NORWEGIANS VISIT ROSS ROTARY – The Rotary Club of Ross-on-Wye played host to members of their twin club from Odal Rotary Club in Norway. The is part of an ongoing exchange programme which sees clubs visit each other every two years.

The party arrived in Ross on a Friday afternoon to be welcomed at a traditional English afternoon tea in Linton Village Hall. They then went to the homes of their hosts where they spent a quiet evening over dinner. On Saturday morning, everyone set off for Cardiff to have conducted tours of Cardiff Castle, Cardiff Bay, the Barrage and a trip through the docks. Sunday morning saw the party visit Clearwell Caves followed, due to the poor weather, by an impromptu picnic in a skittle alley. Monday was taken up with a visit to Gloucester Cathedral, the docks and the antique centre. The evening was spent enjoying a barbecue at the home of past president Rod Barker. Tuesday started quietly with everyone gathering at the Royal Hotel for a buffet lunch and a talk by Heather Hurley on the history of Ross. She then led a guided walk around the town including a visit to the archaeological dig at the Prospect. Later that afternoon the Norwegians departed for Bristol airport and the flight home.

Ross Rotary Club has really appreciated its contacts with Odal and now hopes, as the result of this latest visit, to begin to work on a combined international project in Nicaragua.

The club is proud to announce that Martin Bell, the distinguished former BBC news reporter and member of parliament, will give this year’s Rotary lecture. He will be following in the footsteps of Kate Adie, Prof Paul Rogers and Sir Ben Gill.

The lecture will be given at the Chase Hotel on Wednesday, November 19, at 7pm. Tickets are strictly limited and will be available shortly from members of the club. For further information you can contact Rtn Peter Baldus on 01989 567460 (business), 01989 562570 (private) or Philip Dazeley on 01989 567810 or check out rossrotary.com The club recently received a visit from Rotarian Dave Fenwick, governor of Rotary district 1100, of which the club is a member. In his talk to the club, he stressed the theme in Rotary throughout the world this year of ‘Make Dreams Real’. He spoke of the need to provide clean water for those where there is none as this leads to 36,000 children under the age of five dying every day due to poor hygiene and water-borne disease. He quoted a lady in a village in Africa who was asked what difference Rotary had made. She replied that when the Rotarians came the children stopped dying. Other activities include the final push to eradicate polio from the world which is a programme started by Rotary International in conjunction with the World Health Organisation and the United Nations. Recently, Bill and Malinda Gates have pledged $100 million dollars to the campaign that Rotary has to match over the next three years. He congratulated the club on its many achievements in the local, national and international projects with which it is involved and its increase in members, which was vital if the club was to continue to grow and thrive. “You are well respected for your activities and results in district 1100,” he said, and wished the club well for the future.

To find out more about Rotary membership, call Rod Barker (01989 563696) or Philip Dazeley (01989 567810).