The social side of the Rotary year got off to a great start with the Presidents barb-b-que held at Eric and Pat O’Neil’s house on the 18th July. In the halcyon days of June when the sun was turning the grass brown and temperatures were in the thirties it seemed a good idea to kick off the Rotary New Year in style with a charity barb-b-que, and this was arranged for Sunday 18th July.

Following a very wet few days beforehand the rain never stopped on Sunday morning. However, thanks to the big fella up in the sky, the rain stopped and the skies cleared just as the barb-b-que was starting. 54 Rotarians, partners and guests attended the event and an enjoyable time was had by all.

My thanks go to Eric and Pat for the loan of their garden and for all their hard work along with David and Irene Howarth in organising the event. A special thanks to the celebrity chef Brian Evans who single handed stoically manned the bar-b-que all afternoon, except for a little nudging from Hilary and some assistance from Flat Cap.

As ever, Billy Fairclough did his part and raised a few pounds with two raffles. The event raised a total of £406.00 which will be donated to the Thanks for Life programme for the worldwide eradication of Polio.

Thanks to Jeff Hibbert & David Howarth for the photographs.

Weeks of beautiful weather in May and June presented Turton Golf Club in its driest condition for years and we were looking forward to slapping on the sun cream and watching the Titleists and Srixons bouncing off into the distance. Surprise, surprise ! We teed off into driving wind and rain and had to don waterproofs. We even abandoned the “Longest Drive” prize on the 13th hole as the drive was into the teeth of the wind and on that tee the only obstacle to the wind between Turton and New York is Winter Hill – enough said !

Dave Biggar and his sons Brendan and Nicholas went off first, in a jovial mood. On approaching the 4th tee they decided to take their drives a little more serious as on this hole there was a prize for “Nearest the Pin”. Seriousness and a strong wind were not a good combination and only Nicholas landed on the green but at the farthest possible point from the flag. More in humour than hope they measured the putt at 43 ft 6 inches and continued their round assuming that it would be easily beaten.

The weather improved and surprisingly good scores were recorded considering the conditions. The spread of scores, in a full handicap (max 24) Stableford, came in between 30 and 40 and we all looked forward to being joined by our families and friends for the food and presentation.

Needless to say, the food was consumed with ease and the prizes were to be presented by our President, Jeff Hibbert. 3rd and 4th prizes were decided on a card play-off as both had scored 34 points. Rotarian Colin Roberts narrowly beat Rotarian Brian Evans (Captain of Turton Golf Club) with a slightly better back nine. Second prize, with a score of 36 points went to last years winner, Lynn Evans who also picked up the prize for “Nearest the Pin” on the 2nd having landed the ball only 3ft from the flag. This years overall winner, with a score of 40 points, was Nicholas Biggar. Despite his assurances that he hadn’t played since last August he had to endure the “Bandit” jibes, particularly from his father and brother. Incidentally, he was the only one to score a “two” on the 15th hole and picked up that prize as well.

Oh ! and the “Nearest the Pin” prize on the 4th? Well, the 43ft was beaten by a whole 4 ft leaving our President, Jeff with a 39ft putt and the prize.

Thanks to Jeff Hibbert for the photographs.

After a thoroughly enjoyable potato pie and mushy peas supper, President Jeff presented The Ron Bickerstaffe Trophies to the winners Susie Roberts and Alan Smith with minature malt whiskies awarded to the runners up Jim Smith and Billy Fairclough. A good time was had by all!

Thanks to Eric O’Neil for the photographs.

The recipient charity, group, or organisation is nominated by the President and this year President Jeff has chosen ORCHID as this years charity. Formed in 1996 by former testicular cancer patient, Colin Osborne, Orchid is the only UK registered charity to focus entirely on male specific cancers; prostate, penile and testicular.

Past President Mike has donated £320 to the Willow Foundation, this being the total collected in the Box for Others during the Rotary Year 2009/10.

Thanks to Stephen Hughes for the photograph.

President Mike decided at the commencement of his year that the Rotary Club of Turton should help with this worthy cause.

A BBQ was held at Past President Stehen Hughes home in September and a Luncheion Concert, arranged jointly with the Inner Wheel Club of Turton, in April at Dunscar Conservative Club.

President Mike and his wife Jean, President of the Inner Wheel Club of Turton, presented a cheque for £1150 to  from the Marie Curie Nurses Appeal being the amount raised from these events.

So far, by the middle of June 2010, £160k has been donated to the Nurses Appeal throughout Bolton and hopefully the target of £200k will be achieved in the next few months.

This year’s Duck Race was once again a great success raising almost £12,000 which will be distributed to over 50 local charities and good causes as well as adding to our own charity funds. The club also donated an extra 10% of the amount’s raised by the charities and groups.

The event was held at Bradshaw Brook in Bradshaw on Sunday 13th June with well over 250 supporters there to cheer the ducks down the brook. It is good to see that the event is something that so many local people like to come and enjoy-almost ritualistic. Once again as well as the main Duck Race we held a Kids Race, which was won by Mia Hurst, with 140 kids taking part!

As a regular charity event we were privileged to have the continuing help of local business sponsors, who we would like to thank for their support-in particular our main sponsor Renault and Nissan of Bolton.

Bolton FM ran this package

The museum is run entirely by volunteers from the Northern Mill Engine Society and receives no financial support although very recently the museum has been officially accredited by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council putting it on a similar footing to the British Museum in terms of how it cares for its documents and collections, how it is managed and on the information and services it provides.

With 25 historic mill engines preserved in working condition the steam museum has been a Mecca for steam enthusiasts! On this private visit it was too expensive to operate the machines by steam but a number of the machines were operated by electricity allowing David Lewis to give excellent descriptions of working parts.

The museum is only open to the public for a few days a year but the society is hoping to gradually increase the opening hours if applications for grants are successful. A question and answer session at the end of the tour confirmed the interest shown by everybody and David Lewis was thanked for giving up his time.

Thanks to Jeff Hibbert for taking photographs.

In the first session Stan Horrocks performed iconic standards from the 60s and 70s before finishing with his Elvis tribute. After an excellent supper, the second session was taken by The NoHow Singers who performed a medley of songs which caused good audience participation!

Both acts were very well received and enjoyed by all!

Judging by the complimentary comments at the end of the evening and the smiles on the faces of our guests as they left, a good time had been had by all and our efforts were much appreciated. Thanks to all the Rotarians, their wives and friends for making the evening such a success!

Thanks to Eric O’Neil for the photographs.

The event was attended by 67 Rotarians and guests, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton Councillor and Mrs Norman Critchley and Rotary District Governor Nominee David Ellis. President Mike Croft welcomed and proposed a toast to the guests to which District Governor Nominee David responded and proposed a toast to the Rotary Club of Turton. An excellent meal was enjoyed by everyone and, after only the two aforementioned speeches, being fewer than at similar Rotary events, entertainment was provided by the Nohow Singers who were donating their fee to The National Deaf Society.

An envelope raffle for an original painting by local artist Alan Bamford of Bark Street, Bolton 1970 donated to the Club by Steph and Eric Tarrant was organised. The winner was Jim Turner and the raffle raised £335.00 which will be donated to The Sarah Matheson Trust, the only charity in the country offering help, advice and assistance to MSA sufferers and their families.

Thanks to Colin Wilson for the photographs.