 On Saturday 28th April, Mike, Neil, Shushi, Vic, Archana and Don went along to a quiz hosted by the Pinkneys Green Scout Group. They are raising funds to send a couple of their Scouts along to the World Jamboree in 2019 in West Virginia USA.
We don’t usually do too badly in quizzes and this lulled me into a false sense of confidence. I hadn’t given the quiz any thought at all before I arrived. On finding our table I was greeted by the first picture round, a sheet full of diagrams of knots. My heart sank. My mind went blank. It’s over 30 years since I was in the Brownies, and the only thing I really remembered was the pain of having to hike around Buckinghamshire with a 10 pence piece in my shoe for an emergency phone call. Thankfully, the others on my team seem to have better memories and miraculously managed to come up with a dozen knot names. We got a lot of the names right, but not necessarily against the right pictures. Oh well. We were impressed by a few of the more innovative rounds. Guess the flavour of the crisps went down well, and Mike excelled himself at not only guessing flavours but brand names too! There was also a round which involved building a tall object with dried spaghetti and marshmallows. It got a bit messy and we ended up with a sticky spikey construction which fell over under its own weight before the judges even looked at our efforts. The final outcome for us was that we can 7th, out of 9 teams. The one thing we did do very well was eat their cakes which ultimately helped them raise a fantastic £933 towards their fundraising target.
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 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!  A couple of Sunday’s ago we all met at a pub at 8am…yes, in true Maidenhead Bridge style we were starting early, and finishing at an establishment which sold alcohol! This was our “dry run” of the Maidenhead Boundary Walk, an event jointly run by Maidenhead Bridge and Maidenhead Rotary held in October.
Thankfully, it was April – so the weather was good, and the walk well – started off nice, got a bit painful about midway, and then nearly resulted in a certain very tall Vice President passing out in the pub (no alcohol involved – honest). The views in the Maidenhead area, looking out over Wycombe, Furze Platt and along the river were stunning, it made the walk very enjoyable and worthwhile. 27,488 steps later (yes – I have a fitbit!), burning 4,245 calories and walking a total of 14 miles in roughly 4.5 hours (ish). The Maidenhead Boundary Walk will be held on 7th October and is well worth having a look at. Both Maidenhead Rotary and Maidenhead Bridge Rotary organise the marshals along the route and we’d love to hear from any budding volunteers to get involved. For more information, please go to www.maidenheadbridgerotary.org.uk/boundary-walk
 RI President-elect Barry Rassin’s theme for 2018-19, Be the Inspiration, asks Rotarians to inspire change in the world and in each other. “I ask all of you to Be the Inspiration to help Rotary move from reaction to action — to take a hard look at the environmental issues that affect health and welfare around the world and do what we can to help.”
Since Rotary was founded 113 years ago, its role in the world and in the lives of its members has been in a state of continuous evolution. In its earliest days, Rotary offered its members a way to find fellowship and friendship and to build connections within their communities. Soon after, service found a place in Rotary, and as our organization expanded, so did its influence. In time, Rotary’s service, supported by our Rotary Foundation, would change the lives of families and communities across the world. We formed partnerships and focused our service to increase our impact. We launched the world’s largest public-private health initiative, partnering with governments, international organizations, and countless local and regional health agencies to eradicate polio. More and more, our members came to us seeking not just friendship but a way to take action for good. Rotary still is, and always will be, the organization Paul Harris envisioned: a place where people from every corner of the earth can come together to become something greater than themselves. Yet Rotary today offers something of singular and enduring value: the chance to be part of a global network of people who have the talent and the drive to change the world. We are men and women who believe in the power of community action to make a global impact — and together, we have the capacity and the resources to achieve almost anything. Globally, Rotary is more relevant than ever before, and its potential for good is vast. Unfortunately, not enough people fully understand what Rotary is and does. Even within our clubs, many Rotarians don’t know enough about Rotary to take full advantage of what Rotary membership offers. Rotary service transforms lives and communities. To achieve even more of that truly transformational service, we need to think differently about our role in Rotary, and Rotary’s role in the world. We need to put more emphasis on our public image, using social media to build our membership and attract the partners that can help us scale up our service. We need to focus on larger projects that have a more lasting impact, taking the time to research and plan work that spans Rotary years and terms of office. Most important of all, we need to Be the Inspiration for positive change, inspiring our clubs, our communities, and our organization to face today’s challenges head on, with courage, optimism, and creativity. As Paul Harris put it, “Rotary is a microcosm of a world at peace, a model which nations will do well to follow.” To me, Rotary is not only a model but an inspiration. It shows us what is possible, inspires us to reach for it, and gives us a path to act — and to Be the Inspiration to our world.  What do you do for a living?
I work in Software Support and training within the legal industry. What do you do for fun? For fun I like to socialise as I like to be in company of people. I love to read and I also watch a lot of movies. Where are you from? I am originally from India, I came to UK when I was 8. Can you tell us something we may not know about you? I am very much into history, and I read about people all the time, how they lived their time. So I am always on Wikipedia reading about some person. Where did you go on your last holiday? I went on a cruise in May 2016 from Alaska to Vancouver What is your favourite book/film and why? There are just too many to choose from so to name one is very hard! But I’ll play along, I’d go with Gregory Peck – To kill a mocking bird… such a classic. Why did you join Rotary? To meet people from my community and to see if I can do something in the local area. An unexpected, but recently realised reason, is to see life and the world beyond myself. What have you enjoyed most in Rotary so far? I have enjoyed it all! The Christmas dinner, reindeer racing, going to the peace conference most recently. Which Rotary events are you looking forward to? Helping out at the Easter Family Fun Day with the other club members. If you could describe our Rotary Club in 3 words what would they be? Passionate, Giving, Relentless – in helping people. A couple of weeks ago, one of my longstanding wishes was fulfilled, when Nisha told me about a “Visit My Mosque” event after that morning’s club meeting. Rebecca, Nisha and I had a really interesting afternoon. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, and the place was full of people from a wide range of ages and backgrounds. We saw displays about the key points about Islam, as well as some beautiful old manuscripts dating back hundreds of years. There was a talk by the imam, and we heard a recitation from the Koran from a schoolboy. One young man told us how he had cycled to Mecca for the Hajj, and we heard about a Scout group associated with the mosque. The Prime Minister was there –as you will see from Nisha’s photos! The mosque also provided some home cooked refreshments, which were extremely popular.It was an enjoyable afternoon, and a great opportunity to learn more about one of the world’s biggest religions. Sushi  During 2018 a series of peace conferences are taking place around the world. Each is related to one of Rotary’s six areas of focus. The Coventry one focussed on the relationship between peace, and disease prevention and treatment. From our club, Victoria, Archana and I attended but several other Maidenhead Rotarians were also there. The day involved a very early start, and I must confess that on the train I wondered whether the day would be worth the effort! It certainly was! I had not appreciated that this was a global event. Neither had I quite realised the resources which Rotary can call on. I cannot envisage another situation where I would have the chance to hear from a Nobel Prize winner, a WHO expert and an academic on intercultural relations, in one day. The agenda was divided between plenary and smaller group sessions. In the breaks there were stalls about different topics – Rotary Foundation (our own charity), Rotary Action Groups related to health topics such as malaria, and those focussing on charities like the Jaipur Limb Project. It is impossible for me to pick out the best parts – because the day was of a very high standard. A few moments have stayed in my mind are as follows. A Polish Rotarian quoted Paul Harris who (apparently!) said “Working together there is no limit to what you can achieve”. We heard how important it was to engage local people in decision making about their own communities, and to be adaptable to local situations. A common theme was that every Rotary project that helped with water, health care or similar basic needs was also working towards peace. Even if it seemed relatively small, every contribution made a difference. The issue of safety came up. I had never considered that health workers would be among those killed, in man-made (and natural) disasters, and the community would have lost their expertise at a time when it was most needed. It is noticeable that the countries where polio cases are still occurring, are those where it can be dangerous to carry out vaccination programmes. This was really brought home to me when one of the hugely impressive young peace scholars talked about how they had made risk assessments. She said local conditions must be understood, and that even the choice of vehicle and what was written on it mattered, to ensure one was recognised as being truly neutral. Dr Guerra from the WHO gave profuse thanks to Rotary for its commitment to ending polio. He quoted Bill Gates who said “Rotary continues to be the heart and soul of polio eradication”. We heard that the End Polio Now campaign was a great example of successful cooperation between Rotary and several other agencies. Also PolioPlus has provided infrastructure that can be used for other crises – as it was during the Ebola outbreak. The Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize 2003) said the main reason that dreams are not fulfilled is fear of failure, but any setback could be the prelude to bigger victory. “Before a leap you take a step back, so you can leap higher.” She emphasised that to tolerate each other we must first know each other, and that peace was a culture that has to be taught from childhood. At the end I felt a mixture of optimism, gratitude for living where and when I do, and mental exhaustion at the sheer volume of information and new ideas to which I had been exposed. It was a remarkable experience and I am so glad I decided to go. “Words without deeds are dead – we as Rotarians bring them to life.”  It seems impossible, but we're now three-quarters through the Rotary year! It's time for a quick look at our Volunteer-Hour stats. Full data is available to anyone interested, but here are a few highlights for us to celebrate….
So all that is left to say is thank you! Thank you for all that you do to support our local community, thank you for giving up your time to help those in need and thank you for doing it all with a smile on your face! Don  Elisa-Jade, one of our club members, is a qualified chef with over 29 years’ experience cooking at some of finest places, she currently heads up a flag ship corporate fine dining kitchen in the heart of surrey. Food is one of Elisa’s biggest passions and over the years has claimed a number of awards including getting on to MasterChef a few years ago. SLOW ROASTED SHOULDER OF LAMB WITH BOULANGERE AND CHARRED TENDERSTEM This slow roasted shoulder of lamb is my go to Sunday lunch dish, I got it from Tom Kerridge a while ago and have used it ever since, so simple but so delicious! It is worth spending a little bit extra on amazing quality lamb. Ingredients (serves 6): · 6 large waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced · 3 onions, thinly sliced · 1 bunch thyme, leaves only · 2 kg shoulder of lamb · 1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled · 600ml chicken stock · 150g tenderstem broccoli · Oil · 20g butter · 1 lemon, juice only Method:
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