Over the years this Club has been involved in many major projects. For example we recently ran the Longstock Water Gardens and the "Big Night at the Flicks" projects. We have successfully run Race Nights, Boxing Nights, Various musical evenings, such as operatic singers, piano recitals, Umpah bands etc. For many years now we have also run our Carol Float touring the local community.

The major objective of all these big events has been to raise money!

One other regular activity has been to help at Kids Out, where we have taken children from Netley Court School to Paultons Park.

The last weekend in June we assisted at the Young Carers' Festival at Fairthorne YMCA. This was attended by 1600 young carers from all over the UK mainland, including local areas, and also the Isle of Man. Apart from the planning and preparation we were on site from 9.30a.m.on Friday until Sunday afternoon.

A working party of five led by Barry West, and including our newest member, started work on Friday morning laying ground sheets. Two of these individuals also worked in the coffee shop during the weekend.

From 2-4 p.m. we set up the coffee shop and then staffed it around the clock until Sunday afternoon. 29 Rotarians, partners, Inner Wheel members and families took part in this particular activity!

On Saturday morning, 15 people made sandwiches at the YMCA kitchens, 7 of whom also worked at least one shift in the coffee shop (including our eldest member).

The coffee shop prices were low, profit not being a motive and we took £2,375 approximating to some 12,000 transactions.

We had help from 39 Rotarians/partners/Inner Wheel and family members, with several people working in two or three functions over the weekend.

I believe that this was one of the best examples of ROTARY In Action and Service Above Self that I have seen as a collective effort from our Club - and little money was involved!

The only funding required was £100 plus VAT to hire the ovens, plus a major effort from Jonathan Appleby to secure 3000 potatoes for baking and we owe a major thank-you to Jonathan.

Also, special thanks are due to Brian Page and Roger Flecknor, who ran the project whilst I was in Spain, and to Zöe Page who liaised with the catering manager at Fairthorne on behalf of ourselves and Inner Wheel.

In general, we all had a ball and the 1600 young carers and their project leaders were a delightful group of people. As I said, 39 people took part but a couple led the way in the number of hours that they devoted to the Young Carers' Festival. We therefore presented tee-shirts to Roger Flecknor and Barry West (outsize).

Finally, a big thank-you from Fairthorne YMCA to all who were involved in some way during this special weekend.

"The HV Young Carers!"	Sandwich Making
More Sandwich Making	Yet More Sandwich Making