www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk
June 13, 2008 MERCURY M 31HERTFORD president Terry Higgs8217
Charity Golf Day at East Herts Golf
Club raised 1631,800 and brought the
total raised by the club during the
president8217s year to some 1632,600 for
the Samaritans.
Sixteen teams took part in the event
and the golf was said to have been
of a very high standard.
The leading team, with 84 points,
were Dale8217s Dreamers, with the
individual trophy going to Simon
Light (38 points) and that for the
drive nearest to the pin at the
second hole going to Dale Smith.
Some 15 teams also took part in the
first 8216Yellow Ball8217 contest, which
raised 163300, half of which went to
the winners and half to charity.
The day8217s golf was followed by a
dinner in the clubhouse. Main
organiser of the event was again
David Littleford.q
qTHE spring meeting of the
District 1260 Golfing Society at Mill
Green Golf Course was a triumph
for three Ware golfers. The
morning8217s nine-hole Stableford was
won by Paul Heydon with 21 points,
Robert Boulton won in the
afternoon with 42 points and Robert
Browning was the over-65 winner
with 24 points.LAST year8217s Hertford mayor, Cllr
Russell Radford, lost about 14lb (6.35kg)
in weight during his year in office, he
told the Hertford
club. One reason was
that when he attended functions in the
town and was offered food, he was
invariably interrupted by someone
questioning him on some aspect ofthe
council8217s work.
On one occasion a lady berated him
because the council had been unable to
provide her with an eight-bedroom
house for her and her seven children.
He said his year had provided moments
ofgreat interest: visiting the beef
festival in Evron, France; showing
students and others around the county
town and visiting the local schools.
At one primary school, a pupil raced
past him and in bated breath
announced, 8220Miss, Miss, the king has
arrived8221. At another school, a youngster
who was told he was not a king asked,
8220Ifyou are not a king are you a god?8221.
During his year, he signed a new lease
for the town council to use Hertford
Castle and attended a resident8217s 100th
birthday.Mayor is asked: are
you a king or a god?A FASCINATING talk on the history of
making fine furniture in this country
and Europe was given by Dr Waring
Robinson to the
Hertford
club.
He brought with him a traditional
collector8217s chest, a rosewood high-
backed chair and some finely polished
library steps which could also be used
as a seat.
He said he considered making
furniture as a possible income for his
retirement. He said the chair alone
could possibly make 1633,500. Whether
that took account ofthe fact that The
Queen and Margaret Thatcher had sat
in it, he didn8217t say.The chair used by
Queen and Mrs TTALK ofbedbugs, silverfish, fleas,
cockroaches, wasps, rats and mice may
not be everyone8217s favourite after-dinner
topic, but GeoffWilcox, ofAce Pest
Control, kept
Hertford
members
interested when he spoke to the club.
Geoff, who has kept bees for more than
20 years, said they sometimes caused
concern when they made their homes
under eaves, in chimneys, airbricks
and sheds. When possible, he rehoused
them beside his own hives.
Cockroaches were on the decline,
thanks to effective treatment for them,
but bedbugs were on the increase,
brought into the country by people who
been abroad.
Outside homes, squirrels looked
charming but they were good at getting
into roofspaces, where they could
gnaw through electric cables. Mice had
a reproductive capacity of2,000 in a
year, and rats were often attracted to
properties by food put out for birds.Bedbugs, fleas and
rats go down a treatTHE
Ware
club has added 163340 to the
163660 collected for the memorial fund in
memory ofthe late Ron Saunders, and
a cheque for 1631,000 is to be presented to
Kathie Saunders. It will be sent to the
Sisters ofCharity to purchase
equipment for a school in Ethiopia.Memorial donation to
help Ethiopian schoolHerts charity8217s work to
beat Aids by education President8217s surprise for DonClubs have a busy month aheadHertford enjoy German hospitalityVillage home
to craftsman
who built
the pyramidsGolf boosts
SamaritansROTARYFormer
Mercury
editor
ROY WATSON
rounds up the
news from
the Rotary clubsHERTS Aid, a small charity
devoted to the county8217s Aids
problems, for which the
Amwell
club helped set up a
base in Ware, was the subject of
a talk to the club by Suzanne
Bannister.Suzanne, a white South African,
who is not allowed to be a UK
blood donor despite being young
and healthy, said there were 25
cases ofHIV in the county 16
years ago and the number had
increased annually
In Britain there were now 785,000
8216clients8217, but despite the lack of
school education schemes which
her group was striving to
address, survival possibilities
were improving, unlike those of
people with the disease in sub-
Saharan Africa.
Schemes to improve awareness of
the dangers included
professionally-acted theatre
projects and a rapidly growing
sexual health advisory scheme.
For those suffering from HIV,
self-discipline was essential for
missing a single treatment could
be fatal, and there was a growing
group ofblameless infected
children growing up in the world.
The club8217s magazine, Amwell
Spring, reported that Herts Aid
was hopeful ofthree-year
support to give them budget
stability to continue an essential
local service to the community.ANCIENT Egypt was the subject
when Paul Whelan spoke to the
Amwell
club. Deir El Medina was
an enclosed village with walls up
to 7m (23ft) thick, encircling 60 to
70 dwellings built at about the
same time as the pyramids.
The householders, he said, were
state-employed cr232me de la cr232me
artisans, artists, painters,
draughtsmen, stone-cutters and
carvers 8211 a workforce ranging in
numbers from 32 to 120, who in
periods spilled over into some 40
houses outside the walls.
He said excavations had revealed
thousands ofbroken artefacts,
including limestone flakes
originally used as notes of
laundry lists, work absentee
records and thousands ofpottery
shards revealing details of
workers8217 rations (their wages in
today8217s parlance) and retirement
pay in quantities ofgrain. There
was even a scorpion charmer on
the payroll.
The village, he said, was a unique
monument to those hundreds of
people whose lives were devoted
to the creation ofthe last resting
place ofRameses.HERTFORD
president Terry
Higgs provided a memorable
evening for almost 70 members,
wives and guest at his president8217s
night at the Manor ofGroves in
High Wych. One part ofthe
evening proved a complete
surprise, even to the club8217s long
standing secretary and former
president Don Craik, who was
presented by the president with
Rotary8217s top award, the Paul
Harris Fellowship, for his
services to Rotary.
A colleague ofthe president,
Michael Fincham,described the
work oflivery companies in the
City ofLondon. Mr Fincham,
who has held high rank in the
Pattern Makers8217 Company, said
the companies were started in
Anglo-Saxon times to foster and
protect trades in the city, and
exercised great influence.
The thanks ofmembers to the
speaker and to president Terry
for all his work to make the
evening a success was expressed
by president-elect Peter Rawlings.JUNE looks set to be a busy
month for East Herts Rotarians.
The month began with a pig roast
run by the Hertford
club,
supervised by member Bernard
Groom, at Hertford Fun Day on
June 1.
On Wednesday this week, clubs
support Kids Out, when children
from local schools enjoyed a day
out at Whipsnade Wildlife Park.
For
Ware
members this followed
a big day at Ware Rotary Club8217s
Town Fete, four days earlier on
June 7, and they are also due to
visit Bletchley Park.
Most ofthe clubs will also be
helping the Hoddesdon
club
when on June 24 they repeat their
very successful Rotary
Technology Tournament.
Members also helped the Inner
Wheel Club ofHoddesdon, which
sponsored a concert last Saturday
at Widford village hall by the
Serenata wind quintet, which
played popular classics by
Mozart, Elgar, Debussy and
Haydn.
On July 3 the five clubs in the
area are holding a joint meeting
at The Roebuck Hotel, Ware,
when the speaker will be
Conservative MP Ann
Widdecombe.A GROUP from
Hertford
were
royally entertained by members
ofthe German Wildeshausen club
after flying to Bremen.
They toured the city and saw its
magnificent houses, built for
powerful merchants, and saw the
city centre, the cathedral and
Gothic town hall.
The German hosts arranged a
visit to Papenberg and the first
concentration camp 8211 a work, not
a death camp 8211 and the cemetery
for some 1,400 slave workers.
At Papenberg they visited the
Meyer shipyard, which
specialises in building giant
cruise ships in huge sheds nearly
400 yards long. The shipyard
takes coachloads ofvisitors who
are shown films, models and
taken on guided tours.
The following day included a visit
to an engraver8217s studio, an
exhibition ofminiature steam
engines and the main council
building.
Members presented 800 euros to
their Wildeshausen hosts to help
fund a well for people in Ghana.
TOP TEAM:
Terry Higgs,
second right,
presents the
team award to
Dale Smith,
second left,
and Dale8217s
Dreamers;
right, individual
winner Simon
Light (s)ANYONE wishing to know more about the local
Rotary clubs should contact the secretaries:
Hertford
8212Don Craik (01992) 586543
Ware
8212Alan Thomas (01920) 465552
Amwell
8212Vernon Benjafield (01992) 466993
Hertford Shires 8212John Versey (01279) 792945
Hoddesdon
8212John Neighbour (01992) 420068R
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