What is Rotary? Established all over the world, Rotary brings people together to take on important, sustainable, long-term projects across the world such as water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, economic and community development. A key project however has been its involvement in the eradication of polio in 122 countries, where Rotarians have contributed money and countless volunteer hours to help immunise more than 2 billion children against the disease. These are to name just a few of the many initiatives of Rotary International, but Rotary is very active in national and local communities too.

Chester Riverside Rotary…. Who are we? The group was formed a year ago as a satellite of the Hawarden Rotary Club . Having gained our Charter in June this year, we are now an autonomous, all- inclusive club…males and females of varying ages and backgrounds, with diverse jobs or retirement schedules, with a variety of interests and experience. Our common aim is to harness energy and goodwill and to put all this to good effect by raising awareness and money to help others in our area, the CH4 community ( Handbridge, Curzon Park, Saltney and, of course, Westminster Park). You may have come across Chester Riverside at the Summer Fayres last summer and this July, at the Christmas Fayre in the Community Centre last December, or have been some of the many local people who contributed so generously to the recent Garden Party in August or the Race Night in November.

Quiz evenings, race nights, a pumpkin-carving competition, a zip-wire challenge and a barbecue are a few of the fundraising activities of our first year when we supported HaNC (Head and Neck Cancer), Dial House in Chester (Disability advice Centre) and the Neuro Therapy Centre in Saltney . Whilst maintaining contact with these, our main charities for this current Rotary year (July 15– June 16 ) are the Alzheimer’s Society and BIRD (Brain Injury Rehabilitation and Development), a charity based in Eccleston ,which offers treatment and hope to children and adults suffering from any brain injury or developmental difficulty.

Alongside all this, we have fun….in conversations, listening to the experience of others by way of invited speakers and social evenings.

Where are we? We meet on Wednesday evenings 7 – 8pm at the Handbridge Inn, but hope to have occasional meetings in the other areas of CH4. Though we meet weekly, there is no commitment to attend every week, as we all juggle our busy lives and have other demands on our time.

Could you do join us? Anyone is welcome to come along to any of our Wednesday evening meetings and get the feel of what we are doing. You might decide that joining is not for you but, perhaps you might like to help out at events occasionally when we need some extra manpower! Whatever you could offer as we build our club, would be most appreciated and we are sure that you would enjoy your involvement.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported our efforts thus far. Please continue to support your CH4 Rotary club, Chester Riverside. Watch out for our notifications of upcoming events which we will post on the local noticeboards, on the Westminster Park websites, or you can find more detail on facebook.com/rotarych4   or   take a look at our video on Youtube.

I can also be contacted on 07804 252244 so please feel free to call for more information.

Jane Monro

President – Chester Riverside Rotary Club