We are pleased to announce that Santa will again be visiting us to help with our Christmas collections for 2024.
Largest Rotary Club in Thurrock (est 1930)
Orsett, Essex RM16 3HS
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
We were delighted to support the Parents Evening/Year 11 Next Steps at the Gateway Academy in Grays on Thursday evening and pleasingly, parents and young adults showed interest in the help and support that the Club can and does provide to the local community.
Picture shows Nick Wilkinson who heads up our Youth Team with President Andrew.
Pictured with Steve is President Andrew and Rotarian Mark Jones CO of the Squadron.
When you join Rotary, you will enjoy a supportive environment to share your skills, connect with like-minded people and make change happen.
Despite there only being a handful of cases left in the world, continued campaigning, health worker training and vaccination programmes are essential to stop the disease returning and ensuring the world is certified polio-free. Over 400 million children still have to receive their polio vaccinations by the GPEI partners multiple times every single year in more than 50 countries. Rotary members continue to be key players in many aspects of the polio programme including on the ground in a number of countries as well as fundraising and advocacy. Failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200,000 new cases worldwide every year within a decade.
2. YOUTH DEBATES – November. This competition offers a team of three young people aged between 11 to 17 years the opportunity to experience speaking on a public platform. Schools have been supporting this activity for many years. Intermediate Teams – 11-13, Senior 14-17 years old.
3. YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER – February. Photography is a talent and an ever-popular art form. Entrants submit three photographs on a theme in black and white or colour, along with a description of the inspiration for their photographs. . (Junior 5-10, Intermediate 11-13, Senior 14–17 years old)
5. YOUNG CHEF WORKSHOP – Spring/Summer Term. This event is for Young Chefs who wish to further develop their catering skills. The students are challenged to prepare a two-course meal under the direct guidance of a professional chef in a professional kitchen”.
6. YOUNG WRITER – December/January. A flair for creative writing is a special gift and this competition promotes and encourages the work of young people who show talent. The winning writers are subsequently published in Rotary magazines. (Junior 5-10, Intermediate 11-13, Senior 14-17 years old)
7. MATHLETICS – March. A mathematics event for teams of more able pupils from Thurrock Primary Schools. (Years 5 or 6)
8. YOUNG TECHNICIAN (Technology Tournament) – March. Teams of students interested in engineering and science compete in a one-day event to devise and build a solution to a technical task. Solutions are evaluated and judged against competing teams. (Intermediate Teams – 11-13, Senior 14-17 years old.)
9. YOUNG ARTIST - February. The competition aims to encourage young people to be creative, develop skills in using traditional or contemporary media, demonstrate interpretation of the topic and express personal ideas through a selected medium or multi- medium. (Junior 5-10, Intermediate 11-13, Senior 14-17 years old)
10. LAMP (Leadership and Management Programme). October to March. Leadership and management training will help young people to achieve future goals by encouraging them to develop skills that they can apply to many situations now and later in the workplace. The club collaborates with schools and local youth organisations to deliver this event. Due to resources and costs, there is a limit on the number of students we can accept each year.
11. INTERACT clubs bring together young people aged 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. Find out how serious leadership can be seriously fun.
12. ROTARY YOUNG CITIZENS AWARD. This is a new event which is open to young people or groups of young people, under the age of 25, who have demonstrated positive citizenship, personal achievements, assumed important responsibilities, undertaken community activities or otherwise stood out as exceptional.
For more information, or to register your interest, contact: admin@rotaryclubofgraysthurrock.co.uk or look out for updates and information on this website or our Facebook page.
“On 6 June we remember those who gave their lives in the summer of 1944 in the cause of freedom.”
6 June 2024 – Beacon Lighting at Grays
Events will be led by Grays Riverside Big Local. Beacon lighting will take place at 9:15pm by the River Thames next to the car park in Thames Road, Grays. Before the lighting, a fish and chip dinner for local veterans and dignitaries will be held at the nearby Lightship Café.
A recent survey found that over half of young people today had little knowledge of the immense importance of D-Day so thanks to the British Council a downloadable pdf document aimed at educating children can be found at the British Council website https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/find/classroom/remembering-normandy-landings?utm_source=dv360&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=ceschools-schools-all-uk-regional&utm_content=d-day80&utm_term=edpack&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwjeuyBhBuEiwAJ3vuodvxvIeizdTeru-d_zikDb7i_vSINTNQyVqiRUjjT-upAmA8oer4XxoCVoMQAvD_BwE
Winner Isabel Aros-Solomon from William Edwards School “My artwork portrays an idea of destruction but there is rebuilding in progress. There is a strong bond explaining that you can still fix yourself, even when half broken, by rebuilding. This process of rebuilding does not have to be pretty and that is exactly how my artwork relates to the theme”. | |
Highly Commended Rachida Rai from the Hathaway Academy “BAM! In the middle of the universe. In the middle of nowhere. Things still keep going on. Even with a peak into another realm, life goes on. Bricks are laid, columns are built to be used and destroyed later. Life goes on so build it again”. | |
Highly Commended Nifemi Alawiye from the Hathaway Academy “ADHD best describes who I am, how my brain ‘operates’. Each time I feel like my day goes bad, my brain ‘rebuilds’. I need to do better tomorrow” |
Winner Aaron Tregunno from Treetops School “In future people might be rebuilt as robots” | |
Very Highly Commended Owen Taylor from Treetops School “All of the questions I had before starting at Treetops School seem less important as I rebuild my confidence” | |
Highly Commended Jehlani Francis from Treetops School “This is the theme of life and death. Something comes to an end and new life continues to be rebuilt in the future” | |
Commended Shae O’Hanlon from William Edwards School. “Flowers rebuild and grow new leaves every year”. |
Winner Myra Ali from Woodside Academy “A vandalised park being rebuilt” | |
Very Highly Commended Evie Newberry from Stifford Clays Junior School “Rebuilding Womens football since the FA ban in 1921”. | |
Highly Commended Honey Waro from Stifford Clays Junior School “The effects rebuilding can have on people and their surroundings”. | |
The subject that the entrants had to write upon was “Rebuilding”. The competition was fierce, and of all the entries were of a high standard. The majority of the entries received were submitted via a school, but we did receive two private entries who were encouraged to enter by Woodside Academy staff.We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Junior, (10 years old and under category) was from Woodside Academy called Myra Ali who the judge considered that her work to be well written and consistent in the power of her argument. The winner of the Intermediate (11 to 13 years old category) was a student from Hathaway Academy called Nifemi Alawiye who the judge considered her prose entry to be excellent and that if fully met the criteria.
Congratulations to both the winners, who will receive their prizes at our prize presentations in due course and will be representing Thurrock at the next stage of the national competition.
A pair of young musicians from Thurrock have each scooped an award at the Rotary Young Musician of the Year 2023 event.
Melda Kondoz, 16 from Aveley, won the “Solo Instrumental of the year” while Ismael Dosoo, 12 from East Tilbury picked up the “Solo Vocal of the year” prize.
The talented youngsters came out top in a highly competitive field of musicians aged 17 and under and will now go on to showcase their musicianship in Brentwood Cathedral at the Rotary 1240 District finals where they will compete against young musicians from across Essex.
We want to say a big congratulations to Ismael and Melda and wish them the best of luck for the next round of this national competition.
- put their STEM skills to the test.
- show they can work within a team and communicate with each other to achieve a common goal.
- be creative and constructive but showing their command of time management skills.
So how can we help? We have a small amount of money that may help solve an immediate issue. Our members also have a considerable amount of knowledge and experience, drawn from all walks of life that may be able to offer support. Any request has to be considered by our Community Services committee; we are not able to support all requests but we do try.
If you know of any person, family or club that needs support or charity that is trying to help the local community but experiencing a challenging time please contact us or alternatively forward this communication to them and ask them to contact us.
You can contact us via this website https://www.graysthurrockrotary.org.uk/ or by direct messaging us through of Facebook Page @Grays.Thurrock.Rotary
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years, our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Here our President and Rotarians Adrian Alsop and Bob Paterson are seen planting more Crocus bulbs as part of this vital initiative.
Date: Wednesday 15th March 2023
Venue: The London Cruise Terminal, Fort Road, Tilbury, RM18 7NG (use postcode for SatNav).
Time: Competitors are asked to arrive and register at 12.00. The Tournament will start promptly at 12.30pm and the anticipated finish time is 4.30pm.
Technology Tournaments are a well-established and successful competition promoted by Rotary International in Britain and Ireland (RGBI). This Tournament is organised by the Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock in association with the London Cruise Terminal at the Port of Tilbury. Entrants may participate in a club or district competition that is outside of their geographical boundary but may compete in only one Rotary club or Rotary district Technology Tournament.
The competition is open to all schools and college communities and any other young peoples’ community organisations, for example, community Interact, Scout Groups, Girl Guides etc. and the age group for participants is 11 to 16 years old. Each team of four participants is required to design, develop, build and then test a previously set technology task as well as show they can work within a team and communicate with each other to achieve a common goal; Tasks are based on engineering principals, but also be creative and constructive, showing their command of time management skills.
PLEASE GO TO OUR YOUTH EVENTS TAB TO DOWNLOAD THE INFO PACK
The clubhouse was packed with junior rugby players for their Monday evening training session and the President said the Club was glad to support an activity that gives so much to the young people of Grays Thurrock.
Spring each year, sees a beautiful purple carpet of crocus blooming in many communities across Great Britain and Ireland thanks to the Purple Crocus Corm planting to raise awareness of the Rotary fight for a polio free world.
Planting the purple crocus corms by Rotary and many community groups is a great way of getting active, having fun and talking to lots of different people about the need to eradicate the life threatening and disabling polio virus.