The Basingstoke Deane Rotary Club, Hampshire recently supported Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) in raising the required funds to purchase an £60,000 ablation machine.
An ablation machine is used by doctors to help find and fix irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) but patients in the Hampshire who needed this treatment has previously had to go as far as Southampton.
We are all really pleased to have been able to make a difference by raising this money for such a good cause – with each pound making a big difference.”
Thanks to Basingstoke Deane Rotary raising £30,000 through various fundraising activities, patients in Hampshire can now be treated closer to home, with the first procedure using the new machine recently taking place at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital.
Alex Whitfield, Chief Executive of the HHFT said: “We are so grateful to the Basingstoke Deane Rotary Club for their generosity and support in getting this new technology into our hospitals.
“It is a great addition to the care we are able to provide and is a great example of our commitment to innovation for the benefit of our population.”
Club president David Knights said: “We are all really pleased to have been able to make a difference by raising this money for such a good cause – with each pound making a big difference.”
Up towards Derbyshire, Long Eaton Rotary Club and Long Eaton Interact Club joined forces to put on a successful free family fun day attended by hundreds of attendees.
The day started with the 2195 (Long Eaton) Air Cadets helping to mark out the events field and erect gazebos before the event was officially opened by Erewash Borough Council Mayor, Councillor John Sewell and his consort Mrs Rose Sewell, along with Interact President Ivy Collier and The Rotary Club of Long Eaton President Dick Knight.
Cool Science performing a demonstration with liquid nitrogen at the Free Family Fun Day.
Those who attended were treated to fresh food, smoothies, games, craft stalls, fairground rides, demonstrations by local organisations and companies, and even a display from the RAF cadets.
Everything at the event was absolutely free, with the clubs having raised money to employ the fairground rides and everyone else giving their time free of charge.
Down in Surrey, Leatherhead Rotary Club held the 30th edition of their Annual Charity Golf Day, raising almost £3,500 for the British Heart Foundation in the process.
After 72 keen golfers competed in a full 18-hole round of golf, everyone returned to the clubhouse for a two-course dinner, a presentation of prizes and Rotarian Andrew Emmett auctioning off two rounds of golf for four people.
Leatherhead Rotary President and Golf Day organiser, Gary Zabel, said, “Effingham Golf Course was in perfect condition and conducive to some very high scoring from our 72 entrants who were extremely generous and helped us raise almost £3,500 for the British Heart Foundation, our charity of the year. We are trying to help them to raise the profile of vascular dementia, which is not as well-known as Alzheimer’s Disease, but can cause just as much suffering.”
He added: “This was the 30th year we have run this golf event and during that time we’ve raised well over £100,000 for a wide range of charities.”
(From left to right) Grant Samuel from TWM Solicitors, Shirley West from the British Heart Foundation, 2022’s winning team The Early Risers and Gary Zabel, President of Leatherhead Rotary Club and Golf Day organiser.
Staying in Surrey, The Rotary Club of Dorking held a special ceremony celebrating their long history as they prepared to place their original Chain of Office in Dorking Museum.
From the club’s inception in 1930 to 2016, well-known names from the Dorking business world have had their name placed on the Chain of Office.
However, since Dorking Rotary are switching to a more wearable chain showing the Presidents from 2016 onwards, the original Chain of Office will no be proudly presented in the Dorking Museum alongside Presidents’ Chain of Dorking Round Table and of the Rotary Club of Dorking Deepdene.
Sixteen Rotarians attended a short ‘hand-over’ ceremony held by the club’s oldest member, 92-year-old John Woodcock, and the club’s youngest member and current President Elaine Edgar.
