We recently donated £600 to BUSAR (a local charity set up to help Ukrainians) to help them put on a Christmas party for Ukrainian families now living in the Bromsgrove area and the host families looking after them. The party was at Fairfield Village Hall last Sunday and was a great success with seventy-two people attending, twenty-five of whom were children. BUSAR send their thanks for the generous donation which enabled them to hold the event.

The party started at 4pm with a fantastic buffet and drinks for everyone.

At 430pm Santa arrived with a present for each child and we were also able to provide each mother with a selection of hand/face creams and toiletries

And then at 5pm we had 2 hours of entertainment from a magician and balloon artist, There were also glitter tattoos for all the children

The party was a huge success with everyone really enjoying the day. Not only was it great for the children but the event also provided a great social occasion for the mothers. We had two ladies who discovered they were from the same town in Ukraine and were inseparable from that moment on. A mother who told us her 16 year old made a funny quip and it was the first time since leaving Ukraine he had said anything humorous or smiled. And a family group whose host told us this was the first time they had been able to get their Ukrainian guests to go out in nearly six months as they were so traumatised.

Wishing everyone a great Christmas!

We send all Rotarians and Friends of Rotary and individuals and organisations with which we have worked during 2022 every good wish for a Merry Christmas and a healthy and Happy New Year!

Members enjoyed a very good meal at the Ewe and Lamb in Bromsgrove on 13 December.

Bromsgrove Rotary is delighted to be working with Sharon Johnson ambassador for the Primrose and to donate £500 to the Hospice in recognition of Sharon’s marvellous fundraising efforts with friends ‘the cornflower coppers’ runnning in the recent London Marathon. Pictured with these wonderful fundraisers are Rotarian Caroline Spencer and Rotary Club President Tony Docherty.

We staged the Michael Holt Debate on 22 November in the Dining Room at Bromsgrove School. After a meal with the students and their teachers, two teams took part from North and South Bromsgrove High Schools in a closely fought contest. The motion was ‘This House believes that covid vaccination should be made compulsory in the United Kingdom.’ South proposed the motion and North opposed the motion. Following deliberation by our judges, South Bromsgrove were declared the winners of the competition and took the trophy back to school.

It was particularly pleasing to see this event go ahead for the first time since 2018, given the interlude caused by the pandemic.

Our Club is pleased to be supporting a Syrian refugee journalist who has settled in Bromsgrove. We are helping to purchase computer equipment to enable him to complete his university studies in data journalism so that he can achieve his full potential and settled employment in the area.

Herewith our Shed Share Certificate to mark our continuing support for Men in Sheds in Bromsgrove.

A former student of South Bromsgrove High School is the first recipient of the new Bromsgrove Rotary Scholarship Award, and she begins her studies at university this year having received the first financial instalment of the Scholarship to help defray her expenses during the first year of her degree.

A trainee doctor from Bromsgrove with a track record of volunteering to help others is being supported by Bromsgrove Rotary with a donation of £500 to aid her fundraising to pursue a medical elective in Hanoi Vietnam at the National Children’s Hospital during 2023.