Activities

events

Rotary in Action locally

Rotary has flourished in Godalming for more than 70 years and the community work of the two Rotary Clubs is now accepted as part of everyday life in the town. The Clubs have initiated or been involved in a wide range of community service and fund raising projects over many years to the benefit of local charities and residents.

Examples of Rotary in action locally are:

The annual local Young Musician and Young Chef of the Year awards.
The Youth Public Speaking Competition.
Classical Music Concerts, Jazz Concerts, and other events to raise funds for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, the St Luke’s Cancer Appeal, Macmillan Nurses, GUTS, Samson, The Meath, Samaritans, and for numerous other local causes.
The annual Father Christmas Grotto at Secrett’s Garden Centre in Milford.
Support for the Blind Club and Talking Papers for the Blind.
Financial support for the refurbishment of the bandstand on The Burys and the bus shelter outside The Square as part of the Rotary Centenary celebrations.
Free Music Concert for the elderly.
Funding for the purchase of a minibus for the Milford and Villages Day Centre.
Sponsorship of local young people to undertake humanitarian projects in developing countries.
Refurbishment of the nature garden and pond at Milford Primary School.

International Projects

Godalming Rotarians from both Clubs have raised funds for or been involved in many international projects such as those summarised below.

In excess of £20,000 was raised for victims of the Asian Tsunami and funded many Shelterboxes, each of which provides temporary shelter and basic necessities for a family of ten.
Funding for Aquaboxes which are distributed in areas where disaster has struck to purify enough drinking water for a family of four for four months.
Support for the Mudita Trust College in Thailand where underprivileged and abused vulnerable young women are given an education and domestic skills.
Limbs for Jaipur was initiated by the late Godalming Rotarian Peter Betteridge and has been extended outside India where artificial limbs are produced at very low cost and free to recipients.
Grants to gap year students who undertake humanitarian work in developing countries.
Assistance for the Whitmore Trust and Godalming United Church by collecting and packing into containers redundant school furniture for shipment to schools in Gambia and Sierra Leone.
Helped to fund a minibus for the Godalming based Ladywell Convent Mission in Nigeria in cooperation with other local Rotary Clubs.
Funded a vocational training course for destitute women in India.
Provided funds for equipment supplied to the Varanasi Eye Project in India.

The Rotary Foundation

The Rotary Foundation is the corporate charity of Rotary which makes grants and programs available to Rotarians, thereby allowing them to support humanitarian and educational missions throughout the world. Woolsack can boast of one of the highest per capita level of donations to Rotary Foundation in District 1250.

The Foundation’s most ambitious humanitarian project is PolioPlus which is aimed at eradicating polio across the world by ensuring that children are immunised against this crippling disease. Since 1985 more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine, five million have been spared disability, and a quarter of a million deaths have been prevented.

The Ambassadorial Scholarship Scheme sponsors scholars to study outside their home country. More than 47,000 scholars from 110 countries have received scholarships valued at more than 476 million dollars.

A major educational project is the Group Study Exchange program though which annual grants are awarded to teams of non-Rotarians from a variety of professions who travel outside their home countries to further their educational, vocational and cultural experiences.

Ambassadorial Scholars and Group Study Exchange teams share their experiences by making presentations to Rotary Clubs both at home and abroad.