last edited April 18, 2011

Chairman - Meurig Lewis
Committee members - James Carter, Colin Eagles, Bill Jones, Liz Owen-Jones, Alun P Thomas, Gareth Williams, Richard Giffiths.

The role of the Community and Vocational Service committee is to identify areas of need, either directly or through local charitable organisations, within the community and provide the appropriate service work or financial assistance. Emphasis is given to the 'Ideals of service', acknowledging the fact that as a fund raiser and provider of funding, Rotary is merely one of many, but as a provider of service, it is without peer. The committee is responsible for raising the funds it distributes.

Committee meeting 29 March 2011
Vocational Visit - Hugh reported that he now had 28 for the visit to Chester Races, and he had made bookings. There are 7 spare places available, and the cost per head would be less if these could be filled. A menu had been circulated for choice of food at the Bluebell, Llangurig on the return journey.
Environment Project - Paul had met the local Keep Wales Tidy groups, and an Aberystwyth (Spring Clean) Environment Day has been arranged for the above date [10 – 12 am and 1 – 3 pm]. The groups will undertake cleaning at about 8 allocated locations, with support from Rotarians. Paul will issue information to Rotarians, and will arrange pre- and post-event publicity.
Age UK (Wales) Transport Volunteers - John reported that he continues to have full support from Rotarians, and that he had had a discussion with Age UK about the safety issues involved with transporting disabled clients.
Message in a bottle - Age UK have requested more bottles ready for their Collection Day on Good Friday, 22/04/11.
Requests for Charitable Donations - The presentation evening on 17/02/11 at the Richmond had been successful, with a good report and pictures(s) in the Cambrian News.
Children Today ~ Rowan - This is a charity that provides life-changing equipment for disabled children. They have received an application for a specialised tricycle from the family of a young boy, Rowan, living in Aberystwyth, who is autistic with postural problems. Children Today relies entirely on voluntary donations and tries to raise funds locally, hence the request to us of 27/01/11.
Michael’s follow-up enquiries revealed that Children Today have now approved the request and told the family to order the tricycle; he has also spoken to Rowan’s Specialist Health Visitor in Ceredigion Disabled Children’s Team.
It was agreed that we donate £100 from the Christmas Collection reserve (£233).
Everyman - “The UK’s leading prostate and testicular cancer campaign” would like us to organise a sponsored walk “the Big Stride”, preferably in June. It was noted that we have just made a donation to our local Prostate Cancer support group
.Christian Lewis Trust ~ Children’s Cancer Charity ~ Cardiff Bay - They would like a donation. They have a history of helping families from Ceredigion with their Play Therapist, and are currently caring for 9 children in the Aberystwyth area [SY23]. The average cost of a respite family break is £550; £150 donations would be appreciated. The Club has supported this charity in the past, and may wish to do so again .

Committee meeting 25 January 2011
Christmas Collections - £1983 had been collected (compared with £3000 in 2009). Considering the recession and the arctic conditions, which caused the cancellation of a day at Morrison’s, this was a reasonable result.
Thank-you letters have been sent to the 3 supermarkets, John Davies and Walkers, and the completed Statement of Income and Expenditure form has been submitted to the County Council.
Our Thank-you letter has been printed in the Cambrian News.
The December 2011 collection dates have been arranged.
Michael had prepared a document “Precautions for the safe use of mains electricity” relating to the use of an extension lead to power the CD player in O G Sq.
The allocation of funds to local charities was agreed as follows:
Organisation £ Notes
Victim Support Cymru, Cardiff -- There has been no reply to our request for info. about activity in Aberystwyth
* Parkinson’s UK Cymru 300 Active Aberystwyth branch (& Rtn. Peter G is treasurer)
West Wales Prostate Cancer Support Group 100 Subject to confirmation of their support for Aberystwyth patients ?
* Integrated Osteoporosis Service
Bronglais General Hospital 300 £7.5k raised towards £10k Vit D analyser as at 21/09/10.
“Last £1800” hoped for from Aber. 10k 21/10/10.
* Ceredigion Disabled Children’s Team, Aber. County Council/Hywel Dda Health Board 300 Request for help with accomm. expenses of family of 2y old boy with cerebral palsy, while undergoing therapy at the Bobath Centre, Cardiff.
RNIB, Llanelli -- Gave Talking Books presentation to Club on 12/10/10.
We support Ceredigion Talking Newspaper (we donated £1000 last year) and they are currently healthy.
* Radio Bronglais 300 Due to give presentation to Club on 15/03/11
Need to replace old equipment: £1k for 500 mini bedside radios; £600 for 2 CD players
Aberystwyth and District Citizens Advice Bureau 200 Request received 12/10.
We donated £200 last year.
Rotary Kids Out 250 £500 was allocated last year, assuming Oakwood; however the 2010 VoR rail trip cost £328.
Reserve 233 In case of other requests received during the year
Total 1983
* featured on our publicity material.
? received 27/01/11
Message in a bottle - The assembled bottles were given to Age UK, before Christmas, and they currently have sufficient.
Vocational Visit - Hugh outlined proposals for a visit to Chester Races on 4th May 2011.
Based on a party of 30 or more, the total cost of coach, Open entry to the races, and bar snack at the Bluebell, Llangurig would be £26 each. Participants would have the option of Chester shops and, in the event of inclement weather, race-goers could pay extra for the Dee stand. Hugh would give information to the next club meeting on 1st February, and evaluate the response.
Environment Project - Paul reported that Keep Wales Tidy is a registered charity which supports community groups and schools across Wales to improve the quality of the environment. There are several community groups in the Aberystwyth area, typically active monthly, and he would do further research about the possibility of coordinating an event with Rotary involvement.

Committee meeting 16 November 2010
Correspondence - Michael gave an update on the requests for financial support:
Organisation Status of request
• Victim Support Cymru, Cardiff There has been no reply to our request for info. about activity in Aberystwyth
•Parkinson’s UK (Wales), Tregaron Have provided more info. indicating an active Aberystwyth branch (& Rtn. Peter G is treasurer)
•West Wales Prostate Cancer Support Group, Llandysul [Sponsored walk ~ Summer 2010] Acknowledged, and will be contacted again if selected for donation from Christmas collections
•Integrated Osteoporosis Service - Bronglais General Hospital Have provided info. on progress with fundraising: (£7.5k raised towards £10k Vit D analyser)
• Ceredigion Disabled Children’s Team, Aber., County Council/Hywel Dda Health Board Committee in favour of donation from Christmas collections
•Request for help with accomm.expenses of family of 2y old boy with cerebral palsy, while undergoing therapy at the Bobath Centre, Cardiff.
• RNIB, Llanelli - Gave Talking Books presentation to Club on 12/10/10
• Radio Bronglais Need to replace old equipment: £1k for 500 mini bedside radios; £600 for 2 CD players
Christmas Collections (Michael) - It was agreed that Ceredigion Disabled Children’s Team, Parkinson’s (Wales), Bronglais Osteoporosis Service and “other local charities” would feature on our publicity material.
The 3 supermarkets had been contacted to check that they had our collection dates in their diaries.
The collection rotas had circulated at today’s meeting and had got off to a good start.
Age UK (Wales) Transport Volunteers (John P-J ~ aplogies) John reported that he would be requesting drivers for 2 lunch meetings during December.
Message in a bottle (Eifion) - Following the “assembling session” on 5th October, most of the bottles had been given to Age UK who want further supplies before Christmas, so another session is needed soon. (30 Nov ?)
AoB - Phil suggested that a “trolley dash” be considered during 2011; it could be a good fundraising project.
Membership - All committees had been requested to consider membership recruitment; it was agreed that we liaise with Club Service to identify appropriate literature to give out during the Christmas collections.

Committee meeting 14 September 2010
Correspondence - the following requests for financial support have been received

Age UK (Wales) Transport Volunteers - John has an updated healthy list of Rotarian volunteers, and has made the arrangements for the September lunch meeting.
Message in a bottle - It was proposed that the next “assembling session” would take place after the meeting on 5th October.
Environment Project - It was agreed that a good scenario would be for the project work to be carried out by members of a youth organisation, with funding obtained from another organisation. Possible organisations were discussed and Paul will follow-up

Committee meeting 20 July 2010
Age Concern Transport Volunteers - John had successfully organised Rotarian drivers for the July lunch meeting; the first in the new Rotary year.
Message in a bottle - There are currently about 50 assembled bottles, and it was agreed that the next “assembling session” would take place at the end of Summer. John advised that his son regularly came into contact with potential recipients, and he would monitor his stock of bottles.
Projects under consideration - There was a brief discussion about the other CommVoc projects; members confirmed that they were formulating proposals which would reported to the committee at the appropriate time of year:
- Vocational Visit (Hugh) (05/11)
- Environment Project (Paul and Richard) (Rotary Environment Day ?/05/11)
- Christmas Collections (Michael and Iori) ( /12/10)

Committee meeting 15 June 2010
The following programme of projects and coordinators was agreed for 2010/11
Age Concern Transport Volunteers - John Pugh-Jones. The list of volunteers would be refreshed in the new Rotary year.
Message in a bottle - Eifion Lewis.There were some suggestions for identifying more clients as our only outlet last year was via Age Concern. There are currently about 50 assembled bottles, so we need to have an early assembling session.
Vocational Visit - Hugh Davies. May 2011- suitable venues will be researched and, in due course, proposals will be put to the club.
Environment Project - Paul Finch and RichardMorgan. Rotary Environment Day sometime in May 2011.Projects such as a beach-clean-up or tree planting (at an appropriate time of year) will be explored.
Christmas Collections - Michael Deaville and Iori Jones in 2010
The following dates and venues have been arranged:
CK’s - Wednesday 8 December
Co-operative - Thursday & Friday 9 & 10 December
Morrisons - Thursday & Friday 16 & 17 December
Owain Glyndwr Square - Tuesday 21, Wednesday22 & Thursday 23 December - a licence has been received.The committee will consider requests for donations, and the key recipient charities will be identified on our collection publicity as usual.
Charity Presentation Evening - Michael Deaville and Iori Jones in February 2011. The collection proceeds will be allocated and distributed as soon as practicable.

AGM 2009/10 report - 27th April 2010 (Chaiman Michael Deaville)
Age Concern drivers - Rotarians continued to provide transport, through the year, for clients of Age Concern’s lunch club. Our coordinator, Colin Bancroft, is appreciative of the cooperation received from Rotarians. In the first half-year, Eifion Lewis had provided a similar service for the Visually Handicapped but with a change to daytime meetings they could use public transport.
Christmas collections - The usual pattern of Christmas Collections was slightly modified to reflect local changes in supermarket ownership. We collected for 1 day at CKs, ex-Co-op, and for 2 days at the Co-op, ex-Summerfield, followed by 2 days at Morrisons and 3 days in Owain Glyndwr Square. The committee was gratified by the support of Aberystwyth Rotarians and was pleased with the amount collected, over £3000.
Presentation to charities - At a Presentation Evening at the Richmond Hotel on 18/02/10, the proceeds were distributed as follows:
• Aberystwyth Riding for the Disabled £500
• NACC Aberystwyth & District Group £200
• Aberystwyth & District Citizens Advice Bureau £200
• The Breastfeeding Network £100
• Papur Sain Ceredigion Talking Newspaper £1000
• Arad Goch Theatre Company £100
• Cylch Meithrin Llanfarian £100
• Mid Wales Colo-Rectal Cancer Fund £100
• Cruse Ceredigion £200
• Retained for Rotary Kids Out trip £500
The representatives of the recipient charities were grateful for our donations and also appreciated our hospitality, thanks to Richard Griffiths. The evening also provided the opportunity for Rotarian William Williams to present cheques to Papur Sain Ceredigion and to Macmillan Cancer Support following his participation in the 10 km Run, with sponsorship from the club. There had been a good report and photographs in the Cambrian News. Thank-you letters had been received and had been circulated at Club meetings.The charitable donations listed above were the outcome of the Committee’s careful consideration of all requests received. There were also 3 requests that were not approved, for reasons such as being in the area of another Rotary Club, as reported to Club Council and Club.
Message in a Bottle - this project, coordinated by Gareth Williams, continued with 144 bottles being supplied to Age Concern. Samples and information about sources were provided to Knighton R C.
Thanks for Life - John Davies managed our contribution to the all-committees “Thanks for Life” project and identified Magic Point as the “Window of Opportunity” for the Club display in February.
Visit - Richard Morgan’s arrangements are progressing for the proposed visits to Llechwedd Slate Caverns and the Talyllyn Railway on 25/05/10. An enjoyable outing is anticipated and we trust that more Rotarians will sign up.

AGM 2008/9 report - 28th April 2009 (Chaiman James Carter)
At the beginning of the Rotary year it was decided to continue with the projects that had been pursued in the previous year, with the exception of having a presence at the students’ Freshers Fayre to promote Organ Donor Awareness. It had become apparent that most of the students were being encouraged to enrol as donors when applying for driving licences and also in the literature they were given when enrolling at the university.
Christmas Collection - This had again been successful and most of the proceeds were distributed on Thursday April 2nd at a small reception which was held at the Richmond Hotel where representatives of the following organisations were invited :-
British Heart Foundation ----£1000
Diabetes Unit at Bronglais Hospital----£200
Cruse---- £200
Breast Feeding Support Group----£200
Plas Lluest----£200
Age Concern----£100
Kids Out - We are retaining £500 for the Kids Out event . The total proceeds of the collection were in the region of £2900 which means that there is still some £500 available for distribution.
Message in a Bottle - This project is still proceeding and we are receiving requests for supplies from various parties. We do however need to prepare some more supplies so that we are able to respond more quickly to these requests.
Age Concern - We are still involved with various projects with this organisation and our assistance is very much appreciated.
Visually Handicapped - We have been involved with the transport arrangements for their visits to the local Day Centre for many years on a fortnightly basis. It is possible that they will be asking for increased assistance in the future.
Vocational Visit - The arrangements for the visit to Big Pit are in hand and we are now being joined by a number of Probus members.
.

A summary of 2005-2006 activities (Chairman - Colin Fletcher)
Message in a Bottle - Following Gareth Williams’s talk, Ceredigion W.I. had distributed 600 bottles through the Pat Griffiths (President Elect of Inner Wheel). Age Concern had been given a further 100 bottles and another 100 were to go to Michael Morgans of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade.
Heartstart - Glan Davies had been asked for dates and was in touch with the organisers of the course. At least 10 and not more than 12 participants were needed. Partners were welcome. The course was free but donations were accepted.
Age Concern Lunch Club and Shopping Support - The provision of drivers and cars for the Age Concern Lunch Club and shopping support was going well. It was understood that Age Concern now had access to a minibus to supplement the lunch club lifts provided by the Club.
Christmas Street Collection - £3,900 had been distributed to local Charities at an evening event held at the Richmond Hotel on 28 February.It was an enjoyable evening and the representatives of the local Charities were able to exchange information and contact details. June Jones of Ceredigion Crossroads has offered to come and give a lunch-time talk to the Club. A report, with a photograph, has appeared in the Cambrian News. We made a donation of £500 to the Beacon of Hope and they are planning to launch their Hospice at Home project at the Conrah Hotel on 15 June. Equivalent dates have been booked for Owain Glyndwr Square ( Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 19 to 21 December 2007) and at Morrisons (Thursday and Friday 6 and 7 December 2007) together with Thursday and Friday 13 and 14 December 2007 at the Waunfawr Co-op store. The licence for the street collection on Owain Glyndwr Square was expected shortly.
Institute of Cancer Research - Information packs had been distributed to the Public Library and Age Concern.
Barnardos - As recommended at the previous meeting, a donation of £200 had been sent to Barnardos. During her talk, Eileen Denekamp had referred to a sponsored walk, starting in Barmouth, that was due to take place during October. This was an annual event, that was stewarded and refreshments were provided in the form of locally prepared sandwiches and cakes. Details will be circulated when they are received as some Rotarians may wish to take part.
Rotary Stroke and Health Awareness Day – Saturday 28 April 2007 - Unfortunately, it had not been possible to take this forward this year. Material has been obtained from the Stroke Association and, given a longer lead time, it may be possible to do something next year.