At the commencement of this report I would like to extend my thanks to all the members of my committee for their support in many ways throughout the year. It has undoubtedly been an exceptionally successful year for the Club and for Community Service which would not have been possible but for the support of the whole committee.

The year started with the sponsored Dog Walk on July 15th. Thanks to Andrew Brearly for the use of his farm and to students from Kent Music School who played to us for the afternoon. Unfortunately the date chosen clashed with the Kent Show which meant that entries were down on the previous year. However I believe that all those who took part enjoyed themselves and at the end of the day we  gave some £452 to both Hearing Dogs and Westbere Sailing Opportunities.

The Regatta on 29th/30th July during which we collected some £500. We introduced two new stalls this year and we decided that for the 2007 Regatta better stalls should be provided. Currently  Trevor Lake and John Hawkins are preparing these for the incoming committee.

The Beach BBQ was arranged for 13th August but the weather was poor in the morning which just gave me time to cancel the event before the rain stopped, the seas and wind calmed and the rest of Whitstable enjoyed a most pleasant afternoon on the Beach without the Rotary BBQ. Despite the non event the Club gave Whitstable Sea Scouts a cheque of £200 for their help.

By this time we had been approached  to run the additional car parking at the Whitstable Junior School for the 4 week ends of August. Thanks to many members from this and a few additional helpers from Chestfield Club we managed to cover these week ands and were able to raise just on £1000  of which half was given to the Junior school and was used to provide an evening out at Christmas to the pantomime for the children.

In November the town hosted the Town Firework display bringing some 10,000 people into the town. For this event we organised a soup kitchen  with the help of David Feasey (as always) who provided large quantities of soup. We actually managed to sell some 60 litres of soup on this evening.

On December 12th Paul Downes organised a visit of some 15 Rotarians and their families to Duncan Downes for a very informative visit. My committee would like to see ties with the Duncan Downes project strengthened over the coming years as the provision of green space for the benefit of the people of the town should be fairly high on our agenda.

On 28th November Gordon Johnson and David Feasey organised the annual disco and refreshments for the Swalecliffe Opportunities and other group of handicapped people. As usual this was a great success despite fears that increased risk assessment and bureaucracy might temper what we are able to do for those needing help.
By this time Christmas was approaching with two major events. The first was the Christmas Tankerton Street Market and the second was the town Christmas Tree. It was with great relief to many of us that Rotary were again permitted to provide a Christmas Tree for the town outside the main Town Church.  This project was somewhat fraught from start to finish. Firstly the tree itself  - after weeks of negotiations about height, weight, location, means of erection and power sources for the lights and with the help of the Town Coordinator we eventually received a tree. Even on the day this went missing and had to be retrieved some 2 hours later!.  By this time the lights had gone missing and replacement lights were obtained at very short notice. By the evening we actually had a tree which was about 14 feet high – compared with the original limitation of 6 feet – and some lights. The problems were even then not over./ From the day the tree was erected to Christmas saw fairly constant storms and on many evenings and sometimes early in the morning the Community Services Chairman could be seen creeping around the Church with hammers, ropes, pieces of cable, spare light bulbs and stakes of various sizes which were hammered into the ground. Alas Peter Cushing himself is no longer with us!.

Somehow despite everything the tree stayed upright and the lights stay lit and Rotary was praised by many in the town for returning the Christmas Tree to its rightful place.

During this time arrangements were in hand to provide a soup kitchen at the Tankerton Street Market. We made the arrangements, we had rotas worked out and again come the morning of the great day the heavens opened and the wind blew. The weather was so inclement that the organisers just had time to cancel the event before the winds ceased, the clouds dissipated and we were treated to a pleasant afternoon in Tankerton with no street market but many hundreds of empty soup cups to use on another day.


During these months Community Service had arranged for donations to a number of causes including Diane Cole for repaired to her Alpha speaker, to the Friends of Duncan Downs, to the Children’s Liver Foundation and to the Aidis Trust to help a local young man with IT equipment

The year finished with the Christmas collections at Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s and this year we managed to exceed our previous d raise £4696.29.


The Spring months are always a relatively quiet time for Community  Service but we
 have been asked to help with the renovation of several rooms at the Whitstable Umbrella Centre. Trevor Lake has kindly taken on this project and with the help of Chestfield Club as well as members from our own club  has undertaken to have this completed by the end of the Rotary Year. So far the changes have been remarkable. Thanks to Trevor and his organisational skills for getting this work in hand.

One move which we have taken during the year ois to put all the Rotary equipment in one location at the Surgery in Cromwell Road. I hope that by now all the property belonging to the club is in this one location and that one day in the summer we can complete a full manifes of equipment.

The New Year brought into focus plans for the major fund raising event of 2007. The Whitstable Races are due to see the light of day on June 24th this year. Several members of the club have assisted greatly and I would like to extend my thanks to Norman Hollamby for his negotiations with the Council staff – although there are times when one wonders if  all of us are living on the same planet! Thanks also to John Hawkins and Peter Thomason who have helped behind the scenes with this project, and  as always to Mike Bantin  for whom nothing is ever a problem .

There is one other member of this club who I have not mentioned to date. That person is Chris Davey. Without his input into the club and club events the profile of the club would be much the poorer. On a personal note not only was he one of the two imitators of the Whitstable Races but without his endless support for the venture we would not have achieved the profile or the support that has been the hallmark hitherto.


In conclusion Mr President, I believe that the Community Service Committee for this year has worked hard, has achieved much and has raised the profile and the public perception of the Club. We have also, together with all members of the club raised substantial funds, enjoyed ourselves and arranged financial support for many people and organisations. There is little more that, as chairman, I could ask from my committee.