Wortley Rotarian Co-ordinates Delivery of PPE

DURING the present Covid 19 pandemic, Wortley Rotary Club are doing whatever they can to help people and organisations who need assistance. They have joined forces with Seth Lilleker, who contacted the club saying he was currently furloughed and making face shields using 3D printers in his front room to be provided free of charge to NHS personnel, emergency services and care home staff.

The club made donations to Seth through his GoFundMe page and some members made personal donations. The club saw local care homes as the priority and club member, Rev Canon Lewis Atkinson, volunteered to be the liaison officer.

Lewis was also made aware that a ladies sewing group in Dronfield were making cloth face shields for distribution free of charge to care homes so he also took this on board and as of today he has arranged for the delivery of 5205 masks to the same care homes.

The staff at the homes are most grateful. Rotary club member John Evans told Look Local: “Our most senior Rotarian, namely the Rev Canon Lewis Atkinson, at 86 years young has since the start of Covid 19 co-ordinated delivery, all free of charge, of over 2935 face shields and 5205 cloth face masks all made by local volunteers to over 200 outlets, including care homes, doctor’s surgeries, chemists and other establishments in our local area, reaching out as far as Huddersfield, Wakefield, Barnsley, Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster. This number is rising daily.

Lewis is a lovely man who lives in Chapeltown and is working tirelessly to make sure care homes have the PPE which we are able to help source..

As seen in Look Local newspaper

RC Wortley recent activities

During the Christmas Period 2018, the Rotary Club of Wortley carried out the following:-

• provided Santa at Fox Valley.
• covered some Santa duties at Wentworth Garden Centre.
• visited a number of Care Home in the area to sing carols to the residents, including Denby Dale (where one of our Honorary members resides).
• visited Woolley Wood School (small primary special school for children with severe and complex learning difficulties and disabilities) to hand out goodies.
• carried out Santa Sleigh Runs in the Don Valley (Stocksbridge -> Wharncliffe Side -> Worrall -> Wisewood -> Oughtibridge -> Stocksbridge) -December 20th
  and: Wortley -> High Green -> Chapeltown -> Grenoside -> Ecclesfield -> Chapeltown -> Thorpe Hesley on Christmas Eve.

All the events combined raised just over £3,000 – some has already benefitted Stocksbridge Park Steels Defibrillator fund as already reported in Look Local.:-

Fundraising Event – https://issuu.com/looklocalnewspaper/docs/issuu_1042/15
Cheque Presentation:- https://issuu.com/looklocalnewspaper/docs/issuu_1045/5

We have also been involved in a joint project with Ecclesfield Parish Council to provide Defibrillators around the local area as also reported in the Look Local paper:- https://issuu.com/looklocalnewspaper/docs/issuu_1049/6

Thanks to all who volunteered to man the events, and to all who turned out to support them and visit Santa or contribute to the bucket collections.

DG Visit

We welcomed DG Cheryle Berry to our club meeting on February 25th this year to talk to to us about Kerala and “Prepare to save a Life”, before helping our President Steve Knight to present a cheque for £2,500 to Abbie Pervin from The Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity – This was the biggest beneficiary from last year’s Vintage and Classic Car Rally.

Left to right: DG Cheryle Berry, Abbey Pervin from The Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, and Wortley President Steve Knight

Wortley Litter Pick on bypass

On April 14th, members of RC of Wortley conducted a litter pick on and around a slip road to the Stocksbridge Bypass near to Wortley Village.

This area was chosen after President Trevor has noticed that there was a huge amount of rubbish building up on the verge so that it was becoming very difficult to actually see the grass.

After bringing the issue up at a club meeting, the club arranged to do a “litter pick”.

In two hours, they collected 14 bags or rubbish, and received support from people driving past (thumbs up and shouts of “Well Done” etc).

The effort was reported in local media with a headline of ‘Rotary Club clean up on Bypass’ – a good example of Rotary in Action.

Wortley Club commit £5000 for local Defibrillators

Wortley Rotary have teamed up with Ecclesfield Parish Council in committing £5,000 to install at least 6 defibrillators in the Parish Council area.  The first 2 have been installed and are up and running (at the Council Offices and Grenoside Community Centre) with others to follow.  President Trevor said “The Rotary Club of Wortley is delighted to join with the Parish Council to support this very worthwhile scheme.  All our money is raised locally, and it is fitting that we support local initiatives such as this”.

As part of this fundraising project,  the majority of the funds raised at the club’s recent Millionaires Night on January 20th at Grenoside Community Centre, were committed to the defibrilator cause.  200 people attended this event,  and a total of just over £2,300 was raised.

Successful vehicle rally for Rotary Club of Wortley

The Rotary Club of Wortley held their 19th Vintage Vehicle Rally at Wortley Hall on Sunday 3rd, July. There were Vintage Cars, Motorbikes, Lorries on display as well as entertainment for all the family. The Event raised £4,000 for local charities.