January 2024

10 Buckden Roundabout January 2024 Village News The Huntingdon Rotary Clubs Several Buckden residents belong to one of the two Rotary Clubs in Huntingdon. The Rotary Club of Huntingdon (founded in 1947) meets on Thursday lunch times and the Rotary Club of Huntingdon Cromwell (founded in 1982) meets on Monday evenings. Both clubs meet at the George Hotel in Huntingdon (free parking!) The 2023 - 24 President of the Rotary Club of Huntingdon is Peter Downes, former headteacher of Hinchingbrooke School, and he has provided the following information: The Rotary movement was founded in 1905 and now has over 33,000 clubs in at least 200 countries. The focus of its activity is to provide support for the underprivileged, ill and disabled, locally, nationally and across the world. Its activity now in- cludes increasing our awareness of the environmental chal- lenges which the world faces. Its mission statement for the coming year is ‘ Create Hope in the World ’ and Rotarians will be working to put that idea into practice. We support young people in local schools, put on fund - raising events and donate thousands of pounds each year to charities who serve those in greatest need. Few people outside Rotary realise that the virtual eradication of Polio throughout the world grew from and is still largely driven by Rotary International, supplemented now by the World Health Organisation and the Bill Gates Foundation. Rotary Clubs are open to everyone, usually, but not always, from professional backgrounds whose experience can enrich the contribution that the Rotary Movement seeks to make in so many practical ways. If you would like to know more and possibly consider joining one of the local clubs, please contact Peter Downes on 01480 509471 or peterdownes42@aol.co.uk for a conversation with- out obligation. We would be pleased to hear from you and to channel your skills and experience into ‘ creating hope in the world ’. Brampton Flower Club Looking for a new interest for the New Year? New members very welcome Our flower club meets on the 1st Wednesday of the month to enjoy floral design by local and national demonstrators . Across the year we also run workshops for all abilities and ar- range talks and visits to places of floral interest. Our next meeting is Wednesday 7th February 2024 Doors open at 6.45pm - demonstration starts at 7.15pm at The Lady Olivia Community Centre, off Central Avenue in Brampton You would be welcomed by our club members. We all have a love of flowers and there's always a chance to win an arrange- ment in the evening's raffle. Annual Membership is £40 per annum (no meeting January or August) or visitors can pay £7 on the night. For more information on joining please contact please email margaret.horne@me.com Easy Fundraising Many of you will have heard of “ Easy Fundraising ” and some will have already used it to get the brands you shop with make donations to a cause of your choice.For those who want to take advantage of the scheme it is very simple. It is available when you spend online and lets you shop at over 7,500 brands and gets them to donate part of their receipts to your chosen cause – AT NO COST TO YOU! You will have to register with their site on www.easyfundraising.org.uk where they will ask you to nominate a cause. Simply enter “ Buckden ” and you will dis- cover that there were a number of causes in the village but very little had been raised for any of them so far – no more than a few hundred pounds. Whenever you go online for a purchase you will often see a drop - down “ flag ” asking if you wish to “ Click to get dona- tion ”. You just agree and a donation is automatically made to your nominated cause. In the last three months I have enabled donations for buying socks, renewing my car insur- ance, changing my mobile sim, and booking a holiday. This totalled over £40, and I did not have to compromise on my purchases. If we each managed to raise just this amount each year in such a painless way, think how much Buckden would bene- fit. It would be thousands a year.