 A team of 13 took on a DIY SOS challenge on Sunday in support of The Britwell Youth Project. Donning protective eyewear, some wearing the ever fashionable boiler suit or lab coat, club members set off for Slough after their club meeting to pick up a paint brush and bring about change to this fantastic community project. The Background: The Britwell Youth Project is based at the heart of the Britwell Estate in Slough, an area of significant deprivation. It is a youth project providing services for up to 400 young people per week. The centre offers services and projects to young people and these have included in recent years (dependent on funding availability):
The Challenge: The centre gets little to no funding at all and are just about covering costs to deliver the above aims and objectives. Our challenge was to make the building look nicer for all the users and to carry out some general maintenance tasks that sadly they can’t afford to do themselves. This included:
The team had lots of fun, helped by the yummy homemade chocolate cake brought along by club member Sarah! It was a big job to do, but in the 6 hours the team were there it was completed successfully and what a difference it made…instantly making the whole place seem brighter and much more welcoming. But it doesn’t stop there, Rotarians are returning in two weeks to tackle the outside container, where the centre hosts cycle workshops, giving it a brand new coat of paint to protect if from the elements (very much needed given the wonderful British summer we’re experiencing of late!). Club member and event organiser, Lisa Hunter, commented “We really enjoyed this DIY SOS challenge, it was so much fun and what’s great is we know it will be a massive help to the centre and is a practical way for us to contribute to the community an give up our time for good causes.” Thank You: Maidenhead Bridge Rotary would like to say a massive thank you to AkzoNobel Decorative Paints who very generously donated all the paint for the project, making it all possible! Sound like fun? If this project sounds like fun and you want to get involved in volunteering then get in touch with us today…
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Dozens and dozens of Easter Bunnies came to life in the Nicholson Centre at a special Easter craft session yesterday as Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club brought fun and laughter into the town centre. The community-based club organised the free session to give our young Maidonians a chance to let out their creative sides without creating a mess at home and were thrilled to see so many people, young and old, transform their masks into very impressive bunnies! Adam Hunter, Club Member and Event Organiser, commented “It was loads of fun and great to see the smiles on everyone’s faces as they went crazy with glitter, cotton wool and feathers! We’re really looking forward to seeing all our newly created bunnies hop down to Grenfell Park on Easter Saturday to join in the free Easter Family Fun Day”. This is the fifth year the club has organised this free craft session as a pre-cursor to their FREE Easter Family Fun Day, being held in Grenfell Park on Saturday 20th April from 11am to 3pm, which is aimed at young families with children aged 0 – 12 years old. During the Easter Fun Day the club will be holding an Easter egg hunt, face painting and many other children’s activities. Throughout the day there will also be fun children’s activities such as singing and dancing. They’ll be fairground rides, ice cream and plenty of chocolate, so this really is an event not to be missed! For more information and to be kept up to date on rides and attractions click here  What an amazing night of simply stunning talent. From dancing, to choirs, to opera, to African Drumming our young performers were simply the best at the annual Maidenhead’s Got Talent showcase on Friday 1st March. The charity event, organised by all of Maidenhead’s Rotary clubs, saw performers aged six to 22 appearing in a matinee and evening show at Taplow Court, in Cliveden Road. The event featured pupils from five of the area’s primary schools, solo artists and a number of performance academies, totally over 500 performers! The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for performers in schools and local groups to get experience of being on stage and performing to a large audience. There’s lots of talent in Maidenhead and it’s something we should be proud of. A massive thank you to everyone who came to support the youngsters, to all the performers and all our amazing Rotary Volunteers who make the show possible. We're still adding up all the donations but it looks like, with your help, Rotary in Maidenhead will have raised £6000 to support the charitable projects we do locally, nationally and internationally. So a massive thank you from us!  Dancers, singers, musicians and magicians were among the hundreds of young performers at the annual Maidenhead’s Got Talent showcase on Friday 27th April. The annual event, organised by all of Maidenhead’s Rotary clubs, saw performers aged six to 22 appearing in a matinee and evening show at Taplow Court, in Cliveden Road. The event featured pupils from five of the area’s primary schools, solo artists and a number of performance academies. The purpose of the event is to provide an opportunity for performers in schools and local groups to get experience of being on stage and performing to a large audience. There’s lots of talent in Maidenhead and it’s something we should be proud of. Theatre students from BCA performed for the first time, pulling off a rendition of the Cell Block Tango from Chicago and it was absolutely fantastic to have them join us for the first time. Other performances included Britpop from the Magic Potty Band and a song from Big Fish the Musical by Redroofs School for the Performing Arts. Both shows were compered by Britain’s Got Talent finalist and Theatre Royal Windsor performer Kevin Cruise who did a fantastic job keeping the crowd going and really kept it all together. Just over £6,000 was raised from the event, which will go towards all of the town’s Rotary clubs’' charitable activities and we couldn’t be happier! A massive thank you to all club members who gave up their time to help at this event, without you we simply could not run it! The view from the Dark Side!  Not many people know this in our Rotary club but I’m a qualified sound engineer. I have completed a BSc (Hons) in Audio and Music Technology (got a 2:1 n all!), and a Masters in Sound Design for Moving Image. How I became a project manager from these qualifications is a LONG story!
Anyhoo – in the last 15 years I’ve also been lucky to volunteer with some brilliantly talented amateur dramatic societies in Ickenham, Chesham and Maidenhead. This is how I met Matt Loughman (or “Herman” to me!). Matt and I have worked together on many productions, and it’s always a pleasure to have him part of the team. In the last few years, Matt’s daughter Sophie, and Thomas have sparked a wonderful relationship as they’re of similar ages. Add to this Joseph and Madison – we now have more in common than just being techies! When Matt agreed to be Stage Manager for Maidenhead’s Got Talent (he still maintains he was volunteered rather than volunteering!) I was very excited at the prospect of working on this project. I had taken a break while Marthe & I got used to handling two little people, but 2018’s event seemed the right point to step back onto the saddle. So, there we were, Friday 27th April – months of preparation, several conversations around kit from Henley Theatre Services - it all came down to this… The two of us setting up on stage – Matt on lights, me on sound. First issue for me – trying to get noise out the desk. (I’ll keep this basic!) Turns out the flashy digital desk hadn’t been pre-configured as I’d requested. These things happen, and once I’d worked that out – we were ready to ROCK! And ROCK we did! A fair few choirs, soloists, singer songwriters, a magician, and dance crews from across the borough. Maidenhead most certainly has talent! The best thing about this event is that it’s not a competition. Rotary runs Youth Makes Music for the competitor in us, this is a pure showcase of local talent. Two performances of Maidenhead’s Got Talent, our wonderful compere Kevin Cruise, talented magician Patrick Ashe. It was a long day, but really good fun. I’m President next year, if we do it again you won’t see me in the VIP area – I’ll be backstage as I was this year…in the thick of it! My Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) experience was something I will never forget it was a week in which I pushed myself in ways I never usually would during my work and day-to-day life. In terms of leadership it has developed my confidence so noticeably, and in terms of friendships I have made some new friends for life, whom I would never have crossed paths with had it not been for the course. The beginning of the week consisted of classroom based leadership skills in teams, followed by group activities in the evenings, all building towards our skills days where I took part in canoeing and orienteering (because I was too scared of the ones with heights at this point!). Once we learnt how to master these skills we would then put these to the test during our final 30 hour challenge in which we would be teaching the rest of our group with no assistance from professionals! Little did I know we would be mastering all the skills learnt by each member of the group including mining and abseiling (my two biggest fears!). Despite being so nervous and at times wanting to give up my group got me through the tasks and the way in which these strangers were supporting me to help me through is something I will never forget. If it wasn't for the team I was in I wouldn't have got through it quite so well I'm sure of it!
I cannot thank the Rotary Club enough for providing me with this opportunity and for allowing me to develop these skills and my confidence which I would potentially never have accessed had it not been for the course. The team at Rhos-Y-Gwaliau were also amazing and provided us with everything we could possibly need to get the full potential out of the week. As a 21 year old in full time work it is easy to believe opportunities are not out there, and not being at school feeling I am too old to take part in such a week. I feel it is so important that young people like me get this opportunity and the RYLA course continues to give others the amazing time I've had. Thank you so much Rotary! Amy Tough |
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