Roundup

Who are we?

Currently we have 37 members, 37 ordinary local people from very varied backgrounds who want to make a difference and members have been working in our community for over 37 years. We hail from a whole host of working backgrounds – education, health, local government, running small local businesses, members of larger local or corporate businesses . . .  Together we bring many different skills, experiences, ideas and networks to support what the club does.
Many of our members are in work or are recently retired. All live locally, though some commute out of the borough for their work or reflecting the post covid situation, work from home.

What do we do?

As there are Rotary clubs around the world it means that Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland have been able to quickly help the people of Ukraine via the Rotary Foundation Disaster Relief Fund for Ukraine. Because of our Christmas Shoebox appeal we have links with Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine. This means it has been easier to set up relief in Moldova for those fleeing the war. Because we are dealing with a network of Rotarians, we know that donations will get will get to the intended recipients. We have also been able to fund 10 Shelter Kits designed by Shelterbox for their Ukraine Urgent Appeal.

Before the war in Ukraine we’d been supporting the Chernobyl Children’s Life Line appeal. They help children and young people who are suffering life limiting cancers as a result of their continued exposure to nuclear radiation from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster that took place in 1986 in the north of Ukraine. This is now urgent as they have not been able to access the treatment needed for their cancers and many will not survive without this treatment. It’s hoped that many will be able to be moved to other countries for treatment but this is not without difficulties and can be very dangerous. We’ve been able to give some funds but they will need more to get the children to safety to continue treatment. To find out more – www.ccll.org.uk/home.

We support a few international and national charities. Mainly we support local charities and concerns financially or with manpower. We give 12 local charities free stalls at the Festival of transport to raise their own funds. Some of the charities we’ve recently supported include:-

• • • • The Royal British Legion Poppy appeal
      • Camrose Centre for the Homeless
      • Spotlight
      • Besom Basingstoke
      • The Pink Place & Blue Space
      • Mencap- Basingstoke
      • The Warren Youth Club
      • The Ark Riders’ Charity Ride ‘Bath & Back’
      • Loddon School, Basingstoke Young Carers
      • Basingstoke Academy of Dance
      • Disability Forum,
      • NH Hospitals Staff Awards
      • St Michaels Hospice
      • local Scout group

 … and many more.