? The standard reading test for driving is to read a number plate at 20 metres. Stand 10 metres from a car, look one car width to the side and try to read the number plate without moving your eyes. Try again at 5 metres....... we can see some (big) things in peripheral vision but might miss smaller things like a bike or motorcycle.

Second, to see something on a potential collision course, we need to move our eyes and/or head (so far so obvious!). When we move our eyes/head to scan a scene, our eyes cannot move smoothly across the scene and see everything - the scene would be a blur. The eyes actually move in a series of jumps with short pauses (at which points an image is processed). [

The brain fills the gaps with a combination of peripheral vision and the assumption that what is in the jumps is the same as what you see in the pauses.

The smaller something is, the more likely it is for its image to fall within

Want proof? Stand in front of a mirror and look repeatedly from left eye to right eye and back – can you see your eyes moving? You cannot!]

?Where?! did that come from?

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one of the jumps of the eye and thus to be invisible. Also, the faster one scans a scene, the bigger the jumps and the shorter are the pauses for image processing.

Third, we know we cannot see through solid objects – and research shows that we tend not to look near to the edges of a framed scene. When driving therefore, we tend not to look at the edges of the windscreen, so not only are the door pillars an actual blind spot (and larger than they used to be?!) but we tend to increase the size of the blind spot by mentally ignoring the space immediately to the sides of the pillar.

So, What can we do about not being able to see the things in front (or to the side!) of us?

Recommended Actions when Driving:

1 Always slow down approaching a roundabout or junction, even if only by say 20 mph and even if the road seems empty.

Changing speed will immediately generate relative movement against a vehicle that was otherwise on a collision course.

2 Always look right and left methodically, deliberately focussing on at least 3 different spots along the road to the right and 3 to the left.

Looking close, middle distance and far away can, with practice, be accomplished quickly and each pause is only for a fraction of a second. This means you are overcoming the natural limitations of eye/brain coordination – fighter pilots call this a “lookout scan” and is vital to survival.

3 Always look left and right at least twice.

Not only does this double your chances of seeing something, but by the time you look again, the relative movement of another vehicle diminishes the chance of it still being in one of your blind (or vision gap) spots.

4 Make a point of looking next to windscreen pillars - or better still, lean forward and look around the door pillars

Actually (and I’ve been trying these points) it is not that difficult – just a matter of a bit more discipline when driving – and I would argue a very modest investment for avoiding even one small collision! If you’ve not already done so, you could do an assessment run with the IAM – or even the Skill for Life programme. I have contact details!

Rex Andrew

If interested, do look at the full article - available at pages 34 - 36 of http://issuu.com/advanced_driving/docs/advanced_driving_spring_2014

The Editor’s Bit It is surprising how quickly one loses the current position - thanks again Richard for doing last month’s issue - I almost had to look at the notes I provided him to remind me of all that was needed!

It was my hope to include a report on the District Conference but my copy date was 3 days before the Conference and there was unfortunately too much going on to be able to squeeze doing it into what was left of Sunday. I hope I remember enough by next month!

Some nice contributions came in this month - keep them flowing - though some more pictures would be good. The next two issues are planned for 1st December and 5th January. Copy dates 26th November and 31st December please. Rex

North Wirral Rotary Clubis proud to be associated

with our Sister Clubs North

WirralPensby &

HilbrePensby &

StewardsNovember

3 Rex Andrew and Denis Blamey10 Brian Boumphrey and Harold Bowman17 Brian Clark and Jim Costello24 Jim Drake and Norman Edwards

December

January5 Brian Jones and Len Kirkham

12 Gwynn Jones and Janet Kay19 Ian Lyle and Brian Masheter26 Mike Morris and Eric Morton

1 John Forrest and Graham Gladden8 Alan Hanson and David Hulme

15 Les Hunt and John Jewsbury 22 No Meeting29 No Meeting