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ROTARY CLUB OF CARLISLE |
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ABOUT OUR CLUB
ROTARY BEYOND CARLISLE
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PAST ACHIEVEMENTS Carlisle Rotary Club has raised over a million pounds for charity since it was founded in 1922. In 2006/7 alone the club raised £12,000 for charity. The Club was responsible for setting up The Talking Newspaper for Carlisle & District. The Club was also the driving force behind the building of the Eden Valley Hospice.
Eden Valley Hospice. It was in 1986 that Tom Crellin who, that year, was president of Carlisle Rotary, first broached the idea of a hospice to the then convener of the Community Service Committee, Peter Whitley. A steering committee under the chairmanship of Peter Whitley, and including Rotary president, Tom Crellin, was set up and their enquiries confirmed the existence of an urgent need for a hospice in the area. The group visited hospices already in existence before having a basic plan prepared and launching the hospice appeal on April 1st 1987, which proved far from a "Fool's day". Wanting to start the appeal with a flourish, they asked newsreader Martyn Lewis, who was known to hove a particular interest in hospices, to be the host and guest speaker at the launch, held at the Hilltop Hotel. Martyn didn't think he could make it because he had to read the evening news and be back in the BBC studios next morning. Nothing daunted, Peter - who was factory director of United Biscuits at the time - laid on the company plane which whisked Martyn up to Carlisle and back again to London by midnight. The launch, not surprisingly, was an outstanding success with £65,000 being raised on that first night, £50,000 of which was given by the City Council. Local businessmen and leaders of industry soon came forward with donations and altogether £185,000 was raised in that first year. The original estimated cost of building had been £750,000 but, by the time the architect's plans had been finalised the cost had risen to over £1 million with the then high inflation. A separate fund-raising committee was set up with Peter as chairman and including Tom Crellin and Rotarians Nick Utting and Bev Bolton. In each of the following years they raised an average of £250,000. In 1990 with building costs continuing to escalate and funds standing at £650,000, the steering committee decided to take the plunge and begin building on the land in Durdar Road which had been generously been given for the purpose by Sir Maurice Laing, of Laing Construction. Rotarian Ken Dewar who was president of Carlisle Rotary in 1992 and who became the fund-raising administrator in 1990, introduced the Hospice Lottery which has become the mainstay of their fund raising. The league of Friends, set up by Rotarian Maurice Lightfoot, also helped boost the fund considerably. Peter and his Rotarian colleagues have made it their business to ensure the whole community's awareness of the hospice appeal. "We visited every Women's Institute in Cumbria," he recalls. "We talked to anyone who would listed." Fund raising is still an ongoing concern, with £650,000 annually needed to run the hospice. The first phase of the hospice building was completed in August 1991 with the opening of the Day Care Facility for up to 15 patients. A year later the hospice was made fully operational - the result of splendid support from local health authority, from business, industry and private individuals. Many Rotarians are still deeply involved with the hospice. Carlisle Rotary's principal fund-raising activity will be focussed on the children's wing of the hospice. This will provide accommodation specifically for terminally ill children and their families. It seems particularly appropriate that there should be be a special concern here for children, for the hospice's first-ever patient was a child.
Talking Newspaper The Talking Newspaper scheme was another major project for Carlisle Rotary Club. Now 25 years old, it serves around 450 people in Carlisle and District and also a few "exiles" who still enjoy receiving local news. The tapes go out not only to totally blind, but also to the partially sighted and those who are physically handicapped in such a way as to make reading difficult. The Talking Newspaper has come a long way since the need was identified by Rotary's Community Service Committee, under the convenership of Donald Edgar in 1982. "We had to interest others; we needed their support both financially and to run the scheme," says Donald. The project began with lots of enthusiasm and with considerable expertise supplied by Rotarian Frank Hughes, at that time manager of BBC Radio Cumbria, and by Rotarian Hedley Gower, then chief engineer of Border TV. But there was absolutely no money. So Carlisle Rotary members were each asked for a small loan. "That got us of the ground and the money began to roll in," recalls Donald. It enabled them to buy the original, very basic equipment - two recording machines "which were barely better than domestic quality." Now they have very good copying facilities which can copy about 500 tapes an hour. The original volunteers who met every week in premises in Scotch Street made available by the Rotary president, Peter Atkinson, were all Rotarians and their wives. "But we moved out into the community very quickly," says Donald. The Talking Newspaper Committee is now made up of representatives from each of seven teams of volunteers - about 100 people in all - from various organisations including "members and friends of the Rotary Club of Carlisle". The teams take it in turn to meet every Monday to record an edited version of news and information of particular interest and relevance to the blind. Births, marriages and deaths are included as are chemist's rota's, road works details, lighting up times and information on activities in which they could take part. The criterion for inclusion is that the item must be Carlisle and district based, and of relevance to the listeners. There's also a 90-minute Talking Magazine tape which is produced monthly. All the tapes, in their distinctive yellow pouches, are delivered free of charge by the post office. |
