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last edited July 23, 2010
International Service committee 2010-2011
 

Chairman - Alun Rees
Committee members - Peter Gardner, Bryn Button, Maldwyn James, Tony Landeg, Bill Jones, Ian Rees, Eric Robinson, Godfrey Hill, Steve Lawrence.

The committee's function is to raise the awareness and effectiveness of international and world community service provided by districts and clubs. It's aim is to identify and suitable causes and projects and take the responsibility for raising the supporting funding.


AGM 2009/10 report - 27th April 2010 (Chairman Peter Gardner)
Pig Roast at Nantcellan - The year started with the Pig Roast in July at Nantcellan , a successful day with a total income of £2017- 20 which after deduction of expenses of £357-71 gave a profit of £1659- 49. This was shared almost equally between Rotary and Inner Wheel. Our share went towards the club’s contribution to the Polio Plus project.
The Shelter Box project - The year brought mayhem and destruction to many areas of the world from natural disasters, The Club has responded by sending a total of £!500 sufficient for three boxes. In addition Geraint took the lead in liasing with three primary schools Plas Crug, Penparcau and Comins Coch to raise money sufficient for their own box. This was not a case of just squeezing money from innocent children but to form the basis of an educational project in following their numbered box to it’s final destination and possibly beyond.
The Malawi water aid project - In November, Bryn discovered that 8 locally financed bore holes had found no water and it was probable that our chance of success was the same. Since then he has concentrated on the alternative project of the temperature control of the Chiradzulu Hospital Pharmacy requiring new refrigerators,air conditioners and the construction of a false ceiling to reduce the spacial volume to be cooled, to avoid damage to medication. I have exchanged e-mails with him. He has after some delay he has received a quotation which was raised a week later due to an “error” on the first one and is now £20,994- 69. Bryn is now looking elsewhere. I have suggested to him that at this high cost we are going to need sound justification for the project to be accepted for a matching grant at local , District and Central stages .I asked him whether there was authenticated evidence of drugs and vaccines being damaged in the past , or the inability to use either of these knowing that they would be damaged by the high temperature. He agrees and will investigate



AGM 2008/9 report - 28th April 2009 (Chairman Geraint Thomas)
Pig Roast at Nantcellan - Sunday 27th July 2008 was a glorious sunny day, giving the International committee a wonderful kick-off to the year’s activities with the Pig Roast hosted through the kindness of Peter and Celia Gardner at Nantcellan. The surplus of £1569 was shared equally between Rotary and Inner Wheel.
Polio Plus - In conjunction with Foundation we undertook to respond to the appeal for funds towards Polio Plus. Two signs were put up on the Rotary Wishing Well to inform the public that the money donated would go to Polio Plus and the response has been very encouraging. The Treasurer informs me that the collections up to the end of March was £690.02.
Aqua Boxes - The committee decided to purchase 3 Aqua Boxes during the year ; an ‘Aqua 30’ box containing 30 filtration units at a price of £250 and two Standard boxes (£50) filled with articles provided by Rotarians. These boxes are always in demand wherever there are disasters and in countries that lack clean water and basic sanitation.
Christmas Puddings Appeal - The Cwmbran Rotary Club still run their Christmas Pudding appeal in aid of ‘Adopt a Minefield’ 36 puddings were sold to members at £10 each thus £360 went from this club to the Adopt a Minefield Appeal again this year.
Shelterboxes - These wonderful shelter boxes of essential equipment to help a group of 10 people survive for 6 months following any kind of catastrophe or disaster were the brainchild of a Rotarian from Helston-Lizard in Cornwall, - Tom Henderson a former Royal Navy search and rescue diver. The boxes have helped well over half a million people to survive in all sorts of natural and other disasters. I am so pleased that as a committee we undertook to purchase 1 box from this club for £490 as well as encouraging staff and pupils from Ysgol Gymraeg, Penglais and Penweddig to purchase a box. The Rotary box has not yet been allocated but we will be told fairly soon
Schools 4 all in Africa - This was the RIBI chosen charity for this year and as a committee we decided to aim for a sum of £1000 to aid the Schools 4 all in Africa work in Uganda through The Leonard Cheshire Disability Charity to provide the opportunity for 1000 disabled children to attend school for the first time in their lives. As a club we have managed to raise £1235. We will have a report from the Leonard Cheshire Disability as to how the work is progressing in Uganda within the next 6 weeks.

AGM 2007/8 annual report - 29 April 2008
Pig Roast at Nantcellan - The year got off to a good start with a dry day for the Pig Roast hosted by Peter and Celia Gardner at Nantcellan on Sunday, 5 August 2007. The event was run in conjunction with the Inner Wheel and a net surplus of £1,204.34 was raised to be shared between Water Aid (Rotary) and Born Free of HIV (Inner Wheel). Thanks to Peter and Celia Gardner for hosting together with John Bradshaw and Gareth Williams for taking charge of the spit.
Adopt a Minefield - 3 dozen Christmas Puddings were purchased for sale within the Club again this year. Unfortunately, 7 puddings had to be returned because the seals were defective and not airtight. The net proceeds amounted to £295, including a donation of £5. £3 from the sale of every pudding went to the Adopt a Minefield Charity. The £92 raised in this way (including the £5 donation) was match funded by the UN. The project (run by the Cwmbran Vale Club) was expected to raise £15k this year which, together with match funding from the UN, meant that a combined total of £30k would be raised to support mine clearance work in Bosnia. Thanks to Emlyn Watkin and Colin Eagles for collecting the money.
Aqua Boxes - An "Aqua 30" Box containing 30 filtration units (£250) and a Standard Aqua Box (£50) filled with items given by Rotarians, were purchased. Thanks to Colin Bancroft who lead on this project and to all Rotarians for their generosity in contributing items to fill the second box. With the frequency of natural disasters around the world these boxes are in constant demand and are shipped out by Rotary on an almost industrial scale.
Collective Matching Grant Project - The Club contributed £194 to the Collective Matching Grant Project organised by AG Tony Park for Clubs in Zone 1. The project, with the Rotary Club of Mussoorie (India), provides funding for school uniforms, stationery, Hepatitis A vaccinations, Haemoglobin tests and iron supplements for all 975 students in the 12 primary schools of Mussoorie, Uttaranchal, India. The award is for INR 623,200 (equivalent to US$ 15,200). With match funding, the total grant budget for the project is INR 1,379,978 (equivalent to US$ 33,658).
William Williams’s Run
On Sunday, 9 December 2007, William successfully completed the 10k run organised by the Aberystwyth Athletic Club in association with Macmillan Cancer Support and the Cambrian News. William completed the run in under an hour; a remarkable achievement. The total amount raised was £1,291 plus Gift Aid (28% on eligible donations). Cheques amounting to £1,250 were given to Sue Williams of the Aberystwyth and District Chernobyl Children’s Project at a presentation evening held at the Richmond Hotel on Tuesday, 11 March. A further cheque will be given to the project when the amount of Gift Aid has been finalized and received by the Treasurer.
Silent Auctiion - held at the RAFA Club on Friday, 7 March raised a total of £688.85. Rotary Clubs in RIBI are sponsoring a Water Aid project to provide clean water and sanitation for 10,000 people in Tanzania. The proceeds from the Silent Auction are to be sent to Water Aid as our contribution towards to cost of the project. Many thanks to Bill and Mildred Jones for taking the lead on this event.
Social Evening and Book Swap - The final event of this Rotary Year for the International Committee is a Social Evening and Book Swap (Cheese, Wine and Nibbles) to be held at the home of Colin and Delyth Fletcher between 7.00 and 9.00 pm on Thursday, 22 May. Part of the proceeds will go to make up the Club’s donation to Water Aid to £1,000. Any amount raised over and above that required for this purpose will be put towards the Rotary Polio Appeal (an average of $1.000 has been requested from each club for each of the three years from 2008 to 2010 to match the $100m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Rotary Foundation for polio eradication).

We should also remember Richard Francis, a member of the International Committee, who sadly died earlier in the year.