Rotary Club

AT THE start of the Rotary year, our incoming president is interviewed for a ‘Meet the President’ session. This week’s meeting was chaired by past president, Richard Griffiths.President Derrick Whiting was born in 1932 in Balham and vividly remembers the outbreak of World War 2 and his evacuation to boarding schools outside London.He left school at 14 to work as an office junior in several law firms before being called up for National Service in 1950, when he became a member of the Royal Signals Corps, serving in both the UK and Libya.After demob, he was fortunate to rejoin the law profession where he had a long and very happy career, working initially on personal injuries claims and later as an insurance lawyer. He continued in the Territorial Army until 1964.Since retirement he has become active in both Rotary, where he has been a member for over 40 years, and, inspired by his father’s gift of a Welsh Cob pony to his brother and him in 1945, on the carriage driving circuit across the UK, where he and his wife, Cynthia, are team sponsors and organise, steward and score events.In a life with many fond memories one highlight he shared with members was the long carriage ride from Bavaria to St Gallen in Switzerland, over the Simplon Pass in the Alps, down to Milan and ending amidst a huge cheer-ing crowd in the arena in Verona. This was a significant achievement given the size of the coach and a single team of seven horses for the whole trip.Richard thanked Derrick for his evident warmth and enthusiasm and wished him well for his year as President.

St John

GEMMA Atherton, divisional officer in charge and Clive Parker, divisional treasurer, have both received awards.Gemma was admitted as member of the order of St John, whilst Clive was promoted to officer of the order of St John.Hundreds of people gathered at Llandaff Cathedral on Saturday, 18 June to honour volunteers from all over Wales for their services to the community through Wales’ leading first aid charity, St John Cymru Wales.The prior for Wales for St John, Dan Clayton-Jones, OBE, conducted an investiture in the presence of the prior of the priory in the USA, Mr Palmer C Hamilton, KStJ.Keith Dunn, OBE, chief executive for St John Cymru Wales said: “This is an extremely rare and prestigious award and we are delighted to be able to honour Mr James’ presence of mind and control under great pressure. The recognition is richly deserved and his actions went above and beyond what anyone would have expected.”The annual service recognised long serving St John members and outstanding achievements from volunteers and members of the public. This year’s ceremony also saw Roy Noble OBE, BBC broadcaster and ambassador for the charity, promoted to knight of grace of the order of St John.The sermon was conducted by the archbishop of Wales and sub prelate of the Order of St John, the most Rev Dr Barry Morgan.Saint Brieuc People in Partnership AssociationAB/SBPIPA held their AGM in St Paul’s Church, Aberystwyth on Thursday, 30 June at 7pm. There were six members and organisations represented.The year’s exchanges were discussed, including the recent visit by Nevezadur and Adapei for the Award of Freedom of Aberystwyth to Monsieur Jean Guesannec who has been involved in the exchanges for about 40 years. A great event for Aberystwyth.The officers for 2016 – 2017 are: honorary president: Cllr Brendan Somers, mayor of Aberystwyth; chair: Ken Young, vice chairs: Kader Izri and Cllr Talat Chaudhri, secretary: Anne Hobbs, treasurer: Hywel Jones, and press officer: Paul Manning. Other groups will be visiting Aberystwyth during the year as well as groups hopefully visiting Saint Brieuc.

Aberystwyth Bridge Club results

FRIDAY, 1 July, North-South: 1 Gwynant Edwards and Jeff Thomas, East-West: 1 Mike Jones and Kim Marsh.Sunday, 3 July, 1 Mike Jones and Kim Marsh.