All change at the top for Sid Valley Rotary Club

IT was all change at Sid Valley Rotary Club last Monday at the Blue Ball when Mike Wale took over as president at the start of a new Rotary year.

Mike thanked retiring president Paul Dowen and said: “The successes of the past year will be difficult to follow, but I am confident that the enthusiasm and hard work of the Club members, including several new members, will build on these foundations.”

During its year, the club has supported many charities and local groups.

These include Devon Air Ambulance, Sidmouth Memory Cafe for dementia sufferers and their carers, and Beer Playgroup.

As president, Paul’s special charity for the year was Devon Young Carers, an organisation that supports young people in Devon who are caring for parents, brothers or sisters or other family members who have long-term disabilities.

As well as making a donation to the group, Sid Valley Rotary members had taken young carers to an afternoon ice-skating in Plymouth.

During the year, Rotary also raised more than �3,500 for Shelterbox charity.

This was enough money to fund seven Shelterboxes for survivors of the Japanese tsunami and of other disasters around the world that left people homeless with no possessions.

During the evening, the club presented the Paul Harris awards to members Peter Alker and Les Lane.

The Rotary International award is named after the man who founded the Rotary organisation over 100 years ago and it is presented to those whom each Rotary Club considers to have given exceptional service to the aims of Rotary.