Updates!!!

Greeting from sunny Frinton on Sea! It has been a busy few months since my last submission. This will be my last bulletin as President after just short of three, very enjoyable, years at the helm.

In late June, unsung local heroes were handed special awards for their dedication to our community. They were invited to attend our annual Club Handover event, under the premise of celebrating our achievements during the previous Rotary year. We warmly welcomed our unsuspecting guests before going on to pay recognition to their own outstanding contributions made to our community. All recipients were completely taken by surprise! The awards were presented to Phil Oxley (Community), Stewart Oxley (Vocational) and Aynsley Davidson (Youth). To serve above self, sits at the very core of Rotary's mission and our guests for the evening represented everything in which we at the club believe. Giving time, dedication and passion, making a difference, in often unseen circumstances, is heroic and it was fitting that we could give recognition to those who made a significant contribution to others in need. 

Youth

It has been a busy few months for our local youth with more than five hundred children and young people directly benefitting from our projects in one form or another. From the growth of our local youth club, which is now the largest in Essex, to our wellbeing afterschool club project in our local primary schools, the positive impact has reached many and continues to change young lives each and every week. Our most recent youth club residential trip to the Brecon Beacons was another resounding triumph. forty secondary school children had so many diverse adventures on our fully funded trip, courtesy of Essex Boys and Girls Clubs and the Jack Petchey Foundation. We are certain that memories from this and other trips to come, will last a lifetime. The past year has seen our youth club evolve in to a four session a week provision with the launch of a new Primary School Age Youth Club, the continuation of our Secondary School Age Club and enhanced further with a weekly Fitness Club and a Weekend Hangout. Walton Youth Club has more than two hundred and twenty children now registered and is the talk of the counties youth work professionals with enquiries coming from formal bodies such as Social Services, Family Solutions, Schools and of course local families. In the last year alone, we've taken a group of forty children to Wales, a minibus full to the Essex Boys and Girls Clubs Midnight Challenge and enjoyed watching some of our children achieve success in the Essex Table Tennis Championships. Further recognition has come in the form of numerous awards, for the club, our children and our team of volunteers. We continue to explore additional youth club opportunities and are currently visiting (and supporting) other local youth clubs to gain a better handle on other provisions and create greater synergy and collective strategy. Our afterschool wellbeing clubs take primary school children on a journey in developing their awareness and understanding of the pressures of life, enhancing emotional vocabulary to equip them with greater self-esteem, resilience and confidence. Run over the course of a twelve week school term, one hundred children a term are benefiting from a programme that is achieving huge impact, raising school attendance and wellbeing across children who are often more vulnerable than others. Fifteen local primary schools and three hundred children have benefitted from the initiative in the last year and we have a continuing line up of schools for the year ahead. Special recognition for these efforts must very much go to our wonderful Youth officer, Kevin Smith!

Community

At the other end of the age spectrum, we have been working closely with our local Women’s Institute, helping to facilitate, transport and host twice monthly tea afternoons (with cake….) for our more mature residents. Numbers are visibly increasing as this facility gains greater traction and awareness and we expect greater attendance in due course. For the last twenty-two years, Frinton Rotarian PP Michael Chaplin has organised a theatre treat for our local elderly folk; this years' event is now planned for 18th July. For many, a trip to the theatre can provide an opportunity to escape life’s daily routine. A live performance can touch the hearts and minds of an audience. We anticipate over one hundred and thirty elderly residents enjoying an afternoon treat at Frinton Summer Theatre, courtesy of the Rotary Club of Frinton on Sea. Peter Quilter’s ‘Bestseller’ will be the show of choice, delivering a storyline and cast worthy of any stage across the land.  Furthermore, we have agreed to sponsor the Frinton Summer Theatre from 16th – 20th July 2024 when our name will appear on the outside of the programme, an advert inside every programme for the duration of the Summer Theatre shows and banners etc. both inside and outside the McGrigor Hall, Frinton.

On a more sobering note, we are sad to witness the alarming increase of male mental health appeals from our community. It’s fair to say that for many men, talking about feelings and mental health can feel like a sign of weakness. The truth is, speaking about how you're feeling can be one of the bravest and most powerful things you can do. Our weekly Men’s Walk and Talk events, in conjunction with Tendring Well-Being, are now well established. This will be fully adopted by Rotary with effect from July 1st. We are honoured to be able to support this very necessary service - hearing some of the stories really do make one stop and think how tough can be for far too many people.

Events

·Our Charter night in April at Frinton Golf Club was very well subscribed with nearly ninety guests attending. It was a memorable affair and we continue our upward trajectory re numbers celebrating our unique club!  · Our annual ‘Jutland Jug’ quiz night, also in April, saw a very healthy turnout; all proceeds going to one of our worthy causes, the Benin Christian Support team. · The Community Cafe events held at the McGrigor Hall continue to be successful and growing in numbers attending. The W.I. is organising the events and Frinton Rotary arranges transport for many of the attendees there and back. These will continue after the Summer Theatre starting from September. · The tea party for the elderly at Frinton Golf Club in May was a fantastic success with a couple of changes to the past format. This formed our Rotary Day of Service. We are now making this a twice-yearly event. 

· The annual ‘Jolly Boys’ boat outing took place up the Thames in June – I am assured a splendid time was had by all!! · June saw our annual Golf Day take place. Fantastic numbers turned out for this landmark event and as I write, we await what promises to be record figures. 

Membership

Our membership now stands at 23 Fellows. My ambition was to obtain 25 members and we shall of course continue to strive for new applicants, driven more by quality than quantity! The campaign continues in person, paper and across social media! We have added two new Honorary Members and have several others expressing a real interest in Frinton Rotary!

We very sadly had to bid farewell to one our much-loved active Rotarians, PP Brian Blackler who passed away in March this year. He was 89 years of age and served with Rotary across several clubs in many capacities, for 50 years. We are all going to miss him so much. Always a warm and welcoming personality who really helped me with his support and interest when I first joined. His memorial service was fascinating and very well attended as was the wake thereafter. It was an occasion of a celebration of a life well lived.

Causes

This year has seen us contribute to the following in our community, district and farther afield: --  Minibus services for local clubs and trips for the elderly / Walton Food Bank assistance and donation / Lads Need Dads in support of those lads without a father figure / Shelterbox for international aid such as earthquakes and zones of conflict / Frinton Community Centre – help with maintenance requests / McGrigor Hall maintenance / Walton Pre-school / Rolph School library (with Clacton and Jubilee) / Sea Cadets / Remembrance wreath laying – Walton and Frinton / Golf Day fund raiser with guests and entertainment / Christmas Carol service giving cheer to the community and raising funds for the church and schools / Joint ventures with Frinton Cricket Club / Frinton Heritage supporting local legacy and history / Reach out to the elderly over Easter With Easter eggs and cards working with St Phil’s school kids / Live Music fund raising events at FCC and FGC / Catherine Bullen Foundation sponsoring medical facilities in Namibia / Benin Christian Charity support via Jutland Jug and donation / Environment initiative with local litter clean up heroes – Frombles / Houndsfield School, Edmonton seaside treat / Future Academy, Lebanon / St Mary’s Church pre-school play group.

The new term will again see us looking to support many new endeavours as well as established good causes like the youth sections of Frinton Cricket and other local sporting clubs, the Guides, the Scouts – land & sea, the First Aiders may well need a boost to get active again

Paul-Fraser Williams

President Frinton and Walton Rotary