CHURCH AND OSWALDTWISTLE ROTARY
ACCRINGTON & DISTRICT BONSAI SOCIETY
THE society held their AGM on Tuesday, December 10 at Hippings Vale Community Centre.
Chairman Gavin
Hartley began by thanking all who had help make 2019 another successful year.
He particularly mentioned Kay Hirst who helped raise club funds by running our raffle.
She is at the moment in hospital and we all send our best wishes.
Gavin also thanked Raymond Garratt who was standing down after having been events coordinator for the past 10 years.
Gavin presented him with a gift of gardening vouchers.
The treasurer gave his report which allows our subscription to remain the same for 2020 at £25 single and £40 per couple.
The election of officers were as follows: Chairman Gavin John Hartley, secretary Pauline Smith, treasurer John Davies and Rawden Kerr was elected as our new events coordinator.
It was then time for our Christmas quiz which was once again provided by Ray Couldwell who gave us some interesting questions.
The winner was Gary Kennedy who received a bottle of wine.
Our Christmas raffle was then drawn with lots of prizes including some bonsai trees.
By the end of this we were ready for our potato pie supper.
We had plenty of things for our afters including Key Lime pie, Christmas cake, cheese and biscuits, cream buns and even some wine to try.
We thank Diane, Pauline and Ray for providing these.
We finished the evening off with our bonsai tree auction.
The poor weather over the past days meant there were fewer tree in the auction but there was still some bargains to be had.
Our first meeting of the year will be on January 14, at Hippings Vale Community Centre, Oswaldtwistle.
We will be having our winter tree competition.
This is a great time to look in, we don’t charge for giving us a visit and we will even give you a brew.
DECEMBER is an exciting time in the calendar at Church and
Oswaldtwistle Rotary as this is when Rotary members and Friends of Rotary hit the streets and the supermarkets with Santa and his sleigh. For many residents, both adults and children, the arrival of the sleigh on their street marks the real start of Christmas.
The hard works starts well before December.
The sleigh must be moved from storage and given a thorough overhaul to make sure that it is in peak condition.
Then the Club must apply to the council for all the necessary licences which allow for collecting door to door.
When all this has been done an extensive rota of volunteers has to be drawn up as eight collectors, a driver and, of course, Santa are needed each night.
The sleigh is out for at least 12 nights, weather permitting, as well as weekends at the supermarkets, which means a lot of man (and woman) power.
This year the club has been helped in their street collections by lots of local businesses and schools and a very big thank you goes to the teachers at Broadfield School and White Ash Primary.
Also helping where the staff from Oswaldtwistle Mills, Education Business Partnership and Hyndburn Leisure Centre.
The Hyndburn Police Cadets were also up for the challenge and joined the crew for two nights.
Fundraiser Ken Freeman said: “We are absolutely delighted that the Friends of Rotary and so many different groups have willingly given up their evenings to help us.
“The weather isn’t always at its best at this time of year, but that hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm.
“They have been amazing.
“I would of course also like to thank the residents of Church and Oswaldtwistle for their generous donations.”
Every penny of the money raised in December is used by
Church and Oswaldtwistle Rotary to help fund local community projects and to support several local and national charities.
This year the money raised at the supermarket collections (December 19 and 22 at Tesco
Accrington and December 20 and 21 at Asda) will be donated to Derian House Children’s Hospice, Accrington and District Blind Society, North West Air Ambulance and NSPCC. welcome at our monthly gatherings at this, Country House Hotel in its own grounds; ample parking facilities; also on the circular bus route from Accrington.
Telephone: Phyllis on 07800 899421.
HYNDBURN OVER 50S FORUM
THE last meeting of the Hyndburn Over 50s Forum was their annual Christmas party and members and friends met at the Community Church in Oswaldtwistle.
After a busy year of meetings and guest speakers everyone enjoyed the day.
The took part in the
Christmas quiz and then enjoyed a buffet lunch which is always excellent.
The group welcomed T J Kelly from Darwen, a guitarist and singer, who entertained the guests with a great selection of 60s and 70s songs, including Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Elvis.
They were all tunes that the group could sing along too.
The prize in the raffle was a cake with a Polar Bear in a Christmas outfit.
It was made especially for the group by Molly Robbins of TV fame and the lucky winner was Sue Shaw.
Sue gave a vote of thanks to the artist and everyone who had made the day special.