You're Invited!
If you're not a member of the club yet, then we’d also like to extend an invite to you and your friends to join us at one of our fun upcoming events to find out more about what we do and how you can get involved. 
 
Remember we’re a very relaxed, flexible and friendly club so you don’t have to commit huge amounts of time to get involved.  It’s a great way to meet new people, try out new activities and give something back to the local community.
 
Check out the list of upcoming events on the back page of the newsletter, if you’d like to join us get in touch today.
 
We hope you enjoy reading it and if you, or anyone you know, would like to get involved with any of our volunteering opportunities, or attend one of our meetings, please do get in touch; and feel free to share our newsletter with others too.

This year’s Rotary Boundary Walk, which took place in a new ‘Bubble’ format due to Covid-19 restrictions, has been declared a resounding success by organisers.

Nearly 200 people took part in the 12-mile charity sponsored walk over three weeks in October, raising more than £7,000 for a range of good causes.

The event takes its name from the tradition of ‘beating the bounds’ - an annual walk around the boundary of the old Maidenhead Borough – and follows the same route.

Usually it sees about 600 participants setting out on a single Sunday in October to walk a fully marshalled route with checkpoints and road crossings manned by Rotarians.

But this year, due to social distancing rules, walkers were given a three-week window to complete a non-marshalled route in ‘bubbles’ of up to six people, such as families or charity groups.

“We were absolutely delighted with how the ‘Bubble’ format worked,” said organising committee chairman Jim Howles. “With the Boundary Walk impossible to run in the normal way, having 200 people still take part and raise so much money for charity in such a difficult year is a fantastic result.

“Lots of charities rely on it as a major fundraiser and we were determined to find a way for it to go ahead despite the restrictions.

“We’d like to say a huge thank-you to all the walkers who took part and to the Louis Baylis Trust and Shanly Foundation for their support.”

The Boundary Walk is jointly organised by Maidenhead Rotary Club and Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club. They hope that by next year it will be able to return in its usual format but are thinking about introducing a longer window for walkers who are unable to take part in the main event.

​You're Invited!
​Remember, if you're not a member of the club yet, then we’d also like to extend an invite to you and your friends to join us at one of our fun upcoming meetups to find out more about what we do and how you can get involved.  Remember we’re a very relaxed, flexible and friendly club so you don’t have to commit huge amounts of time to get involved.  It’s a great way to meet new people, try out new activities and give something back to the local community. Check out the list of upcoming events on the back page of the newsletter, if you’d like to join us get in touch today.

Maidenhead Boundary Walk – one of the town’s most important charity fundraising events - will be going ahead in a new ‘Bubble’ format due to Covid-19 restrictions, organisers have announced.
 
The Rotary-run sponsored walk usually sees hundreds of walkers tracing the boundary of the old Maidenhead Borough on a single Sunday in October.
 
But this year, thanks to social distancing rules, things will be a bit different.
 
Instead participants can walk any time during a three-week period from Sunday, October 4 to Sunday, October 25, either on their own or in ‘bubbles’ such as families or charity groups.
 
They can do all or just part of the 12-mile route, which is already clearly signposted, starting and finishing at any point along the way. And instead of the traditional method of signing in at marshalled checkpoints to get their completion certificates, walkers will be asked to fill out a post-walk form and take photos at key locations along the way.
 
Everyone taking part is urged to raise sponsorship, and organisers say the Bubble Boundary Walk is the perfect opportunity for charities to replace vital funding lost due to Covid-19.
 
Organising committee chairman Jim Howles said: “We were determined to find a way for the Boundary Walk to go ahead despite Covid-19 The ‘Bubble’ format means charities and community groups will still be able to raise much-needed funds at a time when so many are in desperate straits because of the impact of the lockdown.
 
“The Bubble Boundary Walk is a ready-made sponsored event. Charities just need to mobilise their supporters to raise sponsorship money and walk the route – it’s that simple. It’s open to walkers of all ages and abilities and after months of lockdown it’s the chance to get out into the fresh air for a good cause.”
 
There is a registration fee - £2.50 for adults, £1 for children and £15 for groups of 15 or more – which covers admin costs including route maps and completion certificates. All sponsorship raised goes to the walker’s chosen charity.
 
The event, which is jointly organised by Maidenhead Rotary Club and Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club, is also supported by the Louis Baylis (Maidenhead Advertiser) Charitable Trust and the Shanly Foundation.
 
Full details about the walk and how to register can be found at www.boundarywalk.org.uk

...it's the year to make it your resolution!

Here are nine reasons why volunteering is the New Year’s Resolution to make in 2020 and how getting involved with Maidenhead Bridge Rotary can help you keep it!
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1. You can contribute to a cause that you care about: Whether your chosen cause relates to supporting education, health, or arts and culture charities, tackling homelessness or other equally worthy causes, you can find Maidenhead Bridge Rotarians working in all these areas, doing good and making a difference.
2. You will be doing good: Wanting to do good is the most common reason people give for volunteering. Volunteers make an incredibly important difference to charities and voluntary organisations across the UK – many rely on us to keep going.
3. Use your skills to make a positive difference: Your financial expertise and the skills that you use on a daily basis in your working life can be of great benefit and help make a real difference.
4. It’s good for your health and wellbeing: A range of research has demonstrated that volunteering can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing. Volunteering can improve mental health and help you live longer. The NHS recognises that helping and supporting others is good for mental wellbeing, recommending volunteering as a way to achieve this.
5. Work as a team to achieve a worthwhile goal: Teamwork is important in the majority of job roles and so the experience you will get of doing this while volunteering will be CV enhancing.
6. Meet new people: Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, whether they are the people you’re supporting or others that you’re volunteering with. It provides a great opportunity to  make new friends outside of your everyday social circle and feel part of a wider community.
7. Try something new: There are many diverse volunteer opportunities out there – while some of them may be connected to your day job, others may be something completely different. Either way you will find yourself in a new environment, approaching issues from a different perspective.
8. Learn new skills and boost your career: Volunteering will not only give you the opportunity to enhance existing skills but will also mean you learn new ones and gain experience in a different sector.
9. Worthwhile way to spend your time: Doing something to support others is undeniably an important and worthwhile way to spend your time.  No matter what time you have to spare there will be a volunteering opportunity to suit…

 
If you want some of the above, then we’d love to invite you to one of our events so you can find out more about Rotary, meet new people and get involved.  Find out what's coming up here...

It was a race to the finish line at the annual Reindeer Race in the Nicholsons Centre on Saturday.
 
Organised by Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club for the seventh year running, the festive, fun-filled event pulled in the crowds to watch competitors wind toy reindeer and sleighs across the finish line.
 
Races lasted approximately 5 minutes each and brought lots of laughter and festive fun to the masses.  Shoppers also got to meet Bruno, the mascot from the charity Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, where all money raised at the event will be donated.
 
James Berkeley, Rotarian and event organiser, commented, “The dog mascots definitely help to pull in the crowds and to see the joy on children’s faces as they rush to give them a hug is priceless.  Thank you to the generosity of shoppers the day raised over £150 for the charity, which we are thrilled about”.
 
If you’d like more information about Maidenhead Bridge Rotary please email events@maidenheadbridgerotary.org.uk or call Lisa on 07876 341334.  Find out more about the club at www.maidenheadbridgerotary.org.uk

​And what a bath that was! As the lyrics go, ..a-splishin' and a-splashin', reelin' with the feelin' movin' and a-groovin' rockin' and a-rollin', yeah, yeah.. That pretty much sums up my experience at the Annual
Swimarathon that took place at the Magnet Leisure Centre in
Maidenhead on the 6th of January.
 
The atmosphere was electrifying, the smell of the chlorine, the calm water and the sound of flip-flops; an all, too familiar setting; flashbacks from when I was in my early teens, when I used to swim for the Kyrenia Nautical Club.
 
I must admit, I did not pace myself on my first 2 lengths (1 circuit) which meant that it took me a while to get my heart rate back in check, but we made good progress at the end. With Lisa on the helm it’s difficult not to perform, and perform we did, with 80 lengths between the 4 of us in 50 minutes.
 
We moved, we grooved, we rocked and we rolled and then we realised how unfit we are… Yet what a day, we had fun while at the same time aiding a philanthropic cause, raising more than £500.
 
This is a highly recommended event for all of you swimmers (or floaters) out there of all ages...so I hope to see more of you joining the team next year!
 

It was a race to the finish line at the annual Reindeer Race in the Nicholsons Centre on Saturday.
 
Organised by Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club for the fifth year running, the festive, fun-filled event pulled in the crowds to watch competitors wind toy reindeers and sleighs across the finishing line.
 
Races lasted approximately 5 minutes each and brought lots of laughter and fun to the masses.  Shoppers also go to meet Bruno and Patch, mascots from the charity Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, where all money raised at the event will be donated.  Lisa Hunter, Rotarian, commented, “The dog mascots definitely help to pull in the crowds and to see the joy on children’s faces as they rush to give them a hug is priceless”.
 
“Thank you to the generosity of shoppers the day raised over £225 for the charity, which we are thrilled about”, she continued.
 
If you’d like more information about Maidenhead Bridge Rotary please email events@maidenheadbridgerotary.org.uk or call Lisa on 07876 341334. 

As a group we have a number of skills that could be of use to smaller charities that maybe only have a volunteer group to draw on. We all joined Rotary to make a difference, experience new things and develop ourselves personally, so we saw an opportunity to match our skill sets with these smaller organisations and offer them development.

The plan is simple, charities contact us via our Pimp My Charity website with an idea of the help they need and we provide a free 3 hour session with the best suited people in the club. By the end of the session we will have provided new direction to that charity so they can breathe new life into their cause.
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If you know some groups that can benefit, or want to volunteer your skills, please have a look at the website - www.maidenheadbridgerotary.org.uk/pimpmycharity