I would like to start by saying a big thank you to all of you. This Rotary year has coincided with the most stressful period I have ever had personally, professionally and also with my other voluntary commitment. Your support, encouragement and hard work has been really appreciated.

It has been a proud year for our club with our very own Sandra Allen serving as the first female District Governor in 1240. As usual she has done a wonderful job in what have been difficult circumstances but the Club has missed her enthusiasm, drive and energy. A large contingent of members enjoyed her district conference cruise to Amsterdam - even if not all of us managed to show up for the return trip to England. I look forward to her return in July.

You will be hearing about the activities from the various committee chainnen shortly but I will highlight just a few of the areas myself. It has been a strange year in many ways. Unusually it started with the Bike Ride which had been planned in Nigel's year and then went straight into the very successful visit from Haarksbergen. This took a great deal of time to plan but the result was well worthwhile. I am pleased we have been able to initiate an international project with them. This has been discussed for a long time so it was good to see it go ahead.

I was delighted the Club managed to reach the final of the Southend Business Awards at the first attempt. A group of us enjoyed a gala evening with about 600 other people at the awards dinner. Unfortunately we did not win but perhaps we can consider entering again next year. As far as I know, our entry was a 'first' for a Rotary club.

A disappointment was having to cancel the bike ride but I am pleased to have obtained a written commitment for 2007.

Other than the usual set piece events such as Kids Out I am delighted that the Club has managed to sustain a variety of ongoing projects. The collecting of clothes and toiletries for the Womens' Aid Refuge has continued throughout the year. The e-Bay project has been very worthwhile - even taking into account the immense amount of time that it has taken the International Committee. It has also provided some amusement - seeing some of the items that members have tried to sell. Has the Ann Summers foot fetish kit gone yet Nigel?

The hands on projects have included the never ending saga of the I-IARP kitchen and the Stroke Awareness Day - when we tested over 400 people. In addition members have continued with the talking newspaper project.

We have had success at tennis and enjoyed some great social events.

At District level we have made an impact in organising the recent, very successful RYLA event - again it is hoped this will continue.

A particular sadness was the loss of our founder member, and friend, Peter Lagden. A man who typified the very best of what being a Rotarian should be about. I am pleased his name will live on in the club by way of a Golf trophy and the awarding of the Rotarian of the Year trophy in his name.

I am pleased to have been able to welcome some new members into the club and hope to recruit two more by the year end.

My last major event will be the Golf Day and work on this is well advanced. I look forward to a successful day.

Finally I would like to thank you all once again and wish Rosemary and her team a very happy and successful year.

Thank you.

Loretta L Andrews

• During the last Rotary Year the Club has continued to pay a regular monthly sum to the Hope and Homes for Children charity to support a family of four in Rwanda and, in particular, to finance the education of the two children. This is a long-term commitment made by the Club in a previous year.
• The Committee was pleased to arrange for an articulated lorry to act as a collection point for donations following the Pakistan earthquake earlier this year. Over 40 tons of items were collected and taken to a distribution point for sorting and onward transport to the affected areas of Pakistan. In addition the club purchased Emergency boxes that were donated to the Earthquake Appeal within days of the disaster.
• The Helping Grant Project N⁰ 265 that the club initiated in 2003 to help provide clean water, medicine, nurse training and solar panels to the Dharma Government Health post in Humla, Nepal was completed during the year.
• The generosity of the members in donating items for auction on eBay has raised, as at today's date, the sum of £1,003.95 which will be donated to the Mercy Ships "Africa Hope" appeal at the end of the year. The auctions are still running and, having already raised more than our target for the year, we hope to increase as high as possible the amount to be donated to this RIBI Preferred Project.
• Your Committee were delighted to put on an International Dinner for members and their guests at the home of Rtn Kay Twitchen. The event raised over £400 that will be added to our Africa Hope" donation.
• With the coming of the holiday season, we have begun to collect foreign coins (and notes) that members are unable to spend before leaving the country and which are not exchangeable in the UK. At the end of the season the collection will either be donated to the Mercy Ships "Africa Hope" appeal or exchanged into sterling and then donated to the appeal.
• As a joint project with our twin club, RC Haaksbergen, and RC Neede, we have donated the sum of £1,500 towards Nicawateri, a Matching Grant application submitted by RC Haaksbergen which will provide a clean water supply for 90 families in two villages in Nicaragua. The project has been so well received in the Netherlands that a second project is being planned and donations from other Dutch clubs have already been made. Our club has already indicated its support for Nicawater2 and it is hope that RC Munster will also join with us.
• In conjunction with RC Cwmbran Vale your Committee has agreed to act as a retail distributor for the Rotary Xmas Puds project. Christmas puddings made for that well-known High Street retailer of high class foodstuffs and clothing will be delivered in crates of one dozen then distributed to clubs within District 1240 on an individual order basis at District Conference at Clacton in September 2006.
• Your International Committee has donated £250 to the Light in Africa charity that runs the children's homes Pilgrims House and Malika House in Tanzania, bringing over 92 children and babies medical care and education.

Nigel Gayner

Thanks to our chef and staff here at Essex Golf Club we continue to have cooked breakfasts which are the envy of Rotarians from other clubs and discussed as far a field as Belfast. When different styles of egg were requested they readily agreed and I think you will agree, we do get an excellent range of choice. The cqntinental style breakfast has proved popular at business meetings on the second Wednesday and will be continued for the time being.

The storage cupboard was kindly completed by David Popham and is providing safe storage for our banners and other regalia.

A further two banners are in preparation to take the numerous Club pennants that have been presented to District Governor Sandra and other Club members as they span the world. A Stitching sub committee may be needed to complete the project.

Our Charter has finally made it out of the dark and into a prominent position for the general public to be aware that this is the Thorpe Bay Rotary Club regular meeting place. All good for our PR. The Haarksbergen twinning charter is also displayed.

Rosemary Sudlow

Tea Caddys:
Distribution of Tea Caddies was an RIBI initiative to raise funds for Rotary Foundation. Retail value of each caddy was £4.00, but members who donated £10.00 or more were automatically entered in the Centennial Tea pot draw. Tokens collected were sent to redeem for Wheelchair foundation. Total of £265.00 was raised.

Rotary Foundation Calendars:
Sale of Foundation Rotary Calendar within the club members raised £66.00

Jewellery Party:
Jewellery Party arranged and held at President Loretta Andrews residence was very successful, and raised a fund of £112.00 for the Foundation. It will be repeated later in the year.

Standing Order:
Our idea of a monthly standing order was taken up by district. We are continuing our support for Africa Hope of £30.00 per month for a family of four in Kigali, Rwanda.

Annual Contribution:
The Club made an annual contribution to district of £1500.00 following general agreement.

Polio Plus:
Last update in January 2006 reported "All infected countries can be polio free by mid 2006, except Nigeria. Additional activities in Nigeria could take up to end 2006.

Nidhi Tripathi

This past year has gone really quickly, and we've munched our way through a fair selection of food during this time.

Our fifth Wednesday on 31 August took us to Foulness Island for an informative and enjoyable visit to the island's museum followed by a buffet at the pub. My enduring memory was commenting on the number of mosquitoes and how I wasn't worried because they never attacked me. Only to wake up the next morning covered in red blotches!

It was decided not to have a fifth Wednesday meal at the end of November as it fell so close to the Twin Club visit.

We made up for it on the 18 December though with Christmas lunch at Loretta's. Thanks to all those members who provided salads and desserts.

On to 2006 and our fifth Wednesday at the end of March. This was a fundraising evening at Kay's house to raise money for International. Ticket sales and receipts from the sale of raffle tickets raised £380+. Many thanks for people's generous contributions.

The final fifth Wednesday of the year will take place on 31 May at the Ora Restaurant in the new college building just off Southend High Street. The food is prepared and served by Catering students and the restaurant has a growing reputation.

Unfortunately, the President's Night is still to take place. The original plan to hold the event at the Cliffs Pavilion did not come to fruition and we are now looking at holding a combined President's Night and Handover at Thorpe Hall Golf Club in early July.

I hope to see as many of our members as possible at this final event to celebrate the achievements of the last year and to look forward to future events.

Maureen McCutcheon

The website has been updated on a monthly basis including all dates furnished by Council and by members, event entry forms, reports and membership changes.

Reports to add to the web are still conspicuous by their absence and timely information would be appreciated in some form of 'hard' copy. There are many events and services which club members support and attend which could be added to the web and need more publicising than 'a word' at breakfast. At that time of the day I don't remember times and dates and nor do most of the club!

During 2006-2007 I would like to tidy up all the old data and add new and more regular features but this does depend on the membership.

The website is well used by many of the members if only to check what's on at breakfast this week and we have an average visitor rate of nearly 1000 'hits' per month which is good and shows the value of the site but can be improved over 2006-7.

Laurie Gaymer

As Special Projects liaison for this year I have been horribly inactive. The fun of the Bike Ride on Foulness just into this rotary year was the culmination of some very hard work on the part of Janet Porter, who deserves particular thanks, and excellent support from members of Thorpe Bay. A final total of £15,000 was raised for Little Havens and £7000 for other Rotary Charities. President Loretta will be officially handing over the cheque in May.

Waiting for the go ahead for this Year's Bike Ride felt like taking up a position on the starting block waiting for the gun to go! Unfortunately the gun wasn't loaded. It is with sadness that I have to report that we are unable to stage this popular event this year and the following statement has been posted on our excellent Thorpe Bay Rotary Club web-site to ensure that the general public are correctly informed of events and aware of our hope to proceed with a Bike Ride in 2007:
"Operational commitments at Foulness Island, which QinetiQ operates on behalf of the MOD meant that the company could not this year accommodate the Annual Bike Ride until September.
Unfortunately, because of the advent of the football season, this timing precludes the use of essential external support facilities such as Cupid's Country Club, which is used for parking, toilets, refreshments, marshalling etc and so we have reluctantly taken the decision not to hold the Bike Ride this year.
However, QinetiQ, the MOD and the Rotary Club of Thorpe Bay are in total accord in wishing this important and popular fixture in the community and fundraising calendar to take place in future, and will work towards agreeing a date for 2007. "

The Special Projects Golf Committee is well under way with plans for this year's Golf Day on th 7 June 2006. Thorpe Hall Golf Club has very kindly allowed us to use this very popular venue again and we can look forwards to a very enjoyable occasion with the Southend Hospital PinPoint Charity as the main beneficiary of the event.

Mindful of a need for a further fundraising event, a "Sponsored Abseil" down the Civic Centre has been proposed and permission to go ahead is being sought. If successful Watch This Space

Rosemary Sudlow

After ten months of the Thorpe Bay Rotary year average attendance has been 65% including make-ups but not including Leaves of Absence or the duty tour of our 1240 District Governor.

Figures show that most make-ups are actually achieved by Rotarians whose attendance at Thorpe Bay meetings is 80% or more. If those make-ups could be added to the overall statistics (not strictly the accepted method of membership attendance accounting) then the attendance of Thorpe Bay Rotarians at Rotary functions, on Rotary business and at Weekly Meetings would raise the overall attendance to around 78%+.

Because we are active with the Golf Day and several other activities in the last two months of our Rotary Year these figures will be even better.

A core of about 70% of members attend most meetings and many other events.

Extended Leaves of Absence during the period (4 out of a membership of 28/29 or 14%!) have made the figures less representative than the reality especially when for most meetings if we include LOA's and the DG's tour we would expect to only have 82% attendance if the entire club turned up. Our actual attendance across the year would swell to 76%.

I therefore conclude that attendance, with one or two exceptions, has actually been extremely good and possibly exemplorary.

Laurie Gaymer